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Baseball notes: Red Sox captain Jason Varitek to retire

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:08:18 GMT

Boston: The Boston Globe reports that catcher and captain Jason Varitek will announce his retirement at a news conference Thursday. Varitek spent all 15 seasons with the Red Sox, who signed Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Kelly Shoppach to one-year deals in the off-season. Varitek, who will turn 40 on April 11, caught four no-hitters and is the third captain the Red Sox have had since 1923. He was a three-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion. Varitek, born in Rochester, was a career .256 hitter with 193 home runs and 757 RBIs. He won one Gold Glove and one Silver Slugger -- both in 2005.

Cincinnati: Left-hander Sean Marshall signed a new contract that adds $16.5 million over three seasons through 2015. He already was guaranteed $3.1 million this season as part of a two-year contract. The Reds acquired him from the Cubs in December as a setup man to new closer Ryan Madson. Marshall was 6-6 with a 2.26 ERA and five saves in 78 games.

Kansas City: Catcher Salvador Perez signed a five-year contract worth $7 million. The deal includes club options for three more years that could keep Perez with the club through 2019. The deal could be worth $26.75 million over eight years. Perez, 21, made his debut Aug. 10 and hit .331 with three homers in 39 games.

N.Y. Yankees: Infielder Eric Chavez finalized a $900,000, one-year contract that allows him to make $3.05 million in bonuses based on plate appearances. Chavez, 34, hit .263 in 58 games last year. Seattle: Left-hander Matt Moore skipped his scheduled batting practice session because of abdominal soreness.

College baseball roundup: USC, Clemson, SMC win

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:01:21 GMT

In Columbia, third-ranked South Carolina raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first two innings, and behind 5 2/3 scoreless innings from junior right-hander Colby Holmes, defeated Elon 6-0 on Sunday afternoon to sweep a three-game series.

The Gamecocks (6-0) pitching staff allowed just three runs, one earned, on seven hits in 27 innings with 32 strikeouts against the Phoenix (4-3). Holmes (2-0) allowed just three hits and three walks while striking out six.

LB Dantzler put USC ahead 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning with a three-run homer, his second home run of the season. Tanner English drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on Christian Walker's base hit into right field, setting the stage for Dantzler.

That lead increased to 5-0 in the second inning as English delivered with a two-out, two-run triple. South Carolina returns to action at 4 p.m. Tuesday at home against Presbyterian. This weekend, USC and Clemson will play a three-game, three-location series. The rivals face off at 6 p.m. Friday in Charleston, at 2 p.m. Saturday in Columbia and 2 p.m. Sunday at Clemson.

Clemson 9, Maine 6: The 16th-ranked Tigers (4-2) rallied from a 6-0 deficit to win the weekend series 2-1 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Maine (1-2) took advantage of several Clemson errors to build a 6-0 lead during the fourth inning. But the Tigers scored two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, then they erupted for five runs in the sixth inning, all with two outs.

Steve Wilkerson's two-run double tied the score, then Phil Pohl gave Clemson the lead for good with another two-run double. Clemson was 7-for-15 with two outs and had seven two-out RBIs in the contest.

Baseball takes down Texas State with four-run inning

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:08:04 GMT

No. 25 Baylor baseball kept its perfect record under the lights intact Wednesday at The Dell Diamond in Round Rock, defeating Texas State 5-1. The second pitch of the game struck junior designated hitter Nathan Orf in the side. Junior third baseman Cal Towey followed with a walk.

Two batters later, senior catcher Josh Ludy hit a line drive that landed just to the fair side of the first base line. After the fifth hole, junior center-fielder Logan Vick took a base on balls, Texas State’s Mitchell Pitts collected himself and struck out the remaining two outs.

After that, the Bears failed to hit the base pads for three straight innings until sophomore second baseman Lawton Langford led off the top of the fifth with a single to left field. Freshman right-fielder Adam Toth followed Langford’s lead, knocking a double out to right, scoring Langford, who advanced to second on a balk.

Toth was brought home by a Towey sac fly. After a walk and a strikeout to his name so far, junior first baseman Max Muncy blasted a triple to left center. The Baylor bats seemed to cool off from that point, with Ludy leading the Bears going 2 for 3 at the plate with a pair of RBIs.

Other than the first and fifth innings, the Texas State defense limited the Bear bats to three up, three down. The only scoreless inning with more than three batters at the plate was the seventh when senior Josh Ludy singled to right but was stranded on the bases.

On the evening, eight were stranded on base by the Bears, three each in the first and fifth. Defensively, a combination of five arms only allowed a run for Texas State, allowing only four hits. Senior right-handed pitcher Tyler Bremer started for the Bears and got the win.

“Tyler is going on two days rest after throwing three plus on Sunday,” head coach Steve Smith said. “Essentially this was a bullpen game from the start.”The lone run for the Bobcats was scored in the bottom of the eighth, off a right-field double by Casey Kalenkosky.

To end the ball game, junior right-handed pitcher Miles Landry struck out the side. “I think we’re pitching with a lot of confidence,” Smith said. “I see a confidence from the mound. It’s one thing to pitch first strikes, but it’s another thing to do it with purpose.”

While there were only eight strikeouts by the green and gold, the defense behind the mound was errorless on the evening. The third inning ended with junior shortstop Jake Miller pulling in a hard hit grounder, tossing it to Langford at second who turned and fired to Muncy at first for the double play.

“It’s great. I know I can rely on my defense,” Bremer said. “Sometimes I go out there and try to do too much. I get a ground ball to Jake Miller to end the inning.”

Former Expos catcher Gary Carter succumbs to brain cancer

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:08:26 GMT

Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter, who left an indelible mark on baseball in Canada during his 12 years with the Montreal Expos, died on Thursday. The man nicknamed "Kid" or "Kid Carter" for his ever-smiling face and cheerfulness is free from the inoperable brain cancer that sapped his energy and took his life at age 57.

Carter played his first major league game on Sept. 16, 1974 for the Expos, and for the next 11 seasons became a fan favourite and face of the franchise. Perhaps best known for helping the New York Mets win the 1986 World Series, Carter wowed crowds in Montreal, hitting 220 of his 324 home runs in an Expos uniform and becoming the club's first player enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., on July 27, 2003.

“Gary was one of the happiest guys in the world. That’s why we called him ‘The Kid,’” Carter’s Mets teammate from that ’86 championship season, Mookie Wilson, told ESPNNewYork.com in May 2011. “He would just hug guys all the time. Sometimes the guys didn’t want him hugging them as much as he did but, that’s just the way Gary was.

“The opposing team didn’t like him because of the energy he brought. I know, I was on the opposing team at one point.”Carter, who was diagnosed last May with four malignant tumours, developed a reputation over his 19 big-league seasons as a camera-hog who was more interested in self-promotion than team harmony.

Premier catcher
But no one could ever knock the one-time San Francisco Giant and Los Angeles Dodgers backstop for his talent. Carter is considered by some to be the premier catcher of the post-Johnny Bench era in the National League.

An 11-time all-star who played his final game for Montreal in 1992, Carter hit .262 in 2,296 games with 1,225 runs batted in and a .335 on-base percentage. He won three NL Gold Gloves, two all-star MVP awards and sits second on the Expos’ career list in games (1,503) and walks (582).

Carter was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont., in 2001 and his No. 8 is one of only four retired Expos jerseys. He grew up in Fullerton, a middle-class suburb southeast of L.A., and was raised by his father after his mother died of leukemia when Carter was eight.

A third-round pick by Montreal in the 1972 amateur draft, Carter was traded by the Expos on Dec. 10, 1984 to the Mets for outfielder/infielder Hubie Brooks, catcher/outfielder Mike Fitzgerald, centre-fielder Herm Winningham and starting pitcher Floyd Youmans.

New York released Carter five years later and he went on to play a season each with San Francisco and L.A. before Montreal brought him back as a free agent for 95 games in the 1992 campaign when he batted .218, the second lowest average of his career.

Carter played his final game on Sept. 27 of that season and turned to broadcasting for the first 13 years of his retirement. In 2005, he accepted his first managerial job with the Mets’ rookie-league team in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and won a pennant while also capturing Gulf Coast League manager of the year honours. Another championship followed the next season in the Florida State League, in the same city, with New York’s class-A team.

Good teacher
Carter was former Mets catcher Josh Thole’s first minor league manager with the 2005 Port St. Lucie squad. He remembered being taught how to win. “He always told us,” said Thole of Carter in an interview with ESPNNewYork.com, “if I teach you how to win, everybody’s gonna get their hits, everybody’s gonna know how to bunt the baseball. Everybody’s gonna know how to move guys over.

“He’d pinch-hit guys. He’d pinch-hit a prospect, but the prospect was struggling. He wanted to win.”Carter left the Mets organization in 2007, refusing to manage its AA team in Binghamton, N.Y., after management wouldn’t guarantee him a position at the major league level in the future.

He found work in the summer of 2008 with the Orange County Flyers of the Golden Baseball League, an independent class-A loop, with hopes of one day returning to the majors.

“This is what I’d like to do for another 10, 15 years,” Carter told the Gazette newspaper in Montreal in 2008, the same year he won a GBL title and was named its top manager. “I’m still young enough to be a part of this game; I’d like to think I can be.”

Carter moved on to manage the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League for one season in 2009 and coached the Palm Beach Atlantic University Sailfish the past two seasons before taking ill. He is survived by his wife Sandy — his high school sweetheart — and his children Kimmy, Christy and D.J.

Auburn baseball team lets lead slip away

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:23:59 GMT

AUBURN – With the clock ticking down on a shortened Game 2 against Missouri of a Sunday doubleheader, Auburn ostensibly had three outs to get and a two-run cushion with which to work. Instead, the home Tigers coughed up the lead while giving up only one hit.

Auburn let three runs across on a bunt single, an error, four walks and two sacrifice flies in the decisive seventh inning, dropping a 4-3 decision in a game it had led most of the way. That came after a 6-4 loss in the first game of the doubleheader, dialing back all the momentum Auburn had gleaned from Friday’s season-opening win.

“We did some things in that inning that aren’t going to help you win ballgames,” Tigers coach John Pawlowski said. “When it’s a close game, when one run, one pitch, one play can mean the difference, we certainly came up on the short end.

“These guys have to understand it comes down to a lot of little things.”Missouri (2-1) and Auburn (1-2), due to the visitors’ travel plans, couldn’t start an inning after 4:45 p.m. in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader, necessitated by a rainout Saturday.

The homestanding Tigers went into the seventh with 22 minutes to spare and a 3-1 lead, thanks to a strong starting debut from freshman Daniel Koger and fifth-inning RBIs from Blake Austin and Jay Gonzalez.

Justin Bryant, who retired Missouri in order in the sixth in his first outing since last season’s Tommy John surgery, walked Dillon Everett to start the seventh. Zach Blatt came in, and Missouri’s Sal Belfonte reached on a bunt single, with he and Everett both moving up on a Jarred Smith throwing error.

Blatt, who took the loss, loaded the bases with a walk to Blake Brown, then Dillon Ortman issued a walk to Brannon Champagne and a sacrifice fly to Conner Mach to knot the game up at 3-3. After another walk, Ben Turner drove in the eventual game-winner with a sacrifice fly to right.

Austin, who finished 2-for-3 with two doubles, laced a one-out double to threaten in the seventh but was stranded on second. “We had two games we could have won,” Austin said. “There’s just some little plays we need to clean up. We’ll keep swinging, we’ll keep having fun out here.”

Auburn trailed the entire way in its Game 1 loss, but that didn’t mean it lacked opportunities. The Tigers put 23 runners on base — with 13 hits, six walks, two hit batsman and two Missouri errors — but plated only four, stranding 16 and having three thrown out on the basepaths.

Auburn stranded the bases loaded in the second, sixth and ninth innings, with Missouri closer Jake Walsh striking out Gonzalez to end the game. “We had opportunities to win games,” Pawlowski said. “That first game, we had 20 baserunners. Just one hit short there. But (Missouri) played well and certainly deserved the win.”

Dane Opel went 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs for Missouri in its Game 1 win, and Champagne logged two-hit games in both ends of the doubleheader. Gonzalez, Garrett Cooper, Patrick Savage and Dan Glevenyak all had two hits for Auburn in Game 1, and Austin finished the day 4-for-6 with three doubles and two RBIs.

Auburn gets a chance to forget about what could have been against Missouri with midweek games against Alcorn State on Tuesday and Wednesday. Or, Austin said, even sooner than that.

Gators baseball team gets back in swing tonight

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:02:47 GMT

GAINESVILLE — They waited all summer, fall and winter for this. The University of Florida baseball team that made it to the College World Series finals, only to lose to South Carolina, begins the season at 7 tonight in the first of a three-game weekend series against Cal State-Fullerton.

It's a season that should be very special for many reasons. A number of players are approaching school records. A group of juniors will be eligible for the Major League Draft for the first time since high school. But, ultimately, all have one thing in mind — Omaha.

“We're all focused on the same goal, we want to eventually win the SEC again and eventually make the College World Series again, that's all I can focus on, and whatever I can do to help the team win again I'm trying to do,” says junior catcher Mike Zunino, the SEC Player of the Year last season. “You've just got to stay tight-knit as a team, just don't get caught up in the hype and focus on one thing at a time, and the only thing I can do is go out and play, and everything will take care of itself.”

Players realize how unique this team could be. It's packed with potential first-round draft picks and preseason All-Americans. It could, arguably, be the most talented collection of players Florida's program has ever had. But there's more to the team that finished 53-19 while setting a school mark for wins in 2011.

“It's something else just to be as tight-knit as a team as we are, it's once in a lifetime,” Zunino said. “We had one group come in and then every group that's come in after us has just absorbed into it. It's a great honor to be a part of this team and, hopefully, make another stride this year.”

The only stride left is a national title — which UF has never won in baseball. Making things even more pleasant for Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan was the surprise return of first baseman-outfielder Preston Tucker, a 16th-round draft pick by Colorado who decided to stay for his senior season. He had 74 RBI a year ago and needs seven to break the Florida career mark.

Baseball Coach Gaspard aims for Omaha bid

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:37:51 GMT

Alabama baseball head coach Mitch Gaspard is entering his third season with the Crimson Tide. In his first two seasons, the Tide made trips to the NCAA tournament. During our talk, Gaspard said having experienced position players will help carry a young pitching staff, and his main goal is to have the team compete hard every night.

CW: What did you like about last season, and what were some things you think the team can improve on going into this year?

MG: We knew last year was going to be a transitioning year because we lost the bulk of our position players. Last year’s team was built around our pitching staff. Our starting pitching held up well and had a good year. They carried us because we had an inexperienced offense. Our position players gained valuable experience last year, and we are flipping the script this year. We are much more experienced from a position standpoint, but we are extremely young on the pitching mound.

CW: Your first two seasons here, you’ve made the NCAA tournament. Talk about that postseason experience and how it will help the team moving forward.

MG: Our goal at Alabama, every year, is to contend and have an opportunity to get to Omaha for the College World Series. To do that, you do have to have guys with experience in that arena. We have six guys who have played in Super Regionals. That experience helps most in your daily work in what you do in your fall preparation and early spring. Those guys are able to help the new guys and show them the way. That experience helps build confidence.

CW: Speaking of experience, you have Taylor Dugas and Jared Reaves returning this season. What’s it like having your two best players back for their senior year?

MG: As a coach, it’s comforting. Taylor Dugas could be the best leadoff hitter and centerfielder in the country. He’s a two-time All-American and has played in nearly every game since he’s been on campus. Also, it’s comforting to have Jared. He’s our three-hole hitter. That’s two great places to start. Those guys have been in a lot of different situations, and that gives you a lot of comfort heading into the season.

CW: You talked about the youth of the pitching staff. What are you and your staff doing to get these young guys ready for the SEC run?

MG: The biggest thing for us is a lot of teaching. Our preparation has to be consistent. Next step for us is in game experience. They’re going to see all of that stuff we’ve been teaching come to fruition on the mound this season. We have to learn and get better from outing to outing. The SEC is a tough league to pitch in for a veteran guy, but we’re talking about six or seven young guys.

CW: The team was picked to finish third in the SEC West this season. When you see those rankings, do you think it’s a fair assessment of your team’s talent?

MG: All preseason rankings are all based on what you have coming back. Where we’re picked right now is a very fair assessment. When you look at the SEC and particularly the western division, Arkansas returns nearly its entire team. LSU returns its entire pitching staff. You can really juggle up and see how it falls between ourselves, Ole Miss, Auburn and Mississippi State. It is what it is. CW: Every coach wants to win a championship, and you obviously want to win the SEC. For you personally, what would make this a successful season, outside of winning a championship?

MG: We have the nucleus for a terrific staff, not only now, but as we move into the future. I would like to see six or seven of those guys establish themselves this year as SEC-ready so we can put a staple on our pitching staff over the next two or three years. The biggest thing for me is having a team play hard every night and play as a group. Every time you go onto the field, you feel like you have a chance to win. All I ask is that you do the right things on the field and play your tails off every night.

LSU baseball's Grant Dozar gets early chance to start at first base

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:02:34 GMT

BATON ROUGE -- Three of LSU's four infield spots were solidified before the week started. The only uncertainty was who those players were throwing to at first base. LSU Coach Paul Mainieri answered the mystery Tuesday by announcing senior Grant Dozar the starter at first for Friday's home opener, although he said Dozar doesn't have the position locked.

"He'll probably have the nerves mastered the best, and he's going to be one of the critical players for our team," Mainieri said. "That doesn't mean I've anointed him the starting first baseman, but on opening day he's going to play first base."

Dozar, who was unaware of Maineiri's plan to start him, hit .250 in 37 games last year, but hit .316 in his final eight games. "Last year, I had struggles early in the year coming off the bench," Dozar said. "Coming from day one, whether my role's coming off the bench late in games for pinch hits or if I get a start, I'm looking forward to getting started fast."

Dozar, junior Mason Katz and freshman Tyler Moore are all in contention for playing time at first base. The Tigers were in a similar situation last year, as four players had at least nine starts at the position.
Mainieri said he plans to start Moore at first base Saturday and Katz at first base Sunday. Moore, a Baton Rouge native, hit .574 with 15 home runs at Dunham High his senior year. Katz, who hit .337 with a team-best 21 doubles last year, will be in the lineup most nights at first base or in right field, where he started 38 games. The Tigers were 9-3 in Katz' 12 starts at first base and 6-8 when Dozar started there.

The left side of the infield will remain the same as last year, with senior Tyler Hanover at third base and senior Austin Nola at shortstop. The only addition to the infield will be junior transfer Casey Yocom, a first-team all-Golden Valley Conference infielder and the conference's defensive MVP the year before at Feather River College in Quincy, Calif. He will take over at second base for sophomore JaCoby Jones, who moved to center field. "Yocom is a lot like Nola," Mainieri said. "Not flashy, not real boisterous, but he's just a steady guy. He seems to make all the routine plays. He'll give you a good at-bat, and then all of a sudden, boom, there's a line drive to center field."

Yocom hit .354 in leading Feather River to its fifth consecutive conference title. "He works really hard," Nola said. "He has got a really good glove and a really good bat, and he wants to be out there. I think that's the biggest thing for him."Yocom, who also plays shortstop and third base, said he wasn't sure if Nola would return for his senior year, and when he found out Hanover was also staying, he knew his opportunity was at second. "To end up here is kind of unbelievable," Yocom said. "I'm just taking it in."Nola and Hanover were both selected in the top 40 rounds of the amateur draft, but opted to stay for their senior seasons.

Nola started all 56 games at shortstop last season and has 155 career starts at the position. Last year, he hit .296 with 13 doubles, 42 RBIs and two home runs, including a grand slam. Hanover started all 56 games last year at third base. Hanover, who is accustomed to change after moving from second base to third base last year, will adopt a new role as the leadoff hitter. He hit .311 with five doubles and 41 runs and set an LSU single-season record with 15 sacrifice bunts last year. "The key to our season is how Hanover can handle that leadoff spot," Mainieri said. "Last year, he walked more than he had ever done in his career. For us to have a good team with him as the leadoff hitter, he is going to have to have his best career offensively."

Baseball gets ready with lots of changes

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:51:39 GMT

Tim Lincecum thought about the seismic shifts of baseball’s offseason, the ones that saw Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder migrate to the American League. “I think it’s great,” San Francisco’s two-time Cy Young Award winner jokingly said. “I won’t have to pitch to them anymore.”Baseball returned over the weekend as pitchers and catchers for the Seattle Mariners reported to spring training in Peoria, Ariz.

There’s been a whole lot of change since the Texas’ David Murphy flied out to St. Louis’ Allen Craig for the final out of the seven-game World Series thriller. Tony La Russa is gone. Bobby Valentine is back.

And no switch was bigger than Pujols’ decision to split St. Louis for a $240 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels. Add Fielder’s move from Milwaukee for a $214 million, nine-year deal with Detroit, and the lives of American League pitchers just got 75 homers and 219 RBI tougher.

“You have offenses that are going to let you know if your pitching is not up to par,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “There’s certainly been a sway to some extraordinarily deep lineups in the American League.”

The 14 AL teams have spent $776.8 million on major league contracts for players who became free agents after the World Series and the National League’s 16 clubs have committed $597.3 million. The NL lineup looks a lot less fearsome heading into the All-Star Game at Kansas City’s Kaufmann Stadium on July 10.

Seattle was the first to open because the Mariners start the season in Tokyo with a two-game series against Oakland on March 28-29. The Athletics opted not to use the extra week.

“There’s only so much you can do in the days before games, and players tend to go a little nuts after too many days of PFPs and live BP,” Oakland assistant GM David Forst said, referring to pitchers’ fielding practice and batting practice.

Other teams start reporting Saturday ahead of the stateside opener, which features the Cardinals at the renamed and now rainbow-colored Miami Marlins on April 4 in the first official game at $515 million Marlins Park.

Baseball Hall of Fame Announces PED Education Program

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:29:32 GMT

The Baseball Hall of Fame announced the start of a performance-enhancing drug education program Wednesday, which will teach students about the negative effects that PEDs can have on an individual's health.
The program is called "Be A Superior Example" or "BASE." It will officially begin this summer with community outreach programs at schools, specifically targeting middle school and high school athletic programs.

In addition to being a museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. that honors baseball's history, the National Baseball Hall of Fame's other purpose is to serve as an educational resource. According to President Jeff Idelson this new initiative helps "give context to the issues that have faced our game" and serves as a way to teach young people "about American culture [...] through the lens of baseball."

Perhaps the most prevalent component of baseball's recent history that the Hall of Fame is now forced to address is the role that PEDs may have played in many records set during the 1990s and 2000s. The BASE program has been introduced at a time when Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens will appear on the ballot for the first time. Their accomplishments have been significantly tainted by accusations that they used PEDs during their careers.

Many fans and players have called for their names to be erased from the record books permanently or be marked with an asterisk. In a press release touting the BASE program, Idelson insists that this initiative was not released to influence Cooperstown voters.

"The BASE program provides educational content, as mission-based programming designed to influence the lives of young adults and promote the healthy elements of playing all sports the right way," said Idelson. "It is not intended to cast a directive to voters about Hall of Fame-worthy candidates."

So far, players accused of using PEDs during their career have not faired well with voters. Rafael Palmeiro, who tested positive for steroids in 2005 and is a member of both the 3,000-hit and 500-home-run clubs, only garnered 12.6 percent of the vote this past year. Players must obtain 75 percent of the vote to gain entry to the Hall.

"Hall of Fame voting has been a part of this nation's fabric since 1936, and has touted the virtues of character, sportsmanship, and integrity, along with the contributions to the game, as integral qualifications for earning election," said Idelson.

Other players eligible for the Hall of Fame next year include Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio and David Wells.