Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
Cliff Lee’s best curve ball yet
Cliff Lee threw his best curve ball of the year this week, freezing the anxious New York Yankees and Texas Rangers in their tracks by deciding to rejoin the Philadelphia Phillies.
The decision came out of left field, as the Rangers and Yankees did all the public wooing of the 2008 American League Cy Young winner, while the Phillies worked the back channels.
The Yankees offered seven years, the Rangers were believed willing to put six seasons on the table for the 31-year-old lefty from nearby Arkansas who helped them reach their first World Series.
The Phillies won his services with a five-year deal worth a reported $120 million with an option for a sixth season.
A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay is a perfectionist, meticulous in his preparation and attention to detail and one of baseball’s best pitchers over the last decade.
Halladay, the right-hander nicknamed ‘Doc’, removed a bad taste in his mouth from his previous outing with perfect precision — by throwing the 20th perfect game ever in Major League Baseball in a 1-0 win Saturday against NL East rivals the Florida Marlins.
A warm, fuzzy feeling and a short, sharp shock
The past week in baseball gave some fans a warm glow about their relationship with the game, and sent shivers down the spines of others worried about unruly fan behavior and the aggressive reaction to it.
The passing of 92-year-old Ernie Harwell, who broadcast Detroit Tigers games for 42 years, brought an outpouring of affection from fans, while the tasering of a teenager who disrupted a Phillies game with a frolic in the outfield raised disturbing questions about ballpark security.
What is Pujols worth in wake of Howard deal?
Ryan Howard, 30, just inked a 5-year extension for $125 million with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Let’s look at those numbers.
His current deal expires in 2011, making the first baseman 37 years old at the completion of the contract.
Yankees back winning — good for baseball?
Homegrown talent and store-bought superstars — the Yankees formula for success for their 27th World Series championship claimed Wednesday with a Game Six victory over the Philadelphia Phillies that returned the team to the winners’ circle for the first time in what seemed to Yankee Nation like an endless nine years of waiting.
A bottomless checking account for free agents is not the only thing making the Yankees great.
A Reuters Sportswrap of heroic proportions
Sportswrap is back with a bang, as we take in Hideki Matsui’s heroic performance for the New York Yankees, Usain Bolt bottle-feeding a creature that will one day outrun him and Rafa Benitez trying to invoke the spirit of You’ll Never Walk Alone only to come a cropper in the Champions League.
Written by Kevin Fylan, presented by Owen Wyatt from our Canary Wharf studios and with a jaunty hat tip to Half Man Half Biscuit for the Liverpool joke.
A Japanese feel as Yankees win 27th World Series
The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 Wednesday to win the World Series.
The 4-2 series victory gave the Yankees their 27th Fall Classic crown and first since 2000.
World Series has the best two teams and no fat players…
It’s 2 a.m. as I enter the subway car at the nearly empty Yankee Stadium stop at 161st Street when a man who looks like he could be homeless proclaims: “They don’t look fat this year.”
I refuse to make eye contact although he’s sitting directly opposite me. We’re two of five people on the car and the only ones awake.
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Resident Left Field Expert
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