Top News:
Baseball America:
Monday Morning Mock Draft — When Royals officials went to bed Sunday night, they still didn't know whose name they'd call with the No. 1 pick in the draft Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET. Insisting money wouldn't be the determining factor, they still were debating the merits of North Carolina …
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Baseball America:
Royals May Be Moving Past Miller — CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—If the Royals were looking for some kind of affirmation that Andrew Miller is the right choice with the No. 1 overall pick in Tuesday's draft, they probably didn't get it in his NCAA regional start against Winthrop on Saturday.
Joe Posnanski / Kansas City Star:The Royals' No. 1 dilemma — The only consensus on first pick is that KC better be right
Discussion:
Purple Row
Gordon Edes / Boston Globe:
Lester may have big plans for weekend — DETROIT — There was no official announcement from the Red Sox, but all signs point to 22-year-old Jon Lester making his major league debut Saturday in Fenway Park, when the Red Sox play a day-night doubleheader against the Texas Rangers.
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John Tomase / Boston Herald:
Schilling: Yanks skipper keeps team afloat — DETROIT - Curt Schilling stopped to watch ESPN before yesterday's game against the Tigers. A graphic happened to include the Yankees. — "That's your manager of the year right there," Schilling said. "Joe Torre has done an unbelievable job.
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Knight Ridder:
Milledge's theatrics get Giants' attention — Rookie high-five fans following his game-tying homer in the 10th inning — notebook — NEW YORK — New York Mets fans raised a fuss Sunday over Lastings Milledge. The Giants could have done the same, in a much more negative way, had they chosen to do so.
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Kat O'Brien / Dallas Star-Telegram:
Benoit is baffled by recent struggles — CHICAGO - If Joaquin Benoit knew what he was doing wrong, he'd fix it. — If Benoit knew what had led to his giving up runs in each of his past six relief appearances for the Rangers, causing his ERA to swell from 2.55 to 5.61, he would stop making that mistake.
Discussion:
Metsblog.com
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Evan Grant / Dallas Morning News:
Laird earning playing time — CHICAGO - Gerald Laird's status changed Sunday. No longer does Rangers manager Buck Showalter search for occasional off-days for catcher Rod Barajas. He searches for ways to get Laird into the lineup. — Laird is making the most of every opportunity he gets to play.
Discussion:
Lone Star Ball
Will Carroll / Baseball Prospectus:
Under The Knife — The Tipping Points — With apologies to Malcolm Gladwell, there are tipping points in each major league season. The Astros were dead and buried last season. We kept waiting for the White Sox to turn into pumpkins and they never did. Did the turn of the page to June cause some tipping point to be crossed?
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ESPN:
Pujols lands on DL with 'moderate to severe' injury — ST. LOUIS — This is a much larger challenge for the St. Louis Cardinals: Albert Pujols will be out indefinitely with a strained muscle on his right side. — Pujols, last year's NL MVP and this season's major league leader in home runs and RBI …
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Bob Sikes / ...getting paid to watch:
A Thankful Evolution of Unwritten Rules — "Gardy's gettin' buzzed, Boys." — Clint Hurdle was already walking toward the dugout entrance and had called to Ron Gardenhire to give him a head's up. It was 1983 and it was the deciding play-off game between the Columbus Clippers and the Tidewater Tides.
Associated Press:
Businessman aims to have Israel in 2009 WBC — CBS SportsLine.com wire reports — JERUSALEM — Israel has few world-class baseball players, its fan base is minuscule and the country has only one full-size baseball diamond. — Yet American businessman Larry Baras is determined …
Discussion:
The Griddle
Derrick Goold / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Getting serious: Quad Cities pitcher Jaime Garcia could be a steal for the Cardinals — Convinced of the potential in this Texas prep lefthander with the resume as peculiar as his curveball, scout Joe Almaraz lobbied two different major-league clubs in two consecutive drafts to use a middle-round pick on Jaime Garcia.
D-Mac / Philadelphia Will Do:
The Phillies Are Total A**holes (And That's Awesome) — First, a video of Chase Utley from yesterday's game: — To be honest, there was no real need for Utley to ram the catcher there. He could have simply slid and made it safe — it seems — but Utley was going for the kill when he left third base …
George King / New York Post:
BOWA BLASTS PATTERSON — June 5, 2006 — BALTIMORE - When Corey Patterson stole second and third in the seventh inning with the Orioles leading by six runs Larry Bowa believed Patterson was rubbing it in the Yankees' nose. — From the top step of the third base dugout, Bowa let Patterson have it.
Jay Mariotti / Chicago Sun Times:
Fairy-tale ending for Maddux? Get out of town! — He didn't come here to pitch like Cy Old, punch water jugs and allow six runs a start. Greg Maddux returned to Cubdom because he believed in the romantic notion that he could bring his story full circle, that he was being summoned …
Discussion:
Gaslamp Ball
Fox Sports:
Your one-third of the season award winners — The 2006 season is almost a third of the way over. — Contenders and pretenders are being sorted out, and individual performances are beginning to take a more meaningful shape. Armed with this semi-adequate data sample …
