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    David Brown

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    David Brown is an editor of Big League Stew, and has contributed to the blog since its opening season in 2008. Dave has covered Major League Baseball since 1998, first with the Associated Press and later the Northwest Herald in Crystal Lake, Ill. Born and raised in Chicago, Dave's favorite player growing up was (and remains) Fred McGriff.

    • Goofball fan dives into bush at Petco after Jason Heyward home run ball

      Everybody knows that Atlanta Braves slugger Jason Heyward has been struggling this season. And yet, his home runs balls aren't so rare that any single Heyward souvenir is worth risking one's own health, or even dignity.

      Well, someone forgot to tell the broseph at San Diego's Petco Park who jumped into a bush Monday night after Heyward launched his second deep of the game. The sunglasses-at-night-, backward-cap-wearing fan did not come away with the ball, but he did appear to help knock it free of the bush's clutches that enabled the taller, shaved-head, Dale Sveum-type guy to walk away with the glory. D'oh!

      Read More »from Goofball fan dives into bush at Petco after Jason Heyward home run ball
    • Don't look for flying saucers in the shaky video, though you might find what looks like a UFO. It's probably the fourth home run of the game hit for Daytona on Monday night by Chicago Cubs top prospect Javier Baez, who tied a Class A Florida State record. Baez went 4 for 4 with seven RBIs, equaling a former Cubs prospect — Ryan Harvey — who was the first player in FSL history to hit four homers in the same game back in 2006. The Florida State League is 94 years old.

      By the count of SABR, it's the 129th time since 1889 that a professional player — including North America, Japan, Cuba and South America — hit at least four homers in a game. Josh Hamilton in 2012 is the most recent major leaguer to do it.

      And Baez celebrated in a way that only an internet-savvy 20-year-old might — by re-posting at least 128 messages of support people sent him on Twitter:

      Read More »from Cubs prospect Javier Baez hits four home runs, thanks fans at least 128 times on Twitter
    • The Juice returns for season No. 6! It's almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more.

      Comebacks, meltdowns, bench-clearing shenanigans, unreal defense. This one had it all in a 10-8 victory in 14 innings for the Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay that lasted 5 hours, 24 minutes Monday night. Daniel Nava's single put Boston ahead finally, and the Red Sox did not allow the Rays to come back for a third time.

      Pedey's D: The Red Sox wouldn't have been in position to put the Rays away if Dustin Pedroia hadn't made two great defensive plays — one in the eighth inning on a pop-up everyone else on Boston's infield lost in the Tropicana roof, and another by contorting himself on a drag bunt in the 10th. Both plays came with two outs and, both times, a Rays runner came perilously close to scoring.

      Pedroia also started a 4-6-3 double play that ended the game. Boston had blown a six-run lead in the first and a two-run lead in the 10th and lived to talk about it. The screen cap below by @RaysIndex leaves little doubt that the Rays would have scored the go-ahead run in the eighth had Pedroia failed to come up with the pop-up:

      Read More »from The Juice: Dustin Pedroia’s defense helps Red Sox beat Rays in 14-inning grudge match
    • Baseball ticket fees: Who is charging how much?

      (Getty)

      With prices frequently and sometimes drastically slashed on the secondary market, a Major League Baseball team's website is probably the last place any fan should look for tickets to a game. In addition to a higher base price, another reason is the fees, either hidden or obvious, that consumers are made to pay. A $20 ticket might seem like a good deal, until it becomes a $30 ticket thanks to "convenience fees," and "order processing" and other fees that don't get names.

      Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times did original research and reports on how much each major league team is charging, how the fees are broken down and how they compare to fees of a season ago. The Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees are the worst, not surprisingly, given the venues.

      Even for the cheapest seat Jaffe said he could find, the Red Sox charged a league-high $11.50 per ticket in extra fees. This is almost as much as the cheapest ticket they offer, which $12 for upper bleachers on certain dates. Of course, even that $12 ticket really costs $23.50 because of the fees. The Cubs have the highest extra fees — $29.04 — if you buy four seats at a time. The Yankees charge you $26.50 extra for four seats, the Red Sox charge $25 extra.

      And what about the biggest changes from 2012 to 2013?

      Read More »from Baseball ticket fees: Who is charging how much?
    • Yasiel Puig: NL Player of the Week seven days into career

      Hype often overshadows performance. Not so with Yasiel Puig — at least not yet. The Los Angeles Dodgers slugger batted .464 with four home runs and 10 RBIs in his first seven games, earning him National League Player of the Week honors. But it's easy to forget the impossible things people expect from Puig, who started his career with a legendary throw in Game 1 and two big homers in Game 2.

      Reporter Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times recalls what happened after Game 3:

      Puig was hitless in four at-bats on Wednesday. Some radio and television reporters, evidently unaware of how the game of baseball works, were in such shock that they asked Manager Don Mattingly several questions about Puig’s struggles.

      “He’s going to have nights when he makes outs,” Mattingly had to remind them.

      Well, the world's still not going to like that. Not with some blogs asking if you'd rather have Puig or Mike Trout to start your team. (Oh, that was The Stew.)

      No matter how talented the Man-Bear-Puig is, he's not going to be somebody's "player of the week" every week. But what are his chances of being a dominant player despite having a free-swinging approach that pitchers usually eventually exploit?

      The sample sizes are small, and comparisons usually are iffy, but Dave Cameron of Fangraphs might have something:

      (Fangraphs)

      There definitely are worse things than matching the production of Josh Hamilton. If he does, Puig gives the Dodgers a perennial MVP candidate. And he might even win a "player of the week" again sometimes.

      Read More »from Yasiel Puig: NL Player of the Week seven days into career
    • Baltimore’s Alexi Casilla makes ridiculous tag on Desmond Jennings

      The Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays combined for so many runs Sunday, it might be easy to overlook at least one run that didn't score.

      Infielder Alexi Casilla of the Orioles made perhaps the nicest tag of the 2013 season, preventing Desmond Jennings of the Rays from stealing second base in the second inning. Casilla took a bad throw from catcher Matt Wieters that pulled him several feet to the right of the bag, but — without looking — Casilla quickly whipped his glove around in time for Jennings to slide into it.

      The Orioles won 10-7, but who knows what might happen if Jennings steals second there?

      Umpire Lance Barrett was right on top of the play for the call, which gave Jennings his sixth caught stealing instead of his eighth stolen base. As for Wieters, he's allowed 11 steals and caught 12 this season. He and A.J. Ellis are the only qualifying catchers with more caught than steals allowed.

      Of course, at least one of those caught should be credited to Alexi Casilla. Let's check it frame-by-frame:

      Read More »from Baltimore’s Alexi Casilla makes ridiculous tag on Desmond Jennings
    • Lucky fan at Boston’s Fenway Park catches two home runs in same game

      (MLB.tv)

      The guy in the light blue shirt goes where Mike Trout cannot reach.

      A fan wearing a Boston Red Sox cap caught two home-run balls hit to the center-field bleachers at Fenway Park on Sunday. Two! Catching one homer in a lifetime might be somebody's dream, but this fan caught one in consecutive innings. The first was a solo homer by Mike Carp in the sixth, followed by a three-run shot by Jarrod Saltalamacchia in the seventh, part of Boston's four-homer barrage in a 10-5 victory against the Los Angeles Angels. Carp's home run went 422 feet, Saltalamacchia's traveled 421. Both were caught by the same dude in the front row of section 36. Pretty near where Bernie Carbo went deep during the 1975 World Series.

      It's probably happened before in baseball history, but it's hardly an every season occurrence. In 2011, a fan at Camden Yards came away with two home runs in the same game, though he picked one up from the ground.

      Both of these homers at Fenway were caught, with no glove by the way, on identical-looking fly balls. Eerie. Also eerie, the celebrity look-alikes near him:

      Read More »from Lucky fan at Boston’s Fenway Park catches two home runs in same game
    • (Adidas Baseball)

      Now you've done it, Adidas. The official outfitter of the University of Louisville (and others) created a blinding new uniform for the Cardinals, which they wore Sunday in an NCAA tournament victory to help them reach the College World Series. If you are lucky enough to be sight-impaired, allow me to describe them. As for the jerseys, just think "1980 Houston Astros," with the "tequila sunrise" rainbow pattern made notorious by Nolan Ryan, J.R. Richard, Jose Cruz and the Astrodome gang. Only with Louisville's Cardinal red hues instead of orange.

      And it's not just the jersey. It's hard to tell from the stylized photo that Adidas shared on Facebook, but the pants appear to be a dark red — ox blood! — almost a maroon color, and they're cut to look like regular trousers. And, best (?) of all, the white belt. It might be more appropriate on a golf course, worn by a 65-year-old man, in 1977. But you know the rule: If it's before Labor Day, the white belt is in play. (It's in the Constitution.)

      UPDATE: Virginia Tech donned starburst uniforms in their own homage to the Astros in 2009 (H/N: @AndyBitterVT). And, lest we forget, the Tucson minor league club just had its own Astros homage over the weekend.

      If routine and superstition (if not fashion) mean anything, Louisville will be wearing these unis in Omaha. And they won't be the only team at the College World Series to bust out the retro look thanks to Adidas:

      Read More »from Louisville’s blinding new uniforms bring Houston Astros retro rainbow style to college baseball
    • (Getty)

      Not more than 10 minutes after the New York Yankees granted right-hander Chien-Ming Wang his release, he was said to be in the rotation of the Toronto Blue Jays and starting their game Tuesday night.

      Reporter Andy McCullough of the Newark Star-Ledger was among those who had news of his release first. Ken Rosenthal of Fox added the surprising bit about Wang's next scheduled appearance:

      Less than a week ago, Wang's representatives said he probably would be staying with the Yankees organization in the minor leagues, despite an out clause in Wang's contract, because no team had offered him a major-league deal. Until the Blue Jays stepped up, apparently. Life sure changes fast in Major League Baseball.

      Wang showed great promise with a sinking fastball when he came over from Taiwan to the Yankees in 2005, but injuries — many of which stemmed from a foot problem in 2008 that preceded a torn shoulder capsule in 2009 — have eaten at his career. He's made a total of 40 starts, with the Yankees and Nationals, since the start of the '08 season.

      Read More »from Chien-Ming Wang to pitch for Blue Jays on Tuesday after Yankees grant release
    • "Ohhhh, my gosh."

      That was the reaction of left-handed pitcher Ian Clarkin, a first-round pick of the New York Yankees on Thursday, after one of his childhood idols, Luis Gonzalez of the Arizona Diamondbacks, reminded him of what Clarkin had said about the Yankees before the draft:

      After Gonzalez won the 2001 World Series for Arizona, beating the Yankees with a famous (or infamous) RBI single in Game 7, Clarkin described himself like this in a pre-draft video:

      "I was actually in tears, because I cannot stand the Yankees."

      Off the cuff. Freudian slip. Exuberance of youth. And then the Yankees went and took Clarkin with the 33rd overall pick, last in the first round.

      Hey, how you like the Yankees now, Ian?!

      Hey, it's not like baseball fans hold silly grudges! (Might he be a Red Sox double agent? Nah!) No matter, Clarkin can stand the Yankees just fine now, and has reverted to saying all of the right things. But the look on his face was precious when Gonzalez reminded Clarkin of his words:

      Read More »from Yankees draft pick Ian Clarkin regrets saying ‘I cannot stand the Yankees’ before draft

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