The third-base prospect will become the first Italian-born major-leaguer since Remo Bertoia in 1962 once the Mariners officially add Liddi to their expanded major-league roster. Seattle plans to add Liddi, along with outfielder Michael Saunders and relief pitcher Steve Delabar before Tuesday night’s game here against the Angels.
Liddi, 23, will also be the first graduate of the MLB European Academy to play in the majors as well as the first Italian born and raised player to do it. Bertoia’s ...
“Fielder Jones and Tim Hurst pulled a funny one,” said Doc White, the great southpaw pitcher of the Sox. “I was pitching and Fielder was not agreeing with Tim’s ruling. As was his habit, he would rush in from center to dispute the point with Tim.
“Finally this foot race and argument got on Tim’s nerves and he decided to stop it. As Jones started in for the steenth time, Hurst hurried from behind the bat to meet ...
[Zach] Stewart wasn’t perfect against the Twins, but came close as he delivered what was easily the best start of his career.
Tossing a career-high 114 pitches, Stewart blanked the Twins, retiring 27 of 28 batters as the White Sox swept the doubleheader with the 4-0 victory in the nightcap after a 2-1 win in the afternoon.
...
Stewart struck out a career-high nine while allowing only the one baserunner in the 62nd one-hitter in White Sox history and the first since Freddy Garcia on Aug. 23, ...
Rangers pitcher Scott Feldman could not duplicate the results from last Tuesday, when he earned his first win as a starter in more than a year. Facing the Rays for the second consecutive time, Feldman allowed four runs on Monday in the Rangers’ 5-1 loss at Tropicana Field.
“They did this to themselves,’’ manager Ozzie Guillen said when asked if he thought both players could turn dismal seasons around next year. “Everybody learns from mistakes. Now they have to work. … I’m not going to say Rios. Rios works hard every day. But I think the stuff they need to do in the offseason, when you get older, you’ve got to work a little bit more, a little bit harder. They owe it to themselves.
Then again, we can overstate the case. Beltré‘s got a lot of hits because a) he got an exceptionally early start, debuting in the majors when he was 19, and b) he’s never walked much, averaging only 45 walks per 162 games. Because Beltré doesn’t walk, his career on-base percentage is just .328. And because Beltré‘s career on-base percentage is just .328, his career value does not place him squarely in a group of Hall of Fame third basemen.
There was no immediate word as to severity of the sprain and, if there’s any good news in the matter, it’s that it did not involve his left knee—a problem that derailed Beckett’s scheduled appearance in the All-Star Game.
...
Francona had also mentioned before the game he wanted to find Beckett some extra rest.
Montero’s first and second career homers ended up overshadowing his teammates’ output, which included a grand slam by Robinson Cano in the second inning and a solo homer by Mark Teixeira in the first.
. . .
Montero hit his first career home run in the fifth inning, sending an 0-1 fastball from Jim Johnson over the right-field wall. It was an impressive show of opposite-field power from the right-handed Montero.
In the seventh, Montero followed a single by Russell Martin with a two-run ...
This could very easily be called In Praise Of Pip (Sort Of) uhh…as in Pipgras not Klugmann.
Take Yankees rookie Ivan Nova. You might know: He is 15-4 this year. That IS interesting. You can just stop right there. Everybody understood that the Yankees came into this season with exactly one starter they could count on — the venerable C.C. — and they had to hope against hope that something else worked out. Maybe A.J. Burnett would regain form. Maybe Phil Hughes would pitch like he did at the ...
Recently it was brought to my attention that Roger Maris had a career BABIP of 0.254. This value seems low for him or any player with an extended major league career. In the video I have seen of him, he looks like a line drive hitter. With your help, I would like to find out what kind of batted ball profile Maris had over his career.
Maris’ BABIP was always low throughout his career. In his first MVP season of 1960, it was 0.255. In 1961, the season when he hit 61 home runs, it was 0.209. It ...
My name is Mark freaking Reynolds and I’m the worst fielder in baseball! Oops! I’m Mark freaking Reynolds! Oops!
The two errors gave Reynolds 26 for the season, a club record for a third baseman and the most by an Oriole at any position since Cal Ripken Jr. made 26 errors in 1985. The 26 errors are also tied for the sixth most in a season in Orioles history.
“I mean, it [stinks],” said Reynolds, who has started 111 games at third this season and 24 at first. “I have been putting in a lot of ...
A good baseball may be made at home. You will need some soft kid. The wrists of your mother’s old kid gloves will make fine coverings. You also need soft wool yarn for the inside, and this must be packed very tight into the covering. Now to get the proper shape of the ball, for a baseball should be as round as an orange. Take an orange; cut it evenly into quarters, numbering them at one end to aid in putting the parts together again.
To avoid the kind of collapse that led the franchise to the brink of contraction in the 1990s, the Twins will have to break from their model of stability. They need to do some firing and hiring this winter.
...Nobody is preparing these people to play in the big leagues. The minor league teams have performed at an embarrassing level for the past two seasons, and that would be excusable only if the players they sent to the Twins were polished.
The highlight of the episode though, had to be the Bill Buckner story. I had just turned one year old when Buckner had that little mishap back in the World Series, but that doesn’t mean that what happened to him isn’t engrained in my mind.
Watching Larry go through a similar situation only to meet the legend later on was great, but to have them hang out, complete a minion, and then have LD cheering Bill on as the former baseball legend redeemed himself in ...
CORMACK: I read that in 2003 you referred to Moneyball as the single most influential baseball book ever. Is that right?
NEYER: I don’t think there’s any question about it. I would take that a step further and suggest that it’s been more influential than every other baseball book combined.
I should throw a caveat in there.
It’s possible that Moneyball would exist without the Bill James Baseball Abstract in the ‘80s, so maybe my statement is a little overblown, but it’s hard to ...
Boy, this is sure shaping up to be an exciting September. Zzzzzzzzzz….
Miguel Cabrera homered and drove in four runs, and the Detroit Tigers finished a three-game sweep of Chicago in emphatic fashion, routing the White Sox 18-2 on Sunday night.
Max Scherzer (14-8) allowed five hits over seven scoreless innings, and Alex Avila had a career-high four hits for Detroit, which leads the AL Central by 6 1/2 games heading into a three-game series at second-place Cleveland. Chicago is 8 1/2 back. ...
According to West, Marlins manager Jack McKeon came out to argue Hunter Pence’s double off the right field wall should be ruled an out — the eventual call — while Phillies manager Charlie Manuel wanted West to huddle with his crew to determine whether it should have been a home run.
“Because [the Phillies] wanted me to go look to see if it was a home run, I’ve got to judge whether it went over the fence or not,” West said. “But the plate umpire [Chad Fairchild] already thought it ...
Under instant-replay rules, video review only applies to home run calls: whether they are fair or foul, whether they have left the playing field or whether they have been subject to fan interference.
In this instance, the original call was a double, not a homer, and McKeon argued that a fan had interfered with a possible catch.
Replays showed that the fan’s cap hit the ball inside the field of play. The interference prevented Marlins right fielder Bryan Petersen from having a play on the ...
The Braves are a relative lock to win the wild card spot, and that means there’s a possibility of the teams meeting in the postseason. That scenario served as Jones’ launching pad Sunday. If he didn’t quite throw a flaming spear into the ground, he came close.
“We’re what –10 games back in the loss column?” he said before the Philly lost at Florida (which actually left the team only nine losses apart). “I think it’s safe to say the likelihood ...
Sometimes, Zack Greinke goes to a park not far from his new home and stares out at Lake Michigan. This is his favorite part of this new place. Maybe he’ll get a boat. He’d like that.
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If anything, he’s dreading all the off days in the playoffs with nothing to do and the minor annoyances of fame made more difficult by the emotional conditions for which he takes medication.
Like the other day at the grocery store. Greinke was shopping for cereal, or bread, or something, when he heard ...
The Rangers wrapped up their season series against a potential first-round playoff opponent with an 11-4 victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sunday.
With Texas applying the pressure with a rout in Boston, the Angels used solid work by Pineiro, a home run by Bobby Abreu, run-scoring singles by Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells ...
If the Mariners promote him to the majors after his season at Class AAA Tacoma concludes on Monday, Liddi will become the first player born and raised in Italy to play in the big leagues.
Six Italian-born players have appeared in the major leagues, but all of them immigrated to North America during childhood, according to Riccardo Schiroli, communications manager for the Federazione Italiana Baseball Softball. Liddi, by contrast, was born in San ...
With the season Curtis Granderson is having and all the attention it has brought him as a major candidate for the American League Most Valuable Player Award, it can get easy bypassing the contributions Robinson Cano has made for the Yankees this year.
Cano was an MVP contender a year ago and finished third in the balloting behind winner ...
The Pirates are dealing with a couple other factors: advanced scouting reports and inexperience.
Early on, the relative obscurity of the Pirates’ lineup was an asset. But now the secret is out on many of their batters.
Hurdle and Ritchie said veteran hitters handle at-bats better.
“With experience, you can have a little more courage, a little more patience at the plate, show a little more discipline,” Hurdle said. “That comes in time.”
The upper-echelon major league teams typically have ...
I’m not leaving you Mr Christensen, not ever! AL MVP Votes (so far) Jose Bautista - 2
My ears were wide open as these guys explained their arguments. I’m one of 28 writers with an AL MVP vote this year.
...Personally, I have no problem voting for a pitcher. There are 10 spots on the MVP ballot, and if the season ended today, Verlander would be my second choice, behind Toronto’s Jose Bautista.
For me, Bautista’s numbers are too impressive to ignore. Entering Friday, he led the AL in on-base ...
With the lockout continuing, I estimate that fewer than 10-12 Primates now care about the NBA, but with our own thread, we won’t detract from what this site is really about: Andy’s collection of pirated movies, how many batteries one should buy to prepare for a hurricane that may or may not hit Manhattan, and Vera Farmiga.
