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Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) compared former President Trump to a failing pitcher on a baseball team who remains on the mound despite a series of losses, noting Trump has been the party leader as the GOP has had disappointing election outcomes in 2018, 2020 and 2022. Romney, a vocal critic of Trump in the Republican party, told the Associated Press that Trump has “been on the mound and lost three straight games.”

SNIP “The MLB has a very big problem with the baseballs — they are bad,” Bassitt said after his team’s 3-0 victory over the Cardinals. “Everyone knows it. Every pitcher in the league knows it. MLB doesn’t give a damn about it. They don’t care. We have told them our problems with them, they don’t care.” Bassitt said there is too much inconsistency among the baseballs being used this season, and the problem is exacerbated in different climates. “There is no common ground with the balls,” he said. “There is nothing the same, outing to outing.”

ATLANTA -- Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro has died at the age of 81.Niekro passed away in his sleep on Saturday night. The suburban Atlanta resident had a longtime battle with cancer.

On July 19, 1955, Vernon Law was the starting pitcher in the Pirates' 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Braves. ... Law started and pitched the first 18 innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter. In those 18 innings, he allowed nine hits, two runs -- only one of which was earned -- two walks and 12 strikeouts. On July 19, 1955, Vernon Law was the starting pitcher in the Pirates’ 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Braves. Law, nicknamed The Deacon, was not the winning pitcher and didn’t even get a complete game on that Tuesday night at Forbes Field. But...

One thing you learn from studying baseball history is that people have always predicted the sport’s demise. Over and over, the game weathers every perceived crisis and continues to thrive. More than 70 million fans will attend major league games this season; another 40 million or so will go to minor league games. Countless more watch the sport on television and online. And yet attendance is down, and more and more balls are being kept out of play. Some longtime observers consider the shifting landscape — hitters swinging for the fences, pitchers throwing everything with maximum effort, fielders standing in...

An email from a sport made me flash back to my youth, 50 years ago, said to my wife where will Warren Spahn rank. Then the famous game of Spahn versus Marichal, the old warrior going against the Kid. Surprise, surprise with their new baseball metrics neither Spahn not Marichal made the top 25. The email and slide show made my junk file. Interesting article that points out how neither guy would give an inch for 16 innings. "Alvin Dark tried to take Marichal out for the first time in the ninth. The conversation did not go well. Marichal refused...

Peggy Lindsey had just watched A's lefthander Dallas Braden make baseball history, and after celebrating a perfect game by her grandson, she couldn't resist sending a Mother's Day message to his verbal sparring partner. "Stick it, A-Rod," Lindsey said, minutes after a career-defining moment for Braden, who has been engaged in a war of words with the Yankee star since mid-April over unwritten rules about the pitcher's mound. It was just three days ago that a video of Braden talking about a fight with A-Rod surfaced, to which the Yankee star responsed by saying he didn't "want to extend (Braden's)...

A town baseball field in Farmington, Connecticut may seem about as far away from the major leagues as you can get. But it's been witness to baseball history recently, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason. The key to throwing a gyroball, says sportswriter Will Carroll, is a football-like spiral spin that's easy to learn but hard to master. Minor league pitcher Steve Palazzolo is learning to throw what some claim is the first new pitch in a generation. It's called the "gyroball." True believers claim it's almost un-hittable. "We know that a curveball curves and a slider slides and a...

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Rangers pitcher Adam Eaton is headed for the disabled list after suffering at least a strained tendon in his right middle finger in a start against his old team, the San Diego Padres, on Wednesday afternoon. The Rangers were awaiting the results of an MRI exam but manager Buck Showalter admitted, "It doesn't sound good." The Rangers, after naming R.A. Dickey as their fifth starter in the morning, were meeting Wednesday night to discuss possible options. Juan Dominguez and Edinson Volquez were sent to the Minors in the morning and one of them could be brought back....

Reuters - Thu Sep 15, 1:08 PM ET Jim Bintliff, co-owner of Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud, pours mud into a vat near the mudhole in Delran, New Jersey in this undated photograph. The unique 'magic mud,' mined in the mudflats of a Delaware River tributary, is rubbed on every new baseball used by Major League teams to remove the sheen, soften the seams and give pitchers a better grip. At $45 for a quart container, Bintliff will ship about 500 containers this year, he said. (Handout/Reuters) Delran, NJ (Reuters)Somewhere along the mudflats of a Delaware River tributary in...

Skip the Krabby Patty, SpongeBob SquarePants is going veggie. Pictures of the happy-go-lucky sponge will appear on packages of carrots, spinach and citrus starting next month, under licensing deals with produce companies. Dora the Explorer and other Nickelodeon characters also will debut on fruit and vegetable packages, according to the network. SpongeBob already helps pitch a cart full of foods ranging from cereal to ice cream, but Nickelodeon executives say the foray into the wholesome fruit and vegetable market complements network programming attempts to coax kids to eat healthier. "If we can use our popular characters and help kids eat...

Jun. 7--While Pirates pitcher Oliver Perez's job is in no danger, coaches and others who pitch batting practice before games could one day be relegated to the bench by a robot. A preview could come tonight, when the S-3 Platform Robot, built by Aliquippa-based RoPro Design and Beaver County Area Vocational Technical School, will deliver the first pitch as the Pirates square off against the Baltimore Orioles on "Robotics Night" at PNC Park. The "first ever" robotic pitch is in conjunction with the Department of Defense's Joint Robotics meeting program, which will host more than 200 government employees working in...

Pedro not pitching tonight (20 May). Chen to start instead.

Lots of people look upon baseball's last several seasons and are not amused. Not everyone enjoys a ball game turned into a batting practise scrimmage. It's not that baseball doesn't have other problems to fix - like salary inflation, revenue sharing, and a division alignment that's all but cut the legs out from under the pennant races. But you could solve all those problems this minute and still have a game distorted by the idea that no one cares about anything but relentless offence. Real baseball fans - those who savour the noble game, not those who can't stand the...

SPIT AND POLISHMarch 29, 1957 Early in the training season, Charley Dressen split his squad down the middle and the two halves -- designated in the box score as the Have Nots and Haven't Eithers -- played a ball game that ended in a tie. "The Senators this year," wrote Bob Addie in the "Washington Post," "are so bad they can't beat themselves." Since then Dressen's disciples have contrived to beat themselves in some games and the opposition in others, same as all the clubs do during the muscletone season. No effort has been made to check the records, but...