Tuesday’s Battery

A few news items and notes from around Major League Baseball today…

On a tragic note, baseball has lost one of it’s greats. Harmon Killebrew lost his battle with esophageal cancer on Tuesday at the age of 74. “Killer” had fought the cancer for years, and had just recently put himself in hospice care, effectively ending his fight. He was the AL MVP in 1969, and an 11-time All-Star with the Minnesota Twins. Arguably the face of the Minnesota Twins, Killebrew was also said to be the inspiration for the modern MLB logo. He will be sorely missed in the baseball world.

Bruce Bochy and Ron Washington named their assistant coaches for the 81st All-Star Game on Tuesday. Among the winners are Kirk Gibson of the Diamondbacks, Jim Riggleman of the Nationals, Manny Acta of the Indians, and John Farrell of the Blue Jays. The All-Star Game is on July 12th at Chase Field in Arizona, and will be televised on Fox.

Oakland A’s pitcher Dallas Braden, who threw a perfect game on May 9th of last year, had surgery on his left shoulder, and will miss the rest of the 2011 season.

Finally, this from the “bizzare” desk… Royals pitcher Vin Mazzaro was lit up for 14 runs on 11 hits in only 2 1/3 innings. He was the first pitcher in the modern MLB era to be tagged for that much damage. Suffice it to say, he was sent down to the Royals’ Triple-A squad immediately after the game.