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If you are wondering how Jose Bautista and David Ortiz are getting to the All-Star Game, they will be traveling by prancercise. 

MLB Fan Cave (h/t Barstool Sports) caught up with the Red Sox slugger as he was getting in some “MLB The Show” time before the big game. 

While hitting home runs with your virtual self is undoubtedly a ton of fun, Ortiz has to get to Citi Field before the Midsummer Classic begins. 

Wanting to get loose before taking some hacks on Tuesday night, Ortiz decided to travel by prancercise, which is really the only way to travel in 2013. 

Thankfully, he was joined by Blue Jays outfielder, Jose Bautista, who is dropping some serious prancing game on the streets of New York. 

For the few of you who have no clue why two MLB stars would be skipping and flailing about, CNN’s Jeanne Moos has an in-depth report on the dancing sensation.  

Joanna Rohrback has gone from anonymous fitness aficionado to the star of a John Mayer music video, all the while causing Internet denizens to get out and capture their own rendition of fancy frolicking. 

Hopefully, this will be the end of the craze that swept the nation out of their seats, skipping and dancing into the streets. 

You can try but will ultimately fail to beat this dynamic duo at the fine art of prancercising. Our only hope is that one of these sluggers decides to walk up to the plate in the same way on Tuesday night. 

Now that might finally solve the game’s slumping ratings. 

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Bill Nye “The Science Guy” danced his way to the mound before throwing out the first pitch at the Mariners game Friday. 

He also had an awesome custom jersey. 

GIF via @Cut4

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He gets the ball, but in the least graceful way possible. 

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If you do happen by Marlins Park this weekend, be careful as to not get the desperation all over you. 

Yahoo! Sports’ Mike Oz reports on the latest Marlins ticket-selling gimmick and it’s a doozy. It seems the powers that be are letting any fan procure tickets at the same prices of pitcher Gio Gonzalez‘s family and friends. 

You can take a gander at the deal at their official website or enjoy the screen capture the team features below. 

When you have the worst record in the National League, you find yourself hurting for new and inventive ways to get butts into the seats. 

The Marlins have ignored the fact Gonzalez doesn’t even pitch for the Marlins for this brilliant ploy. I would say this is truly the nadir of the season for Miami, but we are confident they have something else up their sleeves for the true dog days. 

I guess that’s only slightly less ridiculous than throwing a Juan Pierre night. Still, you have to think Placido Polanco warranted at least his own dedicated inning with his stellar .245 batting average. 

As Oz reminds, the Marlins’ losses and lack of star appeal have been met with horrendous ticket sales: “the team has the worst average attendance (17,162) in baseball and the lowest total attendance (738,000).”

As the report states, Gonzalez is from the Miami area, so the discounted tickets aren’t completely without merit—although they are officially absurd. 

The team is now 32-56, 18.5 games back of the division-leading Atlanta Braves. With a run differential of -94, it’s hard for fans to buy tickets expecting the home team to deliver on the promise of entertainment. 

Still, it has to sting knowing the team passed on all the other hard-working Marlins for a Nationals pitcher who is having a mediocre season compared to the gem he delivered last year. 

While just one silly promotion from a bottom-feeding team, it’s only a stone’s throw away from the team selling opposing star’s jerseys in the pro shop. 

Marlins Park: home to some of the most amazing visiting talent in the majors. 

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In the fourth inning of Monday’s Yankees game against the Royals, a more serious battle broke out. In the end, Mother Nature laid a whooping on the egos of the New York grounds crew. 

Play was stopped for almost an hour during what would be an eventual 5-1 win for the visiting Royals. So really, the best part of the night for the scant fans who stayed and tried to remain dry was this humbling attempt by the grounds crew to tarp the infield. 

Go ahead and enjoy the plight of others as you watch a bunch of professionals work diligently against a stubborn tarp. 

The weight of the water is far too heavy for the crew to walk the last few feet to complete their task. No worries because a superhero dressed in slacks and a business shirt runs onto the field to save the day. 

Sadly, all he got was a drenched shirt and labored breathing. 

The announcers are busy trying to figure out who this random fan is who threw warmth and comfort to the side in order to lend a helping hand. 

I have no way of knowing this, but I suspect he might be a stadium official of some sorts. If he is indeed just a fan who thought he could lend the manpower to get that tarp the needed distance, he most definitely deserves a round of applause. 

Fortunately, one member decided to step back and think through the problem—ultimately deciding to flip the tarp over to shed all the accumulated water. 

Finally, the tarp covers a very drenched infield. 

You may not see the effort in the box score, but we doff our caps to a beleaguered grounds crew who earned their money Monday night. 

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Manny Ramirez, in order to comply with the Rangers’ minor league team policy, had to cut off his extremely long dreadlocks before joining the team. 

Before:

After:

Rest In Peace, Manny’s dreads. 

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There are hardly two more storied franchises in all of sports history than the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. That history was on full display during a heated skirmish on Twitter.

It seems the Yankees’ Twitter account just couldn’t wait for the team to take the field against one of the Yanks’ greatest rivals. The two teams have met 11 times in the World Series, with the last one taking place in 1981.

Here is how it all played out on Twitter in a slugfest between the Yankees’ Twitter feed and that of the L.A. Dodgers:

The Yankees seemed to get things started, with the Dodgers firing back. Of course, as tends to be the case, the Yankees went “scoreboard” on the franchise that once resided in Brooklyn.

However, I have to say the Dodgers did well by using Vin Scully as ammo, because there isn’t a better broadcaster in baseball.

Fans and players alike are amped to reinvigorate a dormant rivalry, so we understand that the Yankees’ Twitter feed fired off a couple more tweets, one of which used the hashtag #Dropthemic:

The dust has finally settled on a brief battle that took place before a beautiful baseball war starting on Tuesday night. Still, there are so many questions that need to be answered.

Will Don Mattingly get applause from his former home crowd? Will Yasiel Puig continue his hot start in New York? Will either team come away from the series without any injuries?

It’s obvious both franchises differ in the amounts of success they’ve had since they last met in the World Series. The current season has been an extreme case of a tale of two cities, though.

While both have had to go through a great deal of injuries, the Yankees have been far more successful with solid pitching leading them to a respectable 38-31 record.

As for the Dodgers, not so much.

A superstar roster has been battered and bruised through a humbling season that sees them at the bottom of the NL West. The only bright spot is their Cuban rookie who continues to dazzle in the field.

And so another chapter of a book we just can’t put down gets written. The Dodgers and Yankees reprise their roles as bitter rivals for a rare series that is sure to captivate.

Judging by the response on Twitter, it can’t take place soon enough.

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That Yasiel Puig is so hot right now. 

The L.A. Times’ Dylan Hernandez (h/t Yahoo! Sports) alerts us to something rather obvious at the moment: Dodger fans are absolutely smitten with Puig. 

However, much like the gaudy stats he is racking up with every at-bat, it’s the numbers behind merchandise sales that tell the whole story. 

The Dodgers sold more Puig-related merchandise from Thursday to Sunday than they had ever sold of any player over a four-day period — more than even Manny Ramirez, Fernando Valenzuela or Hideo Nomo, according to a team spokesperson.

The team sold approximately 3,000 units of Puig-related merchandise in that four-day window, including 1,600 t-shirts ($28), 400 “Viva Puig” t-shirts ($28) and 600 jerseys ($225 for the authentic version, $110 for the replica ones).

Being an L.A. native, I can tell you how astounding the hype was surrounding Manny Ramirez when he became a Dodger. There may even be a Ramirez t-shirt hidden in one of my drawers I am only slightly embarrassed about owning (at least it’s not a commemorative wig).  

I can safely say that the last week usurps any of that hype, only falling short of what life might have been like in Southern California when Fernandomania took over Los Angeles. 

The Dodgers—a team that was considered to be among the most talented in all of baseball at the start of the season—has been mired by injuries and ineffective play. 

The team is 28th in runs scored and it sits at the bottom of the NL West with a 27-36 record. You could say Dodger faithful were at a loss in trying to find the bright spot amid a grim and depressing season. 

Then comes Puig, bashing the ball to all corners of the field. If you are wondering what kind of start the 22-year-old outfielder has had to his career, consider that he just won the NL player of the week award and was intentionally walked in just his third game in the majors. 

While he is no magician—the Dodgers are 4-4 with him in the lineup—he is bringing electricity to Chavez Ravine as well as a .500 batting average and four home runs in 32 at-bats on the season. 

Yes, I guess you could say Angelenos are rather taken with this kid. 

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It’s almost fitting that this fan chose to wear yellow to the Angels game. BuzzFeed Sports found a video showing one Angels fan who had to suffer far more than an eventual loss by her favorite baseball team.

In a game that would see the Los Angeles Angels lose to the Houston Astros, 2-1, Monday night, Joe Blanton delivers a pitch to J.D. Martinez in the second inning. 

Martinez fouls off the pitch but also loses his bat into the stands. So far, there is nothing terribly interesting about the ordeal. 

That’s when the announcers catch a glimpse of where the errant bat landed—right near the head of a poor woman who was left to her own defenses. I only hope her eyes were closed so she didn’t see her husband make a quick exit for safety.  

Of course, we found out what happens to husbands who try to shield their wives from looming dangers at baseball games, because a Cubs fan dumped a beer on her husband earlier this season for doing the opposite of this Angels superhero. 

This is the opportunity for every man around to boast they would have actually stood in the face of oncoming danger to take the brunt of an oncoming bat in the name of love.

This tale doesn’t have a happy ending, however, as the lucky fan behind the woman who lost her hubby for an all-important few seconds gets his hands on the prized souvenir. 

I certainly hope the doghouse was made up before the game, because that is where this guy was sleeping on Monday night. That must have been a fun and not entirely awkward ride home. 

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Justin Verlander should most definitely be featured in the 2013 MLB All-Star festivities, just as long as he never picks up a bat. 

Common logic aside, the Detroit Tigers ace flirted with the notion of appearing in the Chris Berman bark-fest known as the Home Run Derby with the following tweet:

Please note the pitcher—who has a 3.68 ERA with 82 strikeouts and 1.36 WHIP on the year—is now rocking a Twitter avatar of himself in the batter’s box. 

There should be just one reaction to this if Verlander is indeed serious: 

If you are wondering how successful Verlander might be with a bat in his hands, CBS Sports’ Danny Knobler has an answer to that burning question: 

He has 24 career at-bats. He has zero hits. And 14 strikeouts.

Add in the World Series, and it’s 27 at-bats with 15 strikeouts. And still zero hits.

And yet, every year, Verlander promises he’s going to get a hit. And not just one. And not just a single.

Of course, as Knobler offers, Verlander is probably making the tweet in jest. It should also be noted he has a habit of promising various hits and home runs to reporters to no avail. 

Still, you only need a small spark to ignite a roaring fire of support for an audacious campaign such as this. 

The last thing we need at the Derby is a pitcher who will show us what 10 ground balls in the infield look like. And really, we already have plenty of high-profile sluggers who have us changing the channel thanks to their inability to flip the power switch to the “on” position. 

Yes, we know you’re kidding, Mr. Verlander. But there is nothing funny about the Home Run Derby, except the fact people still seem to enjoy hearing Berman shout “back, back, back” at them all night. 

If we really wanted a Tiger who can’t seem to hit home runs, we could just vote in Victor Martinez. 

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