Posted Date: May 23, 2013

University of Cincinnati baseball team takes video-bombing to a new level

Video

Sergio Romo’s “Romo-bombing” during last year’s postseason was cute. The Giants reliever even got our own Tom Verducci during the National League Division Series, but the stakes have been raised by an unlikely foe. The Cincinnati Bearcats have elevated video bombing their teammates’ postgame interviews to an art form this season, as seen in this compilation video posted to YouTube on Wednesday.

The ring-leader in the above videos appears to be 5-foot-8 infielder Ryan Quinn, number 30, a New Jersey native whose mock interview concludes the compilation above. That’s him riding on a teammate’s shoulders at the 12-second mark, being taken away like a stuffed pig at the 25-second mark, as the second-swimmer at 40-seconds, Caesar at 45-seconds and the victim of both the Gatorade dump and the pie. Quinn, a health education major, hit .299/.370/.333 for the Bearcats this season. He’s not a prospect, but he is a junior, so hopefully we’ll see more of his antics next season.

Your move, Sergio.

Posted Date: May 23, 2013

Indians riding high as Francona makes his return to Fenway Park

Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Terry Francona
Nick Swisher, Indians

Nick Swisher, one of several key offseason additions, has a career-best .875 OPS entering the weekend series in Boston. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)

On Thursday night, Terry Francona will do something that he hasn’t done since the end of the 2011 season: manage in Fenway Park. The most successful manager in Red Sox history returns as the pilot of the Indians, who after four straight years of sub-.500 finishes — three of them with at least 93 losses, including last year — are running first in the AL Central, one-half game ahead of the heavily favored Tigers. Even having dropped their last two game in Detroit, the Indians have the AL’s best record in May at 15-6; prior to the series against the Tigers, they had won 18 of 22.

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Posted Date: May 23, 2013

Orioles banking on Kevin Gausman, and with good reason

Baltimore Orioles, Kevin Gausman
Kevin Gausman, Orioles

Kevin Gausman is debuting Thursday night. (AP)

In what has already been a great season for young starting pitching, the Orioles hope that Kevin Gausman can replicate the success of Cardinals rookie Shelby Miller and sophomores Matt Harvey, Patrick Corbin and Matt Moore. Gausman, who was the fourth overall pick in last year’s amateur draft out of Louisiana State University, will make his major league debut Thursday night in Toronto.

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Posted Date: May 23, 2013

Watch: Michael Bourn turns a Miguel Cabrera fly ball into a home run

Michael Bourn, Miguel Cabrera

This came in the top of the eighth inning of Wednesday night’s 11-7 Tigers win over the Indians, after two rain delays, in front of a largely empty ballpark. Fortunately, we have the video:

Memo to Michael Bourn: Miguel Cabrera doesn’t need the help. That home run was Cabrera’s 13th of the season, keeping him one behind American League leader Chris Davis, who homered without assistance from any Yankees outfielders Wednesday night. Fielder-aided home runs happen every so often, but what makes the Bourn-Cabrera homer so remarkable is that the ball would have hit no more than half-way up the wall if Bourn hadn’t touched it. He didn’t just tip it over the wall, either, like in this Alex Presley play from 2011, he gave it a good four- to five-foot boost.

Impressive as that was, however, it doesn’t top the greatest outfielder-assisted home run of all time: Take a bow, Jose Canseco:

Posted Date: May 22, 2013

Jose Bautista’s big day gives Jays fans something to cheer

Toronto Blue Jays, Jose Bautista
Jose Bautista drove in all four Toronto runs Wednesday against Tampa. (Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

Jose Bautista drove in all four Toronto runs Wednesday against Tampa. (Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

With a 19-27 record, not much has gone right for the Blue Jays thus far, largely due to injuries and ineffectiveness on the part of the name-brand players they added this past winter. On Wednesday, mainstay Jose Bautista picked up the slack and carried them to victory almost single-handedly, going 4-for-4 with a pair of homers and driving in all of Toronto’s runs in a 10-inning, 4-3 win over the Rays.

Bautista began his night with a first-inning RBI single off Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson, plating Anthony Gose following a leadoff double. After the Rays scored twice in the third, he tied the game in the fourth with a 428-foot solo home run off Hellickson to left field, his 10th of the year. After that shot, one can’t blame Hellickson for walking him in the sixth, the last time he faced him on the night.

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