Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1215 of 1503)

The Brewers could be on the verge of acquiring San Francisco Giants second basemen Ray Durham according to the Milwaukee Sentinel.

More likely, it’s a minor deal involving either Durham and/or Giants reliever Jack Taschner. It appears the Brewers are sending minor league outfielder Darren Ford in whatever deal is being hashed out because he was removed from the starting lineup with Class A Brevard County today with indications he is being traded.

In 87 games this season, Durham is batting .293 with three home runs, 32 RBI and a .385 on-base percentage. His acquisition would provide another alternative at second base to Rickie Weeks, who has struggled to a .218 batting and .322 on-base percentage this year.

Ford, 22, is one of the fastest players in the minors but plays centerfield, a position at which the Brewers are well-stocked. In 91 games with Brevard, he is batting .230 with 48 stolen bases in 59 attempts.

Obviously this wouldn’t be an earth-shattering acquisition, but I like what the Brewers are doing. Durham is one of the few Giants that’s actually been decent with the bat and he would be an excellent addition to Milwaukee’s bench. Plus, giving up a minor league prospect like Ford – one that is being blocked – makes this an even wiser move.

FOX Sports.com ranked the top 10 biggest jerks of baseball’s first half.

10. Brett Myers
Hey, Brett, how you doing with those anger management issues? When Myers last made his case for biggest jerk in baseball, police were trying to determine if he’d hit his wife with an open hand or a closed fist. (His wife lobbied successfully to have the charges dropped.) Now he’s merely hurling obscenities at reporters.

5. Barry Bonds
There was a lot of debate within the Jerk Committee as to whether Bonds deserved a nomination. But the defending champion — and one of the all-timers — has to be given a chance to retain his title. Bonds’ only serious achievement in the first half was having 11 more counts added to his perjury and obstruction of justice indictment.

3. Alex Rodriguez
If the stories and allegations are all true — skipping out on his wife and newborn for liaisons with Madonna — Rodriguez has to be seen as the favorite for King Jerk of the first half.

1. Shawn Chacon
Chacon has a very strong case for First-Half Jerk thanks to his Latrell Sprewell redux with GM Ed Wade. While 94.5 percent of Americans may want to choke their bosses (the other 5.5 percent are unemployed, according to June stats), the rest of the country probably has a better case for assaulting a superior than the journeyman Chacon. Considering his career record (45-61, 4.99 ERA), shouldn’t he have been deeply indebted to Wade for putting him on a big league payroll? Apparently not.

That Brett Myers write up was rough – and incredibly fair. The guy can dole out jokes in the offseason, but when he starts the season 3-9 with an ERA just south of 6.00, he acts like a be-yotch.

– C.C. Sabathia is now 3-0 as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers after pitching a complete game four-hitter in a 9-1 win over the San Francisco Giants. Sabathia gave up just one run (an Aaron Rowand solo HR) and struck out 10. Thanks to a 2-1 Cubs’ loss to the Astros, the Brewers gained a game in the NL Central.

– Garrett Anderson went 4 for 4, knocking in five RBI and two runs scored in the Los Angeles Angels’ 11-3 romp over the Boston Red Sox. John Lackey improved to 7-2 on the year after allowing just three runs on five hits over seven innings. Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis homered in the loss.

– With Boston losing, the Tampa Bay Rays took advantage by topping the Blue Jays 2-1 thanks to Ben Zobrist’s two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. The Rays sit a half game up on the BoSox in the AL East.

– Alex Rodriguez hit his 20th home run of the year in a 7-1 Yankees’ rout of the A’s. Mike Mussiana – once demoted to the pen last year – is now 12-6 on the season.

– Thanks to a Cubs loss, the St. Louis Cardinals are now only three games out of first in the NL Central after beating the San Diego Padres 11-7. Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick each hit their 22nd dingers of the year and Yadier Molina hit a two-run RBI single in the eighth to break a 7-7 tie.

– The Mets’ 10-game winning streak was snapped as Bronson Arroyo (8-7) and the Cincinnati Reds defeated New York 5-2. Jay Bruce hit his seventh homer of the year. With the Philadelphia Phillies’ 4-2 win over the Florida Marlins, the Mets are now one game back in the NL East.

The Boston Herald (according to former WBZ sports director Bob Lobel) is reporting that Manny Ramirez was fined a “six-figured amount” last month for an altercation with one of the Boston Red Sox’s traveling secretaries. And per Lobel, Ramirez “sent a message” to the Red Sox in a July 6 game against the Yankees when he took three straight strikes without swinging while facing New York closer Mariano Rivera.

“Manny was fined six figures to go to a charity,” Lobel said this morning on sports radio WEEI. “That got [Manny’s] attention … he became a petulant child by being punished. No matter what the crime was, pushing an employee, that was the issue … he acted out [after they fined him]. They got his attention. He doesn’t like to be punished in any way, shape, or form… ”

“The thing that most people are forgetting and haven’t talked about is the strikeout in Yankee Stadium,” Lobel said. “The bat on the shoulder for the three pitches from Mariano Rivera. That was a big [expletive] to the Red Sox after the fine. I’m just telling you … there are things in the front office that are perceived … I’m saying that there is a strong feeling that that [three-pitch strikeout] was the message to the Red Sox and it’s a strong feeling that that’s unacceptable … there’s a feeling that he didn’t give it his all, let’s put it that way … I’m just saying the front office has not forgotten that moment. It’s akin to Nomar sitting on the bench [in a game in which Derek Jeter dove into the stands at Yankee Stadium in 2004]. It’s the same thing. It’s an at bat that resonated very strongly in the front office.”

All seemed relatively quiet on the Manny-Red Sox front over the past two years, but now the drama has apparently heated up again. I distinctively remember watching that Sunday Night Baseball game against the Yankees and wondered out loud why the usual free-swinging Ramirez never took the bat off his shoulders. Conspiracy theories in sports annoy me, but this one seems like it has legs.