rain Page 54 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Joe Maddon Wears Short Shorts
The Rays like to have fun, and nothing screams fun like booty shorts. For the Rays' pregame workout on Saturday, the entire team decided to don short pants, because they're a bunch of guys! Hanging out together! Showing a little thigh!...

Football Commissioner Suffers Possible Concussion While Participating In Drills
Commissioner of the Lingerie Football League, that is. Sorry to get you all hot and bothered, James Harrison, Brandon Meritweather, New Orleans Saints fans, et al....

The Yankees Quit A Tie Game And Went Home, And Bobby Valentine Is Furious
It's only March, but new Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine is already in midseason antagonistic prick form. The latest controversy? A stupid spring training game, because the Yankees and the Red Sox can't even play a simple spring training game without being children....

Now That He's Retired, Hines Ward's Biggest Opponent Might Be His Brain
When Hines Ward announced his retirement Tuesday, the focus was almost entirely on his extraordinary achievements, on his emotions, on his loyalty to the Pittsburgh Steelers, with whom he had spent all 14 of his NFL seasons (never mind Ward's vow to play elsewhere after the Steelers announced their ...

C.J. Wilson Tweets Mike Napoli's Phone Number. It's Less "Good Prank, Guy" And More "Wow, Dick Move."
Oh good, I see we've reached that point of spring training where everyone's bored and ready for real baseball to start. Tis the silly season, when online personality and sometime pitcher C.J. Wilson takes to Twitter and posts former teammate Mike Napoli's cell phone number to the world....

Miguel Cabrera Bleeds All Over The Infield After Taking Grounder To The Face
Cabrera, by necessity the Tigers' new third baseman, got a rude welcome to the hot corner in today's spring training game in Clearwater. A Hunter Pence grounder took a bad hop and caught Cabrera directly in the sunglasses, which cut open his cheek and ruined a perfectly good uniform with human blo...

A Reminder That You Are Not Allowed To Blow A Ball Foul
Apparently, everything happened in that Dodgers-Royals game yesterday. With a KC bunt slowly rolling down the line and stubbornly refusing to go foul, Jerry Hairston dropped to all fours and blew....

Dee Gordon Walks, Keeps On Going To Second
Dodgers speedster Dee Gordon takes advantage of a Royals' lapse in concentration, and after drawing a walk, takes off for second before the next batter steps in. On one hand, that move relies on the element of surprise and can only be pulled off once in a blue moon, so why waste it in spring train...

Chien-Ming Wang Injures Himself Attempting The Always-Tricky "Step On First Base" Play
Wang left in the third inning of today's spring training start after breaking down while attempting to beat a runner to the bag. It's funny, but it's not funny, because it was another non-pitching related activity—running the bases in interleague play—that turned Wang from a 19-game winner into a ...

Cardio And Pooping: A Chart Of Every MLB Player Who Reportedly Lost Or Gained Weight This Offseason (And Why)
Every spring training, seemingly every other ballplayer shows up to camp and declares himself "in the best shape of my life." Our pal Craig Calcaterra over at HardballTalk has done yeoman's work on this phenomenon over the years, but we wanted to know more: Who gained weight? Who lost weight? How mu...

Giants Eject Angels Scout From The Ballpark, And Now Everybody's Angry
You might not realize it, but the most interesting place in the baseball universe is Scottsdale, Arizona. Last week saw a mass bee attack hold up a Giants game, and yesterday brought us our first feud of the 2012 season as Giants manager Bruce Bochy kicked out an Angels scout....

The Data Behind Yu Darvish's Brief But Devastating Debut
Texas Rangers hurler Yu Darvish made quite the spring training debut today against the San Diego Padres. (Of course, he cost the team more than $107 million, spent the last seven years pitching competitively in Japan, and these were the Padres, so you'd think he would do OK.) Still, thanks to some f...

Dave Duerson Had Less Than $20,000 In Assets When He Committed Suicide
Dave Duerson was a millionaire and a successful CEO after the conclusion of his 11-year NFL career. But when he shot himself in the heart last year, leaving behind a note that asked his family to donate his brain for dementia testing, Duerson was going through bankruptcy proceedings. He owed hundred...

Aw, Hell, Here's One More Tim Kurkjian Imitation From Rays Infielder Elliot Johnson
With Linsanity dying out, we needed something new. Call it Kurkjianomie....

Red Sox Minor Leaguer Pete Ruiz Has His Own Tim Kurkjian Impression
It's more understated than Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia's, we'll argue. Arencibia's is perhaps funnier—he brought Kurkjian's voice to a comically high pitch—but Ruiz's seems more precise. He's Darrell Hammond to Arencibia's Will Ferrell....

Inside The Spring Training Market For $4 Porn
Excerpted from former Padre and Blue Jay Dirk Hayhurst's splendid new book, Out of My League, a true chronicle of life as a pitcher bouncing between the minor leagues and the show. Some names have been changed....

Giants And Diamondbacks Wait Out 41-Minute Bee Delay
A cloud of bees settled near the Giants dugout at the D-Backs training facility in Scottsdale, halting play until the grounds crew came up with a brilliant plan. They bought a bunch of lemonade and cotton candy from the food stands, smeared it on two golf carts, and used that to lure the bees away. ...

Needing A Nine-Goal Swing To Qualify, Bahrain Wins Match 10-0
Here's every goal in Bahrain's 10-0 thumping of Indonesia, which was already fielding a bunch of junior players due to internal suspensions. Indonesia's goalkeeper was sent off in the third minute, and the floodgates opened....

Jeff Samardzija Would Like To Eye-Hump You For A Moment
Spring training photo day is a second (or fifth) chance to make a first impression. No matter that Jeff Samardzija had had four largely irrelevant seasons in Chicago. This is 2012, and it's a new start, and a hairy intense Samardzija wants you out of those pants and in his bed before he's done smell...

Sadly, Albert Belle Could Not Drop Father Time With A Forearm On The Basepaths
Quick, guess how old Albert Belle is, without looking it up. He's 45. This is what happens when you chug coffee like water and are angry all the time....