MLB New Orleans

The third-place Yankees are in no position to deal with yet another distraction (Hank said what?! A-Rod is sleeping with who?!), but it's possible that Andy Pettitte, the team's best and most reliable pitcher this year, may be called in to testify in the defamation suit brought against Brian McNamee by Roger Clemens.

According to the New York Daily News, one of the claims Clemens is making against McNamee is that McNamee defamed Clemens by telling Pettitte Clemens used PEDs. McNamee's lawyer, Richard Emery, wants the judge to determine if the statute of limitations on that claim has passed, and doing so may require a hearing in which Pettitte will be forced to leave the Yankees and testify.

Sounds bad for the Yankees, right? It could get even worse. Emery has also requested that the defamation suit be moved from Houston to New York, which would allow Emery to subpeona a long list of witnesses, which includes Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Mariano Rivera, as well as team trainers and doctors.

All of a sudden, dealing with paparrazi on the A-Rod/Madonna beat doesn't seem too bad.

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The New Orleans Zephyrs, the Triple-A affliate of the Mets, recently had someone break into their stadium last week, pilfering $10,000 worth of groundskeeping equipment as well as a beer truck containing 51 kegs of Coors Light. From the Times-Picayune:

The burglars didn't crack the team's offices, but Zephyrs General Manager Mike Schline called the theft of the beer truck baffling. ...

Sheriff's deputies recovered most of the stolen property that afternoon and the next evening within two miles of the stadium, according to Sheriff's Office reports. The beer truck was intact, parked near an abandoned house with the keys in the ignition.

However, only 38 kegs were on board, Schline said.

The Sheriff's Office has not named any suspects in the case. Though the thieves managed to get away with makings for a rather rowdy get-together, Schline wasn't impressed.

"I don't think we're dealing with the most intelligent criminals in the world," he said.

There are no leads yet, but I hear they got four more detectives working on the case -- they got them working in shifts! Honestly, I don't quite understand Schline's condescension -- they haven't been caught yet and made away with 13 kegs of beer. If they were simply looking for a cheap way to party, it looks like they were smart enough to get the job done -- which is quite impressive, because in a 24/7 party-town like New Orleans, there's a good chance these guys were drunk before they broke in. (And bear with me on the picture -- I know they stole Coors Light and not Miller Lite, but you just can't pass up honest to goodness beer goggles ...)

via Can't Stop the Bleeding and The Feed

Cleveland Indians left-fielder David Delucci is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana so when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast back in 2005 he took it very personally. Through a foundation he started called Catch-22 For Blue, Delucci was able to raise over $100,000 to donate for hurricane relief.

When Katrina first hit, Delucci cut the Red Cross a check and it was doubled by the Texas Rangers, his team at the time. He also signed some baseballs to sell at a home game for $22 each, and they sold out before the first pitch.

"All game I'm thinking, 'I've got to do something,'" Dellucci recalled. "I called my agent that night and said, 'We need to put together a foundation to take this money and distribute it where I see fit.' Then I went out during the next game and was trying to think of ways to raise money. I was playing left field and coming up with ideas."

That idea was a rubber bracelet much like the Lance Armstrong "Livestrong" bracelet. On the bracelet was the phrase "Louisiana Lagniappe," which is a southern Louisiana phrase meaning "to give a little extra."

Well, 40,000 of the bracelets were sold, and the money was donated but as Delucci spent his offseason in Louisiana he couldn't help but wonder where a lot of the money has gone.

"Some areas are really moving forward and really rebuilding," he said. "But some areas are moving very slowly. You would think they would be further along in the rebuilding process than they are. I think there's a block in between what is being donated from other citizens around the country and what is actually filtering into the needy people down there. Nowadays, you don't know exactly where your money is headed. I wanted the people who donated money to feel confident that it was all going where I advertised it to be going."

As far as the money Delucci has donated, he knows exactly where it's going. Not just to people of New Orleans but other members of the Gulf Coast who were affected.