MLB News and Rumors

Andre Ethier just became second on the Dodgers all-time franchise list behind Willie Davis with 31. As you recall Ethier hit his 25th yesterday to tie with Paul Lo Duca and Steve Sax. Now Ethier owns second-place exclusively with his 26th consecutive hit, as he hit a lazy fly ball into shallow left field off Padres starter Tim Stauffer.
Yardbarker: MLB

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Lance Berkman is 35 years old. He's something of a liability in the outfield and let's face it, the guy just looks goofy. He looks uncoordinated. But, he gets results.
And right now, Berkman may be getting the best results of anybody on the planet.
But, the question is, could his aching joints hold up? Is this hot start going to lead to an incredible season?
The simple answer is, most likely, yeah.
Berk's always an injury liability and whenever anybody is off to a career-best start, an injury could easily derail the success from lasting for a full season, especially in a 35-year-old's body.
So, there is obviously the injury bug to watch out for and despite what I may tell people, I can't predict the future.
But, assuming Berk stays healthy, is it unreasonable to see him turn in a career year? His line of .393/.455/.753 along with eight HRs, 22 RBIs and 23 runs makes for a great read for Cardinals fans.
No, he can't and won't sustain that suc…
Yardbarker: MLB

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Jose Bautista keeps on keeping on. He hit his 9th yama-lama-ding-**** last night against the Yankees. Last year Bautista biggest weak spot was hitting for average, but so far he is hitting .372. Bautista is leading the AL in homers, average, runs, walks, OBP, SLG & OPS. Forget the Triple-Crown, how about a Seven-Crown. Repeat of 2010??? Well it maybe a little early…Robinson Cano joined in the fun and hit 2 home runs, giving him 8 so far, trailing only Bautista.On this day in 1946, Indians’ great Bob Feller chucked his second career no-hitter in a 1-0 victory over the Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Feller whiffed 11 Yankees in this historical effort.Derek Lowe was arrested Thursday night for driving under the influence. Lowe was racing down Peachtree Blvd. in Atlanta in his 2011 Porsche Panamera. Lowe is not expected to miss his start on Sunday vs. St. Louis.Tim Lincecum continues to struggle to get wins, this time being out-dueled by Jason Marquis. Marquis…
Yardbarker: MLB

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The Marlins were leading by three runs in the top of the ninth inning and had a runner on second base with arguably the most talented player in franchise history at the dish. Hanley Ramirez was trying to take over the home run lead based on the size of his hacks in that at-bat. He ultimately struck out on four pitches with his bat flying out of his hands and up the third base line on the final pitch. All he needed to do was single and he would have given the Marlins another run and himself an RBI. After the at-bat he slammed his helmet to the ground in utter frustration.
Typically, with a three run lead and three outs away from victory, a player simply gets ready to take the field and forget about one bad at-bat. And typically a player will hit for contact with a runner in scoring position and his team looking for insurance. Hanley is not in a typical situation mentally right now. He has not homered in 131 plate appearances – a streak that dates back to September 6th of last s…
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Jon Lester has developed into one of the most dominant left-handed starters in baseball.
He's accomplished a great deal both on and off the field in his brief career, but it took the lefty six seasons to conquer the month of April.
Lester entered the 2011 season just 3-5 with a 4.58 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP (his worst in any month) in 16 career April starts.
On Opening Day against the Rangers, he allowed five earned runs without recording a single strikeout. It was his first start without a K since April 9th, 2008.
Since that discouraging outing, Lester has posted five straight quality starts and finishes with easily the best opening month of his career.
Lester went 3-1 with a 2.52 ERA in six April starts in 2011. He struck out 34 batters in 39.1 innings pitched and only allowed one home run after serving up three on Opening Day in Texas.
His start on Thursday night in Baltimore was reminiscent of a true ace, salvaging a game for the Red Sox in Baltimore and leading them to a 6…
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Ryan Dempster's line tonight: 1/3 IP, 4 H, 7 ER, 4 BB, 1 HR. Ugly.
Like Francisco Liriano, an ineffective slider has sapped Ryan Dempster‘s ability to pitch to expectations in the early going. As Mark noted yesterday, Liriano's slider velocity is down, and he's using it less. The opposite is true for Dempster. Before I delve too much into Demspter's slider, it's important to note we're working with extremely small sample sizes and that Dempster's had his fair share of tough luck with LOB% and an unusually high HR/FB%. Both should regress in Dempster's favor in the long run.
Back to Dempster's slider — it's early, but there are some things worth keeping an eye over the next couple of weeks. Dempter's slider has been a plus pitch for years. In fact, it's been his only plus pitch recently; his fastball has been a negative for the past two seasons. This year, though, hitters are not getting fooled by the…
Yardbarker: MLB

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Here at The Fix we pretty much have everything covered as far as fantasy baseball goes. With a daily article covering the news of the previous day and weekly articles about closers, waiver wire pickups, start-sit advice, rookies, minor leaguers, and this article about pitching, we basically touch on everything. And that is great, that is what a fantasy website is supposed to do. But for me, the weekly pitching article guy, it means I never get to write about anything hitter-related. So this week, I want to use this intro to briefly talk about hitting by giving a quick shout out to hittrackeronline.com. These guys break down every home run by telling you (among other things) how far it would have traveled if it had completed its trajectory, which pitcher served up the homer, the speed off the bat, how “lucky” the homer was, and they provide a video link to each round-tripper. Here is the link to the longest homer of the year, a mammoth three-run shot by Justin Upton.Wh…
Yardbarker: MLB

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Chi. White Sox (10-14) «0000100203100
N.Y. Yankees (12-8)010010000240

WP: G. Floyd (3-1) LP: R. Soriano (1-1) SV: S. Santos (2)HR: CHW – P. Konerko (6) NYY – R. Cano (5),B. Gardner (2)

Like the series opener on Monday, Tuesday’s affair at the stadium was another pitchers’ duel. Both starters–Ivan Nova for the Yanks and Gavin Floyd for the Sox–pitched very well. Nova allowed just one run on 5 hits, while walking 2 and striking out 3. Floyd allowed just two runs on two solo homers (4 hits total) over 8 innings, while walking 1 and fanning 10 Yankees.
I’m not going to get on the Yankees case for not hitting for a second straight game. Floyd is a solid pitchers, and the solo shots by Robinson Cano and Brett Gardner were enough to win this one, at least until Rafael Soriano came into the game.
After David Robertson cleaned up a minor jam for Nova in the 7th it was Soriano’s turn in the 8th. After striking out Alexi Ramirez, Sorian…
Yardbarker: MLB

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