Fan News

By now, Cleveland Indians fans have grown accustomed to watching their favorite players being shipped out of town around the trade deadline.

Casey Blake, Paul Byrd, Mark DeRosa, Ben Francisco, Ryan Garko, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, Carl Pavano, and C.C. Sabathia have all been shipped off between late June and early August the last couple years—and that doesn’t count winter exports Franklin Gutierrez and Kelly Shoppach.

According to Troy Renck of the Denver Post , the Yankees have signed right-handed pitcher Tim Redding to a minor league contract.

Redding was released by the Rockies earlier this week. He was pitching for their Triple-A affiliate this season. In five games he had a 1-1 record with a 4.32 ERA in 25 innings. He last pitched in the majors for the New York Mets last season. In 30 games and 17 starts for the Mets he had a 3-6 record and a 5.10 ERA in 120 innings.

Here’s a look at the unheralded players who played well yesterday.

Back in Spring Training , the Yankees put Phil Hughes into a competition with other pitchers like Joba Chamberlain , Sergio Mitre, and Alfredo Aceves. The four pitchers competed to see who would be the Yankees fifth starter. Obviously Hughes won the job and since then, he is making it seem like there never should have been a competition.

Sometimes it isn't just about statistics.

Dan Haren, the ace of the Arizona Diamondbacks pitching staff, was conducting a clinic Tuesday night at Chase Field when Manny Ramirez approached the plate in the top of the fourth inning.

All nine outs recorded by Haren prior to facing Ramirez were strikeouts, and Haren was keen on continuing to uphold his brilliance.

The Yankees have signed Tim Redding to a minor league contract. Redding, 32, who was pitching for the Colorado Rockies's Triple-A affiliate but was released yesterday morning. So far this season for Colorado Springs he is 1-1 with a 4.32 ERA with 7.6 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 in 25 innings. He's now headed to Scranton.

The injury bug continues to bite at the Phillies as another starter is down and could miss a few days after Carlos Ruiz sprained his right knee Wednesday against the Rockies.

Ruiz initially injured the knee making a tag at the plate, then aggravated it trying to run from first to third on a base hit by Wilson Valdez in the fourth inning. He made it to third safely, but immediately began grasping at his knee and had to be replaced by Paul Hoover.

The month of May has been good to the Cincinnati Reds. They have gone 7-4 through a Cardinals, Cubs, Mets and Pirates slate.

The hitting is coming around, currently ranked fifth in the N.L. with 158 runs scored. But the major turn-around as been courtesy of the starting pitching.

After a magical one-hit complete game shut-out by Johnny Cueto, Homer Bailey followed suit. He gave up a whopping five hits over a complete game shut-out. The legendary Dayton Daily News beat writer Hal McCoy sums it up best:

Miguel Olivo spoiled hometown hero Roy Halladay's first ever trip to Coors Field.

Leading off the bottom of the 10th inning, Olivo hammered a hanging curveball from Chad Durbin deep into the left field seats. The home run capped an incredible day for the catcher, who entered Wednesday mired in a 2-for-28 skid.

The San Diego Padres have seemed to carry momentum over from ending last season on a high note with tied for the best record in the NL at 21-12, the best home record at 11-5 and have the fewest runs scored against them in the majors (101).

Each division in the majors has at least one team to stand out above the rest except the NL West. The injury riddled Rockies have three starting pitchers with an ERA above six and still waiting for closer Houston Street and No.2 pitcher Jorge De La Rosa to get back healthy.