Thursday's first pitch

Leading Off
Aaron Boone has been a journeyman infielder who ends up having big impacts wherever he's been.
He's the guy with the last big hit for the Yankees in their rivalry with the Red Sox. If you don't remember, it was a walkoff home run in the 2003 ALCS that propelled the Yankees into the World Series.
He's also the guy who blew out his knee, leading to the trade for Alex Rodriguez.
The .264 career hitter appeared to have his playing days end when he had open heart surgery in March.
The 36-year-old second generation Big Leaguer returned to The Bigs with the Astros Wednesday, playing first base.
Sure, he went 0-for-3, but he deserves our cheers.

Regional Roundup

• They Yankees treated the Orioles like they used to treat the Red Sox. They teased them, making them feel they had a shot. Then they ripped their hearts out.


• If this was a playoff series, which it could be in a month, the Giants might have knocked the Phillies out with that sixth inning. The cavalry is a coming.


• The Pirates cannot play on the road. They are god-awful away from PNC. They couldn't beat the Frederick Keys if they had to travel to Frederick. The Pirates have 10,000 home runs in their history.


• The Nats aren't playing out the string. They're tripping over it.

Best of Rest

• So Jason Giambi comes up clutch for the Rockies.


• It's time to write the obituary on the Twins season.


• Holy Cow, the Cards hit the ball.


• Billy Wagner is enjoying his new role


• Did Wes Helms just end the Braves season?

Batter's Eye

• John Harper is such a homer. He wants Derek Jeter to win the MVP and now he wants Mariano Rivera to take home the Cy Young. Next, he'll say Joe Girardi deserves the Manager of the Year Award. We admit we agree. Seriously, does he even know the Angels exist? He will when they beat his beloved Bombers in October.

Today in history
1917 -- Philadelphia's Grover Cleveland Alexander went the distance in both games of the Phillies' 5-0 and 9-3 sweep of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1957 -- Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves recorded his 41st career shutout with an 8-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Spahn's shutout set a major league record for left-handed pitchers.

1970 -- Billy Williams of the Chicago Cubs asked to be kept out of the lineup, snapping his National League record of 1,117 consecutive games played. His record was broken in 1983 by Steve Garvey.

The Closer
I don't know about you, but The Southpaw has really started to lean toward cnnsi.com over espn.com.
Take today for example.
If you want to read Buster Olney's blog, which is always worthwhile, you can't. It's behind the paywall.
But it's not just that things are behind the paywall.
Aside from Jayson Stark's Rumblings and Grumblings, the Worldwide Leader's online content is mostly reproductions of stories you can find anywhere else.
And other than Gene Wojciechowski and Howard Bryant, none of their columnists are at all insightful for baseball fans.
However, at CNNSI, there is a lot of stuff that isn't just reproductions of news from everywhere else.
Today, they're breaking down the races.
Tom Verducci writes about two pitchers who died young.
Sure, SI has some reproduced stuff - the links to their Truth & Rumors - but they also have The Vault, which has their classic stories.
Plus they have Joe Posnanski and John Heyman.
All of that stuff would be worth putting behind a paywall.
Unlike ESPN, which wants us to pay for Keith Law.
And that's ridiculous.