YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    David Brown

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    • (MLB.tv)

      A trip to the MLB Fan Cave in New York City to play Wiffle ball must have been fun enough for 13-year-old Nick D'Annibale, a seventh grader who happens to also be a survivor of leukemia. Just getting a chance to play in the street, semi-Willie Mays-style — to hit and pitch, with other baseball fans — some 18 months after being diagnosed, that alone made for a happy Friday.

      And then the ice cream van showed up, announcing its presence with the appropriate music box soundtrack. Car! Ice cream delay — those are the best.

      But then, instead of the Ice Cream Man, none other than Robinson Cano popped out of the van, wearing the same No. 24 that D'Annibale wore on his back.

      "I thought it was just going to be ice cream," D'Annibale said.

      On his own free time before the New York Yankees hosted the Blue Jays in the Bronx, Cano played Wiffle ball in the street with D'Annibale and the Fan Cave Dwellers.

      "I love Robinson Cano and he's one of the best second basemen in the league," D'Annibale said.

      Cano and D'Annibale traded swings, with the Yankees star giving a high-five and saying, "Whoa, you're better than me!"

      And the kid, who sports a Roger Maris 1961 haircut, did seem to put some good swings on the ball. Watch.

      Read More »from Robinson Cano surprises 13-year-old leukemia survivor with Wiffle ball game at MLB Fan Cave
    • How is Taiwan ever going to repay the Western Hemisphere for Manny Ramirez?

      As Manny continues to hit like Manny, (he has seven home runs), he also provides Taiwan's nightly news with hysterical video clips. Now, it's hard to tell what is happening in this clip in total because of the language barrier and the overgrown graphics that make CNN or ESPN on NFL Draft day look spartan by comparison. It must be like "Blade Runner" in Tapei City.

      But here's the gist of Manny's Moonwalk:

      Read More »from Manny Ramirez ‘moonwalks’ like Michael Jackson after losing balance in Taiwan
    • Matt Moore matches Babe Ruth with 8-0 start

      (Getty, BLS Illustration)

      Comparing pitchers by their individual won-loss record isn't useful, usually. First off, pitchers don't complete games like they used to — not even close — so the statistic lacks much of its former meaning. Besides, there are many other, better stats to go by when measuring how well someone pitches. However, when the name Babe Ruth is evoked, it's fun just to take a look anyway.

      Such is the case with Matt Moore of the Tampa Bay Rays, who Sunday became the youngest left-hander, at 23 years old, to start a season 8-0 since Ruth did so at age 22 for the Boston Red Sox in 1917. (It's also fun to remind ourselves that Ruth was once a dominant pitcher, as well, before he became the Sultan of Swat.)

      Moore also set a franchise record by winning his ninth straight decision overall, edging teammate David Price.

      ''Historically speaking, it's been wonderful,'' Rays manager Joe Maddon said of Moore's season.

      Looking beyond the record, has Moore outpitched the Babe? In many ways, yes:

      Read More »from Matt Moore matches Babe Ruth with 8-0 start
    • (MLB.tv)

      Jeff Keppinger of the Chicago White Sox had gone 0 for the 2013 season when it came to drawing a walk, until he finally took a pitch for ball four in his 141st plate appearance Thursday night. Keppinger's timing, if not his frequency, was terrific. His walk against Michael Kohn came with the bases loaded in the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Angels and forced in the go-ahead run. The White Sox won 5-4.

      The walk was the third in a row issued by Kohn, who threw 12 of his final 14 pitches out of the strike zone.

      ''It seemed like their guy just lost it there,'' Keppinger said.

      Hey, it happens, not that Keppinger has taken advantage much. He was the last player in the majors having at least 30 plate appearances to draw a walk this season. He beat Jarrod Dyson of the Royals (42 plate appearances) by one day.

      Historically speaking, Keppinger drawing a base on balls has not been comparable, in lack of frequency, to Juan Pierre hitting a home run. Keppinger has drawn 180 walks in 2,846 plate appearances during his career. It's not a lot of walks, but it's one every 15.8 trips, which is more often than Pierre's pauses of 450 trips per dinger. He walked 51 times in 2010. It's in him.

      Drawing a walk should be easier to do for any major leaguer, simply by happenstance, than hitting a home run. Other than the Kansas City Royals, nobody walks less as a team than the White Sox, and it's one of the reasons they're 18-21 coming into Friday. So it's not all Keppinger's fault — there's some kind of groupthink going on with the White Sox, whose batting coach Jeff Manto has never expressed much appreciation for how drawing walks can help an offense. The team's manager didn't seem all that gung-ho about seeing Keppinger be so selective, either.

      Read More »from Jeff Keppinger draws first walk of season in 141 plate appearances, forces in go-ahead run
    • There's a lot to like about the catch the fan at Yankee Stadium makes in the video above. He's wearing a glove, which some people don't like, but they're wrong. There's no way he makes the catch without it. And a foul ball must have been unexpected, because the batter, Chris Stewart, was a right-handed hitter. Rarely do right-handed hitters put foul balls where the fan was sitting. Way to be on your toes, literally and figuratively.

      He also makes an all-out effort to catch the ball, slamming his left arm and full torso into the rows of seats behind him. Terrific grit. And, ouch. As Mike Blowers of the Seattle Mariners broadcast team says, "He's going to feel that in the morning."

      No matter, because this guy got PUMPED. Primal screams, forceful high-fives, likely bro hugs (off camera). He was proud of himself, as he should have been. There was nothing nonchalant about it. David Cone, part of the YES Mystery Wheel of New York Yankees TV broadcasters, said the catch was "Like Derek Jeter in the playoffs a few years back." I think he's referring to the catch Jeter made against the A's in the 2001 playoffs. Or it could have been the one against the Red Sox in July 2004.

      Well, the guy didn't appear to draw blood, and Jeter had a longer way to run, and almost everything he does has a nonchalance about it — that's one of the reasons he's Jeter — but it's an OK comparison for live television, and it probably crossed the mind of a viewer or two, as well, that it might be Jeter-like. I don't have a problem with the fan's catch, anything about it, except for the jersey the guy was wearing.

      Oh, no, Mo. (MLB.tv)

      Does that look like a licensed Mariano Rivera jersey to you?

      I don't like the font of the No. 42. Seems off. I don't like the color. It's too light. Even the pinstripes. It's not even close to what the Yankees wear on the field. I'm afraid we're going to have to eject this young man, nullify his catch and confiscate his ball because of obvious jersey violations.

      Now, the same thing goes for the guy next to him in the Bernie Williams replica jersey, but for another reason. While the color is right, and the font is right, the Yankees don't put their names on their jerseys ever (even though this one appears to be licensed by MLB). Sorry, son, you're going to have to leave too.

      What

      Read More »from Fan at Yankee Stadium evokes Derek Jeter comparison with great catch of foul ball
    • Not only might LSU senior Raph Rhymes have the greatest full name in college baseball — he was born Raphael Ray Rhymes IV — but he's a good ballplayer and quite a tumbler.

      Against dreaded rivals Ole Miss on Thursday, he got to show off his myriad skills during a nationally televised game on ESPNU. Thanks in part to an unsuccessful dive by Ole Miss outfielder Auston Bousfield (another great name), Rhymes scooted around the bases for an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the sixth inning. It wasn't a clean scoot, though, because catcher Stuart Turner — who was trying to field a relay throw simultaneously — flipped him head-over-heels, with Rhymes landing on his left side (his hip appeared to absorb most of the impact) a few feet in front of home plate. The throw got away and Rhymes got to his feet quickly but it didn't matter, because the umpire awarded him home due to Turner obstructing the plate.

      The sequence took about 18 seconds, for you Tater Trot Trackers.

      It was a heck of a way to earn four bases for Rhymes, who comes into Friday batting .351/.419/.473 with four homers after he led the country in hitting in 2012. Rhymes, 23, has been drafted twice by major league teams, most recently by the Yankees in the 30th round a year ago. On Twitter, Rhymes did not preclude the possibility of doing more gymnastics in the future:

      Read More »from Wipeout! LSU’s Raph Rhymes flips head-over-heads on inside-the-park home run
    • Juan Pierre hits home run: Remember this day

      While not as rare as Halley's Comet returning, Miami Marlins slugger Juan Pierre hitting a home run is one of the more infrequent occurrences in Major League Baseball. Pierre hit career homer No. 18 on Thursday night in the Marlins 5-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, a line drive against Mat Latos that just sneaked over the right-field fence and barely stayed fair. That's how guys with a .278 slugging percentage roll:

      ''Juan Pierre hit a home run off me — just my luck,'' Latos said. ''I looked at him when he was running the bases and said, 'What the heck happened?'''

      "Shocked" is an OK reaction. It was Pierre's first home run since June 2012. And that's about right, because in his career Pierre has hit a home run every 450 times he has come to the plate. Among players with at least 8,100 career plate appearances — Pierre's precise number coming into Friday — it's the third-weakest rate since integration in 1947 (via Baseball Reference):

      Read More »from Juan Pierre hits home run: Remember this day
    • Owner Arte Moreno: ‘Blame me’ for Los Angeles Angels failures

      (Getty)

      Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno took responsibility Wednesday for his team achieving so little the past three-plus seasons, including its 15-25 record this season. That means the jobs of manager Mike Scioscia and GM Jerry Dipoto are safe.

      Moreno told Fox Sports there was "zero" chance of an in-season managerial change with Scioscia, who has managed the Angels for 14 seasons and has a contract through 2018. Dipoto has been GM for a year-and-a-half and, besides, it was Moreno who was the point man on the additions of Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton, who cost a combined $375 million over the past two offseasons. And it was Moreno's decision to let Zack Greinke and Torii Hunter walk.

      "There are a lot of underlying things we need to fix and adjust in the organization.”

      The first order of business might be to let the baseball people build the roster. Still, it's encouraging to hear an owner pull a mea culpa, instead of lashing out with mass firings:

      Read More »from Owner Arte Moreno: ‘Blame me’ for Los Angeles Angels failures
    • (Millersville Athletics)

      It's probably the best save seven players on the Millersville (Pa.) University baseball team could possibly make.

      Earlier this month, Millersville's team had arrived late one night for a tournament at Johnstown, Pa., and some of the players got hungry for a snack. On their way to a Sheetz convenience store, they came upon an upsetting scene. But the players — (clockwise from top-left in photo) Tyler Thomas, David Pine, Evan King, Dan Stoltzfus, Tyler Orris, Zach Stone and Tyler McDonald — kept their heads.

      A car had hastily turned into a driveway ahead. The players heard screaming. A man held in his arms a young child, who had gone limp. He passed the boy to a woman, who laid him down on the ground. The couple appeared to be in a panic. The man yelled, "My son is choking! He's having a seizure! Somebody help!"

      The players quickly approached. From Lancaster Online:

      Read More »from Millersville (Pa.) college baseball players helps save 2-year-old boy’s life in middle of the night
    • Every baseball city should have a broadcaster like Fred White. He had a 40-year association with the Kansas City Royals, calling their games on the radio with Denny Matthews from 1973 to 1998, and was at the mic for most of the greatest moments in franchise history. White died Wednesday at the age of 76 from complications of melanoma, but his voice is preserved in the memories of Royals fans and in recordings anyone still can listen to.

      The Kansas City Star's Bob Dutton wrote a touching obituary for White that's worth reading even if you haven't followed the Royals, and Fox Sports Kansas City made an inspired choice by starting their broadcast of K.C.'s game against the Angels with a half-inning of silence to honor White's passing. It's a beautiful and powerful few moments (condensed to about 90 seconds in the video highlight) when listeners only hear the ambient noise of the ballpark. And it's even more emotional when you realize that Royals broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre (who introduces the silence) was the person who replaced White on radio broadcasts in '98 (a move that was widely unpopular at the time).

      Among White's finest moments: Well, anything to do with George Brett. Calling his home run that help beat the Yankees and get the Royals to the World Series in 1980. And saying of the Royals before Game 7 of the 1985 World Series: "This improbable little team, doing improbable little things, now has pushed this thing to the brink."

      And then there's the resumption of the "Pine Tar" game with Brett and the Yankees in 1983, when White hysterically described the defensive alignment a defiant Billy Martin fields for the ninth inning:

      Read More »from Royals voice Fred White dies, TV broadcast pays tribute with ‘silent’ half-inning

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