Pujols to sign Angels contract worth about $250M

By Tom Verducci
December 8, 2011


DALLAS — Moreno went all in at the biggest baccarat table in free agency: the Albert Pujols table. Moreno shocked baseball by jumping in late and large to sign Pujols to a 10-year contract worth about $250 million, a development first reported by Yahoo! Sports. Moreno sweetened the deal with a full no-trade clause.

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Brewers power past Cardinals, 9-6

By Ben Reiter
October 10, 2011


MILWAUKEE — It was the bottom of the fifth inning in Game 1 of the NLCS, and though he had staked his Cardinals to what seemed to be a commanding 5-2 lead over the Brewers, Jaime Garcia had nothing left. Garcia, the 25-year-old St. Louis starter, had at the game's beginning appeared to have little of the feel or command that he'd displayed five days before, when his otherwise brilliant NLDS start against the Phillies had been ruined by one bad pitch, which pinch-hitter Ben Francisco had turned into a three-run home run that proved to be the game-winner.

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Valverde, Tigers stop Yanks in 9th, tie series

By The Associated Press
October 2, 2011


NEW YORK — Detroit closer Jose Valverde held off a furious New York ninth-inning rally and the Tigers avoided a major slip-up, beating the Yankees 5-3 on a rainy Sunday and evening their best-of-five AL playoff series at one game apiece.

Down 5-1, the Yankees scored twice in the ninth. Helped when Detroit catcher Alex Avila lost his footing on the slick on-deck circle while chasing a foul pop that would've been the final out, New York got a chance to win it.

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Blue Jays shutout Yankees, 3-0

By David Waldstein
September 19, 2011


TORONTO — Derek Jeter was one of three regulars given the day off Sunday as the Yankees completed a challenging 11-day, four-city trip with a 3-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Normally, Jeter wants to play every day, but Manager Joe Girardi said Jeter and several of his teammates had showed signs of fatigue.

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Lee's HR leads Astros over Phillies, 5-1

By The Associated Press
September 13, 2011


HOUSTON — Carlos Lee spoiled the Houston homecoming for Roy Oswalt and Hunter Pence .

He hit a two-run homer off Oswalt and the Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 Monday night. Oswalt tried to sneak a curveball past his former teammate.

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Jeter, Sabathia lead Yankees to sweep of Blue Jays

By The Associated Press
September 4, 2011


NEW YORK — No matter how many pitches CC Sabathia throws, his spot is secure atop the Yankees' rotation.

Turns out, all five guys behind him will get another start as well.

Sabathia earned his 19th win, Derek Jeter tied a career high with five RBIs and New York polished off a three-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays with a 9-3 victory Sunday.

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Rays slam Blue Jays 12-0

By The Associated Press
August 28, 2011


TORONTO — David Price struck out a franchise-record 14 in seven dominant innings, Desmond Jennings hit a pair of solo home runs and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 12-0 on Sunday.

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Tim Hudson, Braves complete sweep of Diamondbacks

By The Associated Press
August 21, 2011


ATLANTA — Two rookies came through in key situations to help Atlanta's Tim Hudson beat Arizona's Josh Collmenter.

Backed by a key defensive play by first baseman Freddie Freeman and two ninth-inning strikeouts by closer Craig Kimbrel with a runner on third, Hudson and the Braves beat Collmenter and the Diamondbacks 1-0 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

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Cubs stop Uggla's streak, beat Braves 6-5

By The Associated Press
August 15, 2010


ATLANTA — Dan Uggla was quick to acknowledge he never thought he'd have a hitting streak as long as 33 games.

Now the Chicago Cubs are streaking.

The Cubs stopped Uggla's 33-game hitting streak and rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Atlanta Braves 6-5 on Sunday for their fourth straight series win.

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Yankees bullpen shut down Red Sox in 3-2 win

By The Associated Press
August 5, 2011


BOSTON — Reliever Boone Logan struck out Adrian Gonzalez with the bases loaded to end the fifth inning, and the New York Yankees came back to beat the Boston Red Sox 3-2 on Friday night to win their eighth straight game and take over the lead in the AL East.

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Giants aquire Carlos Beltran from Mets

By The Associated Press
July 28, 2011


PHILADELPHIA — Carlos Beltran could provide just the power bat San Francisco needs to make another deep playoff run.

That's general manager Brian Sabean's hope, anyway.

The defending World Series champion Giants finalized a trade Thursday to acquire the All-Star outfielder and cash from the New York Mets, upgrading their inconsistent offense. Beltran first had to approve the deal to the NL West leaders, who parted with top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler.

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Shields outduels Sabathia, Rays beat Yankees

By The Associated Press
July 22, 2011


ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Joe Maddon perused the box score and wondered aloud how the latest stellar pitching performance by James Shields only improved the Tampa Bay All-Star's record to one game over .500.

"How's that possible?" Maddon asked after the 29-year-old right-hander won for the first time in nearly a month, outpitching CC Sabathia and beating the New York Yankees 2-1 on Thursday night. "You see Sabathia is 14-5. That's what Shields' record should look like."

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Girardi baffled as Blue Jays pound Yankees 16-7

By The Associated Press
July 15, 2011


TORONTO — Joe Girardi was left scratching his head at Bartolo Colon 's latest bad start.

Edwin Encarnacion and Eric Thames had three hits and three RBIs each and the Toronto Blue Jays used an eight-run first inning to beat Colon and the New York Yankees 16-7 on Thursday night.

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Mets rally against Rivera, avoid sweep by Yanks

By The Associated Press
July 4, 2011


NEW YORK — Pinch-hitter Ronny Paulino came through with a tying single off Rivera, Bay drove home the winning run and the Mets ended the New York Yankees ' seven-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory Sunday.

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Colon comes off DL to pitch Yankees past Mets 5-2

By The Associated Press
July 2, 2011


NEW YORK — Nunez homered in his latest big game at the plate and Bartolo Colon came off the disabled list to pitch six shutout innings, leading the Yankees past the Mets 5-2 on Saturday for their season-best seventh consecutive victory.

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Arencibia, Blue Jays slam Orioles 8-4 to halt skid

By The Associated Press
June 4, 2011


BALTIMORE — For J.P. Arencibia, Toronto's convincing win over a divisional foe meant significantly more than his first career grand slam.

Arencibia cleared the bases with his ninth homer of the season, Rajai Davis had three hits and the Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-4 on Friday night to end a two-game losing streak.

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Guillen frustrated as Jays beat White Sox in 14th

By The Associated Press
May 28. 2011


TORONTO — Another loss and an ongoing lack of timely hitting left White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen feeling worn out.

Corey Patterson hit a game-ending homer in the 14th inning, Jose Bautista connected for his major league-leading 20th home run and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Chicago 9-8 on Saturday.

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Cubs return to Fenway for the first time in 93 years

By Dan Shaughnessy
May 20, 2011


BOSTON — Surely, you've heard. The end of the world is coming Saturday. A Christian-based Internet ministry tells us that doomsday unfolds this weekend. It has something to do with Noah and floods and the 17th day of the second month of the biblical calendar.

Or maybe it's just the simple fact that the Cubs are playing in Fenway Park again.

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3 homers in 5th push Jays past Rangers 6-4

By The Associated Press
April 26, 2011


ARLINGTON, TX — Corey Patterson took a big swing at a high 0-2 pitch coming at him about shoulder high - and knocked it out of the ballpark for the Toronto Blue Jays.

What Patterson called a "1 in a 100" shot was the first of three homers in a span of four batters for the Blue Jays in a fifth-inning barrage that pushed them to a 6-4 victory over the AL West-leading Texas Rangers on Monday night. Tough-luck rookie starter Kyle Drabek got a much-deserved win.

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Duncan's pinch double leads Indians past KC in 10

By The Associated Press
April 19, 2011


Kansas City, MO — Pinch-hitter Shelley Duncan 's RBI double sparked a four-run 10th inning and the Indians beat Kansas City 7-3 on Monday night to widen their division lead to two games over the equally surprising Royals.

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Yanks rally for 6-5 win over Orioles in 10 innings

By The Associated Press
April 15, 2011


NEW YORK — Joba Chamberlain parked his 240-pound frame in front of home plate and waited for Russell Martin's toss from near the backstop. Felix Pie , at a lithe 185 pounds, tried to twist around the Yankees reliever for an insurance run.

No chance. The big Nebraskan wouldn't budge.

Chamberlain's block of the plate in the eighth kept the Yankees within a run of the Orioles, and New York's bats did the rest to complete a comeback from five runs down...

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Orioles not shocked by fast start, even if most of baseball is

By Jon Heyman
April 6, 2011


Baltimore, MD — The Orioles were almost everyone's last-place pick in easily baseball's toughest division, yet entering play on Wednesday they are one of only three unbeaten teams in baseball, along with the Rangers and Reds, and sit atop the American League East. Which means there is already a lot of re-evaluation happening by baseball scouts, writers and competing executives.

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Granderson, Teixeira help Yanks win opener

By The Associated Press
March 31, 2011


NEW YORK — Curtis Granderson hit a go-ahead homer leading off the seventh inning and Mark Teixeira had a three-run shot off Justin Verlander , lifting New York over the Detroit Tigers 6-3 Thursday in the first regular-season game played in the Bronx in March.

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New York Mets outline plan for Carlos Beltran

By The Associated Press
March 24, 2011


Port St. Lucie, FL — The New York Mets outlined a plan for Carlos Beltran on Thursday that will hopefully have the All-Star outfielder ready for opening day.

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Chicago Cubs big-money players earn their pay?

By Joe Lemire
March 17, 2011


Mesa, AZ — Three observations after spending time in Cubs camp:

1. Veteran production

The Cubs had the majors' third-highest payroll in 2010 ($147 million) and its 23rd-best win total (75). Much of that budget wrapped up in six players with eight-figure salaries, of whom all but Ryan Dempster had particularly disappointing seasons.

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Mechanical flaw may be red flag for Strasburg even after return

By Tom Verducci
March 9, 2011


Jupiter, FL — The next time Washington righthander Stephen Strasburg pitches in the big leagues -- "possibly" at the end of this season, according to Nationals GM Mike Rizzo -- he will be 23 and no longer a phenom. But can Strasburg 2.0 be the same pitcher after blowing out his elbow last season and undergoing Tommy John surgery Sept. 3? And should he be the same pitcher? The growth of the Nationals franchise just might depend on those answers.

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Looking into a bright future for the Blue Jays

By 'Duk
March 1, 2011


Every day in spring training until we finish the entire league, Big League Stew takes a brief capsule look at each team we visit in the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues. Next up is Florida Auto Exchange Park, where the Jays are trying to gauge the glare of their future in the AL East.

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Angels' Brandon Wood glad to be out of spotlight

By Sports Illustrated
February 18, 2011


Los Angeles, CA — When 20-year-old Los Angeles Angels infielder Brandon Wood walked into the clubhouse during his first spring training in 2006, it didn't take him long to realize the expectations the organization had for him. The former 2003 first-round draft pick looked up to see his locker placed squarely between two Angels legends: Tim Salmon and Darin Erstad. The message had been sent.

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Phillies, Red Sox, Yankees open spring training as favorites

By Tom Verducci
February 14, 2011


Forget pitching and defense. The road to the World Series is I-95.

As spring training camps open this week, the axis of power in baseball for a fifth straight year is the Philadelphia-New York-Boston corridor. The latest round of winter spending reminded us that there are two tiers of teams in baseball: the Phillies, Yankees and Red Sox -- teams for which success is nothing less than a World Series title -- and everybody else. The three best available players this winter -- Cliff Lee, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford -- further fortified the I-95 corridor.

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Andy Pettitte is first of Yankees’ Core Four to retire

By Tim Brown
February 3, 2011


During a single month almost 16 years ago, the course of the New York Yankees was forever changed. In a fallow era for the Bombers, when the more murderous rows were publicly held between the man in the owner’s office and those in his clubhouse, along came three young men who put the Yankees back on the field, in body and soul.

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Mays, Votto offer highlights at annual BBWAA awards dinner

By The Associated Press
January 25., 2011


New York, NY — The annual dinner of the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America, always a star-studded event, welcomed baseball royalty Saturday night: Willie Mays stole the show -- and from a seat in the audience. Even with luminaries such as Felix Hernandez, Roy Halladay, Josh Hamilton, Robinson Cano, Joe Torre and Bobby Cox on the dais, it was the presence of Mays that provided the highlight of the evening.

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St. Louis Cardinals may not offer Pujols an A-Rod-type deal

By Jon Heyman
January 17, 2011


St Louis, MO — Albert Pujols' decision, via agent Dan Lozano, to set a deadline of spring training for a new multiyear deal with the Cardinals, could be a sign things aren't going all that well in the negotiations. But it could also be an attempt to force a deal.

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The Royals are squirreling away prospects

By Jeff Passan
January 4, 2010


2010 record: 67-95
Finish: Fifth place, AL Central
2010 final payroll: $76.8 million
Estimated 2011 opening day payroll: $45 million

Offseason action

Gone are six of the Kansas City Royals’ seven most expensive players from 2010, a welcome purge in some instances – fare thee well, Jose Guillen, Kyle Farnsworth and Yuniesky Betancourt – and heart-rending in others.

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