The general rule in Major League Baseball and other pro sports is that the big spenders have an unfair advantage.  They get to drop major coin to acquire elite talent and then ride those purchases on to post-season glory.  Well, that's the theory anyway.  But how has it worked in practice in the Majors this season?

#1 Spender: New York Yankees = $197,962,289

Perfect!  The theory is flawless.  The highest spending team has the best record in the AL right now.  All is right with universe.  Capitalism rocks!

#2 Spender: Philadelphia Phillies = $174,538,938

Uh oh.  The theory has met its first exception, or will it prove to be the rule?  Inquiring minds want to know!  As you probably know, the Phillies have been a season-long disappointment and provided ironclad proof that no amount of money can stop a team from being ravaged by old age and injuries.

With the Rockies in the first half of this season, Jeremy Guthrie was beyond awful. I don't even need to rattle the stats off. They were *bad*. But since a trade to the Royals last month, Guthrie has been...dare I say...pretty damn good. In his six starts with Kansas City, Guthrie has a 3.23 ERA, 31 strikeouts, and just eight walks in 39 innings. After getting rocked in his first two starts, allowing 11 runs in 10 2/3 innings against the Twins and Mariners, Guthrie has been even better. In 28 2/3 innings, Guthrie's ERA is just 0.94, and he's struck out 23 while walking five, including a 7 2/3 inning, two unearned run performance yesterday in a 5-2 Royals win over the White Sox. That's a pretty good return for the Royals, who dealt just the struggling Jonathan Sanchez to the Rockies for Guthrie.

Game of the Day: Pirates 6, Cardinals 3 (19 innings). This game was insane. It saw the Cardinals empty their entire bullpen, and the Pirates nearly empty their entire bullpen *and* dip into the rotation. Two pitchers, James McDonald and Adam Wainwright, were used as pinch hitters. Hell, each team used 22 of the 25 men on their rosters. It was just nutty. But how did we get here? Well....there wasn't a lot of drama in the first nine innings. The Cardinals got two runs on a Carlos Beltran double to take a 2-0 lead in the fourth, and the Pirates tied it up with two of their own in the sixth. Then, scoring stopped for the next ten innings until the Pirates took the lead in the 17th on a Garrett Jones RBI infield single. Of course...Juan Cruz blew the save, allowing a sac fly to backup catcher Tony Cruz. Pittsburgh didn't wait ten innings to score again, plating one in the 19th on a Pedro Alvarez solo homer and two on an Andrew McCutchen single. Wandy Rodriguez got a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning to earn his first win as a Pirate...and it came as a reliever. Good god.

Visalia, CA -- Remember the scene from the movie "The Natural" when Roy Hobbs hits a home run so high and far that it hits a bank of lights, causing the to burst into a brilliant shower of falling embers? Well, what happened in Visalia California on Thursday night echoed that scene, only in a much less heroic and dramatic way.

It was the last game of the homestand for the Visalia Rawhide, who were facing the Modesto Nuts in a battle for first place in the California League Northern Division. The game had gone back and forth, but entered the bottom of the ninth inning 5-4 in favor of Modesto. Leadoff hitter Ryan LaPensee grounded out to second base, but before doing so, hit a foul ball that struck and broke a light bulb just above the first base side of the grandstand. There was a small explosion, and some falling glass that crashed to the ground behind the grandstand (where, thankfully, no one was standing). Next, outfielder Ender Inciarte dropped a base hit into left field. Everyone in the ballpark continued to monitor the spot where the light bulb had been, which was still meagerly smoking. The following batter struck out bringing Mike Freeman, perhaps the Rawhide's most clutch hitter, to the plate. Freeman had heroically ended numerous games for the Rawhide this season, including several walk-off base hits in front of the home crowd. Freeman, a left-handed batter, doubled down the left field line, missing the foul line by less than a foot. Inciarte rounded third, but was held as the baseball began to leave the left fielder's hand. Second and third, two outs and the Rawhide's leading home run hitter, 6'7" John Griffin, stepped to the plate. Remaining on the mound for the Nuts was left-handed late-inning reliever Isaiah Froneberger. Even with first base open, Froneberger looked set to pitch to the powerful Griffin with left-handed power hitter Yazy Arbelo on deck.

By now, I'm sure everyone has heard about Melky Cabrera's 50 game suspension for PED use that will knock him out of action for the rest of the regular season, and likely cost him millions in free agency. But before his suspension was announced, Cabrera had put together a fraudulent plan to absolve himself of the suspension by using loopholes in the CBA, much like Ryan Braun did...except Braun's loopholes were actually valid in his case, and not completely fabricated.

The New York Daily News has the full story, and it sure is a doozy. 

The scheme began unfolding in July as Cabrera and his representatives scrambled to explain a spike in the former Yankee’s testosterone levels. Cabrera associate Juan Nunez, described by the player’s agents, Seth and Sam Levinson, as a “paid consultant” of their firm but not an “employee,” is alleged to have paid $10,000 to acquire the phony website. The idea, apparently, was to lay a trail of digital breadcrumbs suggesting Cabrera had ordered a supplement that ended up causing the positive test, and to rely on a clause in the collectively bargained drug program that allows a player who has tested positive to attempt to prove he ingested a banned substance through no fault of his own.

Yeah, that's right: Melky's genius plot was to have one of his "associates" create a website for a fake product, and attempt to pass it off as a complete misunderstanding on his part, and not his fault at all, vilifying himself in the eyes of fans and MLB officials.

I normally don't feature the same game two days in a row, but this is a special circumstance. Last night, the Angels were up 8-0 on the Rays through four, and everything looked right with the world. Of course...this is the 2012 Angels we're talking about here. And quite frankly, you can't pin this loss totally on the bullpen, even though they had a large part to do with it. In the fifth inning, Angels starter CJ Wilson (you know, the ace who got a mammoth contract this offseason) seven runs on five hits and two walks, with the inning capped off by an Evan Longoria two-run homer. All of a sudden, an 8-0 game was 8-7. The Rays tied it in the sixth, and took a 10-8 lead in the eighth after a Carlos Pena two-run homer. That gave the Angels another absolutely heartbreaking loss. Also, I'll give the Rays bullpen a shoutout. They threw 6 1/3 scoreless in relief of Alex Cobb, allowing three hits, three walks, and tallying six strikeouts in the win.

Game of the Night: Mariners 3, Twins 2. Look at the Mariners, on a cute little four game winning streak with a run differential nearing neutral. A Joe Mauer fielders choice in the seventh gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead, but Seattle tied it up in the bottom of the inning after a Justin Smoak solo homer. In the ninth, Tyler Robinson loaded the bases without getting an out, and was pulled for Casey Fien, who allowed a walk-off sac fly to John Jaso to give the Mariners another solid comeback win.

The Houston Astros continued revamping their franchise under new owner Jim Crane by firing manager Brad Mills, along with first base coach Bobby Meacham and hitting coach Mike Barnett. Houston has far and away been the worst team in baseball this year, with a pathetic 39-82 record that is nine games worse than the Cubs for baseball's worst record.

Crane's revamp of the organization began in the offseason, when he brought in new team president George Postolos and GM Jeff Luhnow. The bloodletting has continued during the season with numerous trades, including those of Carlos Lee, Wandy Rodriguez, Brett Myers, Brandon Lyon, and JA Happ, among others.

The firing of Mills was expected for awhile, but many expected that it would come at the end of the season as opposed to in the middle of August. But with the team mired in a horrendous 6-29 skid, a change was inevitable.

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The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are collapsing. Since the All-Star Break, the Angels have gone 14-20. They've gone from three games up in the wild card standings to 2.5 back. In the AL West, the Angels have lost three games in the standings, falling to seven back behind a Rangers team that has been a .500 team since the break. Last night was the nadir of the Angels problems, getting shelled 12-3 at home by the Rays with ace Jered Weaver on the hill. Weaver allowed nine runs while getting just nine outs, and he was summarily outdueled by James Shields, who the Angels declined to acquire at the trade deadline despite getting involved in conversations with the Rays. The lone bright spot all season for the Angels has been Mike Trout, who continues to be the front runner for both Rookie of the Year and MVP in the American League. But man, it's been a rough go of things for the last month in Orange County.

Game of the Night: Braves 4, Dodgers 3 (11 innings). Tommy Hanson's return from the DL for the Braves wasn't a rousing success, with the redheaded righty allowing three runs in 6 2/3 innings, but showing decreased velocity that was an issue for the Braves when he was initially put on the DL two weeks ago. The Braves trailed 3-1 heading into the eighth, but managed to piece together a rally to tie the game against Dodgers starter Chris Capuano and Ronald Belisario, who relieved him. Neither team could break the tie in the ninth, and the game went to extras. Eventually in the 11th, deadline acquisition Brandon League allowed both David Ross and Paul Janish to reach before Jamey Wright relieved him and allowed a walkoff single to Juan Francisco, giving the Braves a nice comeback win and letting them keep pace with the Nationals in the NL East.

When you hear the name "Giancarlo Stanton", the one baseball trait that should come to your mind is "massive homers". In tonight's Marlins-Rockies game at Coors Field, Stanton delivered one of his trademark blasts to left center that landed five rows from the top of the concourse. As soon as he made contact, Rockies pitcher Josh Roenicke just gives it a glance, knowing it's long gone.

Steve Berthiaume of ESPN later tweeted that the homer was measured at 494 feet, the longest in baseball since 2009. Holy crap, what a shot.

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Our former associate editor Matt Lindner has unearthed a cool little cool thing the Cubs are doing: offering a Groupon (for the low price of $30,000) for a fan to throw out the first pitch before a ballgame, along with some other assorted perks. 

The Groupon, which is still available and has just one total offer, will give a Cubs fan a memorable experience that goes beyond just throwing out the first pitch before the game, scheduled for August 30th against the Brewers. In addition to throwing out the first pitch, the buying fan will get to watch the game in a suite along with 14 friends (and a former Cubs player) with free, unlimited food and drink, watch batting practice before the game on the field, have a mock press conference, and take a personal tour of Wrigley Field, among other smaller perks.

This is a pretty cool experience for a fan, and the best part of it all is that if anyone buys the $30,000 package, the proceeds are going to the Chicago Cubs Charities. This is an awesome looking experience if you're in the area and have money to burn.

The offer will end at midnight central time on August 26th, so fans still have time to potentially get friends to pool some money together and take advantage of this.

[h/t: ESPN Playbook]

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When the Houston Astros opened Minute Maid Park in 2000 (then known as Enron Field before *that* happened), there was an interesting quirk in a park full of them. That quirk was the inclusion of a 90 foot wide inclined hill in center field known as Tal's Hill, in reference to former team president Tal Smith. The hill is thought of as absolutely ridiculous in 2012, and the center field fence behind the hill (436 feet away from home plate) is just way too far out. However, there may be a savior in the form of new Astros owner Jim Crane, along with the new regime he's put into play. 

During an interview on Thursday night, Crane dropped this minor bombshell.

He also said the Astros are soliciting fans’ opinions on the future of Tal’s Hill in center field and that fans have said “they don’t see a lot of sense in having that 436(-foot fence) in center. We’re looking at a design that would incorporate some other things out there. We could use that space for a lot of different things.”