Fri May 24 06:51pm EDT
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You've gone to the driving range before. But have you ever gone to the driving range the way Toronto Blue Jays sluggers Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion recently went to the driving range?
In this newest video offering from the MLB Fan Cave, the two ball-crushing Blue Jays visited Chelsea Piers driving range in New York City, with their bats at their side. And they did some driving all right — walloping baseballs while people next to them sliced at golf balls. They were knocking balls 400-plus feet off underhand tosses. Then they tried to play a game of accuracy, seeing who could be first to hit a golf cart. Watch the video to see who won.
Makes you want to play a game of baseball-golf now, huh? Us too. That might not be a real thing, but it should be. Until it becomes one, here are a couple amateur baseball-golf mash-ups for you to enjoy.
Fri May 24 06:30pm EDT
As you've read on Big League Stew all day, there were plenty of fun things to talk about coming out of the Angels-Royals game at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday night. But we're now learning that while all those entertaining events played out on the field or over the television broadcast, a far more serious scene was playing out in the stands.
As it's being reported by multiple outlets, including the Associated Press, a 14-year-old girl seated in the stadium's upper deck collapsed and needed immediate medical attention. Fans in the area immediately began calling for assistance, and among the very first to respond, thankfully, was 26-year-old Sam Sapenaro, who works primarily as a nurse but was on duty at her second job as a member of Kauffman Stadium's K-Crew (in-game entertainment).
Within the 15-20 seconds Sapenaro says it took her to arrive on the scene, which is a remarkably quick reponse, the girl was completely unresponsive and without a pulse. With the assistance of the gentleman who accompanied the young girl to the game, who also turned out to be a nurse, Sapenaro immediately began CRP and was able to successfully resuscitate her.
By that point stadium medical personnel had arrived and soon prepared the girl to be moved to the ambulance. It's reported that during the transport to the ambulance the girl had to be revived a second time, but the encouraging news is they were able to get her to a hospital where she's now receiving further treatment and is expected to survive.
Fri May 24 03:35pm EDT
Miguel Cabrera is at it again, punishing baseballs and the pitchers who throw them. Last season's Triple Crown winner looks to be in similar form this season.
He leads not just the American League, but all of baseball, with a .391 batting average and 55 RBIs. His 14 home runs are second to only Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles, who has 15. Those 55 RBIs are something, though. The next highest is Davis with 44. Cabrera is on pace to knock in 198 runs, according to ESPN Stats & Info — which is absurd, but actually a tad less absurd when we're talking about Miggy.
All those stats are one way of telling you how good Cabrera is. But the GIF above can show you in a different way. It comes from Drew Sheppard of Fangraphs — who also made that marvlous Yu Darvish GIF. Just look at Cabrera covers the plate, but maintains his swing. Go ahead, try to say he's not dangerous. All six of these pitches, it's worth noting, Cabrera hit for home runs.
Fri May 24 02:57pm EDT
A day after photos spread of Derek Jeter visiting Starbucks and using "Philip" as his coffee-fetching alter ego, New York Yankees teammate Phil(ip) Hughes declared "payback" on Jeter for snaking his name.
Hughes posted this tweet Friday, holding a venti something-or-other with "Sanderson" written on the cup. Sanderson, as you may or may not know, is Jeter's very-distinguished-sounding middle name.
Payback! sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-… twitter.com/PhilHughes65/s…
— Phil Hughes (@PhilHughes65) May 24, 2013
Fri May 24 01:28pm EDT
How many "best parts" can a photo have? This picture of Minnesota Twins superstar Joe Mauer at (perhaps) 9 years old has too many to count.
• The Zubaz pants. They've been making a comeback, thank goodness, but for a while it appeared the striped wonders would remain a relic of the late 1980s and early '90s. Every kid in '92 (with any taste) wanted Zubaz, and obviously Mauer's parents came through for the lad.
• The reluctant smile for the camera. Mauer (from what I can tell) is genuinely friendly, and a nice guy as an adult, but there's some shyness there also. His emotions mostly stay under the surface, a lament of some Twins watchers. It makes sense that, while he's obviously happy about winning a basketball trophy and wearing those pants, something prevents him from showing a grin. As the inset photo of Mauer shows, it's obvious he's worked on that part of his personality.
• The bangs. Oh my gosh darn it, the bangs. That's the price you pay for Zubaz pants; subjecting yourself to bangs because that's what mom wants. It's "kid pro quo" at its most elemental. Note, again in the inset photo, how Mauer's catcher's helmet simulates the bangs today. Mauer is in charge of his own haircut now — he's an adult — but he's still got mom on his mind. That's for you, Mrs. Mauer.
• The basketball trophy. We don't know precisely what he got it for, but it's likely that Mauer's team won a tournament. He was, after all, a 12-sport star by the time high school came.
• The house. As Twitter follower Bob Bohland said:
Fri May 24 12:31pm EDT
The 2013 season has not gone as hoped, so far, for the Toronto Blue Jays or young slugger Brett Lawrie. The Jays have a 20-27 record amid injuries and below-average performances, and Lawrie has experienced both personally.
However, that doesn't mean the Jays need to play in dirty uniforms, or that the players can't be responsible for cleaning them — like many other Canadians in charge of their own work laundry. So it's reassuring that the Jays aren't afraid to function in Toronto society amongst the people, like Lawrie does in this TV commercial for Rogers cable.
Fri May 24 10:25am EDT
Face it: Inaccuracies, errors and typos are a product of this high-speed information world we currently inhabit. You may have even seen a few right here on Big League Stew from time to time.
But this mistake-riddled graphic that popped up during the Kansas City Royals' broadcast on Thursday night is really the Mark Reynolds-at-third base of television graphics. Just when you think it can't get any worse ... it somehow does. Before you dive into our list of all the errors we spotted, see how many you can find on your own.
Fri May 24 04:10am EDT
A fan dashed onto the field during Thursday night's Los Angeles Angels-Kansas City Royals game and made quite a scene before security caught up with him. He ran to the pitcher's mound, where he slid and grabbed the rosin bag, avoiding a would-be captor.
The slide-grab-and-turn was a lot like the climax in the movie "The Sandlot," when Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez slid to retrieve the Babe Ruth-signed baseball, evading Hercules the Dog and setting off a huge chase scene.
In this case, the fan was chased all right. But he was caught pretty quickly. Looks pretty proud of himself, huh?
Fri May 24 03:25am EDT
You know you're on the road when you go barreling into the stands to make a great catch, get up, climb back on the field and a fan throws a beer at you. Right, Nate McLouth?
The Baltimore Orioles left fielder risked injury Thursday night falling into the stands at the Rogers Centre in Toronto — home to some of baseball's most raucous fans. Perhaps upset that McLouth made the catch or perhaps just seizing an opportunity to look like an idiot, a fan then tossed a beer at McLouth. It didn't hit him, but it definitely caught his attention.
There's a contingent of Jays fans who maintain that McLouth dropped the ball when he went into the stands but pretended like he caught it, thus deserving the beer drenching. Regardless, it was ruled a catch on the field.
"No class whatsoever," Orioles TV commentator Jim Palmer quipped after the beer toss.
Fri May 24 03:01am EDT
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.
This is more like what this year's Los Angeles Angels were expecting.
Thursday night the Angels won their fifth in a row, downing the Kansas City Royals 5-4 thanks to home runs from Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Mark Trumbo and Chris Ianetta. The win pulled the Angels even with the Seattle Mariners for third place in the AL West and gave roughed-up pitcher Joe Blanton his first win of the season in nine starts.
The Angels are now 20-27 and the highest they've been in the standings since April 27. It's not proof that everything is right in Anaheim, but it's a promising sign that things are getting better.
The most impressive moment for the Angels came early: Trout's first inning home run traveled 463 feet, the longest of his career, the third longest this week and 11th longest of the season, according to Home Run Tracker.
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