Eric Hinske tackles runningback Andrew McCutchon. Oh wait. That's a baseball picture. Hinske celebrates with the Pirates outfielder after a big win.
We've got more Manny fallout. And what it means to other big leaguers.
One player leads the American League in batting, on-base and slugging. Who is he?
Which All-Star catcher is caught in a drug scandal.
Leading Off
The Drug Enforcement Agency is throwing heat at Manny Ramirez. The star, who left the ballpark early during a rain delay, has a south Florida doctor who is going under the federal microscope. The question now is who else is this Doc involved with? And will the feds find out?
Regional Roundup
- Yesterday, we told you our John Smoltz story. Hope you enjoyed it. Smoltz however, didn't perform up to our hopes. That was the Nationals' gain. There's more Nats news in The Closer. So stick around.
- Jimmy Rollins got benched. And look what happened. It's not that Rollins has helped the recent rough spot. The benching is a smart move. It's hard to justify keeping a guy who has an on-base percentage of .254 and just 22 extra-base hits.
- The Pirates just keep plugging along. They eked out a last at-bat win. They also sent Ian Snell to the minors.
- The O's couldn't survive the South Florida heat.
Best of Rest
- At least it wasn't performance enhancing drugs Geovany Soto tested positive for.
- Johan Santana didn't make things look easy. But he outdueled Chris Carpenter.
- Joey Votto is an emerging star. On Thursday, he proved why.
- Lance Berkman is well on his way to Cooperstown. He just surpassed the 1,000 RBI milestone and his two home runs helped the Astros rally.
- Heath Bell wants more work.
- Here's a cool interactive home run graphic from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal.
- Joe Mauer is having an insane season. He's currently pacing the Junior Circuit in batting, slugging and on-base percentage. He is also just two runs behind Jason Bay and Mark Teixeira for the league lead in runs produced.
Today in history
1944 -- In an effort to raise funds for war bonds, the New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees played against each other in a six-inning contest at the Polo Grounds. More than 50,000 fans turned out. Each team played successive innings against the other two teams then would sit out an inning. The final score was Dodgers 5, Yankees 1, Giants 0.
1970 -- Frank Robinson hit two grand slams in the Baltimore Orioles' 12-2 victory over the Washington Senators.
1976 -- Shortstop Toby Harrah played an entire doubleheader for the Texas Rangers without handling a batted ball from the Chicago White Sox.
The Closer
Stan Kasten continues to show support for Manny Acta.
And he should.
Acta's team might not be winning. But do you expect it to? You'd be insane if you did. Here's the current pitching staff: Joe Beimel, Tyler Clippard, Jesus Colome, Ross Detwiler, Joel Hanrahan, John Lannan, Mike MacDougal, Shairon Martis, Craig Stammen, Julian Tavarez, Ron Villone, and Jordan Zimmerman.
Take out Zimmerman and Beimel and some Atlantic League team's have better staffs.
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