The piece of lumber that Hamilton used to club eight of his nine home runs in the last week is headed for the Hall of Fame and its place as one of the most famous bats in baseball history.
It’s up there with Shoeless Joe Jackson’s Black Betsy, George Brett’s pine tar bat, home-run bats from Carlton Fisk, Bobby Thomson and Bill Mazeroski and the fictional Wonderboy.
Hamilton started using the bat on the Texas Rangers’ recent road trip and agreed to donate it to Cooperstown after he hit four home runs with it Tuesday night in Baltimore. But there was an asterisk on the deal – he wasn’t finished swinging with it yet.
The end came in the seventh inning of the Rangers’ 13-6 victory against the Los Angeles Angels Sunday night – it broke on a flare single to left field, of all things. Not all that dramatic, but Hamilton drove in his 44th run of the season with the hit and the crack is minor enough that it will be displayed just fine.
I’m very sorry about the problem, what happened. I will do everything in my power to make it better. … When you make a mistake like this, you can’t sleep.”
A chastened Guillen, who has a history of polarizing comments about gays and immigrants, among others, spoke without a script and made no disclaimers. He said he’ll do whatever he can to repair relations with Cuban-Americans angered by his praise of the Cuban dictator, remarks he said he didn’t mean.
Guillen, who is Venezuelan, told Time magazine he loves Castro and respects the retired Cuban leader for staying in power so long. In response, at least two Miami politicians said Guillen should lose his job. Callers on Spanish-language radio in Miami agreed and 100 demonstrators picketed Marlins Park toting signs like “NO APOLOGIES FIRE HIM NOW.”
Of 2011′s cellar-dwellers—Miami Marlins, Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles, Minnesota Twins and Seattle Mariners—two stand a legitimate chance. But even if their best hitters, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, return to form, the Twins don’t have enough pitching. The Marlins have everything, including residing in a division depleted by injuries. The Philadelphia Phillies (Chase Utley, Ryan Howard), Atlanta Braves (Chipper Jones, Tim Hudson) and Nationals (Mike Morse, Drew Storen) all will start the season with two key players on the disabled list.
They basically flipped C.J. Wilson for Darvish. Their lineup remains better than the Angels’, even with Albert Pujols in Anaheim. Their bullpen is deeper, though the ninth inning – Joe Nathan in Arlington, Jordan Walden in Anaheim – is sketchy for both.
Imagine, then, what Fielder could do for the Rangers, for an already muscular offense, and then what the Rangers could do for Fielder.
After all, he’s done his time in the market where everything must go right in order to contend. And he has his suitors in Seattle, Washington, maybe Chicago (North Side), Miami, Baltimore and Toronto. Through no fault of his own, it appears his timing is simply crummy. The Yankees and Red Sox are both set at first base and perhaps diving for the luxury tax threshold.
As The Wall Street Journal’s Jared Diamond pointed out, teams that sign players to 10-year deals don’t always regret them. But a team signing a first baseman who will be 32 when he starts serving the contract has less chance of getting its money’s worth. That’s because most of a first baseman’s value derives from his bat — even for a good fielder like Pujols. He’ll have to continue to justify his worth with his offense, which is likely to decline.
Pjuols will have to deliver about 40 wins above replacement for the duration of the contract to justify its value, based on how teams value wins today and taking into account that a dollar he earns later in the deal is worth less than a dollar in 2012. But none of Pujols’s peers have been able to do that. I looked at the other 84 men to earn at least 15 wins above replacement by their age-31 season while playing at least three-quarters of their games at first base or designated hitter. None managed more than Lou Gehrig‘s 31.5 wins above replacement for the rest of his career, and that’s even with Gehrig’s career cut short by his eponymous disease. Only 10 players reached 20 WAR, and two out of three didn’t even provide 10 more wins above replacement.
After seven raucous and stirring games — when, as the end drew near, it became clear that there was no amount of runs, no dearth of outs that this club could not overcome, so much so that even a quick 2-0, top-of-the-first-inning deficit in Game 7 did not appear disconcerting — the St. Louis Cardinals are World Series champions, not only resurrected from the crypt to shock the devastated and disheartened Rangers and themselves, but also in spirit.
Minnesota slugger Jim Thome become the eighth player to hit 600 home runs, connecting twice against the Detroit Tigers on Monday night.
The 40-year-old Thome hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning for No. 599, then added a three-run shot in the seventh. The milestone came on a 2-1 pitch from Daniel Schlereth.
Both homers were hit to the opposite field. When No. 600 cleared the fence in left, Thome raised his right fist as he went around first base, and the crowd in Detroit came to its feet to applaud him.
Thome became the second-fastest hitter to reach the milestone, hitting his 600th homer in at-bat No. 8,137. Babe Ruth needed only 6,921 at-bats.
The Chicago Cubs placed Carlos Zambrano on the disqualified list Saturday and said the right-hander would receive no pay and have no part in team activities for 30 days.
Zambrano cleaned out his locker and left the team after giving up five homers and being ejected from Friday night’s 10-4 loss to the Braves. He did not return to the team Saturday.
General manager Jim Hendry said Saturday that Zambrano’s actions, including a brush-back pitch to Chipper Jones that led to the ejection, were “intolerable.”
Hendry said Major League Baseball and the players’ association would discuss Zambrano’s statements about his baseball future.
Jed Hoyer, the second year General Manager, moved contracts and got two more tremendous young minor league pitching prospects.Owner Jeff Moorad’s miniscule payroll got smaller by the shedding of two more contracts.
Mike Adams, who resurrected his career from the scrap pile, goes to Texas, currently in first place, and will have the chance to save games in a pennant race.
Ryan Ludwick, his disappointing one-year stay in San Diego over, goes to a hitter-friendly park, and will have two months to show he can still hit, after earning nearly $6 million with the Padres, while striking out much more than hitting balls out of the park.
Somewhat lost in the unsatisfying way the Atlanta Braves-Pittsburgh Pirates game endedearly Wednesday morning was the fact the best catcher in baseball — certainly he’s No. 1 in fantasy by a healthy margin this season — was forced to leave early with a strained left oblique. Brian McCann is pretty good, folks; he leads all catcher-eligible players in home runs and is second in RBIs and batting average to Victor Martinez!
I’m no doctor, but a strained oblique is obviously a big deal for anyone attempting to hit a baseball, and it’s a hindrance to playing catcher as well, but the Braves believe this is a short-term injury, one that shouldn’t cost McCann more than three weeks of playing time. Of course, there’s always a chance the problem lingers.
Ryan Braun is out of the starting lineup for the Milwaukee Brewers against the San Francisco Giants to rest his lingering left calf strain.
Braun says he feels fine and he didn’t re-injure his calf after playing the last two games. Mark Kotsay started in his place Friday night.
The injury sidelined Braun for the All-Star game despite being the NL’s top vote-getter. He also missed more than a week before the break, and the Brewers want to ease his transition back.
The Cubs dropped a 7-5 decision Sunday to the Florida Marlins, and let’s be clear about one thing: the loss was the Cubs’ own fault.
They fell to 20 games under .500 at 38-58 largely because they couldn’t get a quality start out of pitcher Randy Wells and because their offense went from the second inning until two outs in the eighth between basehits.
But that didn’t stop Quade or his troops from taking off on second-base umpire Lance Barrett for an apparent blown call on a pickoff play in Florida’s 3-run eighth inning that gave the Marlins a 7-4 lead.
Kerry Wood had just put runners on with two outs on a hit batter and a walk. With Emilio Bonifacio at the plate, Wood wheeled and threw to second in an attempt to pick off pinch runner Brett Hayes.
The throw looked to shortstop Starlin Castro looked to have Hayes, but Barrett called him safe. Quade did not argue, but Wood kicked up a minor fuss.
Bonifacio then reached on an infield single before Wood issued a bases-loaded walk and a 2-run single.
Years of investigation, research and preparation were put in jeopardy Thursday when the government made a key error in the Roger Clemens perjury trial and Judge Reggie Walton declared a mistrial.
Just weeks from a verdict that would have either set Clemens free, or, as Walton said in the courtroom Thursday, sent him to prison, the questions on everyone’s mind are:
How badly did the government screw it up? And what happens next?
As the shock of the judge’s ruling subsided, legal experts raised the possibility of several different outcomes, ranging from a dismissal on the grounds of double jeopardy (not likely, most say) to a plea agreement between the government and Clemens (more likely Friday than it was Thursday, in the wake of Walton’s pointed message to Clemens that he would most definitely be going to jail should he be convicted).
Jeter’s 3,000th hit has its own campaign that has been titled ”DJ3K,” and everyone is trying to cash in on it. DJ3K has been turned into a logo that will be branded on merchandise for fans, everything from shirts to cellphone skins to bobbleheads. One popular New York sporting goods store, Modell’s, has said it will stay open past its closing time as long as fans continue shopping.
Another way DJ3K is cashing in is with the dirt on the field. After the game, a groundskeeper will scoop up five gallons of dirt from the batter’s box and shortstop’s patch into a bucket. This will be the dirt that is under Jeter’s feet as he makes his 3,000th hit. That dirt will be used in key chains, disks framed with photographs and other limited memorabilia for sale.
“He obviously said something to David,” Red Sox starter Josh Beckett said after Ortiz and Gregg attempted to throw a few haymakers, neither connecting. “David’s not the type of guy — something had to have set him off. I don’t know what it could’ve been.”
Both players are almost certain to receive suspensions. Ortiz didn’t make himself available for comment, but Gregg did. Turns out, he wasn’t happy with Ortiz’ etiquette.
“It is 3-0, they are up seven, and I think there are some ethics to this game and guidelines that you have to stay within,” Gregg said. “Run. You hit a lazy fly ball, you have to run the bases. And apparently, he didn’t like me telling him that stuff and he came out there. If he thinks there’s something wrong with me saying that, then he has other things he has to check out in this game.”
It’s been mostly bad at Fenway this season for Lackey, who has a 3-4 record and a 9.09 ERA in seven home starts.
The Jays jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first two innings before Lackey allowed four runs on five hits in the third while recording only one out on a deep fly ball to center.
The boos from the 38,072 grew progressively louder with each Toronto hit before transforming into the loudest ovation when manager Terry Francona emerged to remove Lackey with the Sox trailing 7-0.
The Los Angeles Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection in a Delaware court Monday, blaming Major League Baseball for refusing to approve a multibillion-dollar TV deal that owner Frank McCourt was counting on to keep the troubled team afloat.
The Chapter 11 financing permits the Dodgers to use $150 million for daily operations and buys time for the team to seek a media deal and ensure the team’s long-term financial stability, the Dodgers said in a news release. A judge would need to approve use of the money and a hearing is set for Tuesday.
“There will be no disruption to the Dodgers day-to-day business, the baseball team, or to the Dodger fans,” the statement said.
The oldest big-league manager was Connie Mack, who led the Philadelphia Athletics in a straw hat and suit until 1950, when he was 87. McKeon will wear a ballcap and uniform with No. 25.
McKeon made no mention Monday of Mack, but said he draws inspiration from 84-year-old Joe Paterno, who will coach Penn State’s football team for a 46th season this year.
“I’ve managed since I was 14 years old,” McKeon jokingly said. “I’ll probably manage until I’m 95.”
Actually, McKeon was 42 when he began managing in 1973. None of his current players were yet born, but none objected to the prospect of taking orders from someone older than their grandparents.
Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols will miss four to six weeks with a small fracture in his left forearm, an injury that creates a gaping hole in the St. Louis lineup while vastly altering the dynamic of the National League Central race.
The Cardinals announced today that an MRI showed a non-displaced fracture of the left radius and that the All-Star’s arm was placed in a splint.
Asked directly if he could assure Met fans their team will not slide into financial oblivion over the next few seasons, Einhorn dumped full responsibility on the current principal owners. The Mets are not his problem yet, just his expensive hobby. For now, there will be no further bailout or direct input beyond his $200 million investment.
“I can’t make any such assurances,” Einhorn said of a doomsday fiscal scenario. “It’ll be what it’ll be. … There’s a wide range of possible outcomes.”
One of those outcomes – arguably the most likely – has Einhorn gaining a majority share of the Mets within five years as the Wilpons wrestle destructively with Irving Picard. At that juncture, Einhorn may well offer a very different, direct answer to the oblivion question.
Recalling the Babe as a pitcher, the Red Sox today wore throwback uniforms, as did their opponents, the Cubs.
For the Cubs, the uniform seemed unchanged over time, but the Red Sox looked white-washed. Even their caps were like the snowcap on Mt. Washington on New Year’s Day. The red knee-socks were a nice touch. The team really were the Red Sox, though some like Youkilis knocked his knickers off at the shin.
Most fans apparently hated the old uniforms. You had to use a scorecard to figure out who made the error, because the perpetrators were nameless on the back of their shirts.
After being dropped to the No. 9 spot in the lineup, the struggling Jorge Posada went into manager Joe Girardi’s office and asked out of Saturday’s lineup, according to New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.
The GM would not elaborate on the nature of the discussion or what it means long term.
The Yankees believe that they have grounds to suspend Posada right away, but will wait for more conversations about the situation to occur, a source told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney.
U.S. special forces set out to kill Osama bin Laden and dump his body in the sea to make it harder for the al Qaeda founder to become a martyr, U.S. national security officials told Reuters on Monday.
“This was a kill operation,” one of the officials said.
“If he had waved a white flag of surrender, he would have been taken alive,” the official added. But the operating assumption among the U.S. raiders was that bin Laden would put up a fight — which he did.
Derek Jeter entered the season with a chance to silence critics after last season’s .270 nightmare. But so far, the captain hasn’t given much reason to believe that a bounce-back is around the corner. Jeter is hitting .250. He has just two extra base hits for an anemic slugging percentage of .272, a signal that he hasn’t hit the ball with authority.
Former Red Sox outfielder Coco Crisp has made headlines early this season with a voluminous “afro” hairstyle, and he’s glad that such was the case, as it took the attention away from his sub-Mendoza Line batting average.
Now, at least, Crisp has upped his average to .234.
Hey, Phil, I have a question. Your arm must have felt dead in Spring Training, too, right? I can’t imagine a scenario where you flew up to New York and all of a sudden you can barely touch 90 mph on the radar gun. If you knew that your arm “felt dead,” and that there was “nothing coming out,” you should have said something about it.
How many times have you heard about pitchers overcompensating because of a problem, whether it was their foot, leg, shoulder, or elbow? That overcompensation almost always leads to injury. Your arm is worth too much to this organization, especially during a year where pitching is at a premium in the Bronx. This team will need you in October, and a few starts in early April are not worth the risk of serious injury.
Hughes also commented on how frustrating this has been for him. I can only imagine, as the fans and Yankee hierarchy had high hopes for him this season. I’m sure he had high hopes for himself as well.
Bobby Jenks (via WEEI.com): “I look at it as this. You do it, you get caught, you’re an idiot. If you do it again you’re a dumbass. I mean, it’s sad to see. One of the greatest hitters, or one of them, to make the same mistake twice, same bad choice. And within a year and a half of each other? I don’t know, you know?”
Joe Posnanski: “But Manny — I don’t know how he did it. Some will say he did it with steroids, but that seems a copout to me … I suspect a whole lot more players than anyone will ever admit used steroids. How many of them hit baseballs like Manny Ramirez?”
David Ortiz (via CSNNE.com): “It’s crazy, man. That’s the last thing I was expecting was for him to retire, and go through all of that situation. I don’t know all of the details. I’m like you guys, and just hearing about it. I’m just waiting for all of the rest of the stuff to come out. But it’s sad, man, that a player with that much talent and an unbelievable career . . . to get him out of the game with all of the negativity.”
The Los Angeles Dodgers, under fire over the brutal beating of a Giants fan on opening day, said on Wednesday they have hired former police chief William Bratton to review the team’s stadium security.
Bratton, who headed the Los Angeles Police Department from 2002 to 2009, is also a former police commissioner for New York and Boston.
“Bill Bratton is widely credited with spearheading modern community policing in America,” Dodgers owner Frank McCourt said in a statement.
“There is no one better to lead a top-to-bottom review of our current practices, and make recommendations to be implemented now and into the future,” he added.
Strong push in Major League Baseball to dump the Tampa Bay Rays. From what I am hearing, I doubt there will be any baseball at Tropicana Field after 2014 even though the team’s lease runs to 2027.
The harsh reality is the Rays still have no fan support despite winning the AL East two out of the past three seasons and making it to the 2008 World Series. Stuart Sternberg’s group has done a good job of turning the team around on the diamond and developing and trading for young players since taking control in 2004. But the Rays have averaged only 23,000 at the gate the past three seasons even though prices have been slashed and in 2010 the team had the second-lowest ticket prices in the AL ($19.75).
Florida housing officials have targeted New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez after residents who live in an apartment complex he owns filed complaints against him, saying the swimming pool has been unusable for two years, the New York Post reported Friday.
Rodriguez, who owns a property company that holds title to the Normandy Park Apartment complex near Tampa, has come under fire for poor living conditions, according to TMZ.
Residents have said that rusty pipes and trash are major issues, but that the swimming pool in the complex is the biggest concern.
Those who live in the complex complained that the pool has been unusable for two years, and local code enforcement officials have now ordered that it be drained and cleaned by next week.
Places not as good as Katchop that you still might go to anyway:
