This is starting to get bizarre: The intrigue about “Ballgate” continued this morning when a Cincinnati Reds clubhouse attendant who is in charge of rubbing up the baseballs, stopped by Cardinals manager Tony La Russa’s office to tell his side of the story as to how the balls used in the game seemed so slick […]

Varitek’s pitch calling ability is the stuff of myth, legend, and outright fiction. And as of right now, he can’t do ANYTHING. Can’t hit, can’t throw, can’t block pitches, can’t run. If I forgot something, just assume that he can’t do it. There’s an argument to be made that he is the worst player in […]

The mound is too steep. The balls weren’t properly rubbed. The other guys are cheating. Just another day in St. Louis: [Dave] Duncan, who said the umpires told him the baseballs indeed were rubbed up, said Arroyo was able to deal with the issue because “I’m sure he had pine tar on his cap. He […]

I experienced my first symptoms of playoff fever this morning. I’m going to try to rest and take fluids, but I don’t think I can fight it off much longer . . . Joe Mauer is a thief! The Blue Jays pay for about 1/12 of Vernon Wells’ 2010 raise. The Mets’ doctors: their diagnosis […]

We all had a lot of fun with the Derek Jeter thing yesterday, but I think today brought the absolute best comment ever: Who of any of you have the right to call the number one hitter ,an all star,a local hero to thousands of Yankee fans a thief.99% of you could not carry his […]

Lincecum and Cain should just kiss already: SN: If you could take from both of you to build some kind of four-pitch robo-ace, which pitches of each of yours would you want to have? Lincecum: I would take his knuckleball. Cain: (laughing) It’s not very good. We’re taking his changeup no matter what. We know […]

If you would have told me that either (a) the tough future Hall of Famer John Smoltz; or (b) the flaky Bronson Arroyo would be whining about the quality of the baseballs in a given game, I would have guessed (b) in a heartbeat. Shows you what I know: Starter John Smoltz and manager Tony […]

I actually wouldn’t mind if he’s behind the plate for Josh Beckett’s Game 2 start — Varitek’s presence is of apparent importance to the pitcher, and that’s worth something. I just don’t want to see him digging in to the batter’s box for a meaningful late-inning at-bat. Heck, I’d rather see the suddenly available Eric […]

Tigers 7, Twins 2: I’ve seen a lot of “well, whaddaya expect, Pavano sucks” comments floating around the internet since last night’s loss, but it’s all from New York people who can’t get his time in Gotham out of their heads. Sure, he got knocked around last night, but before that he had owned the […]

California and Carolina League hardware is being handed out, and some of the brightest young stars in the game are the recipients.