MLB.com: Braves sign veteran Dessens

MLB is always a better place when it has a guy with such an old-school name as “Elmer” playing, I think.

The Braves have agreed to terms with Elmer Dessens on a Major League contract for the remainder of the 2008 season. The 37-year-old right-hander, who spent this year pitching in Mexico, is expected to join the Braves later this week.

Dessens, who has gone 48-61 with a 4.50 ERA in 11 Major League seasons, went to the Mexican League after being released by the Pirates on March 27. In 20 games (19 starts) with the Mexico City Red Devils, he was 10-2 with a 4.03 ERA.

MLB.com: Braves acquire prospect for Kotsay

Boras fires back

Scott Boras phoned from California to give this quote: “The Pirates violated Major League Baseball rules and have issued a nearly 600-word statement, made their actions look to be my fault. I think it’s time for the Pirates and Mr. Coonelly to come clean with the fans of Pittsburgh and let everyone know about their dealings with Mr. Alvarez.”

Yinzers rise up to defend Boras? Blaaahhaahhahhaaaaa!!!

Arizona Republic: Padres rally to sweep D-Backs

We’re still a few hours away from the probable counter-loss by the Dodgers to the Nationals.

The Diamondbacks came into Petco Park for a series with their top three starters set to face one of baseball’s worst teams. They left on Wednesday afternoon with three losses.

Trailing by four, the Padres rallied for three runs in the seventh inning against starter Randy Johnson then scored twice more against reliever Chad Qualls to come away with a 5-4 victory over the Diamondbacks before an announced crowd of 24,563.
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The Diamondbacks scored all of their runs in the sixth inning. They went down in order in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, with Padres closer Trevor Hoffman striking out the side in the ninth.

SI: A Lot of Guys Got Hosed in the Minors.  They Should Sue.

WARNING: This is a Rick Reilly column, short and predictably shallow, but it’s interesting, so I’m posting it anyway.

You think the steroids issue is dead, but it isn’t. These guys live with the fallout every day. Their dreams died in big league clubhouse johns. I’m telling you: lawsuit. Stanford labor law professor emeritus William Gould IV says the idea “is very interesting” but that they’d need to prove three things to win:

1) A correlation between steroid use and better performance. (Please.)

2) That baseball turned a blind eye to steroid use. (Exhibit A: baseball¹s own Mitchell Report. It blames Bud Selig and players association COO Gene Orza for allowing steroids to spread like crabgrass. Mitchell said there was a “code of silence” in baseball. You think? Oriole David Segui told his GM that he wanted to go to Florida to pick up juice, and the GM never reported it. A Twins visiting clubhouse attendant found a used syringe and told manager Tom Kelly, who never reported it. The thing has more conspiracies than an Oliver Stone movie.)

3) “Nonstatutory labor exemption considerations,” Gould IV says. That’s just so complicated it makes our head ache, but a good shark would gobble it right up.

Deadspin: So, Yankee Stadium Takes This No Moving During “God Bless America"-Thing Rather Seriously

Yankee Stadium’s Patriotism Police nabbed somebody.

Yahoo: Cubs Sweep Pirates

The Cubs are now 33 games over .500.  Last time that happened?  1945. 

Pirates put Pedro Alvarez on restricted list

The Pirates should have known that a deal with the devil would turn out badly.

The Pirates today put first-round draft pick Pedro Alvarez on the restricted list for refusing to sign his contract.

Agent Scott Boras is demanding the Pirate renegotiate Alvarez’s contract—and increase the team-record $6 million signing bonus. Boras contends the contract was submitted to MLB after the midnight Aug. 15 deadline.

Pirates president Frank Coonelly said Major League Baseball has assured the Pirates the contract is valid and was sent to the commissioner’s office on time. MLB that night received the contract of Eric Hosmer, another Boras client, after Alvarez’s contract was submitted.

Ten finalists named for HOF consideration

If this is a repost, I apologize but I didn’t see it under the HOF newsbeat.

Ten former major league players, whose careers began in 1942 or earlier, will be considered for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009 by the Veterans Committee, with results of a December 7 vote to be announced December 8 at baseball’s Winter Meetings, it was announced today.

Bill Dahlen fans rejoice.

Chicago Tribune: Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti resigns

Jay Mariotti, the opinionated and polarizing sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, told the Chicago Tribune he resigned on Tuesday after 17 years with the paper.

WHOO WHOOOOOO

Mariotti, whose public battles with fellow staffers, team owners, and rival columnists are legendary, didn’t disclose any specific plans except to say he will continue doing his regular stint on ESPN’s “Around the Horn.’’

He said that he “is talking with a lot of Web sites’’ and added that the future of his business “sadly is not in newspapers.’’

If only we can fool him into thinking the future of the business isn’t on ESPN, then we can rid ourselves of Mariotti FOREVERRRRR.

Fuentes on bereavement list; Register called up : All Things Rockies

Don’t forget to update your roster.

The Rockies will be a bit short-handed. Closer Brian Fuentes left the team to tend to a non-baseball related issue and was placed on the bereavement list. A player must stay on the list for a minimum of three days and a maximum of seven.

SportingNews.com - Your expert source for MLB Baseball stats, scores, standings, blogs and fantasy n

Brought to you by the same people who gave you the Titanic.

A New Jersey inventor says he has come up with a way to take that aluminum “ping” out of youth baseball and the broken bat out of the national pastime, while making the game a little safer with every swing.

It’s the unbreakable wooden bat, at least one that is guaranteed for a year.

Flushing University: Good Things Happen in Threes

The Mets have already taken the first step toward such a plan, taking advantage of Thursday’s off-day to skip Maine’s former spot in the rotation. The schedule is extremely kind to the Mets between September 3 and September 12, with three off days that will allow Manuel to skip Niese entirely and to minimize appearances from the fourth starter Pedro Martinez.

By simply using the three of them with the standard four days’ rest, Manuel can pitch Santana, Pelfrey and Perez ten times in a 12-game stretch between now and the 12th. Failure to do so on the manager’s part should be a fireable offense.

Surviving Grady: A Diary of Unhealthy Red Sox Obsession

One guy I couldn’t stand was Roy White.

Denton: For me, picking the biggest d-bag ever to wear a Yankees uni is like trying to pick the hottest Victoria’s Secret model: there are too many choices, each with their own distinct qualities. Not to mention, there’s just too much history of hate-able Yankees. It’s like trying to compare the Celtics teams of the Russell era against the Bird era. You just can’t. So I’ve gone the route Dickens would have, and identified the most-hated Yankees of the past, present and future.

And, yes, I am kidding.

A-Rod comes up short, Wakefield comes up big as Yanks’ playoff hopes take a hit

Attendance: 55,058 (95.8% full)

The Yanks-Sox Rivalry died in New York City today as a game not only failed to sell out, but left over 1,500 seats empty. It was the 7th time such a thing happened this season despite claims by the Yankees that basically every game in The Final Season of Historic Yankee Stadium (C) was either sold out or borderline sold-out. The Yanks-Sox Rivalry is survived in New York City by it’s brother, the Yankees-Mets rivalry, and by several cousins, including the Jets-Patriots rivalry, the Giants-Eagles rivalry and, of course, the Knicks-Fanbase rivalry. In lieu of flowers, Hank Steinbrenner asks that you send Free Agent pitchers, especially of the Left-Handed variety.

Okay, back to seriousness: this really caught my eye:

• Tim Wakefield tied Cy Young for the most decisions by a pitcher in Red Sox history with No. 304. Wakefield is now 162-142 lifetime.

Anytime you tie Cy Young in anything, you deserve props.

SF Gate: Jenkins on the pitch count (Part Two): Let them learn to pitch and learn to finish

Hey kids, the long-awaited “Part 2” of Bruce Jenkins’ potentially award-winning article on the demise of the complete article, er, game.

One of the most respected pitchers of the 1980s, Jack Morris, said, “I’m not even sure I could pitch today. I’d probably want to be a reliever. As a starter, you have no chance of controlling your destiny. You can have a great game and not be able to finish it. I trust me more than I trust a reliever.”

Morris then climbed to the top of his lean-to and drank six four packs of Old Style.

B-ref Blog: Baseball’s 250,000th Homer

almost there

Any dibs on who will hit and when? 

Dayton Daily News: McCoy - The Big A’s: Alonso, Arroyo

The Reds certainly could use some heavy weaponry, even though they performed a major accomplishment Tuesday night by beating the Houston Astros, 2-1. This one was won because pitcher Bronson Arroyo cranked up a dandy, a five-hitter and the first complete game this year by a Reds pitcher — the Reds being the last team without a complete game.
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Arroyo picked up a clue from home plate umpire Dana DeMuth when he batted in the third inning and DeMuth called him out on what Arroyo thought was a low pitch.

“He rang me up on balls I thought were really low,” said Arroyo. “So I went to the mound and test him out. He called those strikes, too, so I said, ‘Beautiful,’ and tried to stay way, way low with my pitches, down at the bottom of the zone, right at the knees. And those got me all those ground balls.”
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After his gem, Arroyo was more concerned about his hair and said as he came out of the showers, “These people don’t realize you can’t wash your hair with Pert-Plus. Your hair will fall out.”

There’s one endorsement opportunity he won’t be getting!

Denver Post: Tough-to-kill Rockies keeping hopes alive

Oh, geez, Arizona and LA… now look what you’ve done with your screwing around.  Now the Rockies think they’re in the hunt again.

In Vonage or Pac-Bell or AT&T Park - whatever they call the China Basin field these days - the Rockies refused to say goodbye, wiring together an exhaustive 7-2 victory Tuesday.

“This is fun. We aren’t out of it,” center fielder Willy Taveras said.
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The win moved the Rockies to within six games of the division-leading Diamondbacks.

To put that in perspective, they haven’t been five games back since April 21. And on this date last season, they trailed the Diamondbacks by 6 1/2 games. So forgive the Rockies if they believe those crumbs from the chocolate-chip cookies Todd Helton passed out Monday are magic dust.
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They faced adversity Tuesday without so much as a flinch, winning for the 13th time in their last 18 road games as Jason Grilli picked up his first career save

Tampa Tribune: Rays Can’t Manufacture A Comeback This Time

As Tuesday’s game reached the latter stages, Tampa Bay’s offense finally broke through on the previously untouchable Roy Halladay, cutting Toronto’s lead to one and configuring the game for another one of those dazzling comebacks.

Not this time. The Rays couldn’t do anything at the plate once Halladay departed, and some late Toronto runs sealed a 6-2 victory for the Blue Jays. Coupled with the defeat at the hands of the Angels that sent the Rays out on the road last week, Tampa Bay has lost two home games in a row for the first time since dropping three in a row in mid-April.

Tuesday’s game was uncharacteristic of the Rays in more than one regard, and it certainly didn’t feel like a pennant race with only 13,478 in attendance at Tropicana Field for a Halladay-James Shields matchup.

Time to book a Vanilla Ice appearance or something?  What’s Kansas up to these days?  Toto maybe?

Arizona Republic: Padres rough up Webb, rout D-Backs

The San Diego Padres already were squarely in the Stephen Strasburg sweepstakes… and with games this week against Dan Haren and Brandon Webb, it looked like the Diamondbacks could further nudge them in that direction.

Instead, after two games at Petco Park, two days in which the Diamondbacks played nine innings of baseball knowing that a win would mean another game gained in the standings, they have come away with nothing but two losses for the dynamic duo in the desert, as Webb once dubbed them.

After Tuesday night’s 9-2 loss to the Padres, the bright side for the Diamondbacks is that their lead in the National League West remains at three games… Even if they salvage today’s series finale with Randy Johnson on the mound, dropping two games with their two best pitchers to one of baseball’s worst teams can be viewed as nothing less than a major letdown.
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During their three-game skid, the Diamondbacks have just 12 hits in 90 at-bats, a .133 average, with six runs scored, 27 strikeouts and 12 walks.

This D’backs/Dodgers race is turning out just as bad as the NL Central Race of 2007.  “TAKE THE DIVISION FROM US!!  WE’RE BEGGING YOU” “NO...YOU take it!”

LA Times: Dodgers can’t find their way home (RR)

Sorry, lacking for a good Blind Faith joke here.

The Dodgers played the Washington Nationals, the team with the worst record in the major leagues. The Nationals’ pitcher lobbed a ball over the head of his first baseman in one inning, then loaded the bases in another by hitting two batters and walking the Dodgers’ pitcher. The Nationals’ third baseman threw to the wrong base, enabling the Dodgers to load the bases in another inning.

The rout was on—well, it would have been on had the Dodgers gotten a clutch hit or two. But their runners in scoring position just don’t score these days, and so the Dodgers lost their fifth consecutive game, this one by a 2-1 count.

“You have to sort of smile,” Manager Joe Torre said, “even though it’s frustrating as hell.”

Derek Lowe pitched his first complete game of the season, a six-hitter in which he retired 14 of 15 batters at one point. He gave up two runs, though, so he lost.

MLB.com: [Jose] Guillen exchanges words with fan

Royals right fielder Jose Guillen was in the middle of a brief exchange with a fan after the fourth inning of Tuesday night’s game against the Rangers. The fan, sitting behind first base, apparently got on Guillen after he hit a liner off the left-field wall and stopped with a single in the second inning and again after he flied out in the fourth.

“I understand who I am and the money that I’m making. I understand that I’m hitting .250 and the fans are expecting a lot more than they’re seeing,” Guillen said. “But sometimes they don’t know what I’m going through and all that stuff. Just like when I got that hit to left field, I got there and the guy started jumping on me and saying all kind of stuff like ‘Why didn’t you make it to second?’ I hit the ball hard, the guy made a nice play and I had no chance to make it.”

Teammates interceded during the exchange and the incident was over quickly.

AP: Royals’ Guillen restrained from heckler

MN Star-Tribune: Twins fail first test vs. lefties

The Twins don’t have a lefthanded batting practice pitcher, and they’re in the process of facing six lefties in a row. The first such test came Tuesday night against Ryan Rowland-Smith, who held them to two runs in seven innings, as the Mariners defeated the Twins 3-2 at Safeco Field.

Jose Lopez broke a 2-2 tie with an RBI single off Scott Baker (7-4) in the sixth inning, and the Twins dropped their fourth in a row, falling two games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central.

MLB.com: Fourth straight loss hurts Twins

Newsday: Mets blow 7-0 lead, fall to Philly in 13

Oh no. This is starting to feel a little too familiar. It’s not even September yet, but the Mets conjured up images from the 2007 collapse with new and creative twists on the original in Tuesday night’s 8-7 loss to the Phillies in 13 innings.

Pedro Martinez running out of gas by the fifth inning. A wasted 7-0 lead. Another bullpen meltdown featuring Luis Ayala’s first blown save as closer. The Mets unable to score after the fourth inning.

And there’s this final detail: Scott Schoeneweis served up a leadoff triple to Shane Victorino in the 13th, and after he intentionally loaded the bases, Chris Coste blasted the RBI single that pushed the Phillies back into first place in the National League East by a half game.
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Schoeneweis ruined a brilliant stint by Aaron Heilman, who threw 60 pitches in relief as he provided three scoreless innings after taking over for Ayala to start the 10th.

NY Times: The Boos Come Through After Rodriguez Does Not, And Pettitte Doesn’t Help (RR)

It is late August, the Boston Red Sox are in town, and a poor showing by the gurgling Yankees could sink their playoff hopes. This may be the closest the Yankees get to the postseason, and Alex Rodriguez is in October form.

Rodriguez went 0 for 5 with two double plays, two strikeouts and a throwing error in the Yankees’ 7-3 loss to the Red Sox on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees fell to six games behind Boston for the American League wild card, and Rodriguez, their marquee player, was booed heavily by the crowd as he fanned to end the game.

“It was an awful night,” Rodriguez said. “I pretty much screwed it up every way you can screw it up.”

MLB.com: Sheets stifles Cards’ offense in opener

The Brewers have won their last six games at Busch Stadium.

Ben Sheets pitched six scoreless innings to lift the Brewers to a 12-0 victory over the Cardinals on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium. With the victory, Milwaukee (77-55) moved 4 1/2 games ahead of National League Wild Card-competitor St. Louis. The teams meet for the final time of the season Wednesday.
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The Brewers put the game away with a seven-run ninth inning that featured a two-run homer from pinch-hitter Bill Hall.

STL Post-Dispatch: Little progress for Carpenter

Chicago Tribune: Cubs win wild one in Pittsburgh

It was another adventuresome night for Carlos Zambrano, who Tuesday night became the unofficial league-leader in water cooler tossing, extended his RBI streak to eight games and failed to last five innings for the second time in August.

But Zambrano’s Oscar-worthy performance in the dugout after he gave up three runs in the first inning was just the appetizer in a wild 14-9 victory over Pittsburgh in a game that lasted nearly four hours.

“It really wasn’t one of our better games,” manager Lou Piniella said. “But, look, it’s in the win column, and that’s what you care about.”

In the end, Geovany Soto stole the show with a career-high seven RBIs, including the second of two three-run doubles in the Cubs’ seven-run eighth.
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Zambrano’s earned-run average in August rose to 7.42, higher than his 7.06 ERA of last August. “I want to eliminate August,” he said with a grin.

Carlos Zambrano got roughed up for the third time in his last four starts.

MLB.com: [Cliff] Lee wins No. 19 for Tribe’s ninth straight

Rather, the history Tuesday night belonged, once again, to left-hander Cliff Lee, who was backed up by another big offensive performance from his teammates and cruised to his 19th win in a 10-4 victory over the Tigers at Comerica Park.

According to Stats Inc., Lee is just the eighth pitcher since 1920 to start out a season at 19-2 or better. The others were Lefty Grove (19-2 in 1931), Roe Preacher (19-2 in 1951), Whitey Ford (19-2 in 1961), Gaylord Perry (19-2 in 1966), Ron Guidry (19-2 in 1978), Greg Maddux (19-2 in 1995) and Roger Clemens (20-1 in 2001).
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The Indians won their ninth straight game. It’s their first nine-game winning streak since June of 2005.

Yahoo!: Edes - Red Sox acquire Kotsay from Braves

The Boston Red Sox acquired outfielder Mark Kotsay from the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night pending a physical, according to a baseball source with knowledge of the deal. The Braves will receive a minor-league pitcher in return.

The Red Sox acquired Kotsay, who had cleared waivers, as outfield insurance. Earlier Tuesday they placed right-fielder J.D. Drew on the 15-day disabled list with a herniated disk in his back.

Baseball source tells AP replay starts Thursday

My guess to the anonymous source? Something tells me it wasn’t Derek Jeter.

It would be hilarious, if in the movie based upon this story, the anonymous person were to be played by Harry Shearer.

Major League Baseball reversed its long-standing opposition to instant replay and will allow umpires to check video on home run calls in series that start Thursday, a person familiar with the announcement told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement was authorized before commissioner Bud Selig made the announcement at 5 p.m. Tuesday EDT.