Results tagged “mlb”

Less than three weeks after David Wright took a 93mph beaning to the helmet, he returned to the Mets' lineup last night looking just a clunkier and a lot more adorable (if that's even possible). No, the third baseman didn't get the Beetlejuice treatment during his first-ever trip to the DL, he simply went ahead with his promise that he would wear the slightly awkward-looking Rawlings S100, a new model designed to protect against pitches up to 100mph.

Alex Rodriguez is hoping that he can take a rain check on his scheduled meeting today with MLB officials so that he can play in his Grapefruit League game with the Yankees. The slugger was expected to be on the team bus this morning to Sarasota to play the Reds in what will be his final spring training game with the team before he breaks to participate in the World Baseball Classic.

TBS proved a point Saturday, there is something worse than having to listen to Chip Carey cover the playoffs and that is not being able to listen to him at all. Thanks to a “router failure” TBS was unable to put Game 6 of the ALCS on the air until the middle of the first inning, seven batters into the game, Saturday night. The technical glitch just highlights a dismal postseason effort by baseball and its TV partners.

Back in January, it was reported Major League Baseball's new TV network would be the anchor tenant at a planned 21-story glass skyscraper on 125th Street and Park Avenue. Then last month, the skyscraper was reportedly undergoing some changes, since developer Vornado was having trouble securing financing. Now, it looks like there's more trouble, as the NY Times says the plan has started to "unravel," because Vornado wants MLB to "take additional space and pay $2 million a year more in rent." Now MLB may consider staying in Secaucus, NJ and bypass a move to NYC. City officials and Vornado are trying to salvage the deal--Vornado chairman Steve Roth said, "We’re working hard to put this back on track as an important project for our city and this area."

Die hards are surely in line already, but here's your reminder that today is the big day -- in just a short time from now (at 9 a.m.) tickets to the July 12th Bon Jovi concert in Central Park will be handed out at Yankee, Shea, KeySpan Park and the Staten Island Yankees stadiums. Bon Jovi's site states that "free tickets can also be obtained on a first-come, first-served basis, two per fan," and that additional tickets will be distributed in Manhattan. No details on location or a date for those yet, though yesterday they announced a ticket distribution on July 11th at the Javits Center. More details on the concert, and how to get in, can be found at MLB.com.

Yesterday came the announcement of a free concert that would be held on Central Park's Great Lawn this month featuring Mr. Jon Bon Jersey himself (now a Manhattanite). Today more details about the July 12th show and how to procure your golden tickets are unveiled via Bon Jovi's official website. Essentially, tickets will be made available at every major, and some minor baseball stadiums beginning July 2nd. Starting at 9 a.m. that day Bon Jovi fans will descend upon Yankee, Shea, KeySpan Park and the Staten Island Yankees stadiums...get more details here if you want to be one of them. And note that tickets will also will be available in Manhattan at DHL All-Star FanFest at the Jacob K. Javits Center on Friday, July 11th.

Ever since real estate developer Vornado revealed plans for a boxy, glassy skyscraper at 125th Street and Park Avenue last March, people were curious what might companies might lease some of the 640,000 square feet. Now the NY Times reveals Major League Baseball will take a swing at starting its cable network in the building. Wow.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on 31st St. and 7th Ave. in Manhattan, an attempted sexual assault at Broadway and Gates Ave. in Brooklyn, and an aircraft incident at Laguardia in Queens.
• The Yankees Double-A farm team in Trenton has a mascot named Chase, who catches frisbees, brings water to umpires, and serves as a canine batboy. In his off hours, he managed to knock up the other team mascot, Cynderella, and they're expecting a litter soon. Congratulations to the both of them.
• Gov. Spitzer's budget, released today, is about $100 million shy of what educators were hoping for.

A Historic Collapse: The Mets held a seven-game lead with 17 to play and were caught looking ahead to the playoffs. What followed was among the worst collapses in history and one that revealed the weaknesses of the players, the manager and the general manager. Jose Reyes and his questionable -- and downright poor -- play summed up the the performance on the field. Manager Willie Randolph's mismanagement of the bullpen came to light more down the stretch. So did Omar Minaya's complete neglect of the roster's periphery. The Mets trotted out inexperienced and ineffective pitchers down the stretch, and the bullpen that Randolph had to deal with wasn't that good to begin with thanks to some questionable trades. What this means for the 2008 season remains to be seen, but it cost the Mets fans Lastings Milledge, another symbol of the collapse. He was dumped dealt to the Nationals for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider.

We've heard all the names from baseball's Mitchell Report, now let's look at some facts. Roger Clemens, who vehemently denies the accusations against him, is the biggest name revealed in the report. His lawyer says, "Roger has been repeatedly tested for these substances and he has never tested positive. There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances and yet he is being slandered today."

The morning started with rumors of names mentioned in Senator George Mitchell's report to Major League Baseball, but not until this afternoon were any rumors substantiated. Stating in his report that “there is much about the illegal use of performance enhancing substances in baseball that I did not learn,” Mitchell proceeded to lay waste to the careers of many notable players, perhaps none more so than Roger Clemens. In the report Brian McNamee, Roger Clemens’...

He’s made his list, he’s checked it twice and now we are going to find out who has been naughty and not nice. Former Senator George Mitchell's report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball comes out at 2pm today. And besides providing us with the most complete look at the use of performance-enhancing drugs to date, the Mitchell Report will also name names. While it is just speculation at this point,...

Assuming MLB gives them permission, the Yankees will probably announce their next manager tomorrow. The team has conducted three interviews and according to Hank “Liitle Stein” Steinbrenner, that’s all they plan on doing. So, let’s take a look at the three candidates. First up there is the long shot, Tony Pena. Pena joined the Yankees two seasons ago as Joe Torre’s first base coach, but his biggest impact was on Jorge Posada. Under Pena’s tutelage,...

And finally

You probably won't catch any Mets fans or anyone associated with the club purchasing these yet, but MLB.com already has the New York Mets 2007 NL East Division Champions Roster T-Shirt up for sale on its website. Talk about counting your eggs way before they're hatched. The shirts aren't even available for pre-sale only, but are "in stock and ready to leave the warehouse" in 4-6 business days! Hmm...in 4-6 days, the NL East will have been decided. Does this mean MLB.com can cancel your order if the Mets fail to win their division?

After a protest in East Harlem, baseball cap manufacturer New Era has agreed to pull Yankees caps from store shelves. A number of caps seem to refer to the Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings and became a controversy during a back-to-school shopping trip.

The next name up on Jose Canseco's mudslinging list is none other than Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. In an interview Friday with Boston radio station WEEI, the former Oakland A's slugger and former Yankee said that he had the "other stuff on Alex Rodriguez," and that he plans on laying out the details in a book he's shopping to publishers now. When the radio-host asked if A-Rod was on steroids, Canseco said "Wait and see."

The two teams open with a home-at home-at home series (Brooklyn, Staten Island, Brooklyn) before getting the rest of their season started. Standing room tickets for tonight's game at Keyspan are still available. A cursory check for tickets at tomorrow's game at Richmond County Bank Ballpark showed that they were sold out.

For the first time ever, the MLB First-Year Player Draft was televised. ESPN2 covered the first round and while they gave it the same treatment that the NFL and NBA drafts get, it is hard to get excited about a bunch of players from high school and college that you have never seen in your life. When all was said and done, 1,453 players were picked and can now all say they were drafted.

For Yankee Stadium's last year - before a new park - Major League Baseball will be having the 2008 All Star Game in The House that Babe Built. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said, "One of the biggest factors was George Steinbrenner. He has made wonderful contributions to this city and to the Yankees. Clearly one of the primary factors was to honor the city, the franchise and George Steinbrenner." Man, Selig makes it sound like Steinbrenner's going to die at some point! But we suppose MLB wants to honor Steinbrenner for driving up salaries so much. The Boss, who wasn't at the City Hall press conference, said he was touched.

- Curtis Martin gave the Jets notice that he won't be playing this year. On the physically unable to perform (PUP) list since the start of the season, Martin and the Jets had until Tuesday to determine if he would be coming off that list. The all-time leading rusher for the Jets now moves to the reserve PUP list and his future playing prospects look doubtful. While he didn't explicitly say that he was going to retire, Martin is without some cartilage in his right knee, resulting in a bone-on-bone condition. Sounds delightful! If he retires, Martin would leave as number 4 on the NFL's all-time leading rushers list behind Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders with 14,101 yards. Gothamist once heard a story that Martin dropped a deuce in a urinal at his old high school in Pittsburgh (Taylor Allderdice). Does that detract from his accomplishments? Of course not. If anything, it makes them even better.

A helicopter has crashed into a building on East 72nd. It was thought to be a small plane, but now reports say it is a helicopter. The helicopter seems to have crashed into 524 East 72nd Street, a residential apartment building. CNN is saying there are no reports of terrorism or hijacking.

Moonlight Graham isn't open yet - perhaps Friday - but when we peeked in, we saw lots of retro Mets gear to take advantage of Mr. Met enthusiasts. And "modern vintage" seems to mean pricey, if the prices on the website are any indication ($40 Mr. Met shirt!), but the display makes us happy.

Gawker's music blog, Idolator, is here. At first glance it reads like an MLB.com writer and an EW writer are attempting to write about music...oh, wait.

Don't look now, but New York has the two best baseball teams in the Major Leagues. While the Yankees have only recently moved to the top of the American League, the Mets have been cruising atop the National League for a nice period and are currently the best team, record wise, in all of baseball. With the team's success this season more casual baseball fans are now more inclined to cheer for the Mets, which The Times reported on in a Sunday Styles article. While a die-hard Mets fan may frown upon these "fair weather" fans, there is a significant impact to the increased Mets following.

Spinners at SGoralnick's Most Well Documented Party Ever.

-Ryan Howard wins the Home Run Derby: For once, David Wright’s enthusiasm got the best of him. Not that Mets’ fans will complain, but Wright attacked the Home Run Derby the way he does everything else: full bore. The problem was, he didn’t pace himself and after hitting 16 dingers in Round One, he could only muster another six while Howard hit 17 in the first two rounds and then slammed five in the final for the victory. Of course, some speculate that the winner of the contest is cursed, so it is probably ok that Wright lost.

- Aww poor James Dolan, he doesn't like it when people pick on him and make a little website asking him to sell the team. Cafe Press got a nice letter from Dolan's lawyers saying that the Selltheknicks.com store was infringing on his intellectual property, specifically his likeness and his name. Can Knick fans send a letter to Dolan's lawyers claiming infringement on their loyalties and better senses? Selltheknicks.com says they are fighting the move.

Matthew Long, the man who was seriously injured during last December's transit strike (a private bus hit him as he biked to the stationhouse), has finally been released from the hospital. He's had 15 operations in the past five months and was only given a 1% chance of surviving: A doctor said, "He should be dead. Even the nurses in the ER thought what we were doing was an act in futility.". Long now spends most of his time using a wheelchair, though he's been walking with crutches; Long used to compete in triathlons. Long is suing the Transport Workers Union as well as Bear Stearns (which chartered the private bus) and the private bus company.