Stories related to: MLB

The most prolific hitting catcher of all-time is hanging up his spikes. After 16 years, Mike Piazza is calling it a career, one that saw him amass a .308 lifetime batting average and 427 homeruns; 396 of those dingers came as a catcher, which is the most all time, reports AP. "It has been an amazing journey,” said the 12-time All-Star. More »

The Flyers’ elimination from the NHL playoffs was more than the end to a hockey season in Philadelphia—it was the 100th consecutive season to see one of the local teams came up short of a championship. “Fans have been conditioned for failure,” suggests Sports Illustrated , which chronicles the 100 worst moments in Philadelphia sports since the city last raised a banner in 1983. More »

Last place is unfamiliar territory for the Yankees. Since 1912 the Bronx Bombers have only finished there twice, compared to 26 world titles. This year, however, they have bungled their way to a 20-24 record and find themselves looking up, record-wise in the AL, not only at division foes like the Tampa Bay Rays but also at the Royals and the Athletics, three teams whose combined payroll is barely three-fourths of New York, reports USA Today . More »

The best player in baseball right now is hitting .399 on the season, and .586 over the past 15 games, but he's not getting the recognition he deserves, Richard Justice writes in the Houston Chronicle . In past seasons at least, Lance Berkman has been overshadowed by bigger names, but it's time for Astros fans to stand for the Big Puma. More »

The Yankees may not be that good on the field this season, but it’s not hurting franchise income. With estimates of the team's overall value pegged at $1.2 billion, documents obtained by the New York Daily News under a Freedom of Information request show just how much cash the team may be raking in to support that value. The Yankees haven’t won a World Series since 2000, but still took in $188 million at the gate last year. That’s up over 20% from 2006. More »

A source with knowledge of the investigation tells the Chicago Tribune that questions about signing bonuses and how they were distributed to teenage Latin American prospects were behind the firing of David Wilder, the Chicago White Sox senior personnel director, and two of his scouts. Authorities are seeking to determine if Wilder and the scouts were skimming from those payments. More »

US Attorneys have a list of 104 baseball players who failed a 2003 drug test, even though the players' union vowed to keep those names secret. The union has contested the Feds' search, but the list could become public in a matter of weeks, reports the New York Times . More »

Major League clubhouses are not what they used to be, reports Detroit Tigers reliever Todd Jones on his blog for the Sporting News. Years ago, players used to arrive late and leave even later after games, sometimes hanging out together til 3 in the morning. Now players arrive way earlier than needed and leave right after the game. Issues with the team are settled before the game rather than in long bull sessions after. More »

Joe Saunders bounced back from his lone loss of the year and Vladimir Guerrero drove in two runs without a hit to help the Los Angeles Angels beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 Friday night. Saunders (7-1) held the Dodgers to two runs in 7 1-3 innings, giving up five hits, walking two and striking out one. More »

Eric Byrnes lined out to left field in his first at-bat Friday night and finally felt good about his swing. Byrnes broke out of a monthlong slump with a homer and two RBIs, Dan Haren pitched seven innings and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat Detroit 4-3 to hand the slumping Tigers their fifth straight defeat. More »

Nick Blackburn pitched seven strong innings and Delmon Young doubled twice and scored two runs to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 4-2 win over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night. Blackburn (4-2) struck out five and didn't walk a batter to help the Twins end a three-game skid. Joe Nathan remained perfect in 13 save opportunities. More »

Josh Hamilton went 5-for-5 with two long homers and five RBIs, and the Texas Rangers, with six home runs total, beat the Houston Astros 16-8 Friday night in a wild Lone Star Series opener. Ian Kinsler scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning on a close play that led to the ejection of Astros manager Cecil Cooper. More »

Andy Sonnanstine carried a shutout into the eighth inning and added two singles to a 12-hit outburst in the streaking Tampa Bay Rays' 3-1 victory over sagging St. Louis on Friday. Akinori Iwamura had three hits and an RBI for the AL East leaders, who are eight games above .500 for the first time in franchise history. More »

Mark Kotsay knocked in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning with a two-out RBI double, and the Atlanta Braves edged the Oakland Athletics 3-2 Friday night for their eighth straight home victory. The loss was a season-high fourth in a row for the A's, who have dropped six of seven on their current nine-game road trip. More »

Brett Tomko pitched six innings Friday for his first victory in nearly six weeks, and two unearned runs helped the Kansas City Royals extend their winning streak to five games by beating the slumping Florida Marlins 7-6. Closer Joakim Soria allowed a run for the first time this season when he gave up a two-run homer to Jeremy Hermida in the ninth. More »

Adam Dunn homered and drew a tiebreaking walk with the bases loaded in the eighth inning Friday night, sending the Cincinnati Reds to their season-high fourth straight win, 4-3 over intrastate rival Cleveland. The Reds got homers from Brandon Phillips and Dunn, then won it with the only run in the game not produced by a homer. More »

Luke Scott homered, Melvin Mora hit a tiebreaking double in the fifth inning and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Nationals 5-3 Friday night for their sixth win in seven games. Left-hander Garrett Olson (3-0) struggled through five innings but remained undefeated in four starts since being recalled from Triple-A. Olson allowed three runs and nine hits while striking out three. More »

Jayson Werth homered in his first three at-bats and tied a Philadelphia Phillies record with eight RBIs in a 10-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night. Werth had a chance to tie the major league record of four homers in a game but fouled out to first base to end the seventh inning. More »

Alfonso Soriano homered in his first two at-bats, Geovany Soto and Mark DeRosa also homered and the surging Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-4 Friday for their seventh win in eight games. Soriano connected on the first pitch from Tom Gorzelanny for his third leadoff homer in four games and launched a three-run shot in the second inning, making it 6-0. More »

Jim Thome hit a go-ahead RBI single in the ninth inning, A.J. Pierzynski's RBI double capped a three-run second against Jon Garland, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 last night. Pierzynski led off the ninth with his third hit, a double against Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez (0-1).  Prior to last night he was 0-13 in the series. More »