Maddon has harsh words for Lackey

Oathbreaker!

After the game, Maddon came out swinging against Lackey.

“So he intentionally hit him when he did, there’s no question in my mind that he did, and the sad part is that I’ve always considered Lackey a good teammate, but right there he can get one of his own players hurt,” Maddon said.

“I really did sense among the group of Red Sox that they were totally not into that moment because they knew it was inappropriate to hit Matt on purpose, and furthermore because one of them can ...

OMNICHATTER FOR JUNE 11, 2013

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, it’s OMNICHATTER!

Javier Baez hits 4 homers in a game at High-A

This’ll help grease his path to the Friendly Confines, I reckon.

Angels designate Chris Nelson for assignment

Chris is on an eight-team pace for 2013.

Nelson, 27, appeared in seven games for the Halos but received just nine plate appearances, collecting three singles. The Angels were the third team for which the former No. 9 overall draft pick has played this season, as he also saw time with the Rockies and Yankees before being designated for assignment by each of those clubs as well.

Ruben Amaro: ‘There’s no blowing up’ the Phillies

Blow-Up: At the dazzle and madness of oldsters today!

CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury has a very wide-ranging interview today with Philadelphia Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. which touches on pretty much every issue with his baseball 64 games into the season. Amaro admits that they simply haven’t gotten the production they expected to get out of their veterans, citing Ryan Howard’s very poor output (related) as well as injuries to Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz.

RAJ admits that Ben Revere has ...

Japanese Team Expressed Interest In A-Rod During Offseason

A-Rodzilla?

Apparently there was a team interested in acquiring Alex Rodriguez during the offseason, prior to the Yankees disclosing his hip injury and long before the Biogenesis scandal.

Japan’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks contacted the Yankees “through an intermediary” in November to express an “interest in obtaining” A-Rod, according to the New York Times.

New York chose not to return serve due to Rodriguez’s injury, which likely would have ended talks right then and there, the ...

Braves face tough decision when Brandon Beachy returns

As David O’Brien notes in a column posted earlier today, the Braves could use the 26th-man rule that allows teams to temporarily add an extra player for double-headers. However, that would only temporarily address the issue of finding room for Beachy in the rotation. It’s a decision that has Fredi Gonzalez pacing.

The obvious solution is to nurse Beachy back along via the pen, though the dearth of lefties out there might indicate Paul Maholm as the better pen arm (Alex Wood ...

Rangers TV man Tom Grieve calls Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista a ‘crybaby’

Well, at least he didn’t call him Hatchet-Face.

Bautista looked at strike one, tried to check his swing but couldn’t on strike two then swung at strike 3 in the dirt. After he swung at strike three he had a few choice words for the home plate umpire. He then tossed his bat, helmet and elbow pad on the field in protest before leaving.

Once Bautista was thrown out, Grieve had this to say…

“You turn into a cry baby when you act like that. Go sit down and look at the pitch and then apologize to ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 6-10-2013

Washington Times, June 10, 1913:

[Ty Cobb] stole third yesterday with [Donie] Bush already there ahead of him.
...
[Washington catcher] John Henry was so frightened at the deed that he stood transfixed. He simply couldn’t understand it, at all.

So Henry started on the hot foot for third. He was going to get either Bush or Cobb and didn’t care much which. Cobb scooted back toward second [and was safe]. Yes, Henry didn’t get either of those Tigers.

Unfortunately, it seems like this sort of thing ...

LeBreton: Fair play for baseball is at the root of the Tony Bosch case

In the summer of 1976, when I was a mere pup, covering the first of what would become 16 Olympic Games — nine summer, seven winter — I had my first brush with the effects of performance-enhancing substances.

I was shopping for souvenirs in the Olympic Village’s Adidas store, and I suddenly found myself surrounded by ... dudes. German dudes.

Only they weren’t really dudes at all, but rather, judging from their ID credentials and warmup suits, female swimmers from the GDR, East Germany. ...

WSJ: A Blast From Baseball’s Statistical Past

That would be GWRBI…which we always assumed stood for RBI’s given up by Gary Wheelock.

When most people think of the 1980s, they think of Smurfs and Members Only jackets. But of course, as baseball fans, we think of the game-winning RBI. Right?

OK, maybe not.

...On Friday night, when A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson practically beat the White Sox all by himself with a sixth-inning grand slam in a game that ended 4-3, he jumped into a tie with Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips for the 2013 ...

OMNICHATTER for 6-10-2013

I must have forgotten to submit one yesterday. My bad.

Yahoo: Johnny Vander Meer was Cincinnati Reds’ Can’t-Miss Prospect Who Nearly Failed

June 11th marks the 75th anniversary of the first no-hitter legendary Cincinnati Reds pitcher Johnny Vander Meer threw in 1938. His second no-hitter just four days later marked the only time that a major league pitcher has dealt back-to-back no-hitters in consecutive starts. The feat will likely never be matched and is virtually impossible to top, but as a can’t-miss prospect during his era, Vander Meer almost failed to realize his potential and make history.

Boston Globe: Cafardo: SUNDAY BASEBALL NOTES Four of MLB’s preseason favorites are duds

One of the great aberrations this year is that the Tigers have 15 losses in quality starts. Think about that. This is a team with one of the best offenses in baseball. As of Friday, they held a 2½-game lead over the Indians. If they had won, say, five of those games, they’d have a 7½-game lead. [...]

Gregg Clifton, a sports law attorney and longtime player agent, thinks that while Tony Bosch may have a credibility issue that will certainly be challenged in appeals by players who may ...

EyeOn Baseball (Dayn Perry): The top 25 most awesome names of the MLB draft, 2013

22. Harrison Musgrave (Phillies, 991st overall)
Sounds like: presidential historian, tenured Dartmouth professor, MSNBC contributor. Unfulfilled in his marriage, but there’s value in keeping up appearances.

This BaseballThinkFactory link is about baseball. And John Hughes films. And stuff.

Forbes: Are More Old Timers Days in Baseball’s Future?

For the first time since 1999, two baseball teams will be celebrating an Old-Timers Day (OTD). For the last 14 years, the Yankees alone have spent the time and money to the honor their elders.  This year, the Dodgers will be joining them, with a game to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Dodgers beating the Yankees in the 1963 World Series.  Their opponent will be a select group of old-timer Yankee vets.  [...]

Since then, Old-Timer games have withered away, with the last non-Yankee OTD ...

Boston Globe: Why do baseball games take so long?  Game times are up more than 30 minutes over 40 years ago, but little change seems to be coming

“I partly blame it on Velcro,” said Scully, now in his 63d year in the booth, referring to the advent of batting gloves and players’ tendency to adjust them unceasingly during at-bats. (While it’s unclear who was first to use them, Ken Harrelson is widely credited with popularizing them in the 1960s.)

“In the old days,” Scully said, “there was no nonsense, no fussing.” [...]

There is one thing that seems to have been effective, and could be effective again. Rewind to 2007, to ...

Piecoro: Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon McCarthy recovering from seizure

Right-hander Brandon McCarthy, who needed emergency surgery after being struck on the head by a line drive last season, suffered a seizure last week.

The Diamondbacks pitcher said Saturday he’s fine now and is hopeful it won’t push back his recovery from shoulder inflammation.

McCarthy was at a restaurant in north Phoenix with his wife, Amanda, on Monday night when the incident occurred.After he slumped over in a booth, Amanda climbed across, pushed the table away and called for help.

Mets option Ike Davis, Robert Carson, and Mike Baxter to Triple-A Las Vegas

The Mets have optioned Ike Davis, Robert Carson, and Mike Baxter to Triple-A Las Vegas, quite possibly the biggest in-season shakeup of the team’s roster since Sandy Alderson took over as general manager.

Davis is, of course, the biggest name of the three, as he’s been with the Mets since he was recalled from the minors early in the 2010 season. For the second straight year, though, he’s struggled mightily at the plate. In 207 plate appearances this year, he hit just .161/.242/.258, one of the ...

Reusse: Ignorant of top MLB draftees? That’s your fault

There is a certain puzzlement to the MLB Draft, more in the format of the early portion of the draft, than in the backgrounds of the top players. Anyone who wants to can get more information on the top draft choices than ever before, through the herculean efforts of ESPN.com, MLB.com and the pioneer of draft coverage, Baseball America.

Now that there’s a limit for total signing bonuses leveled on each team, the Jonathan Mayos of the baseball world are producing mock drafts for the first 40,50 ...

Chipper Jones outs himself as flaming racist

Chipper: D-Bag/maximum load capacity.

Former Braves star, famous for 18-month extramarital affair with a Hooters waitress which produced a son, shows incredible lack of sensitivity and shocking grasp of basic English language skills in wildly racist Tweet

What is it about the Atlanta Braves? Don’t they do sensitivity training down there? We all remember John Rocker, but, now Chipper Jones has thrown his stetson firmly into the ‘outrageously racist’ ring with an unbelievably immature, ...

Yahoo:  Ed Lucas’ 10-year wait is finally over

Not too many guys finally make the Show at age 31, after 10 years in the minors.  And even fewer of those guys have an Ivy League degree they could’ve used to get a “real” job.  I knew Ed in college, and he’s a good guy, and this kind of perserverence is worth a hat-tip.

Bantz’s big day gets a big boost from home plate umpire

Informed by the video board of Bantz’s baptismal at-bat Saturday, the Safeco Field crowd greeted him with a standing ovation that almost certainly set a baseball record for Longest Applause Given to an Obscure Minor Leaguer.

“It brought chills to my body,” said the catcher, whose longtime fantasy of a big league debut never broached the possibility he would be embraced by a standing ovation.

“I really didn’t know what to do,” Bantz said. “I remember ...

Werner: Royals’ can’t-miss prospects have missed

Hey, try waiting around for Brian Trifiolis to blossom...uhh, be discovered.

This was supposed to be the year for the Kansas City Royals, the climax of all those of futile seasons, subsequent high draft pick selections, and constant rebuilding. In a perfect world the images of James Shields, Wade Davis, Ervin Santana and Jeremy Guthrie donning Kansas City uniforms would never exist.

After all, just two seasons prior to beginning the year with the four veteran right-handers in the rotation, ...

Madden: At risk to own game, Bud Selig goes after juicers to clean up legacy

R. Budd Selig: Baseball people have said, ‘Why bother, no one cares.’ ‘You look foolish’.

As his team of investigators continues to vigilantly sift through evidence and testimony from a lowlife south Florida drug dealer — evidence that could bring down two of the game’s biggest stars, even though they haven’t officially tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs — there are people all around the professional sports scene asking: Has Bud Selig gone completely mad?

Selig’s ...

Mets dump Ankiel, promote Nieuwenhuis

The other day from Harold Reynolds…“Every time I look up…Rick Ankiel is getting a hit for the Mets!”

After Rick Ankiel went hitless in four at-bats and struck out three times in Saturday’s 20-inning game off the bench, upping his futility streak to 2-for-his-last-35, the Mets designated the outfielder for assignment and will promote Kirk Nieuwenhuis from Triple-A Las Vegas.

Nieuwenhuis has eight homers in 16 games with the 51s since May 22, although overall he is hitting only .232 with 40 ...

Ventura dispels ‘whisper’ he wants out

Whisper leaks: It’s about not being confident every day of the month.

Robin Ventura says he has no plans to abandon ship as his team struggles to win games.

The Sox salvaged a 4-1 victory Saturday, but have dropped 10 of their last 12.

“For one reason or another, there is a whisper that because it is going the way it is, I am not going to come back,” Ventura said before the game. “That is the furthest thing from the truth. For me, I’m in it for as long as I’m in it, and then you go from ...

AZ Republic: Diamondbacks select ASU baseball’s Cory Hahn in MLB draft

The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Arizona State’s Cory Hahn, paralyzed from mid-chest down during a head-first slide in February 2011, in the 34th round of the major league draft Saturday.

Hahn has continued as a student coach at ASU since his accident.

ESPN: Pettitte Earns 250th Win

Lots of milestones:

Pettitte allowed three hits over 7 1/3 innings to earn his 250th career victory, leading the Yankees to a 3-1 win over the Seattle Mariners. The 47th pitcher in major league history to reach that milestone, he will turn 41 on June 15. But what happened just as the game ended meant even more to him. His first-born son, Josh Pettitte, a right-hand pitcher for Deer Park (Texas) High School, was drafted by the Yankees in the 37th round in the Major League Baseball draft.
. . . ...

Washington Nationals’ dream season is turning into a nightmare

Roughly two months and 60 aimless games after they entered the season as World Series favorites, the brightest hope for the Washington Nationals on Friday was the fact that they had been rained out for a second consecutive game.

The sky is falling.