Rookie Hazing: Thank You, Internet!

I'd like to thank the inventor of the internet (Al Gore?) for giving people a place to view all sorts of things. Among things that have made me laugh these days: photos of MLB rookies being initiated into baseball manhood. And I'm not just talking about carrying around a Chewbacca backpack.

For your viewing pleasure, I'd like to link you to some particularly good pictures that have graced the interwebs of the 2010 MLB rookies. You're welcome.

Florida Marlins

Boston Red Sox

Minnesota Twins

Philadelphia Phillies

Chicago Cubs

Cincinnati Reds

[Crossing Broad] | [Red Reporter | [Terez Owens]
[Sox and Dawgs] | [On the Road with Pat Neshek]

What's That Sucking Sound?

Oh it's just the Pittsburgh Pirates.

One good thing about the club enduring one of the crappiest seasons in 50 years? They're assured the no. 1 pick in the 2011 June amateur draft.

Well on their way to their first 100-loss season since 2001, it will be impossible to finish with a worse record than any other of the 29 teams in major league baseball. Hey, someone has to finish last.

Manager John Russell makes nice use of the word "abysmal" after his team's 100th loss:

Champagne Floods Sparse Tropicana Field

These people love their Rays. They also paid for their seats.

If the Rays clinch a playoff berth and only 17,891 people are there to see it, did it really happen?

While the American League East title -- along with the best record in the league -- is still up for grabs, the Rays did indeed clinch their second playoff berth ever Tuesday night with a 5-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

David Price, who went off about the minimal attendance at Tropicana Field Monday via Twitter, struck out eight and surrendered six hits, allowing just one runner past second base over eight solid innings.

Jay Bruce Swings the Reds into October

March 1 - Yahoo! is founded in Santa Clara, California.

September 1 - The DVD is invented.

September 4 - eBay is founded.

September 12 - Red Hot Chili Peppers release One Hot Minute.

October 3 – O. J. Simpson is found not guilty.

The year is 1995, and it was the last time the Cincinnati Reds won the National League Central division title. In fact, it was the last time they made it past the regular season at all.

Babes Love Baseball Greats: Ken Griffey, Sr.

While waiting in line for airport security, Ken Griffey, Sr. took the time to chat on the phone with Babes Love Baseball. No, I'm not kidding. The three-time All Star and two-time World Champion is pretty busy these days. He's not only a batting coach for the Reds single-A affiliate Dayton Dragons, but he's also joined Depend in spreading awareness about prostate cancer.

And now, for your reading enjoyment, I bring to you my attempt at interviewing a baseball great without completely shrieking like an excited 4-year-old. Enjoy.

Babes Love Baseball: Mr. Griffey, tell me a bit about the Depend campaign against Prostate Cancer.

Ken Griffey, Sr.: As a five year prostate cancer survivor, I've been doing work with Depend to raise awareness, to get people screened early, and to increase their chances of survival. I've been doing this for about three years now.

Rays to Hand Out 20,000 Free Tickets (Updated)

In response to Tampa Bay Rays players' recent comments about the lack of fan support at Tropicana Field, the Rays organization is giving out 20,000 free tickets to Wednesday night's finale -- and final regular season home game of 2010 -- against the Baltimore Orioles.

Free tickets to see the Rays. The postseason-bound Tampa Bay Rays. And Evan Longoria, ladies.

Making Roy Halladay's Dreams Come True

Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies on clinching their fourth consecutive National League East division title.

Yep. They're the team to beat once again.

After winning it all in 2008 before losing the World Series the following year to the New York Yankees, the Phillies are ready to battle. With just five games left in the season and a 94-63 record, they've ensured home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and into the Big Show -- if they make it there -- since the NL won the All-Star game this year.

Evan Longoria and David Price are Not Impressed With Rays Fans

David Price and Evan Longoria are not impressed. And rightfully so.

The Tampa Bay Rays 4-0 loss to the Baltimore Orioles Monday wasn't half as disappointing as the plethora of empty seats -- a crowd of 12,446 -- in St. Petersburg, Florida. A good team who's on the verge of a playoff berth should have no problem putting asses in the seats no matter who they're playing, right?

Apparently not.

Jose Bautista Launches No. 50, 51, 52

On a historic day for Ichiro Suzuki and the Seattle Mariners, Jose Bautista had to go and steal the thunder at the Rogers Centre, not to mention spoil an outstanding pitching performance by an American League Cy Young candidate.

That's just how he rolls.

The Toronto Blue Jays slugger crushed a 2-1 fastball over the left field wall off Mariners ace Felix Hernandez for his 50th home run of the season. This not only gave his team a 1-0 lead, but proved to be the only run of what turned out to be quite a pitcher's duel.

While King Feliz allowed just two hits and a run throughout his complete game, the Mariners couldn't manage to string anything together off Shawn Hill and four Toronto relievers.

And I Got Mad Hits Like I Was Rod Carew

Congratulations to Ichiro Suzuki on tying a major league record with his 10th 200-hit season.

The Seattle Mariners right fielder entered Thursday with 198 hits before collecting no. 199 with a third-inning double down the left-field line and a base hit two innings later in his team's tough 1-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, which was highlighted by an outstanding performance by Felix Hernandez, which was crushed by Jose Bautista's 50th home run of the season.

Until today, the 200-hit record was all Pete Rose's since back in September of 1979.

Ichiro is officially the first and only player to record 200 hits in 10 consecutive seasons to extend his own record. He's also the youngest guy to hit the mark, since Rose was 38 years old in his 17th big league season and Ty Cobb, who had only nine 200-hit seasons, was 37 when he last hit the milestone in his 20th and final season in the majors.

Ichiro, clearly one of the best hitters ever, will be 37 on October 22, and is polishing off his 10th season in the bigs. Way to go buddy!

[MLB Video]

Roy Halladay Wins No. 20 for the Phillies

The face of a winner.

That Roy Halladay acquisition is looking better and better for the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies.

The right-hander won his 20th game of the season Tuesday with a 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves to give the Phillies a five-game division lead over Atlanta and reduce their magic number to six. Even more impressive is the fact that Halladay became the team's first 20-game winner in 28 years.

It's Beginning To Smell Like October Up In Here

Holy good Lord, Joe Mauer looks hot covered in champagne.

Extra coffee is on the menu this morning for Minnesota Twins fans. After the Twins had an 8th inning rally to surge ahead of the Indians, they cut their magic number down to 1. After that, the fans and the players had to wait almost two hours for the Oakland A's to take care of business at home against the Chicago White Sox. Damn those pesky time zone differences.

Lots of folks stayed up late to watch the Sox completely come apart, and some fans even lingered at Target Field to wait for their boys to come out to give out high fives, take pictures, and douse them with beer once the celebrations began. And celebrate they did, after securing their place in the post season for the 6th time in 9 seasons under Ron Gardenhire.

The White Sox - who held the lead in the AL Central going into the All-Star break - had a monumental collapse during the second half of the season, while the Twins managed to play the best baseball in the Majors. The Sox have gone on an 8 game losing streak over the last week and a half to help the Twins run away with the division. Emergency room staffs will see fewer strokes and heart attacks around the AL Central territory in the upcoming weeks since there will be no game 163 to decide the division this year, as there had been in the previous two seasons.

Did we mention that the Twins did this without the help of their Canadian Crusher Justin Morneau? He's been sidelined with a concussion and lingering symptoms after taking a knee to the head while sliding into a base on July 7th. And as much as Morneau is missed, injuries may have played a key part in the Twins second half badassery. With Morneau out, Michael Cuddyer has held the post at first base, which put Jason Kubel in right field. With Kubel regularly playing in right (thus no longer sharing the DH spot with Jim Thome), ol' Jim Jam has been in the lineup almost every day, mashing taters and climbing his way up the top ten all time home runs list. And while the infield was getting banged up - including injuries to Orlando Hudson, Nick Punto, and J.J. Hardy - a little known newbie named Danny Valencia emerged as a solid hitter playing the hot corner.

Some might credit the division championship on veteran pitcher Carl Pavano and his glorious mustache. Once he grew that baby out, he was unstoppable. Even without their closer Joe Nathan, various injuries to starters Scott Baker and Kevin Slowey throughout the season, and even a brief stint in the minors for Nick Blackburn, the pitching staff as a whole has been lights out. Opponents look downright silly trying to swing at Francisco Liriano's slider for strike three, and Jesse Crainwreck has even earned the respect of Twins fans.

The Twins don't want to get too lazy over the remaining 11 games on their schedule. They're still battling for home field advantage throughout the post season with the Rays and the Yankees. We've seen how dominant the Yankees have been when playing the Twins in post season play over the last few years, and the Twins would love to get out from under their tyranny. The Yankees and the Rays are neck and neck for the AL East and Wild card spots, with New York enjoying a 2 and a half game lead over Tampa after their win last night.

Next seat on the post-season bus? Most likely going to the NL Central and Cincinnati, who beat Milwaukee last night and got their magic number down to 4. The last division to decide will most likely be the NL West, which is crazy close between San Francisco, San Diego, and the Rockies.

We can't wait to see what the upcoming weeks hold for baseball. Better go stock up on some adult diapers.

The Clock is Ticking in the NL West

If you thought things were nuts in the American League East, get a load of the National League West.

Just a half game behind the division-leading San Francisco Giants and one behind the NL Wild Card-leading Atlanta Braves, the San Diego Padres are right in the thick of it. They'll go for their sixth consecutive victory Wednesday night during game two of their three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

The Padres made a convincing case Tuesday with their 6-0 win in the series opener via a Clayton Richard complete game shutout (the first of his career) but failed to gain any ground since the rival Giants managed a 1-0 win over the Chicago Cubs.

Get Well Soon Josh Hamilton

"We need Josh. But if Josh is not there, we're not going to lie down. We've got some players and we're going to play." - Ron Washington


Some not-so-good news on the Texas Rangers homestead: Josh Hamilton has two fractured ribs. However, best hitter (.361/31/97) and the American League's top MVP candidate has not been ruled out for the season.

Hamilton hasn't played for his Texas Rangers since September 4, when he crashed into a wall with an already stiff back, making a pretty sweet catch against the Minnesota Twins.

The Crazy Mixed-Up AL East

Things are getting pretty complicated in the American League East.

Thanks to two homers and five RBI by way of Curtis Granderson's bat, the New York Yankees came away with an 8-6 home victory over the Tampa Bay Rays Monday, along with a 1.5-game division lead. Meanwhile, the Rays' season series lead over the Yankees was shaved to 8-7.

Don't look now, here come the Bronx Bombers. Let's break it down.

• The only possible way for the Yankees to take the season series is to sweep the three remaining games, starting with this evening's game two matchup between James Shields and Phil Hughes.



• Suppose New York wins two of three. That would end the season series at 9-9, with the tie being broken by the teams' intradivisional records. As of right now, the Rays have the edge at 39-27, but if the Yankees do win at least two of those games, the Rays would still have a 40-29 advantage to the Yankees' 36-26 record.



• New York will finish their season out within the AL East: six against the Boston Red Sox and three against the Toronto Blue Jays. Tampa Bay has only one series within their division, against the Baltimore Orioles, who are notorious spoilers.

The Minnesota Twins, who are about to clinch the AL Central, lost their season series to both the Rays and Yankees, which is the tiebreaker for playoff seeding. However, the Twins have a pretty decent schedule to end the regular season: two more games at home against the Cleveland Indians before heading to Detroit and Kansas City, then coming back for a four-game set against the Toronto Blue Jays at Target Field, where they own a best-in-baseball mark at 50-25.

Speaking of the Twins, check out the badass Denard Span t-shirt courtesy of Seventh Ink. Yay playoffs!

[Associated Press]

Matt Diaz Will Clobber You

Holy smokes, it's been a while huh. That was a fabulous vacation, but man did I miss you guys.

Anyways, what better way to get back into the biz than with a Youtube video of Matt Diaz clobbering a fan who ran out onto the field in, where else... Philadelphia.

[Yahoo! Sports] | [Walkoff Walk] | [Braves Love]

Stephen Strasburg Hindsight is 20/20

$15.1 million dollars and 15.1 million reasons why Mike Rizzo and Jim Riggleman are complete morons.

Nyjer Morgan Will Charge Your Mound

Nyjer Morgan does not take kindly to getting hit by a pitch. Or having fastballs whizzing behind him.

The Washington Nationals leadoff hitter charged the mound Wednesday after a Chris Volstad pitch sailed behind him, igniting a bench-clearing brawl during the Florida Marlins' 16-10 victory.

Morgan has had a hell of a week. It all started Tuesday night, when he separated Florida catcher Brett Hayes' shoulder during a 10th inning collision at home plate. Slow down there, Pete Rose.