Top News:
Peter Abraham / The LoHud Yankees Blog:
Game 122: Yankees at Red Sox — YANKEES (76-45) — Pitching: LHP Andy Pettitte (9-6, 4.09). — RED SOX (69-51) — Ellsbury CF — Pedroia 2B — Martinez C — Youkilis 1B — Bay LF — Ortiz DH — Lowell 3B — Drew RF — Gonzalez SS — Pitching: RHP Brad Penny (7-7, 5.22).
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Yahoo! Sports:
Drew, Lester lead Red Sox past Blue Jays — Buzz up! — TORONTO (AP)—With J.D. Drew — rested and refreshed, the Boston Red Sox are on a roll. — Drew homered twice, Jon Lester — pitched eight strong innings and the Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-1 on Thursday night to complete a three-game sweep.
Discussion:
Boston Globe, Yahoo! Sports, Red Sox Monster, The Bottom Line, NESN.com, Surviving Grady, Pinstripe Alley and Associated Press
Nick Cafardo / Boston Globe:
Sox recall Bowden; Baldelli activated — The Red Sox have recalled righthanded pitcher Michael Bowden from Triple A Pawtucket, a team source confirmed to the Globe's Nick Cafardo this afternoon. — Bowden, whom the Sox will use out of the bullpen, replaces reliever Fernando Cabrera on the roster.
Jon Heyman / Sports Illustrated:
Wagner, 38, claimed; Mets now have next move … Mets reliever Billy Wagner has been claimed, SI.com has learned. — It is not known which team claimed the 38-year-old. The Mets now have three days to work out a deal with the claiming team. By making the claim, the claiming team shows …
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Ben Nicholson-Smith / MLB Rumors:
Billy Wagner Claimed On Waivers — 3:06pm: Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel says it's “almost inconceivable” that the Marlins would commit to about $3.5MM for a six week rental. — 2:28pm: Jon Heyman of SI.com reports that an unknown team has claimed Billy Wagner on waivers.
Yahoo! Sports:
Continuity breeds success for Angels — Buzz up! — The Los Angeles Angels' clubhouse is a domicile for sameness. They've listened to the same music for years. They perform the same handshakes. They follow the same routines. They celebrate wins in the same manner.
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New York Post:
‘LOADED HANDGUN’ FINALLY GOES OFF — IT is the 2009 Mets. So, of course, the story never gets better. Only more humiliating. Only more dispiriting. Only more bizarre. — SHERMAN ON TWITTER — Gary Sheffield went from on his best behavior to, well, being Gary Sheffield.
Discussion:
Hardball, Newsday, Amazin' Avenue, MetsBlog.com, The LoHud Mets Blog, Mets Merized Online and MLB Rumors
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Dan Barbarisi / Projo Sox Blog:
Chris Duncan, player acquired for Julio Lugo, is released — The man the Red Sox acquired in the Julio Lugo trade, outfielder Chris Duncan, has been released after less than a month with Boston. — Duncan, who is playing with Triple-A Pawtucket, was told of his release after flying out to right field to end tonight's game.
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Richard Durrett / Texas Rangers:
Remember Joba rules? Rangers have Neftali rules. — When the New York Yankees brought Joba Chamberlain up in 2007, they had Joba rules. For every inning he pitched, he got a day off. In Chamberlain's case, that applied on the front end too (he could pitch two innings if he had two days off before the outing).
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Chico Harlan / Nationals Journal:
Team President Stan Kasten Explains GM Search — As I told you guys, I thought it was important when we made the change [in March] — even though I had a lot of confidence in Mike, which has been rewarded and justified — I thought it was a good opportunity for the franchise to do a thorough …
Yankees Blog:
Marte expected back tonight — BOSTON — Reliever Damaso Marte, out since April with an injured left shoulder, is expected to rejoin the Yankees bullpen tonight for the series opener with the Red Sox. — It's possible the Yankees could go with 13 pitchers and send down a position player …
Associated Press:
At Little League World Series, Hall of Famer Jim Rice says major league players are not good role models for youngsters — SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Jim Rice's advice to Little Leaguers: Don't use today's major leaguers as role models. — Speaking to players before the start …
Discussion:
The LoHud Yankees Blog, Deadspin, Pinstripe Alley, WasWatching.com and The Sommer Frieze
Jeff Pearlman:
Yankees win! Thhhhheeeee ... Yankees win! — I live in New York, land of baseball. — I love it here in the summer, because the games matter and the fans are intense and all anyone wants to talk about is Yankees! Yankees! Yankees! (and, sometimes, mets, mets, mets).
Jerry Crasnick / ESPN:
It's all or nothing with Reynolds — Diamondbacks slugger's career off to a Schmidt-like start, despite the strikeouts — When the Arizona Diamondbacks pulled into New York for a series against the Mets in late July, manager A.J. Hinch gave his hitters a brief tutorial on the hazards of Citi Field.
Thomas Boswell / Nationals Journal:
Quiz: Who Is Nyjer Morgan? — I wanted to see how Nyjer Morgan compared to other base-stealing leadoff men who played centerfield, had little power, didn't walk much but slapped-hit their way on base. — In part, I wanted to find this out because the stat-crabs like to nag that Morgan …
Discussion:
Oleanders and Morning Glories
Vivaelpujols / Beyond the Box Score:
The Angels and Pythag — More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP — The Angels are once again overachieving and are on top the AL West. — Browse more photos » — If you'll head over to Halo's Heaven and search for “Pythag”, you'll be greeted with much disdain for the word.
