Larry Brown Sports

The Houston Astros are the worst team in baseball, so the way they lost Friday night’s game in Pittsburgh was quite fitting.

Houston blew a 4-1 and lost 5-4 after two players collided when they were trying to catch a pop up to shallow right that allowed the winning run to score.

The Pirates loaded the bases and Russell Martin was facing Edgar Gonzalez with two outs. Martin had a full count and popped the ball up to shallow right. Second baseman Jake Elmore was calling it all the way, but right fielder Jimmy Paredes ran into him, knocking him to the ground. According to Houston Chronicle reporter Brian T. Smith, manager Bo Porter said the ball was Elmore’s, while Elmore said he couldn’t hear whether or not Paredes tried to call him off.

The ball hit the ground to give Martin a walk-off RBI single to win the game — much to his surprise. None of the Pirates players were running hard because they all thought it was going to be caught.

Now the best part is Eye on Baseball points out that another blooper from earlier in the game helped the Pirates make the comeback. This is another must-see GIF:

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Ian Kinsler is generally a master on the bases. 160 stolen bases in his career and only 33 caught stealing. He even has a +39.4 value as a baserunner throughout his career, according to Fangraphs. But this season his baserunning value is -0.9. I’m guessing all of the negative points came on the embarrassing slide seen above.

After singling to lead off the bottom of the first for the Rangers on Thursday against the Tigers, Kinsler went to third on a hit by Elvis Andrus. For some reason he totally screwed up on his head-first slide into third base and completely ate it. Nothing but dirt all in the face. His teammates in the dugout were laughing and loving it, and even Kinsler was smiling afterward and seemed to be a good sport.

Here are a few more awesome photos of it:

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Does anyone have a more wicked pitching arsenal than Yu Darvish? The Texas Rangers stud pitcher matched up with Justin Verlander on Thursday in a game that surprisingly turned into a slugfest. While Verlander was rocked and couldn’t make it through three innings, Darvish got through eight to pick up his seventh win of the season.

But there was one moment in particular that must be recognized: the time when Darvish made Miguel Cabrera look foolish.

Darvish was facing Cabrera in the top of the fifth with the Rangers up 8-4 and the count 0-1. Darvish threw Cabrera a 62 mph curveball, and Miggy took a vicious hack at it. He was so off balance after missing on the swing that he stumbled across the plate and was left to give a smile. Why? Because nobody makes him look foolish like that.

Cabrera is the reigning AL MVP and last year’s triple crown winner. He’s the best hitter in baseball. That doesn’t happen very often. But with Darvish pitching, anything is possible.

Also see: Amazing GIF shows all of Darvish’s pitches

GIF via Drew Sheppard

Are you as honest as Jeremy Affeldt?

In his new book, the San Francisco Giants relief pitcher says he returned $500,000 to the team after noticing a clerical error in his contract.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Henry Schulman shares what happened.

According to Schulman, Affeldt writes that he was set to earn $4 million in 2010 from the team. They negotiated a two-year contract extension for 2011 and 2012, and the language was mistakenly changed to say he was going to earn $4.5 million in 2010. Both sides signed the contract without noticing the error.

After Affeldt realized the error, he spoke with a few people who said he was legally entitled to the money. However, Affeldt didn’t feel right accepting the money, so he notified the team and they signed a new deal that included the correct amount.

Affeldt thinks his honesty helped make negotiations smoother last winter when he and the team agreed to a 3-year, $18 million contract. I’m guessing his consecutive strong seasons in 2011 and 2012 didn’t hurt, either.

Forearm bash to Hardball Talk

This is easily one of my favorite baseball videos in a long time.

According to Deadspin, this took place during a Wednesday game in the Korean Professional Baseball league between the Lotte Giants and NC Dinos. The Dinos were up 6-4 in the ninth when Giants outfielder Jeon Jun-woo came up with one out and a man on.

Jun-woo took a slow, hanging breaking ball and pulverized it to left. Dude totally thinks it’s gone. He does a bat flip, home run point, points to his teammates in the dugout, and begins his home run trot. Only one problem: he had warning track power.

The ball was caught by the left fielder, and a stunned Jun-woo was left stranded by first base wondering what the heck happened.

Let’s break down all the awesomeness of this “Major League II” Willie Mays Hayes real-life moment.

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The umpiring crew for the Minnesota Twins-Chicago White Sox game on Tuesday night badly blew a pair of calls in Chicago’s 4-2 win at Target Field.

The first blown call occurred with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. Justin Morneau was on second when Oswaldo Arcia singled to right field. Morneau tried to score on the play, but Alex Rios’ throw clearly beat him. Morneau tried to do a hook slide to avoid catcher Tyler Flowers. Morneau slid around Flowers and tried to reach back to touch the plate, but Flowers tagged him while he was sliding by. Believing Morneau was out, Flowers pretty much gave up after that. However, home plate umpire Jordan Baker missed the tag and instead gave credit to Morneau for reaching over and touching the plate after he was tagged. That bad call literally gave Minnesota a run and made the score 2-1 White Sox.

It’s understandable how Baker missed the call from his angle, so that’s why it would have been great for him to review it.

The next blown call was much worse.

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Prince Harry has been in the US for a week-long tour, and the 28-year-old member of England’s Royal Family showed off his baseball swing during a visit to Harlem RBI on Tuesday.

Prince Harry made the visit as part of the new partnership between The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Harlem RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities), MLB.com reports. He met with several young kids, provided some instruction, and took a few cuts on Harlem RBI’s “Field of Dreams.”

After doing some drills with New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, who is a board member for Harlem RBI, Prince Harry took three swings on the field. The natural even put one off the fence. Not bad for someone who probably has never swung a baseball bat before.

Here’s another video that shows his swing and it comes with hilarious commentary from the BBC:

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