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Edwin Diaz is getting off easy. The cardboard cutouts will remain quiet. Following a brutal debut season in Queens spent absorbing venom from Mets fans, Diaz has quickly destroyed any optimism of a bounce-back campaign, and potentially lost the trust of new manager Luis Rojas, with his second straight ninth-inning meltdown coming in Thursday’s 4-2 …
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The sight of Seth Lugo or Justin Wilson to protect a lead or tie usually ensures the Mets are in good shape, but Wednesday night they got hit with a double whammy. First, the ultra-reliable Lugo flushed a lead in the seventh inning by surrendering a long ball to tie it. Wilson took matters a …
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BOSTON — David Peterson earned his big-boy pants Tuesday night, departing the mound in the sixth inning all grown up so quickly. A major league debut can be scary enough, but for a left-handed pitcher performing in the Green Monster’s fabled shadow, the pressure can strangulate. And yet here was Peterson in control against the …
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For baseball players not in the postseason, October is dark. Maybe you get surgery if you need it. Otherwise, you lay low, recover from the grind and enjoy the tranquility. Which made the Yankees October 2004 phone call to Steve Sparks, an active player entering free agency, all the more unusual. How Sparks reacted to …
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The illegal sign-stealing drama that rocked MLB before the pandemic might not be over — and this time it involves the Yankees. A letter from commissioner Rob Manfred to the Yankees detailing the findings of a 2017 investigation into the ball club’s alleged sign-stealing program should be unsealed, a judge ruled Friday, according to The …
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The Red Sox vowed to crack down on racism at Fenway Park after former All-Star Torii Hunter claimed he was called the N-word there “100 times,” including by “little kids” whose parents failed to intervene. Hunter said it became so bad that he called for a no-trade clause in his contract that prevented the veteran …
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Angel Hernandez may have made another bad call. The veteran umpire — labeled “as bad as there is” by Pedro Martinez following a disastrous 2018 Yankees-Red Sox playoff game — allegedly eavesdropped on an MLB investigative call last July, which focused on a 14-minute delay during a game between the Red Sox and Rays due …
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There’s one way Alex Verdugo could be considered a steal by the Red Sox, regardless of how he performs: if Mookie Betts never plays a game for the Dodgers. The blockbuster trade went down in February, with Betts, in his final year before free agency, and David Price expected to help chase a 2020 World …
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Think of the major league players in a clubhouse like the cool kids in high school. The world revolves around them. Their approval, friendship and respect are collateral in that universe. I have seen owners gravitate toward star clusters in clubhouses, GMs dumb down their language, curse and spit to try to be one of …
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Was J.T. Watkins just another scapegoat? At the conclusion of MLB’s investigation into the Red Sox sign-stealing scandal, nearly all responsibility for the endeavor was pinned on the 30-year-old replay operator, Watkins, who has been suspended for the entire 2020 season and banned from working in the replay room in 2021. Watkins, the only individual …
Edwin Diaz is getting off easy. The cardboard cutouts will remain quiet. Following a brutal debut season in Queens spent absorbing venom from Mets fans, Diaz has quickly destroyed any optimism of a bounce-back campaign, and potentially lost the trust of new manager Luis Rojas, with his second straight ninth-inning meltdown coming in Thursday’s 4-2 …
