Mark Teixeira is a Switch-Hitting Animal

Mark Teixeira set a big league record Tuesday evening when he went yard from both sides of the plate in his team's rainy 6-0 win over the Chicago White Sox.

The All-Star first baseman hit a two-run shot batting right-handed off John Danks in the third inning before adding his second longball of the night batting left-handed against Jason Frasor in the seventh. Well done.

Alex Rodriguez Gets Plunked, Joe Girardi Cries About it

The Cleveland Indians, as good as they were to kick off this season, are attempting to spark a rivalry with the New York Yankees... who have beat them 12 of the last 15 meetings.

The two teams will move right along with their four-game series Sunday afternoon in New York, with the Yankees leading 2-0. The first two contests featured a couple hit batsmen, including Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. Controversial! Tex, who was hit by Jon Lester earlier in the week, was nailed in the right shoulder on Friday by Fausto Carmona. He got super pissed and the benches cleared, with Joe Girardi and Manny Acta enjoying a little face-to-face confrontation.

Rangers One Win Away From World Series

Holy crap, we didn't see this one coming. In the franchise's 50th season, the Texas Rangers are just one win away from playing in their very first World Series.

A.J. Burnett did alright in his New York Yankees' Game 4 loss that has the Rangers leading the series 3-1. In fact, he says:

Believe it or not, it’s probably the best I’ve pitched in a long time. It’s one mistake. It was down and away. It just didn’t go where I wanted it to go. I knew he hit it out.

Rawlings Hands Out Gold Glove Hardware

Even though baseball season is over, that doesn’t mean the excitement has gone along with it.

Rawlings has handed out their 2009 Gold Glove awards (they’ve been doing so since 1957) and a couple of them went to World Series Champion New York Yankees. Managers and coaches make selections before the season ends, but are not allowed to choose members of their own clubs, of course.

Continue reading and comment on this story at Sports Untapped.

Man Muscles For MVP

Clearly, you all saw this post coming from a mile away, but it's high time BLB weighs in on the controversial "Joe Mauer For MVP" debate. No homerism here, we're just gonna lay out the facts. The cold, hard truth. Yes, we love his sideburns and humble MinnesotaNice with all of our hearts, but sideburns don't earn most valuable player awards. Neither do P's and Q's.

The first naysayer will take the "he's on a losing team" route. To that we say, what about your ever-loving A-Rod? Alex Rodriguez won the AL MVP award in 2003 in his final season with the Texas Rangers, who were dead last in the West with a 71-91 record. His 47 home runs, .600 slugging percentage and 124 runs scored were top in the league. (Too bad he totally cheated that year.)

If the 2009 season were to end today, Mauer would lead the entire game with a .380 batting average and .448 OBP, and would be high atop the AL with a .675 slugging %. He's also ninth in the league in home runs with 25, and tenth in RBIs with 77. Mauer's no monster slugger, but he's got one of the sweetest swings in baseball when he makes contact, which is often.

Sure, Mark Teixeira is having a super swell season (.288 AVG/.385 OBP/.562 SLG) with 30 homers and 32 doubles. He also spends half his time hanging out in a shopping mall with a ballfield in the middle of it: a.k.a. The New Yankee Stadium, which has become one of the biggest hitter's parks ever. In fact, he's hit only 11 bombs away from home this season. Tex's defense at first base is pretty amazing, but Mauer's position puts far more strain on his body. And the Metrodome just plain sucks to hit in. And Joe managed to put these numbers up after missing the entire month of April. And... so there.

For you stat geeks, here's a neat little table set up by Dayn Perry over at FOX Sports. He's one smart cookie...


So is there really even a debate here? I think as long as Man Muscles continues to kick ass over the next six weeks until those 28 newspaper writers cast their votes, he'll run away with the MVP Award -- along with his record-breaking third batting title as a backstop -- whether the Twins play baseball in October or not.

P.S. Check out BLB's 12 Second Trivia #3! We'll stump you eventually. Maybe.

[Larry Brown Sports] | [MinnPost - Gleeman] | [Josh Q. Public]

Avoiding Arbitration

Baseball fans across the country look forward to February with breathless anticipation for one reason: no, not Spring Training... arbitration! Nothing else can match that excitement of seeing a press release announcing the date for a player's arbitration hearing, or a press release announcing the conclusion of the arbitration period. That's entertainment!

So it is with great sadness that I must report that 22 of the 110 players who filed for salary arbitration this offseason came to terms with their respective clubs by Thursday-- thus depriving fans of the fun of following the oh-so-very interesting machinations of the arbitration process. It's like killing Christmas!

Full list of the grinches in question, and the amount of their contracts, after the jump.

Jose Bautista ($1.8m) - Pirates
Chris Capuano ($3.75m) - Brewers
Gustavo Chacin ($725,000) - Blue Jays
Joe Crede ($3.5m) - White Sox
Scott Downs ($10m/3 years) - Blue Jays
Jason Frasor ($1,125,000) - Blue Jays
Jimmy Gobble ($1,312,500) - Royals
Jonny Gomes ($1,275,000) - Rays
Mike Gonzalez ($2,362,500) - Braves
Omar Infante ($1.4m) - Braves
Jason Kubel ($1.3m) - Twins
Brad Lidge ($6.35m) - Phillies
Ryan Madson ($1.4m) - Phillies
Tim Redding ($1m) - Nationals
Juan Rivera ($2,025,000) - Angels
Marco Scutaro ($2.65m/2 years) - Blue Jays
Huston Street ($3.3m) - Athletics
Brian Tallet ($640,000) - Blue Jays
Mark Teixeira ($12.5m) - Braves
Marcus Thames ($1,275,000) - Tigers
Matt Treanor ($705,000) - Marlins
Tyler Yates ($800,000) - Braves

[Yahoo!]

What A Stud

Just thought we'd do a little update on how happy Mark Teixeira has made the good people of the Peach State.

While John Smoltz was pitching vintage Sunday baseball, Teixeira was hitting lights out.

The recently-acquired switch-hitter erupted The Jake after driving in four runs on two homers to aid in the Atlanta Braves' 6-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. One of Teixeira's bombs came in the first inning and the other in the third - both off Yusmeiro Petit.

The 27-year-old first baseman has gone deep seven times in 17 games so far with Atlanta, giving him 20 longballs and 68 RBIs on the season.

[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Mark Teixeira Deal Done

...pending physicals.

The deal is all but done, as the Texas Rangers will send Mark Teixeira along with left-hander Ron Mahay to the Atlanta Braves for young stud catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Class-A shortstop Elvis Andrus, two minor league prospects and of course, a player to be named later.

One of the prospects is lefty Matt Harrison, who has experienced some recent shoulder discomfort. He is 5-7 with a 3.39 ERA and 78 strikeouts for the AA Mississippi Braves this season.

Teixeira joins badass third baseman Chipper Jones as an additional switch-hitter to the already potent Braves order, which will surely help the club climb from fifth in the NL in runs scored. Tex is batting a steady .297 with 13 homers and 49 RBIs this season.

The 22-year-old Saltalamacchia could be just what the Rangers have been looking for with the option of putting him at first, as well. Salty is hitting .284 with 4 longballs and 12 RBIs in 47 games with the Braves this season.

Don't forget about the veteran Mahay, who was 2-0 with a 2.77 ERA and 1 save in 28 relief appearances for the Rangers.

[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Who jinxed the New York Yankees?

Who jinxed the New York Yankees?

Working on a no-hitter into the seventh inning, Phil Hughes stepped off the mound, winced and grabbed the back of his left thigh after throwing a one-out, 0-2 breaking ball to Mark Teixeira. He was pulled after 83 pitches with a 9-0 lead.