So this week, I watched pitcher Roger Clemens as he desperately fought for his name in baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown – without the asterisk. The seven-time Cy Young award winner testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on whether or not he was pwj – playing while juiced (on steroids and human growth hormone). more ›

Today marks Jackie Robinson's 89th birthday, and the Dodgers are celebrating it by educating the youngins. more ›

Angels 4, A's 3 - The NorCal-SoCal rivalry is heating up in the junior circuit. Oakland and LAnaheim split the four game series, but not without a some players getting beaned (or close to it). In the final game, the Angels got three of their RBIs from Garret Anderson, who is not one of the three Halos to get hit this year. Vladamir Guerrero almost became the fourth victim on Sunday on a pitch that... more ›

Los Angeles is a hoops hotbed. Three professional basketball teams play at Staples and three local colleges made it to last year's Big Dance. But just because some of the players come from around the country and overseas, don't think LA needs to poach outside talent. The city boasts an amazing legacy of high school basketball. Local courts are responsible for current pro stars like Baron Davis, Gilbert Arenas, Paul Pierce and Jordan Farmar. Many... more ›

Angels 3, Royals 1 - The West's best faced the league's worst in the first of a four game series. Anaheim prevailed thanks to a solid 6 and 1/3 inning performance by John Lackey. In the hard-luck story of the day, Kansas City first baseman Ryan Shealy finally reached base with a 2 RBI double after going hitless in his last nine at-bats. He had been averaging .096 for the season. A couple plays later,... more ›

Because of the unseasonably beautiful weather here in LA, when the Angels broke camp they sent their injured Cy Young award-winner Bartolo Colon to single-A Rancho Cucamonga of the California League. more ›

The four-time Cy Young winner needs to fire his agent. How could Greg Maddux allow Scott Boras to trade him from one 5th place team to another when there are pennant races happening? Does the 40 yr-old Hall of Fame lock seriously have no interest in being a part of the Yankees run? Or even the Padres? more ›

On Friday, the Angels designated Jeff Weaver for assignment and gave his rotation spot to little brother Jered. Jered had been lights out in his previous stint with the club, going 4-0 in his first four starts; the only other Angel ever to do so was Cy Young winner Dean Chance. Jeff, by contrast, had given the Angels only three wins over sixteen starts, although in some fairness, some of that can be laid at the feet of the Angels' offense.

By giving Weaver The Younger a permanent shot at a rotation slot, it does two things: first, it shows the team has faith in Jered. That's completely understandable, as he's mostly dominated his major league opponents to date. Second, and more importantly, it shows that the team has faith in the next guy waiting in the wings at AAA Salt Lake, the unheralded southpaw Joe Saunders.
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You can certainly forgive the Dodgers for losing this series;
flying to Minneapolis with no scheduled travel day, they collided
head-on with the href="http://www.bat-girl.com/archives/001564.php">hot, hot, hot Joe
Mauer and two of the Twins' best starters, rookie Sandy Koufax
impressionist Francisco Liriano, and Cy Young candidate Johan Santana.
The discombobulated Dodgers couldn't hit their stride offensively
or pitch well at any time.
Chad Billingsley, the Dodgers' promising rookie who was brought up to
stabilize the fifth rotation spot, fell apart instead. He gave up six
runs over five and two thirds innings in href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=260626109&date=20060626">Monday's
8-2 loss while registering only a pair of
strikeouts and walking seven. Derek Lowe detonated in href="http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20060627&content_id=1526398&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=la">Tuesday's
9-2 failure
to the tune of nine earned runs, the
worst outing of his season to date, and one of the worst of his
career. Lowe, a sinkerballer who has had trouble with artificial turf
throughout his career (6-13 with a 6.34 ERA lifetime), said afterwards that
"I really don't think I could have pitched that bad if I told them
what was coming."
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