Word came earlier today that Vin Scully, the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers — and, in many opinions, all of Major League Baseball — was hospitalized Thursday night after falling and bumping his head.

Scully, who is 82, simply got up too fast from bed, lost his balance and fell.

Hey, it happens when you're 28, too.

UPDATE: Scully has been released from the hospital and will be at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz. for the Dodgers-Indians game Sunday.

Via a statement sent by the Dodgers:

"Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers and I apologize for any concern that I caused," Scully said. "Most importantly, I'm looking forward to Sunday's game, my first of the spring. Thank you and see you at the stadium!"

Vincent Edward Scully, please be careful! There's only one of you — even though Frank and Jamie McCourt both obviously want custody.

Post script: Here's a great column by Bill Dwyre of the L.A. Times about what Scully means to so many.

With 'Duk visiting White Sox camp at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz., it's appropriate we whip out the guitar for a little sing-a-long with Gordon Beckham(notes) and Jake Peavy(notes).

The Southern Gentlemen recently took the stage, along with several other ballplayers-turned-troubadors, at Peavy's Woodjock, a concert performed almost entirely by major leaguers.

Peavy's guitar is solid and his singing is better than that of Beckham, who would fit in over at the karaoke bar. But Beckham is the one fighting nerves — and he's doing so for charity.

And now, taking the stage at the Venue in Scottsdale, infielder Gordon Beckham and Jake Peavy singing the Eagles' "Take It Easy." Sing along at home!

UPDATE: This IS from 2007 as the first commenter says (*hangs head in shame). Well, it might be worth it just to click on the links to the Time-Life series below.

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Remember the old Time-Life Books series — "Mysteries of the Unknown," I think it was redundantly called?

No, not the "Old West," the one where John Wesley Hardin shoots a man "just for snorin' too loud." And not the one where they teach you to build a deck like a union man would.

The one that wonders aloud if "ancient astronauts" built the pyramids (no, it couldn't possibly have been Egyptians) — that one.

It's the same kind of thinking that leads to the belief that a guy sitting on a tractor couldn't possibly have made those fancy doodles in his field. It must have been aliens!

Well, the above screen cap of a page on Google Maps confirms what many have long believed: St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols(notes) is not of this earth.

In case you're still a non-believer, check out the address itself and click on

Sitting at a makeshift desk in the middle of the home team's clubhouse at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, Ariz., Colorado Rockies infielder Troy Tulowitzki(notes) studied the field of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. He filled out his many brackets and, satisfied, moved to his locker to ponder why his alma mater, Long Beach State, missed the field this season.

Ah, that's OK. Long Beach is more of a baseball school anyhow, thanks to "Dirtbag" alumni such as Tulo, Evan Longoria(notes) and a current teammate, Jason Giambi(notes).

Despite sticking to baseball as a profession, Tulowitzki keeps an eye or two on other sports as well, as he demonstrates in chatting up the Answer Man.

David Brown: Filling out an NCAA bracket: Is it more science or art?

Troy Tulowitzki: I'd say science. You're really dissecting the teams, looking in to see what they've done lately. I kind of like picking the upset, picking some of the underdogs and feeling good about your research. I'm into all different

Someone, it turns out, was blackmailing the Texas Rangers and manager Ron Washington.

In his Wednesday column, Randy Galloway of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that a person who was fired from the Rangers after the 2009 season "had all the details" of Washington's encounter with cocaine that preceded yesterday's events at Rangers camp.

From the Star-Telegram:

Some of his demands were met, but the club balked at personally giving this person a glowing letter of recommendation and also refused at least one other item. By January, word leaked that the former employee was bad-mouthing Washington around north Arlington.

UPDATE: The Rangers are denying this. Via Evan Grant's blog in the Dallas Morning News:

On Thursday, Daniels was asked via e-mail if:

• A former Rangers employee ever tried to use knowledge of Ron Washington's drug test as leverage to improve a severance package or recommendation for future employment.

• If the club ever felt extorted or blackmailed.

• If

That's the shocking news published a short time ago by Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated.

Managers have been in the news before for substance abuse — Billy Martin comes to mind because of alcoholism. Butch Hobson got caught with cocaine after he was manager of the Red Sox.

But this is the first time I can recall a current manager testing positive for an illegal drug. Managers and coaches started being tested for drugs in 2008, as per the Mitchell Report's suggestion.

Here's what Washington told S.I. by phone on Tuesday:

"I did make a mistake and I regret that I did it," Washington said. "I am really embarrassed and I am really sorry.

"Any attempt to try to explain it is going to sound like excuses," he said. "There is no right way to explain something wrong, and I did wrong. Was it tension? Maybe. Anxiety?''

You've been cut, dawg.

Considering his personal history of troubling and sometimes violent behavior, it's not too surprising Elijah Dukes(notes) found a pink slip in his locker this morning at Washington Nationals camp.

Dukes must have done something, exhibited some kind of anti-social behavior that pushed general manager Mike Rizzo over the edge.

Jim Bowden, a former Nats GM who now works for satellite radio as an analyst, appeared to have some insight in a tweet earlier today.

Bowden later deleted the tweet, which he annoyingly does routinely. Rizzo later asserted there was no such "singular incident," in another tweet, by Washington Post reporter Adam Kilgore.

The reasoning the Nats are giving for Dukes' release has more to do with his ability to hit a curveball than Dukes' proclivity to hit, say, a person. But their evidence is, at best, inconclusive.

So, what's really goin' on here, dawgs?

Dukes is 3-for-20 so far in spring training, which isn't good, but we have 2 1/2 weeks

Boston Red Sox prospect Ryan Westmoreland reportedly made it OK through brain surgery, but his path to recovery appears to be almost as dangerous.

On Tuesday, doctors removed a cavernous malformation — a cluster of blood vessels that had been growing on Westmoreland's brain stem.

Westmoreland left camp March 4 after reportedly experiencing headaches and numbness associated with this rare condition, which could have led to seizures and brain hemorrhaging if untreated.

The surgery, performed at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Ariz., reportedly took five hours, and Westmoreland remains in intensive care.

A statement from the Red Sox, attributed to general manager Theo Epstein said: "Due to the complexity of this surgery, Ryan will face a difficult period initially before beginning his recovery."

Reporters in Florida, where the Red Sox train, got a reaction from manager Terry Francona about the surgery itself — which was deemed a success.

"It sounds like very encouraging