Jim Leyland makes the media rounds discussing Victor Martinez's injury
by Kurt Mensching on Jan 19, 2012 11:08 AM EST
in Detroit Tigers News
Email
PrintTigers manager Jim Leyland was out in the public in his fancy duds on a January night, so you know what that means. A new catcher in the family. Wednesday was the Mud Hens' Fandemonium in Toledo!
Friend of the blog and Toledo Blade reporter John Wagner was on hand, as Jim Leyland reacted to the loss of Victor Martinez to a torn ACL injury, and discussed what the Tigers might be able to do about finding a player to fill Martinez's spot on the roster and more
Leyland agreed with Dombrowski's comment about the loss coming as a "sock to the gut," and extended the metaphor a bit.
(If) you want to stay in the fight, you take a punch. We can take a punch.
MLB.com's Jason Beck was also on hand, and has many good quotes on his blog and in his story.
There are a lot of names out there. I'll say that. How good they produce anymore, I don't know. And I always ultimately leave that up to Dave. We've already had some discussions, I won't say who they are, of some guys internally. We've had some discussions about some guys outside the organization. ... I imagine there are a lot of agents that called Dave Dombrowski yesterday. All of a sudden there were a lot of guys that wanted to play in Detroit.
Leyland said that even he has heard from an agent trying to sell his player, though he passed the name onto GM Dave Dombrowski because it's above his pay grade.
Leyland also noted that filling the DH role specifically might not be the Tigers' plan.
Before Fandemonium, Leyland spoke with the MLB Radio Network, who asked him about the possibility of signing Johnny Damon.
"Johnny Damon obviously is a very professional guy. We did not sign him back last year. Our experience was very good with Johnny. He probably didn't produce quite as much as we thought he would. He was in and out in Tampa last year. Had some big big hits at the end of games to win games and everything. He's a veteran guy. Is he a prototype DH? I'm not sure about that. But certainly he can contribute to a club, and I'm sure that his name is going to come up."
62 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Johnny!!!!
Translation from JL. Yes Johnny D. is available, but we’re not interested in him. If we thought he could help our club we would’ve resigned him last year. But, he will probably play somewhere. To me that is what JL is saying. I for one am glad he’s not coming back. And one thing a little off topic. In some of the posts I see where people want to trade Kidrick, and, are not to keen on Del Young. Kidrick is still pretty young, and, I think he is going to be a very good pitcher. A JV? Probably not. I think he turned it up a notch last year and will do so again this year. He is not far from winning 17-20 games. Young was damaged goods when he came to us last year, and, it also showed in his play for MN. When he started feeling healthy toward the end of the year and the playoffs, he definitely helped our team and hit 5 homers in the playoffs. No, he is not fast in the outfield, but I dont think he will be as slow either based on him getting fully healthy for the 2012 season. Plus its his contract year, he’ll knock the cover off the ball.
We dont have a 5th starter
And we’re going to trade our 4th starter because he has value. Value for what? What are you replacing the 4th starter with?. They all have value.I stand by my statements.
So what are you really going to trade Delmon for?
Potential doesn’t go too far when your career has seen you suck.
by TartanElk on Jan 19, 2012 2:19 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Seriously
can we stop acting like delmon young is completely devoid of any value to all teams in baseball? I realize he hasn’t been great statistically and that his WAR in even his best year was under 2. I realize he doesn’t take walks and doesn’t play good defense.
But you can’t analyze a player objectively and say they have no value for your team simply based on WAR. Every player is a member of a team, and that team is comprised of various players that have various talents. Those players have to complement each other. If you simply compiled a team of a bunch of people with the best WAR you aren’t guaranteed to win or even be the best team. If you were, then the Cardinals wouldn’t have even made the playoffs let alone beat anyone in the playoffs this past year.
My point is this. I doubt that Delmon’s WAR accurately portray his contributions to the Twins in 2010. That season, there was no one I hated seeing at the plate more for the Twins than Young. Can you quantify that? Not really and that logic obviously has its limits. But the whole system of saying ‘X is worth exactly 2.3 wins, no more no less’ is absolutely ludicrous if taken to the same extreme.
We're not saying that Delmon Young has no value to our team
We’re saying that other teams think that Delmon Young adds no value to their team.
Delmon is not worth his contract
So, when you take on the salary obligation, there is no surplus value. Resources are better spent elsewhere. He could be traded in a salary swap.
"King of Minutiae"
think of what the tigers gave up to get him
that’s about what we could expect in return.
by Kurt Mensching on Jan 19, 2012 4:26 PM EST up reply actions
i agree that he has little trade value
but i also think he has more raw value than people are willing to give him credit for. i think it’s being hyperbolic to say his career has sucked or that he isn’t valuable in some way because his WAR says so. if only baseball was that simplistic.
I was more responding to the statement that his career has been terrible
and it seems the general sentiment among many knowledgable tiger fans is that he is practically useless to us based on his WAR and that we should pawn him off on whoever we can.
His trade value is hurt not only by his shortcomings in fielding and whatnot, but also his contractual situation. No one wants to give up anything of value for a guy that isn’t a steal financially and isn’t secured long term on the cheap. Financial flexibility and years of cost-effective control are what teams look for in trades these days, and Delmon fits neither.
But I’m saying he could still be of good value to us even if it is just for this year and it would be unwise to just ditch him for whatever. Basically, I distrust WAR and think it should be treated with more skepticism than it is. But that may be the English major in me.
We're on the same page here
But I’m saying he could still be of good value to us even if it is just for this year and it would be unwise to just ditch him for whatever. Basically, I distrust WAR and think it should be treated with more skepticism than it is. But that may be the English major in me.
I agree that he could be valuable for the Tigers this season, especially now with DH up for grabs. The trade I was specifically referring to earlier this offseason was for Martin Prado, which would have been a steal for the Tigers. Prado is not only better offensively, but he plays a premium position as well. I’m not advocating that we trade Delmon for a bag of balls, though I know several commenters would be happy with this.
He has more value as a DH
When you put him in the outfield, he has negative value, because almost any replacement is a better fielder, whether they’re on the team already or some new guy. This is why I would DH Delmon most games, and look to either upgrade LF or move Raburn there and upgrade in the infield. However, that is likely only going to happen through a trade, since the only decent hitters left on the free agent market now are DH types.
"King of Minutiae"
He still hits like a bag of dog poo
"You, on the other hand, make Eeyore look like Rainbow Brite." -johnmoz
"I think of you more as the blue book style essay of sports journalism."-Kurt Mensching
by David Tokarz on Jan 20, 2012 12:34 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
he has some offensive value
Some. His WAR was a large part from his poor defense
by Kurt Mensching on Jan 19, 2012 5:49 PM EST up reply actions
At his age, he is worth some risk
It’s the potential of what Young might possibly be.
He might put up a very nice season. Would it shock anyone? I’m not saying an MVP-type season. But he could very well put up a .300BA, 20 homer, 100 rbi season.
Now I know, with the saber folks they will put a knife to a season like that and break it down to “luck” and opportunity. And I don’t neccessarily disagree.
But no matter how much opportunity one has, he still has to get the hits and drive the runs in. And again, at his age and talent he has the chance to put up a nice season.
After this year, I say we kick him to the curb. I don’t have any faith in his continuing in any sort of truly productive way. But for this year? At his age? With some talents with the bat he’s already exhibited? He’s worth the risk. He could be a nice little piece to the puzzle.
Justin can now let the fungus grow back on his shower shoes.
I have nothing against Young
but I mean, even his OBP in Detroit was under .300 and people act like he was a terrific ballplayer for the Tigers. He’s not awful, he’s not terrific. He’s better if the Tigers find a way to keep him out of the field.
by Kurt Mensching on Jan 19, 2012 7:18 PM EST up reply actions
That is just it
His whole value comes from putting the ball in play and praying it lands somewhere other than a glove. If the hits aren’t falling then he has no additional value anywhere. His fielding is detrimental and he does give us anything on the base paths. He also isn’t patient enough to take a walk.
So really as talented as he is a lot of his success will come down to luck, since it is going to completely rely on BABIP.
It's not purely "luck"
Let’s not overstate things. Delmon Young has a better chance of hitting .300 than Brandon Inge. And that “chance” has nothing to do with luck.
I’m not a Young lover. I recognize him for what he is. But sans the Tigers having an All-Star at every position, he’s nowhere near our biggest worry.
And yes, “luck” plays a part in it. But if Young hits .300, it won’t be FULLY due to luck.
Justin can now let the fungus grow back on his shower shoes.
Pretty sure I said...
that a lot of his success will come down to luck…not all of it. I also mentioned that he is really talented thus showing that I don’t think it is purely luck.
Somewhere on fangraphs is the article that shows BABIP is almost completely a luck stat or at least that once the ball leaves a bat what happens isn’t completely in the batters control, I might even look for it and link it or you could find it. My point was that since he doesn’t bring anything to the game other than when he makes contact, and after contact everything is only as good as his BABIP, and BABIP is a luck based stat then he needs to be if not lucky at least not unlucky to really be beneficial to us. if he could steal bases, or defend better than a twelve year old, or take a pitch (or 4) that didn’t bounce three feet in front of the plate then I would be much more comfortable with him.
I think what he is trying to say is that a better hitter will make some extra luck via solid contact. A line drive is much more fall then a pop up to short. And a hitter line miggy who can punch a 1 hopper through the 4 hole whenever he wants us a but harder to defend then a pull happy inge. He is pointing out the downfalls of looking at the babip stat as if it means the same for all hitters.. That said take a damn walk delmon
by syper17 on Jan 19, 2012 9:23 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
there's a true talent level for every player
by Kurt Mensching on Jan 19, 2012 9:36 PM EST up reply actions
there's more to BABIP than just luck
A batter that hits a lot of line drives is going to have a higher BABIP than either a fly ball hitter or a ground ball hitter. If you take a player’s career BABIP and see that his BABIP in a given year is much higher or lower, then you can attribute a lot of that to luck, barring any adjustments that they may have made that causes them to hit a dramatically different percentage of line drives.
But if the point is that Delmon relies heavily on the ball falling in or not (or clearing the fence, which is not part of BABIP), I think that is accurate because he has no plate patience and doesn’t pad his OBP by drawing BB’s at all.
"King of Minutiae"
Patience can work negatively for a few players
If a player has a higher BABIP than OBP, then maybe that player shouldn’t be looking for a walk. In these cases, being more aggressive would actually benefit the OBP.
Delmon Young is on the borderline of being one of those cases. If he starts looking for walks, his strike outs might pile up past the point to where there will be any benefit from the additional walks.
It’s rhetoric, but every strike out helps the pitchers FIP, so there is something to it. I’ve been working on some spreadsheets with some new stats that might blow your mind.
by Keith-Allen on Jan 19, 2012 11:13 PM EST up reply actions
Yes it can
Very often, the best pitch that a batter will see is the first pitch. If he lets it go, gets behind in the count, it’s pitcher’s advantage all the way. But if the guy goes up there hacking, why give him something good to hit?
"King of Minutiae"
We're just spitballing
DD isn’t going to trade Porcello unless the gain that the Tigers receive in return outweighs the loss.
dh
i think the best thing is to use delmon as the dh and slide somebody to left.IF we sign cespedis he wouldnt be available till later in the year if everything goes good.agents and teams are gonna hold us hostage now thinking we ll panic sign someone.i stand by my earlier posts that we shouldnt panic and TRY to fix this in house..i just dont see a free agent fix for this,no to damon and no to pena.i dont think overpaying for a free agent for 1 yr at dh is a good idea.im sure people will disagree,and im wondering what people think we could do to fix this from within the organization?
by tigerfaninboston on Jan 19, 2012 5:45 PM EST reply actions
there are a few
but not alot. i think the best bet would be vlad or derek lee or maybe even carlos lee. wonder if the royals would trade billy butler? lmao
There are two issues here
Even Mr. Leyland concedes that the Tigers still need to secure another starting pitcher. This is why I maintain the best move for the team is to spend what it takes ($8 – 10 Million) on a one year deal for Oswalt. If he is healthy enough to pitch to his average career numbers your 5th starter becomes Porcello. If by July the Tigers have a comfortable lead in the weak AL Central, and any of the younger guys show to be ready, you spin off Oswalt for prospect help at 2B, SS, or lead off or veteran stretch run help at the trade deadline. Best of all you don’t have to (A) trade or (B) rush any of your best prospects.
Then, depending on budgetary limits, you sign Kotchman or Pena to a one year deal. Even if they stand pat offensively (very unlikely) the addition of Oswalt probably locks the AL Central.
Jacob Turner has spent two seasons in the minors
Last year, he was up to 145 IP.
IMO, he doesn’t have much left to do. Time to start his learning curve. He can pitch about 170 innings if the Tigers are keeping track. That’s plenty for a 5th starter.
Turner doesn’t have enough left to learn against MiLB competition. He won’t get better unless he faces big leaguers.
Spend the 8-10MM on an infielder. Make Turner the 5th starter.
Two years in the minors is enough.
Justin can now let the fungus grow back on his shower shoes.
by Singledigit on Jan 19, 2012 11:09 PM EST up reply actions
Two years in the minors
Isn’t a very long time at all, especially for a high school draft pick. If Turner had been a college draft pick then I would feel more comfortable with moving him up now, but he is still very young and could probably learn a lot from more than 3 games at AAA, especially because it isn’t like he was overly dominating in AAA in those starts. He was good, don’t get me wrong, but he still has work to do in my opinion.
I am curious what about his Major league starts last year makes you think he is ready to face Major league hitters everyday?
"Phenom"
Is one of my least favorite words using when assessing young talent, and I’d seen it used several times with Turner.
I think a lot of us, Tiger fans, get too wrapped up in thinking that Turner’s arm is just waiting to blow hitters away, and that he could do it this year out of Spring Training.
I am with Wilsonm24— Turner is not ready yet. Porcello was not ready for his call up either. I would hate to see Turner given the Porcello treatment, and call him up to take his lumps and learn while on the job.
I can’t seem to think of any pitchers from high school who were just so good they were ready after 2-3 years (this does not include foreign born players like Felix Hernandez). Let Turner pitch in the minors all year if needed— if an Oswalt (for example) injury crops up in June/July, then bring Turner up— only if he is dominant in AAA.
I understand he is supposed to be the next big thing for us, but he has to earn the “future ace” comparisons, albeit maybe just from me, before he is someone who can step into our rotation and produce at a high level.
Jesus don't love me, no one's ever carried my load. I'm too young to feel this old. - Caleb Followill
by Nich on Jan 20, 2012 10:02 AM EST up reply actions 3 recs
Rec'd
This should be green.
Guys, his K% in AA was below 20%. I’m not saying that K% is the end all statistic for young starters, but it’s in Detroit’s best interest to make sure the kid can strike people out consistently before throwing him into the fire.
"You, on the other hand, make Eeyore look like Rainbow Brite." -johnmoz
"I think of you more as the blue book style essay of sports journalism."-Kurt Mensching
by David Tokarz on Jan 20, 2012 12:36 PM EST up reply actions
Jeez...I spend too long typing the same thing below.
The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love. ~Bryant Gumbel, 1981
it's pretty bad when david is better at brevity
by Kurt Mensching on Jan 20, 2012 12:46 PM EST up reply actions
My One Shot
The one time I make any sense in here, and I get the green light from Tokarz and Kurt, just to botch my wording in the very first sentence.
Guess I got used to be too dependent on my Editor here at work for me…
Jesus don't love me, no one's ever carried my load. I'm too young to feel this old. - Caleb Followill
And again...
I blame this on Carlos Pena signing with the Rays. Between him and DD’s inactivity, I am all over the place right now.
Jesus don't love me, no one's ever carried my load. I'm too young to feel this old. - Caleb Followill
What if he never is a strike out pitcher in the minors?
I don’t think strike outs is something that is developed well at young age. Most pitchers don’t learn to throw a strike out pitch effectively until they are able to log 200+ innings a season. Other wise, they’ll hit their max pitch count after 4 or 5 innings. I like to see young pitchers throw efficient innings and that’s something which Turner excels at.
a quick scan of some recent rookie stars
David Price: 2 seasons, 9.0 K/9 — MLB: 8.1
Michael Pineda: 5 seasons (age 17-21), 8.8 K/9. (11.0 in 2010) — MLB: 9.1
Jeremy Hellickson: 6 seasons, 9.8. 2010 season, 9.4 — MLB: 6.0
Wade Davis: 8.7 minors career — MLB: 5.9
Ivan Nova: 2010 season, 7.1 career; 7.9 final season in minors — MLB: 5.4
Derek Holland: career: 9.5 — MLB 7.4
and of course we have, Rick Porcello: 5.4 — MLB 4.8
This isn’t meant to be a scientific study or anything, but I think if you did a comprehensive study what you’d see is that most of the young stud starting pitchers had a high strikeout rate in the minor leagues, and that that rate is less in the majors. I don’t think you’ll find its something developed in the majors.
by Kurt Mensching on Jan 21, 2012 12:22 PM EST up reply actions
I think he'll be fine at getting K's
A lot of the low rate can be attributed to his relative youth and experience. He’s learning how to pitch, but not entirely there yet, and his fastball isn’t so good that he can blow it by guys to rack up easy strikeouts.
"You, on the other hand, make Eeyore look like Rainbow Brite." -johnmoz
"I think of you more as the blue book style essay of sports journalism."-Kurt Mensching
by David Tokarz on Jan 21, 2012 4:02 PM EST up reply actions
"Porcello was not ready for his call up either"
An urban legend that gets repeated so often, it’s become fact.
How does anyone know that Porcello got called up “too soon”? No one can prove if Porcello is better or worse. Porcello might be the very best he would have or could have ever been. Regardless of his call up date.
If it was up to me, I wouldn’t wait until Turner put in a full year of “dominance” in AAA. That’s wasting bullets and time for nothing.
Turner is going to have a learning curve in MLB. I don’t think he can get it started in Toledo. Your best athletes, you challenge. Better to be brought up 6 months too soon than 6 months too late.
Justin can now let the fungus grow back on his shower shoes.
by Singledigit on Jan 20, 2012 10:15 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
I Get What You Are Saying
I really do. I just completely disagree with you.
I don’t know Turner, I can’t speak on his personality (perhaps Kurt or Tokarz can), but I would hate to rush a player who has heard nothing more about himself than how great he is, or how he is ready to make the jump (based on great AA numbers and how he projects), to set him up to struggle in MLB.
Is he the type to get down on himself? Would it shake his confidence to start the year in our rotation and then fail?
This reminds me of handing your 16 year old the keys to your car, not knowing if they can handle the opportunity or not.
I was marching around making it known that I wanted Maholm— who would’ve cost us $5 million dollars. I am more than happy to try Oswald for $8-$10, or Harden for $3 million dollars.
Are we, or are we not, getting half of V-Mart’s contract back this year? If so, I’m all for signing Oswalt and Pena, and making Turner our call up should Oswalt’s back get out of control again.
Jesus don't love me, no one's ever carried my load. I'm too young to feel this old. - Caleb Followill
He dos have good poise for his age
But most of his positives are qualified with the phrase “for his age”. That should say something.
"You, on the other hand, make Eeyore look like Rainbow Brite." -johnmoz
"I think of you more as the blue book style essay of sports journalism."-Kurt Mensching
by David Tokarz on Jan 20, 2012 12:36 PM EST up reply actions
I get what you are saying
and to a point I agree with it. I just don’t feel that we have a need to risk bringing up Turner too soon. That comes with caveats though. If we sign/trade a legitimate 5th (or better) starter then what harm is there going to be in being cautious with Turner? If he is dominate in AAA and shows that he is better than a pitcher currently in the rotation, then I have no problems bringing him up.
The problem I have with just giving him the spot is that in the chances he was given last year, he didn’t show that he is better than what we currently have in the rotation, or than what is available currently in the FA market.
He may be ready, or he might not. Just like there is no way to know if Porcello was actually rushed or not there is no way to say definitively that Turner is ready. You can mitigate that risk by playing it cautious since we have that ability right now. And I think we should.
I agree with you mostly
I’m just not sure that Turner can be the work horse that we need him to be. Last season he pitched 143 innings over 23 starts. He still needs to build his arm strength to be in a 5 man MLB rotation for a full-season. I think the quality is there for him to be a decent 6 or 7 inning pitcher right now. I just don’t think we can count on him every 5th day. He’d likely have to share the 5th rotation spot with somebody. I got no problem with that either.
Most elite pitchers have a good K/9 and BB/9 ratio in the minors.
Porcello’s 5.2 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in the minors did not justify the promotion, but he was needed at the time. Verlander had paved the way a couple of years earlier and made fans and the organization think that promoting your top prospect worked out well. Allowing him more time in the minors to learn how to strike guys out would have been wise, in my opinion.
Turner has decent K/9 and BB/9 ratios right now (8.0 & 1.8 in 2010, 7.6 & 2.4 in 2011 – at higher levels than Porcello.) These numbers seem to say that Turner is more advanced than Porcello was. I’d expect better than Porcello’s rookie season if Turner gets promoted. Would it hinder his development? Perhaps, but it looks like he doesn’t need to learn to K people or limit walks at the AA level and perhaps not the AAA level, but we don’t know this.
It’s an interesting debate, but one that will probably not be answered.
The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love. ~Bryant Gumbel, 1981
Pena is going to Tampa
If the Tigers value their top prospects they should strike quickly on Kotchman, or watch him go to Cleveland. Carlos Lee, Vlad, Ibanez do nothing for me. Unless they can work a deal for a true two way player upgrade in LF, 2B, or 3B that will be on the team for at least three years, I say hold onto the prospects. In reality we need Oswalt (if healthy) more than a one year fix at DH.
If we go in on Kotchman
We should probably make sure his name is really Casey Kotchman, and he is as old as he says he is…
Honestly, if we signed him and he hit .300+ in whatever DH/1B role he would be put into, I wouldn’t care what his name is, how old he is and if he was male or female.
Jesus don't love me, no one's ever carried my load. I'm too young to feel this old. - Caleb Followill
What's Fidel Castro doing these days?
"You, on the other hand, make Eeyore look like Rainbow Brite." -johnmoz
"I think of you more as the blue book style essay of sports journalism."-Kurt Mensching
by David Tokarz on Jan 21, 2012 4:03 PM EST up reply actions
everyone wants oswalt but...
I think we sometimes forget that free agents are free to choose their destination. Hasn’t oswalt had us on his no trade list in his last contract. Not sure if he is even considering AL teams especially on a one year deal, an nl team gives him a better shot at raising his value for next year
by syper17 on Jan 20, 2012 9:12 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
I think Oswalt wants to stay in the NL too.
"You, on the other hand, make Eeyore look like Rainbow Brite." -johnmoz
"I think of you more as the blue book style essay of sports journalism."-Kurt Mensching
by David Tokarz on Jan 21, 2012 4:03 PM EST up reply actions
Really would love to hear the truth on how VMart hurt his knee
All i can think of is Jeff Kent….. yeah, I broke my wrist while washing my pickup…..
by Phenomenal Bob on Jan 20, 2012 10:46 PM EST reply actions
...
"I'm a simple man. I like pretty, dark-haired women and breakfast food" - Ron Swanson
by rock n rye on Jan 21, 2012 11:06 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Is this GIF from Firefly?
"You, on the other hand, make Eeyore look like Rainbow Brite." -johnmoz
"I think of you more as the blue book style essay of sports journalism."-Kurt Mensching
by David Tokarz on Jan 21, 2012 4:02 PM EST up reply actions
That story about VMart doing side-to-side exercises and falling on his knee is way too crazy to be believed.
by ivantopumpyouup on Jan 21, 2012 6:52 PM EST up reply actions
I bet he was actually eating pancakes.
I hear that they can be dangerous. :P #DustinPenner’d
Random nonsense at @Baroque97
"It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time." --Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)
Is this conspiracy theory day?
I would pay good money to have you and Single sit down and have a conversation about how everyone in the Tiger organization is lying to us…
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Bless You Boys
Related FanShots on Bless You Boys
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- College player makes impossible over the fence catch to save tournament game (Video)
- Security!: Camden Yards guard collides with Royals’ Mike Moustakas
- The Juice: Nelson Cruz matches career high eight RBIs, Pujols stays hot in Seattle
- Benches clear at Fenway as Red Sox-Rays rivalry heats up
- Keeping good company: Albert Pujols becomes fourth-youngest player to hit 450 home runs
