Look out John McGraw....heeeere's Bobby

During the ninth inning of yet another loss by the Atlanta Braves, Braves manager, Bobby Cox was ejected for the 131st time tying him with John McGraw for the all-time record. Cox was ejected after coming to the aid of Braves catcher, Brian McCann, who had been ejected moments before for arguing a called third strike with home umpire Chad Fairchild. And just like Bobby he wasn't concerned with the record in the least bit.

"He was our only [bleeping] catcher we had left," said Cox, who had used backup catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia as a pinch-hitter.

The Braves went on to lose the game, 2-1 as the Detroit Tiger's flamethrower, Justin Verlander lived up to his name with improving to 9-2 on the season and throwing 100+ MPH late in the game. Chipper Jones, who hit his 13th homerun, which leads the team, on the season was amazed with Verlander's velocity.
"My god, that guy's throwing 100 miles an hour in the sixth inning," Jones said. "You're not going to mount much against him. It's really tough for the best hitters in baseball to put that in play consistently."

And on a side note, Andruw Jones continues to piss me off more than I thought was possible, as his batting average has officially fallen under the "Mendoza line" which is .200. Druw is hitting .198 with 11 homeruns and 42 RBIs. Shit who knows maybe this is a blessing in disguise, seeing as how him sucking is a huge understatement and this being his contract year, maybe we can afford to re-sign him now. But then again maybe we'll still end up trading him, to the whitesox possibly...

Also see this story on the Fanhouse and AJC.com

Verlander one ups Schilling...pitches a no-hitter

This is definitely BREAKING NEWS! Justin Verlander just threw a no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers. Verlander was cool and collected through nine innings, and that was evident when he hit 102 on the radar guns and then came right back at Brew Crew with a nasty curveball. Verlander only needed 112 pitches to complete the no-no and he also added a career high, 12 strikeouts to go along with four walks, three of which was too Bill Hall.

It was just a few days ago, when Boston Red Sox pitcher, Curt Schilling just missed having a no-hitter when Shannon Stewart broke it up in the ninth inning with a two-out single. But I can tell you one thing, he sure as hell wasn't hitting 102 on the gun. That's almost Zumaya territory.

Verlander, 24, became the second pitcher this season to accomplish the feat and the first Tiger since Jack Morris on April 7, 1984. Mark Burlehe threw one for the Chicago White Sox on April 18 against the Texas Rangers.

Morneau breaks his nose by a bouncing ball

During the eighth inning of the Twin's eventual 8-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers, the reinging MVP, Justin Morneau, was hit in the face by a bouncing ball. Morneau's nose broke when his teammate, Nick Punto attempted to turn a double play after he had caught a line-drive but his ball was thrown poorly and it took a big bounce hitting Morneau square in the nose.

"Just tops it all out," said Morneau, who had his nose reset and planned to play on Sunday.

The Minnesota Twins will try to stop the bleeding as they try to avoid the sweep later today when they play the Tigers again. The Twins have Boof Bonser starting and Detroit have Virgil Vasquez making his major league debut and also his first start.

Zumaya won't be throwing for awhile...out 12 weeks

When Detroit's flamethrower, Joel Zumaya felt a pop in his pitching hand while warming up Saturday, he thought he might have cracked his middle knuckle but after the team trainer rushed out to him, it was expected to be a dislocated right middle finger. He said he felt a "shocking pain" in his hand and was rushed down to the Tiger's locker room.

"I thought maybe my knuckle cracked," he said Saturday. "I went to a curveball and I couldn't even grip the ball. I threw another fastball and it popped again, and a sharp pain ran through my finger. I called down and said, 'I need a trainer quick.'"

Well the news today is worse, after being examined by Dr. Charles Melone in New York today, he found out that he ruptured a tendon in his middle finger and will be scheduled to have surgery on it this Thursday.

Zumaya has a fastball that has reportedly reached in upwards of 103 mph and he had thousands of shirts made in his honor. He is being replaced by Aquilino Lopez in the Tiger's bullpen.