Monday’s White Sox/Orioles game postponed due to ongoing protests and violence in Baltimore

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Protests and violence continue in Baltimore after the recent death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray. The White Sox and Orioles were slated to play tonight at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, but the game has officially been postponed:

It’s the right call to ensure the safety of everyone involved. The status of the other games this week are unclear, but MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told Steve Melewski of MASN Sports that it’s possible they could be played elsewhere. Baseball feels secondary at a time like this, anyway. Stay safe, Baltimore.

UPDATE: Maryland governor Larry Hogan has declared a state of emergency while Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has announced a citywide 10 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew for the city beginning Tuesday. The curfew will last for least one week. Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com writes that the remaining games against the White Sox this week could be played in the afternoon. The Nationals are away this week, so another possibility could be to move the games to Washington, D.C.

Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN on opening day

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Roger Clemens will be an analyst for ESPN when the defending World Series champion Houston Astros host the Chicago White Sox on opening day.

Clemens made four appearances on last year’s KayRod Cast with Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez. He will be stepping in on March 30 for David Cone, who will be doing the New York Yankees opener against the San Francisco Giants on YES Network.

“Roger has been sort of a friend of ours for the last year, so to speak, he’s in. He’s been engaged, knowledgeable and really present,” said ESPN Vice President of Production Phil Orlins. “You know, whatever past may be, he’s still tremendously engaged and he really brought that every time he was with us.”

Clemens was a seven-time Cy Young winner but his career after baseball has been tainted by allegations of performance-enhancing drug use. He is a Houston native and pitched for the Astros for three seasons.

Orlins said that with the rules changes and pitch clock, it is important to have a pitcher in the booth with Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez.

“We don’t feel like we have to have the dynamic of Eduardo with a pitcher, but we certainly think that works. Throw in the added factor of rule changes and it is better to have a batter-pitcher perspective,” Orlins said.

Orlins did not say if this would open the door for future opportunities for Clemens as an ESPN analyst.