Youkilis traded to White Sox

Some very interesting news lately has been the main focus of Major League Baseball's talks: Kevin Youkilis is no longer a member of the Red Sox in Boston, but now sports new color sox: white.

Youkilis has found himself a new home in Chicago, and it would seem that even though his team was put down in his first game at the White Sox's field, he still has fans over at Fenway. The Red Sox cheered for Youkilis despite the trade as he stepped up to bat, displayed on the big screen.

It's good that Youkilis still has Red Sox fans, because should he find himself up against Boston (and you know he will) he's gonna need all the support he can get. The old team won't go easy on Kevin!

Tampa relief pitcher Joel Peralta ejected from game

Though the unspoken rules of major league baseball are often strictly adhered to, it would appear that the Nationals have broken one such rule in an attempt to remove Tampa Bay's relief pitcher Joel Peralta for the presence of pine tar on his glove.

The Nationals had once been the home team for Peralta, and there seems to be no apparent animosity between the two parties. However, in the eighth inning of a 5-4 game that the Rays were winning, the Nationals suddenly asked for the blue to check Peralta's glove -- where they happened to find pine tar.

This has led Joe Maddon, manager of the Rays, to accuse the Nationals of some dirty playing. "If you had done really good police work and noticed something from a distance that's one thing, but that's way too easy... To point one guy out because he had pitched there, where there's probably some common knowledge based on that, I thought it was a real cowardly ... move," said Maddon of the Nationals.

Peralta, though obviously annoyed by the move, seems to be happy that at least Washington didn't take home the win that night.

This begs the question: were the Nationals being poor sports and picking on a former player, or were they justified in calling him out for breaking the rules?

Rockies cut Jamie Moyer; end of his career?

It looks like Jamie Moyer may not be playing another season in the big leagues.

As he completes his fifth decade of life (the big five-oh), it's likely Moyer won't be coming back to play with the pros. Just recently, the Rockies cut the pitcher that has the designation as the oldest to do many things on the mound -- wins, shutouts, and even a World Series in 2008.

Regardless, it seems like Moyer's time has run out. As his age ticks away, so does his ability to play the physically demanding sport of baseball, and so the master must step back to let the students take the helm (or the mound, in this case).

Moyer is among a distinct group of baseball players (just twenty-nine exist) who have played Major League baseball over four decades. This man has seen so much of the majors, and how it has changed, that he may be a living testament to modern baseball.

"I just felt like that by sending him out there, we were compromising him and the team," says Rockies manager Jim Tracy.

Ken Harrelson speaks with bashed umpire, but makes no promises for the future

Ken Harrelson, the broadcaster for the White Sox, has shown some compassion for one of the umpires he has so harshly blown up about on the air.

"Harrelson said Saturday he thought about it and then left a message for Mark Wegner. Without a warning during Wednesday's game at Tampa Bay, Wegner ejected Chicago rookie starter Jose Quintana in the fourth inning after he threw a pitch behind the Rays' Ben Zobrist." -Yahoo! MLB News

Harrelson was unrelenting, however powerful umpires may be in the sport that Bud Selig looms over. He said that umpires needed to be held accountable, and that some didn't even know baseball.

Though the White Sox manager Reinsdorg and Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig both tried to reign in the broadcaster, he says he can't make any promises. Even a small-time student of the sport can tell that this was just to shut up Harrelson, who didn't please the higher-ups in the sport.

Santana pitches first Mets no-hitter, but two are injured?

It would seem that the perfect night for the Mets was not so perfect after all.

Santana pitched what was the first no-hitter the New York Mets have ever seen, putting on a great performance at Citi Park. Even though he threw 132 pitches, it appears he is doing fine and his arm suffered no ill consequences.

Mike Baxter and Ramon Ramirez, however, were not so lucky. The have been put on the disabled list for now, and their injuries make what might have been a great celebration little more than a costly game for the Mets. Even more worrisome, can Santana keep it up? Pushing a strong pitcher like this to his limits can only make or break his career.

After all, if it can break a rookie kid out of college ball, it can break a regular pitcher like Santana just the same. Only time will tell, though.

Angels close in on AL West champion Rangers

Just recently, in a game between the Los Angeles Angels and the Texas Rangers, the Angels inched ahead in the standings by defeating their opponents on the field. They are now just three and a half games away from the Rangers' lead in the American League West.

Usually, the Angels are the underdog team. Just like something straight out of a college wonder-team of students at a university who defeat their rivals, the Angels have done considerable damage to the Yankees, who have usually just bowled over anyone they play.

Whether they were the California Angels, or the Anaheim Angels, the team cannot escape their underdog spirit (in Orange County or Los Angeles County!). The Rangers have been great as of late, taking up division leads like it was nothing.

Now, the Angels have finally secured a truly underdog position, rising to the top after streaks of wins to attempt a grab at the Rangers' coveted lead position. What will develop as the two teams race to the top? Will either of them still be at the top when the season ends?

As the season passes on, we shall all see.

Yankees end Angels' big streak

Anyone who has been following the Angels (as myself and my eager college student son have been) will know that the team has pulled off an eight win streak that included the two most recent games with the Yankees in the series. Angels were poised to continue the streak to nine and sweep the series with one of baseball's biggest teams, but it turns out they just didn't have it in them.

Early in the final game of the series, the Yankees took points that the Angels couldn't match, try as they might. That isn't to say they didn't try, though, as the game was a close 6-5 for the Yankees, edging by with just one more point as the game came to a close.

"Both teams have a day off Thursday. Los Angeles will host AL West rival Texas in a three-game weekend series, while New York wraps up its nine-game trip with a weekend set in Detroit." -Yahoo! MLB News

A Better Boston: Red Sox Go Positive

It seems that the steady recovery for Boston's recently beaten baseball franchise is actually going pretty well -- they have now climbed to over .500 in the win-loss ratio, with their 25th win (as opposed to their 24 losses). Besides the players, who else had a big role in rallying the Red Sox to their recent victory?

It would be easy to let that success fall in the claims of Bobby Valentine, the new manager of the Boston Red Sox, and with good reason. Valentine has been at the head of the Red Sox revival, leading the team to enough wins to put them just three and a half games behind first place in the AL East division. Under Valentine, both the veterans and the students of the sport have improved their game, making them tough contenders for the season.

"Prince Fielder slugged a home run in the sixth and added an RBI in the seventh to pull Detroit within 5-3 but David Ortiz hit a solo blast in the bottom of the seventh to extend Boston's lead.

Ortiz went 3-for-4 with two doubles in the absence of team mate Dustin Pedroia, who suffered a thumb injury on Monday.

Daniel Bard tossed 5 1/3 innings to get the win for Boston, and Alfredo Aceves handled the ninth for his 12th save of the season.

Rain held up play for 38 minutes in the eighth inning before Boston resumed their march to victory."

-Yahoo! MLB News

Pitcher Oswalt agrees to a year for the Rangers

News on the official Texas Rangers website reports that the Rangers franchise has signed a one-year agreement with pitcher Roy Oswalt, former Phillies player. Oswalt has been an All-Star pitcher three times in his major league career, so it is clear he is no novice. An educated master of the sport, one might say. I'm sure the Rangers will find him great for the team.

Though his former team from Philadelphia did show interest in keeping Oswalt, it appears the Rangers chose to go with him instead. Whether or not the Phillies intended to make an offer, or if the Rangers simply bought the pitcher out, is unknown.

"The deal, reportedly worth as much as $5 million, could help the Rangers reach the World Series for the third year in a row. The two-time defending American League champions lost to San Francisco in 2010 and St. Louis in 2011.

Several clubs had shown interest in Oswalt, including the Philadelphia Phillies, for whom he went 9-10 last season with a 3.69 earned-run average in 139 innings over 23 starts.

In 11 major league seasons with the Phillies and Houston, Oswalt is 159-93 with a 3.21 earned-run average."

-Yahoo! MLB News

Angels' Pujols and Haren smash the Mariners together

Just tonight (Thursday, May 24, 2012), the Mariners were delivered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Angels. If you have been following their games, then I am sure you know why: Albert Pujols excellent hitting, and Dan Haren's incredible pitching.

Pujols almost stole the limelight from Haren tonight as he pulled three hits, one of which was his 450th career home run. Of course, Haren kept most of his thunder from being stolen by striking out a career-high 14 batters during the game. Watch out!

"He makes good hitters look pretty bad including myself, he has in the past," says teammate Pujols. "He is pretty amazing when he keeps the ball down."

During the game, Haren happened to also seal his 1,500th career strikeout, making the night quite eventful for both of the Angels players. Naturally, they only had good things to say about each other, but on their somewhat less-eventful wins-loss ratio, Haren remarks, "I'm happy obviously to win a game. I forgot what it felt like."

Hopefully, he won't have to forget again.

MLB changes play-off format to include 10 teams, up from 8

So we have just a month left until the baseball stadiums across the country open their gates to allow in the deluge of fans, eager to partake in some good ol' American past-time. Of course, with each season of sports, we see a slight change in the rules, and now it's baseball turn!

Even a team in their league's third-place spot can go to the World Series, as they have expanded their play-off format to include 10 teams, whereas before it only accepted 8. There is nothing but good words for the new set-up, as well, from all corners of the baseball world.

"It's a good thing for baseball. That seems to be what the people want," says Jim Leyland, and I believe he has hit it right on the money.