Sgt. Roger Griggs of the Denton Country Sheriff’s office: “She said he was complaining of being depressed and contemplating suicide.”

Wetteland might be best known for his stint with the New York Yankees. In fact, Wetteland was named the MVP of the 2006 World Series. Few remember that it was Wetteland and not Mariano Rivera who closed games for the Yankees that season.

Other than the Yankees, Wetteland also pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Montreal Expos and the Texas Rangers. In his career, he posted an ERA of 2.93 to go along with 330 saves.

UPDATE: John Wetteland released a statement saying that his hospitalization was due to a medical reason and not related to him contemplating suicide.

Said Wetteland: “Thank you for your concerns. My wife and I are very appreciative of the over and above care of our local officers and paramedics. The circumstances leading to my elevated blood pressure and heart rate have been addressed. I am currently resting safely at home.”

John Wetteland Allegedly Contemplated Suicide (Image: Zuma Press)

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John Wetteland Contemplated Suicide

Ichiro, who joined the Seattle Marines from the Japanese leagues in 2001, has finished with at least 206 hits in his first eight seasons. This year, he got his 200th hit against the Texas Rangers and has time to add a handful more before the end of the 2009 baseball season.

The 35-year-old from Kadugai, Japan is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, this year has been one of his better seasons. He’s currently hitting .355 — the highest he’s hit since the 2004 campaign when his batting average was .372. Ichiro also has nine homers, 38 RBIs, 79 runs and 24 stolen bases.

At 73-70, the Mariners are much improved from last year. That said, it will be yet another season without seeing the playoffs. Next year, Ichiro will try to lead his team to the postseason while going for season number ten in a row with at least 200 hits.

Ichiro Suzuki breaks another record (Image: Zuma Press)

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Ichiro Suzuki Breaks All-Time Record

The first trade sent Jack Wilson and Ian Snell to the Seattle Mariners. In return, the Pirates received Ronny Cedeno, Jack Lement, Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin and Nathan Adcock.

Wilson was the starting shortstop for the Pirates and will continue to start with the Mariners. On the season, he’s hitting .267 with four homers and 31 RBIs. Snell is a starting pitcher with a 5.36 ERA and a record of 2-8. Many scouts think that the 27-year-old Snell still has untapped potential.

The two big names the Pirates received in this trade were Cedeno and Clement. Both players will likely play at the big league level this season for Pittsburgh.

In the other trade of the day, the Pirates traded Freddy Sanchez to the San Francisco Giants. The second baseman, who has been an All-Star three times, is hitting .296 with six homers and 34 RBIs. For his career, the 31-year-old is a .300 hitter.

With the Giants, Sanchez will step into a big role right away. San Francisco hopes he’s the key to making a push to qualify for the 2009 baseball playoffs.

In return, the Pirates received Tim Alderson, a quality pitching prospect.

Freddy Sanchez Tradded to the Giants (Image: Zuma Press)

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Pirates Trade Sanchez, Wilson and Snell

Ichiro and Ken Griffey Jr. key the Mariners victory (Image: Zuma Press)

Griffey, who was batting cleanup, is now hitting .224 on the season with six homers and 16 RBI. He’s also scored 16 runs and has an on-base percentage of .335.

Ichiro, a day after his 27-game hitting streak came to an end, was also a hero. He went 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI. He’s now hitting .354 on the season, which is good enough to be tied for second in the American League.

With the win, the Mariners are 27-29. The loss dropped the Twins to 28-29. The two teams end their series on Sunday afternoon.

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Ken Griffey Jr. Leads Mariners to Victory

By getting two hits in five at-bats on Tuesday against the Baltimore Orioles, Ichiro extended his hitting streak to 26 games. That’s not only his career-best streak, it’s also the best streak in the history of the Mariners.

Ichiro's Hitting Streak -- How Long Can He Last? (Image: Zuma Press)

The 35-year-old native of Japan is now hitting .355 and has five homers, 16 RBI and 21 runs. His batting average is the second highest of his MLB career, trailing only the .372 average he had in 2004.

With help from Ichiro, the Mariners were able to defeat the Orioles on Tuesday by a final count of 8-2. The Mariners got homers from Russell Branyan and Ken Griffey, Jr. and a strong outing from starting pitcher Erik Bedard to improve their record to 25-28.

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Ichiro has a 26-game Hitting Streak

After going without a hit in his first three at-bats, Hamilton came to the plate in the seventh inning with the game tied 1-1. With one swing, Hamilton put the Rangers up 3-1 when he hit a homer against the Seattle Mariners. Texas never trailed again and beat Seattle by a final count of 7-1.

Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers (Image: Newscom)

The Rangers have now sit in first place in the AL West after winning eight of their last ten games. At 18-14, Texas has outscored their opponents by 21 runs, which is the third largest margin in the American League behind the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox.

If Hamilton can find the swing that made him such a story last season, he could help lead the Rangers to the playoffs for one of the few times in team history.

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Josh Hamilton Returns with a Bang

Ichiro Suzuki is back following a bout with a bleeding ulcer (Image: Newscom)

Although Ichiro didn’t want to go onto the disabled list, the Mariners made the move to make sure that he could get in as much rest as possible and to treat the bleeding ulcer carefully. He had spent a large amount of time with the Japanese baseball team as they played in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. In the deciding game, Ichiro had the game-winning hit to lead Japan to their second consecutive WBC championship.

Playing against the Los Angeles Angels, Ichiro returned to the lineup playing in right field and batting leadoff. Last season, the 35-year-old hit .310 with 103 runs and 213 hits.

Without Ichiro the Mariners have started the season 6-2.

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Ichiro Returns Following Bleeding Ulcer

5. Seattle Mariners
The Mariners will likely be improved from last season. They have a relatively high-priced roster so Seattle can expect less bad luck this year. That said, they will likely remain a top five worst team.

4. Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates simply don’t have enough talent. They’ve played hard the last few years but without the necessary talent, it’s difficult to put victories on the board.

3. Baltimore Orioles
Although the Orioles made a few runs at big name players, they once again had a disappointing offseason. They do have a few young players would could breakout but the team will still lose — a lot.

2. San Diego Padres
After a bad season, the Padres spent most of the offseason shedding salary. That is never a good combination. San Diego is in for another long baseball season.

1. Washington Nationals
The Nationals will likely once again be the worst of the worst. They don’t have much star potential in their lineup or at the mound. Overall, Washington just remains a mess.

Washington Nationals Losers Again? (Image: Newscom)

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Top Five Worst Teams in Baseball

Here are five reasons why the AL came up with a victory yet again:

 1. Ichiro Suzuki’s pre-game F-Bombs. Move over, Bobby Knight. The Seattle Mariners‘ perpetual All-Star has a nifty peptalk ritual for his AL teammates every year.

2. Florida Marlins second baseman and probable never-again All-Star Dan Uggla set—wait for it, this one’s nice and corny—an Ugg-ly record by committing 3 errors in the game.

3. The NL probably isn’t quite accustomed to the ‘tude in New York. (That’s OK, neither were we last week). More AL teams play in Yankee Stadium and are aware of the exceedingly obnoxious Yankees fans who even booed other AL players challenging atmosphere for an opposing team.

4. Boston Red Sox right fielder J.D. Drew rocked, nabbing the MVP in his All-Star debut with a two-run HR during his first at-bat. It probably helped that as a member of the Red Sox, he didn’t get verklempt over the sappy pre-game Yankee lovefest. (We’re guessing Jonathan Papelbon, whose Mariano Rivera remarks made him—along with his pregnant wife—a jeer target, didn’t either).  

5. Yogi Berra was in da house. Yeah, even Sox fans can’t resist his wit. Boo to Joe Buck for giving him the heave-ho in the booth. Yogi was just getting started!

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5 Reasons the AL Won the All-Star Game

No, not because we feel guilty or think it would have been in poor taste. It’s mostly because had we known, we’d have posted the rant video today instead.

Speaking of heads rolling, we’re off to go watch Showtime On Demand . . . the season finale of The Tudors, of course. You know, the one where Henry VIII’s second wife Anne Boleyn gets the less-than-royal treatment from the executioner.

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And John McLaren Makes Three