The White Sox acquire a handful in Manny  —  Of the 4,530 times a man has stepped to the plate against Mariano Rivera  —  , 1,044 have ended in strikeouts.  And of the 1,044 hitters dispatched by umpire, 190 have been so on three pitches.  And of the 190 to have suffered such an indignity …

Orlando Hernandez abruptly leaves the Harrisburg Senators, Washington Nationals  —  Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez shocked the Harrisburg Senators and Washington Nationals Sunday by deciding to prematurely end his baseball season.  —  The 44-year-old pitcher, a three-time World Series champion …

Family says Rockies president McGregor died of virus  —  DENVER—The family of Colorado Rockies president Keli McGregor said he didn't die of a heart attack or other preventable cardiac condition but from a rare virus that attacked his healthy heart.  —  In a statement released through the team …

Nova's first win a series-clincher for Yanks  —  CHICAGO — With a sellout crowd around him and one of the hottest offenses in the league standing 60 feet, six inches away from him all afternoon, Ivan Nova resorted to some simple guidance: Just pretend it's Triple-A.

Rockies' CarGo wins NL Player of Week honors  —  Carlos Gonzalez.  (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Carlos Gonzalez sat at his locker Sunday, explaining his success.  —  “I am not worried about numbers.  I just keep looking to help my team and play the game the right way,” Gonzalez said.

Holliday, La Russa take exception to pitch  —  WASHINGTON — Tensions between the Nationals and Cardinals resumed on Sunday in Washington's 4-2 win, even though they never quite boiled over.  —  Cards outfielder Matt Holliday and manager Tony La Russa took exception to a ninth-inning Drew Storen fastball …

A digital salute to pitch grips  —  I have taken to supplementing my recent writing about pitchers with pictures of their grips for different pitch types.  —  One thing I have come to realize is that while a picture is worth a thousand words, a catalog of pitch grip images quickly becomes unwieldy …

Matt Kemp's Struggles: A Statistical And Mechanical Analysis  —  Introduction  —  Matt Kemp is struggling in 2010, there's no real way around that.  Even more relevant to the discussion, he has fallen well below the expectations of the fans, which in turn has caused a greater than normal backlash against him.

Roger Clemens pleads not guilty to charge of lying  —  WASHINGTON — Seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of lying to Congress about whether he used steroids or human growth hormone.  —  When asked for a plea by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton …

Did mechanics cause Strasburg's injury?  —  Hurler's delivery under scrutiny as he heads to operating table  —  The pitching mechanics that produced a 14-strikeout Major League debut and a promising start to a professional career are part of what's being examined in the wake …