Free Republic

ANAHEIM -- The Angels' offense finally kicked into gear in the series finale against the Twins, but that wasn't even close to being the story. On Wednesday night, it was all about Jered Weaver, the ace pitcher who recorded his first no-hitter and the ninth individual no-hitter in Angels history, leading his club to a 9-0 victory that gave them the sweep and three straight wins for the first time this year. Weaver came in having given up just three runs in his last 21 2/3 innings. And prior to a two-out, seventh-inning walk to Josh Willingham, the only baserunner...

TAMPA, Fla. -- Twins outfielder Denard Span struck his mother, Wanda Wilson, in the chest with a foul ball during his at-bat in the top of the first inning on Wednesday at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Span was leading off the game against the Yankees' Phil Hughes when he fouled a 3-2 pitch directly to the left of the visitors' third-base dugout, where a group of his family members were settling in for the game. The ball struck his mother, and Span immediately dashed into the field-level seats, consoling her as help arrived. According to an announcement, paramedics checked on...

Over the 4th of July weekend, antiwar protesters demanded that the Minnesota Twins baseball team cancel a promotional giveway of "G.I. Joe" action figures. The Twins provided figures of the character "Duke" (the lead character in the G.I. Joe series, who shares his nickname with John Wayne) to 5,000 children who attended the July 5 game against the Kansas City Royals. The promotion was an attempt to honor American service men and women and was done after consultation with local veterans groups. Real veterans groups that is. John Varone, president of the Twin Cities chapter of Veterans for Peace, told...

G.I. Joe didn't start a war. In fact, he hardly caused a peep. Most of the 16,191 fans who showed up at the Metrodome on Monday seemed to favor the Twins' G.I. Joe action figure giveaway before a game against the Kansas City Royals, and the fictional battlefield commander "Duke" was met with little resistance from those who thought the promotion promoted war. "A few people rejected them," said Shelby Rhodes, who was part of a volunteer group from St. Paul Central High School handing out some of the action figures that were distributed to the first 5,000 children age...