Anyway, in an effort to do our small part here at GDL, we'll provide updates on the progress of Team USA and, to a lesser extent, other teams around the world. The following is Team USA's schedule, one we'll break down sometime next week...

Surely a postseason without Captain Clutch and the Bombers would be a blow to American morale and family values, but what if, ::gasp:: the Boston Red Sox were also October absentees?

The AP is reporting that Diamondbacks' pitcher Dan Haren has signed an extension worth $44.75 million over four years...

The debate over whether she uses her attractiveness to get access to athletes seems pretty straightforward to me. Um. Yeah? Andrews not accentuating her physical features would be like a student not using college connections to get a prestigious internship or a reporter not utilizing a personal relationship with a high-profile athlete. It's just dumb...

Possibly the most exciting thing to happen in Kansas City since the Pony Express, last night gave us another case of the baseball flat-out refusing to leave the playing field.

However, unlike the Johnny Damon play, this one rolled along the edge of the padded wall before left fielder Ross Gload swatted it back into play...

According to the Sporting News, the days of care-free pissing may soon be over, as a biotechnology company is in the process of developing an HGH test using urine samples...

Following up on last week's examination of the FBI's Dominican skimming investigation, Melissa Segura has an in-depth look at the buscones responsible for connecting international prospects with Major League teams.

The article profiles Edgar Mercedes, a bookie turned buscon. Mercedes discovered pitcher Michael Inoa when he was 13-years-old and hasn't left his side since. He acted as a form of agent during Inoa's negotiations with the Oakland A's, who eventually inked him to a record $4.25 signing bonus...

The whole Bleacher Creature roll call thing at Yankee Stadium is cute in a drunken and slightly homo-erotic way, and it's nice to see at least a little civil fan-player interaction nowadays. A-Rod should at least have the right to be acknowledged before he is booed mercilessly the rest of the game.

Now, players are expected to recognize the chants, but rarely do you see someone go above and beyond the call of duty by saluting the Creatures while simultaneously fielding a ground ball...

It's been a pretty slow week in baseball thus far, but there are a few crucial series in store for us over the next four days. With the races in every division separated by only a few games, these mid-July matches will likely end up as difference makers...

As an non-Red Sox fan, his antics are hilarious, and it's good to see someone having the kind of fun you rarely see in professional sports. But, with Ramirez' adventures in the outfield adding up, you have to wonder how long the organization is willing to value his hitting over the baggage that comes with it...

I legitimately thought the Rally Monkey died after 2002. After all, how much sense does it make that your franchise's hype machine is a stuffed animal that only appears when the team is losing? Doesn't that kind of reinforce the wrong concept...

Part one showed that the Yankees are, historically, in the ideal position to make a run at the playoffs. However, certain factors unique to this season may impede the Bombers' pinstriped march to the postseason:

At 53-45, New York has been consistent in its early season underachieving over the past four years, posting similar records through 98 games since 2005. During each of those years the Yankees recovered to make the playoffs.

So, does New York really have a legitimate shot at making some noise come September? If history is any indication, all signs point to yes:

Nobody wants to slog through a bunch of stuff they already know along with some hack predictions. So, I figure, why use 10 paragraphs when all we really need about a team is 10 words? If you want to 1,500 rambling words that finally come to what is usually a wrong conclusion, you can go read Bill Simmons or S.A.S. Here, we try to streamline our wrong conclusions to maximize efficiency. And laziness...

Nobody wants to slog through a bunch of stuff they already know along with some hack predictions. So, I figure, why use 10 paragraphs when all we really need about a team is 10 words? If you want to 1,500 rambling words that finally come to what is usually a wrong conclusion, you can go read Bill Simmons or S.A.S. Here, we try to streamline our wrong conclusions to maximize efficiency. And laziness...