Top News:
Rick Sutcliffe / ESPN:
Beckett provides stabilizing force for Red Sox — I've gotten to know Josh Beckett the last few years. He's a little different in that he's not going to get caught up in all the hype — good or bad — that's said about him. — Getting Beckett was a huge move by the Red Sox …
Discussion:
FIRE JOE MORGAN
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New York Post:
IT'S ABOUT TIME THE BOMBERS DROP DAVID — PAPIPOWER VS. THE PINSTRIPES — May 9, 2006 — THE Yankees have to droppy Papi. They need to brush the beast back. They need to pick out one of David Ortiz' chins and let a little music dance across the whiskers. And they need to do this immediately.
Tony Massarotti / Boston Herald:Beantown vs. Bronx in battle for Roger: Sox give Clemens a storybook ending
Discussion:
Boston Globe
Tony Massarotti / Boston Herald:Rent-a-Rocket: Sox, Yanks ready to strut their stuff in hopes of luring Clemens
Discussion:
Metsblog.com
Murray Chass / New York Times:
No Record, No Foul: There's No Need to Salute Bonds — IF people want to criticize Commissioner Bud Selig, they can find legitimate reasons. They can criticize him for letting the winner of the inconsequential All-Star Game determine home-field advantage for the championship-deciding World Series.
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Jon Heyman / Newsday:
Agent: Barry will return in '07 — Only question may be what uniform he'll wear in chase of Aaron's home run record — Expect Barry Bonds back next year to battle all his aches and pains, to weather the steroid storm and, of course, to chase Hank Aaron's all-time home run record.
Mike Kiley / Chicago Sun Times:
Cubs, Hill won't back down vs. Bonds — SAN DIEGO — In addition to alleging rampant steroid use by Barry Bonds, the authors of Game of Shadows portray the relationship between Dusty Baker and Bonds as confrontational and sometimes spiteful when they were together with the San Francisco Giants.
Joe Strauss / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Rockies rock Birds; Marquis falters again — Up next: 7:10 tonight vs. Rockies, FSN Midwest — His walk to the dugout has become a trudge. The rhythm of a confident pitcher has slowed to one groping for the feel of his pitches and the certainty to throw them.
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Joe Strauss / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Ponson has muscle strain, Rincon to have surgery — THE PROBLEM Cardinals pitcher gets MRI exam, and the results show the area affected is near his right elbow. — THE FUTURE He will be out at least one start and could land on the 15-day disabled list. — Cardinals righthander Sidney Ponson …
ESPN:
Young suspended 50 games for bat toss — ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Top Tampa Bay prospect Delmon Young was suspended 50 games without pay by the International League on Tuesday, two weeks after throwing a bat that hit a replacement umpire in the arm. — Randy Mobley, President …
Discussion:
6-4-2
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Kevin T. Czerwinski / MLB.com:
Prospect Young suspended 50 games — Suspension is longest ever in the International League — International League president Randy Mobley handed down his verdict on Delmon Young on Tuesday afternoon, suspending the Durham slugger for 50 games as a result of his bat-throwing escapade last month in a game at Pawtucket.
Mike Kiley / Chicago Sun Times:
Maddux roughed up; Cubs' skid reaches 7 — SAN DIEGO — How low can they go? — For an organization whose fame is rooted in failure, the current edition of Cubs is doing its best to rival its musty ghosts of misery and mayhem. The only meaningful question now is how horrible …
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Anthony Rieber / Newsday:
Wagner bracing for venom of vengeance — In Philadelphia, they boo Santa Claus and just spent the weekend savaging Barry Bonds. Those may have been warm-ups for what Billy Wagner expects to face the next three days - and that's just from his former teammates.
Discussion:
Metsblog.com
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Juliet Macur / New York Times:
Off Mound, Mets' Ace Loosens Up in His Garden — For two hours on the days Pedro Martínez is scheduled to pitch at Shea Stadium, he is alone with his pale yellow daffodils, his purple petunias, his cotton-candy-colored hyacinths, the flowers that make his property look like a botanical garden.
Adam Rubin / NY Daily News:
Mets: Top prospects will stay — Mets insiders insisted yesterday that the team's core prospects, including Lastings Milledge, won't be dealt under any circumstances - not even to obtain Barry Zito or Dontrelle Willis if they were made available. — "We're going to be fine," a team source said.
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Brian O'Neill / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Stats Geek: Failure forces Pirates to throw a changeup — With a fifth of the season in the books, more than a fifth of the Pirates' trips to the plate have gone to three players making more than a fifth of the payroll. — It's enough to make you reach for a fifth.
Scott Howard-Cooper / Sacramento Bee:
Gaudin returns, but not for long — The pitcher will have a brief stint as a starter with the Cats. — He is a starter who became a reliever who became a starter, a River Cat who went to the A's who went to the River Cats, all in a swirling opening month.
Barry Svrluga / Washington Post:
Bowden Enters Plea of Not Guilty in Miami DUI Case — Washington Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol yesterday in Miami, a plea entered before a scheduled hearing at which neither Bowden nor his attorney appeared.
Discussion:
William F. Yurasko's …
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Sports Illustrated:
The Alternative Factor — Watching Barry Bonds and Sal Fasano play on the same field Sunday, I couldn't help but wonder if we've got this Steroid Era thing all wrong. By now the consensus is that Bonds owes most, if not all, of his stellar achievements on the diamond the past few years …
