Top News:
Adam Lisberg / NY Daily News:
As wife packs up, is A-Rod out at home? — Rodriguez says his off-field antics won't 'be a distraction' to team — Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez vowed yesterday that revelations about his off-the-field antics wouldn't affect his play for the slumping Bombers.
Discussion:
Globe and Mail, Boston Globe, Deadspin, WasWatching.com, The Big Lead, Sports Frog, A Red Sox Fan …, With Leather and Babes Love Baseball
RELATED:
New York Post:
A-ROD PLAYING FIELD ALL OVER — SWINGER AND A MISS IN 5 CITIES — By AUSTIN FENNER in Toronto and JANA WINTER and DAN MANGAN in N.Y. … Alex Rodriguez hasn't partied only in Toronto with a mystery blonde - the Yankee superstar has also been spotted across the United States squiring around …
Discussion:
CBC News, The LoHud Yankees Blog, Hot Stove New York, Oriole Post, Can't Stop The Bleeding and River Ave. Blues
George King / New York Post:
JAYS BLAST SMART ALEX — Alex Rodriguez woke up yesterday to find himself in the middle of a sticky situation, courtesy of The Post. He went to sleep early this morning with the Blue Jays attacking him for using his mouth to distract their infielders. — In between, the Yankees broke …
Toronto Star:
A-Rod infuriates Jays as Yanks avoid sweep — Shout leads to botched fielding play by Clark — The Yankees left Toronto as victors. But that might be slim comfort as the team's biggest star heads out with his reputation in tatters after an on-field incident last night everyone connected …
Tyler Kepner / New York Times:
Rodriguez Says 'Ha,' but Jays Aren't Laughing — Somehow or other, Alex Rodriguez has said, the game always comes down to him. That is an exaggeration, of course, but it seemed inevitable on Wednesday. — Rodriguez's day at the ballpark began with a refusal to answer questions about his personal life …
Jayson Stark / ESPN:
What we've learned from May … It's almost June. So is all this really happening? — Do the Yankees really have the same record as the Devil Rays? Are the Cardinals really eight games under .500? — Does J.J. Hardy really have more home runs than Albert Pujols and Alfonso Soriano combined?
RELATED:
Bill Ladson / MLB.com:
Notes: Setback for injured Hill — Nationals right-hander to get second opinion on elbow — WASHINGTON — Nationals right-hander Shawn Hill will go to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio on Thursday and have a second opinion on his sore elbow. Dr. Mark Schickendantz will look at the elbow.
RELATED:
Joe Cowley / Chicago Sun Times:
Ozzie goes off on Ozzie ... again — MINNEAPOLIS — Wednesday was not the first time White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen put his own job security on the line. — It wasn't even the first time this season. — Back on Opening Day, Guillen told the Sun-Times: ''If [chairman] Jerry Reinsdorf or …
Discussion:
Ben Maller's Sports …
Bryan Hoch / MLB.com:
Yankees' Hughes sprains ankle — Pitcher won't be allowed on mound for four to six weeks — TORONTO — Phil Hughes, one of baseball's top pitching prospects, has a Grade 3 sprain of the left ankle that is expected to set the hurler back an additional four to six weeks in his efforts to rejoin the Yankees' Major League roster.
Nate Silver / Baseball Prospectus:
Lies, Damned Lies — Look Sharp — There are two ways to build a winning baseball team. One way is to have a few players who are extraordinarily good. Alternatively, you can have few players who are extraordinarily bad. Conversely, there are two reasons that baseball clubs fail.
ESPN:
Wife of Dukes gets protective order, seeks divorce — Tampa Bay rookie outfielder Elijah Dukes has been barred from contacting his wife for a year, and a judge also offered to order Dukes to undergo a psychiatric evaluation before he's allowed to see the couple's two young children.
John Hickey / seattlepi.com Mariners blog:
Weaver will return to Seattle rotation next week. — The Mariners have made a bit of an about-face and will not send disabled pitcher Jeff Weaver out on an injury rehabilitation assignment. — Tuesday, manager Mike Hargrove said he wanted Weaver to face some live batters in game competition.
S.L. Price / Sports Illustrated:
Dark Times for a Baseball Man — Only seven months after a World Series triumph that sealed his place among the greats, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is calling on all his smarts to cope with crises on and off the field — He was the boy wonder once, and if Tony La Russa hated that perception …
Anthony DiComo / MLB.com:
Glavine solid, but Mets fall to Giants — Lefty allows three runs, but New York shut out for first time — NEW YORK — Tom Glavine's consistency has become almost uncanny. Every time the 41-year-old lefty takes the mound, he gives the Mets a chance to win — nothing more, nothing less.
Tom D'Angelo / Palm Beach Post:
Gregg the latest recycled closer to star — Today: Marlins RHP Wes Obermueller (1-3, 5.28 ERA) vs. Brewers RHP Claudio Vargas (3-1, 4.01 ERA), 8:05 p.m., FSN — Friday: Marlins LHP Scott Olsen (4-4, 5.11 ERA) vs. Brewers RHP Jeff Suppan (6-5, 3.58 ERA), 8:05 p.m., FSN
Discussion:
FishStripes
Dan Fox / Baseball Prospectus:
Physics on Display — "All science is either physics or stamp collecting." —Ernest Rutherford (1871 - 1937) — In last week's column, we started to explore the PITCHf/x data captured by MLBAM's Gameday application by looking at some basic velocity and strike-zone data.
Discussion:
Dan Agonistes