World Best Sports

PS3 owners go positively gaga every year over Sony’s highly praised MLB: The Show. PlayStation 2 and original Xbox maniacs adored EA Sports’ MVP Baseball 2005, a game that’s still applauded as one of the best baseball extravaganzas ever. Even way back in the dinosaur days of the early ’80s.

When Microsoft’s Windows was but a gleam in Bill Gates’ eye, there was Major League Baseball for the Intellivision—justifiably the best-selling title ever for Mattel’s memorable old-school gaming system. We could prattle on if we weren’t under certain word-count restrictions, but the point is that most every console of note has had a really great baseball game to accompany it.

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College World Series fans could have the World Cup to thank for some possible late nights at Rosenblatt Stadium in June.In order to accommodate ESPN's coverage of the soccer tournament in South Africa, the CWS will revise start times for games on three days of the double-elimination portion of the baseball tournament. It also plans to start the two or three games of the championship finals a half hour later.

ESPN also broadcasts the CWS, which will run from June 19-30 at Rosenblatt.The CWS has had start times of 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. in recent years for days when two games are scheduled. The start times will remain unchanged for the first two days of the tournament but will switch to 3:30 p.m. for the first games on Monday, Tuesday and Friday.

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Chicago's A.J. Pierzynski hit a two-run homer to highlight a three-run third inning, and Los Angeles catcher Mike Napoli also homered as the White Sox and Angels played to a 4-4 tie Thursday before the Cactus League opener for both teams was called after nine innings.

Chicago left-hander John Danks played his first professional game with brother Jordan Danks, who started in right field, and worked two scoreless innings in his first spring start. Jordan Danks went 0 for 2 with a walk. He was caught stealing in the ninth.

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Omir Santos tried on his new batting gloves, said to slow the impact of a harmful fastball down to the mere annoyance of a junkball, and voiced excitement. "I think it's going to help," the New York Mets catcher said. "It sounds like it's going to work."

The latest high-tech protective product in a sport that's slow to accept innovation, the batting gloves are manufactured by the startup company XProTeX, which hired former All-Star Reggie Smith to go around spring training trying to persuade big leaguers to switch.

Bob Watson, Major League Baseball's vice president of on-field operations, said his department already has given its approval, which is necessary for all on-field gear.

"We looked at the data. No, I didn't put it on and take a fastball," said Watson, a former All-Star himself. "Now, is this going to stop all major injuries? That I can't tell you, but according to the data, it should cut down on broken bones and severe injuries coming from pitched balls."XProTeX was formed by X Bats president Jack Kasarjian, whose company is known for supplying maple bats to major leaguers and — at about $100 each — to youth ballplayers. After consulting the former president of the motocross equipment company SixSixOne, Kasarjian developed an impact-absorbing material called Advanced Impact Composite.

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Many maple bats will be banned in the minor leagues this season, part of Major League Baseball's push to stop shattered shards of wood from flying dangerously through the air. New regulations will prohibit bats made from ultra-light maple. The low-density wood often is found in bats with big barrels and thin handles, creating a whip-like action when swung.

Softer red maple and silver maple — not commonly used — will be completely eliminated by the 30-plus companies approved to make bats.

The bans apply to players who are not on 40-man rosters and have no major league experience. Baseball often tests new rules on minor leaguers, be it drug tests or pace-of-game ideas, because most of them are not in the MLB players' union and such moves do not require union approval.

MLB and the union have been extensively studying the issue of broken maple bats since 2008, as splintered barrels wildly helicoptered all over the field and into the stands.

"I think all bats are dangerous," said Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman John Lindsey, who has spent 15 years in the minors without a major league call-up. "It's not like maple was the first bat to break. At times, they just look crazy, but when bats break they fly all the time, no matter what kind of wood.

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Omar Vizquel's wish list is impressive: he's already held an anaconda by the tail and donned a matador's outfit in a first step toward bullfighting. Flying in an F-16 and sky diving are also on his radar.

First, though, there's more baseball ahead for the 42-year-old infielder — this time with the Chicago White Sox, who are managed by his fellow Venezuelan Ozzie Guillen.

Vizquel can't wear his familiar No. 13 because Guillen has it and won't give it up. So he went to yet another countryman who played shortstop in Chicago, Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio, and got his blessing and his permission to unretire No. 11 and wear it this season.

"I was intimidated a little bit to ask him," Vizquel said Thursday as he reported to spring training.

Aparicio was named American League Rookie of the Year as a member of the White Sox in 1956 and the 10-time All-Star played 10 seasons with Chicago. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1984, the same year the team retired his uniform number. "It's not easy just to ask a legend like him to wear that number," Vizquel said. "But I think the good relationship I have with him made me pop the question. … He hesitated a little bit, he thought about it and he gave me a little smile and said, `Well, if there is somebody that I want to wear my number, I think that person can be you.' It was like a shock and it made me feel good.

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Tom Ricketts  once sat in the bleachers at Wrigley Field, cheering for the Chicago Cubs. On Tuesday, with the players gathered around him in the spring training weight room, he addressed the team that his family now owns. His message was simple: He and his family will be around and do everything possible to help the Cubs win.

"If there is anything we can do better, let us know," Ricketts said he told the players. For his part, Ricketts is already taking steps. There are new upgrades at Wrigley Field, including an improved clubhouse and weight rooms, a new players' lounge, a new club in the outfield and better restrooms for fans. The Ricketts also raised ticket prices on some seats at the storied stadium.

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Oakland Athletics pitcher Justin Duchscherer is off to a slow start at spring training. The two-time All-Star, who missed all of last season after having surgery on his right elbow and being treated for clinical depression, didn't throw Sunday during the first workout for Oakland pitchers and catchers.

Duchscherer is feeling pain in his lower back and is likely to undergo some procedure Monday to treat the problem. While Duchscherer missed out, oft-injured Ben Sheets was at work.

The four-time All-Star was pounding the strike zone, and the sound of his fastball hitting the catcher's mitt echoed during the Athletics' practice.

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Tim Lincecum might have thought he was on a mound last Friday, not outside a St. Petersburg arbitration hearing room. "My adrenaline kicked in a little bit, just because of what I was going through. Nerves. Butterflies. All the excitement. Tiredness," Lincecum said Thursday of the emotions he felt in the hours before his arbitration hearing was to begin.

As it almost always does when Lincecum is wired up, things worked out just fine. Lincecum avoided an arbitration hearing at literally the last hour, when he and the Giants agreed to a two-year, $23 million contract. He will make $8 million this season and $13 million in 2011, with a $2 million bonus to be split between the two seasons.

"I'm completely happy with what happened," said Lincecum, the two-time defending NL Cy Young Award winner. "I don't know the significance that much. The bump in pay … I don't know how to put it into words."Lincecum's contract was the richest signed by a first-year arbitration-eligible player, exceeding the $6.25 million contract Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon signed last January to avoid arbitration.

Lincecum, 25, also has a chance to earn $2.05 million in bonuses over the next two years, including $500,000 for winning a Cy Young Award and $100,000 for making an All-Star team.

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 Washington Nationals reliever Brian Bruney  has asked an arbitration panel for a raise from $1.25 million to $1.85 million. The team argued during Tuesday's hearing that he should be paid $1.5 million. A decision by arbitrators Steven Wolf, Sylvia Skratek and Dan Brent is expected Wednesday, when Bruney turns 28.

Washington acquired the right-hander from the New York Yankees on Dec. 7 for a player to be named, outfielder Jamie Hoffmann, whom the Nationals selected with the first pick of the winter meeting draft.

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