Baseball

Nyjer Morgan's latest suspension for charging Marlins P Chris Volstad for throwing behind him drew a ludicrous eight game suspension from Bud Selig, in addition to his previous seven game suspension currently under appeal.

Volstad allegedly threw behind Morgan in retaliation for a heinous crime: Stealing two bases in a row when his team was down by 10 runs.

Oh no. He's lucky he doesn't get suspended for that, too.

Josh Hamilton left Friday's game versus the Twins with back stiffness.

The injury doesn't appear to be too serious after hearing Hamilton's comments, but the Rangers were already worried about his achy knee that has flared up again. If you looked at the Texas slugger's performance lately, you couldn't tell he's been banged up.

To me, the Mets being irrelevant in August is no laughing matter. Being an afterthought while the Yankees are thriving across town isn't a joke. Being laughed at by Phillies fans instead of respected and hated isn't a knee slapping good time for me, or any Mets fan that I know who cares about the team.

The Florida Marlins have publicly stated that whatever media sources are reporting a brawl during their game last night are false. Major League Baseball says that since there were no fans at the Marlins game last night, there are no witnesses to prove otherwise. 

The Marlins have become synonymous with having a very low attendance average. On television, there are not any fans in the seats and thus a ton of orange seats are left exposed to the cameras. Last night was no exception. 

If you've been paying attention lately, the Cincinnati Reds called up left-handed phenom Aroldis Chapman and his 103 mph fastball this week.

That's right, I said 103 mph. He was actually clocked at 105 mph during a minor league game a week ago. Now, I have no problem with Chapman or the fact that he's wearing a Cincinnati Reds uniform. What I have a big problem with is why he's not wearing a Pirates uniform instead.

Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report's Cleveland Indians fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the club each week throughout the season.

This week we discuss the fate of the Tribe's 2011 arbitration-eligible players, project next season's payroll, wonder what's wrong with Mitch Talbot, and share our thoughts on possibly playing spoiler for the Twins or the White Sox this month.

Stephen Strasburg.  Aroldis Champan.  Meet Mark Prior.

Although Washington Nationals and Cincinnati Reds fans may not want to hear it, the fate of hard-throwing prospects is all to familiar.

In Will Carroll’s book, Saving the Pitcher, he talks about the struggles and frequent arm troubles that seem to so often hinder the careers of today’s most promising stars.

As the calendar turns to September, baseball races are really starting to heat up.

The NL Wild Card has a few possible candidates: the Phillies lead the Giants by two games and are 5.5 up on the fading Cardinals.

The Rockies find themselves 6.5 games out of the Wild Card lead after a seemingly season-killing, eight-game losing streak at the end of July. They are still 7.5 games out of the NL West, despite the Padres' continued slide.

This had the potential to be a much, much bigger series.

The fate of the entire universe was supposed to be decided this weekend, but given recent (shocking) events, the Reds find themselves eight games up, and the Cardinals are grasping at straws in the wild card chase.

I was at the Mets game on Monday and sat for the first time in the left field reserved seats.  It was the bottom of the eighth and the Mets were down 3-1;  there had to be only about 4,000 people left in the entire stadium at this point because of the unbearable cold.