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CJ Wilson was scaring fans by throwing baseballs at them

Yes, there was a screen between the fans and Wilson, but this was still pretty hilarious. Imagine walking along the street in Manhattan, seeing CJ Wilson smiling and waving…and then having a fastball come at you. Terrifying, right? If you were in the same position as these fans, you’d probably get a little jumpy too.

Oblivious fan nearly gets killed by line drive

During Tuesday night’s Orioles-Rays game, Steve Pearce of the Orioles turned on an inside changeup from Brad Boxberger and hit a screaming liner foul behind the Orioles dugout. The line drive safely landed in the seats without hitting any fans, but look at these two geniuses that the ball split. They’re sitting in the first row behind the dugout, chatting away without a care in the world…and dude in the white shirt nearly gets a line drive to the forehead.

Moral of the story – if you’re sitting in a premium seat without a net in front of you, WATCH THE DAMN GAME.

Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Dugout Digest – red hot

Troy Tulowitzki is a freak right now. After a 3/5 night against the Rangers on Tuesday, he’s hitting an otherworldly .421/.522/.794 this season. His 242 wRC+ is nearly 50 points ahead of his closest competitor, Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays, and is better than the marks that Barry Bonds put together in three of […]

Jesse Chavez flashes quick reflexes on comebacker

If Jesse Chavez was a split second slower or Michael Saunders’ line drive was hit a hair differently, this could have been a scary moment. Instead, it’s an incredible defensive play.

In the 4th inning of Monday night’s game in Oakland, Saunders hit a screamer right at Chavez on the mound. Luckily, Chavez was able to get his glove up in time — not only was he able to save himself from getting hit in the head, but he made the catch to end the inning. Chavez was knocked to the ground on the play, and after the initial shock wore off, he picked himself up and walked off, visibly letting out a sigh of relief.

Chavez continued to pitch into the 6th inning, but left the game with Oakland trailing, 4-3. The slender right-hander has been one of the bigger surprises in the American League to this point — even after surrendering 4 runs on 7 hits to the Mariners Tuesday night, Chavez is carrying a 2.47 ERA and has struck out 44 batters in 43.2 innings, walking just 10.

Pirates win on first-ever walkoff challenge

We have another instant replay First — the Pittsburgh Pirates are the first team to win a game directly as a result of challenging a play on the field. Starling Marte hit a two-out triple in the bottom of the 9th, and tried to score when Ehire Adrianza threw the ball away. After initially being called out at home, replay showed that Buster Posey wasn’t able to make contact on the swipe tag until after Marte’s hand hit home (in a fun twist, if it weren’t for another new rule — the one nicknamed after him — Posey could have blocked the plate and possibly sent the game into extras).

While a delayed walkoff celebration isn’t as fun as an instant one, at least game-changing calls are being corrected. And I’m sure the Pirates would much rather wait a few minutes to celebrate than get a repeat of the infamous Jerry Meals call.

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Yankees have bigger concerns than benching Derek Jeter

No one may have been more relieved by Derek Jeter getting two hits on Monday night than Joe Girardi. That’s not to say the Yankees manager was completely relieved afterwards. The Yankees lost to the Angels, 4-1, and Girardi was ejected for arguing balls and strikes in a clownish display by umpire Laz Diaz. Following […]

David Price got all sorts of liquids dumped on him at the MLB Fan Cave

Rays teammates David Price and Chris Archer were at the MLB Fan Cave this week taping a segment for Tuesday night’s MLB Off the Bat on MTV2. Price, Archer, and show hosts Melanie Iglesias and Chris Distefano took part in a game called “splash pong”, which is beer pong with buckets full of various substances. When a shot is sank, instead of drinking the contents, you’re forced to dump them over your head. Price and Iglesias lost, and the former Cy Young winner got the worst of it – he was forced to dump milk, Gatorade, and soap bubbles on his head, while Archer only had to dump the Gatorade and soap onto himself.

Archer even got the upper hand after his team won the game, taking the remaining bucket of milk and throwing it onto his much higher paid teammate. We’ll see if Archer’s success in the…splash pong game translates to the mound, which Archer will take on Tuesday as the Rays host the Orioles at Tropicana Field.

Rob Leifheit-USA TODAY Sports

The most exciting walk offs of the week (May 6th edition)

There were a lot of exciting walk offs this week – homers, extra innings thrillers, come from behind craziness…this week had it all. April 30th, Rockies vs Diamondbacks – Montero caps it. It looked like this was going to be another depressing Diamondbacks loss…until Miguel Montero did what he did in the bottom of the […]

Laz Diaz once again decided to make a spectacle out of himself last night

On Monday night, Laz Diaz gave the 39,701 fans at Angel Stadium what they wanted when he put on a show in the eighth inning before ejecting Yankees pitcher Shawn Kelley. After Kelley jawed with Diaz for what he felt was a tight strike zone, Diaz spent ten seconds essentially brushing Kelley off and antagonizing him before ejecting him from the game. The crowd roared with pleasure at their hero put himself front and center over the overpaid athletes who bring in no money for their teams at all.

In all serious, Diaz should probably be suspended for this. The best umpires don’t make a show out of themselves – they fade into the background and fit seamlessly into the game (unless you’re Jim Joyce and his absurdly loud strikeout call). Umpires like Diaz are a joke, and we really need less of them in the game. Even though Kelley was in the wrong and shouldn’t have gone after him, Diaz needs to not egg on a player like he did – it’s an absolute joke.

Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

Dugout Digest – three similar, yet different, games

  Three different extra innings games took place on Monday night. Two of those games ended in 12 innings, and one ended in 13. In Pittsburgh, the Giants beat the Pirates 11-10 in 13 innings, coming back from an eight run deficit, tying the game in the ninth, and taking the lead in the 13th […]

David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

Heath Bell’s painful three-year slide to being DFA’ed

When the topic of expensive, multi-year contracts for closers comes up, Heath Bell will almost certainly be pointed to as a cautionary tale. Actually, he’s been a warning against long-term investments in relievers since signing a three-year, $27 million contract with the Miami Marlins before the 2012 season. Bell was designated for assignment by the […]

Fox Sports Live reflects on the story of Matt Bush

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7rO8UT4J28

When you hear about the biggest MLB Draft busts of all-time, the name Matt Bush is always one of the first names to come up. Ten years ago, the Padres drafted Bush first overall, ahead of now-established MLB stars like Justin Verlander, Stephen Drew, Jered Weaver, and Billy Butler, among others. Today, Bush is in a Florida jail. No one is saying that you need to feel sorry for Bush and the numerous mistakes he’s made in his career, but his story is a perfect example of what can happen when life starts to spiral out of control quickly.

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

This week in replay reviews (May 5th edition)

Another week of replay is in the books, and with the transfer rule clarified, that won’t be an issue anymore…well, we thought it wouldn’t be. April 29th, Mariners vs Yankees – Zunino can hustle. Mike Zunino is a catcher, and predictably doesn’t run too well. So when he has the opportunity to get an infield […]

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Dugout Digest – the knotted east

Here’s a word to the wise – don’t count *any* team out in either of the Eastern divisions this season. In the NL East, the Braves are still on top, but their lead is just 1.5 games – over the last place Marlins and Phillies, that is. The Nationals are just one-half game behind, and […]

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Dugout Digest – wild comebacks

The Game of the Day featured below is one of the nuttiest games we’ve seen all year, but there were quite a few games that nearly matched the drama of that one. -The A’s were down 6-0 to the Red Sox going into the ninth inning, but managed to score three times and bring the […]

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