Top News:
Adam Rubin / NY Daily News:
Nationals blow away Mets — Nelson Figueroa knows about bush league baseball. After all, he's toured the world trying to resurrect his major league career. — But not until Monday night did Figueroa witness a truly amateurish display, the Mets pitcher suggested.
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Adam Rubin / Surfing the Mets:
Whoa Nellie! Figueroa rips Nats' chants — Mild-mannered Nelson Figueroa was livid at the Washington Nationals on Monday night for what he described as bush-league chanting coming from their dugout. “They were cheerleading in the dugout like a bunch of softball girls,” …
ESPN.com:
Gossage: There's no room for Joba's antics in MLB — Hall of Famer Goose Gossage has some issues with New York Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain's expressive celebrations on the pitcher's mound. — “There's no place for it in the game,” Gossage told reporters Monday during a tour of the Hall of Fame, according to MLB.com.
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Associated Press:
Gossage takes emotional tour in Cooperstown — COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Rich Gossage isn't so tough anymore. — The grit the Goose personified on the mound as a fearsome relief pitcher in a 21-year major league career was long gone Monday as he toured baseball's Hall of Fame and pondered his impending induction on July 27.
Kat O'Brien / Newsday:
Yankees pull Igawa out of rotation — ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Kei Igawa's one start this season was bad enough for the Yankees to pull him from the rotation. — Igawa gave up six earned runs and 11 hits in three innings plus four hitters when he faced the Tigers on Friday.
Discussion:
IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT IS
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Associated Press:
A-Rod unlikely to play this week; Posada throwing
A-Rod unlikely to play this week; Posada throwing
Discussion:
Fox Sports, Boston Herald, IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT IS, Mets Merized Online and The Transaction Guy
Peter Abraham / The LoHud Yankees Blog:
Game 39: Yankees at Rays
Game 39: Yankees at Rays
Discussion:
Big Apple Sports, Pinstripe Alley, The Bronx Block, Yankees Blog, Zell's Pinstripe Blog and iYankees
Nick Cafardo / Boston Globe:
Twins win again — The Twins have taken three out of four here at the Metrodome by virtue of a 7-3 win over the Red Sox tonight. The Sox scored three in the first inning against Livan Hernandez and never scored again against Hernandez, who went the first six innings to improve to 6-1, and the Twins' bullpen.
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Pizza Cutter / Statistically Speaking:
On the 100 pitch limit — Who decided that starting pitchers were only allowed to throw 100 pitches? OK, so we can use the eyeball test to see that pitchers usually aren't usually as sharp in the seventh inning as they were in the first. And there surely must be a point where it would behoove …
Discussion:
THE BOOK
Ken Gurnick / MLB.com:
Dodgers place shortstop Furcal on DL — Club expected to purchase Maza's contract from Triple-A — MILWAUKEE — Shortstop Rafael Furcal had to be placed on the 15-day disabled list on Monday when his lower back injury turned out to be worse than the club had believed.
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Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com:
Cabrera turns unassisted triple play — Second baseman snags liner, jumps on second and tags runner — CLEVELAND — Asdrubal Cabrera has a way of making the amazing defensive play look routine. — But this was a bit ridiculous. — Shortly after he turned just the 14th unassisted triple play …
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Alex Eisenberg / Hardball Times:
Is Clayton Kershaw worth the hype? — “Clayton Kershaw's curveball scares children” “Clayton Kershaw's curveball is public enemy number one” — Just a couple of the high heaps of praise that surround Dodgers pitching prospect Clayton Kershaw, known by many to be the best pitching prospect in all of baseball.
Juan C. Rodriguez / Sun-Sentinel:
Tigers' Jacque Jones would like to head south — CINCINNATI - Given the opportunity to decide, outfielder Jacque Jones' first choice might be to join the Marlins. That's what Jones, who the Tigers designated for assignment last week, told an associate. — For now, Jones has no control over his next destination.
Peter Abraham / The LoHud Yankees Blog:
A few injury updates — Whenever the Yankees play the Rays in St. Petersburg, the injured players on the 40-man roster who are assigned to the team complex in Tampa usually come by. — So here are some updates on those guys: — Jeff Karstens (groin strain): He threw three innings …
New York Post:
INJURED DUQUE MAKING PROGRESS — By MIKE PUMA in New York and MARK HALE in Port St. Lucie, Fla. — Orlando Hernandez, still rehabbing from a strained tendon in his right foot, threw without a boot for a second straight day in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and indicated he could be throwing off the mound within a week.
Gordon Wittenmyer / Chicago Sun Times:
Cubs expected to sign Edmonds — The Cubs appear poised to sign veteran center fielder Jim Edmonds soon after he clears waivers Wednesday. — That would mean a demotion to the minors for touted prospect Felix Pie, who entered Monday with a .222 average and strikeouts in one-third of his plate appearances.
Evan Grant / Dallas Morning News:
Homer in 10th gives Texas Rangers 13-12 win — egrant@dallasnews.com — ARLINGTON - This one should have never been in doubt. Not when the Rangers fell behind Erik Bedard by five runs in the first inning. And not when they blew a four-run, ninth-inning lead.
Bill Conlin / Philly.com:
Suddenly there are more experts than strikeouts in Ryan Howard's slump — They have aligned themselves into three distinct groups: The “Tell Him to Try This” hitting coaches. The “Get Rid of the Bum” bashers. The “Just Leave Him Alone - He'll Be Fine” partisans.
Discussion:
Baseball Musings
ESPN:
NAKED CAME THE PITCHER — America's retro-park craze has yet to reach Japan's shores. There is no Camden Yards here — half the teams in Nippon Professional Baseball play in domed stadiums, including the Fighters. Built in 2002 for soccer's World Cup, the Sapporo Dome has foul territory …