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While most baseball fans were busy sifting through trade speculation and hoping their favorite team could upgrade for a playoff run, the Los Angeles Angels sat back and watched one of their own homegrown pitchers make history on Wednesday afternoon. Ervin Santana threw a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians, earning the win in a big 3-1 victory that allowed the Angels to take two of three at Progressive Field.

As the third starter in a great rotation, Santana gives the team serious hope towards a division title and a deep playoff run. But oddly enough, while Santana can revel in the glory of pitching a no-hitter, a feat that so few pitchers can enjoy, he won't get credit for a shutout despite allowing zero earned runs. The Indians struck first in the game, putting an unearned run on the board in the first inning on an error by infielder Erick Aybar, a stolen base, a runner advanced on fielder's choice, and a wild pitch by Santana himself. It marks the 11th time in MLB history that

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In an All-Star game that featured overmatched American League hitters melting down at the hands of the powerful National League pitchers, jack-of-all-trades entertainer Justin Timberlake proved to be the most talked-about participant on an otherwise tame broadcast. While being interviewed by Mark Grace to promote his upcoming film "Friends With Benefits," Timberlake went off the reservation just a bit when it came to FOX broadcaster Joe Buck.

From Amazin Avenue's transcript of the interview: {YSP:MORE}

Joe Buck: We go down for a visit with a special guest, here's Mark Grace.

tlakeMark Grace: I'm down here in the pool area, with the star of the upcoming comedy, "Friends With Benefits." Welcome Justin Timberlake, how ya doin' brother?

Justin Timberlake: Joe Buck, you're calling a great game, Joe!

Joe Buck: Thanks, Justin.

Justin Timberlake: Just a classy guy-

Joe Buck: Thanks.

Justin Timberlake: -with a classy voice.

Man, oh, man: If hosting "Saturday Night Live" and starring in "The Social

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Because Derek Jeter has always had a flair for the dramatic, of course he hit a home run.

In the third inning of Saturday's  game against the Tampa Bay Rays, with his career hit counter one shy of the notable 3,o00 mark, the New York Yankees shortstop lifted a pitch from David Price into the left field stands at Yankee Stadium. Pandemonium ensued in the stands and Jeter's teammates crowded at home plate as the Yankees finally filled the emptiest spot — a player notching 3,000 hits while wearing pinstripes — in their otherwise crowded trophy case.

Watch No, 3,000 here

In a postgame interview with Kim Jones on YES, Jeter said he was happiest — and relieved — to get all of his hits with one team.

"I've been lying to you guys this whole time. I had a lot of pressure on me these few days in New York. But after my first at-bat, and got that first hit, I relaxed a little bit.

"Hitting a home run was the last thing I've thought about."

Update: Jeter finished 5 for 5 at the plate — the first

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The 1989 baseball comedy "Major League" is consistently near the top of moviegoers' favorite sports films despite the ridiculous concept of the Cleveland Indians beating the New York Yankees for a pennant. Crazy, right? Sports Illustrated writer Chris Nashawaty recently interviewed the director, David Ward, and most of the cast for his latest feature, an oral history of the movie that digs deep and reveals some things we didn't know.

Here are the top 10 revelations from Nashawaty's exhaustive interview feature in the July 4 "Where Are They Now?" issue of Sports Illustrated. Hopefully, he'll avoid doing a followup for the cast and crew of that dud "Major League III: Back to the Minors."

1. Charlie Sheen was doing steroids during filming!: Or so he claims. Sheen, who played fireballing reliever Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn, played some baseball in high school but got kicked off the team because of poor grades. To prepare for his role in the film, Sheen says he improved his fastball from

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On Tuesday night in Cleveland, oft-lampooned Tampa Bay Rays closer Kyle Farnsworth committed the unthinkable crime of walking in the winning run. That got us around to thinking: Who's responsible for issuing the most free passes with the game literally on the line? And exactly how rare of a feat is a walkoff walk?

A walkoff walk can only happen with the bases loaded and, like any other "walkoff" play, it has to happen in the home team's final at-bat, either in the ninth inning or any extra inning. It also helps to have a pitcher on the mound with poor control and a patient hitter at the dish. Four balls, after all, don't come easy when someone wants to play hero with a bat.

Walkoff walks, while more frequent than a pitcher throwing a no-hitter or a batter hitting for the cycle, are still more rare an occurrence than walkoff home runs or any other walkoff hit. In fact, over the past 39 seasons for which the good people at Baseball-Reference.com have complete data, a walkoff walk has

thefarns511And here's another surprising nugget about Tampa Bay Rays closer Kyle Farnsworth: He made it all the way to Tuesday night — a span that lasted 12 tidy innings! — without issuing a single walk of any kind in 2011.

Unfortunately, the first walk he did allow was of the worst variety. It came with Tuesday's game tied and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, forcing in a run and ushering the Cleveland Indians to a 5-4 walkoff win. After battling back from an 0-2 count, Indians left fielder Michael Brantley patiently drew balls one through four and let Carlos Santana gallop home with the winning run.

Farnsworth already has seven saves in 2011, more than he's had in a single season since his last stint as a team's closer in 2005. That year, he was traded midseason from the Tigers to the Braves, where he replaced Chris Reitsma as the team's fireman. He ended up with 16 saves between two teams that season but signed as a set-up man with the New York Yankees prior to the 2006 season.

doumit510Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sportswriter Dejan Kovacevic has covered the Pittsburgh Pirates long enough to witness too many years of fan suffering. But prior to Monday night's tilt against the Dodgers, he knew the milestone on deck and issued the following missive on Twitter:

Victory tonight will bring winning record this late in season for first time since May 29, 2004, when #Pirates were 23-22 #historywillbemade

This was partly tongue-in-cheek but it retained its truthiness: The Pirates have stunk for so long that they can't even maintain a winning record into the actual summer season. But thanks to a late-game, three-run rally and some tidy defense (including a pair of outfield assists to double up distracted Dodgers base runners), the Pirates beat the Dodgers 4-1, reached that winning mark, and a small amount of history was indeed made.

A whopping seven years between winning records past May 10 is statistically significant. But hey, the calendar still reads "May" and three-quarters of

pandoval56Welcome to Throwing Pains, your weekly run to the hot corner hospital to see what the Rx roll call looks like. I am not a doctor and I won't even play one on the web. Nope, it's up to the players to get hurt and for me to give them my wildly unprofessional diagnoses based on a semester of high school anatomy and a cursory knowledge of how to search the WebMD website.

To the DL!

Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants: Sandoval, who made headlines this winter for his successful weight-loss program, just went down with a fractured wrist that required surgery. There's no diet in the world that could have prevented this ouchie. Sandoval broke his hamate bone during an at-bat last Friday; the hamate is towards the lower part of the hand, near where the knob of the bat usually rests.

Diagnosis: The once pudgy Panda will miss 4-6 weeks recovering from surgery. Luckily, the injury should make it easier for him to maintain his svelte figure through his rehab. Ever try to grip an ice cream scoop