The RP’s Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of The Diamond

The Tampa Bay Rays were not supposed to compete this year, after dumping most of their payroll last year. They really weren’t supposed to compete after it was announced that Evan Longoria was injured. They really, really weren’t once Manny Ramirez retired. However, here we are, almost a month into the season, and the Rays are in second place in the AL East.  And Evan Longoria might be coming back soon. [mlb.com]

Tim “The Freak” Lincecum took a no-hitter into the 7th inning last night against the owners of the best record in the National League–the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies finished with four hits and one run. Which is seven runs less than the Giant’s eight. That’s a weird way of saying that the Giants won last night, 8-1, over the Rockies. [ESPN]

The AL Central is the division most  up for grabs in baseball, in my opinion. If the White Sox want to compete for the pennant, they will need Jake Peavy.  Unfortunately, he only managed to throw 15 pitches in his first rehab outing. [Chicago Trib]

The RP has come out against Barry Bonds going to jail.  He now knows who to complain to about Bond’s conviction (the names of the jurors has been released) [Canadian Press]

Reds pitcher Mike Leake has been arrested on charges of shoplifting shirts for Macy’s.  Since this is a website about civility and being nice to people, and this is a story about a Reds player doing something incredibly stupid, I will just leave you with that. [ESPN]

Major League Baseball has one of the most draconian policies on the entire internet when it comes to hosting videos.  No site on the entire web is allowed to host a video of an MLB highlight, and MLB is very vigilant about ensuring these videos stay safe and sound at mlb.com.  This angers baseball and sports bloggers everywhere–and they weren’t about to take that sitting down.  Deadspin has decided to enlist the help of its readers to get reenactments of the previous night’s highlights as performed by youth baseball teams.  The response was overwhelming, and now Deadspin has released a contest where they have asked youth baseball teams to reenact major events in MLB history.  [Original Challenge] [Historical Challenge][Challenge Accepted]