Not Much Sense in Overvaluing Dollars
At least 30 years ago, maybe 40, Pete Rose declared he wanted to the “the first $100,000 singles hitter.’’ Or some such. How quaint. We’ve been fascinated with athletes...
Major League Baseball
Rangers Rising With Home-Grown Depth
Richard Justice, mlb.com
MLB Instant Replay: Careful What You Wish For
Mark Kiszla, Denver Post
Baseball's Elite 8: Pitchers With Sub 2.00 ERAs
Yahoo! Sports
8 Practical Ways to Improve MLB Umpiring
Jayson Stark, ESPN
Worst Inning of Career Submerges Verlander
Tom Gage, Detroit News
To understand the magic of these Texas Rangers, who have baseball's best record (28-15) and largest division lead (6 1/2 games), Grimm is a good place to start. The Rangers have f...(full article)
For more than 100 years, angry baseball fans have been shouting: "Kill the ump!" They might finally get their wish. In 2014, major-league baseball is going to be dragged into the ...(full article)
If early returns are any indication, 2013 could be the year of the pitcher in Major League Baseball. Eight starting pitchers have totaled at least 50 innings and have earned-run a...(full article)
If you'd just decided to start following baseball, oh, around the middle of last week, you'd probably think umpires were some kind of wacky cross between Cliff Clavin, Ralph Kram...(full article)
For a while, questions will outnumber answers. That's what happens when your ace, your All-Star, your Justin Verlander has one of the worst starts — not to mention, the worst i...(full article)
Related Videos
More Recent Articles
More Replay on the Way, But Not Instantly
While it won’t fix the blown calls that two umpiring crews made last week, or provide help during this year’s postseason, an expanded replay system is coming in 2014. On Thurs...
Giants in Freaky Dilemma Over Lincecum
Tim Lincecum is in his seventh year with the San Francisco Giants. It may very well be his last. A few years ago, that would have struck fear in the heart of Giants fans, the ide...
Dire Tribulations Don't Deter Ankiel
It was fun to see Rick Ankiel show up in St. Louis, reappearing out of nowhere, suddenly starting in center field for the New York Mets in Monday's game against the Cardinals.&n...
Rangers Lose Big Names, Still Enjoy Big Results
General manager Jon Daniels knew full well how the Texas Rangers' offseason was perceived outside the organization, especially by the fans and news media. He just begged to diffe...
Top 10 Blown Calls in Baseball History
Baseball has an umpiring crisis. It erupted last week when Angel Hernandez erroneously ruled - twice, the second with the benefit of replay - a double on what obviously should'...
Angels' Moreno: 'Blame Me' for Slow Start
The Los Angeles Angels have one of the worst records — and highest payrolls — in the American League, but owner Arte Moreno said Wednesday that the job of manager Mike Sciosci...
Hey, Harper, the Wall Always Wins
A vague memory drew me to my bookshelf to find a book published 50 years ago. I flipped pages, until I saw “The Rocky Road of Pistol Pete,” by W.C. Heinz in 1958 about Pete Re...
Astros See Winning Strategy in Losing
So why are so many people optimistic about the Astros in the long run? For one, the people presiding over this mess aren't the same people who got the team into it in the first pl...
Yankees Doing What They Always Do - Win
A few days ago, I mentioned to Nick Swisher that I had picked his former Yankees teammates to finish last in the American League East. “Bro,” he said, “you can’t bet again...
Umpire Gaffes Prove Instant Replay a Must
Instant replay is not a cure-all to the incompetence of umpires who forget rules, the uselessness of those who butcher calls and the hubris of those who delight in confronting an...
Mets Break 30-Year Pitching Drought
Matt Harvey has won seven games in his young Mets career. This should tell you how bad New York has been at drafting and developing pitchers: Harvey already ranks 12th in wins fo...
Faded All-Stars Enjoy Resurgence
Comeback seasons can represent the beginning of career turnarounds, as pitchers like Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter have shown in recent years. But Dmitri Young c...
Harper Does It All Except Protect Himself
The first thing Bryce Harper wanted to know was, “Is it bad?” He kept asking Denard Span, the first person who reached Harper on Monday night after he ran chin-first into rig...
Overshadowed by Maris-Mantle '61 Race
You meet a guy in his late 40s whose last name is DiMaggio or Killebrew or Aaron and yes, you naturally wonder if his dad isn't Joe or Harmon or Hank. But you meet a guy with a s...
Pittsburgh Got a Raw Deal in '42'
I've seen 42, the new movie about Jackie Robinson, a couple of times now, and the film has left me with one burning question: What do the filmmakers have against the Pittsburgh Pi...
Baseball Shrugs Off the Strikeout
We are witnessing a revolution in thought, a material modification in mindset. What once was a source of guilt and shame and sleepless nights is now, well, whatever. Strike...
A Hawk About Chasing Down Baseballs
Ball hawk Zack Hample hurdles a row of empty left field seats at Camden Yards. His right knee kicks high into the air, then left, breaching the seat backs. Hample lands without b...
Braves Looking Like Winners in Upton Trade
The trade for All-Star outfielder Justin Upton has been an absolute steal for the Atlanta Braves. It has been a dud for the Arizona Diamondbacks. If both teams could...
Dodgers Shouldn't Blame Mattingly
LOS ANGELES – They've moved Matt Kemp's left foot back in the batter's box. It's just a few inches but still enough, they hope, to allow Kemp to clear quicker on the harder stuf...
At 20, Harper Is One for the Ages
According to video analysis, Bryce Harper has been bestowed the Sultan-of-Swat’s legendary swing. That’s right: Bryce Harper hits like Babe Ruth. This important discovery come...
A's May Not Be as Good as They Think
The last time that the Texas Rangers saw the Oakland Athletics, the two division rivals were passing each other like cruise ships in the night. It was the final week of the 201...
Mattingly's Mr. Nice Guy Not Cutting It
It’s looking like Don Mattingly might need to start acquainting himself with Mel Ott. Like Mattingly, Ott, the Hall-of-Fame outfielder and author of 511 home runs, played hi...
The Baseball Team Miami Shuns
About half a block from Marlins Park, a hunchbacked stadium in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, a scalper named Shorty spoke in a stage whisper. "Need a single?" he asked. I...
The Anatomy of Harper's Swing
he realization came to Rick Schu this spring as he sat in front of a screen, collecting baseball swings. All winter, Schu, the Washington Nationals’ hitting coordinator, had bee...
Harvey Gets the Ball ... and Room to Grow
Matt Harvey pitched the game of his career last Tuesday night against the Chicago White Sox. That may not sound like much, considering that Harvey's career so far consists of just...
Don't Count Giants' Zito Out at the Plate
SAN FRANCISCO -- "Do you know your batting average right now, Barry?" Mr. Zito, at his locker in the Giants' clubhouse Thursday evening, says no. ".333." "Is it?" Zito...
Cardinals Rookie Nearly Perfect
Shelby Miller was supposed to be almost this good. Just not this soon. After a rough first half at Class AAA Memphis last year, when Miller had displayed an immaturity and stubbor...
Don't Expand Use of Replay in Baseball
First of all, I agree with the umpires. Every time I study the angles that were provided to the crew of Angel Hernandez on Wednesday night in Cleveland, where the four of them hud...
Why Was One Ump Suspended, Not the Other?
Friday, Major League Baseball announced that crew chief Fieldin Culbreth was suspended for two games after his crew botched a rules interpretation. This came just one day after ML...
How 'Lucky' Hershiser Spawned Lifelong Fan
The 1988 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers are best remembered for Kirk Gibson's dramatic home run, Orel Hershiser's pitching dominance, and manager Tommy Lasorda's maste...
Replay Umpire Needed for MLB's Integrity
Inaccuracy is inevitable in a game with as many intricacies as baseball. Balls will be called strikes, checked swings will be debated, and the infield fly rule will confound fans...
Designating All-Star DH a Perplexing Task
More often than not, it seems that All-Star voting decisions are a matter of priorities, as much as performance. When fans click that button or punch that hole, they're making a ...
Cardinals Thriving With Pujols Gone
On the day Albert Pujols left the St. Louis Cardinals in December 2011, their general manager, John Mozeliak, slipped out of the winter meetings unnoticed and bolted for the airp...
Gulf Widens Between Players, Umpires
The frustration and anger are growing, and there appears to be no relief in sight. Major League Baseball might not acknowledge it publicly, but the relationship between its player...
Danger of Line Drive Driven Home
Doug Brocail knew why I was calling. "Willie Blair," he said. Yes. Willie Blair. Sixteen years later, J.A. Happ gets hit by a line drive and leaves the ballpa...
Top 10 Sports Broadcast Theme Music
This week, NBC announced that Carrie Underwood would be taking over for Faith Hill on the Sunday Night Football theme song duties. Hill is a country megastar, but let's be honest:...
Stigma of the Strikeout Fading Fast
The year he would win the American League Most Valuable Player award, Don Baylor entered the final four games of the 1979 season with 700-plus plate appearances ... and 49 strikeo...
Kazmir Stunningly Reinvents Himself
On Scott Kazmir's 95th pitch of the game, the radar gun lit up at 95 mph. Two pitches later, he was at 96. At that point, I began to dream a bit about a very exciting Indian summer...
Proof the 'Human Element' Hurts Baseball
Angel Hernandez embarrassed Major League Baseball on Wednesday night. Hernandez, as the umpire crew chief, failed to change an incorrect call despite clear evidence on instant ...
Defense Aside, Choo's Got Cincy's Back
The Reds are in third place in the National League Central. They entered the season as the favorites in the division, and as they're all of three games back and it's just the secon...
The 'Timmy Legacy' Lives on in Florida
You wonder if Tim Tebow ever wishes he could go back in time. Not to Florida, where getting around the Gainesville campus became a hassle by the time he graduated to the NFL. N...
Wily Pitchers Can't Screen This Subterfuge
The secret trick that led to accusations of Boston Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz throwing a spitball has an ancillary benefit: It prevents skin cancer, too. Two veteran pitchers an...
Idiot's Guide to Writing a Baseball Book
Let’s say you’re a young baseball beat writer itching to land a book contract. You cover a team that few book editors in New York care about—the White Sox (not the Cubs) o...
Halladay's Late-Career Surgery Bucks History
Mariano Rivera couldn't let it end on a warning track in Kansas City. Roy Halladay couldn't let it end with a 2 1/3IP-4H-9R-9ER-4BB-4K box-score line from hell. Players play. Pitch...
Dodgers Post 2nd Straight Walk-Off
The only thing that is not fun for the Dodgers right now is watching the scoreboard. They keep winning - lately, in their final at-bat. A.J. Ellis' single in the bottom of the 11...
Medlen's 12 Strikeouts Guide Braves
Less than 24 hours after being rejuvenated by Chipper Jones' thrilling walk-off home run, the Braves returned to Turner Field and provided some indication that they might have es...
Perfect Into 6th, Darvish Cruises
Six pitchers combined to throw 273 pitches Monday afternoon, but two pitches in particular created the most excitement at Kauffman Stadium. One was a borderline pitch that could ...
1st Winning Season in D.C. Since '69
When the story of the Washington Nationals’ 2012 season is written, it’s expected to hold plenty more celebratory moments with which they cannot just mark their organ...
Reds 1st Team to Reach 80 Victories
The Reds have entered that rarified air. They’ve done something that the 35 teams that have come and gone since the back-to-back World Champion teams were unable to do. The...
Surging Pirates Blank Cards Again
Don’t tell the St. Louis Cardinals that Pedro Alvarez is an on-again, off-again hitter. There’s been no such thing as “off” for the Pirates’ third ba...
Top Jays Prospect Banned for Stimulant
NEW YORK — Marcus Stroman, regarded as one of the Toronto Blue Jays’ top pitching prospects who spent part of this season with the Vancouver Canadians, has been sus...
2 Longoria HRs Help Beat Rangers
The six runs the Rays racked up in the first two innings Wednesday, and the eight overall, including a pair of homers from Evan Longoria, served as makeup — well, maybe to ...
Alvarez's 2 Homers Boost Pirates
With their flickering playoff hopes hanging in the balance Tuesday, the Pirates showed they still can pack a punch. The Pirates routed the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-0, and moved back...
Strasburg Hammered in 1-Sided Loss
Things were set up so perfectly for the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night. Sure they were trying to stop a losing streak, trying to return to the winning side of things they&...
Dodgers Blanked in Beckett's Debut
Josh Beckett was decent in his Dodgers debut. On this night, though, he needed to be dazzling. The right-hander tried to keep the Dodgers in the game until the team's recently ob...
Cubs Sign SS Castro to 7-Year Deal
The Cubs’ new deal with shortstop Starlin Castro, for seven years and $60 million, officially has been completed after weeks of peaceful negotiations. Castro, who will...
Season-Ending Surgery for Bautista
Jose Bautista felt no pain, but he could feel a tendon slipping and sliding in his left wrist. A specialist in Cleveland confirmed his suspicion. The Toronto Blue Jays slugger wi...
Slump Goes on for Pirates, Burnett
For the fourth consecutive time in a big August game, Pirates starter A.J. Burnett came up small Monday night and the club lost another game it badly needed, 4-3, to the St. Loui...
No Reason for Pirates to Panic
Oh, I suppose it would be easy to carve up Erik Bedard for getting crushed again. He’s the one the capacity crowd of 36,626 booed off the field Sunday at PNC Park after giv...
Orioles Get Saunders for Lindstrom
The Orioles had their focus on Joe Saunders since he was on the free-agent market this offseason, and the club had been discussing the possibility of acquiring the left-hander in...
White Sox Post Wild Walk-Off Win
A.J. Pierzynski best summed up the wackiest victory of the White Sox's successful season. "From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs in about a two-minute span," Pierzynski ...
Orioles' Davis Pounds 3 Home Runs
Chris Davis stood at his locker this spring -- in his first full season with the Orioles -- eager for the opportunity to get consistent at-bats and prove that he could be a succe...
Bumgarner Outduels Kershaw
Just one of 162? Baloney. It was Clayton Kershaw versus Madison Bumgarner in mid-August for first place in the National League West in the teams' first meeting since the Dodge...
Nationals Edge Braves in 13th
The Washington area has waited a long time for pennant-race baseball deep in the summer. Then the opening game of the biggest series of the season to date for the Washington Nati...
Dempster Superb as Rangers Roll
No official word has been offered as to why Ryan Dempster needed to step away from the Texas Rangers over the weekend, but whatever caused his hiatus clearly wasn't a distraction...
Reds Walk Off Against Cubs
Xavier Paul and Ryan Hanigan may not carry much juice in fantasy baseball, but the two Reds loomed large in the real world Sunday afternoon. Pinch hitter Paul started the ninth i...
How Cabrera Tried to Scam MLB
In a bizarre attempt to avoid a 50-game drug suspension, San Francisco Giants star Melky Cabrera created a fictitious website and a nonexistent product designed to prove he inadve...
Varitek Would Fit for Red Sox
The Red Sox clubhouse has turned into Goldilocks, the players searching for the bed that is not too hard and not too soft, but just right. Last September, the clubhouse trampled ...
Giants' Lineup Potent With Sandoval
With Pablo Sandoval back, the Giants finally have the 3-4-5-6 portion of their lineup set up the way management envisioned when it dealt for Hunter Pence. When Melky Cabrera, Bust...
Hamels Fires 2nd Straight Shutout
Down another outfielder, Charlie Manuel briefly contemplated life Monday with no certainties. Solutions are in short supply for the season's final seven weeks, a time when the st...
Lowe Gets Save in Yankees Debut
Monday marked the first of two starts CC Sabathia will miss during his stay on the disabled list. So far, so good. David Phelps gave the Yankees five solid innings, while Nick Swis...
Red Sox Legend Pesky Dies
A visitor to Fenway Park last summer asked, "What are the numbers up there on the right-field roof?" He was told that they were the retired numbers of Red Sox Hall of Famers Ted W...
Questions as Postseason Draws Near
A'musings on a steamy afternoon as the dog days of August pose a myriad of unanswered questions to a baseball season that's winding down much too soon. And as the song goes, next m...
Rangers' Offense Bails Out Dempster
Better days are ahead for Ryan Dempster over his next two months as the Texas Rangers' rotation rental. But that's based solely on the assumption that things can't go much worse th...
Will Cabrera Ever Win MVP Award?
The typical season for Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera goes like this: He puts up MVP numbers. Then he doesn't win the MVP. The most-valuable-player award always eludes Cabr...
10 Biggest Impact Moves
Zack Greinke traded to Angels: Starting pitching is the name of the game when it comes to postseason play and the Halos went out and got the best starting pitcher on the market....
Plan B Working Well for Braves
When this season started, Ben Sheets was a youth-league coach in Louisiana and Kris Medlen had pitched 2 1/3 innings in 20 months, the byproduct of Tommy John surgery. The...
Mets Waste Davis' 3 Home Runs
This season is a hunt for individual meaning now, with no wild-card race to create a common purpose. And few Mets will live as meaningful a day this summer as Ike Davis did Satur...
Kemp, Billingsley Crush Giants
In the past 24 hours, the Dodgers parlayed the five tools of Hanley Ramirez and the five tools of Matt Kemp. Don Mattingly can do the math and it comes out like this: five plus fiv...
Hamels, $144 Million Richer, Beaten
Cole Hamels wandered aimlessly around the infield grass Friday night after his $144 million arm failed once again. He peeked toward center field, and not yet knowing the ball's f...
Plenty of Contenders Seek Greinke
The season hasn't worked out like the Brewers hoped. But at least the Zack Greinke Derby is shaping up to be a real winner for them. With Cole Hamels off the market, Matt Garza n...
Astros Suffer 11th Straight Defeat
Special occasion that it was, the Astros sure made tying the franchise record for consecutive losses feel special. There was absolutely nothing normal about this 6-5 loss to the P...
Haren Strong in Beating Rangers
It looks like Dan Haren's problems are behind him – but in a good way now. Haren returned from his first trip to the DL of his career and pitched six strong innings as the A...
Karstens, Pirates Take 5th in Row
Unlike any other player in the Pirates’ clubhouse, Jeff Karstens can remember those ugly, brutal days. He was around for the 95-loss season in 2008, the 99-loss team in &rsqu...
A's Take 3rd Straight From Yanks
The heroes change each night for the A's. The results remain the same. On Saturday, it was Jarrod Parker becoming the latest rookie starter to shut down the New York Yankees. It...
White Sox Add Astros RHP Myers
White Sox general manager Ken Williams said that Brett Myers was acquired for bullpen depth, not to replace Addison Reed as the closer, despite his valuable experience in that r...
Rangers' 5 Homers Back Darvish
Yorvit Torrealba, still sleep-deprived after the birth of his daughter last week, made an alert decision before the Texas Rangers took the field for the first time Saturday. The ...
Lannan, Harper Help Nationals Split
John Lannan had experienced most every slice of the Washington Nationals’ history, but Saturday night, tinged with desperation for his teammates, felt fresh and new for him...
Day of Big Returns in Boston
If they didn't already have baseball's highest prices, the Red Sox might have been able to get away with charging extra when they come home Monday night to play the Chicago White...
Reds Sweep Cardinals, Lead Central
Scott Rolen's bat still has a little life in it. Rolen's two-out RBI single in the eighth inning lifted the Reds to a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals before a sellout cr...
Gallardo Strikes Out 14 Pirates
Just like his teammates, Yovani Gallardo is well aware of how important it is for the Milwaukee Brewers to play well to start the second half of the season. On Sunday afternoon h...
Lincecum Shines as Giants Regain 1st
The crowd of 42,171 knew the stakes maybe more than the pitcher did. From the moment Tim Lincecum led the Giants onto the field Saturday night, the fans seemed intent on coaxing a ...
Braves Batter Dickey, Win 6th in Row
Because there are so many baseball games, it’s tricky to ascribe any lessons to any single game. But the doings Saturday, I submit, showed us the 2012 Braves for better and...
