Larry Brown Sports

With the Red Sox having floated around a .500 record the entire season and yet to climb into the A.L. East race, Boston fans have been patiently waiting for a little excitement in their lives. Those who were in attendance at Fenway Park Friday night to watch the Red Sox take on the Rays got exactly that, as the division rivals cleared their benches in the ninth inning of Tampa’s 7-4 victory.

The beef started when Boston reliever Franklin Morales hit Rays DH Luke Scott with a pitch, after he had thrown behind him the pitch before. It seemed quite obvious that Morales was intentionally throwing at Scott considering his control was fine and he retired the first two batters of the inning. The benches cleared without any major fights breaking out, and after the game Joe Maddon was extremely frustrated with the way Boston handled the situation.

“Trust me, it’s not us (who initiated the altercation),” Maddon said according to the Boston Globe. “I have no idea on their side, but just watching the video, the people that were incensed, obviously they’re the ones that were probably behind the effort, the really weak, cowardly effort on their part.

“Did I say that strongly enough? Did I make my point?”

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Albert Pujols is quietly coming on for the Angels after putting together one of the worst starts to the season in MLB. The All-Star slugger has at least a hit in 13 of his last 14 games, and his numbers have noticeably improved since the team fired Mickey Hatcher as hitting coach on May 15. The stats show a significant difference.

With Hatcher as coach (37 games/146 at-bats):

.212 avg, 1 HR, 14 RBIs, .288 slugging, .536 OPS, 6 BB/18 K

Without Hatcher as coach (10 games/39 at-bats):

.282 avg, 5 HRs, 11 RBIs, .692 slugging, .821 OPS, 5 BB/5 K

The media and fans often make batting coaches out to be poor, scapegoated souls when they get fired because a team slumps, but the truth is sometimes all players need is change in order to turn things around. This move certainly hasn’t hurt Pujols.

Photo Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

That preposterous catch you see above was made by Lower Columbia College (Wash.) outfielder Derrick Salberg, whose backwards leaping grab over the outfield fence saved an LCC victory over Everett College on Friday in the first round of the NWAACC Baseball Championships. With LCC nursing a two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, Salberg’s catch robbed Everett of a game-tying homer and ended the game.

“By far the best catch I’ve ever made,” Salberg told The Daily News. “I was waiting for the bullpen pitchers to tell me I was getting close to the fence. Thank God I didn’t run into the fence and I’ve got some hops.”

Salberg added this on Twitter:

God damn…my back is sore

— Derrick Salberg(@DerrickSalberg5) May 26, 2012

That can happen when you go full airborne blindly over fences to make catches that win playoff games for your team.

H/T The Big Lead

Giancarlo Stanton continues his best to take down anything and everything in the outfield of Marlins Park. Days after a grand slam he hit broke the left-field scoreboard, Stanton sent a solo blast off Tim Lincecum on Friday that ricocheted off that crazy LSD-trip thingamajig in center. For those hoping the sculpture suffered a similar fate as the scoreboard, I’m sorry to report the flamingos still fluttered their wings and that fish on the top still irrationally somersaulted. Almost mockingly to rub it in our faces.

Stanton’s shot was the latest instance of the tear he’s on this week, during which he’s shown little to no mercy for inanimate objects or his own teammates.

The Marlins may have been demolished by the Giants on Thursday night, but Logan Morrison dodged a major bullet. In the top of the seventh with a runner on second, Buster Posey singled to right. Morrison was lucky to leave with his head still attached to his shoulders after what came next. Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton fielded the ball and went to fire it home to prevent the runner from scoring. Stanton was shallow enough that his throw could have gone directly to the catcher, but he nearly took Morrison’s head off with it instead.

Stanton has had some issues finding cut-off men this season. Morrison had shifted over because of the ground ball through the hole, but he wasn’t the cut-off man on the play. Fortunately he has cat-like reflexes. When you’ve been attacked by a praying mantis at some point in your life, I guess your skills tend to be sharpened.

Rapper/actor/entertainer Snoop Dogg threw out the first pitch before the White Sox-Twins game on Thursday, and celebrated with style. Shortly after tossing a blazing heater a bit high, Snoop struck the Usain Bolt pose, and then he got down on one knee and “Tebowed.”

We knew the rapper was a football fan, but who knew he liked Tebow that much? Snoop is also proving to be one of the most versatile sports fans around. From hockey to soccer to basketball and baseball, the guy loves it all.

Hopefully his performance at The Venue at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind., later that night went as well as the pitch.

Here is an up-close look at Snoop in his White Sox outfit before the game:

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The Rays traveled to Boston on Thursday and wore costumes on their road trip as usual. But this themed road trip was different from their others — it was a tribute to a baseball reporter.

The Rays dressed as nerds to honor FOX Sports MLB reporter Ken Rosenthal, who wears bow ties for charity while reporting on FOX Saturday MLB telecasts.

Like usual, manager Joe Maddon came up with the idea for the road trip. He says he was inspired by his granddaughter.

Maddon called Rosenthal to make sure he was OK with the team’s bow tie tribute, and the reporter gave his approval. The team is donating $3,000 spread to 18 charities — $100 for each bow tie.

Below are more pictures of the Rays in their nerd outfits:

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If I had to guess what the attire was of a pitcher who has recently gotten his season back on track and converted four straight save opportunities, I’d probably go with tuxedo T-shirt. Marlins closer Heath Bell has not allowed an earned run in his last five appearances. He’s given up only two hits during that span. Obviously he has been getting down to business every time he takes the mound lately, so a tuxedo T-shirt would seem more appropriate than the hippie shirt you see above. Then again, he is a closer.

As we know, closers are their own breed. Those guys do everything a little differently, so when Bell is amidst a hot streak and feels like taking a picture of himself in an elevator rocking a 70s-themed vest/hippie necklace shirt you just take it for what it is. Do you, Heath. It seems to have worked over the past week or so.

H/T Eye on Baseball

Look closely at the photos above and tell me what you see. At first glance, you might see another typical bobblehead that looks nothing like the person it is supposed to be. The face is not very Roy Halladay, but what else is new? This lovely collectible is available for purchase at MLB.com and was brought to our attention by this Halladay fan blog. Have you figured it out yet? For those of you who haven’t, we’ll just spell it out for you. This thing pretty much throws right and left-handed.

The leg kick and body position are accurate, but somehow the glove ended up on The Doc’s right hand and the ball in his left. I guess we should just assume he had taken his glove off to clean the ball and was about to put it back on but decided he felt like throwing a pitch in the meantime. If that’s the case, we’re wrong and this piece of memorabilia makes perfect sense.

Bobbleheads like this one may be some of the creepiest things we’ve ever seen, but at least someone put some effort into making them.

UPDATE: Because of people like us who like to make fun of people, the MLB has pulled this item from their inventory.

H/T SI Hot Clicks

Most players dive or slide into a base to slow them down from running full speed. Tony Campana did it to avoid a tag. And boy, was it incredible.

Campana tried going from first to third after a throw on an attempted pickoff play went into right field. The throw beat him to the bag and pulled third baseman Matt Downs off the line, so the quick-thinking Campana followed his instincts and dove over Downs’ glove to make it in safely.

Sadly for the Cubs, Campana’s incredible dive was wasted as the next two batters struck out and the Cubs lost 2-1.

Based on those skills, it’s probably no surprise to learn that Campana has 12 stolen bases on the season and is a frequent pinch runner for the team. But he still has work to do to top the best slide of all time.

Forearm bash to Hot Clicks

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