Mike Trout Hits Grand Slam To Beat Rangers

L.A. Times reports:

It was after 5 o’clock on Saturday afternoon and Mike Trout had just turned away from his locker at Angel Stadium to face the cameras.The Angels star had stood in the same spot after three straight games. Each time, reporters thrust microphones toward Trout’s face. Each time, they asked Trout to describe how he used his 6-foot-2, 235-pound frame to muscle a baseball over an outfield fence. Angels had loaded the bases with one out. Trout usually would have been pitched around but there was nowhere for him to go. 

All Smyly could do was hope he could sneak some pitches by him. Smyly tried. Trout fouled off a high fastball on the first pitch. Then the last pitch came in at 91 mph, riding in at the top of the zone right over the middle of the plate. Trout timed it better, clipped it with his barrel and sent it soaring. The ball hurtled through the air at 109 mph and towered, traveling 458 feet and reaching a height of 128 feet before carrying over the Angels’ bullpen and dropping into the left-field seats for Trout’s first grand slam since Sept. 17, 2015, and fifth of his career.

Cody Bellinger Leads Major Leagues With 6 Homers And 16 RBI's

MSN sports reports:

Unwind and Indulge

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Bellinger, Max Muncy and Russell Martin homered as the visiting Dodgers kept up their longball barrage, beating Colorado 10-6 on Friday in the Rockies’ home opener.

After hitting a franchise-record 235 home runs last year, the Dodgers have connected 21 times in eight games this season. They’ve homered in every game so far.

What’s more, the 21 homers through eight games are the second-most in major-league history behind the St. Louis Cardinals, who had 23 in 2000.

“We have a talented lineup,” Muncy said. “We’re very deep. On top of that, we’re all up there and having fun.”

Bellinger hit his sixth of the year, breaking the game open with a three-run drive in the fifth. He didn’t hit his sixth homer last season until game No. 41.

“I’m just feeling good and trying to keep it going,” Bellinger said.

Gleyber Torres Hits 2 Homers To Help The Yankees End Losing Skid

Young slugger, Gleyber Torres, stepped up big time for his team, hitting two homers and getting four hits overall in a victory over the Orioles.

NJ.com reports:

Down three runs through five innings, the Yankees rallied for an 8-4 win to spoil the Orioles’ home opener.

Torres was the hero, as he was 4-for-4 with a single, double and two homers, including three-run, sixth-inning dinger that turned a 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 Yankees lead that held up.

By winning, the 3-4 Yankees avoided losing five of their first seven games for the first time since 1991 when a 2-5 start led to 71-91 season and the firing of manager Stump Merrill.

The Yankees appeared to be in big trouble Thursday, as the Orioles scored three first-inning runs facing James Paxton and were still ahead 4-1 through five.

John Wetteland Indicted On Three Counts Of Continuous Sexual Assault Of A Child

NBC Sports reports:

Former major league pitcher John Wetteland was arrested in mid-January on child sex abuse charges. Yesterday a Texas grand jury indicted him on three counts of “continuous sexual assault of a child.” He was released on $25,000 bond.

Specifically, Wetteland, 52, is accused of forcing a child to repeatedly perform a sex act on him. The assaults began in 2004, when the child was 4, and they allegedly occurred twice more during a two-year period.

Wettleland was a big league pitcher from 1989-2000, starring for the Dodgers, Expos, Yankees and Rangers. He led the American League with 43 saves in 1996 and, with Mariano Rivera setting up for him, helped the Yankees win their first World Series title in 18 years. He was a three-time All-Star and completed his 12-year career with 330 saves, which currently has him at 15th on the All-Time list.

Following his playing career he served as a bullpen coach for both the Washington Nationals and the Seattle Mariners.

This is not the first time pedophile busts and MLB stars have collided. Chad Curtis got busted for allegedly having interactions with a minor too.

Curtis is serving seven to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting the three student athletes while he was a substitute teacher volunteering in Lakewood High School's weight room. The victims, who were 15 and 16 at the time the assaults occurred, said Curtis touched their breasts, buttocks and genitalia under the guise of giving them "rehabilitative massages" in a secluded room. A Barry County jury found Curtis guilty of six counts of criminal sexual conduct after a week-long trial in August. He is serving his sentence at Harrison Correctional Facility in Adrian. The lawsuit filed Friday, April 11, in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids accuses Curtis of counts of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Lakewood Public Schools and the board of education are accused of violating the plaintiffs' constitutional rights and violating Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which protects people from discrimination in education programs or activities based on sex.

Washington DC and Hollywood are currently covering up a major pedophile scandal of their own called PIZZAGATE that centers around the death of two late rock n roll stars, Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington. Learn more HERE.

Jacob deGrom Ties Bob Gibson's Consecutive Quality Starts Streak And Hits A Homer!

Newsday reports:

The Mets’ ace dominated the Marlins for seven shutout innings, plus hit the second home run of his career in a 6-4 win Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep. He struck out a career-high 14 and allowed three hits and one walk.

“That was probably the best I’ve felt in a long time,” said deGrom, the best pitcher in baseball last year.

Manager Mickey Callaway said: “There’s been so many [good deGrom games] in a row I didn’t even realize that it was 14 Ks. He just does the same thing every time. You look up at the end and it’s something really impressive.”

Combined with RBI extra-base hits from Amed Rosario, Pete Alonso and Robinson Cano, deGrom’s all-around masterpiece was enough for another Mets victory, the finishing touch on a 5-1 season-opening road trip ahead of their first game at Citi Field at 1 p.m. Thursday.

The game was an ordinary one until the top of the third, when deGrom crushed a first-pitch fastball from Trevor Richards (six innings, three runs) into the Mets’ bullpen in right field. His only other homer came July 18, 2017, at Citi Field against the Nationals.

DeGrom said he stepped up to the plate trying to go deep.

Among deGrom’s noteworthy numbers:

* Wednesday was his 26th consecutive quality start (at least six innings, three runs or fewer). That ties Bob Gibson (1967-68) for the longest such streak in major-league history. 

Gibson’s quality start streak ran from Sept. 12, 1967 until July 30, 1968. DeGrom’s streak started on May 18, 2018. He’ll attempt to break the record next week against the Minnesota Twins.

* DeGrom racked up double-digit strikeouts in each of his first two starts, the first pitcher in Mets history to do so. He has 24 total in those 13 innings.

* He is up to 26 consecutive scoreless innings dating to last season, a personal best (topping his 24 1/3-inning run in early 2018).

“It’s showing off that he probably has the best stuff in all of the major leagues,” Callaway said.

 “What he’s doing is historic. You got to have really nasty stuff to be able to do that.”

Last March, DeGrom and NY Mets agreed to a five-year contract extension worth $137.5 million.

Christian Yelich Starts Season Off With 4 Homers In 4 Games

Last year's National League MVP is back at it again. After striking for a four game homer streak that was ended finally... he still won the latest Brewers victory with a clutch double.

ESPN.com reports:

Yelich homered for the fourth straight game on Sunday, becoming the sixth player to homer in his team's first four games, joining Willie Mays, Mark McGwire, Nelson Cruz, Chris Davis and Trevor Story. That was only the first part of his Sunday heroics, as he came up in the bottom of the ninth with two runners on and the Brewers down a run -- and did this off Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks:

Yelich had a perfect day Sunday, going 2-for-2 with three walks. He hit .500 in his first series, with six runs, eight RBIs, six walks and only one strikeout as the Brewers took three of four from the Cardinals. It was a nice lift for Milwaukee, which opened the season with closer Corey Knebel and All-Star reliever Jeremy Jeffress on the injured list, with Knebel electing Friday to undergo Tommy John surgery.

For a team that relied so heavily on its bullpen last season, it's a big cloud hanging over the start of the season, especially with a tough schedule the first month. By the end of April, the Brewers will have played three series against the Cardinals and two against the Dodgers, along with facing the Reds, Cubs, Angels, Mets and Rockies.

That puts a lot of pressure on Yelich to show that his 2018 MVP season wasn't a fluke. He nearly won the Triple Crown, thanks to a Babe Ruth-like second half in which he hit .367/.449/.770 with 25 home runs in 65 games. In September, with a division title at stake, Yelich hit .370, slugged .804 and drove in 34 runs in 27 games. It was one of the best clutch stretch runs in MLB history. Ryan Braun is just one teammate in awe of Yelich right now:

Ryan Braun on Christian Yelich: "I’ve never seen anyone this good at baseball for this long. I mean, maybe Bonds in his prime. As great as Trout is. I’ve seen Pujols. Like, I’ve never seen anyone this good for this long."

Khris Davis Hit His Fifth Home Run In 7 Games

                                 Janie McCauley of The Associated Press reports:

Khris Davis hit his fifth home run over Oakland’s first seven games, Ramon Laureano connected and also saved a run with a perfect throw home from center field, and the Oakland Athletics scored their first five runs via homer to beat the struggling Boston Red Sox 7-0 on Monday night.

Davis led the majors with 48 homers last season, and he went deep again leading off the second against David Price (0-1), who then struck out three straight before giving up Laureano’s leadoff drive the next inning.

Chad Pinder added a two-run homer in the sixth for the A’s to back Aaron Brooks (1-0). The right-hander tossed six scoreless innings with six strikeouts and a walk to continue a stretch of stellar outings by A’s starters. They have given up just one run over 30 innings the past five games since the team returned from an 0-2 trip to Tokyo, all allowing three hits or fewer. There has been a pair of shutouts, too.