MLB News and Rumors

Over the years, there have been some strange beefs between NBA players and other athletes but this one started by former MLB slugger Jose Canseco and Shaquille O’Neal might be the most random.
After Jose called Shaquille “a name for a cat” on Twitter, it launched this bizarre go-between where both challenge each other to a fight:
@josecanseco ill beat your ass rat boy the whole worldsaw u run from hung man Choy. Set it up ill break your jaw#snitchesgetstitches
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) May 5, 2013
(Shaq is referencing Jose Canseco’s first MMA fight against Choi Hong Man)
Dear @josecanseco twitter.com/SHAQ/status/33…
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) May 5, 2013
 
Shaq get ready for the fight of your life
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) May 5, 2013
“Inside the NBA”, you know what to do…
***
Shaq wants to fight Canseco [For The Win]

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Padres outfielder Carlos Quentin returned to San Diego’s lineup Tuesday night and said he has spoken with Dodgers right-hander Zach Greinke following a scuffle that left the pitcher with a broken left collarbone and Quentin with an eight-game suspension.

Quentin charged Greinke after he was hit by a pitch during a game April 11, leading to a bench-clearing brawl in San Diego.

”First, I thanked (Greinke) for taking time to speak with me,” said Quentin prior to a game against Milwaukee. ”We were able to talk and have a good productive conversation. As far as the details of that conversation, that’s personal.

Greinke had hit Quentin twice over the last few seasons before the pitch that led to the fight.

Quentin, who was batting cleanup against the Brewers, said he has spent most of his suspension ”hitting, throwing and running.” He also said his balky knee has benefited from the rest.

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The Pirates are known for a couple of things: One, they have a horrible team each year. Two, they have a lovely business going, thanks to a low payroll and league-wide revenue sharing, which lets them make a profit even if fans don’t show up to the games that the Pirates aren’t investing in winning anyway. That’s what makes it especially endearing that the Pirates have managed to wrangle another $ 28,000 — and from fans who couldn’t have enjoyed their visit to PNC Park all that much, either. Rachel George, 21, and her father, Christopher, 50, need to come up with $ 28,000 in restitution to the Pirates after an altercation last year that led to a security guard losing part of his finger, according to WTAE Pittsburgh. As part of the ruling, both father and daughter have been banned from PNC Park for life, and both will serve two years of probation. Rachel George will also have 30 days of house arrest. The pair was on their first visit to PNC Park when Rachel George was told to stop smok…

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On the list of people who hold grudges against Roger Clemens, former Mets catcher Mike Piazza has some pretty legitimate reasons to be near the top.
After being struck in the head by the Yankees pitcher back in 2000, Piazza finally decided to prepare a way to get even with Clemens. In his autobiography, Long Shot, Piazza details how he began taking karate lessons and mapping out his strategy for fighting Clemens the next time the two crossed paths.
“I would approach with my fist pulled back,” Piazza writes in an excerpt published by the New York Post. “I figured he’d throw his glove out for protection. I’d parry the glove and then get after it.”
However, Piazza and Clemens never fought — despite the infamous bat-throwing incident that took place between the two in the 2000 World Series. The reason for that, as Piazza explains it, is that he was worried about getting beat up.
“There were complications,” Piazza explains. “The least of them was the realization that Clemens was a big gu…

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The wife of Andruw Jones has filed for divorce a week after an altercation happened at the couples home.
Nicole Jones filed a divorce complaint in a suburban Atlanta court saying that their 10-year marriage is “irretrievably broken.”
According to a Gwinnett County police report, the pair had a fight around 1:30 a.m. Christmas Day after Nicole Jones asked her husband to help get the house ready for guests. Sometime later Andruw became upset and dragged her down a staircase. Andruw allegedly grabbed her neck and said he wanted to kill her.
Jones signed a deal this winter to play for the Rakuten Eagles of Japan’s Pacific League.

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In years past, the New York Yankees would be a lock securing top free-agents. But times have changed, the fiscal responsible Yankees now have a budget. And that magic number is $ 189 million for 2014, mandated by owner Hal Steinbrenner.

At this moment, the Yankees have $ 120 million locked into six players for next season. That number drops in 2014 to $ 74 million locked into three players, however, that doesn’t include giving extensions to Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano, and any pending free-agents Cashman signs this offseason to multi-year contracts.

The Yankees need to fill multiple holes on their roster, which include outfielders, starting-pitching, relief-pitching, and catcher.

One of their free agent targets is outfielder Torii Hunter.

Hunter, 37,  had .313 average, 92 RBI’s and .817 OPS. for the Angels last season and is being recruited by Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees.

There were rumors that the Yankees wa…

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It’s unlikely the Arizona Diamondbacks will complete an improbable run to the postseason, but at the very least they will go down fighting.

They seek their sixth victory in seven tries Sunday when they play the third of four games against the host Colorado Rockies.

Arizona (76-75) remained 4 12 games behind St. Louis for the NL’s second wild-card spot with an 8-7 victory over Colorado on Saturday, as four players had two hits.

Aaron Hill tripled and finished with four RBIs for the Diamondbacks, who have outscored opponents 47-24 while winning five of six.

“We’re not out of it. We’ve still got a little time left,” said outfielder Jason Kubel, who had two hits to end a 0-for-21 slump. “If we keep this up hopefully we put more pressure on teams in front of us, but we’ve got to keep it up ourselves.”

Arizona starter Ian Kennedy is doing his best to keep his team in the hunt.

Kennedy (14-11, 4.08 ERA) has been especially solid over his last two starts, allowing four hits in 7 1-3 innings to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0 on Sept. 11 before giving up a run over eight innings of Tuesday’s 3-2 win over San Diego.

The right-hander is 3-0 with a 1.98 ERA in his last four outings.

“He’s aggressive now. You see his velocity up,” catcher Miguel Montero said. “And his command, his command on his secondary stuff, he’s been able to throw it for a strike. That’s big. It’s not like they’re just sitting on fastball because he can’t locate a breaking ball.

“Right now he can throw every pitch for a strike.”

Kennedy has also been excellent versus Colorado of late, posting a 1.23 ERA while winning his last three starts against the Rockies, including striking out a career high-tying 12 on June 5.

Wilin Rosario homered as part of his third straight three-hit effort Saturday, but Colorado (58-93) still suffered its eighth straight defeat and 15th in 17 games.

“It’s a very difficult chore to ask these guys to keep coming back two or three times,” manager Jim Tracy said. “They get down early, they get us back in to the game, they get us a lead. We have the bad inning and they continue to do more.”

The Rockies will send Jeff Francis to the mound Sunday.

Francis (5-6, 5.58) has lost his last two starts – both to San Francisco – after he allowed two runs in five innings of Tuesday’s 6-3 defeat. He has a 6.23 ERA over his last four outings.

The left-hander had gone 0-6 with a 7.68 ERA in his previous seven starts against the Diamondbacks before allowing two runs in six innings of a 4-2 win over them July 25.

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PHOENIX — It has been apparent for some time now that the Diamondbacks must to find a new path to the postseason. Advancing from ahead is so last year.

So they are trying the St. LouisTampa Bay way.

Beating NL Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw on Thursday was, if nothing else, a good sign. The D-backs broke a six-game losing streak behind Ian Kennedy and a bullpen featuring the Pied Piper of double plays, Brad Ziegler, to beat the Dodgers 2-0.

After their seventh straight victory over the Dodgers, the D-backs (65-67) are 9 12 games behind the Giants in the NL West and 6 12 behind the Cardinals for the second NL wild card.

Right in the race? Recent history cannot say a peep.

D-backs manager Kirk Gibson has held up the 2011 World Series-winning Cardinals as the standard for powering through the tough times, and Tony La Russa is with him.

The Diamondbacks are right,” La Russa said while taking in a game at Chase Field last week. “It is all about refusing to give in. Then you have no regrets. If you dont (give in), its amazing what kind of things you can make happen.

Look at what they have. They are all like him (Gibson). (Alan) Trammell. (Matt) Williams. They are all just gamers, self-competitors. Our stars were that way. Our extra guys were that way. Our pitchers were that way. We just competed.

“They can make it happen. We did.”

The Cardinals were playing better than the D-backs at this point last season, sitting at six games over .500, but they were still 9 12 games behind the Braves in the NL wild-card race with 30 games to play, a margin that grew to 10 the next day. They suffered a little bit of deflation when the Brewers went on a big August run, La Russa said, but were able to put that aside and keep playing.

The baseball world will not forget what happened next.

The Cardinals kept chip, chip, chipping away and won the wild card on the final day of the regular season, clinching a few minutes before the Rays sewed up the AL wild card on a walkoff home run after trailing the Red Sox by nine games with 24 remaining.

The reason that final day of the regular season was so memorable is because it was so rare, like the Rockies’ charge in 2007. But it does reinforce the possibility.

We all remember last year, in both leagues, said Ziegler, who has now induced 15 double-play ground balls, the most among major league relievers.

In a lot of ways, we all feel within the locker room that we have very much underachieved. Its kind of amazing that we have played as poorly as we feel like we have and were still in striking distance, for sure. We know this is a very streaky team. We can get on runs where it seems like for eight or 10 days, no one can beat us. And then well have streaks the other way where for three or four days, we cant even come close to winning a game.

Its frustrating to kind of be up and down like that. Youd almost rather it be a more steady pace. At the same time, if we buckle down and play the kind of baseball we know we are capable of, we know we can put ourselves in a good position at the end.

Chris Youngs two-run home run down the left-field line that followed Miguel Monteros leadoff double in the fourth inning gave the D-backs the only runs they would get or need. They have beaten Kershaw twice this season, and he was 4-0 with a 1.31 ERA in his career at Dodger Stadium against them coming in.

Young caught what looked like a slider or cut fastball from Kershaw early, and the only question was whether the ball would stay fair. He missed first base while watching it but could retouch and take his time rounding the bases on his 14th of the year.

This is big series for us, a big road trip, point blank, Young said. After this road trip, you have a pretty good idea of where youre standing and what your chances are. We kind of have our backs against the wall a little bit, but its nothing that we havent experienced before. I think we are strong enough to stay positive and put our best foot forward.

Kennedy (12-11) attacked the strike zone, throwing 17 of 24 first-pitch strikes, and with that approach, he kept the Dodgers at bay. He mixed his curveball in a little bit more than usual, striking out seven and giving up only two hits.

After Kennedy walked and hit a batter with one out in the seventh, the D-backs turned to Ziegler. Juan Rivera hit a ground ball that Aaron Hill cut off with a dive to his right, starting a double play to keep the score 2-0.

Shockingly, ‘Zig’ came in a got a groundball, closer J.J. Putz said with a straight face.

David Hernandez pitched the eighth, and Putz pitched around inning-opening hits by Adrian Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez in the ninth to post his 18th straight save, his 27th of the season.

Thats one of those games you can feed off of, Putz said.

It was a complete game.

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