Baseball | featured news

Reinforced helmets debuting around Majors. In the wake of several recent harrowing beanings of Major League batters, Rawlings Sporting Goods is introducing a reinforced, heavier batting helmet designed to withstand 100 mph fastballs.

Johan Santana needs surgery for bone chips in his left elbow and the star pitcher is out for the season, the latest blow to a New York Mets team battered by injuries.

Derek Jeter needed one pitch to reach a milestone and get the Yankees going again. New York's leadoff batter hit the first pitch of the game for a homer, his 2,700th career hit, and the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 8-4 Sunday night with five homers off Josh Beckett. "We got pitches to hit and we hit them," Jeter said one night after Boston's 14-1 win.

With J.D. Drew rested and refreshed, the Boston Red Sox are on a roll. Drew homered twice, Jon Lester pitched eight strong innings and the Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-1 on Thursday night to complete a three-game sweep.

All players and staff of the Nippon Ham Fighters baseball team will be tested for the H1N1 virus after two players and a coach contracted the flu, the Japanese Pacific League team said Wednesday.

Nick Swisher hit a two-run homer in New York's four-run second inning and the surging Yankees beat the sloppy Seattle Mariners 5-2 on Saturday for their 12th win in 13 games.

Trent Oeltjen extended his remarkable big league debut with four more hits, falling a homer shy of the cycle, and Alex Romero had two hits and two RBIs in the Arizona Diamondbacks' 6-2 victory over the New York Mets on Tuesday night.

Oeltjen has 12 hits in his first 24 at-bats since his contract was purchased from Triple-A Reno to replace injured Justin Upton on Aug. 6. He has hit safely in all five of his major league games. Oeltjen also made a stellar catch in center field.

Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira hit back-to-back homers in the eighth inning Sunday night, and the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 5-2 to finish their first four-game home sweep of their bitter rival in 24 years.

Johnny Damon hit a solo home run and had three RBIs, Nick Swisher also connected and the New York Yankees completed a two-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays with an 8-4 victory Wednesday night.

Baseball's sanctity continues to crumble as it was reported today that David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are part of the 100 people who were on the 2003 steroids list.