J.J. Hardy has been traded from the Milwaukee Brewers to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for Carlos Gomez.

The teams announced the deal on Friday.

Hardy, a shortstop, hit .229 last season with 11 home runs and 47 RBIs. He had a combined 50 home runs in 2007 and 2008.

He has a career batting average of .262 with 75 home runs and 265 RBIs in 571 games.

Highly regarded prospect Alcides Escobar is expected to be the Brewers’ starting shortstop next season.

Gomez hit .229 with three home runs and 28 RBIs in 2009. He played in 137 games, often as a defensive replacement.

Hardy will is likely to replace Orlando Cabrera who is at present unsigned. If Cabrera remains a Twin, Hardy is likely to be moved to 3rd base.

I think the Twins came out ahead on this trade. Gomez is a run of the mill 4th or 5th outfielder.

The Red Sox acquired outfielder Jeremy Hermida from the Florida Marlins Thursday in exchange for left-handed pitchers Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez.

Hermida, 25, hit .259 with 13 home runs and 47 RBIs over 129 games with the Marlins in 2009 and set a career high with 56 walks. The left-handed hitter appeared in 81 games (73 starts) in right field and 51 (40 starts) in left. He made just one error in 205 total chances for a .995 fielding percentage, sixth among qualifying National League outfielders. He appeared in only three games after Aug. 31 because of an intercostal strain on his right side.

What the move means

ESPN’s Peter Gammons thinks the Red Sox’s acquisition of left fielder Jeremy Hermida gives them flexibility. Story
Hermida, Florida’s first-round pick (11th overall) of the 2002 draft, has a .265 career batting average with 57 homers and 210 RBIs in 516 games.

*****

Jones, 25, made his major league debut this season with Boston and appeared in 11 games in relief. The left-hander posted a 9.24 ERA with the Red Sox, compiling nine strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings. In 36 relief outings with Triple-A Pawtucket, he was 4-3 with two saves and a 4.25 ERA. The Red Sox signed Jones as an undrafted free agent out of the Cape Cod League.

The 20-year-old Alvarez combined to go 9-4 with a 2.26 ERA, 74 strikeouts and 16 walks in 26 games (12 starts) between Class A Salem and Short-A Lowell in 2009. He led the New York-Penn League with a 1.52 ERA while recording eight wins over 14 outings (12 starts) with Lowell. Signed by the Red Sox as a nondrafted free agent on July 2, 2005, Alvarez has compiled a 23-15 record and a 3.21 ERA in 76 career minor league appearances (48 starts) in the Red Sox system.

As usual with ninety percent of the trades made by the Marlins, the main motivation is monetary not the talent received for the player they are trading. Hermida was eligible for salary arbitration this off season.

Hermida after a good start to his pro career has been disappointing the last two years. Alvarez sounds like a good prospect, Evans on the other hand is 25 which is a late age(but not unheard of) to be trying to establish themselves as a MLB pitcher. The Marlins may come out all right from this trade but we won’t know for a few years.

San Francisco Giants star pitcher Tim Lincecum is facing misdemeanor marijuana charges following a traffic stop in his home state.

Washington State Patrol spokesman Steve Schatzel said Thursday that the 2008 Cy Young Award winner and former star at the University of Washington was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 5 in the town of Hazel Dell, about four miles north of the Oregon border, on Oct. 30.

An officer approached Lincecum’s 2006 Mercedes and smelled marijuana as the pitcher rolled down his window. Schatzel said Lincecum immediately complied with a request to hand over the drug and a marijuana pipe from the car’s center console.

The amount measured was 3.3 grams. Schatzel said police consider that a small amount for personal use, well below the maximum of 40 grams before possession is classified differently and carries a more severe penalty.

I think marijuana should be legalized. Way too much taxpayer money and law enforcement time is spent trying to combat this relatively harmless substance. Legal drugs or substances, cigarettes and alcohol, would continue to do more to society than marijuana if all three could be legally obtained.

Yankees designated hitter Hideki Matsui has driven in six runs in Game 6 against the Phillies to tie Bobby Richardson’s record for most RBIs in a World Series game.

Matsui hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the second, a two-run single in the third – both coming off Philadelphia starter Pedro Martinez – and a two-run double off J.A. Happ in the fifth inning on Wednesday night to give New York a 7-1 lead.

Richardson accomplished the feat for the Yankees on Oct. 8, 1960, in Game 3 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Yankees are up 7-3 with two outs in the ninth inning. It’s looking like the Yankees will win yet another World Series and this NY Met fan isn’t happy. My wife is rooting for the Yankees too!

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been plugging holes after trades for years, but filling the Freddy Sanchez void proved difficult.

On Tuesday, the team agreed to acquire second baseman Akinori Iwamura from the Tampa Bay Rays for reliever Jesse Chavez.

*****

Iwamura was batting over .300 early last season for the Rays before sustaining partial tears of the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee. He returned in September and batted .290 for the season in 69 games. He was Tampa’s everyday second baseman when the Rays went to the World Series in 2008 and batted .274 with six homers, 48 RBIs and a .349 on-base percentage.

*****

Chavez led Pittsburgh and all major league rookies with 73 appearances in 2009, going 1-4 with a 4.01 ERA in 67 1/3 innings. He was taken in the 42nd round in 2002 by Texas, and made his major league debut with the Pirates with 15 appearances in 2008.

The Rays think they have 2nd base plugged with Ben Zobrist. Maybe they do, but the team got shockingly little compensation for Iwamura. A run of the mill reliever was the best Tampa could do?

A Philadelphia newspaper has apologized to readers for mistakenly running an ad congratulating the Philadelphia Phillies on winning back-to-back World Series titles.

The New York Yankees held a commanding 3-1 lead in the championship as of Monday, the day the ad was printed in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The three-quarter-page Macy’s ad is on the back of the front section and features a T-shirt with the Phillies logo, the commissioner’s trophy and the phrase “Back To Back World Series Champions.”

The Inquirer said it deeply regrets the error. It is instances like this, the Mark Whicker controversy of a few months ago, that make me believe newspapers that newspapers will print almost anything. You can’t tell me not person screened the advertisement before hand and then didn’t ask themselves- “Isn’t this premature?” It shows a horrifying lack of standards at best and at worst that a publication will run anything for a dollar. Is it any wonder newspapers are dying right this minute?

A Dominican Republic tribunal has ordered the Washington Nationals to pay $40,000 in damages to a scout who was fired after signing a prospect who lied about his age.

Jose Baez, the Nationals’ former director of operations in the Dominican Republic, sued the team for what he said was an unjustified firing. The court issued its order last week.

In 2006, Baez and special assistant to the general manager Jose Rijo signed a player who identified himself as 16-year-old Esmailyn Gonzalez. The Nationals gave the player a $1.4 million signing bonus.

A Major League Baseball investigation determined Gonzalez was about 4 years older than he said and also lied about his name.

At least two other MLB teams have had recent problems with Dominican Republic recruiting. Kickbacks, falsifying one’s age, and steroid use seem to be the norm for some MLB hopefuls.

Brad Mills is the new manager of the Houston Astros.

The 52-year-old Mills has been Terry Francona’s bench coach in Boston for the past six seasons. He’ll manage in the majors for the first time, though he’s managed a total of 11 seasons in the minors, with affiliates for the Chicago Cubs (1987-92), Colorado Rockies (1993-96) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2002).

The Astros fired Cecil Cooper on Sept 21. Third-base coach Dave Clark served as interim manager for the final 13 games and Houston finished 74-88. Clark was one of 10 candidates to interview for the full-time position, and he spoke for a third time with the team on Tuesday.

The Astros made an offer to former Nationals manager Manny Acta over the weekend, but Acta accepted the Cleveland Indians’ offer instead.

Mills will have work to do. The Astros have endured two losing seasons in the four years since reaching the World Series in 2005, and Mills is the fourth manager hired since the middle of the 2004 season.

If Mills don’t get help from the Astros’ front tenure, his tenure in office won’t be much if all more successful than those of his last few predecessors. The Astros thought Mike Hampton and Russ Ortiz could help the team in 2009. Is this team’s farm system that worthless? Anyone could have told the Astros that Hampton is way past washed up.

Note- Mills was a utility infielder with the Montreal Expos in the early 1980’s.

The Cleveland Indians have hired Manny Acta as their manager.

Acta signed a three-year contract with a club option for 2013, team spokesman Bart Swain said Sunday. Additional terms were not disclosed.

Acta was fired by the Washington Nationals in July.

The Indians chose him after a second round of interviews over former New York Mets manager and ESPN analyst Bobby Valentine and Indians Triple-A manager Torey Lovullo.

Acta had a .385 winning percentage while leading Washington. That is pretty awful, but the Nationals are a woeful team. So I think it is safe to say Acta will do better in Cleveland.

The Mariners’ experiment of having the first Japanese catcher in the major leagues has ended two years early.

Kenji Johjima opted out of the final two seasons and $15.8 million of his contract, allowing him to sign with a Japanese team.

Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik said Monday the decision came somewhat unexpectedly over the weekend, and that it was solely Johjima’s. Zduriencik said the Mariners did not pay any money to buy out their former starting catcher, who said last season he was struggling to accept Seattle benching him in favor of rookie Rob Johnson.

Johjima’s contract gave him the right to end it by Nov. 15 for the purpose of finishing his career in Japan. He gave up salaries of $7.7 million next year and $8.1 million in 2011.

“After lots of very deep thought and deliberation, I have decided to return home to resume my career in Japan,” Johjima said in a statement. “I have had a wonderful experience competing at the major league level. The last four years have been extraordinary, with great teammates and great coaches. I will always be indebted to the Mariners organization for giving me the opportunity to follow my dream.

“This was a very difficult decision, both professionally and personally. I feel now is the time to go home, while I still can perform at a very high level.”

Maybe Johjima misses Japan and is homesick. I haven’t read any reports of his being unhappy with his playing status.

When Derek Jeter led off Game 3 with a homer into the bullpen, this AL Championship Series seemed uncomplicated. Power hitting and steady pitching appeared to be driving New York to the World Series.

About 261 minutes, 14 pitchers, six homers and several big blunders later, a winning hit by a backup catcher left only one thing certain in this cuckoo series: The Los Angeles Angels won’t be trampled by the mighty Yankees.

Jeff Mathis drove home Howie Kendrick with a two-out double in the 11th inning, and the Angels survived a second straight ALCS thriller, beating New York 5-4 Monday to trim the Yankees’ series lead to 2-1.

“There was a lot of great baseball on that field this afternoon,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “There were a lot of twists and turns, and both teams played a terrific game. We just got it done at the end.”

Kendrick, himself a part-time infielder, homered and tripled before singling with two outs in the 11th off rookie Alfredo Aceves. Mathis followed with his drive up against the left-field wall, and Kendrick slid home well ahead of a desperate throw, setting off an on-field celebration of the backups’ bonanza.

Mathis, a .211 hitter in the regular season, came up with his third late-inning, extra-base hit of this outlandish series, just two days after the clubs’ 310-minute, 13-inning icy epic in Game 2.

Besides taking reliever David Robertson out of the game when he was pitching well, Girardi went through seven relievers in four innings. He also made the comical decision to replace outfielder Johnny Damon with DH Jerry Hairston after already taking out starting Designated Hitter Hideki Matsuki. With Damon’s removal, the Yankee pitchers were then required to hit.

I’m sure Yankee fans are howling about all of this right now. They should remember their team is still up 2 games to 1 and are still favored to win this series. If the Yankees win the World Series, the dumb moves of Joe Girardi in last night’s game will be forgiven if not forgotten also.

Larry Jansen, the winning pitcher for the New York Giants in the 1951 playoff game decided by Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” has died. He was 89.

Jansen was the losing pitcher in Game 2 and Game 5 of that Series.

The Chicago Cubs baseball team filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, a step that will allow its corporate parent to sell the team in an $845 million deal.

The filing in Wilmington, Del., was anticipated and is expected to lead to a brief stay in Chapter 11 for the Cubs. A hearing on the case was scheduled for Tuesday.

It comes as part of the Tribune Co.’s plans to sell the team, Wrigley Field and related properties to the family of billionaire Joe Ricketts, the founder of Omaha, Neb.-based TD Ameritrade.

Tribune, which also owns the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, filed for bankruptcy protection in December, but the Cubs were not included in the filing. The team’s run through Chapter 11 is expected to protect its new owners from potential claims by Tribune creditors.

Tribune bought the Cubs in 1981 for $20.5 million from candy maker Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. It announced plans to sell the franchise in 2007, but got tripped up by the recession and the collapse of the credit markets.

The complexities of bankruptcy law fly far above my head.

Other U.S.as pro sport franchises that filed bankruptcy-

The Seattle Pilots in 1969
The Baltimore Orioles in 1993
The Phoenix Coyotes last year.

With the present state of the U.S. economy as it is, I wouldn’t be surprised if more teams or sports organizations go bankrupt.

Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Jamie Moyer was hospitalized this week with a blood infection, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said Friday.

Moyer, who underwent surgery Oct. 2 to repair three torn muscles in his groin and lower abdomen and was to miss the rest of the season and postseason, was “doing fine” and has been in Thomas Jefferson University hospital in Philadelphia since Wednesday, Amaro said.

Moyer has “some type of blood infection and will likely stay one more night, getting the fever down and taking antibiotics,” Amaro said, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Not sure how he got it.”

Moyer’s wife, Karen, confirmed in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Saturday that her 46-year-old husband was doing OK.

That’s good news and I wish Moyer a speedy recovery.

I myself just spent four days last September in the hospital due to an infection. It wouldn’t surprise me if Moyer gets antibiotics at home. For 10 days I had a portable I.V. machine attached to me.

Today’s Philadelphia Phillie-Colorado Rockie game has been postponed.

Game 3 of the Phillies-Rockies playoff on Saturday night has been postponed because of cold, snowy weather.

Major League Baseball rescheduled the game for Sunday night at 10:07 p.m. ET, and Game 4 was pushed back to Monday, at a time to be determined. Game 5, if necessary, will be played as scheduled on Tuesday in Philadelphia, without a day off for travel.

Has a MLB postseason game ever postponed before due to snow?

Will the extra day in Denver disrupt cause problems with Philadelphia’s hotel accommodations? The Tampa Bay Rays had to find a new hotel during when last year’s World Series was extended due to weather.

A sheriff’s official in Georgia says former major league pitcher Brian Powell has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 35.

Powell was 7-18 with a 5.94 ERA in 59 games for Detroit, Houston, San Francisco and Philadelphia. He last pitched in the majors with the Phillies in 2004, and spent 2005 in Triple-A for Washington.