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Saturday, May 12, 2007

MLB--Mother's Day, etc.

First, an article about the Major-League debut of Andy LaRoche with the Dodgers last Sunday. He is the younger brother of Pirates 1st baseman Adam LaRoche, and Andy's debut came against Adam's old team, the Braves. The Braves traded Adam to the Pirates last winter. Here's a neat note about Andy's first ML hit, where Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur (a Christian), one of his brother's former teammates, helped take care of things for him:

When the ball La Roche struck for his first big league hit took a high bounce into the first row of the right-field stands, outfielder Jeff Francoeur, aware of its significance, ran to the fence and asked the fan to throw it back.

Here's the article: http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-dodrep7may07,1,3488704.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-mlb-dodger (originally found at: http://mlb.mlb.com/pa/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070507&content_id=1950883&vkey=mlbpa_news&fext=.jsp).

Here's another note about Cubs catcher Michael Barrett, a Christian, helping to raise money for his teammate Derrek Lee's foundation to raise money to help fight the eye disease that Lee's daughter has:

Good cause: Michael Barrett raised $12,000 for teammate Derrek Lee's Project 3000 during a silent auction Sunday at Gino's East restaurant. The top items sold were a "W" flag signed by the Cubs players, and four field passes.

"We had a lot of support from a lot of people," Barrett said.

That included a $300 donation from a youngster who set up a blog and promised $1 for every hit he got.

"I was so encouraged, I want to do another [fundraiser]," Barrett said.

Project 3000 is raising money to fight Lebers Congenital Amaurosis, a rare genetic eye disease, which has caused partial blindness in Lee's 4-year-old daughter, Jada.

Here's the article:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070508&content_id=1952977&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc&partnered=rss_chc.

Next, the annual MLB Mother's Day page, which includes some articles, articles about each team and the pink bats that many players will be using tomorrow, and postcards from a player on each team for their mom or wife. I'll add some specific things to check out too. Of note about the pink bats, at least the Rangers, Rockies, and Mariners bought two pink bats for each of their position players to use, leaving it up to each player to use them or not. Here's the page:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/mothersday/index_07.jsp.

Here's a quote from Stephen Drew, a Christian, in the Diamondbacks' pink bat article about his using a pink bat to honor a friend who died from breast cancer:

Drew, a deeply spiritual man, said that his friend's ordeal served as a reminder of how fragile life can be and what an insidious disease cancer is.

"You never know when life could end," he said. "You think you have all your life to live, but only God knows when you're ready. It's a touchy situation I guess you could say. We're talking about somebody's life. To swing the pink bat, I just look at it as a way to honor those who have gone through it, have fought through it. It's my way of paying tribute and acknowledging it."

Here's the article:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070508&content_id=1953554&vkey=news_ari&fext=.jsp&c_id=ari.

Here's a quote from Alex Rios in the Blue Jays article:

Jays right fielder Alex Rios is another member of the Jays who is excited to take the field on Sunday in honor of his mother.

"I thank god for the way my mom raised me," Rios said. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her support. [Sunday] will give me a chance to show that on the field."

Here's the article:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070508&content_id=1953950&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor.

Here's the last Mother's Day article for now, a quote from Eric Hinske in the Red Sox article about teammates Jon Lester and Mike Lowell overcoming cancer:

"I think it's helped us come together as a team," Hinske said. "We don't usually talk about it. It's not something you can talk about all the time. [Lester and Lowell] are always in our prayers and we'll be thinking about both of them on Sunday."

Here's the article:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070508&content_id=1953812&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos.

Lastly, a note about Georgia football head coach Mark Richt and Auburn football head coach Tommy Tuberville, who are both Christians, being friends and playing golf together. I guess the Georgia and Auburn don't like each other much though. Here's the article:
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2007/05/11/0513ugabuzz.html.

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