Tigers’ Delmon Young pleads guilty in N.Y. harassment case

NEW YORK — Detroit Tigers star Delmon Young pleaded guilty Wednesday to aggravated harassment in an incident last spring where he shouted an anti-Semitic slur and tackled a man to the ground outside a Manhattan hotel, prosecutors said. The 27-year-old left fielder was ordered to …

GROCHOWSKI: Sabermetrics can clarify crowded MLB awards picture

Much of sabermetrics involves using statistics to evaluate individual contributions while filtering in outside influences, such as park effects and the contributions of teammates. Next week, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America will be announcing its major awards for the season. Today, let’s look through …

Champion Giants’ offense much better than it seemed

The San Francisco Giants had an amazing road run on the way to their World Series title, with three consecutive road victories against the Cincinnati Reds, one to avoid elimination against the St. Louis Cardinals and two more to put away the Detroit Tigers.

The …

Bruce glee: Manager Bochy does it again as Giants win World Series

DETROIT — Bruce Bochy climbed out of the dugout and slowly crossed the first-base line Sunday night. Watching the 6-3 manager methodically make his way to the mound, it looked like just another pitching change. Except Bochy was walking to a mound that was crowded …

Ex-Cub Ryan Theriot 2 wins away from 2nd title in 2 years

SAN FRANCISCO — As the Giants took the field for batting practice Wednesday before Game 1 of the World Series at AT&T; Park, former Cub Ryan Theriot and some teammates marveled at a media throng so big they had to sidestep cameras, lighting equipment and …

Giants win the pennant with 9-0 Game 7 victory, will face Detroit in World Series

SAN FRANCISCO — Rookie shortstop Pete Kozma moved to his right, only to watch the line drive off Hunter Pence’s broken bat inexplicably change directions when the shattered barrel hit the ball a second and then third time.

Three runs scored on a strange double …

Giants, Ryan Vogelsong beat Cardinals to force Game 7

SAN FRANCISCO — Ryan Vogelsong and the San Francisco Giants saved their season once more, pushing St. Louis to a winner-take-all Game 7 in the NL championship series. Turns out the defending champion Cardinals aren’t the only team that’s tough to put away in October. …

GROCHOWSKI: Best MLB teams do it with hitting and pitching

Baseball teams do not live by bats alone, nor are arms enough to do the trick without a little run support. The object, after all, is not just to score or prevent runs but to score more than the other guys. At billjamesonline.com, columnist Dave …

Giants beat Cardinals behind Barry Zito, send series back to Bay

ST. LOUIS — The San Francisco Giants waited quite a while for this kind of performance from Barry Zito. The soft-tossing lefty was at his best Friday night, pitching San Francisco back into the NL championship series with a 5-0 win over the St. Louis …

Detroit Police gear up for World Series

DETROIT — Law enforcement agencies in Detroit are expected to meet early next week to discuss security strategies heading into Major League Baseball’s World Series. Detroit police Sgt. Eren Stephens says the meeting had been scheduled Friday, but was postponed. Federal, state and county agencies …

Former Cubs broadcaster Bob Brenly named TV analyst for Diamondbacks

PHOENIX — A day after leaving the Cubs’ television booth, former Arizona Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly  rejoined the team as a TV analyst Thursday. Brenly replaced former Cubs first baseman Mark Grace, who left voluntarily in August after his second drunken-driving arrest in 15 months. …

Beltran sub boosts Cardinals to 3-1 win in Game 3 of NLCS, Yanks-Tigers PPD

ST. LOUIS — Carlos Beltran limped to the trainer’s room, taking the St. Louis Cardinals’ biggest clutch October bat with him.

Turns out they had the perfect substitute.

Matt Carpenter hit a two-run homer after subbing for Beltran and the Cardinals chased Matt Cain before …

Verlander, Tigers edge Yankees 2-1 in ALCS Game 3, one win from World Series

DETROIT — Justin Verlander took a shutout into the ninth inning and the Detroit Tigers held on to beat the New York Yankees 2-1 Tuesday night for a 3-0 lead in the AL championship series.

Phil Coke gave up consecutive singles with two outs in …

‘Total runs’ shows Yankees’ Robinson Cano is best player still in action

Throughout this season, I’ve used WAR (Wins Above  Replacement) as a method of comparing players. Another method makes the comparison in terms of runs rather than wins. It first was described in John Dewan’s The Fielding Bible II, and numbers from 2003 to date are …

Giants beat Cardinals 7-1 in Game 2 to even NLCS

SAN FRANCISCO — Marco Scutaro bounced back from Matt Holliday’s hard slide by delivering a big hit of his own that helped the San Francisco Giants get their first home win this postseason, 7-1 over St. Louis on Monday night that tied the NL championship …