The 68-year-old Cox admitted that age played a big role in this announcement.

Said Cox: “There is a little bit of relief once you come to grips with announcing it. I’ve never lost the love to manage, period. But you have to make a decision. At my age, you have to make a decision. Somebody a little younger can start up.”

Cox first managed the Braves starting in 1978 until 1981. After managing the Toronto Blue Jays, he returned to Atlanta in 1990 — and he’s been the manager ever since. A win on Wednesday gave him 2,409 wins during his regular season career.

The 4-time winner of the Manager of the Year award, Cox led the Braves to the 1995 World Series championship. The Braves didn’t announce who will replace Cox as manager after the 2010 campaign.

Bobby Cox - Atlanta Braves (Image: Zuma Press)

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Said Williams: “We’ve thrown away a dozen games that way this year. We’ve deserved what we’ve got. I’m not happy. I’m not happy with a lot of what I see, we’re underachievers, period.”

On the season, the White Sox are 61-58. In the AL Central, they trail the Detroit Tigers by two games. Manager Ozzie Guillen agreed with Williams’ assessment.

“Look at those guys we’ve got on the field, look at the guys we have on the bench,” said Guillen. “If we want to win this thing, we better get better than .500. Do we have the talent to do it? I think so. Do we have the right people on the field to do it? There’s no doubt.”

Williams has been willing to add a lot of money to the books to help the team on the field. He went out and traded for star pitcher Jake Peavy and acquired Alex Rios from the waiver wire.

If the White Sox don’t improve and get well over .500, expect Williams to make major changes in the offseason.

Ken Williams is mad at his Chicago White Sox (Image: Zuma Press)

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After a bitter breakup with the Braves, the 42-year-old Smoltz ended up signing with the Red Sox as a free agent. Coming back from a shoulder injury, Smoltz has been working all offseason and all regular season to get to this point.

Said Smoltz: “This is not the old or the new or the done. It’s just a new chapter in which when I have a baseball in my hand, I feel like I can make a pitch and do the things I have to do to take the sting out of the bat. And if that’s the case, we’ll progress and keep getting better every time out. But tomorrow is just one rung in the ladder to try and climb as far as I can to see how good I can be, and really at the end of the day to be in position to pitch in the playoffs.”

The playoffs look like a very good possibility for the Red Sox right now. With a record of 44-27, Boston has a five games lead in the AL East over both the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Smoltz believes that his return to the mound will leave Red Sox fans happy.

“It will be a success,” proclaimed Smoltz.

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He started the game with a solo homer in the fifth inning that tied the game at 1-1. In the seventh, he hit another solo shot to put the Red Sox up 2-1. Those home runs were number nine and number ten on the season for Varitek. Those power numbers are impressive considering he hit just 13 homers last year and hasn’t hit more than 20 since 2005.

Varitek’s night really heated up in the bottom half of the seventh inning. After Josh Beckett was obviously disappointed by the home plate umpire, Varitek came to Beckett’s defense and ended up getting ejected from the game. Red Sox manager Terry Francona joined the argument and he was subsequently ejected.

Oddly enough, the Twins lost their catcher and manager in the top half of the seventh. Catcher Mike Redmond got a quick ejection and then manager Rod Gardenhire was also ejected after a short argument.

Following the two Varitek homers and the four total ejections, the Red Sox were able to hold on to a 3-1 victory over the Twins.

Here is the Jason Varitek video showing his two homers and his ejection:

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With the Cubs beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1, Nyjer Morgan was trying to score when Zambrano placed a tag on him. The replays show that Morgan might have been out but the ump called him safe. Then Zambrano exploded. He bumped the ump, which got him ejected. Then he tried to toss the umpire and threw the baseball into the outfield. Zambrano finished off his rampage by beating up the Gatorade machine with a baseball bat.

Morgan’s run tied the game at two. But the Cubs then scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth and held on for a 5-2 victory.

Before getting tossed, Zambrano had given up one earned run in 6.1 innings.

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The former pitching phenom went 6.1 innings against the Texas Rangers and gave up only one hit and two walks while giving up no runs and striking out five batters. He threw exactly 100 pitches in his second start of the season. When he was replaced, Willis was greeted with a loud ovation for the fans in Detroit.

Said Willis: “I appreciate it. Now that I feel healthy and strong, I think I can start building some trust out there.”

With help from Willis’ mastery on the mound, the Tigers were able to hold on for a 6-0 victory over the Rangers. The victory lifted the Tigers to 21-16, while the Rangers dropped to 23-15 with the loss.

Dontrelle Willis, Detroit Tigers (Image: Zuma Press)

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The book, which is called American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime, was written by four reporters from the New York Daily News.

“I’ve seen excerpts of the book,” said Clemens. “They’re completely false.”

Clemens also insisted that he never used steroids and talked about his relationship with Andy Pettitte. But mostly, the topic surrounded the book.

“It’s piling on,” said Clemens of the book, “it’s hurtful at times. I’m trying to move on.”

Here is the Roger Clemens video of his ESPN Radio interview:

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Dom DiMaggio, Boston Red Sox (Image: Newscom)

In his career, which was partially interrupted due to World War II, had a batting average of .298, an on-base percentage of .383, 87 homers, 618 RBIs, 1046 runs, 308 doubles and 57 triples.

Dom DiMaggio was born in 1917 in San Francisco, California. His brother Joe DiMaggio was born in 1914 in Martinez, California and had a Hall of Fame career with the New York Yankees. Vince DiMaggio, the oldest of the DiMaggio brothers, was born in 1912 in Martinez, California and made the All-Star team twice while with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Vince DiMaggio died in 1986, while Joe DiMaggio died in 1999.

Dom DiMaggio’s funeral will be at St. Paul’s Church on Monday in the city of Wellesley, which is just a few minutes from Boston.

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After four starts, the 25-year-old flamethrower has a 0.00 ERA and has won all four of his starts. His latest win came on Friday night against the Tampa Bay Rays. He gave up only three hits, one walk and one unearned run while striking out ten batters. The unearned run was the first run of any kind he has allowed this season.

Last year, Greinke was very good. He had a 3.47 ERA with a record of 13-10. This season, though, he’s taken his pitching to a whole other level.

Early in his career, Greinke had some issues — both baseball and personal in nature — that didn’t allow him to reach his potential. But now that he has everything sorted out, he’s definitely the leading candidate for the 2009 American League Cy Young Award.

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The left-hander has a sore left shoulder that was operated on over the offseason. At 43, Glavine says he would rather retire than be forced to go through another complete rehab. His plan at the moment is to rest for two weeks and then see how his shoulder responds to the time off.

Prior to this season, the Atlanta Braves gave Glavine a $1 million contract that included many incentives. Last season, injuries held him to 13 appearances in which he had a 5.54 ERA and a record of 2-4.

Glavine’s career record is 305-203 to go along with a 3.54 ERA. The best season in his career was arguably in 1998 when he was 20-6 with an ERA of 2.47.

The Braves are currently 5-2 and sit in second place in the National League East.

Tom Glavine won his 300th game while with the Mets (Image: Flickr)

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