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Tag: MLB

MLB Teams with Match.com for Club Singles Pages

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mlb bigNEW YORK (AP) — As the baseball season approaches, Major League Baseball and Match.com are focusing on singles.

The online dating service announced Thursday it is launching 29 fan pages — one for every U.S. team — under a promotion with MLB that allows the website’s users to connect with singles who are fans of particular clubs.

Match.com President Amarnath Thombre said the first question self-identified Yankees fans often ask of singles on the site is: “Who hates the Red Sox?”

Noah Garden, Major League Baseball Advanced Media’s executive vice president of revenue, said “the Match.com conversation is one we’ve had on and off over the years to see if there’s something we could do together.”

MLB hopes the pages spur ticket sales.

“The idea is put like people together with similar interest and passion,” he said. “There’s still always room for more butts in the seats.”

Umpire Leaves Game After Being Struck by Ball

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mlb bigGOODYEAR, Ariz. (AP) — Umpire Brad Myers was struck by a line drive and left Cincinnati’s spring game against Cleveland.

Myers, a base umpire on a rotating three-man crew, was hit hard behind the pitcher’s mound in the second inning on Monday. The ball hit by Cincinnati’s Brandon Phillips struck the umpire in the groin area. He was down for several minutes before he left on a cart driven by Reds trainer Tomas Vera. Myers was in a sitting position on the cart.

The game was designated as a replay game with four umpires rotating between the field and a truck housing the replay equipment outside the ballpark.

Umpire John Tompane replaced Myers on the bases.

1st Look with Expanded MLB Replay: The Call Stands

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mlb bigFORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — The first review under Major League Baseball’s expanded replay system has taken place and after a further look that took 2½ minutes, the call stood.

Toronto manager John Gibbons used his challenge to ask umpires to review a play in the sixth inning of Monday’s game against Minnesota.

Chris Rahl of the Twins was called safe at first base when shortstop Munenori Kawasaki’s throw pulled Jared Goedert off the bag.

The umpires gathered in front of the first base dugout while umpire Brian O’Nora watched the replays from a satellite truck outside the ballpark. After a wait of 2 minutes, 34 seconds, first base umpire Fieldin Culbreth spread his hands in the safe sign.

MLB has expanded replay this year beyond potential home runs and boundary calls. This season, most every play except for balls-and-strikes is subject to a review, with calls coming from a replay booth in New York.

Torre: Banning Home Plate Collisions Not Realistic

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mlb bigPEORIA, Ariz. (AP) — Joe Torre says Major League Baseball’s playing rules committee leaned toward banning all home plate collisions but concluded it would be unrealistic because contact between catchers and baserunners is sometimes unavoidable.

Torre, MLB’s executive vice president for baseball operations, spoke Tuesday at San Diego’s spring training facility before meeting with representatives from eight clubs training in Arizona. Torre was there to answer questions and address concerns regarding the new collision rule, which was announced Monday, and expanded instant replay for umpirest replay.

Torre said when it came to the rule on home plate collisions he had to “put the uniform back on” because there is never a perfect play at the plate and throws can make contact unavoidable.

MLB could not have implemented the rule this year without approval from the players’ association.

MLB Collision Rule Leaves Open Exceptions

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mlb bigNEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball and its players have banned most home plate collisions but left open an exception if the catcher has the ball and is blocking the runner’s direct path to home plate.

A new rule, 7.13, was adopted by MLB and the players’ association on a one-year experimental basis, the sides said Monday.

A comment attached to the rule states “the failure by the runner to make an effort to touch the plate, the runner’s lowering of the shoulder, or the runner’s pushing through with his hands, elbows or arms, would support a determination that the runner deviated from the pathway in order to initiate contact with the catcher in violation.”

A runner who violates the rule shall be declared out even if the catcher drops the ball. If a catcher blocks home plate without possession of the ball, the runner shall be safe. However, a catcher may block the plate to field a throw if the umpire determines the catcher could not have otherwise fielded the ball and that contact with the runner could not have been avoided.

Managers Get to Try Out Replay in Spring

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mlb bigKISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — Major league teams will each have at least five games this spring where managers can challenge plays as part of the major expansion of instant replay which begins this season.

Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez is looking forward to getting acquainted with it and says he’ll “challenge everything, just to get a feel for it” in those five games.

Gonzalez, Houston manager Bo Porter and officials from the Tigers and Nationals met with MLB executives Joe Torre and Tony La Russa for almost three hours Friday afternoon to go over the replay rules.

The new rules allow each manager to challenge one call a game. If he wins the first one, he’ll earn another challenge. The crew chief can request a review after the seventh inning if the manager has used his challenges.

MLB Managers Ready to Test Expanded Video Replay

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mlb bigPHOENIX (AP) — Major League Baseball managers are getting ready to test expanded replay reviews of umpire’s decisions.

While most seem to embrace the idea, they acknowledge it’s uncharted territory and yet another strategic tool to employ during games.

The issue was a consistent line of questioning when managers and general managers of the 15 teams that hold spring training in Arizona gathered for MLB media day on Tuesday.

All clubs will get a chance to test the new system in a handful of spring training games, although details of that schedule had not been determined.

Each team will get at least a minimum number of games this spring to test the rule. Teams with more spring training games that are televised probably will have more opportunities to try out the new system.

Play Ball!: D-Backs Kick Off MLB Spring Training

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baseballSCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — While much of the nation is buried in snow, glazed by ice or just plain shivering in the cold, it’s time to play ball in the desert.

Spring training officially began Thursday when Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers and catchers reported, with their first workout set for Friday.

On the other side of suburban Phoenix, in Glendale, Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers and catchers report on Saturday.

Full-squad workouts for both teams begin next week.

The Diamondbacks and Dodgers get an early start because they will open the MLB season with a two-game series in Sydney, Australia, on March 22-23.

The rest of the teams begin workouts next week at their spring training haunts in Arizona and Florida.

IOC Urged Not to Pay Sports to Attend Olympics

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olympicsSOCHI, Russia (AP) — The IOC has been urged not to pay sports to attend the Olympics during talks on its relations with North American professional leagues.

New Zealand member Barry Maister says “we are on a slippery slope if we start paying people to come to the Olympic Games.” Maister says such payments would be “fundamentally against the Olympic movement.”

The NHL agreed a 16-day pause freeing players for Sochi after long negotiations with the International Ice Hockey Federation.

MLB’s refusal of a midseason break hampers baseball’s attempts to regain Olympic status.

IOC members opened wide-ranging debate Wednesday on future Olympic strategy. They were asked to consider “financial compensation and returns for the stakeholders for their involvement.”

Jean Claude-Killy of France says any proposal to pay Olympic athletes would be “anathema.”

MLB OKs Protective Cap for Pitchers, Fit for Camp

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MLB Pitchers Protective CapsNEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball has approved a protective cap for pitchers to reduce the effects of being hit in the head by line drives.

The new hat will be available for pitchers to test during spring training on a voluntary basis. Major leaguers and minor leaguers won’t be required to wear it in games this year.

The safety plates are sewn into the hat and custom fitted. They weigh an extra six to seven ounces and offer increased protection to the forehead, temples and sides of the head.

Several pitchers have been hit in the head by line drives in the last few years. Brandon McCarthy sustained a brain contusion and skull fracture after being struck, and Doug Fister was hit during the World Series.

The safety hats are made by isoBLOX and were introduced Tuesday.

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