LEFTOVERS: Prank war ends with gooey glove

When Washington Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche was with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010, he played a harmless prank on teammate Kelly Johnson by having the song “It’s Raining Men” played over the public-address system the first two times Johnson stepped to the plate.

But there were no winners in a prank war waged between LaRoche and his ex-Atlanta Braves teammates, including pitcher Tim Hudson, who perpetrated a disgusting act as payback.

One of LaRoche’s self-described “all-time best pranks” took place in 2007, when the Braves traded him to the Pirates and he was in Miami finishing a series with Pittsburgh. Atlanta had an off day, all of its gear was at the Marlins’ ballpark, and LaRoche couldn’t help himself.

“It just came to my head to pull out everybody’s underwear and sliding shorts, take a pair of scissors and cut the crotch out of everybody’s gear,” he said on MLB Network’s Intentional Talk. “I’ll keep it clean, but I wrote on the dry erase board, ‘Hey boys, good luck and play balls out — LaRoche.’ ”

Chipper Jones was one of the first players to arrive and, after realizing what had happened, stayed to enjoy the show.

“He sat in his locker for an hour and a half and just watched people come in, and obviously cuss me a little bit when they found out what I did. It was great,” LaRoche said. “They paid me back when I came back to Atlanta. They got me really good. But they got one guy, and I got about 25 of ’em, so I got the better end of that.”

We don’t think so, considering what he received in return.

“They did the standard cut my suit up. Took my dress shirt, froze it. Cut all my equipment up, batting gloves, bats were broken. And then probably the grossest thing I’ve ever seen, (Hudson) takes my backup first-base glove and stuffs human feces up in the fingers of my glove,” LaRoche said. “So needless to say, I had to throw that glove away. Never got to use it again. Pretty disgusting.”

The next time someone says Hudson has some nasty stuff, believe it.

■ NO HARD FEELINGS — Tony Parker is a veritable magician on and off the hardwood, where his last-second circus shot helped lift the Spurs over the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Perhaps more impressive than Parker’s shot is the fact that he has managed to keep his ex-wife, actress Eva Longoria, on his side despite their 2010 divorce caused by his infidelity.

Following Thursday’s win, Longoria expressed her support for Parker’s team, tweeting “Go Spurs Go! I say Spurs in 5!!!!”

This prompted sportscaster Dick Vitale to direct a questionable tweet to Longoria, “your ex is AWESOME BABY – Mr Clutch!”

That’s what she said.

■ MANNYWAN — Manny Ramirez is generating excitement in Taiwan, where he’s hitting .363 with eight homers and 42 RBIs in 43 games.

Man-Ram’s most recent blast inspired a classic home run call by a Taiwanese play-by-play man who said — in the only English used in the broadcast — “This ball is long gone, just like an ex-girlfriend who will never return!”

COMPILED BY TODD DEWEY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL