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Mariners struggling in number of areas View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Texas Rangers News

TORONTO (AP) Jose Bautista homered twice and drove in the winning run with a 10th-inning single, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Tampa Bay Rays News

A food vendor for the Houston Astros has been fired after he took sno-cones into the bathroom stalls at Minute Maid Park. The gross situation occurred Monday night. New team president Reid Ryan was notified of the situation and immediately had the employee of Aaramark – who services the Astros food needs – terminated. Below is a report from KPRC Houston which shows cell phone footage taken in the bathroom stall. video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo playerThe Astros may be in the toilet when it comes to the NL Central but that is no excuse to place sno-cones there.

; When history looks back on the Reid Ryan era as president of the Houston Astros, no doubt it will fondly recall the first public action Nolan Ryan's son took as head honcho: Ryan had a snow cone vendor fired — he was an employee of Aramark — for bringing the product into a toilet stall at Minute Maid Park during an Astros game earlier this week. The vendor was caught with his pants down around his ankles — literally — by a good Samaritan who also happened to be using the bathroom at the time. The whistleblower switched on his cell phone to record the shocking moment, and alerted another ballpark employee (who was walking into the men's room) to the vendor's behavior. The fan also demanded to see a supervisor, adding, in an unintentionally hilarious moment: "That's realtalk." The amateur investigative reporter — clearly the star of the 59 second clip, even though we only hear his voice — shared the video with NBC Channel 2 in Houston, who released it to the public and investigated further. In the clip, the door on the stall is closed, but looking under you clearly can see a person sitting on the toilet with a tray of snow cones (perhaps three of them had been unsold) on the ground next to him. It might have been better to return the cones to the pantry first, or even throw them away, if the urge was so urgent. Place them on a sink? The baby changing table? Just not on the ground. But hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go. And Ryan agreed, so he relieved the person of his snow cones forever: “This being your first game. Your first day on the job. What was going through your head when you heard what happened?” Local 2’s Bill Spencer asked Ryan. “Well, right away, I just thought, ‘We gotta let this guy go. There is no doubt about it.' That was my decision,” Ryan told Spencer. Ryan said that snow cone vendor was fired immediately. When asked what the ball park could do to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again, Ryan responded: “I don’t think there is anything you can do to make sure human beings don’t make mistakes. What you can do is make sure all employees are trained and that our policies are followed." And that's how it goes from top to bottom. My question: When does the whistleblower get a network news gig? Baseball is in full swing! Interact with @AnswerDave, @MikeOz, @Townie813and@bigleaguestew on Twitter, along with the BLS Facebook page!

credit:getty images On Friday the Chicago White Sox will welcome John Danks back to the mound. Danks will be making his season debut against the Miami Marlins. Danks underwent surgery last August to arthroscopically repair a capsular tear and minor debridements of the rotator cuff and biceps in his left shoulder. Following Wednesday’s game the White Sox optioned Donnie Veal to Triple-A clearing a roster spot for Danks. During his four rehab starts the 28-year-old has dealt with decreased velocity but compiled a 3.18 ERA and a 15/14 K/BB ratio.

Beware. I got a little GIF (pronounced "jiff", but I don't care...I still say "giff") happy today. Animated Halolinks: Angels firing on all cylinders after 4th straight win. "They didn’t get much of it in April, but now, in the season’s eighth week, the Angels are beginning to see what they can do when all their parts are flowing. They’re scoring runs and throwing well, and any sense of concern they once had has virtually faded." Um, I wouldn't say our concerns have "virtually faded". More like "somewhat faded". No wait, "surreal-ly fading". "Kinda going". "Literally sightless". "Figuratively dispelled"? Screw it, we have still have concerns, and they're real. Damn you Scioscia! Are you some sort of evil genius? Wilson shines as Angels pound Mariners 7-1 - Yahoo! Sports. "I thought I was going to pass out in the first inning, I didn't feel good today," Wilson said. "I ate too much pasta last night or something." Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels - May 22, 2013 - MLB.com. "In the third, Aybar's single -- his third hit in his past five at-bats after a 4-for-24 slump (all from the lead-off spot) -- brought home Callaspo for the Angels' seventh run of the afternoon. Los Angeles Angels at Kansas City Royals - May 23, 2013 - MLB.comSantana is 3-3 with a 2.77 ERA in eight starts for Kansas City and will face the Angels for the first time. Joe Blanton, who replaced Santana in the Angels' rotation, will be searching for his first win when he takes the mound on Thursday. Blanton is 0-7 with a 6.62 ERA in nine starts. He allowed 15 baserunners in just 4 1/3 innings in his last start against the White Sox. Angels-Royals Preview - Yahoo! Sports. "I think we're seeing much better at-bats from our team as a group," manager Mike Scioscia told the team's official website. "We're seeing much better team chemistry right now." Oh, now the Angels have better chemistry? What changed...oh, yeah, they're playing better. Looks like Jered Weaver is ready to rejoin the Angels' rotation - CBSSports.com. "It has been six weeks and one day since the Angels placed ace Jered Weaver on the 15-day DL with a fractured left (non-pitching) elbow. His return was expected to take four-to-six weeks." Weaver's line from extended spring game: 5 2/3 innings, 1 run, no walks, 9 Ks 75 pitches, 62 strikes vs. D-Backs. # Angels — Kevin Baxter (@kbaxter11) May 22, 2013 Hopefully, whatever was plaguing Weaver and his velocity prior to his DL stay has been fixed too: Angels' Weaver faces minor-leaguers - Yahoo! Sports. "Weaver made just two starts this season before he was injured when he landed on his left arm while trying to dodge a line drive on April 7. He is 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA on the year. Scioscia says team will make a decision on Weaver this weekend but it's possible his next start could come next week against Dodgers#Angels — Kevin Baxter (@kbaxter11) May 22, 2013 Madson had a setback?? On comeback trail, Madson dealing with setback - angels.com. "Madson pitched an inning for Class A Inland Empire as part of a rehab assignment on May 13 and felt inflammation in his right elbow over the following days." I'm shocked! SHOCKED!! Offensive decline leads list of 10 early-season trends to watch - SI.com. "Keep this in mind when you think about how urgent the season has become for the Angels, Dodgers and Blue Jays: In the 17 full seasons of wild card play (1996-2012), there have been 153 teams that were five games or more below .500 on May 31. Only seven of them made the playoffs -- a 95.4 percent failure rate." Angels 7, Mariners 1 - FOX Sports. "''You have to have an owner that's committed - not only to bringing in new guys, but also retaining guys,'' Wilson said. ''I think people look for the big splashes like Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton and myself as free agents. But we saw Jered Weaver, Howie Kendrick and Erick Aybar get the long-term deals, and we al

Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports Have the Atlanta Braves finally found their leadoff man? B.J. Upton didn’t quite work out there (in fact, he’s not really working out anywhere right now). Neither is Andrelton Simmons doing so. But fortunately, it looks like the third time might actually be the charm for the team, as Jordan Schafer may finally be able to stick in the all-important table-setting spot atop the lineup. Ironically enough, you could even say it was a long time coming, too. Formerly one of the top prospects not only in the Atlanta organization, but in all of baseball, Schafer has had quite a tumultuous ride to the majors, filled with failures and injuries, from the time that the center field job with the Braves seemed destined to be his. Much has changed since then, of course, but now that he’s back in Atlanta after being claimed off waivers ahead of the 2013 season, he might make a case to earn a semi-regular role as the Braves’ leadoff hitter yet. There’s just one problem: the team has nowhere to play him. Yes, the 26-year-old is quite easily the best leadoff hitter that the Braves have been able to trot out, having posted a .262/.415/.357 triple slash at the top of the lineup, but no amount of numbers is going to convince the team to start him regularly over the $75.25 million that they have in B.J. Upton. In fact, Schafer has received just two starts over three games since Jason Heyward‘s return on May 17 — and he’s contributed in all of them. Despite the lack of playing time, the center fielder is riding a four-game hitting streak, including Wednesday’s performance in which he received the start in left field over Justin Upton and just did his thing from the No. 1 spot: walking twice, going 1-for-3, and doing his part in sparking the Braves to an 8-3 win. So clearly, he’s showing an ability to succeed in a role where the Braves have found little success. So where do they go from here? Part of the question is answered rather easily when you consider that Schafer is a righties-only hitter (.658-.516 OPS split vs. RHP-LHP), but even if the Braves continue to only give him time against right-handers, that still doesn’t solve the fact that the outfield is quite full. If money weren’t an issue, you’d almost say that there’s a rather ideal platoon situation here with B.J. Upton, but considering the elder Upton’s upside and the lack of a lefty-righty split in his career … that’s not necessarily a long-term situation here either. So it seems then that occasional spot start might be what Schafer will be relegated to for now, despite having been good enough for regular ABs against righties. If he manages to keep this up (and B.J. continues to struggle), though, he’ll eventually force the Braves’ hand in finding some playing time for him, even if it means making him an unlikely member of a semi-regular four-man rotation in the outfield.

This is how the PNC Park scoreboard looked, with the Cubs in town, on a PRIOR occassion. There are NO games relevant to the NL West "race" today. However, there's an early game (9:30a PT) which can help determine whether the Dodgers can maintain their position as the 11th-best team in the National League. Former Dodger and current Cub Edwin Jackson (1-6, 5.76) goes up against Pittsburgh's Jeanmar Gomez (2-0, 2.78). The Cubs have lost their first two games of the series, at PNC Park, but are hoping to ascend past Milwaukee in the NL Central, where both the Cubs and Brewers both sit in last place. All four other games today are American League games; the Angels duel Kansas City at 5p PT. The Angels serve up their edition of Josh Beckett: Joe Blanton (0-7, 6.62), against KC's Ervin Santana (3-3, 2.77). If the Angels win, they would edge ahead of the Dodgers based on winning percentage. That's all I'm saying.

Thursday: RHP Zach McAllister (3-3, 2.65) vs. RHP Ryan Dempster (2-4, 4.27), 7:10 p.m., NESN, MLB Network Friday: RHP Justin Masterson (7-2, 2.83) vs. RHP John Lackey (2-4, 3.31), 7:10 p.m., NESN. Saturday: LHP Scott Kazmir (2-2, 6.35) vs. LHP...

Don't eat the snow cones at Minute Maid Park for a while.