Top News:
David Lennon / Newsday:
El Duque hopes new windup will work out — Moises Alou found out Wednesday of a hernia in his hip that will cause him to miss the start of the season. (Newsday/David L. Pokress) — PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Orlando Hernandez, with a revamped lower leg kick, may not look the same on the mound.
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David Lennon / Newsday:
Alou's hernia adds to Mets' injury woes — Moises Alou found out Wednesday of a hernia in his hip that will cause him to miss the start of the season. (Newsday/David L. Pokress) — PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - The Mets, despite a dizzying rash of injuries, clung tightly to the belief that they would be at full strength by Opening Day.
Discussion:
Philliesflow.com
Bart Hubbuch / New York Post:
JOHAN REBOUNDS; PEDRO IS UP NEXT — Some vintage Johan Santana gave the injury-ravaged Mets an emotional lift yesterday. — They're hoping they can say the same about Pedro Martinez tonight. — Redeeming himself after a rocky Mets debut last Friday against the Cardinals …
Discussion:
MetsBlog.com
Marty Noble / MLB.com:
Alou likely out until May — Outfielder will undergo surgery on Thursday to fix hernia — PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Each new malady to hit the Mets this spring has prompted a response of “It's better to get it out of the way early” — or some variation on that theme — from manager Willie Randolph …
Joel Sherman / New York Post:
IN DENIAL: INJURY FLURRY CAUSING NO WORRIES — It is early. Keep saying that over and over. None of these injuries is serious. Repeat that non-stop. When faced with questions of age, deny, deny, deny. — The Mets are the Black Knight in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” …
MLB.com:
Chat wrap: Frank Coonelly — Bucs' new president answers fans' questions … scubevol: Do you really think you can compete for a championship against the big-market clubs? — Coonelly: Absolutely. The Pirates will not use economics, our financial resources or the economic system of baseball as a crutch.
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Dejan Kovacevic / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:Spring Training: Middle infield center of bench attention
Discussion:
Bucs Dugout
Kelly Thesier / MLB.com:
Notes: Slowey's spot not set in stone — Adjustments needed for young right-hander to seal rotation job — TAMPA, Fla. — The assumption this past offseason was that Kevin Slowey's spot in the Twins' rotation for 2008 was all but guaranteed. — Yet there already seems …
Discussion:
Twinkie Town
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Bryan Hoch / MLB.com:
Murcer's biopsy shows no cancer — Broadcaster plans to rest before returning to Yankees' booth — TAMPA, Fla. — Bobby Murcer received “great news” on Wednesday, as a biopsy performed on his brain revealed only scar tissue and no signs of cancer. — “We are very excited about this news,” Murcer said.
Discussion:
Pinstriped Scranton
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USA Today:
Yankee Stadium set to begin its final season — Plans to raze Yankee Stadium and auction off some of its contents are being put in place by the team and New York City, but don't make any plans for a big haul of memorabilia. — Once the Yankees are settled into their new Yankee Stadium …
Jeff Goldberg / Hartford Courant:
He's Worry Free, Too — Boston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester delivers a throw while working out on the mound at the teams baseball spring training facility, in Fort Myers, Fla. (STEVEN SENNE / AP / February 24, 2008) — FORT MYERS, Fla. — Jon Lester hasn't had a normal spring for three years.
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Mark Feinsand / NY Daily News:
Cano plans on Star turn in first half — TAMPA - Robinson Cano has hit .342 and .306 in the past two seasons, but he believes there's a lot of room for improvement. — Last season, Cano batted .274 before the All-Star break, then hit .343 in the second half.
Peter Scrivener / BBC:
GB's Olympic baseball dream ends — British Baseball has called UK Sport short-sighted after being forced to pull out of a final Olympic qualifying tournament which starts on Friday. — Team GB have been unable to raise the £40,000 needed to fund the trip to the competition in Taiwan …
ESPN:
Report: HOF to display Bonds ball by Opening Day — Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball — which owner Marc Ecko said he would brand with an asterisk and send to the Baseball Hall of Fame to comply with the results of an Internet poll — could be on display at the Cooperstown, N.Y., museum by Opening Day.
Art Garfamudis / ESPN:
Stop the revolution . . . I want to get off — So Jeremy Brown has called it quitskies, huh? You'd think that the retirement of a guy who is built somewhat like me would make me sad, but it doesn't. Instead, I danced a hora when I heard it. — At least, I did the dance after the person …
Discussion:
ShysterBall
Tyler Kepner / New York Times:
Taking Control of His Future — TAMPA, Fla. — Ian Kennedy was not the kind of kid who taped a strike zone to the side of a wall and threw at it all day long. He did not pester friends or family to catch him in the backyard. Kennedy loved to pitch, but there was no need to practice.
Rick Morrissey / Chicago Tribune:
Sox have rhetoric, but what's behind words? — The new ad campaign for the White Sox is “Share the Passion, Show the Swagger,” and it hits all the right notes, as far as those things go. — But I would like to go on record as saying “Show Some Life, For Crying Out Loud” didn't get a fair shake.
Discussion:
South Side Sox
Michael O'Keeffe / NY Daily News:
Congressman Anthony Weiner asks FBI to end Roger Clemens investigation — America has bigger problems than Roger Clemens and steroids, Rep. Anthony Weiner said Wednesday. — The New York Democrat called on the FBI to end its investigation into whether the Rocket lied to Congress.
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