Diamond

Polls show that frustration with Washington has never been higher — and who could argue? Most Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Most lawmakers openly concede that nothing will get done before the November elections. The leaders of both parties are already trading threats over the possibility of a national debt default next year. Barack Obama got elected by promising to change the tone in Washington, but clearly he's failed, as George W. Bush did before him. That should be a clue that the partisan animosity consuming the political system doesn't originate in the White House.

In the Chiriquí province of western Panama, baseball isn't just a game, it's part of the culture. Jason Gonzalez knows this very well. He spent his first 11 years in Panama, where the game is a way of life for youth. Every day, there was a game somewhere in town, and Gonzalez would run home to grab his glove. But no day was bigger for baseball than Sundays. Eighteen-year-old Gonzalez remembers those days best: afternoons when family and friends would come together simply to play the game and his aunt worked the plate as the umpire.

The hands that once handled 414 straight ground balls, line drives, and pop-ups without an error are still steady. But the bad back that prematurely ended his career 56 years ago is acting up, and so this is it. When Bobby Doerr, Hall of Famer, steps on the field at Fenway Park today, it will be the last time, because his 89-year-old body simply can't take the transcontinental flight from Oregon anymore. Yesterday, Doerr walked slowly but steadily into the EMC Club, overlooking the Fenway diamond, ostensibly for lunch and to watch a film his buddy Dick Flavin made on his life.

Nicholson played through injuries Pat Nicholson is still in pain. His knees are sore and tender. His arm is tired. His back is suffering from a pair of compressed disks that forced him to spend more time in the trainer's room than in the weight room during the baseball season at Brandeis University. Three weeks after Nicholson played his last game for the Judges, his body is still a physical nightmare.   But no one — including the graduate of Walpole High, where he was a four-year varsity player for Bill Tompkins — seems surprised.

Do not expect Nobel Prize recipient Peter A. Diamond, the MIT professor who withdrew his nomination for a seat on the board of the Federal Reserve, to slip quietly into the shadows of academia. Diamond plans to retire from teaching at MIT on July 1, but he said yesterday that he will continue his research into the underlying causes of the financial crisis so that he can weigh in on policy reforms. “The obvious, pressing problem we have, the reason I was so eager to join the Fed, was how to head off future financial crises,’’ Diamond said in an interview yesterday.

Peter A. Diamond, facing intractable Republican opposition, yesterday withdrew his nomination to the Federal Reserve board, leading many to criticize a process so intensely political that even a Nobel Prize-winning economist from MIT could not overcome it. Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Newton, excoriated Republicans for blocking Diamond’s nomination, saying he believes the GOP is trying to undercut the Obama administration’s progress...

The universe has been described as many things: vast, mysterious, awe-inspiring. But, with the discovery of a planet orbiting the pulsar known as J1719-1438, a mere 4,000 light years away, one more superlative can be attached to outer space: bejeweled. This newly discovered planet seems to be essentially one giant diamond, roughly the size of Jupiter. Such ostentatious display can never be in good taste, whether by a person or a pulsar. There needs to be some restraint, after all, in interplanetary bling.

Police in Canada say they are waiting for a man accused of stealing a $20,000 diamond and swallowing it to produce the evidence. It has been nearly a week since Richard Mackenzie Matthews, 52, is alleged to have switched a diamond at Precision Jewellers in Ontario and swallowed the real one. Matthews is being held at police headquarters while investigators wait for the 1.7-carat stone to pass through his system. Sgt. Brett Corey said Thursday that Matthews has gone to the washroom numerous times, but the diamond hasn't passed.

Diamond is restating profit for the past two years after an accounting probe, imperiling a deal to acquire the Pringles brand and ending the empire-building dreams of chief executive Michael J. Mendes. He and the chief financial officer are being replaced; the company's board found payments to walnut growers were booked improperly. Procter & Gamble Co., which agreed to sell Pringles for $1.5 billion, had said the sale depends on a favorable resolution of the probe. Diamond gave assurances to P&G that its financial statements were accurate.

Lawyers for a prominent Zimbabwean human rights activist say state security officials prevented him from leaving the southern African nation for a conference in Ireland on rights violations. Lawyers for Farai Maguwu said Sunday that his airline boarding pass was seized Saturday along with his passport, laptop and personal notebooks. Maguwu was jailed for five weeks earlier this year for allegedly releasing information on killings and violence in eastern Zimbabwe's controversy-mired diamond fields.

Scott Diamond lost his scoreless streak. He still won his third straight start for the Minnesota Twins, who pounded the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3 on Friday night. Diamond (3-0) gave up a run in the first, ending the 14-inning scoreless stretch he put together in two starts since he was called up from the minors. He went on to give up three runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings. Josh Willingham hit a two-run homer, his eighth of the season, Joe Mauer had three hits and three RBIs while Denard Span had four hits and three RBIs for the Twins.

Police in Canada say they are waiting for a man accused of stealing a $20,000 diamond and swallowing it to produce the evidence. It has been nearly a week since Richard Mackenzie Matthews, 52, is alleged to have switched a diamond at Precision Jewellers in Ontario and swallowed the real one. Matthews is being held at police headquarters while investigators wait for the 1.7-carat stone to pass through his system. Sgt. Brett Corey said Thursday that Matthews has gone to the washroom numerous times, but the diamond hasn't passed.

Marie de Medici wore it at her coronation as Queen Consort of Henry IV in France in 1610, and now the Beau Sancy diamond is a lavish accessory owned by an anonymous bidder who paid $9.7 million for it at Sotheby's auction. The spring auction season for jewelry and watches is upon Geneva, where elegant lakefront hotels fill with well-heeled buyers and bidders in a scene far removed from the debate over European austerity. Five bidders fueled the price on Tuesday at the Sotheby's sale for the Beau Sancy, a 34.98 carat diamond that had passed among the royal families in France,...

Scott Diamond pitched seven shutout innings, Brian Dozier hit his first career homer and the Minnesota Twins held on to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 Sunday. Ryan Doumit and Jamey Carroll added two hits apiece for the Twins, who became the last team in the majors to reach double-digit wins by splitting the four-game series. Matt Capps pitched a scoreless ninth for his seventh save in as many chances. Yunel Escobar and Eric Thames knocked in runs for Toronto, which closed its road trip at 5-5. Diamond (2-0)

With the London Olympics less than three months away, the season-opening Diamond League meet on Friday offers a chance for many of the world's elite athletes to chart their progress and renew old rivalries. Some of the most intriguing matchups are in the 100 meters, with Jamaica's Asafa Powell facing his countryman Nesta Carter and American Justin Gatlin. Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce faces off against Veronica Campbell-Brown in the women's 100 in a possible prelude to London.

Scott Diamond pitched a career-best seven scoreless innings in his season debut and Ryan Doumit hit a two-run homer, giving the Minnesota Twins a much-needed jolt in a 5-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night. Diamond (1-0) struck out six, the most in any of his eight major league starts, and allowed only four hits. He's the first Twins starter to pitch this year without allowing a run. Recalled from Triple-A Rochester this week to help as reeling rotation which is last in the majors with a 6.45 ERA, the 25-year-old Canadian retired 14 of the...

A diamond engagement ring did not have the outcome that a Burlington man had hoped for. His girlfriend said yes, but he landed in jail. Burlington police said Ryan Jarvis, 25, has been charged with stealing the $3,200 ring from a Zales jewelry store. WCAX-TV reported that Jarvis was looking at jewelry in the store for about an hour when he asked to see the 1-carat white gold solitaire ring Monday afternoon and then took off with it. Police say Jarvis was arrested after police received tips that led to a posting on Facebook by his girlfriend who displayed her new engagement ring.

LAS VEGAS -- When Doris Payne went to work, she stepped into her fancy dress and high heels, and donned a wide-brimmed hat. Her face was made up just so, her handbag always designer. Sometimes plain gold earrings would do. Always, she looked immaculate, well-to-do. It was a lonely job. She worked by herself, and few people knew what she did. New York. Colorado. Nevada. California. They all beckoned, and so did Greece and France, England and Switzerland, as she plied her trade over five decades.

As a youngster, Needham's Travis Jonasson attended baseball clinics at nearby Babson College, learned the fundamentals of hitting from Beavers coach Matt Noone. Later, while starring on the diamond at Catholic Memorial, Jonasson worked at Noone's summer camps before enrolling at Babson, where the senior captain is among the program's career leaders in hit by pitches (1st, 38), walks (4th, 88), runs (5th, 129), total bases (5th, 251), and games played (5th, 149). A starter since the second game of his freshman year, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound first baseman...

Watertown's Rogers takes baseball path Watertown's Steve Rogers was recruited to Trinity College to play hockey and baseball. But when a knee injury shortened his freshman season on the ice, the former standout at St. Sebastian's in Needham made a decision. "I felt I could go farther in baseball, and although it was a slight injury that healed in five weeks, I didn't want to take any risks with hockey, a sport I respect and miss a lot," said the 6-foot-1, 200-pound junior shortstop, who was leading all starters with a .393 average, 30 runs, 42 hits, five triples, and...