mlb Page 558 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Welcome To The Battle Of Chicago
Now that's what I'm talking about. This is how you do a rivalry, people. North Side vs. South Side, Ozzie vs. Lou. Plenty of trash talk. Copious amounts of Ryan Dempster. Let's get it on! When Round 1 was over on Sunday the Cubs had done it; swept the White Sox in the Friendly Confines. Round 2 comi...

C.C. Is Not A Singles Hitter
After a rough start to the season Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia has found his groove on the mound, and now at the plate as well. The rotund power pitcher didn't like his teammates calling him a singles hitter after last year's round of interleague play, so he stepped into the box in his first at bat of ...

Elijah Dukes Is A Bad Bad Man
The Rangers (née Senators) and the Nationals (like the Senators minus Frank Howard) took 14 innings to decide things before Elijah Dukes delivered with his second walk-off hit of the month. Back on June 5th Dukes finally crossed the Mendoza line with four hits, including a 10th inning game-winning h...

Yankees Officially The Hottest Team In Baseball. Discuss
Joba Chamberlain pitched well, but didn't get the decision. Alex Rodriguez singled in the go-ahead run. Derek Jeter, his pillow wet from tears, was 2-for-3 with a run scored. The Yankees beat the Padres 2-1 on Thursday for their seventh straight win — New York's longest winning streak of the season...

They're Not Booing, They're Saying 'Drewwwww' ... Oh Wait, Yeah, They're Booing
It was in the Simpsons episode Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play that Homer, disgusted at a player during an Isotopes game, hurls various batteries onto the field, following it up by throwing an electric drill. J.D. Drew knows the feeling. Each time he plays in Philadelphia, the calm, measured Cit...

One Game In, And Jerry Manuel Is Already Wondering Why He Took This Job
So why did the firing of Willie Randolph occur so late on Monday night (Tuesday morning, actually)? Turns out that Mets general manager Omar Minaya actually flew to Anaheim, checked in to the team hotel and waited to deliver the news to Randolph person....

Sinking Mariners Jettison GM, Yet Richie Sexson Continues To Have A Job
Baseball's biggest upset so far this season? How Mariners manager John McLaren outlasted Mets manager Willie Randolph. Of course the Mariners did fire general manager Bill Bavasi on Monday, replacing him with associate GM Lee Pelekoudas, who will serve on an interim basis. Meanwhile, Seattle is 22 ...

Cardinals Are Just Barely Hanging On
In George Carlin's noted examination of the differences between baseball and football, he describes baseball as "A 19th century pastoral game. Baseball begins in the spring; the season of new life. The idea is to go home. I just want to go home." True, for the most part; save for the occasional har...

Presenting Dr. Joe Morgan's Players Of The Day
Caught up in all the hysteria this weekend was Joe Morgan being awarded an honorary doctorate from California State University-East Bay. Don't be too impressed, because I'm pretty sure one summer those came free with the purchase of an In-N-Out Burger combo of equal or lesser value....

A Pox, Ye Shall Receive Twenty Lashes
So you know what's a good baseball score? 6-4. Everyone scores a little, the game's close, and even with a runner on in the 9th, there's always a chance this beaut could be tied up. Know what's a bad score? 20-2. Those are the scores that make the casual fan cringe. Boy am I glad that's not my team....

So What's With All The Grand Slams All Of A Sudden?
So how come all the fat pitches with the bases loaded the past few days? Hideki Matsui celebrated his 34th birthday with a grand slam on Thursday to lead the Yankees over the Athletics 4-1; helping Andy Pettitte move into a tie for fourth place on the team career wins list....

Milton Bradley Would Like To Have A Word If You've Got A Minute
So Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said that Milton Bradley was "acting cordially" and "wanted to set the record straight" after Bradley's near confrontation with TV play-by-play man Ryan Lefebvre following their game with the Royals Wednesday. Yep, that's exactly how it sounds to me:...

Pujols Breaks Down, Will Not Be Shot
We all know that Ken Griffey Jr. is injury prone, but is it communicable? No sooner had the Cardinals landed in Cincinnati than Albert Pujols pulled up lame — strained calf — and had to be taken off the field in a wheelbarrow. Earlier he had teamed with Super Friend Rick Ankiel for back-to-back home...

Major League Baseball Wants A Place On Your New iPhone
Yesterday was a terrible day to expect anyone over at Gawker HQ to answer our emails; the iPhone 3G coverage on Gizmodo alone kept the world of non-gadget coverage somewhere buried in the netherworld. So hey, why shouldn't we get in on the fun?...

The 600
It was kind of surreal to see Ken Griffey Jr.'s 600th home run land in the sparsely populated Dolphins Stadium bleachers. Announced attendance was 16,003 — about two grand above the team's average this season — and aside for a mild scramble for the souvenier, there wasn't much of a fuss. Fitting, i...

Joba Would Like To Take Off the Training Wheels Now
Until Hank Steinbrenner can get Dayan Viciedo signed, five innings of Joba Chamberlain are going to have to do. Chamberlain, who was lambasted by critics and audiences alike in his first starting role last week, came back with a slightly stronger effort on Sunday to lead the Yankees over the Royals...

This Should Quiet Those Stupid "True Yankee" Questions
This faithful little guttersnipe is Gerrit Cole, pictured here at the tender age of 11 attending the 2001 World Series, who this week was selected as the Yankees first-round pick. Yesterday capped a pretty good week for Cole, as the Bombers returned to .500, where they seems to be teetering lately,...

Kuroda Is The New Rikishi
This lissome fellow is Mongolian sumo wrestler Hakuho, who looks to be contemplating where to start peeling the foil off the hardball to get to the chocolately goodness within. I've tried Hakuho, it's pretty low-grade stuff. He was one of a group of sumo on hand to watch the Dodgers Hiroki Kuroda d...

The Statue Of Liberty Has Never Looked So ... Ugh
We're just more than a month away from the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium — and hey, tickets are down to a totally reasonable $29,500! — and MLB is breaking out the big promotional guns. Check out these commemorative beauties....

Just Another Quiet Day In The AL East
His real name is Covelli Loyce Crisp, but you knew that. What you may not have known, is that Coco Crisp's father was a boxer, and his mother was a champion sprinter. So the Red Sox outfielder's actions on Thursday — charging the mound and throwing haymakers after getting plunked by the Rays' James...