Jered Weaver out after 12 pitches

It's been a terrible holiday weekend for elite pitchers in MLB. Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay went down early in an outing against St. Louis and now you can add the Los Angeles Angels' Jered Weaver to the list.

Weaver left tonight's outing against the New York Yankees after 12 pitches. The Angels say Weaver suffered a lower back injury.



Weaver didn't record an out and appeared to hurt himself on his second pitch to the Yankees' Robinson Cano. On a 1-1 pitch, Weaver landed gingerly. He tried to throw one warm-up pitch after the injury and immediately headed to the dugout.


This happened right as it looked like the Angels were starting to put it together.

Brewers' Lucroy injures hand in suitcase accident

In one of the more bizarre injuries of the Major League Baseball season, Milwaukee Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy was injured via suitcase.


Lucroy told Adam McCalvy of MLB.com that he was "reaching under his hotel bed Sunday night for a lost sock when his wife shifted a suitcase, which fell on Lucroy's hand."

Lucroy tried to make a go of it but couldn't do it and had to pull himself from the lineup.

“I didn’t want to say anything because I don’t like not playing,” he said. “I want to play. But I went down and took some swings and it didn’t feel good, so I had to spill it.” 

Phil Mickelson to get involved with potential Padres ownership group

Phil Mickelson is trying to get into the ownership game. Mickelson is reportedly putting up some of his own money to get involved with a group trying to buy the San Diego Padres. The Padres are Mickelson's hometown team.

Mickelson has joined the group headed by Kevin and Brian O’Malley and their cousins Peter and Tom Seidler, whose Top of the Third, Inc., owns the Single-A Visalia Rawhide, are one of five parties known to be exploring the purchase of John Moores’ controlling interest in the Padres. Their efforts are being guided by Peter O’Malley, the former Dodgers owner, but the senior O’Malley does not anticipate being actively involved in the Padres operation, preferring to leave that to “the next generation.”

"This was a unique opportunity with families that had done this before and know how to do it right and want to get involved in the community," Mickelson told the newspaper. 


Padres legend Tony Gwynn has backed a different ownership group but if the O'Malley team gets the deal Mr. Padre won't be shut out of the franchise completely.

“If we were able to get control, (Gwynn) would be the first person we’d want to get involved,” Mickelson said. “He’s such an icon with the team. Hopefully, it won’t be combative.” 


The franchise is twisting in the wind right now regarding their ownership status and they need someone to take full ownership of the team soon.

Paul Williams paralyzed in motorcycle accident

Two time welterweight champion, Paul "The Punisher" Williams is now in the fight of his life. Williams has been paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident Sunday morning in Marietta, Georgia. Williams has been listed in serious but stable condition after severing his spinal cord. Surgery is scheduled for Wednesday to try to stabilize his spinal column.

For a while Williams was known as the most avoided man in boxing until he endured a knockout loss to Sergio Martinez in a rematch from an earlier fight. Williams was scheduled to take on Saul Alvarez on September 15 in Las Vegas. His manager, George Peterson said Williams probably will never fight again.


The two-time welterweight champion Williams was in Marietta, Ga., to attend his brother’s wedding on Monday and was driving back from the bachelor party around 7 a.m. on Sunday when he got into the accident, Peterson said. Williams was going around a curb when he swerved out of the way of a driver of a car who was on the inside lane that Williams told Peterson was “on his cell phone.”


“He got separated from the motorcycle and must have gone about 65 feet in the air,” said Peterson, who left Williams’ side in the Atlanta area hospital to speak to the Daily News. He declined to give the name of the hospital to protect Williams’ privacy.


“He was doing about 75 mph on the motorcycle. When he came down, he came down on his back and when he came down on his back, of course he severed his spinal cord. He’s paralyzed from the waist down. In terms of him walking again... that will never happen.”

Peterson said that Williams is still in good spirits and believes that he'll box again.



“It’s the same old Paul,” Peterson said. “As I was walking out of the door to talk to you, he said, ‘Believe me, if I don’t ever box again, I’m going to do some stand-up comedy.’ He’s not suffering.”


"From the waist down, he has absolutely no movement. He's in very good spirits, though," Peterson told The Associated Press from his home in Aiken, South Carolina. "He still believes he's going to fight again."


The fight with Alvarez would have been one of the better fights of the year, but since it's now off, it's time for Williams to give thanks that he's still alive and try to attempt to walk again.

Johnny Tapia found dead in his home

Former five time boxing champion, Johnny Tapia was found dead in his Albuquerque home Sunday according to a police report. No known cause of death was given.

Authorities were called to the house at about 7:45 p.m. on Sunday, spokesman Robert Gibbs said. The death didn't appear to be suspicious, he said. The body is believed to be Tapia’s, but police could not say with certainty that it was. 


Tapia was the ultimate hard luck, underdog story in boxing. He had numerous run ins with the law and fought depression and his cocaine demons for most of his boxing career. Somehow he overcame them to win five championships in three weight classes, winning the WBA bantamweight title, the IBF and WBO junior bantamweight titles and the IBF featherweight belt. 

Despite his troubles outside the ring he was one of the more exciting boxers of the 1990s. He last fought in June, outpointing Mauricio Pastrana in an eight-round decision. He finished with a 59-5-2 record.

An autopsy will be performed within the next few days.