MLB news from the past week.
It's very unfortunate to have lost arguably the best pure hitter of his era at such a young age. Many of us have special memories of watching Gwynn play; Deadspin has a nice article written by a former Padres bat boy and big Tony Gwynn fan about his experiences talking with Gwynn and witnessing how much of a genuinely considerate person he was.
Clayton Kershaw dominates Rockies with no-hitter
If it wasn't for a careless throwing error by Hanley, we'd be talking about a perfect game. It amazes me that he hadn't thrown a no-hitter before as good as he is. Only Nolan Ryan has more strikeouts in a no-hitter than Kershaw's 15.
Open mouth, insert foot.
Joking about something like that was just beyond dumb, especially at a press conference. Now, the next time Detroit has a lengthy losing streak, watch all baseball message boards be flooded with comments resembling, "Hey Brad, you gonna beat your wife again?"
The last couple of years have not been kind to Putz as arm injuries have hampered his effectiveness since his 45-save year in 2011. He states that he will not accept a minor league assignment, so if he's to see any more major-league action this year, it'll be with another team.
Yasmani Tomas is a sturdy (6'1", 230 lbs.) 23-year old corner outfielder with power. His raw power score is 70 on the 20-80 scale, but likely will not be signed before the end of this season.
David Ortiz reprimanded for criticizing official scorer
Ortiz entered Wednesday's game against the Twins hitting just .186 in June, so when Joe Maurer muffed a ground ball allowing him to reach base, Ortiz got peeved when it was ruled an error and made it known by shouting at the press box. He later complained about the lack of partiality, but Joe Torre fired back, saying "Official scorers should never give any benefit of the doubt to the home team."
This sounds to me like Ortiz is putting his own personal stats ahead of his own team, which is pure selfishness.
Umpires take all sorts of abuse every day from players, managers, and fans, not to mention the physical tolls they endure. Dean Esskew has headed a nonprofit ministry for the last 11 years dedicated solely to providing a spiritual outlet to umpires across the majors and the minors who need a little redeeming.
Except for CB Bucknor. I don't know if there's any redeeming him.