Aaron Judge sends 495-foot home run over Yankee Stadium Bleachers

By Tony Mangia

Aaron Judge continues to wow fans with his amazing home run hitting prowess but, on Sunday, the gentle giant added an almost unbelievable shot to his young and growing legacy.

A day after hammering a home run hit harder than any one recorded in the Statcast era — a rocket with a 121.1 mile-an-hour exit velocity according to the charts — Judge went orbital again.

“I’m sure he can hit it up to 122 or 123,” teammate Gary Sanchez said after Saturday night's bomb. “He has a lot of power.”

Less than 15 hours after Sanchez's statement, and against the same Orioles team, Judge not only hit the ball with authority, he hit it for distance — 495 feet to be exact.

BOOM! Aaron Judge cleared the bleachers! pic.twitter.com/t0o6tUk535

— 120 Sports (@120Sports) June 11, 2017

The reaction of his teammates shows the marvel of a home run ball hit into No Man's Land like that.

The best part of the dugout celebration might be 5'8" inch Ronald Torreyes getting a shoulder boost up to reach the 6'7" Judge's high five.

Forget bat flips. Aaron Judge pretty much has the best home run celebration of all time, with a little help. #Yankees #Bombs pic.twitter.com/kZFIYBzNDE

— Jason Hartelius (@jasonhartelius) June 11, 2017

All rise... again.

Kevin Kiermaier's home run-robbing catch at Camden Yards was 'Trout-like' (VIDEO)

During the Rays' 6-3 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards on Monday, Rays centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier showed once again why he is quickly becoming one of the best defensive outfielders in Major League Baseball.

Kiermaier chased down a first-inning Manny Machado fly ball to deep right-center and made a leaping catch that was well ... "Trout-like."

The catch helped Tampa Bay move to within 3 1/2 games of Texas for the second Wild Card spot. And you know Kiermaier's pitcher, Chris Archer, appreciated the leaping grab, even if he didn't show it.

Kiermaier was later forced to leave the game with a mild ankle strain but the comparisons to Mike Trout's spectacular catch at the Camden Yards fence in 2012 stayed on everyone's mind.

You make the comparison:

Five-year-old girl throws out first pitch with Orioles-themed robotic hand (VIDEO)

Little Hailey Dawson was born with a rare congenital disease called Poland syndrome, which left the 5-year-old without fingers on her right hand.

But she now has a robotic one made by engineering students at UNLV who used a 3D printer to construct a special, Baltimore Orioles-themed prosthetic hand for her. And that ingenuity allowed Hailey to throw out the first pitch before the O's hosted the A's at Camden Yards on Monday

With her favorite player, third baseman Manny Machado, crouching in front of her, Hailey wound up with her Orioles-customized hand and delivered. 

Hailey Dawson's first pitch to her favorite player, complete with fist bump and a hug. Watch: http://t.co/rnzvzrA6in pic.twitter.com/PQWPNGmaVP

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 18, 2015

It was an incredible moment where sports and science came together to help fulfill a little girl's dream.

Mike Trout had quite a birthday...powdered head and all (VIDEO)

There are a lot of things Mike Trout does really well, hitting home runs, throwing out runners and, apparently, letting himself be part of a locker room gag.

And on his 24th birthday Friday, the reigning AL and All-Star MVP did all three.

First, the Angels star was treated to a pre-game birthday cake — in the form of powder and a cracked egg on top of his head — by teammate Albert Pujols (probably the only one with enough clubhouse clout who could get away with it). Kole Calhoun captured the shenanigans:

With no candles to blow out, Trout just treated himself to a home run for the third time on his birthday — a 423-foot shot that the slugger will probably re-gift to opposing teams in the future.

Then two innings later, threw out Adam Jones at second base with laser shot from the outfield wall before the Angels went on to beat the Orioles 8-4.

Quite a night.



The Angels might want to start celebrating every player's birthday by dumping cake mix onto their head. Blowing out the candles is overrated anyway.

Orioles' Manny Machado gets knocked down by fake throw (VIDEO)

Manny Machado had to laugh at himself after he awkwardly tumbled to the ground early in the Orioles 3-2 loss to the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday.

When Orioles third baseman Jonathan Schoop took the relay throw from the outfield and considered going home with the ball, Machado appeared as if he was looking for a cutoff from Schoop, who was only a few feet from him.

And as Schoop faked a mighty throw home, Machado decided it was better to just get out of the way of the ball by falling right on his can.

Problem was ... there was no throw.

Welp. See you next Fall. pic.twitter.com/Ndq2eotQ26

— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) July 22, 2015

Pedro Martinez entertains crowd with dance moves during ALCS 'light delay' (GIF)

There was a six-minute "light delay" before the start of the ALCS Game 1 thanks to the studio lamps above the TBS broadcast desk distracting the batters at the plate.

While the umpires and spectators stared up at the pesky lights overlooking Camden Yards, waiting for some grip or gaffer to hit the off switch, analyst Pedro Martinez took the opportunity to entertain the anxious crowd by turning on his dance moves.

And it was only apropos when the stadium sound guy punched up Journey's "Lights" as a soundtrack until the Orioles' starter, Chris Tillman, finally got to throw the series-opening first pitch.

Hey, it's better than a Superdome blackout ... I think.

Dog chews up Orioles fan's playoff and World Series tickets: Report

Tell me if you've heard this one: My dog ate my …

Well this life-long Orioles fan hopes at least one Camden Yards ticket-taker has.

Karl Breslaw's Baltimore Orioles playoff and World Series tickets almost became Kibbles & Bits after his dog chewed up the valuable ducats.

"I didn't think much of it," Breslaw said about hearing a truck pull up outside his Maryland house. "A couple minutes later it dawned on me what that truck was."

It was FedEX delivering his precious tickets.

"I went outside and I found basically this, scattered all over the place," he said holing up shredded cardboard and papers.

Breslaw's seven-month-old 80 pound Burmese mountain dog names Fezzik got to the tickets first, chewing them to a pulp.

The good news is, while the world series tickets are damaged at the top corners, the bar codes and seat locations are in tact. So, he can thank technology if the Orioles made it that far.

"The first time I've ever had any package damaged in any way, shape, or form. It had to be a playoff ticket; it couldn't have been my wife ordering something mundane from Amazon, it had to be my playoff tickets."

Breslaw isn't mad at Fezzik's taste for playoff tickets: "Oh, he's still my big boy. We're bonded for life."

Next time Fezzik, just chew on the delivery guy's leg.

Jeter's Yankee Stadium rainout could cost ticket brokers $12 million in refunds: Report

A rainout for Derek Jeter’s Yankee Stadium farewell would give ticket brokers a multimillion-dollar bath — and leave fans standing in the cold, if you believe secondary market ticket sellers.

The National Weather Service predicted a wet and windy Thursday, and that storm front could cause ticket brokers to lose about $12.5 million on the Captain’s last game in Yankee Stadium, said one expert, according to the N.Y. Daily News.

“It would be a disaster for brokers if this game is rained out and never made up,” said Connor Gregoire of SeatGeek.com.

 “Brokers will lose all the profits they would have otherwise made on this, the most expensive regular season ticket in MLB history.”

Gregoire noted that roughly 30,000 tickets were resold — some more than once — since Jeter announced his retirement in February.

The average price of those tickets was $415 — and has grown to over $600 as it became clear the Yankees were not making the playoffs and this would be Jeter’s final home game and maybe his last major league game — period. 

The Captain hasn't decided if he'll play any games in Boston. 

The ticket brokers will have to return all that money if the game between the playoff-bound Orioles and the Yankees is canceled.

“Real, live profits are going down the drain for them,” said Chris Matcovich of TiqIQ.com. “They would have to refund all the money. Hopefully they have it in escrow.”

It’s unlikely the Yankees-Orioles game would ever be made up if rained out — and the forecast calls for about a 90-percent chance of rain at the 7 pm start time until at least 10 pm.

It'll be interesting to see how long the umpires wait before calling the game. But I'm sure the fans would stay overnight for a morning send-off.

The brokers would like that.

Adam Jones robs homer, nails runner for double play (VIDEO)

The Orioles got back on track Monday night with a 9-1 rout of the Rays — aided by five O's homers, including back-to-back-to-back shots in the fifth inning.

But it was an outstanding play by All-Star center fielder Adam Jones in the sixth inning that added a little defense to the night's power-packed highlight reel.

Jones scaled the wall in center to rob Evan Longoria of a home run and was still able to double off Matt Joyce who was tagged at second base.

That's some serious hops and an arm out there.

Oblivious fan nearly struck in face by line-drive foul ball (VIDEO)

During Tuesday night's Orioles-Rays game, Steve Pearce ripped a pitch foul into the seats that just misses hitting an oblivious fan along the third-base line at Tropicana Field.

As you can see in the video, the gabbing guy in the white shirt was just inches from getting a free facial — and possibly killed.

There something to be said when a gorilla in the stands is the voice of reason and seems to tell the lucky guy, "Pay attention!"