MLB Bullets Dreams The Impossible Dream

It's been a long, hot weekend, and now it's time for again for baseball. Of course, between March and October, it's always time for baseball.

• Our first story isn't even about MLB, but it is about baseball. The Indiana Hoosiers beat Florida State, becoming the first Big Ten team since 1984 to make the College World Series in Omaha. It's Indiana's first-ever trip to Omaha. I've made lots of jokes about the quality of Big Ten baseball in the past, but even though it's Indiana, I'm thrilled for them. And if any other conference wants to mock our baseball, we can now point to Indiana while we challenge them to a hockey match.
• Brandon McCarthy had a seizure at a restaurant in Phoenix last Monday, which was related to his being hit on the head with a line drive last season. Luckily, his wife Amanda was there (who's probably almost as famous as Brandon these days--I fully expect them to star in the MLB Network's first sitcom after he retires) and got him help quickly. They also got good news in that he won't need any additional surgery and his condition should be able to be controlled with medication. McCarthy was already on the DL and this seizure probably will not extend his stay.
• The Rangers wanted to induct Juan Gonzalez into their Hall of Fame, but he said "No thanks."
• The slumping Mets shook up their roster by demoting three players to Las Vegas, including first baseman Ike Davis.
• In good news for the Mets, Matt Harvey feels fine after exiting after seven innings with back stiffness on Saturday.
• Jay Jaffe wants to know why Kirk Gibson let Ian Kennedy throw 50 pitches in one inning. So do two of my fantasy teams.
• The Diamondbacks drafted a paralyzed former Arizona State player in the 34th round of the draft.
• D-Backs hurler Daniel Hudson tore his UCL in his comeback from Tommy John surgery. This means he's going to have to have the operation a second time and serves as a reminder that while the success rate of TJ surgery is excellent, it's not 100%. A few players never come back.
• Natitude is back. At least it was on Sunday.
• Apparently one team was interested in trading for Alex Rodriguez this past off-season: the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. The Yankees never responded because they 1) knew ARod would never agree to it and 2) knew Fukuoka wouldn't be interested if they knew how injured he was.
• I'm sure this question will get a lot of impassioned responses around here, but Rob Neyer asks "Was Corey Patterson a bust?" The point is he did play over 1200 games in the majors.
• Matt Kemp suffered a setback and is going to be out longer than the Dodgers thought he was going to be.
• Yasiel Puig may end up being the Cuban Mike Trout, but the Dodgers are still lousy.
• Chien-Ming Wang opted out of his minor league contract with the Yankees and signed with the Blue Jays. He'll start for Toronto on Tuesday.
• Also starting on Tuesday is former #1 pick Gerrit Cole, who will make his major league debut for the Pirates.
• I always thought that throwing up in the bullpen between innings was forbidden, but apparently Chad Gaudin did it twice on Sunday. Oh, that kind of throwing up. Gaudin still got the win.
• Pablo Sandoval is probably heading to the DL.
• Chipper Jones has apologized for his poor sense of humor. Think twice, tweet once.
• Tim Brown looks at the legend of El Oso Blanco: Evan Gattis.
• The Royals sure have had a lot of "can't miss" prospects who have missed. Although I would quibble that no one ever called Christian Colon "can't miss." Maybe Harold Reynolds, but he doesn't count. And the article does admit the jury is still out on Eric Hosmer.
• Two looks at the upcoming off-season free agent class from Yahoo's Jeff Passan and CBS Sports.com's Dayn Perry.
• Joe Mauer has eyes in the back of his head. He'd make a great fourth grade teacher.
• Ben Reiter of SI.com looks at how Jason Giambi has gone from being a PED pariah to a clubhouse leader in Cleveland.
• I agree. I don't care what you think. The new University of Louisville Cardinals uniforms are awesome. Len Kasper should ask Jim Deshaies if they look familiar to him.
• Finally, we talk a lot about acquiring baseball talent from Asia, but we only think about getting players and not broadcasters. Well, some team ought to hire this Taiwanese announcer simply for his home run call. After a Manny Ramirez blast, he says, in English, "This ball is gone, just like ex-girlfriend that will never return." Awesome. Why didn't Len Kasper ever think of that one?
• Seriously. I love Asian baseball.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Because there will be more baseball.