The Philadelphia Phillies ended their long wait for a World Series title with a short burst of baseball on Wednesday as they clinched the crown by completing a rain-suspended 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Phillies captured their first Fall Classic title since 1980 in a unique, three-inning finish as they resumed Game Five that was suspended in the middle of the sixth on Monday with the score tied 2-2 when the field became unplayable after rain.

http://www.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUSN2646794520081030

Former Major League Baseball player Geremi Gonzalez was struck by lightning and killed over the weekend at a lake in his native Venezuela, authorities said on Monday.Gonzalez, 33, a pitcher who was signed to Japan’s Yomiuri Giants in 2007, had previously played for the Chicago Cubs, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Boston Red Sox, the New York Mets and the Milwaukee Brewers.

Lightning kills ex-Major League Baseball player | Sports | Reuters

A federal grand jury brought a longer array of perjury charges against baseball home run king Barry Bonds on Tuesday after a judge tossed out earlier allegations of lies about past steroid use.The latest indictment charges the U.S. career home run record holder with 14 counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.

“When we were last in court the government said it was going to obtain a superseding indictment and now they have done so it’s hardly surprising or news,” Allen Ruby, an attorney for Bonds, told Reuters.

The government maintains Bonds lied in 2003 when he told a previous federal grand jury investigating the San Francisco-area BALCO nutrition lab he had never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

New charges allege Barry Bonds lied about steroids | Sports | Reuters

Seattle Mariners first baseman Richie Sexson on Friday was suspended for six games for charging Texas pitcher Kason Gabbard during Thursday’s 5-0 victory by the Rangers.The 6-foot-8 Sexson, who has seven homers and 18 runs batted in this season, has decided to appeal the ruling and will be active for Friday’s home game against the Chicago White Sox, MLB said in a statement.

Sexson charged the mound after Gabbard threw a high fastball to the Seattle slugger, who felt the fourth-inning pitch was in retaliation for two Rangers players who had been hit by pitches from Seattle starter Felix Hernandez.

Seattle’s Sexson banned for charging pitcher | Sports | Reuters

A New York Yankees’ fan was accused on Monday of murdering a Boston Red Sox supporter and injuring another by running both down with a car after a heated argument over one of America’s oldest sporting rivalries.Ivonne Hernandez, 43, pleaded not guilty on Monday to reckless second-degree murder, aggravated driving while intoxicated and two counts of reckless conduct after the incident in a Nashua, New Hampshire parking lot last Friday.

Prosecutors say Hernandez was drunk when she drove her car across a dirt parking lot outside the Nashua City Hall into Matthew Beaudoin, 29, and Maria Hughes, 21, after exchanging words with them about the Yankees and Red Sox baseball teams.

Yankees-Red Sox argument ends in murder? | Oddly Enough | Reuters