Touch 'Em All: Pitching great McLain strikes out at the border

Former Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain has had some tough times since retiring, the latest showing just how low a Cy Young winner can sink.

He was arrested - on a fugitive fraud warrant issued in Louisiana - at the Canadian border at Port Huron, Mich., Thursday when he became disoriented and inadvertently drove onto the Blue Water Bridge into London, Ontario. He turned around before entering Canada, but not before agents were forced to act.

"He asked if he could turn around when he realized where he was," U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Jeffery Wilson said Friday. "Whenever you come up to the border you're inspected and the officer took his ID."

That process showed that the last man to win more than 30 games in one season (31 in 1968, when he was the AL Cy Young winner and MVP) was wanted on a warrant issued Aug. 26 in Louisiana in connection with an alleged fraud involving more than $1,500 in a scrap-metal deal. $1,500? Scrap-metal deal? Talk about coming up small.

McLain was released Friday on $10,000 bond with an extradition hearing set for Oct. 4. His lawyer says it's all misunderstanding.

"This whole warrant and charge is really a mistake," Josh Fahlsing said. "Our intent is to get this cleared up, hopefully, before we have to do the extradition hearing."

Once one of the most feared pitchers in baseball, McLain has had run-ins with the legal system after leaving baseball, including a 1996 conviction on charges of stealing money from a pension fund.

Cashman's curious candor

Just in time for their weekend series against reeling Boston, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has taken a couple of shots against the rival Red Sox.

Cashman told ESPNNewYork.com on Thursday that he feigned interest in outfielder Carl Crawford in the offseason to drive up the price the Red Sox would end up paying to sign the all-star free agent.

"I actually had dinner with the agent to pretend that we were actually involved," Cashman told the website in a display of curious, if perverse, candor.

"The outfield wasn't an area of need, but everybody kept writing, 'Crawford, Crawford, Crawford, Crawford.' And I was like, 'I feel like we've got Carl Crawford in Brett Gardner, except he costs more than $100 million less, with less experience.' "

Crawford, who signed a seven-year, $142 million deal, has been a disappointment: batting .259 with 63 runs, 55 RBIs, and 18 stolen bases.

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