Recaps and More are Back!

Beginning late tomorrow night, we will resume the publication of daily recaps, the scoreboard, the day's home runs, probable pitchers, and "who's hot and who's not."

The information in its entirety can be found on the blog. Instead of sending out a full newsletter by email, I will forward the link to the full entry each morning. Just click on the link and presto, you have your daily fix!

Articles 

Be sure to check out all our latest articles!

Evaluating the American League Rookies by Nate Odle

MLB Weekend Preview, June 29 - July 1 by Steve Gale 

Looking around the Minors: A Glimpse at the International League by Dean Jones Jr.

Q & A with New York Yankees Prospect Brett Smith by Joe Hamrahi

Contributed by Mike Koepp

"I appreciate the passion of all of our fans and their frustrations with the team's performance, frankly, we all share in this frustration. Everyone throughout the organization understands the expectation and need to perform.”

 “I have not lost faith in the team or our core group of young players. There is still a lot of baseball to be played. Our focus as an organization remains on winning games.”

 "It is important to point out the immense appreciation I have for the continued loyalty and support from all of our fans." ---Bob Nutting’s (Chairman of the Board of the Pittsburgh Pirates) statements from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The fans of Western Pennsylvania are not happy. A new stadium was built for The Pittsburgh Pirates (PNC Park), which opened in the spring of 2001. The team hasn’t made it to the playoffs since a young Barry Bonds played for them back in 1992.

Tonight a group of fans are to schedule a protest to ownership. They aren’t happy that their team is in fourth place, twelve games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central.

The team is expecting 25,000 to 30,000 fans to arrive on Bob Walk Bobble Head Night.

Organizers of the protest are encouraging fans to leave their seats in the third inning and stand in the concourse without purchasing concessions --- or to leave the stadium. Pirate’s officials are downplaying the walkout. They have asked their television announcers and crew not to discuss it with the media. FSN Pittsburgh does not plan to show the protest as part of its broadcast. It will occur during a normal commercial break so it will not interrupt the live game coverage. Local and national media with press credentials will be there, though, to gauge fan reaction.

The Boston Red Sox today purchased the contract of outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury from Triple-A Pawtucket of the International League.

To make room for Ellsbury on the active roster, righthanded pitcher Joel Pineiro was placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 28, with a right ankle sprain.

Ellsbury, 23, will be making his major league debut and will wear #46. The lefthanded batter has combined to hit .323 (90-279)  with 29 stolen bases in 67 games at Double-A Portland and Pawtucket in 2007, just his third professional season.

Promoted from Portland on May 4, Ellsbury is batting .277 with 11 RBI and 21 stolen bases in 50 games for the PawSox. He ranks fourth in the International League and leads the club in stolen bases and ranks third on the PawSox with four triples. Playing primarily in centerfield, Ellsbury has posted a .296 (40-135) average over his last 34 games while reaching base safely in 41 of his 50 contests. He had been selected to play for the U.S. Team in the ninth annual Major League All-Stars Futures Game on July 8 in San Francisco.

Thanks to the Red Sox media relations department for the update

Just wanted to send a quick shout out to Andy Sweeney and the guys at The Zone in Louisville. In case you missed it, I did about a 15 minute segment on the show this afternoon, and we talked about everything from Adam Dunn and the Reds to A-Rod and the Yankees.

Thanks a lot guys for having me on!

The Oakland Athletics announced today the club has traded outfielder Milton Bradley, who was designated for assignment on June 21, and cash to the San Diego Padres for right-handed pitcher Andrew Brown.

Brown, 26, was 2-3 with a 2.78 ERA in 32 relief appearances with Triple-A Portland this season. He struck out 43 batters and walked only 15 in his 35.2 innings of work. Brown was originally selected in the sixth round of the 1999 First-Year Player Draft by Atlanta. This is the second time Brown has been linked in a trade with Bradley. He was traded along with Franklin Gutierrez by Los Angeles Dodgers to Cleveland on April 4, 2004 in a deal that sent Bradley to Los Angeles.

Special thanks to the A's and Padres media relations departments for the press release

The Minnesota Twins announced after today’s game that they will recall right- handed pitcher Matt Garza from Triple-A Rochester in time for tomorrow night’s game at Detroit. In 16 starts for the Red Wings this season, Garza was 4-6, 3.62 (92.0 ip, 37 er), allowing 93 hits with 31 walks and 95 strikeouts. Garza will wear uniform number 21.

I'll be on the the radio again this weekend for those of you who would like to listen in. At about 10:30 AM Eastern time on Saturday, I'll be appearing on 1570 The Zone, Louisville's local sports talk radio station. You can listen live to the broadcast via the the Internet by visiting the Zone's web site at www.1570thezone.com.

Ok, it's something like that. Anyway, I'm here in my office at 11:00 PM updating news, stats, stories, etc. I'm not here by choice mind you. The violent storms in the metropolitan area knocked out power, switches and tracks on the Long Island Rail Road. So, I'm here doing my usual baseball stuff and some work of course.

If you're up late check back soon. I may even do game recaps for the diehards!