MLB: Lucchino ‘amped’ for Yankees series

AMP: Adopey Media Player.

Red Sox president Larry Lucchino feels the three-game series his club and the Yankees start on Tuesday still carries its regular cachet, despite the likelihood both teams make the playoffs.

...With the race as tight as it has been, and likely will continue to be, in the American League East, the second-place team won’t exactly be out in the cold. Both the Sox and Yankees are on pace to see October baseball, barring an incredible run from another AL team.

Knowing as ...

Peck: MLB Stadiums Ranked By Number of Check-Ins

I have no idea what any of this is (stares blankly at old-style Ballantine beer can opener pilfed from Yankee Stadium…realizing something…).

Many people are still on the fence about location-based services, which enable people to check in to venues such as restaurants, shops and sports stadiums and share their location with friends on social networks. According to a Comscore study from March, 17.6% of smartphone users checked in to services such as Foursquare, Facebook Places and Gowalla. ...

Mitchell: Baseball at Ground Zero: Ghosts in the Outfield at Killing Field

Required reading…for John Sterling.

To welcome its first pro team, Hiroshima erected the stadium in the early 1950s. The mayor hoped baseball would “revitalize the spirit of Hiroshima,” and make the citizens forget what had happened on August 6, 1945. Yet he built the stadium 300 yards from the epicenter of the atomic explosion.

There was no evidence that the fans felt particularly uncomfortable in this setting. A majority of adults in this city were survivors of the bomb, or lost parents ...

Pitchers & Poets: Why Couldn’t I Buy A Dodger Hat at Dodger Stadium?

This wouldn’t happen if MLB takeover team had a cap.

At this point, my employee friend explained that the team has been having problems with it’s merchandiser, Facilities Management Inc. You might remember that on August 10th, that merchandiser, FMI, requested protection from the Dodgers in federal bankruptcy court. It turns out, we learned after talking to a few retail salespeople around the stadium, that FMI stopped ordering new merchandise for this season three months ago. Due to low ...

Ozzie Guillen sounds off on season, Ken Williams, Marlins

Oz: “It’s no place like home”

What has Guillen fired up is the idea that he was making decisions to sabotage the season in hopes of making Williams look bad.

“Let’s get this straight: I’m the face of the franchise,’’ Guillen said. “People can say what they want. There’s a lot of blame going around out there, but I blame myself because I guess I’m the one with the balls around here. It’s not because I’m cocky or an arrogant guy, but I can leave Chicago with my head up. ...

Moose Skowron: ‘Fire ‘em’

Moosehaven: City of Contentment!

Bill “Moose” Skowron says baseball Commissioner Bud Selig should take a tougher stance with steroid abusers.

“I played when we didn’t have none of that stuff. God gave me ability to become a ballplayer,” Skowron, 80, said Sunday at the Chicago Tribune-sponsored White Sox PressPass event in the Stadium Club at U.S. Cellular Field.

“I did the best I could. But now with the steroids … if they get caught and they are not supposed to do it, fire ‘em, get rid of ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 8-30-2011

Youngstown Vindicator, August 30, 1911:

It is probable that Boston base ball fans will witness today one of the most interesting pitching duels in the history of baseball.

Opposed to each other in one of the games of the double header between Boston and Pittsburgh will be Marty O’Toole, the youngster for whose release from St. Paul the Pirates recently paid $22,500…and Young, the “Grand old man of Baseball,” veteran of more than 800 games and 500 victories.

It will be O’Toole’s debut for ...

Neyer: Is Ian Kennedy A Viable Cy Young Candidate?

Ian Cy hunter: One of the boys.

Cy Young voters focus on three statistics: wins, ERA, and strikeouts. Last year when Félix Hernández was the American League’s Cy Young winner with only 13 wins, it was hailed as some sort of victory for the pointy-headed sabermetricians ... but Hernández led the league with a 2.27 ERA and was just one strikeout behind league-leader Jered Weaver in that category. I’m not saying sabermetrics didn’t make a difference; without a doubt, some of the voters looked ...

Royals.com: Francoeur is double-threat player in KC

CLEVELAND - Right fielder Jeff Francoeur, in his first season for the Royals, has already matched his career high in doubles at 40.

Francoeur’s double in the second inning of Friday night’s 2-1 loss to the Indians equaled his total for 162 games in 2007 with the Braves. That might have been his best all-around season as Francoeur also batted .293 with 19 homers and 105 RBIs.

This season, Francoeur has 15 home runs and 19 stolen bases, thus joining a select list of six Royals who had seasons ...

Ruff going at Citi

Deadspin brought this to my attention: Stray dogs around CitiField are “menacing” fans as they leave the ballpark. If only I had a Silver Age comic book cover that could show this adequately…

~~~edit zzzap~~~

Billy Crystal Making (Another) Sports Movie

View at Your Own Asterisk.

A near-capacity crowd packed a minor league ballpark in Fresno, Calif., over the weekend for a chance to see Crystal in his latest project. The veteran actor plays Artie Decker, the radio voice of the Fresno Grizzlies.

The Fresno Bee reports the film “Us & Them” spent one day filming in the California city. In the film, Crystal and his wife travel to Atlanta to take care of their grandchildren while their daughter is on vacation.

Most of the film will be shot in ...

Yahoo: Rangers’ [Nelson] Cruz expected out 3 weeks with hamstring

Texas slugger Nelson Cruz is expected to miss about three weeks with another hamstring injury.

The AL West-leading Rangers say an MRI exam on Monday revealed a grade 1 strain of Cruz’s left hamstring. He is expected to get an injection from team physician Dr. Keith Meister that is intended to stimulate the healing process.

Cruz got hurt when running out a double in Sunday night’s game against the Los Angeles Angles.

Dallas Morning News: Lance Berkman among Rangers’ options while Nelson ...

Heyman: Curtis Granderson and Ryan Braun are my MVP picks

Stats are most assuredly a major part of the equation. But they shouldn’t be completely determinative. Otherwise, let’s just run the numbers through a computer. And rename the award Most Outstanding player. Because there’s no way to put a number on the value of leading a team into the postseason, which should be everyone’s goal.

Like people, stats are imperfect. Even WAR, which I agree is a very useful stat, is imperfect because it depends on the value placed on other statistics by the person ...

Dusty Baker talks about his Reds lineups

Baker, 62, does not do Twitter or other social media. But Baker knows the critics are out there because, for one thing, he hears them during games. Batting orders, pitching changes, you name it. Everyone is an expert.

“Nothing works all the time, I don’t care how you do it,” Baker said. “This game is basically about matchups and the odds.”

Making a lineup can take several hours, Baker said. Reams of scouting reports are available, and Baker well knows the strengths and weaknesses of ...

Huntington Beach Ocean View wins Little League World Series in dramatic fashion

Reporting from South Williamsport, Pa.—Bases loaded, two outs, a 12-year-old boy digs his foot into the batter’s box and there it is, a moment youngsters from all over the world dream about.

The scene might have taken place in the mind of any kid standing in a backyard or on a sandlot field, but on Sunday it played out before a national television audience and a crowd of 11,950 at Lamade Stadium, youth baseball’s Mecca.

And Nick Pratto, the confident son of a coach, delivered in a very real ...

THT: Jaffe: 10 things I didn’t know about managerial match-ups

1. Tony LaRussa and Dusty Baker are the greatest managerial rivals of our time ...Last, but certainly not least, Baker and LaRussa don’t seem to like each very much. Not at all, in fact. They have very different styles. Baker is the nice guy, and LaRussa ...

Steven: Baseball in Washington During the Civil War

The Civil War helped facilitate the spread of the “New York game” as soldiers idled away time in camp, prisons, and even the front lines. Just as other social organizations, such as fireman units, enlisted together, so to did some baseball clubs.  On April 5, 1861 the Jefferson Base Ball Club demonstrated their dedication to the Union by erecting a flag pole at their regular Franklin Square playing grounds at 14th and I Streets NW.

Amongst the thousands of New York troops arriving in ...

Crashburn Alley: What the Phillies and Rays Learned About BABIP

...and the rest of my Fantasy League has not. HA!...take that Absecon Arse-To-Gobbers!

As strange as it may sound, Cole Hamels and James Shields have a lot in common. While one earned a championship ring and World Series MVP honors in 2008 and the other did not, both have strongly benefited and suffered from the effect of BABIP. BABIP is a stat that many analysts use to infer how much of a pitcher’s successes and failures are due to factors outside of his control, such as randomness and ...

Stan Isaacs: A Time of Mickey Mantle, Me and J. Edgar Hoover

or…Daily Pafkos at the Wall.

In the summer of 1998 CBS’ Channel 2 in New York broke the story that the FBI had investigated Mantle. It cited some 1969 correspondence between President Nixon’s domestic adviser, John Erlichman, and the FBI. New York Times sports media columnist Richard Sandomir noted that I was listed along with Mantle, Billy Martin and Mrs. Branch Rickey.

It turned out to be in connection with the 1969 baseball All Star Game in Washington. Nixon invited a large group of ...

McGrath: With Hendry Gone, the Next Step Is Clear

Which, hopefully…will be more successful than The Next Step Beyond.

Thus did Mike Quade become a big-league manager. The Milton Bradley signing was reason to question Hendry’s sanity; the Quade hire raised doubts about his judgment.

That said, firing Hendry was not an easy call for Ricketts. He liked him — hard worker, down-to-earth guy, clearly loves baseball — and as he spoke of “recommending” that some top aides be retained, Ricketts seemed to be softening the impact of the ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 8-29-2011

Pittsburgh Press, August 29, 1911:

[Larry] McLean, the eminent tragedian, was sleeping soundly up in his room, when the sinners of the team told the night clerk that Lary (sic) had a bunch of Indians up in the apartment, playing poker.  The clerk fell for the stuff, went up, and pounded on Lary’s door.

...

Then the joshers routed the Eminent Dodo [Clark Griffith?] from his sleep, and gave him the same story.  The Eminent Dodo, justly enraged at such a breech of training rules, thereupon ...

ESPN: Schoenfield: Where Chipper ranks among all-time 3B

Frank Malzone Ratings sees things differently!

I would hope everyone recognizes by now that Jones is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Last week, I exchanged Twitter messages with readers on where Jones ranks among the greatest third basemen of all time. Six names came up in that discussion, and with apologies to Home Run Baker and Ron Santo, here is my ranking of them.

2. CHIPPER JONES

...Chipper’s game was consistent excellence over a long time. His peak seasons may not quite match those ...

MLB.com: Hill, Cowgill back Kennedy’s NL-best 17th win

Sunday afternoon, 5,000 kids walked into Chase Field and were handed Ian Kennedy Growth Charts. Three hours later, 27,564 fans walked out of Chase Field after Kennedy and the D-backs handed the Padres a series sweep in a 6-1 victory.
...
Kennedy’s seven innings of one-run baseball propelled the D-backs to their sixth straight win, their largest division lead all season—four games—and Kennedy to the top of the NL with 17 wins.
...
Tied with the Phillies’ Roy Halladay and the Dodgers’ Clayton ...

Salvador Perez `hard to take out of the lineup,’ Yost says

Salvador Daily…natch.

Rookie catcher Salvador Perez didn’t play Sunday in the series final against the Indians after starting 15 of the 17 previous games since arriving from Class AAA Omaha.

This is how it figures to be for Perez over the next several years: Days off will be rare.

“He’s like (shortstop Alcides) Escobar for me,” manager Ned Yost said. “He’s hard to take out of the lineup. So, yes, he’ll play 140 games (a year) because one, he’s young; two, he’s very ...

David Price strikes out franchise-high 14 in Rays romp

Price struck out a franchise-record 14 in seven dominant innings, Desmond Jennings hit a pair of solo home runs and the Tampa Bay Rays beat Toronto 12-0 on Sunday.

“Hitting is hard enough already,” Rays catcher John Jaso said. “What David brought today made it pretty much impossible.”

It wasn’t just Price’s stuff, but a stiff wind blowing out to center field that made him so effective, giving his fastball extraordinary movement.

“I’ve never had that much movement before so it was pretty ...

Seattle Times: White Sox players hit the waters of Puget Sound for salmon

From the pics, it seems like a close-knit grouper.

Baseball players rarely find free time during the long season. But when they do, they take advantage of it.

That was what Chicago White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham, and pitchers Mark Buehrle, John Danks and Zach Stewart did on Thursday afternoon by booking a salmon fishing charter trip on Puget Sound. ...

This isn’t the first fishing outing the White Sox have pursued on an off-day this summer. Back in July, a group went walleye fishing ...

Showalter says Yankees’ complaints were “disrespectful to Flanny”

Manager Buck Showalter knows that the Yankees are chafed at the Orioles for refusing to schedule a doubleheader on Friday and costing them the Sept. 8 off-day. And he really doesn’t care.

Showalter spoke calmly today, but he didn’t pull any punches while addressing the topic with reporters before Game 1. He also referenced the tragic death of former Orioles pitcher Mike Flanagan.

“The way I understand, I think they approached Andy (MacPhail) less than 24 hours before,” he said. “First of all, ...

NYT: Joe Buck’s Voice Lands on the D.L

Buck Buck…PILE ON!!!

“People say just rest your voice and don’t talk, but that doesn’t do anything,” said Buck, who first revealed his ailment to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “This is a nerve issue. It’s not like I have polyps or a strained vocal cord. I’m waiting for one of the longest nerves in the body to recover. Nobody has said this is something that won’t come back, but they told me it could take 6, 9 or 12 months.”

...Buck will not work again until the N.F.L. regular ...

South Side Sox: Omar Vizquel’s free pass to your 2011 White Sox

“dull, conscientious, dependable, and loyal” Oh, wait…that was said about Omar Bradley not Vizquel.

I know Vizquel is a really nice guy.  I’m sure he’s awesome in the locker room.  I don’t doubt that he offers solid mentoring to the young players.  He definitely has the intangibles.  However, coaches can be in the locker room.  And they can also mentor.  Using an active roster spot on an intangibles player is a luxury for a team.  And, at some point, a sub-.500 team should realize they can’t ...

Walters: Twins have no more help down on the farm in Rochester

Great Garagozzo’s! What happened to the “by far, the best organization in baseball” (closes Plesac-lunch bag of tricks)...?

The Red Wings are 50-85. Last year, they finished 49-95.

“It’s a mess,” one baseball insider said. “It’s embarrassing.”

...Dave St. Peter is the Twins’ president who oversees the franchise’s operation for Jim Pohlad, who represents ownership.

...“One of the lessons for everybody to learn is that payroll in and of itself is not a prerequisite to winning. To be honest, ...