Baseball

It’s a bird, it’s a plane—it’s Brian Dozier.

Not much has brought excitement to Minnesota Twins fans this season, but the arrival of Brian Dozier might just shine a light of hope. Dozier made his major league debut on Monday for the Twins, going 1-for-4 at the plate while starting at shortstop.

Being a Chicago Cubs ball girl comes with certain perks, one of which may very well be getting in touch with the opposition to get your flirt on. 

Yesterday, the daily chatter got kind of serious around baseball as many of us debated Cole Hamels throwing a pitch at Bryce Harper in Sunday night's game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals. 

In the fifth inning of Saturday's 6-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim top prospect Mike Trout showed why the team was so keen on bringing him up to the majors in favor of the recently-released Bobby Abreu.

Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen has decided to pull offseason acquisition Heath Bell from the closer's role "for a few days," reports Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post.

The Philadelphia Phillies (13-15) and Washington Nationals (18-9) will close out a three-game National League East series on Sunday night at Nationals Park, with the first pitch scheduled for 8:05 ET on ESPN.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have established the Phillies as +105 road underdogs, while the total has held steady at its opening number of 6.

The Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians will close out a three-game American League series on Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field, with the first pitch scheduled 1:05 p.m. ET.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have established the Rangers as -150 road favorites, while the total stands at 8.5, but is facing downward pressure in the market.

Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Kyle Drabek has turned things around and is having a great 2012 season on the mound.

After struggling through 2011 for Toronto and then being demoted to Triple-A Las Vegas after going 4-5 with a 5.70 ERA in 14 starts, Drabek is a new pitcher with superior control.

The Milwaukee Brewers' quest to repeat as National League Central champions just became a whole lot more difficult.

In the second inning of their 5-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants Saturday afternoon, newly acquired 35-year-old free-agent shortstop Alex Gonzalez appeared to have badly injured his right knee while attempting to steal second after singling in a run off Giants hurler Madison Bumgarner.

Currently, the Toronto Blue Jays are holding down the second wild card spot in the American League. The New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels have all had rough starts and might not have the season most people thought they would. That would leave room for a few teams—like the Blue Jays—to sneak up in the standings.