B.J. Upton and the Tampa Bay Rays won a game of home run derby with a shallow fly ball. Pinch-runner Fernando Perez dashed home on Upton's sacrifice fly in the 11th inning and the Rays outlasted the Boston Red Sox 9-8 early Sunday, evening the AL championship series at one game each.The teams combined for seven home runs, tying a postseason record. The Rays wound up winning a game that lasted 5 hours, 27 minutes when the speedy Perez tagged up on Upton's one-out fly and beat right fielder J.D. Drew's throw home. more >>
Josh Beckett's reputation as a postseason ace is taking a beating. The Boston star struggled for a second consecutive playoff start Saturday night, lasting only 4 1-3 innings against Tampa Bay in Game 2 of the AL championship series. more >>
Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton homered off Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford delivered a go-ahead single, giving the Tampa Bay Rays a 4-3 lead over the Boston Red Sox after three innings of Game 2 in the AL championship series Saturday night. Held hitless for six innings in a 2-0 loss in Game 1, the Rays came out swinging - and connecting - against a postseason ace who has struggled this October. more >>
Brett Myers stood on first base, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders. He couldn't explain his hitting success, and no one ever expected it. Myers did better at the plate than on the mound, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs, and Shane Victorino drove in four runs as the Philadelphia Phillies overcame another homer by Manny Ramirez to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-5 Friday for a 2-0 lead in the NL championship series. more >>
What remains of Tiger Stadium will remain standing at least until March 1 while preservationists raise money to renovate the stadium and reopen it as a recreational and educational complex. The Detroit Economic Growth Corp. says the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy presented it with a $69,000 check Friday and provided proof of a $150,000 escrow account. The money will cover the cost of demolishing the entire stadium if it becomes necessary, plus security and maintenance at the stadium for the next five months. more >>
Jose Canseco was held for nearly 10 hours by immigration authorities after agents said they stopped the former baseball star as he attempted to bring a fertility drug from Mexico, his lawyer said Friday. Canceco was detained at San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing Thursday after agents searched his vehicle and said they found human chorionic gonadotropin, which is illegal without a prescription, said his attorney, Gregory Emerson. more >>
A grieving Charlie Manuel was in the dugout for the Philadelphia Phillies' 8-5 win over the Dodgers in Game 2 of the NL championship series Friday, hours after his mother died. The Phillies said that June Manuel died Friday morning at Roanoke (Va.) Memorial Hospital after a brief illness. She was 87. The Phillies had no information about the cause of death. more >>
Brett Myers stood on first base, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders. He couldn't explain his hitting success, and no one ever expected it. Myers did better at the plate than on the mound, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs, and Shane Victorino drove in four runs as the Philadelphia Phillies overcame another homer by Manny Ramirez to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-5 Friday for a 2-0 lead in the NL championship series. "I'm not a very good hitter," said Myers, who became the first pitcher to get three hits in an NLCS game. "I just get lucky occasionally. I'm baffled by it. I would've rather pitched better." more >>
The Kansas City Royals are raising prices on most of their tickets for 2009. The Royals announced 2009 prices on Friday, adding new seating after renovations at Kauffman Stadium and increasing other ticket prices. Some of the cheapest seats will see no changes. more >>
Going to a baseball game in Detroit used to mean heading to Michigan and Trumbull, the intersection that became shorthand for Tiger Stadium. Go there today, and all that remains is a small slice of the arena that once drew throngs of fans to see legends like Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg play. The rest of the ballpark, which hosted thousands of games between 1912 and 1999, has been demolished, loaded into trucks and driven away. more >>
The San Diego Padres dismissed as "highly speculative" a report that owner John Moores will sell 49 percent of the team as part of a divorce settlement with wife Becky. "Obviously, since the Padres are part of the community estate, the matter of the Padres will need to be addressed as part of the divorce proceedings," the team said in a statement released in response to the report by NBC 7/39. more >>
Chase Utley hit a tying two-run homer and Pat Burrell added a solo shot off Derek Lowe in a three-run sixth inning, giving the Philadelphia Phillies a 3-2 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night in Game 1 of the NL championship series. Lowe allowed only four hits - all singles - until the sixth, and had a 2-0 lead on Manny Ramirez's RBI double in the first off Cole Hamels and Blake DeWitt's sacrifice fly in the fourth. more >>
Manny Ramirez hit an RBI double against Cole Hamels, and the Los Angeles Dodgers took a 1-0 lead over the Philadelphia Phillies after three innings Thursday night in Game 1 of the NL championship series. The NL East champion Phillies played their first NLCS game since winning the pennant in Game 6 against Atlanta on Oct. 13, 1993. This was the first one at Citizens Bank Park, which opened in 2004. more >>
Winning creates a rivalry, the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays claim, rather than years of testy relations between the teams. That was the message coming out of the AL championship series Thursday, with both sides trying to play down a history of brawling that's adding spice to the buildup. more >>
New York Mets pitcher Ambiorix Burgos will be jailed for three months while awaiting trial for a hit-and-run accident that killed two women. The 24-year-old reliever told The Associated Press that a Dominican judge ordered him to remain behind bars Wednesday night out of concerns for his safety. more >>
Dusty Baker is going back to youth baseball. This weekend, Baker will be the fill-in coach for 9-year-old son Darren's 10-and-under traveling tournament team, Hard 90 Pastime out of Roseville, Calif., near the Bakers' Northern California home. more >>
