Top News:
Chris Snow / Boston Globe:
Battery Park — Yankees unload on Sox, Beckett in Stadium rout — NEW YORK — When Josh Beckett walked off the mound last evening, the sky was still a soft blue, the lingering sun illuminating the Bronx courthouse that looms beyond Yankee Stadium in right-center.
Discussion:
New York Times
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Murray Chass / New York Times:
Mussina May Be Making Change for a 20 — IN his 16-year major league career, Mike Mussina has won 19 games twice, 18 games three times and 17 games twice. He has never won 20 games. — "You know, I've been close a couple times," the 37-year-old Mussina said Sunday.
Sean Brennan / NY Daily News:
Moose picks perfect time for off night — Mike Mussina knew he was due for a night like last night. A night where he was beatable under different circumstances. Like a night when the Yankees don't pound out 13 runs on 11 hits. — But he'll take the win, even if he wasn't in his usual form.
NY Daily News:
Kids are all right to Brian — In the spring, Brian Cashman says, he and Joe Torre spent a fair amount of time talking to the Yankee kids, to the guys off the bench. The message, Cashman says, was the same, from the first time all the players were together in one room.
Gordon Edes / Boston Globe:
Classic case of bombing in the Bronx — NEW YORK — Ex-major league pitcher Bob Tewksbury insists he was summoned for one reason, and one reason only: to pitch batting practice, because manager Terry Francona needed a fresh arm. — Just because Tewksbury is the organization's sports psychology coach …
Chris Constancio / Hardball Times:
Visualizing Draft Strategies — Oakland's Moneyball draft received a good deal of criticism and inspired countless "statheads versus scouts" debates concerning player development. Teams like the Dodgers used their first ten picks of the 2002 draft on high school players like James Loney, Greg Miller, and Jonathan Broxton.
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Todd Jacobson / fredericksburg.com:
Nats' drafters won't be so choosy this time around — Looking back, Dana Brown didn't do so badly, considering the odd circumstances. — The Washington Nationals' scouting director went into each of the last three First-Year Player Drafts ranking talent alongside another tool: signability.
Thomas Boswell / Washington Post:
Wait Till Next Year, And the Year After
Wait Till Next Year, And the Year After
Discussion:
Capitol Punishment
Bryan Smith / The Baseball Analysts:
Draft Preview — "Everything is a mess," I was told of the 2006 draft in the past few hours. Surprisingly, the person was not talking of my mock draft, but rather the haziness that had yet to clear, with less than twelve hours before the first name is called.
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David Andriesen / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Mariners expected to take college pitcher
Mariners expected to take college pitcher
Discussion:
U.S.S. Mariner
Dylan Hernandez / Contra Costa Times:
Giants roll as Bonds rocks — Slugger gets homer No. 716 and will get additional support with Alou's return — SAN FRANCISCO - The Giants had crushed the Florida Marlins, Moises Alou was about to be activated, and the clubhouse was theirs again. — Gone were the scores …
Discussion:
Baseball Musings
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Clark Spencer / Miami Herald:
Rotation is on the rise — SAN FRANCISCO - They're young, but they're durable.
Rotation is on the rise — SAN FRANCISCO - They're young, but they're durable.
Discussion:
FishStripes
Mark Schlabach / Washington Post:
Nationals Win Fifth Game in a Row — Cordero Escapes Trouble in the Ninth: Nationals 5, Braves 4 — ATLANTA, June 5 — About three hours earlier, Washington Nationals Manager Frank Robinson sat in a small office in his team's clubhouse at Turner Field. Asked if he worried …
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Doug Padilla / L.A. Daily News:
Angels: The object of ire — Figgins' play angers Scioscia in loss — ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Already at odds with teammates this season, Chone Figgins finally tapped into the ire of his manager during Monday's 4-0 lackluster defeat to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
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Kevin Baxter / Miami Herald:
Searching for diamond in the rough — The Marlins have made shrewd draft picks recently, something they hope to duplicate considering that there is a relatively weak crop of players this year. — kbaxter@MiamiHerald.com — The conventional wisdom holds that the talent …
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Adam Rubin / NY Daily News:
Soler-powered — Rookie's gem lifts Mets in L.A. — LOS ANGELES - Alay Soler had a three-run cushion before he even took the mound. Nine innings later, the Cuban defector had his first major-league win. — Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado homered in the first inning …
Discussion:
Baseball Musings
David Lennon / Newsday:
Milledge: No regrets about high fives — LOS ANGELES — Any remorse that Lastings Milledge was feeling after high-fiving the fans along the rightfield line Sunday apparently had vanished by the time the Mets boarded their cross-country charter to the West Coast later that night.
Discussion:
Metsblog.com
Richard Sandomir / New York Times:
Baseball Adopts a Candy, Whatever It's Named For — For 85 years, Babe Ruth, the slugger, and Baby Ruth, the candy bar, have lived parallel lives in which it has been widely assumed that the latter was named for the former. The confection's creator, the Curtiss Candy Company …
Discussion:
Yanksfan vs Soxfan
Conor Nicholl / MLB.com:
Tough loss for Izzy, Cards — Isringhausen allows three-run home run in ninth — ST. LOUIS — Jason Isringhausen sat at his locker, head bowed, looking straight ahead. — Finally, he let out a sigh, stood up, turned around and faced the media, reliving his ninth inning in typical Isringhausen honesty.
Discussion:
Viva El Birdos
Joe Roderick / Contra Costa Times:
Zito puts money ball on reserve — CLEVELAND - They see the streak, see the ease with which he is retiring hitters and see a flashback to his 2002 American League Cy Young Award season. — The conclusion, naturally, is that Barry Zito is amping up his game as he readies for the big sweepstakes …