WTF of the Day: MLB player gets arrested.....for stealing T-shirts?!

CINCINNATI -- Reds pitcher Mike Leake was arrested on a shoplifting charge at a downtown department store Monday, accused of trying to steal six shirts with a total value of $59.88.

The 23-year-old starter was booked at the Hamilton County Justice Center on a first-degree misdemeanor charge of shoplifting. It carries a maximum of 180 days in jail.

He was arrested about two hours before Cincinnati pitchers were expected at Great American Ball Park to take batting practice before the final game of a series against Pittsburgh. Leake started and got the victory in an 11-2 win over the Pirates on Saturday.

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Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesReds pitcher Mike Leake was arrested on a shoplifting charge Monday, accused of trying to steal six shirts valued at $59.88.

Leake said in a statement released by the Reds that his attorney told him not to discuss the arrest. Leake apologized to his family, to the club and to fans "for this distraction."

The Reds issued a statement saying, "We do not condone behavior of the type alleged, which is wholly inconsistent with the principles of this organization and our community and is detrimental to the positive direction we seek to follow. When the legal process has been completed, we will handle this matter internally."

Police arrest reports said Leake removed the price tags from six American Rag T-shirts at a Macy's store and tried to leave without paying for them. Leake makes $425,000 in his second season in the majors.

A Macy's spokesman said the company had no comment beyond what was reported by police.

Leake was the eighth overall pick in the June 2009 draft and made the jump directly from Arizona State to the majors last spring, when he won the fifth starter's spot in the rotation. He was the 21st player who went right from the draft to the majors since 1965.

The right-hander helped the Reds get started toward their NL Central title, going 8-4 with a 4.23 ERA in 22 starts and two relief appearances. The Reds shut him down at 138 1/3 innings, not wanting to hurt his arm by pushing him too far as a rookie.

Leake has made three starts this season, going 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA.

The Reds have been relying on Leake again this season while they get through shoulder injuries to starters Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey.

Bailey has been on the disabled list since the start of the season with an inflamed pitching shoulder. He threw 62 pitches in five scoreless innings for Triple-A Louisville on Sunday, allowing two hits.

Bailey said on Monday that he felt fine and was encouraged by his showing. He'll make one more start in the minors and if that goes well, he could be activated.

"It went pretty good," said Bailey, who allowed only two hits. "I didn't feel any pain, which is plus No. 1. Early on I felt good. About the fifth inning, I felt pretty tired there. That goes with the territory of building up the pitches."

Cueto made his first rehab start on Saturday and had no issues.

"Don't forget, we're not whole until we get those two guys back," manager Dusty Baker said. "I knew it was going to be a tough period of time, even though we've started off well, until we get those two back."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Donald Trump approached by New York Mets franchise

Who is apprentice and who is master could be a problem.

Donald Trump said Tuesday that Mets owner Fred Wilpon called him to set up a face-to-face meeting to talk about buying part of the club, The New York Times reported. But Trump said he wants to be boss.

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Faced with a lawsuit seeking up to $1 billion to repay victims of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, the Mets have explored selling 20 to 25 percent of the club to fund a settlement. But Trump, like others, has expressed an interest in buying a majority share.

"The Wilpons are friends of mine, and I really hope it works out great for them," Trump said, according to the newspaper. "But if anything doesn't work out for them, I'd be interested in the team."

There's a very good reason Trump, who is from Queens, would not be interested in a minority stake, which would not allow input in day-to-day operations.

"If you look at Trump's record, he is only interested in things he can control," Trump said, referring to himself in the third person.

In a later interview with The Associated Press, Trump wasn't quite as adamant about having to have a controlling interest in the team.

"I haven't thought that far down the line," he said. "We'll see what happens."

Another Queens native, Mike Repole, the maker of Vitaminwater and Smartwater, which he sold to Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion, has also expressed interest in buying the Mets, but as a majority owner, the Times reported.

Trump, who owned the USFL's New Jersey Generals in the mid-1980s, would likely face intense scrutiny from Major League Baseball if he did try to buy the Mets outright since he has ties to the gaming industry.

Trump's businesses, which have netted him billions, are not immune to their own financial crises, with Trump Entertainment Resorts filing for bankruptcy as recently as 2009.

Jim Leyritz accquitted of DUI charges

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A jury in Florida on Saturday acquitted former major league baseball player Jim Leyritz of DUI manslaughter in a 2007 crash that killed a mother of two.

However, Leyritz was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail. Leyritz had faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the manslaughter charge.

Testimony was inconclusive on whether Leyritz ran a red light on Dec. 28, 2007, when he collided with a vehicle driven by 30-year-old Fredia Ann Veitch, who died.

Defense experts testified that Leyritz may have been below Florida's 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level when the crash occurred, even though it was 0.14 percent three hours later.

Leyritz played 11 major league seasons, hitting a memorable World Series home run for theNew York Yankees in 1996.

The crash happened after Leyritz had been out at local nightspots celebrating his birthday. Veitch, who had gone out to other bars after work, was also drunk with a blood-alcohol level twice Florida's limit, according to trial testimony.

Two witnesses testified that Veitch had the green light at an intersection before Leyritz's Ford Expedition hit her vehicle, causing a rollover crash that ejected her onto the pavement. But under cross-examination, those same witnesses were less definitive about whether Leyritz's light was red or yellow.

Defense expert witnesses also said Veitch's lights may have been off and that Leyritz did not appear to be speeding. They also raised questions about the reliability of Leyritz's blood tests and suggested he may have suffered a slight concussion that caused his body to absorb alcohol more slowly.

Prosecutors insisted that Leyritz was too drunk to react to the traffic light or avoid the collision with Veitch's Mitsubishi Montero. They said he consumed the equivalent of between 11 and 12 shots of liquor in the three hours before the crash, which happened around 3 a.m.

Florida law provides for a DUI manslaughter conviction when a person's actions either caused or contributed to the cause of someone else's death.

In May, Leyritz settled a wrongful death lawsuit by agreeing to pay Veitch's family $350,000 in insurance and personal funds.

Leyritz's famous homer for the Yankees tied Game 4 of the World Series against Atlanta, a game New York would go on to win in extra innings. The victory paved the way for New York's 1996 title, its first in 18 years.

Primarily a catcher, Leyritz also played for the Angels, Rangers, Red Sox, Padres and Dodgers. He had a career batting average of .264 and hit 90 home runs.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

Manny Ramirez , Dodgers likely to hit waviers this week

The expectation around baseball is that outfielder Manny Ramirez will be placed on waivers early this week, according to baseball sources.

More on the Dodgers

For more news, notes and analysis of the Dodgers, check out Dodger Thoughts from Jon Weisman. Blog

The Los Angeles Dodgers could have put Ramirez on waivers Monday but would not do so, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reports. Monday was the first day the Dodgers could have taken that action because it was the first business day after the outfielder came off the disabled list.

But baseball sources say there remains a high probability that unless Ramirez exercises his no-trade clause, he will be with another team by Aug. 31 -- the deadline for postseason roster eligibility.

The structure of Ramirez's contract might make him more attractive to teams interested in the slugger. Any team that made a move for Ramirez would owe him a prorated portion of his $20 million salary. However, about three-quarters of his salary is deferred.

So if the Chicago White Sox or Tampa Bay Rays, for example, were to acquire Ramirez, they would owe him only $1.1 million for the rest of this season and about $3.3 million in deferred salary.

Ramirez

But Ramirez has a full no-trade clause and would have to approve any waiver claim or trade to move to another team. It's also possible he would ask for compensation in return.

If he were claimed by another team and vetoed the deal, the Dodgers would be required to pull him back from waivers -- and could not trade him for the remainder of this season.

Ramirez returned Saturday from his third stint on the disabled list this season, his second because of a right calf strain. The 12-time All-Star has missed 59 games this season due to injuries, after sitting out a 50-game drug suspension last year.

Ramirez, who said at the start of spring training that this would be his final season with the Dodgers, is in the final year of a two-year contract and becomes a free agent at season's end at age 38.

Sour Bday for A-ROD

CLEVELAND -- Alex Rodriguez smiled when someone mentioned that Tuesday was his birthday.


"I've had some good birthdays," he said upon turning 35. "But tonight wasn't the greatest."

Not with baseball history waiting for him -- for the last five games. Since he hit his 599th career home run in a July 22 win over Kansas City, Rodriguez has gone 6-for-21 with no home runs. Tuesday, the Yankees trailed the Cleveland Indians 4-1 in the ninth inning when Rodriguez came to the plate with two on and two out.


Everyone stood. Flashbulbs popped. There was a feeling that something dramatic was about to happen. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said even he thought the same thing everyone in the Progressive Field stands thought: "Maybe this is it."

Rodriguez took a strike from Chris Perez -- a call he did not seem to like -- and then grounded a slider weakly to short. Game over. Rodriguez's quest continues.

"I think the number one thing is you want to get a big hit," Rodriguez said of the ninth-inning potential dramatics. "Hit the ball hard somewhere. A home run would be fantastic. Not to get 600, but to tie the game."

Rodriguez is very aware of 600, a figure that only six major leaguers have reached in their careers. But now that he has gone 21 at-bats without a home run, the concern is that he is becoming overanxious and trying to over-swing, Rodriguez admitted that has happened the last five games.

"The biggest thing is stay within the game and not try to do too much," he said. "A few times the last few games, I've come out of it a little bit, tried to swing a little too hard. Or maybe get a little pull-happy."



Being pull-happy is not the way Alex Rodriguez hits. Tuesday seemed like it might be his night, not just because of the birthday but because the Indians put Josh Tomlin on the mound. Tomlin was making his major league debut, and in that situation a guy can start nervous and pitch poorly. Tomlin went after the Yankees and took a shutout to the eighth.


"I didn't want them to think I was going to be nibbling all night," Tomlin said.


He pitched seven innings, gave up three hits and one run while walking none.

"I don't think we had any good swings off of him," Rodriguez said.

The first two times he faced Tomlin, Rodriguez grounded out to short in the second and grounded out to first in the fifth.

"They got him out in front with some breaking balls and he hit some ground balls," Girardi said.

Rodriguez's best at-bat came in the seventh, when he sent Shin-Soo Choo to the track for the third out.

"If we're at home," Girardi said, "maybe that's 600."

"I thought I hit it a little better than it showed," Rodriguez said.



Tomlin worked the first career start to his advantage. The Yankees did not know what to expect from him.

"That's not an excuse," Rodriguez said. "The kid threw really well. He had a really nice game. He had a pretty good cutter and kept our righties and lefties, both, off balance."

As 600 awaits, each at-bat brings a little more tension. Girardi said he did not think Rodriguez was over-swinging, but Rodriguez said his focus on pulling the ball has hurt him.

"Everything I'm pulling is soft," he said.


The solution?

"I don't think I'm really expanding my strike zone," he said. "Guys are throwing strikes. And for the most part I think I'm swinging at strikes. I think for the most part what I want to do is let the ball travel a little bit and use my hands a little more, like that one swing to right center."

The easiest at-bats, he said, are ones like he had in the ninth with the game on the line. Then he can try to hit the ball hard and focus on the pitches. Middle of the game, two out, nobody on are a little tougher.

"Everybody stands up, expecting one thing," Rodriguez said.

The 600th home run will happen. It's a matter of when. Fausto Carmona starts the next game for the Indians, and Carmona is a sinker/groundball pitcher. At some Rodriguez has to simply be up to the moment.

"There are times when hitters are going to go without getting hits," Girardi said. "If you make too much of it as a hitter, then it becomes a problem. But Alex has showed that he knows how to be calm in big situations and he'll continue to do that."

NL Ends 14-Year Game Drought

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Brian McCann came up with the clutch hit that the National League had been missing.

For the past seven years.

The Braves' catcher ripped a two-out, three-run double in the seventh inning, putting the National League on top on its way to a streak-busting 3-1 victory in the All-Star Game on Tuesday night before 45,408 at Angel Stadium.

The NL had lost seven games in a row, and their winless streak -- including the infamous 2002 tie -- stretched all the way back to 1996. With the victory, the NL earned home-field advantage in the World Series.
McCann was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

The NL squad had not been able to find a clutch hit for the most of the night, and it trailed 1-0 after the AL scored an unearned run in the fifth inning.

With one out in the seventh, the NL mounted a rally against Phil Hughes. Scott Rolen singled. Matt Holliday followed with a single up the middle, and Rolen hustled to third on the play.

Lefty Matt Thornton was summoned for the AL. He got pinch-hitter Chris Young on a popup for the second out, but Marlon Byrd drew a walk before McCann yanked a line drive into the right-field corner, clearing the bases.

With nine outs to go to secure the victory, NL manager Charlie Manuel first gave the ball to Adam Wainwright. Wainwright got into a jam because teammate Matt Holliday misplayed a tough line drive into a double, but Wainwright escaped by striking out Torii Hunter, disappointing the Angels fans, to strand two runners.

Giants closer Brian Wilson pitched the eighth and Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton worked the ninth.

The AL made one last-ditch effort to maintain its streak, as David Ortiz singled off Broxton to lead off the ninth. But with one out, John Buck blooped one into right that looked like it might hang up for Byrd. Ortiz hesitated, then chugged for second when the ball dropped in, but Byrd made a fantastic spinning throw to force him out at second. Ian Kinsler then flied out to officially end the AL's reign. .

That finished off a game that was dominated by the pitchers. Starters Ubaldo Jimenez and David Price, each making his All-Star debut, both worked two scoreless innings.

The AL followed with scoreless one-inning stints for Andy Pettitte, Cliff Lee, Justin Verlander and Jon Lester, before Hughes gave up the lead in the seventh.

The NL used Josh Johnson for two and then Manuel started getting creative with his pitchers, using them situationally. Hong-Chih Kuo pitched the fifth, giving up an unearned run created by his own throwing error. Roy Halladay started the sixth and Matt Capps finished it. Capps ended up being the pitcher of record when the NL took the lead.

So Capps, who struck out Ortiz, the only batter he faced, became the answer to a trivia question:

Who was the winning pitcher when the NL won the All-Star Game for the first time in 14 years?

Baseball Legend, George Steinbrenner; Dies at 80

George Steinbrenner, whose thirst for winning gained him infamy as Yankees owner, died Tuesday, the team confirmed, after suffering a massive heart attack at his Tampa home. He was 80 years old.

"He was an incredible and charitable man. First and foremost, he was devoted to his entire family -- his beloved wife, Joan; his sisters, Susan Norpell and Judy Kamm, his children, Hank, Jennifer, Jessica and Hal; and all of his grandchildren," the Steinbrenner family said in a statement. "He was a visionary and a giant in the world of sports. He took a great but struggling franchise and turned it into a champion again.
Steinbrenner leaves a bombastic legacy, gleaned not only from collecting titles but also from spending money, and firing people.

"He wanted to win above everything else -- and that was not only in baseball but everything else," Steinbrenner's longtime friend Leonard Levy told the Tampa Tribune.

Steinbrenner, heir to a Cleveland shipbuilding company, bought the Yankees in January 1973 from CBS for $8.7 million. The once-proud franchise had sunk to the second division, but Steinbrenner used the new avenue of free agency to add stars to his roster.

Under Steinbrenner, the Yankees won the World Series in 1977-78, 1996, 1998-2000 and 2009.

But in addition to the championships, he was also famously short-tempered, hiring and firing manager Billy Martin five times. Steinbrenner canned Yogi Berra 16 games into the 1985 season and, in his heyday, called out players -- even Derek Jeter -- and managers openly.

Perhaps the temperamental and demanding personality was honed by a military academy education and experience as an assistant football coach at Northwestern and Purdue.

Not long into his ownership, a New York tabloid coined the nickname "The Boss," and it not only stuck, but Steinbrenner liked it.

Share In 1990, Steinbrenner was banned from day-to-day operations by commissioner Fay Vincent because he paid gambler Howie Spira $40,000 in an attempt to get dirt on star player Dave Winfield. In 1974, Steinbrenner had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to making illegal campaign contributions in the 1972 presidential election.
By 1994, Steinbrenner had become a character on the popular TV show, "Seinfeld," with show co-creator Larry David lampooning The Boss.

After the Yankees ended a 13-year playoff drought in 1995, and the team was celebrating its wild-card berth, Steinbrenner told the manager and coaching staff they had better win the World Series or they'd all be fired.

They didn't, and so they were. Steinbrenner then hired Joe Torre as manager, and he immediately won three World Series in four years, restoring the pinstriped dynasty.

That led to another innovation: the YES Network, which set the standard for team-owned cable stations. With even more revenue, the Yankees outspent all other teams by a wide margin. Baseball's luxury tax was designed mostly to slow Yankees spending, although it barely did.

But after the dynasty years of 1996-2001, Steinbrenner-endorsed infighting -- he created New York and Tampa, Fla., factions by splitting up the team's front office -- led to poor decisions.

By the mid-2000s, Steinbrenner's health was fading. He collapsed at a December 2003 memorial service for football great Otto Graham and had another fainting episode in October 2006. By then he had faded from public view almost entirely.

As Steinbrenner withdrew from decision-making, general manager Brian Cashman gained control, and the team returned to the top in 2009 -- the first season in a new stadium, a $1 billion-plus palace which was Steinbrenner's final achievement. The initial season was capped with another World Series title, the franchise's 27th, and the seventh of Steinbrenner's reign.

Funeral arrangements will be private, the Yankees said, though there will be an additional public service in Steinbrenner's honor at a later date.

A Major League Baseball official told FanHouse that there will be, at minimum, a moment of silence in tribute to Steinbrenner Tuesday night, when the leagues play the 81st All-Star Game, but that no plans had been finalized yet. The New York City mayor's office announced plans to lower the flags at city hall in Steinbrenner's honor.
 
 
 
Fellow blogger Ed Price (Fanhouse.com) also contributed in this report.