The Major League Baseball thread

[Teh One Who Knocks]

''He had a hard time gripping the baseball. Unknown to us, he put it on and went out there,'' Girardi said. ''It's a young kid. I don't think he's trying to do anything, cheat. I think he's just trying to go out there and compete.''

[Teh One Who Knocks]

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Andy Nesbitt - FOX Sports


Earlier Thursday we brought you the story of Rays manager Joe Maddon not looking too happy in a fan's selfie during a game at Fenway Park.

Justin Some, the fan who took the selfie, reached out to us later in the day with something even better.

Check out what Maddon did for a young Red Sox fan during a recent game against the Red Sox:



Now that's pretty cool. No pun intended.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Can the Rockies get to play the Rangers every game this year?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Bill Baer - NBC Sports




With Sunday’s 5-2 victory, the Braves wrapped up a series sweep over the Cubs. The Cubs fell to 12-24, 10.5 games out of first place, dead last in the NL Central. But the embarrassment didn’t end there.

Sunday’s loss marked the 10,000th in club history for the Cubs, joining only the Phillies (10,480) and Braves (10,176) in the five-figure gang. The Cubs got there a bit sooner than they would have liked, having won games at a meager .417 clip since the start of the 2010 season.

The Pirates will become the next team to join the ignominious club with 55 more losses. And unless the Reds lose 142 games between Tuesday and the end of the 2015 season, the club won’t see a fifth member until 2016.

The list:

• Phillies: 10,480 losses (.473 winning percentage)
• Braves: 10,176 (.502)
• Cubs: 10,000 (.511)
• Pirates: 9,945 (.503)
• Reds: 9,858 (.508)

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Don Zimmer passed away at the age of 83 yesterday

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By JOHN JACKSON - The Associated Press




CHICAGO (AP) — As his wheelchair rolled onto the dirt, Lennie Merullo took a good look around Wrigley Field.

It'd been a while since the last living person to play in a World Series game for the Chicago Cubs had visited the old ballpark.

"It's changed," he said Saturday, "but it hasn't changed a bit."

Now 97, Merullo wore a Cubs jersey and used a walker when he threw out the first pitch before Chicago beat the Miami Marlins 5-2.

Merullo played for the Cubs in 1945 during their seven-game loss to Detroit. The Cubs haven't been back to the World Series since then.

The former infielder went 0 for 2 in that World Series and played in three games. He said that at the time, the Cubs figured they'd be back in the Series sometime soon.

"Yeah, sure," he said. "We never gave up hope."

Merullo lives in Massachusetts and said this was his first trip to Wrigley since the 1980s.

Merullo was honored as part of the celebration of Wrigley Field's 100th anniversary. He drew a rousing ovation when, standing next to his son, he made the opening toss about 15 minutes before gametime.

"I'll tell you, it's a feeling that I can't describe," he said, smiling. "The excitement that is going through my body right now, it's saying, 'Lennie, do you realize you're right in the center of Wrigley Field, the ballpark that you love?"

Merullo was anything but bitter about the result of the '45 Series.

"They beat us," he said. "Somebody's got to win. You got to have a winner and you've got to have a loser."

Merullo, who also was a scout for the organization, went on the defensive when asked about the Cubs' troubles over the last seven decades.

"I never looked at it like they were struggling," he said. "When I think of the Cubs, I think of Wrigley Field. It's beautiful and it's one of the few ballparks that was always filled with the fans. They used to have to turn the fans away from the park because there was no more room for them. How many ballparks in all of baseball can you say that about?"

"Only Wrigley Field," he said.

Merullo also fondly recalled his teammates on the '45 team.

"They were exceptional because we were always together," he said. "We did things together, we won together, we lost together. We did everything together. We went out and we partied together. We did everything together, and it was a fun time."

Merullo wore a Cubs hat and rings on the ring and pinkie fingers of his left hand. One ring was for being named Cubs scout of the year and the other was for winning the National League pennant.

"When I talk to people, I do it like this," he said, holding his left hand against his face in a manner that flashed both pieces of jewelry.

Merullo, a shortstop, played all seven of his major league seasons with the Cubs, from 1941-47, and had modest career statistics. In 639 games, he batted .240 with a total of six home runs.

"I was behind home plate, looking out at the left-field fence and thinking, 'Why the hell couldn't I hit one out of this ballpark?" he said. "I hit so many balls thinking they'd go out of the ballpark and I'd fall flat on my face between first and second when they didn't."

[DemonGeminiX]

[DemonGeminiX]

Tony Gwynn has died @ 54.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/h...d-at-54-061614

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Wow!

[Teh One Who Knocks]

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Story on the local news last night about a guy who e-mailed the Rockies about the sad state of affairs with the team and how they are bad every year, just trying to vent, and the owner of the team responded to the e-mail personally telling the fan: “if you don’t like the product, if you don’t like the experience, don’t come.”



An owner telling that to the fan(s) that pay all that money to come see a perennially bad baseball team and line his pockets with cash? All the fans here should tell the owner and boycott buying anything Rockies related for the rest of the year at least.

[FBD]

Having been a pitcher, this article was interesting...

Sometimes I wish I kept pitching past 7th grade, because I already had a curve by that time, but the screwball always really intrigued me...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/ma...screwball.html

[DemonGeminiX]

It really is disappearing. They couldn't even get a picture of it. They had to settle for a picture of a circle change-up.