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Suspicious death of juvenile in West Point

Larry Stone

Time for an old-fashioned seven-game World Series

Larry Stone The Seattle Times

Last updated Wednesday, September 16, 2009 - 6:52pm

The enduring term "pennant race" has really been a misnomer for the past 40 years, ever since divisional play dictated that first-place teams needed to do additional work to obtain the league-title flag.But by any name, nothing excites a fan like good, tight competition down the stretch. And with the advent of expanded playoffs and wild-card teams, there are now eight potential "pennant" races for the price of one.

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Mariners' prospect from Nicaragua wows them from the minors

Larry Stone The Seattle Times

Last updated Thursday, September 10, 2009 - 6:28pm

SEATTLE -- The 2009 statistics of Mariners' pitching prospect Erasmo Ramirez leap off the page: 11-1 record, 0.51 earned-run-average, .174 opponents batting average.

And especially this: 80 strikeouts, and just five walks, in 88 innings. Yes, five walks.

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Seattle Pilots' short flight to be chronicled

Larry Stone The Seattle Times

Last updated Sunday, August 23, 2009 - 9:24pm

SEATTLE -- The most amazing part about talking to Jim Bouton, as I have been privileged to do several times through the years, is the obvious pleasure he still derives from the old "Ball Four" stories.
One can only imagine how many times, during the past four decades, he has reminisced about the prank that he and his Seattle Pilots teammates pulled on Fred Talbot after the pitcher hit a grand slam during the team's "Home Run for the Money" promotion.
And yet, here Bouton was on Friday, gleefully giggling over the phone about how Talbot fell hook, line and sinkerball for the fake telegram sent by Bouton, purporting to be Donald Dubois of Gladstone, Ore.
Talbot's slam had won $27,000 for Dubois, and Bouton's telegram offered to send a $5,000 prize to Talbot out of gratitude.

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In picking baseball All-Stars, every man counts

Larry Stone

Last updated Sunday, July 5, 2009 - 9:00pm

The Mariners haven't had more than two All-Star selections in one season since they sent five to Chicago in 2003 -- the last vestige of the glory years at Safeco Field before the bottom dropped out of M's baseball.
On the surface, this hardly seems the year for the Mariners to once again pepper the American League with players. They're having a nice rebound season, no doubt, but they're in the middle of the pack in the AL, barely on the national radar.
Yet anyone mulling over a potential All-Star team -- the real one, with its intricate mixture of fan and player voting as well as managerial selections, will be announced on Sunday -- will see how persuasive a case there is for four Mariners to be in St. Louis on July 14.

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Baseball rankings

Larry Stone

Last updated Sunday, July 5, 2009 - 8:59pm

Larry Stone's power rankings
Last week's ranking in parentheses
Team
1 Dodgers (1) Canceled promotions: Manny Ramirez Female Fertility Drug Ingesting Bobblehead
2 Boston (2) Smoltz can't wait for October, barely remembers what it's like to get eliminated
3 Yankees (3) Manny offers best ambiguous, nonspecific apology since Jason Giambi

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