With the San Francisco Giants 5-1 win over the Washington Nationals earlier today, Randy Johnson became the 24th pitcher to reach 300 wins in his career.
He is the sixth left-hander to win 300 games in his career and is the second oldest member of the 300 club at 45 years of age.
Randy Johnson by the numbers [ESPN]
The second update for the American League All-Star Ballot is out and once again Boston Red Sox fans see a few familiar faces at the top.
Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay had just a 4,000 vote lead over Josh Hamilton from the Texas Rangers but now finds himself with a 44,000 vote lead in week 2. Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis is the only other member of the Red Sox leading at a position right now as he holds around a 94,000 vote lead over Mark Teixeira of the New York Yankees.
Catcher Jason Varitek moved up to second place behind Joe Mauer while Dustin Pedroia remains in second behind Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers at second base. Mike Lowell is 4th at third base while Jacoby Ellsbury and J.D. Drew are 11th and 13th respectively in voting for the outfield.
Let’s get voting Red Sox Nation. Let’s get our boys to the St. Louis. You can cast your ballot by heading over to MLB.com.
If you need someone to vote for in the National League, vote for Manny Ramirez. Show Bud Selig the rules need to be changed.
A full look at the vote totals for the American League after the jump.
The first American League All-Star Ballot update for 2009 is out and for us Boston Red Sox fans we will find a few familiar faces at the top.
Red Sox left fielder Jason Bay is currently at the top in the voting in the outfield by 4,000 votes over Josh Hamilton. First baseman Kevin Youkilis is the only other member of the Red Sox right now at the top.
Dustin Pedroia currently sits in 2nd place at second base, Mike Lowell is in 5th place at third base, Jason Varitek is in 3rd place at catcher, Jacoby Ellsbury is 9th in the outfield and J.D. Drew is 13th.
Let’s get voting Red Sox Nation. Let’s get our boys to the St. Louis. You can cast your ballot by heading over to MLB.com.
If you need someone to vote for in the National League, vote for Manny Ramirez. Show Bud Selig the rules need to be changed.
A full look at the American League totals after the jump.
During the 3rd inning of yesterday’s Colorado Rockies versus Atlanta Braves game, Todd Helton became the 255th member of the 2,000 hit club with a single. Milwaukee’s Jason Kendall joined the club on Monday.
After the game, Helton was presented with a hunting rifle by Aaron Cook, a bottle of Dom Perignon that was autographed by the team and skipper Clint Hurdle gave him a bottle of Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades champagne.
Including Helton, only fours players have reached the 2,000 hit milestone with one team. They are Derek Jeter (Yankees), Chipper Jones (Braves) and Garrett Anderson (Angels). Anderson is now a member of the Braves.
Helton went to the University of Tennessee where he played football and baseball. He was the backup quarterback to Heath Shuler his first two seasons there and then started his junior season as the backup to Jerry Colquitt. After an injury to Colquitt, Helton took over at quarterback only to suffer an injury. The man who replaced him at quarterback for the Volunteers was Peyton Manning. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of him.
In 1995, Helton was named the winner of the Dick Howser Trophy, which goes to the National Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year. Helton played first base and also was the closer at Tennessee but the Rockies drafted him that year 8th overall as a first baseman.
They signed him in 1995 of that year giving him a signing of bonus of $892,000 and assigned him to the Asheville Tourists of the South Atlantic League. In 54 games with the Tourists, Helton hit .254 with 1 home run and 15 RBIs.
I first met Helton in 1996 when he was assigned to the New Haven Ravens in the Eastern League. They also happened to be my employer at the time as I was the home clubhouse manager. When I first started working in baseball, people warned me about the “bonus babies” aka the guys with large signing bonuses and how some of them were very egotistical.
That season we actually had a few “bonus babies” in Helton, Jamey Wright, the late Doug Million and Derrick Gibson among others. I can honestly tell you that these guys were some of the nicest guys I have ever met during my time spent working in minor league baseball.
Helton dominated the Eastern League that year hitting .332 with 7 home runs and 51 RBIs. You might not think that’s a lot but if you’ve ever been to Yale Field in West Haven, CT, you’d know it was definitely a pitcher’s park as most of the Eastern League stadiums back then.
Scouts and front office types would always say that if you can play in the Eastern League, you could play in the big leagues.
With Memorial Day set for next Monday, all 30 Major League Baseball Teams will pay tribute to our fallen soliders by wearing special Stars & Stripes caps.
MLB started this tradition last year when the teams wore the caps on July 4th and again on September 11th. Just like last year, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the caps and merchandise will be going to “Welcome Back Veterans“.
You can view all of the Stars & Stripes caps by heading over to MLB.com Shops.
I do wish the Boston Red Sox were home this year on Memorial Day, because these jerseys are pretty sweet.
If you are interested in the Red Sox Stars & Stripes apparel, head over to MLB.com Shops.
As Texy from Center Field will attest to, I’ve been easily duped into thinking some of the Boston Red Sox player Twitter pages are official. We do know that @davidortiz is really Big Papi’s Twitter page but he really doesn’t update too much.
Courtesy of Mark Newman from MLB.com, here is the official list of current MLB players who have Twitter accounts.
And if you’re not following me on twitter, you can follow @soxanddawgs.
MLB Tweeps roster [MLBlogs]
In what is probably only a publicity move (hey look I fell for it), the Calgary Vipers of the independent Golden Baseball League plan to offer former Red Sox and current Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez a contract to play for them while he serves his 50-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use.
“The Vipers have a few connections to the Dodgers organization”, said Vipers director of baseball operations Peter Young. “Carlos Duncan’s brother Mariano is a Dodgers’ coach as is Don Mattingly, a good friend of hitting coach Boots Day. Carlos is trying to get through to Manny or to Scott Boros, Ramirez’ agent”.
Now do we really think that Manny will go to Canada to play baseball? Heck, does Manny even know where Canada is?
VIPERS TO OFFER CONTRACT TO RAMIREZ [Calgary Vipers]
Calgary Vipers to offer contract to suspended Ramirez [Calgary Herald]
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, former Boston Red Sox outfielder and current Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games for the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Ramirez is expected to attribute the test results to medication received from a doctor for a personal medical issue, according to a source familiar with matter but not authorized to speak publicly.
And this from Tom Verducci of SI.com:
Ramirez, a baseball source told SI.com, explained to baseball officials he was uncertain that he was taking a banned substance and may have had a medical reason for using the substance.
The source said the substance was not classified as a steroid but was clearly defined as a banned performance-enhancer according to the drug agreement between baseball the players association. Banned substances can only be taken with prior knowledge and medical clearance from baseball’s drug program administrators. Such exceptions are known as Theraputic Use Exemptions, or TUEs. The suspension is an indication that Ramirez did not have a TUE for the substance.
Manny’s suspension would start tonight and he wouldn’t be eligible to play again until July 3rd.
This is what Manny had to say about the suspension:
“Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me,” Ramirez said. “Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now.
“I do want to say one other thing; I’ve taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons. I want to apologize to [Dodgers owner Frank] McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, [manager Joe] Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I’m sorry about this whole situation.”
Wow. It’s scary to think that Jose Canseco was right again. I’m just happy it’s the Dodgers problem and not the Red Sox.
Manny Ramirez will be suspended 50 games for positive drug test [Los Angeles Times]
Ramirez tests positive [SI.com]
Update: According to Yahoo! Sports, the drug that Manny took was HcG, a sexual enhancer.
I think Boston Red Sox player development consultant Tommy Harper summed up what all of Red Sox Nation and probably millions of others were thinking during last night’s Red Sox/Yankees game:
“When you’re watching ESPN, with three in the booth, they talk so damn much and they were right in the middle of a conversation when they screamed, ‘There he goes.’ I think Jon Miller was talking at the time and then he screamed that Ellsbury’s going. The cameras weren’t on him, so by the time we saw it Jacoby was almost at the plate. With so many cameras, they did show the replay and you could see the whole thing. I got a good angle on the replay.”
Harper knew Ellsbury could do it [Projo Sox Blog]
If you wanted to see bad starting pitching, lots of home runs, some defensive miscues, a bad outing again from the Yankees bullpen, Fenway Park was the place to be this afternoon.
After trailing 6-0, the Red Sox rallied to take the lead only to lose only to rally again and in the end they walked away 16-11 winners over the Yankees in front of 37,699 on an absolutely gorgeous day for baseball at the Fens.
It’s the 9th straight win for the Red Sox after starting the season 2-6 while the Yankees fall to 9-8. The Red Sox are now just a game back of the Toronto Blue Jays (13-6) in the AL East standings while the Yanks are in 3rd.
With Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett on the mound today, you would have expected to see a pitcher’s duel. It was far from that from Beckett while for the first three innings, Burnett was dominating the Red Sox like he’s done all through his career.
Beckett went 5 innings, allowing 8 runs on 10 hits and 4 walks with 3 strikeouts. Burnett went 5 innings, giving up 8 runs on 8 hits and 4 walks with 3 strikeouts.
It came down to the bullpens again and while the Red Sox bullpen was touched up for 3 runs (1 earned), it was the Yankees bullpen that once again faltered giving up 8 runs (all earned) over the final 3 innings.
Manny Delcarmen worked 1 2/3 innings for the Red Sox, giving up 2 runs (none were earned) on 3 hits and recorded 3 strikeouts. Hideki Okajima went 2/3 of an inning, allowing a run on a hit and a walk while Ramon Ramirez also went 2/3 of an inning, giving up a hit and a walk. Jonathan Papelbon finished it off for the Red Sox, walking two and striking out one in the 9th.
Mike Lowell was the man for the Red Sox this afternoon, driving in 6 runs on 2 hits. His two hits were a 3-run homer and 3-run double. Jason Varitek helped the Red Sox get back into the game with a grand slam, his fourth homer of the year. Jason Bay continues to swing a hot stick as he was 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs and 2 walks, one of the intentional variety while Kevin Youkilis. also had 2 hits.
Dustin Pedroia reached base all 5 times he was up (3 hits, 2 walks) and added an RBI. Jacoby Ellsbury also had 2 hits including a solo home run to tie the game and an RBI and David Ortiz added an RBI to the cause for the local nine as well.
Johnny Damon got things started for the Yankees in top half of the 1st with a one out single. Beckett then walked Mark Teixeira and gave up a single to Nick Swisher that drove in Damon to give the Yanks a 1-0 lead. Robinson Cano flew out but Jorge Posada singled in Teixeira for a 2-0 lead. Beckett left them stranded on the basepaths when he got Hideki Matsui grounded out to Youkilis at first.
Burnett worked around a single to Pedroia in the 1st and a walk to J.D. Drew in the 2nd while Beckett had an easy 2nd as well.