(@JarrodBParker)

Though Oakland A's starter Jarrod Parker isn't required to hit for himself very often — he has nine plate appearances over three big league season thanks to that little designated hitter rule — it still would be nice to have a few official major league bats with his own name on them.

Unfortunately, thanks to a little mishap at the Marucci manufacturing plant, Parker won't have that satisfaction this week when the A's make a rare visit toa National League park against their bay area rivals the San Francisco Giants.

Instead, Jarrod Parker has to settle for bats identifying him as Jarrett Parker, which could mean they were intended for the Jarrett Parker who's an outfield prospect ironically in the Giants organization currently playing for the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels. Or, it could also mean that we're dealing with one hilariously handcrafted and unfortunately permanent typo.

Don't ever let people tell you sideline reporting in baseball isn't a dangerous gig. It can be extremely dangerous, especially if you're not expecting that big league player to bombard your interview with a shaving cream pie or a Gatorade bucket.

All kidding aside, which we can thankfully do in this case, it really can be dangerous when the reporter is asked to take their eyes off the field for a period of time to deliver their latest hit.

Such was the scenario for Fox Sports Wisconsin's Sophia Minnaert during the Pirates 5-2 win over the Brewers at Miller Park on Saturday night. As Minnaert welcomed fans back in the top half of the third inning, she was ready to set up the broadcast's Twitter poll for the evening. However, early in to her report, Minnaert was struck by an errant baseball that knocked the microphone right out of her hands and put her report on pause for a few seconds.

Having reviewed the broadcast, I can tell you it was not a foul ball as it's described in the MLB video. The inning had not started yet, so it was likely an errant throw from a Brewers player looking to give away a souvenir. Still, as you can tell by the sound and impact, it had a little mustard on it, and could have done some damage had she been struck in the head or face.

Thankfully, that wasn't the case, so Minnaert was able to quickly recover her microphone and collect herself.

Remember when we brought you the clip of Heath Bell belly flopping around on the Chase Field infield while attempting to field Will Venable's bunt on Saturday? The whole awkwardness of those no man's land baseballs that end up between the pitcher's mound, the first baseman and the second baseman was brought up, and I specifically noted how it usually requires an athletic pitcher to scoop the ball up to take it himself or a remarkable effort from a second baseman (ie: glove flip) to record the out.

Well, we saw another one of those plays in Saturday's Phillies-Nationals game at Nationals Park, and it absolutely took a remarkable (and improbable) effort from Washington second baseman Steve Lombardozzi to get the out.

The play happened with Phillies second baseman Freddy Galvis leading off the eighth inning. Galvis has good speed, so his idea was to drag a bunt along the right side to set the table for a big inning. That's exactly what he tried, though his bunt attempt was a little harder than you'd like it to be. In fact, the ball was scooting at a pretty good pace as it went past the pitcher, so Lombardozzi had trouble positioning himself for the aforementioned glove flip attempt.

What happened instead was Lombardozzi ended up fumbling with the baseball just to get control of it, and then in a stroke of pure luck, it ended up caroming off his left knee right to first baseman Adam LaRoche covering the bag and it beat Galvis there by half a step.

(USA Today)The best thing about Brandon McCarthy is that he's always in Brandon McCarthy mode. Regardless of what time of year it is, what team he's playing for, or what his particular assignment on a certain day might be, he approaches life the same way. And I might add it's the right way, because he rarely takes himself seriously, and he always manages to entertain.

A perfect example of this showed up on Twitter on Saturday when McCarthy decided to share with us his ideal batting practice playlist for Arizona Diamondbacks home games at Chase Field.

Yes, the team actually handed him a piece of paper and asked him to write down his preferred list of musical selections, and much like most of us have done when asked to do something similar (like maybe fill out a Secret Santa list) he couldn't help but return to his sophomoric roots.

Take a look.

(US Weekly)Twitter has proven to be one powerful (and dangerous) tool when it comes to sharing information.

It has also proven to be a powerful tool when it comes to bringing people together.

That could mean anything from sports fans connecting from points all around of the world to family members reuniting. And, from time to time. it can even serve as a free dating service, whether those involved intended it to or not.

That's exactly how it worked out for the 24-year-old ace of the New York Mets staff, Matt Harvey, who's seemingly innocent tweet from two weeks ago ended up helping him land a date with supermodel Anne Vyalitsyna.

According to US Weekly, the two met briefly during the New York Rangers May 6 playoff game at Madison Square Garden and then ending up taking the same elevator ride when the game was over.

That prompted the following tweet from Harvey:

A @nyrangers win! Riding the elevator out of the garden with the beautiful @annev. And now bedtime, to get ready for @mets baseball

— Matt Harvey (@MattHarvey33) May 7, 2013

(USA Today)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.

Don Mattingly’s interesting week continued on Saturday night. Just days after leaving Andre Ethier out of his lineup in Milwaukee while strongly insinuating that he felt Ethier wasn’t among the hardest worker competitors on the team, he made another strong statement by electing to remove all-star center fielder Matt Kemp during a seventh inning double switch in their game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Now, you may be thinking that’s not exactly a big deal. Players get double-switched all of the time. That's true, but it doesn't happen to superstars all that often, and it certainly doesn't happen to superstars late in a one-run game. Mattingly was clearly sending another message, though that was flatly denied in his postgame comments. .

Here's a little more from Beth Harris of the Associated Press:

Mattingly made his second double switch in the seventh, with Kenley Jansen taking the mound and Skip Schumaker replacing Kemp in center field. A clearly frustrated Kemp returned to the dugout shouting, but Mattingly said he didn't take him out because he's struggling.

''It's tough because you don't want to take to switch one of your guys out but it was the only move I felt I had,'' he said.

The win helped Kemp cool down.

''It had been a bad day for me. I didn't do much to help the team,'' he said. ''That's how they feel. Let them do what they want to do.''

To make matters worse for Kemp, both he and Ethier were booed throughout the game by the frustrated Dodger Stadium crowd. Just a rough day at the office, and I'm not sure a win will sooth things nearly as much as was led on here. I guess we'll have to stay tuned.

The San Francisco Giants have turned late inning comebacks and walkoff victories into an art form.

On Saturday, they may have delivered their most creative masterpiece to date.

With the game tied at four in the tenth, Troy Tulowitzki gave the Colorado Rockies the lead with a long home run into the left field bleachers off Sergio Romo. I mean he crushed it, and he may have enjoyed it a little bit as he pointed into his own dugout all the way up the first base line.

Unfortunately for Tulo, though, he didn't get to enjoy it for very long.

In the bottom half, San Francisco turned things right around against Rafael Betancourt. It started with a leadoff walk to Brandon Crawford. Then Guillermo Quiroz was used to sacrifice him into scoring position, but that ended up not mattering a single bit. Switch-hitting Angel Pagan had bigger, much more spectacular plans than tying the game with a single.

Instead, Pagan wanted to make a little history, so that's what he did by smoking a ball off the right center field wall that could not have caromed any more perfectly for San Francisco had they drawn it up. Once it scooted past right fielder Michael Cuddyer and made it's way through AT&T Park's triple's alley, the roar of the crowd grew in anticipation. Crawford could have crawled home from second, they knew they'd at least drawn even. But what about Pagan? Would third base coach Tim Flannery dare send him?

A wild Friday night in Major League Baseball wouldn’t have been complete without an appearance from Heath Bell. Right on cue, the newly anointed Arizona Diamondbacks closer delivered a moment that managed to stand out amongst the weirdness as he finished out his old team, the San Diego Padres.

Naturally, the play happened in the ninth inning. With one out, Padres outfielder Will Venable dragged a bunt that slowly bounced into no man’s land between the pitcher’s mound, first base, and the second baseman’s position. You know what that play usually looks like. Three fielders converging on the ball looking like they’ve never prepared for the scenario a single time in their professional career.

Sometimes you’ll see a second baseman bail the team out with a nifty glove flip (only if the first baseman reads it correctly). Other times you’ll see the pitcher scoop it up and run to the bag himself. But most of the time it’s a frustrating base hit.

I’m not completely sure what Heath Bell was trying to do on his attempt to field the ball from his pitching position. Maybe he initially thought he’d scoop it up and somehow win the footrace with the speedy Venable. If so, he was sadly mistaken, because the result was an awkward and fruitless belly flop dive that we’re surprised didn’t knock the wind out of him.