Queens man in San Francisco for one day catches famous ball (AP/ESPN)

As we reported last night, Queens-born Matt Murphy was the lucky guy to be at the bottom of a mad scramble and landed Barry Bonds’ 756th home run ball.

Typically with stories like this, media contact neighbors on what kind of person the person in question might be viewed by others.  In this story, that certainly is the case as the Associated Press filed a story Wednesday on Murphy.

One of Murphy’s neighbors said the family is born-and-bred from Queens and that his mother grew up in the home.

“I think it’s extraordinary, what a stroke of good luck. I hope they get a lot of money. They certainly deserve it. They’re a very, very, very nice family,” John Kroeger said.

And another member chimed in with a quote, too.

Murphy grew up in Queens and when he’s not in school, he lives in a tidy wood-framed house with his parents, grandmother and little brother.

Next-door neighbor Kay Mitchell said Murphy is a real clean-cut guy. “You never hear anything bad about him. He’s just a nice college kid,” she said.

The AP account also describes what Matt Murphy went through and the attempts by San Francisco Police to help secure Murphy from getting beat to a bloody pulp.

X-rays show that Hirsh pitched with broken leg (AP/ESPN)

X-rays taken the day after Cory Hirsh of the Colorado Rockies gave up two runs on three hits against Milwaukee show that the pitcher hurled five innings on a broken leg.

Hirsh took a line drive in his leg in the first inning that broke his fibula in his lower right leg.

Milano: My take on Bonds (*touch* ‘em all)

Alyssa Milano has long had an opinion on San Francisco’s Barry Bonds, who surged past Hank Aaron Tuesday night at AT&T Park.

In her blog post today at MLB.com, Ms. Milano gives a rather accurate take on the much-maligned player.

It was odd to me that his teammates didn’t seem elated when he crossed the plate. Maybe this is because he never seemed thrilled for them no matter what the feat. It seemed odd to me that he pointed to the sky longer than he embraced his son who was once again there to great him upon his return — a gesture that, when he tied the record at Petco (away from the doting Giants fans and boo’s sprinkled on top), actually tugged at my heartstrings. For a brief moment, when he carried his son in that embrace in San Diego, I thought: Perhaps we do have Barry all wrong.

And as she notes: at least it’s over.

Wells to be DFA’d by Padres (FOX Sports)

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that the San Diego Padres will designate starter David Wells for assignment and simultaneously put him on waivers, giving the club three days to deal him.

His release will coincide with the return of starter Chris Young from the disabled list.

We do know that Wells has that signed baseball to fall back on.

Celtics call up Miller about comeback (ESPN.com)

The Boston Celtics are trying to pull a rabbit out of their hats, writes J.A. Adande of ESPN: they’re trying to lure 42-year old, three-point king Reggie Miller out of retirement.

Celtics general manager Danny Ainge and bench boss Doc Rivers rang up Miller to try and gauge his interest on coming back and playing in Boston, where he’d be a bench player and putting in 15 minutes a night.  Up until that phone call, Miller had his sights set on returning to the broadcast studio with TNT.

Now Miller is evaluating the situation and may jump at the chance.

Miller said he is calling friends and peers, seeking their advice and listening to their feedback before he makes his decision. He still plays recreationally, but must determine if he wants to go through the physical and mental grind of an 82-game season. He also wonders how his body would respond to the intensive training it would take to get him back to NBA shape.

Should Miller make the move, the Celtics are putting together a nice squad in the NBA’s powerful Eastern Conference after the acquisitions of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to team with Paul Pierce.  Add Miller and the Celtics will be one step closer to cementing a spot in the conference finals.

News and notes while the Tour de France isn’t welcome at a German cycling race…

Bonds’ legacy still up for debate (FOX Sports) Ken Rosenthal examines where Barry Bonds falls in the game’s history.

OJ is having a bad week (Winning the Turnover Battle) The star of Superbad loses a chick at a nightclub — to O.J. Simpson.

Arena lets Altidore go to prom (USA Today) RedBulls coach lets star Jozy Altidore go to prom back in May.  He’s a player’s coach! (Tip: The Big Lead)

Quickie: Bonds 756! (danshanoff.com) All you need to know about Barry Bonds breaking the dinger record. Also of note: Rovell right on the money with Quinn, Oregon looking to play a regular season game in China and MLB pennant races.

Chris Berman to be master of ceremonies at Bill Walsh goodbye (Shakedown Sports) ESPN’s Berman to be emcee at Monster Park memorial service for the former San Francisco 49ers coach who passed away last week.

Don’t be afraid to draft a sturdy backup at RB (USA Today) Fantasy football drafts are being conducted fast and furiously, so here’s some advice.

Murphy on Bonds: ‘A terrible example for our kids’ (AJC.com)

Former Atlanta Braves catcher outfielder Dale Murphy had some choice comments for Barry Bonds on an Atlanta radio Monday.

Murphy told local AM station 1280 The Show that Bonds deserves all the negative publicity he’s getting because he’s largely brought it upon himself.

Sayeth Murphy:

“Barry’s a great player, there’s no question about it, but he put an asterisk by his name on his own,” Murphy said Monday on AM radio 1280 The Show. “He’s deserved all the negative publicity that he’s getting. I mean, people are calling up and complaining, I’ve heard the last few weeks, that that he’s being treated unfairly. You know, life just usually isn’t like that. You don’t usually get treated unfairly. You usually get what you deserve. This is what Barry deserves. He’s a hard guy to like. He’s a hard teammate to have and, you know, he’s set a terrible example for our kids.”

Murphy went on to say that he refuses to watches Bonds games.

“That’s what you say to your kids. You say, ‘This is what happens when you take steroids. Your dad doesn’t want to watch this, because this is stuff that’s drug abuse, basically, as we know,” he said.

Well there ya have it: Dale Murphy isn’t a big fan of Mr. Bonds and one can only guess that he’ll assign him a big ‘ol asterisk for his feat.

Tip o’the cap to The FanHouse for the informational link.

Report: Bryan says tennis players got fixing calls (LA Times)

Lisa Dillman and Jerry Crowe of The Los Angeles Times report that players on the men’s tennis tour have been the target of anonymous phone calls seeking to have the players influence the matches their playing.

Bob Bryan, a member of the ATP Player Council, told the paper that several have been contacted by gamblers offering monetary incentives in exchange for fixing their contests.

“I don’t know of any players that have ever gambled on tennis,” he said Tuesday at the Rogers Cup, a Masters Series tournament. “But there have been some anonymous calls to players’ rooms with some monetary offerings.

Bryan’s disclosure comes amid an ATP probe into suspicious betting patterns involving a Nikolay Davydenko second-round match last week in Poland against little-known Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina.

Bonds’ homer: Kragen Auto Parts circles bases too (CNBC)

Did you happen to catch what the advertisement was when Barry Bonds clubbed 756 off Washington’s Mike Bacsik on Tuesday night?

If you blinked when you watched the highlight — instead of watching the game, natch — it was Kragen Auto Parts.

Darren Rovell of CNBC writes that the auto parts firm is reaping the benefits of its exposure. Rovell talked to Eric Wright (we assume it isn’t the former San Francisco 49ers defensive back) of sponsorship evaluation firm Joyce Julius & Associates and he put into numbers what the signage means to the auto parts firm.

“It’s being played on national television and every local station,” Wright said. “Unfortunately, they won’t get much print exposure, which would have really taken it to a new level.” Wright said that Kragen gets about $13,000 in equivalent advertising time for a typical half-inning of a Giants game in the middle of the week.

Wright estimates that Kragen netted between $5 million and $6 million in equivalent advertising spending for being associated with the moment.

This begs the question: which will have more value — the record-breaking ball or the equivalent advertising?

Schreiber: For ESPN, what next? (ESPN)

Earlier this year, we noted that ESPN had hired a new ombudsman named Le Anne Schreiber to overlook the store and provide critiques on how “The Worldwide Teaser” handled stories they were covering.

As with anything related to the network, we met the move with some skepticism as the prior ombudsman, George Solomon, provided analysis that seemed to lack a bit of bite most times. But not so with Ms. Schreiber.

In her most current piece, Ms. Schreiber takes “The Teaser” to task over the much-maligned “Who’s Now?” production of letting assembled panels of “experts” weigh the merits what athlete is currently the “nowiest.”  What made it even funnier is those same panelists got to debate the final match-up of LeBron James and Tiger Woods, only to be told by “moderator” Stuart Scott that their voiced opinions didn’t matter as it was the fans that would decide who would win.  In a landslide, Tiger Woods downed LeBron.

More after the jump »

Mariners apologize, Moose to remain on duty (ESPN News Services)

After accidently driving his ATV and running over Boston’s Coco Crisp, the Seattle Mariners have apologized to the Boston Red Sox and have decided against reprimanding the helmeted Seattle Moose.

“The Mariners are very sorry for the unfortunate accident,” the team said in a statement. “We were grateful that no one was hurt. We apologized to Coco and the Red Sox and they were gracious enough to accept. No punishment is planned against the Moose.”

Just in case you haven’t yet experienced this hilarious incident, here’s a short video clip of the Mariner Moose’s exploits on Sunday.

[youtube uZmB56yZT6U]

More after the jump »

The morning after Mike Bacsik becomes the second Mike Bacsik (and the first father-son duo) to pitch against someone that has 755 homers…

The Yankees-BlueJays participate in some extra-curriculars after A-Rod, Alex Rios gets plunked; Ryan Howard is a home run supernova since the All-Star break; the Indians keep pace with the Yankees in the AL wild-card hunt and the Milwaukee Brewers continue to struggle with the pressure of being a division leader this late into the season.

Mariners 10, O’s 3 — Seattle’s Raul Ibanez belted two homers and drove in four runs, Jeff Weaver earned his first win since June 25, and the Mariners pulled away from the Orioles.

D’Rays 6, Tigers 9 — The Tigers won their second consecutive game after a five-game skid, holding off a late Devil Rays rally for a 9-6 victory.

Yankees 9, BlueJays 2 — Melky Cabrera had two doubles and a triple for his second straight three-hit game and Bobby Abreu went 2-for-5 with four RBIs for New York as the Yankees pounded the BlueJays 9-2.

Indians 2, White Sox 1 — Jake Westbrook, who gave up only one run, had his best outing of the season, striking out five and retiring 23 of 24 batters at one stretch to pick up his second straight win. Grady Sizemore’s go-ahead two-run single in the fifth inning helped provide Cleveland its lone scoring punch in their 2-1 victory over the White Sox.

Red Sox 4, Angels 10 — Gary Matthews Jr. drove in four runs after robbing Boston’s Coco Crisp of a home run, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Boston Red Sox 10-4.

More after the jump »

News and notes while looking for Bud Selig last nite in the stands…

Wake Forest to name replacement for Prosser (ESPN.com) Andy Katz of ESPN.com reports that current Wake Forest assistant Dino Gaudio will be tabbed to replace Skip Prosser, who passed away on July 26.

Tennessee suspends Coker indefinitely (AP/SI.com) Last season’s leading rusher for the University of Tennessee, LaMarcus Coker, was suspended by head coach Phillip Fulmer for undisclosed rule violation.

Rick Ankiel knocks out home run 32 (Memphis Redbirds) Rick Ankiel (now pronounced ann-kee-ELL) belted a three-run that helped key Memphis’ 4-3 win over the Portland Beavers. The countdown is continues for his promotion to the big club in St. Louis.

Arena has Red Bulls energized in race (USA Today) An MLS story not involving that British import!

How to fix the Pittsburgh Pirates (The Hardball Times) As one might expect, this is a long read.