Cliff Lee made a strong return to the Phillies to boost to the team massively. The left-hander struck out 11 in seven impressive innings, five players had multiple hits and the Phillies beat the Houston Astros 9-4 on Saturday night.

"I can hear the noise, hear the volume," Lee said. "It felt good to know fans are excited to see me back. You try not to focus on it too much and get hitters out, but I gave myself a minute to notice it."

First baseman Miguel Cabrera has missed the first day of practice for the Detroit Tigers. "Miguel is not going to be here today nor will be here for the next couple of days," General Manager Dave Dombrowski said. "We had conversations yesterday between the commissioner's office, the players association, myself and Miguel's representative and him, and we've decided that it's best to meet with some doctors in the beginning of the week and completely assess what has taken place."

Ted Williams — the greatest hitter who ever lived — used to say he could see the seams on the rotation of the baseball. Michael Jordan — the greatest basketball player of all time — used to say he was in a “zone.”

No one’s quite sure what Sidney Crosby is seeing or doing differently (Crosby isn’t too sure, either), but whatever it is, it’s working.

The 23-year-old superstar scored two more goals Wednesday night in a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs as the crowd has already taken to chanting “MVP! MVP!”

Grenada resident Bob Sherwin and his son Rob played on the winning team when they participated in the Men’s Senior/ Adult Baseball Hardball World Series in Phoenix, Ariz., this fall, netting htem some Aintree Hospitality Tickets and a trip to England!

Competing in the Father/Son Division, their team, the Athletics Baseball Club, won the series, which ran Oct. 28 through 31. The Athletics won the championship in a 12-4 game against the Sacramento Tribe.

Grenada Baseball's varsity baseball team has a new coach, but getting there wasn't pretty — it followed a bitter back-and-forth between a board member who protested the hire and the new coach's wife.

Steve Bradley, who was Catasauqua's assistant varsity coach last season, replaces Thomas, who had held the position all but one year since 1999, and was the assistant coach from 1992-98.

The Chargers baseball coach and athletic director Peter Thomas has resigned as the coach of the Academy baseball team, he said in an e-mail to fellow coaches and the Globe. As a thankyou gift from the School he was given a pair of Wales Rugby Tickets.

Thomas just recently took over as the athletic directer of the school.