Team USA hit two late homers to beat Venezuela 4-2 in pool play at the World Baseball Classic.
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Category: baseball
Cody Asche Is Coming On Strong For The White Sox
While top prospect Yoan Moncada will get a lot of deserved attention for smacking his first longball of the spring today, there was other dong-related news out of the Chicago White Sox’s 7-3 win over the Kansas City Royals. Cody Asche crushed a big home run—his third this spring—as a designated hitter. CSN’s Dan Hayes…
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MLB Agent And Trainer Found Guilty In Cuban Smuggling Trial
Sports agent Bartolo Hernandez and baseball trainer Julio Estrada could not overcome a mountain of evidence and testimony from Cuban-born Major League Baseball players who linked the two Florida men to a human trafficking ring that brought Cuban players into the U.S.
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Dong Hits Man In Dong
Yurendell de Caster bashed a two-run homer in Wednesday’s World Baseball Classic game to give the Netherlands a 7-0 lead over Cuba. The shot also crunched a fan’s crotch.
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Respect Carlos Beltran's Blonde Beard
Astros designated hitter Carlos Beltran has been raking at the Word Baseball Classic, and he’s also gotten a head start on his Scott Steiner Halloween costume.
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Javier Baez Started Celebrating This Tag Before He Even Caught The Ball
Puerto Rico beat the Dominican Republic 3-1 this evening in both teams’ first second-round game. Yadier Molina drove in two runs and five Puerto Rican pitchers kept the WBC’s best offense very quiet. Puerto Rico’s defense came up big all game, starting with Eddie Rosario’s rocket of a throw in the first inning.
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Puerto Rico's Eddie Rosario Nails Runner At The Plate With Incredible Throw
With the bases loaded and one out in the first inning of the World Baseball Classic showdown between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Carlos Santana hit a line drive to Puerto Rico’s Eddie Rosario in right field. At third base, Jean Segura tagged up and then sprinted for home, and the Dominican Republic looked…
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The Long Slog Of The Cuban Baseball Player Smuggling Trial Is Nearly Over
After six grueling weeks of testimony, both sides delivered their closing arguments today in the criminal trial of two men charged with conspiracy and human smuggling for their part in getting Cuban baseball players into the United States. Federal prosecutors in Miami reiterated today their point that the two men…
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Skilled Baseball Man Shohei Otani Cracked A Big Ol' Dinger
Shohei Otani, the most interesting baseball player in the world, did not play at the World Baseball Classic this year, and that sucks. His absence deprived us of the chance to see one of the best hitters and pitchers in Japan in action on the world stage, so for now we’ll just have to settle for this big-ass dong…
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How Craig Breslow Used Science To Engineer His Way Back To The Majors
Craig Breslow is a little surprised that the media has made such a big deal out of his offseason reinvention. After a decade of pitching effectively in the major leagues, 2016 saw him demoted to the minors in May and released by two different teams before the season’s end. The way he looked at it, if he didn’t want to…
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White Sox Face Tough Choices In Center Field
Presumptive White Sox Opening Day center fielder Charlie Tilson will be out for at least three more weeks with a stress reaction in his foot, the team said yesterday. It’s just the latest setback for the Wilmette native, who singled in his major-league debut last August, then promptly injured himself while diving for…
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Manny Ramirez's New Contract With Japanese Team Grants Unlimited Sushi And Optional Practices
Oh, to have been a fly on the wall for the negotiations of Manny Ramirez’s new contract with the Japanese independent league Kochi Island Fighting Dogs, which reportedly grants optional practices, a chauffeured Mercedes, a private hotel suite for road games, a jersey that says “Manny” on the back, and, most…
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Scott Podsednik To Teach White Sox How To Play The Game The Right Way
According to an article over at MLB.com, running under the dubious headline “Podsednik has much to offer as guest instructor,” Scott Podsednik, who in one of the two decent years he had in his major-league career was arguably one of the dozen best players on the 2005 Chicago White Sox team that won the World Series,…
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Lawyer Who Prepared Documents For Smuggled Cuban Players Shocked Smuggling Took Place
Sports agent Bartolo Hernandez and baseball trainer Julio Estrada could learn their fates early this week. The defense rested on Friday without either Florida man taking the stand to refute criminal charges that they conspired with human smugglers to transport baseball players out of Cuba for a cut of lucrative…
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Yadier Molina Criticizes WBC Security After Team Puerto Rico Clears Dugout To Investigate Fight In Stands
After Team Puerto Rico cleared its dugout and bullpen to investigate a fan fight the stands of their World Baseball Classic game last night, catcher Yadier Molina has been pointed with his criticism of security.
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Salvador Pérez Injured In WBC Home-Plate Collision
The Royals’ backup catcher crushed the Royals’ starting catcher in a play at the plate tonight. In the bottom of the 9th of the World Baseball Classic game in Mexico, Drew Butera, playing for team Italy, collided with Salvador Pérez, guarding home for Team Venezuela, as he tried to score the winning run.
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New York Times: Venezuelan Baseball Players Love Their Chaotic Country From Afar
James Wagner of the New York Times has an interesting look at the state of baseball in Venezuela as the country has dealt with political and economic chaos over the last few years: Venezuelan Baseball Players Love Their Chaotic Country From Afar.
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Pirates Place Jung Ho Kang On Restricted List As He Awaits Visa After DUI Case
The Pirates have placed third baseman Jung Ho Kang on the restricted list a week after he received a suspended prison sentence for his third DUI in seven years in South Korea.
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Rockies Pitcher Chad Bettis Out Indefinitely After Cancer Returns
Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis underwent surgery last November after he learned he had testicular cancer, and said in January that he had been cleared by doctors. Bettis was supposed to be part of the team’s rotation at the beginning of the season. After a recent checkup, however, he learned that the cancer had…
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Blue Jays Pitcher T.J. House Leaves Field In Ambulance After Being Hit By Line Drive
A spring training game between the Blue Jays and Tigers was called off in the bottom of the ninth after Jays pitcher T.J. House left the field in an ambulance.
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Clint Frazier's Beautiful Red Locks Fall Victim To Yankees' Fascist Hair Policy
Clint Frazier, the prized outfield prospect the Yankees acquired when they traded Andrew Miller to Cleveland last year, has amazing hair. It’s long and red and voluminous and I honestly get kind of jealous just looking at it. Unfortunately for Frazier and those of us who appreciate a good mop, the Yankees have robbed…
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Italy Gets Walk-Off Win Versus Mexico With Five Runs In The Bottom Of The Ninth
Losing to Mexico by four runs in the bottom of the ninth, Italy didn’t come to mess around. In their first game of the World Baseball Classic, the Italians roughed up Toronto Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna by opening their half of the final inning with two runs off of three straight doubles. Then came a costly error…
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Ryan Dempster Performs Act Of Valor By Facing Fearsome Dominican Republic Lineup In Return To Baseball
Ryan Dempster last pitched in a professional baseball game in 2013. He then decided to walk away and leave money on the table rather than keep playing, wrapping up a very respectable career at age 36 after 16 years in the majors. But now, nearing his 40th birthday, he decided to give the game a try one more time by…
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Israel Keeps Rolling Through The World Baseball Classic
Team Israel busted out of Pool A in the World Baseball Classic with a 4-2 win over the Netherlands last night in Seoul. So far, Israel is undefeated after playing Korea, Chinese Taipei, and the Netherlands, two of them pretty darn good teams.
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MLB Execs Testify They Had No Idea Cuban Players Were Entering Country Illegally
The federal trial of sports agent Bartolo Hernandez and baseball trainer Jose Estrada is hitting the home stretch. On Tuesday, their defense attorneys called five witnesses, including two executives from the Texas Rangers and one from the Miami Marlins, hoping their testimony would help punch holes in the federal…
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Piss Off, Tim Tebow
Tim Tebow isn’t a major-league ballplayer, and he isn’t a pro ballplayer in any but the barest, most literal sense. Certainly, if he weren’t famous for playing football and for not having been aborted, no one anywhere would pay him money to play baseball. Look at this shit!
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High School Baseball Player Serves Up Mighty Bat Flip
The bat flip is not the transgressive act of defiance that it once was (the MLB now celebrates them), but a nice nonchalant bat toss is still the best way to show out after a big dinger. To truly differentiate yourself amongst a nation of bat flippers, you have to stand out, as high school player Dakota Limon does.…
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Bruce Chen Takes The Mound In Business Casual Shoes
Bruce Chen, 17-year MLB vet who currently works for the Indians, is pitching for China at the World Baseball Classic right now. He’s only 39 years old, but he is pitching in some cleats that look like something your cousin lends you for your first job interview. I am literally unsure of what these are.
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The Time Reggie Jackson Got His Ass Whooped In The Clubhouse By A Teammate
The following is excerpted from Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic: Reggie, Rollie, Catfish, and Charlie Finley’s Swingin’ A’s, by Jason Turbow. The book is available now on Amazon. Jason will be joining us later today to take your questions, and chat about the book.
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Jason Heyward Rebuilt His Butt Swing From Scratch
Jason Heyward was extremely atrocious last season, the first after he signed a mammoth eight-year, $184-million contract with the Chicago Cubs. His numbers—.230/.306/.325, a measly 35 extra-base hits in 592 plate appearances—were puke, due in no small part to a janky, splayed-out, multi-stage wreck of a swing that, by…
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