Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 4/30/2014
Add another pitcher to list of Tommy John surgery patients. This seems to be happening at least twice a week. The latest to join the club is Oakland Athletics right-hander A.J. Griffin, set to go under the knife on Wednesday. The immediate future didn’t look good for Griffin in mid-March when he developed flexor tendinitis […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry
The Washington Nationals will certainly miss Bryce Harper in left field for the next two months. But in the meantime, one of Harper’s replacements is doing his best to keep us entertained.
In the third inning of the Nats’ 4-3 win over the Astros on Tuesday, Kevin Frandsen played a carom off the left-field wall in perhaps the most creative — or lucky — way possible. Drifting back on Jason Castro’s fly ball to left, Frandsen knew it was going to hit the wall and turned back toward the infield. But he instinctively stuck his glove out behind his back and caught the ricochet.
“Just in case,” he said afterwards. Making it look natural, Frandsen then threw the ball toward home plate, preventing Dexter Fowler from scoring.
Could he even do that again if he tried? Maybe Frandsen just provided MLB with an idea for a new skills competition during All-Star Weekend: a baseball version of H-O-R-S-E.
Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 4/25/2014
It took about a month for MLB to figure out what constituted a catch under the expanded guidelines of instant replay this season. But executives, players and umpires have gotten together to stop a strict interpretation of the “transfer rule” that had made previously simple plays unnecessarily complex. As reported by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, […]
Screen cap (MLB.com)
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 4/23/2014
Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda was ejected from Wednesday’s game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park for having pine tar on his neck. The incident occurred in the second inning after Boston manager John Farrell asked umpires to check Pineda for a foreign substance. Home plate umpire Gerry Davis noticed a smear on the right […]
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Ian Casselberry
Signing pitcher Josh Johnson to a one-year, $8 million contract was viewed as a savvy offseason move for the Padres. If the right-hander stayed healthy, San Diego could have an ace-caliber starter for about one-third the price of what a No. 1 starter typically costs on the open market nowadays. Unfortunately, Johnson won’t have thrown […]
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 4/22/2014
For the most part, it’s still too early in the 2014 MLB season to make any grand declarations. But after three weeks, we can safely say that the Diamondbacks have been the biggest disappointment in baseball. After Monday’s 5-1 loss to the Cubs, the D-Backs are now 5-17. They’ve lost nine of their past 10 […]
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 4/21/2014
Demonstrations of authority like the one Nationals manager Matt Williams exerted on Saturday by benching Bryce Harper for not running out a groundball are why the team hired him. Williams was brought in to be a stricter disciplinarian — a hard-ass contrast to Davey Johnson, who was more of a players manager, content to let his […]
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Ian Casselberry
If there’s good news about Ivan Nova’s pitching injury, it’s that the Yankees now know why he pitched so badly on Saturday. But the bad news is significant. Nova has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, which very likely means his 2014 season is over and the Yankees have a major […]
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 4/20/2014
The trade for Alex Gonzalez had "desperation" written all over it from Day 1. #Tigers — Tony Paul | Detroit News (@TonyPaul1984) April 20, 2014
BrooklynCyclones.com
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 4/15/2014
One of the greatest collisions of baseball and pop culture occurred when Keith Hernandez appeared on Seinfeld in 1992. The former Mets first baseman was a guest-star on a one-hour episode titled “The Boyfriend,” in which Jerry meets Hernandez and the two strike up a friendship (fueled by Seinfeld’s man-crush). To commemorate the 25th anniversary […]
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Ian Casselberry
Making certain plays more complicated or telling fans that what they think is an out — and has always been an out for as long as we’ve watched the game — probably isn’t what MLB had in mind when implementing a wider version of instant replay this year. Yet two weeks into the 2014 season, […]
Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 4/10/2014
Jake Peavy might want to roll himself up in bubble wrap until his next start. Just in case, because two other players involved in the three-team trade between the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox have suffered season-ending injuries. White Sox outfielder Avisail Garcia injured his left shoulder while attempting to make […]
Andrew Richardson-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Ian Casselberry
Deciding whether or not to retire numbers can present a dilemma for professional sports teams. What is the criteria for taking a number out of circulation to honor a franchise great and ensure that no other player will ever wear it again? Should the standard for retired numbers be the Hall of Fame? That’s certainly […]
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Ian Casselberry on 4/9/2014
Never slide head-first into first base, kids. Josh Hamilton is the latest cautionary tale against this practice, injuring his left thumb in the Angels’ 5-3 loss to the Mariners Tuesday night. An MRI exam on Wednesday revealed a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in the thumb,
Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
0 comments by Ian Casselberry
Do baseball games need to be shorter? I’m presuming most everyone would like to see MLB contests clock in at less than three hours. It feels like something of a relief any time that happens. Yet some would like to see shorter ballgames become a far more regular occurrence and are willing to consider drastic […]
