Top News:
Mike Lupica / NY Daily News:
Lupica: Mets, Yankees enjoying the view — The opening of the fancy ballparks was supposed to be the start of the baseball season in New York. But two months later, it feels as if the good parts are about to start now, as if April and May were just some out of town tryout.
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Sean McAdam / Boston Herald:
Terry Francona boils over — Treated for high BP after ejection — MINNEAPOLIS - As the Red Sox [team stats] showered, dressed and packed for Toronto, the middle stop on their three-city road trip, emergency medical technicians attended to manager Terry Francona in the trainer's room of the visitors clubhouse yesterday afternoon.
Discussion:
Boston Globe
Jon Weisman / Dodger Thoughts:
Troncoso's huge strikeouts preserve Dodgers victory — Nibblers. Dinks. It looked as if the Dodgers' comeuppance had come up. Nursing a 2-1 lead with Jonathan Broxton unavailable, the Dodgers and Manager Joe Torre placed all their faith in Ramon Troncoso — even letting him bat …
Discussion:
GoatRiders of the Apocalypse, Bleed Cubbie Blue, Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness, 6-4-2 and True Blue LA
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Jon Weisman / Dodger Thoughts:
Dodger bullpen is not overworked — The 2009 Dodger bullpen is averaging 3.38 innings per game. The 2009 major-league average is 3.21 bullpen innings per game. The best team in baseball in this category is Pittsburgh, with 2.76 relief innings per game. — In short, despite all the concern …
Discussion:
6-4-2
Tom Gage / Detroit News:
Jim Leyland steamed after Tigers' loss — Baltimore — Once or twice a season. — That's how often the post-game fire within manager Jim Leyland burns so intensely that it eventually fries his patience. — Thursday night's 5-1 loss to the Orioles was one of those times.
Discussion:
Bless You Boys
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Jeff Zrebiec / Baltimore Sun:
O's Hernandez makes most of debut — Rookie allows one run in 5 2/3 innings as O's win season-best fourth straight — The more anticipated major league debut comes Friday when the Orioles' top prospect Matt Wieters takes his first big league swings in front of what's expected to be a packed crowd at Camden Yards.
Baltimore Sun:
Four ejected in Red Sox win — Cubs ace Zambrano suspended six games — Jason Varitek hit two home runs, then was one of four people ejected by young umpire Todd Tichenor during separate arguments in the seventh inning of the Boston Red Sox's 3-1 victory over the host Minnesota Twins.
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Tyler Kepner / New York Times:
Phil Coke Is a Go-To Guy in Yankees' Depleted Bullpen — The Yankees arrived in Cleveland on Thursday with fewer problems than they have had all season. — Their fearsome lineup is welcoming back Jorge Posada. Their deep rotation has a starter to spare in Chien-Ming Wang.
Spencer Fordin / MLB.com:
Welcome, Matt: Wieters debuts tonight — Highly touted Orioles catcher rocketed through Minors — BALTIMORE — Nothing about this situation is normal. — When Matt Wieters makes his Major League debut tonight, he'll do so with the unremitting glare of a media spotlight that has been trained on him ever since he was drafted.
Chuck Finder / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Pirates Draft Outlook: Boras not factor in making first pick — The midnight-deadline wrangling. The 2 1/2-month machinations. The tense and terse times that included a grievance, a hearing and legal eagles from both Major League Baseball and the players association.
Discussion:
Where Have You Gone …
Maury Brown / The Biz of Baseball:
MLB on Blackout Policy: “There's still more work to be done” — There was hope in August of last year, albeit thin, that Major League Baseball was finally ready to make good on their efforts to address the television territories in the league that was creating so much consumer outrage when coupled with MLB's blackout policy.
Discussion:
Center Field
David Ginsburg / Associated Press:
Orioles getting younger, winning and having fun — Buzz up! — BALTIMORE (AP)—The younger they get, the better the Baltimore Orioles seem to play. — And boy, are those kids having fun. — The Orioles extended their winning streak to four games Thursday night, using two home runs by Luke Scott
Jim Salisbury / Philly.com:
Myers may need surgery — After having an MRI today, Phillies pitcher Brett Myers was told that there was fraying to the labrum in his right hip, an injury that could require surgery and jeopardize the remainder of his season. — “I don't know what I am going to do,” Myers told The Inquirer.
NY Daily News:
Steroid suspect juiced to ‘be like’ Arnold Schwarzenegger — The Florida bodybuilder who told authorities that he supplied illegal performance-enhancing drugs to big-league athletes says he got into steroids because he wanted to emulate his hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Jayson Stark / ESPN:
Managing with a human touch — Terry Francona, Charlie Manuel face tough decisions concerning franchise favorites — Unlike love, literature and season finales of “The Bachelor,” baseball is an operation that allows very little room for sentiment. — But tell that to Terry Francona in Boston …
Discussion:
Yankees Blog, The Bottom Line, Balls, Sticks, & Stuff, We Should Be GM's, MLB Rumors and MetsBlog.com
Mike Berardino / Sun-Sentinel:
Ramirez held out because of groin injury — PHILADELPHIA - An injured groin kept Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez out of the lineup for Wednesday night's series finale against the Phillies, but he doesn't believe the injury is serious enough to linger. — Ramirez, who did no baseball activity …
