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Braves left fielder Justin Upton left Sunday afternoon's 9-4 win against the Marlins in the fifth inning with a cramp in his left hamstring after running out a bunt down the first-base line.
With two on and no out in the bottom of the fifth, Upton laid down a bunt that died in fair territory just to the left of the batter's box, but Marlins catcher Koyie Hill threw to third to retire lead baserunner Mike Minor. When time was called after the fielder's choice, Upton remained bent over off of first base, stretching out and jogging into the outfield grass before eventually walking back to the dugout with team assistant athletic trainer Jim Lovell and drinking several cups of water.
"It was once I was walking back [to first base], it was cramping up," Upton said after the game. "We tried to chug some water real quick in the dugout, so they just told me to take it in."
B.J. Upton replaced his younger brother at first base as a pinch-runner and came around to score on Freddie Freeman's three-run home run. B.J. took over in center field to start the top of the sixth, with starter Jordan Schafer shifting to left field to take Justin Upton's place.
"It's a cramp that he gets every once in a while," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "We've got to figure out a way for that not to happen to him, especially in a day game. I think this is the second time this has happened to him in this season here. It's funny, because in Arizona, he lives in the hot [weather] but plays in the air conditioning. Here, it's the other way around -- here he lives in the air conditioning and plays in the hot weather."
Upton didn't think the cramp was a serious issue and certainly a much lesser threat to his playing time than the left calf strain he suffered on July 12. Since returning from that injury after the All-Star break, he is hitting .311 with six home runs, 16 RBIs and an OPS of .923. Upton expected to be ready to go if called upon for Monday night's series opener against the Phillies.
"At this point, it's late in the season, and it wasn't getting any cooler out there, so that was the decision we made," Upton said.
Braves' Justin Upton leaves game with hamstring cramp | MLB-com: News
With two on and no out in the bottom of the fifth, Upton laid down a bunt that died in fair territory just to the left of the batter's box, but Marlins catcher Koyie Hill threw to third to retire lead baserunner Mike Minor. When time was called after the fielder's choice, Upton remained bent over off of first base, stretching out and jogging into the outfield grass before eventually walking back to the dugout with team assistant athletic trainer Jim Lovell and drinking several cups of water.
"It was once I was walking back [to first base], it was cramping up," Upton said after the game. "We tried to chug some water real quick in the dugout, so they just told me to take it in."
B.J. Upton replaced his younger brother at first base as a pinch-runner and came around to score on Freddie Freeman's three-run home run. B.J. took over in center field to start the top of the sixth, with starter Jordan Schafer shifting to left field to take Justin Upton's place.
"It's a cramp that he gets every once in a while," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "We've got to figure out a way for that not to happen to him, especially in a day game. I think this is the second time this has happened to him in this season here. It's funny, because in Arizona, he lives in the hot [weather] but plays in the air conditioning. Here, it's the other way around -- here he lives in the air conditioning and plays in the hot weather."
Upton didn't think the cramp was a serious issue and certainly a much lesser threat to his playing time than the left calf strain he suffered on July 12. Since returning from that injury after the All-Star break, he is hitting .311 with six home runs, 16 RBIs and an OPS of .923. Upton expected to be ready to go if called upon for Monday night's series opener against the Phillies.
"At this point, it's late in the season, and it wasn't getting any cooler out there, so that was the decision we made," Upton said.
Braves' Justin Upton leaves game with hamstring cramp | MLB-com: News
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2006/12/07
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How does it feel to fall just shy of a $5.6 million payday?
Ask William Bryan, to date the superlative Beat the Streak star of 2013. He'll tell you it's no easy pill to swallow.
After making 47 straight successful selections without a miss, Bryan whiffed when the Braves' Justin Upton lined out hard to end an 0-for-4 Saturday evening.
We can't go back in time to save Bryan's remarkable run. But guess what, there is something we can do.
On Tuesday, MLB-com is going to give Bryan another shot at the biggest jackpot in fantasy sports history, another chance at all the fame and fortune. And this time, he'll be swinging for millionaire status in a matter of minutes, not days or weeks.
But before you go crying in the comments section, clamoring how we are providing preferential treatment, listen up. Everyone can play Beat the Streak in a Day.
Simply go to mlb-com/btsinaday and sign up now.
So, who wants to be a millionaire? You know you do. Don't lie.
Those MLB season tickets you've always wanted? They'd be yours for years to come.
Or maybe you've been yearning to pay off those pesky student loans or buy that new house. You know the one -- you've had your sights on the pool and picket fence for a while.
And if you think all of that awesomeness is unobtainable without a ton of toiling, think again. Because thanks to Beat the Streak in a Day, $5.6 million could become a part of your reality in just a few hours on Tuesday.
In MLB-com's traditional Beat the Streak game, participants try to establish a virtual hitting streak by picking one or two big leaguers per day, with their runs continuing as long as their selections collect at least one hit in their contests.
Beat the Streak in a Day works the same way, except for one variation: Fans make 57 picks at once. Get them all right, and you can call yourself a millionaire.
Those who wish to play can do so two ways:
1. Eligible fans looking to flaunt their baseball acumen can show their stuff by picking the "Select Your Own" option, which allows for all 57 picks to be made manually.
2. Entry can come with just one push of a button, too, as "Quick Pick" will choose 57 out of the top 150 big leaguers based on their Beat the Streak success rates. The final decision rests with you, however. If you don't like some of the selections, you can change any or all of them as you'd like.
Fans who wish to join the quick-hitting fun can do so until 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday. So what are you waiting for?
Regardless of the game's outcome, someone will leave a winner. If no one bats 1.000 (57-for-57), $1,000 will be awarded to the fan who comes closest to going 57-for-57.
The last time Beat the Streak in a Day was played, in June, the $1,000 winner had an impressive 49-for-57 (85.9 percent) performance. And don't think that was an outlier of some sort, as 19 others finished at 48 or 47. Baseball is truly a game of inches, and with a few bloops here and a seeing-eye bleeder there, you could become a BTS legend with just one push of a button. Not a bad deal, if you ask us.
In 13-plus seasons of BTS play, no one has matched Joe DiMaggio's record hitting streak of 56, set in 1941. To win the $5.6 million grand prize, one must top Joe D.'s streak by one. Whether someone can do so on Tuesday remains to be seen. But for now, get ready, get set and go play Beat the Streak in a Day for your life-changing chance at a whole lot of cash.
MLB-com's Beat the Streak in a Day to be played Tuesday | MLB-com: News
Ask William Bryan, to date the superlative Beat the Streak star of 2013. He'll tell you it's no easy pill to swallow.
After making 47 straight successful selections without a miss, Bryan whiffed when the Braves' Justin Upton lined out hard to end an 0-for-4 Saturday evening.
We can't go back in time to save Bryan's remarkable run. But guess what, there is something we can do.
On Tuesday, MLB-com is going to give Bryan another shot at the biggest jackpot in fantasy sports history, another chance at all the fame and fortune. And this time, he'll be swinging for millionaire status in a matter of minutes, not days or weeks.
But before you go crying in the comments section, clamoring how we are providing preferential treatment, listen up. Everyone can play Beat the Streak in a Day.
Simply go to mlb-com/btsinaday and sign up now.
So, who wants to be a millionaire? You know you do. Don't lie.
Those MLB season tickets you've always wanted? They'd be yours for years to come.
Or maybe you've been yearning to pay off those pesky student loans or buy that new house. You know the one -- you've had your sights on the pool and picket fence for a while.
And if you think all of that awesomeness is unobtainable without a ton of toiling, think again. Because thanks to Beat the Streak in a Day, $5.6 million could become a part of your reality in just a few hours on Tuesday.
In MLB-com's traditional Beat the Streak game, participants try to establish a virtual hitting streak by picking one or two big leaguers per day, with their runs continuing as long as their selections collect at least one hit in their contests.
Beat the Streak in a Day works the same way, except for one variation: Fans make 57 picks at once. Get them all right, and you can call yourself a millionaire.
Those who wish to play can do so two ways:
1. Eligible fans looking to flaunt their baseball acumen can show their stuff by picking the "Select Your Own" option, which allows for all 57 picks to be made manually.
2. Entry can come with just one push of a button, too, as "Quick Pick" will choose 57 out of the top 150 big leaguers based on their Beat the Streak success rates. The final decision rests with you, however. If you don't like some of the selections, you can change any or all of them as you'd like.
Fans who wish to join the quick-hitting fun can do so until 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday. So what are you waiting for?
Regardless of the game's outcome, someone will leave a winner. If no one bats 1.000 (57-for-57), $1,000 will be awarded to the fan who comes closest to going 57-for-57.
The last time Beat the Streak in a Day was played, in June, the $1,000 winner had an impressive 49-for-57 (85.9 percent) performance. And don't think that was an outlier of some sort, as 19 others finished at 48 or 47. Baseball is truly a game of inches, and with a few bloops here and a seeing-eye bleeder there, you could become a BTS legend with just one push of a button. Not a bad deal, if you ask us.
In 13-plus seasons of BTS play, no one has matched Joe DiMaggio's record hitting streak of 56, set in 1941. To win the $5.6 million grand prize, one must top Joe D.'s streak by one. Whether someone can do so on Tuesday remains to be seen. But for now, get ready, get set and go play Beat the Streak in a Day for your life-changing chance at a whole lot of cash.
MLB-com's Beat the Streak in a Day to be played Tuesday | MLB-com: News
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
According to multiple reports, Cuban slugger Jose Dariel Abreu escaped his home country this week and will become an MLB free agent once he establishes residency elsewhere and is cleared by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control.
That could take months, but once it happens, a slew of MLB will bid furiously for his services. The 26-year-old first baseman might already be among the best hitters in the world. The 6’3″, 250-pound Abreu seems prone to injury, and scouting reports suggest he’s not much on defense or the basepaths. But at the plate… man. According to Baseball America, Abreu hit .382 with a .535 on-base percentage and 13 homers in 42 games this season. Cuban stats require a ton of context and don’t perfectly extrapolate to the domestic game for a variety of reasons, but comparing Abreu to Yoenis Cespedes — a fine MLB player who defected from Cuba nearly two years ago at about the same age as Abreu — bodes well for the recent defector.
Here’s how Cespedes hit in his final two seasons in Cuba, according to Cuban-Play-com:
.331 batting average, .420 on-base percentage, .624 slugging.
Here’s what Abreu has done for the last three seasons, per the same site:
.393 batting average, .542 on-base percentage, .791 slugging.
To put that in perspective: Cespedes hit about as well in Cuba as David Ortiz did in his best Major League seasons. Abreu has been more like the best of Ted Williams.
If you work backwards using Driveline Baseball’s Minor League Equivalency calculator — far from a perfect method, granted — using Cespedes’ last two seasons in Cuba and first two seasons in the Majors, you can estimate that Cespedes has put up the type of Major League numbers you’d expect from a guy who posted his Cuban lines in Class AA ball. Using the same translation, Abreu hits .301 with a .424 on-base percentage and a .567 slugging in a neutral big-league park. Cespedes is his own unique snowflake, of course, as we all are, and one example really accounts for only anecdotal evidence — especially since the two played in different parks and against different competition. But that line — .301/.424/.567 — would make Abreu one of the top five hitters in the game.
Yasiel Puig, for what it’s worth, hit about as well as Cespedes did in his last season in Cuba. Puig doesn’t make for a great comparison, though, because he defected while several years younger than Cespedes and Abreu.
But the bottom line is that several guys who produced well in Cuba have come to the U.S. and produced well in the Major Leagues, and now a guy who hit way, way better than everyone else in Cuba is heading (eventually) to the Major Leagues. Scouts question how well Abreu’s game with translate to the Majors, but scouts said similar things about Puig.
Jose Dariel Abreu is about to make a whole lot of money, and he’s likely ready to be at least an above-average Major League first baseman. And if he’s nearly as good as his Cuban stats suggest, one MLB team is about to strike gold.
The best Cuban hitter is coming to MLB | For The Win
That could take months, but once it happens, a slew of MLB will bid furiously for his services. The 26-year-old first baseman might already be among the best hitters in the world. The 6’3″, 250-pound Abreu seems prone to injury, and scouting reports suggest he’s not much on defense or the basepaths. But at the plate… man. According to Baseball America, Abreu hit .382 with a .535 on-base percentage and 13 homers in 42 games this season. Cuban stats require a ton of context and don’t perfectly extrapolate to the domestic game for a variety of reasons, but comparing Abreu to Yoenis Cespedes — a fine MLB player who defected from Cuba nearly two years ago at about the same age as Abreu — bodes well for the recent defector.
Here’s how Cespedes hit in his final two seasons in Cuba, according to Cuban-Play-com:
.331 batting average, .420 on-base percentage, .624 slugging.
Here’s what Abreu has done for the last three seasons, per the same site:
.393 batting average, .542 on-base percentage, .791 slugging.
To put that in perspective: Cespedes hit about as well in Cuba as David Ortiz did in his best Major League seasons. Abreu has been more like the best of Ted Williams.
If you work backwards using Driveline Baseball’s Minor League Equivalency calculator — far from a perfect method, granted — using Cespedes’ last two seasons in Cuba and first two seasons in the Majors, you can estimate that Cespedes has put up the type of Major League numbers you’d expect from a guy who posted his Cuban lines in Class AA ball. Using the same translation, Abreu hits .301 with a .424 on-base percentage and a .567 slugging in a neutral big-league park. Cespedes is his own unique snowflake, of course, as we all are, and one example really accounts for only anecdotal evidence — especially since the two played in different parks and against different competition. But that line — .301/.424/.567 — would make Abreu one of the top five hitters in the game.
Yasiel Puig, for what it’s worth, hit about as well as Cespedes did in his last season in Cuba. Puig doesn’t make for a great comparison, though, because he defected while several years younger than Cespedes and Abreu.
But the bottom line is that several guys who produced well in Cuba have come to the U.S. and produced well in the Major Leagues, and now a guy who hit way, way better than everyone else in Cuba is heading (eventually) to the Major Leagues. Scouts question how well Abreu’s game with translate to the Majors, but scouts said similar things about Puig.
Jose Dariel Abreu is about to make a whole lot of money, and he’s likely ready to be at least an above-average Major League first baseman. And if he’s nearly as good as his Cuban stats suggest, one MLB team is about to strike gold.
The best Cuban hitter is coming to MLB | For The Win
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2006/12/07
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The report that Alex Rodriguez and his handlers are now planning a federal lawsuit against Major League Baseball, claiming he is being persecuted by commissioner Bud Selig and his drug-enforcement authorities, was greeted with both skepticism and bemusement Wednesday by the owners at the quarterly meetings.
Rodriguez, who appealed the 211-game suspension MLB handed down on Aug. 5, plans to sue if the league doesn’t recant the entire penalty, according to a report on TMZ-com.
A-Rod’s appeal is scheduled to be heard by an arbitrator sometime this fall.
“I guess he’s chosen to ignore 100 years of history (in which federal judges have routinely dismissed lawsuits against baseball),” said one team exec.
“He’s suing us now?” said one owner, smiling. “That’s interesting. Good luck to him.”
Meanwhile, Yankee COO Lonn Trost reaffirmed that the team has merely informed A-Rod that he’ll be disciplined for violating the labor agreement after failing to inform the club he was seeking a second opinion on his quad injury during his rehab a couple weeks ago.
“I read where we fined him $150,000,” said Trost. “Nothing could be further from the truth. There’s been no determination made on what the discipline will be until after his suspension is resolved. We informed him of that.”
TALKIN’ BASEBALL
Dodgers president Stan Kasten, reflecting on his team’s dramatic turnaround from fifth place, 11 games under .500 and 8½ games behind on June 20 to being well ahead in first place now, said he and the owners never lost faith in Don Mattingly as manager, despite recurring reports Donnie Baseball was on the verge of being fired.
“A few weeks ago when we moved into first place,” Kasten said, “I called Don and said: ‘Are you still here? I thought I fired you!’ ” Kasten said that throughout the Dodgers’ miserable start, during which the team was besieged with injuries, he and Mattingly and GM Ned Colletti talked every day. “Privately, I thought things would still fall into place if we could just get through this carousel of injuries. Going 39-8 (entering Wednesday)? No. I didn’t know that.”
As for the criticism that the Dodgers have become the new Yankees with their soaring $216 million payroll and the respective $42 million and $36 million bonuses paid to international free agents Yasiel Puig and Hyun-Jin Ryu, Kasten had no apologies.
“The Dodgers winning is good for baseball,” he said. “We’re leading baseball in both home and road attendance. When a big media market like Los Angeles is getting all this attention for baseball it helps the smaller markets like Pittsburgh and Kansas City.”
He then paid tribute to his scouting director, Logan White, for the signing of Puig and international scouting director Bob Engel for Ryu. “Logan believed so strongly in Puig that we went along with what it cost to sign him, and Bob Engel felt the same way about Ryu,” Kasten said. “If you don’t your trust your scouts, what do you have them for?”
TERRIFIC MEMORY
White Sox board chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was reminiscing about that infamous day in 1984 when the Mets left Tom Seaver unprotected in the free-agent compensation pool draft and the Chisox selected him.
“We were originally going to take Fergie Jenkins, who the Cubs had also left unprotected,” Reinsdorf said. “But when we called (then-Cubs GM) Dallas Green to tell him, he pleaded with us not to take him. So instead we worked out a very favorable trade with the Cubs for another player and went ahead and took Seaver.”
Seaver, however, was furious about having to once again leave the Mets and New York, and initially refused to go to the White Sox. "Seaver was in Chicago and (White Sox co-owner) Eddie (Einhorn) and I went to see him at his hotel,” Reinsdorf said. “But when we got to his door, he wouldn't let us in the room until we showed him our driver’s licenses for ID. He was mad as hell. We finally resolved everything by giving him a contract extension, but even that didn’t go too well. He was going on, saying how he’d won nearly 300 games and could lose 100 games in a row and still be over .500, and I suddenly said: ‘Yeah, but you haven’t won anything for us!’ At that point he charged across the room and I thought he was going to kill me.”
ON THE AGENDA
At Thursday’s formal meeting, Joe Torre’s instant-replay committee will present its final report to the owners for consideration. It is not expected to be voted upon, however. The other primary item on the agenda is the report on the Biogenesis suspensions and the state of the drug program.
Read more: Owners scoff at report that Alex Rodriguez is planning to sue MLB - NY Daily News
Rodriguez, who appealed the 211-game suspension MLB handed down on Aug. 5, plans to sue if the league doesn’t recant the entire penalty, according to a report on TMZ-com.
A-Rod’s appeal is scheduled to be heard by an arbitrator sometime this fall.
“I guess he’s chosen to ignore 100 years of history (in which federal judges have routinely dismissed lawsuits against baseball),” said one team exec.
“He’s suing us now?” said one owner, smiling. “That’s interesting. Good luck to him.”
Meanwhile, Yankee COO Lonn Trost reaffirmed that the team has merely informed A-Rod that he’ll be disciplined for violating the labor agreement after failing to inform the club he was seeking a second opinion on his quad injury during his rehab a couple weeks ago.
“I read where we fined him $150,000,” said Trost. “Nothing could be further from the truth. There’s been no determination made on what the discipline will be until after his suspension is resolved. We informed him of that.”
TALKIN’ BASEBALL
Dodgers president Stan Kasten, reflecting on his team’s dramatic turnaround from fifth place, 11 games under .500 and 8½ games behind on June 20 to being well ahead in first place now, said he and the owners never lost faith in Don Mattingly as manager, despite recurring reports Donnie Baseball was on the verge of being fired.
“A few weeks ago when we moved into first place,” Kasten said, “I called Don and said: ‘Are you still here? I thought I fired you!’ ” Kasten said that throughout the Dodgers’ miserable start, during which the team was besieged with injuries, he and Mattingly and GM Ned Colletti talked every day. “Privately, I thought things would still fall into place if we could just get through this carousel of injuries. Going 39-8 (entering Wednesday)? No. I didn’t know that.”
As for the criticism that the Dodgers have become the new Yankees with their soaring $216 million payroll and the respective $42 million and $36 million bonuses paid to international free agents Yasiel Puig and Hyun-Jin Ryu, Kasten had no apologies.
“The Dodgers winning is good for baseball,” he said. “We’re leading baseball in both home and road attendance. When a big media market like Los Angeles is getting all this attention for baseball it helps the smaller markets like Pittsburgh and Kansas City.”
He then paid tribute to his scouting director, Logan White, for the signing of Puig and international scouting director Bob Engel for Ryu. “Logan believed so strongly in Puig that we went along with what it cost to sign him, and Bob Engel felt the same way about Ryu,” Kasten said. “If you don’t your trust your scouts, what do you have them for?”
TERRIFIC MEMORY
White Sox board chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was reminiscing about that infamous day in 1984 when the Mets left Tom Seaver unprotected in the free-agent compensation pool draft and the Chisox selected him.
“We were originally going to take Fergie Jenkins, who the Cubs had also left unprotected,” Reinsdorf said. “But when we called (then-Cubs GM) Dallas Green to tell him, he pleaded with us not to take him. So instead we worked out a very favorable trade with the Cubs for another player and went ahead and took Seaver.”
Seaver, however, was furious about having to once again leave the Mets and New York, and initially refused to go to the White Sox. "Seaver was in Chicago and (White Sox co-owner) Eddie (Einhorn) and I went to see him at his hotel,” Reinsdorf said. “But when we got to his door, he wouldn't let us in the room until we showed him our driver’s licenses for ID. He was mad as hell. We finally resolved everything by giving him a contract extension, but even that didn’t go too well. He was going on, saying how he’d won nearly 300 games and could lose 100 games in a row and still be over .500, and I suddenly said: ‘Yeah, but you haven’t won anything for us!’ At that point he charged across the room and I thought he was going to kill me.”
ON THE AGENDA
At Thursday’s formal meeting, Joe Torre’s instant-replay committee will present its final report to the owners for consideration. It is not expected to be voted upon, however. The other primary item on the agenda is the report on the Biogenesis suspensions and the state of the drug program.
Read more: Owners scoff at report that Alex Rodriguez is planning to sue MLB - NY Daily News
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2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
With more and more call for expanded instant replay, Major League Baseball is prepared to take a huge step. MLB will implement a challenge system similar to that used in the NFL, per the Associated Press.
The changes will reportedly be finalized at the owners' meetings this coming November -- where a 75 percent vote is needed for approval -- so expect them to be implemented in time for next season.
Via the AP:
Managers will be allowed two challenges over the first six innings of games and one after the seventh inning. Calls that are challenged will be reviewed by a crew in MLB headquarters in New York City, which will make the final ruling.
Braves president John Schuerholz is a member of the replay committee and he noted that the umpires are collectively on board with the change. He also said that 89 percent of incorrect calls would be reviewable. There's no specific word on whether or not this includes balls and strikes.
Commissioner Bud Selig called this a historic moment for baseball, which makes it sound like the vote in November is a mere formality.
On one hand, I'm glad MLB is finally deciding to use the technology available. On the other, I'm worried about manager challenges. I don't understand why the NHL system isn't used instead. That is, this crew in the MLB headquarters watching the games, why can't they just decide when calls should or should not be reviewed? Why leave it up to the managers?
My initial question on the manager challenges is: How can we be sure they are challenging the call instead of buying time? For example, getting a reliever ready ASAP in the ninth inning during a "challenge" could be a stall tactic. How do we safeguard against that?
Eye On Baseball - CBSSports-com MLB to introduce manager challenges to replay system
The changes will reportedly be finalized at the owners' meetings this coming November -- where a 75 percent vote is needed for approval -- so expect them to be implemented in time for next season.
Via the AP:
Managers will be allowed two challenges over the first six innings of games and one after the seventh inning. Calls that are challenged will be reviewed by a crew in MLB headquarters in New York City, which will make the final ruling.
Braves president John Schuerholz is a member of the replay committee and he noted that the umpires are collectively on board with the change. He also said that 89 percent of incorrect calls would be reviewable. There's no specific word on whether or not this includes balls and strikes.
Commissioner Bud Selig called this a historic moment for baseball, which makes it sound like the vote in November is a mere formality.
On one hand, I'm glad MLB is finally deciding to use the technology available. On the other, I'm worried about manager challenges. I don't understand why the NHL system isn't used instead. That is, this crew in the MLB headquarters watching the games, why can't they just decide when calls should or should not be reviewed? Why leave it up to the managers?
My initial question on the manager challenges is: How can we be sure they are challenging the call instead of buying time? For example, getting a reliever ready ASAP in the ninth inning during a "challenge" could be a stall tactic. How do we safeguard against that?
Eye On Baseball - CBSSports-com MLB to introduce manager challenges to replay system
Join:
2006/12/07
Messages:
29893
Suspended Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun has begun apologizing to teammates for lying about his involvement with performance-enhancing drugs, and a story posted on usatoday-com late Friday said he may be moving closer to making similar admissions to the public.
Catcher Jonathan Lucroy and manager Ron Roenicke were among the Brewers personnel who spoke with Braun via telephone on Friday, though both declined to detail those conversations when asked by MLB-com.
USA Today cited "friends" who spoke on the condition of anonymity in reporting that Braun will admit publicly to using PEDs during the 2011 season, when a leg injury sidelined him for the All-Star Game, and will issue apologies along with his explanation. The newspaper did not specify the time or place of Braun's planned comments, though a sidebar initially attached to the story said they were expected Monday.
A Brewers spokesperson said he was unaware of a timetable for Braun to speak. He has made no statements since MLB announced Braun's season-ending suspension on July 22.
News of a pending press event came the same day ESPN-com brought to light a defamation lawsuit filed against Braun by a former friend last month alleging, in part, that Braun's use of performance-enhancing drugs dates back to his years at the University of Miami.
Braun's attorney, Howard Weitzman, released a statement to ESPN disputing those claims.
"This lawsuit is an unfortunate attempt to capitalize on Ryan's recent press attention for taking responsibility for his actions," the statement read. "The factual allegations and the legal claims have absolutely no merit. We believe the lawsuit will be dismissed."
Roenicke spoke to Braun on Friday, but said he was unaware of the new allegation.
"I don't know enough about it to really make a comment," said Roenicke, who in previous comments urged Braun to break his silence. "I don't know if he's going to reappear here [in Milwaukee]. I talked to him today, and we didn't talk about that."
But as for Braun addressing the media in general, Roenicke said, "That was part of the discussion."
What else did they talk about?
"Some other things that were going on with him, just how he's doing and some other things I can't talk about," said Roenicke, who described Braun as "in a good frame of mind."
Braun is in the midst of a 65-game suspension that resulted from Major League Baseball's investigation into the Miami wellness clinic Biogenesis. Friday's ESPN report marked the first allegation that Braun took PEDs before 2011, when a urine sample provided by Braun tested positive for elevated testosterone.
The former friend who is suing Braun, Ralph Sasson, reportedly said in his lawsuit that he was retained by Braun's representatives to conduct background research on Dino Laurenzi Jr., the man who collected the urine sample that triggered Braun's positive test in October 2011.
According to the lawsuit, Sasson and the Braun camp settled a subsequent dispute about Sasson's payment after the sides agreed to a non-disclosure agreement. But Sasson alleges that Braun violated the agreement when he made defamatory statements about Sasson to undisclosed parties.
Sasson also alleges that Braun committed academic fraud at Miami and broke NCAA rules by accepting money while in school, and that Braun urged Sasson to sabotage ESPN's investigative reporting, which led to the original December 2011 story about Braun facing a suspension.
Ryan Braun may break silence next week | MLB-com: News
Catcher Jonathan Lucroy and manager Ron Roenicke were among the Brewers personnel who spoke with Braun via telephone on Friday, though both declined to detail those conversations when asked by MLB-com.
USA Today cited "friends" who spoke on the condition of anonymity in reporting that Braun will admit publicly to using PEDs during the 2011 season, when a leg injury sidelined him for the All-Star Game, and will issue apologies along with his explanation. The newspaper did not specify the time or place of Braun's planned comments, though a sidebar initially attached to the story said they were expected Monday.
A Brewers spokesperson said he was unaware of a timetable for Braun to speak. He has made no statements since MLB announced Braun's season-ending suspension on July 22.
News of a pending press event came the same day ESPN-com brought to light a defamation lawsuit filed against Braun by a former friend last month alleging, in part, that Braun's use of performance-enhancing drugs dates back to his years at the University of Miami.
Braun's attorney, Howard Weitzman, released a statement to ESPN disputing those claims.
"This lawsuit is an unfortunate attempt to capitalize on Ryan's recent press attention for taking responsibility for his actions," the statement read. "The factual allegations and the legal claims have absolutely no merit. We believe the lawsuit will be dismissed."
Roenicke spoke to Braun on Friday, but said he was unaware of the new allegation.
"I don't know enough about it to really make a comment," said Roenicke, who in previous comments urged Braun to break his silence. "I don't know if he's going to reappear here [in Milwaukee]. I talked to him today, and we didn't talk about that."
But as for Braun addressing the media in general, Roenicke said, "That was part of the discussion."
What else did they talk about?
"Some other things that were going on with him, just how he's doing and some other things I can't talk about," said Roenicke, who described Braun as "in a good frame of mind."
Braun is in the midst of a 65-game suspension that resulted from Major League Baseball's investigation into the Miami wellness clinic Biogenesis. Friday's ESPN report marked the first allegation that Braun took PEDs before 2011, when a urine sample provided by Braun tested positive for elevated testosterone.
The former friend who is suing Braun, Ralph Sasson, reportedly said in his lawsuit that he was retained by Braun's representatives to conduct background research on Dino Laurenzi Jr., the man who collected the urine sample that triggered Braun's positive test in October 2011.
According to the lawsuit, Sasson and the Braun camp settled a subsequent dispute about Sasson's payment after the sides agreed to a non-disclosure agreement. But Sasson alleges that Braun violated the agreement when he made defamatory statements about Sasson to undisclosed parties.
Sasson also alleges that Braun committed academic fraud at Miami and broke NCAA rules by accepting money while in school, and that Braun urged Sasson to sabotage ESPN's investigative reporting, which led to the original December 2011 story about Braun facing a suspension.
Ryan Braun may break silence next week | MLB-com: News
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The New York Mets promoted catcher Travis d'Arnaud from Triple-A and put him into the starting lineup for his major league debut.
D'Arnaud was batting sixth Saturday night against San Diego. The Mets put catcher John Buck on the paternity list.
He went 0 for 2 with two walks in his major league debut as the Mets lost 8-2 to the Padres.
D'Arnaud was the key player the Mets received from Toronto in the off-season trade for NL Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey.
The 24-year-old d'Arnaud was hitting .304 with two home runs and 12 RBIs in 19 games. He broke his left foot on April 17 and returned on July 24.
D'Arnaud says he feels ready to play every day and is expected to also play on Sunday.
Mets manager Terry Collins said he likes what he's seen from d'Arnaud.
"His confidence back there and the way he handled some of the older pitchers in spring training was impressive," he said.
Former Blue Jays prospect Travis d'Arnaud makes MLB debut
D'Arnaud was batting sixth Saturday night against San Diego. The Mets put catcher John Buck on the paternity list.
He went 0 for 2 with two walks in his major league debut as the Mets lost 8-2 to the Padres.
D'Arnaud was the key player the Mets received from Toronto in the off-season trade for NL Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey.
The 24-year-old d'Arnaud was hitting .304 with two home runs and 12 RBIs in 19 games. He broke his left foot on April 17 and returned on July 24.
D'Arnaud says he feels ready to play every day and is expected to also play on Sunday.
Mets manager Terry Collins said he likes what he's seen from d'Arnaud.
"His confidence back there and the way he handled some of the older pitchers in spring training was impressive," he said.
Former Blue Jays prospect Travis d'Arnaud makes MLB debut
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So is this the way it’s going to be for the rest of the season? Are Major League Baseball players, caught up as they are with their hatred for Alex Rodriguez, willing to jeopardize their team’s playoff hopes for a chance to bag a rat?
This is precisely what happened at Fenway Park last night, when Ryan Dempster all but called a press conference to announce he’s not much concerned about whether or not the Red Sox finish in first place in the American League East.
Facing the Yankees in a nationally televised game before a packed house, Dempster caused both benches to empty when he threw a pitch that crashed into the left side of A-Rod’s bulked-up body. Considering that in the same at-bat Dempster already had thrown a pitch behind A-Rod, the Red Sox pitcher should have been tossed out of the game. But plate umpire Brian O’Nora preposterously chose to issue warnings to both dugouts, a ruling that brought Yankees manager Joe Girardi out to object and got him ejected.
No. Really. It was Girardi who got heaved, not Dempster.
Way to stay on top of this, Major League Baseball.
The rest of Dempster’s night was a train wreck, as he allowed seven earned runs in 51⁄3 innings — including a home run by A-Rod — in the Yankees’ 9-6 victory over the Red Sox.
Dempster had better stuff after the game when he spoke with reporters.
Asked if he threw at A-Rod, he replied, “No, I was trying to pitch inside.”
Asked if he had any issues with A-Rod, he replied, “No.”
Asked if he feels A-Rod should be allowed to play with the Yankees, he replied, “Yeah, I guess there’s an appeals process.”
This is what’s called “dummying up.” Admit to throwing at hitters and you get suspended. Admit to nothing and you get plausible deniability.
But I’ll ask the question anyway: How can MLB allow this guy to pitch again in five days.
And, what the heck, let’s ask this, too: Given how lousy he was last night, how can the Red Sox allow him to pitch in five days?
We all know what’s going on here: The players hate A-Rod. Not because he used performance-enhancing drugs, mind you, but because, if you believe the reports on “60 Minutes” he ratted out other players who allegedly used performance-enhancing drugs.
MLB has quite a mess on its hands. A-Rod has been hit with a 211-game suspension for his role in the Biogenesis scandal, but he gets to keep playing during the appeal process. A-Rod is part of a game that doesn’t want him any more. So, MLB needs to take action before the next vigilante pitcher decides to toss his team’s playoff prospects into the ash can by turning that night’s game into a celebrity death match with A-Rod.
I guess Dempster earned some street cred with his MLB peers last night and he’ll be a popular guy at the next Players Association golf outing, but know this: He cost the Red Sox a ballgame.
In the very inning he plunked A-Rod, the Yankees scored two runs. In their next confrontation, A-Rod drove in a run with a hard grounder to short. Next time up, he crushed a Dempster offering into the center-field bleachers.
Dempster got himself into a one-out, bases-loaded mess after the A-Rod homer, and that brought out Red Sox manager John Farrell. Having already reduced baseball fans across the country to hysterics during an in-game ESPN interview by saying he didn’t think Dempster hit A-Rod on purpose, Farrell brought in rookie reliever Drake Britton to pitch to Brett Gardner, who cleared the bases with a triple.
Farrell continued the Dempster-was-just-pitching-inside charade after the game. That nonsense aside, the Sox manager was asked: Just to be clear, you don’t think Dempster hit A-Rod on purpose?
“I don’t know that he hit him on purpose,” Farrell said. “I don’t think he did.”
Great stuff. And, hey, Dempster does impressions and tells funny stories. He’s not going to let a little thing like a playoff fight get in the way of nailing an opposing hitter who stands accused of diming out other big league ballplayers.
A lot of baseball fans are going to applaud Dempster for “doing the right thing.” And to be sure, MLB desperately needs to rid itself of A-Rod. But this has nothing to do with you, baseball fans. This is deep, deep players stuff that’s going on, and it’s sacrificing the integrity of a baseball season.
When you purchase a ticket to a game, there is an expectation that what you’re about to see is on the level. Last night’s game was not on the level because exacting some kind of revenge from A-Rod was deemed more important than the fact the Red Sox are fighting Tampa Bay for first place.
But not to worry, folks: If the Sox don’t make the playoffs, or if they end up in the wild card game and lose it, you can always wile away the winter talking about the night Dempster hit A-Rod.
- See more at: Buckley: MLB needs to halt vigilante players | Boston Herald
This is precisely what happened at Fenway Park last night, when Ryan Dempster all but called a press conference to announce he’s not much concerned about whether or not the Red Sox finish in first place in the American League East.
Facing the Yankees in a nationally televised game before a packed house, Dempster caused both benches to empty when he threw a pitch that crashed into the left side of A-Rod’s bulked-up body. Considering that in the same at-bat Dempster already had thrown a pitch behind A-Rod, the Red Sox pitcher should have been tossed out of the game. But plate umpire Brian O’Nora preposterously chose to issue warnings to both dugouts, a ruling that brought Yankees manager Joe Girardi out to object and got him ejected.
No. Really. It was Girardi who got heaved, not Dempster.
Way to stay on top of this, Major League Baseball.
The rest of Dempster’s night was a train wreck, as he allowed seven earned runs in 51⁄3 innings — including a home run by A-Rod — in the Yankees’ 9-6 victory over the Red Sox.
Dempster had better stuff after the game when he spoke with reporters.
Asked if he threw at A-Rod, he replied, “No, I was trying to pitch inside.”
Asked if he had any issues with A-Rod, he replied, “No.”
Asked if he feels A-Rod should be allowed to play with the Yankees, he replied, “Yeah, I guess there’s an appeals process.”
This is what’s called “dummying up.” Admit to throwing at hitters and you get suspended. Admit to nothing and you get plausible deniability.
But I’ll ask the question anyway: How can MLB allow this guy to pitch again in five days.
And, what the heck, let’s ask this, too: Given how lousy he was last night, how can the Red Sox allow him to pitch in five days?
We all know what’s going on here: The players hate A-Rod. Not because he used performance-enhancing drugs, mind you, but because, if you believe the reports on “60 Minutes” he ratted out other players who allegedly used performance-enhancing drugs.
MLB has quite a mess on its hands. A-Rod has been hit with a 211-game suspension for his role in the Biogenesis scandal, but he gets to keep playing during the appeal process. A-Rod is part of a game that doesn’t want him any more. So, MLB needs to take action before the next vigilante pitcher decides to toss his team’s playoff prospects into the ash can by turning that night’s game into a celebrity death match with A-Rod.
I guess Dempster earned some street cred with his MLB peers last night and he’ll be a popular guy at the next Players Association golf outing, but know this: He cost the Red Sox a ballgame.
In the very inning he plunked A-Rod, the Yankees scored two runs. In their next confrontation, A-Rod drove in a run with a hard grounder to short. Next time up, he crushed a Dempster offering into the center-field bleachers.
Dempster got himself into a one-out, bases-loaded mess after the A-Rod homer, and that brought out Red Sox manager John Farrell. Having already reduced baseball fans across the country to hysterics during an in-game ESPN interview by saying he didn’t think Dempster hit A-Rod on purpose, Farrell brought in rookie reliever Drake Britton to pitch to Brett Gardner, who cleared the bases with a triple.
Farrell continued the Dempster-was-just-pitching-inside charade after the game. That nonsense aside, the Sox manager was asked: Just to be clear, you don’t think Dempster hit A-Rod on purpose?
“I don’t know that he hit him on purpose,” Farrell said. “I don’t think he did.”
Great stuff. And, hey, Dempster does impressions and tells funny stories. He’s not going to let a little thing like a playoff fight get in the way of nailing an opposing hitter who stands accused of diming out other big league ballplayers.
A lot of baseball fans are going to applaud Dempster for “doing the right thing.” And to be sure, MLB desperately needs to rid itself of A-Rod. But this has nothing to do with you, baseball fans. This is deep, deep players stuff that’s going on, and it’s sacrificing the integrity of a baseball season.
When you purchase a ticket to a game, there is an expectation that what you’re about to see is on the level. Last night’s game was not on the level because exacting some kind of revenge from A-Rod was deemed more important than the fact the Red Sox are fighting Tampa Bay for first place.
But not to worry, folks: If the Sox don’t make the playoffs, or if they end up in the wild card game and lose it, you can always wile away the winter talking about the night Dempster hit A-Rod.
- See more at: Buckley: MLB needs to halt vigilante players | Boston Herald
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2006/12/07
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The way Major League Baseball is going about its business these days is almost bad enough to make you root for steroids.
It is almost ugly enough to make you feel sorry for Alex Rodriguez. And it is certainly clumsy enough to make you believe that there is a good chance MLB could botch what should have been a slam-dunk case when it finally presents what it has to arbitrator Fredric Horowitz sometime this fall.
MLB's latest gambit, having Matt Lauer present Joe Tacopina, Rodriguez's attorney, with a waiver of the confidentiality agreement between baseball and A-Rod, was as obviously staged and sleazy as anything seen on "Big Brother" or "The Bachelorette."
No lawyer in his right mind would fall for such a move, and in a perfect world Tacopina would have rolled the piece of paper into a ball and flung it right back into Lauer's face.
My feeling is that would have drawn cheers, not jeers, from a public that I sense is beginning to see this for what it is becoming: a witch hunt. That is the level to which this sordid little reality show has sunk, and it leads me to only one conclusion: Major League Baseball, and the Yankees, better be squeaky clean in all of this.
Because both of those hallowed institutions now have a hell of a lot more to lose in this thing than Alex Rodriguez. We already know that A-Rod has been a liar, an adulterer and more than likely, a serial performance-enhancing drug cheat. And no matter what baseball has on him in its thousands of pages of documentary evidence, it is highly unlikely it has anything that could damage his reputation more than it has already been damaged.
Really, what could baseball possibly tell us about Alex Rodriguez that we either don't already know or haven't already assumed?
But MLB and the Yankees are another story.
If in fact they have the goods on A-Rod, why can't they wait to present them in the proper forum, at a formal hearing before their designated arbitrator, Fredric Horowitz?
Why stoop to leaks to favored reporters and pliable TV newsreaders?
If their case is so strong, why do they feel the need to reveal it in daily dribs and drabs?
We already know Alex Rodriguez is guilty of something. He hasn't even bothered to deny his PED use. His sole focus seems to be the reduction of the unprecedented 211-game suspension, which for a player of his age and physical condition is the same as the death penalty for his career.
But what if, in fact, baseball and the Yankees are guilty of something as well?
What if it is true that baseball paid Anthony Bosch hundreds of thousands of dollars to tell its investigators what they wanted to hear? How different is that from A-Rod allegedly trying to pay Bosch not to talk? They're both dirty tactics and should cancel out the weight of anything the drug dealer who masqueraded as a doctor should have to say.
And as for the Yankees, what if those private emails between A-Rod and Randy Levine aren't quite what the team claims they are? What if they do reveal, as A-Rod's side alleges, an unsavory or bullying side to the president of the most revered professional sports team on earth?
What if A-Rod's medical records do show that he was suffering from a hip injury during the playoffs last year? What if Dr. Bryan Kelly testifies under oath that Levine did in fact say to him, "I don't ever want to see [A-Rod] on the field again"?
None of that, of course, will have any effect on whether or not A-Rod violated baseball's Joint Drug Agreement with its players, or whether he should be punished for those violations.
But it could tear back the curtain on the way this business is still conducted, four decades after the game's onerous reserve clause was finally struck down.
Is it really worth it to baseball to expose its dark side in order to make an example out of Alex Rodriguez? Is it really worth it to the Yankees, a franchise worth more than $2 billion, to try to get out of paying him $86 million?
We know that lawyers bluster all the time. It is what they do for a living. But what if Rodriguez's side does have even a fraction of the evidence it claims to have against MLB and the Yankees?
That evidence likely will not exonerate A-Rod, and in reality, his exoneration is no longer possible. By his own actions, he is already tarnished beyond repair.
But for MLB and the Yankees, who are supposed to be the good guys here, the damage might only be beginning.
MLB, Yankees better be clean in Alex Rodriguez mess - ESPN New York
It is almost ugly enough to make you feel sorry for Alex Rodriguez. And it is certainly clumsy enough to make you believe that there is a good chance MLB could botch what should have been a slam-dunk case when it finally presents what it has to arbitrator Fredric Horowitz sometime this fall.
MLB's latest gambit, having Matt Lauer present Joe Tacopina, Rodriguez's attorney, with a waiver of the confidentiality agreement between baseball and A-Rod, was as obviously staged and sleazy as anything seen on "Big Brother" or "The Bachelorette."
No lawyer in his right mind would fall for such a move, and in a perfect world Tacopina would have rolled the piece of paper into a ball and flung it right back into Lauer's face.
My feeling is that would have drawn cheers, not jeers, from a public that I sense is beginning to see this for what it is becoming: a witch hunt. That is the level to which this sordid little reality show has sunk, and it leads me to only one conclusion: Major League Baseball, and the Yankees, better be squeaky clean in all of this.
Because both of those hallowed institutions now have a hell of a lot more to lose in this thing than Alex Rodriguez. We already know that A-Rod has been a liar, an adulterer and more than likely, a serial performance-enhancing drug cheat. And no matter what baseball has on him in its thousands of pages of documentary evidence, it is highly unlikely it has anything that could damage his reputation more than it has already been damaged.
Really, what could baseball possibly tell us about Alex Rodriguez that we either don't already know or haven't already assumed?
But MLB and the Yankees are another story.
If in fact they have the goods on A-Rod, why can't they wait to present them in the proper forum, at a formal hearing before their designated arbitrator, Fredric Horowitz?
Why stoop to leaks to favored reporters and pliable TV newsreaders?
If their case is so strong, why do they feel the need to reveal it in daily dribs and drabs?
We already know Alex Rodriguez is guilty of something. He hasn't even bothered to deny his PED use. His sole focus seems to be the reduction of the unprecedented 211-game suspension, which for a player of his age and physical condition is the same as the death penalty for his career.
But what if, in fact, baseball and the Yankees are guilty of something as well?
What if it is true that baseball paid Anthony Bosch hundreds of thousands of dollars to tell its investigators what they wanted to hear? How different is that from A-Rod allegedly trying to pay Bosch not to talk? They're both dirty tactics and should cancel out the weight of anything the drug dealer who masqueraded as a doctor should have to say.
And as for the Yankees, what if those private emails between A-Rod and Randy Levine aren't quite what the team claims they are? What if they do reveal, as A-Rod's side alleges, an unsavory or bullying side to the president of the most revered professional sports team on earth?
What if A-Rod's medical records do show that he was suffering from a hip injury during the playoffs last year? What if Dr. Bryan Kelly testifies under oath that Levine did in fact say to him, "I don't ever want to see [A-Rod] on the field again"?
None of that, of course, will have any effect on whether or not A-Rod violated baseball's Joint Drug Agreement with its players, or whether he should be punished for those violations.
But it could tear back the curtain on the way this business is still conducted, four decades after the game's onerous reserve clause was finally struck down.
Is it really worth it to baseball to expose its dark side in order to make an example out of Alex Rodriguez? Is it really worth it to the Yankees, a franchise worth more than $2 billion, to try to get out of paying him $86 million?
We know that lawyers bluster all the time. It is what they do for a living. But what if Rodriguez's side does have even a fraction of the evidence it claims to have against MLB and the Yankees?
That evidence likely will not exonerate A-Rod, and in reality, his exoneration is no longer possible. By his own actions, he is already tarnished beyond repair.
But for MLB and the Yankees, who are supposed to be the good guys here, the damage might only be beginning.
MLB, Yankees better be clean in Alex Rodriguez mess - ESPN New York
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The sparring between Major League Baseball and Alex Rodriguez intensified Monday, as the New York Yankees third baseman pondered options for recourse against his team.
Rodriguez and his attorney, Joe Tacopina, say the Yankees let Rodriguez play during the 2012 postseason despite an MRI scan by team doctor Chris Ahmad that indicated a significant injury to his left hip. Rodriguez had surgery on the hip in January. Tacopina, in remarks to The New York Times, said the Yankees "rolled Rodriguez out there like an invalid" during the playoffs. Rodriguez had an MRI on Oct. 11, the date of Game 4 of the Yankees' American League Division Series against the Baltimore Orioles.
Rodriguez had three hits in 25 at-bats, with 12 strikeouts, in the two playoff series.
Also Monday, Major League Baseball welcomed a challenge from Tacopina to publicly divulge all of the information it gathered in recent years to reveal that Rodriguez has been taking performance-enhancing drugs since 2010.
In a letter from MLB vice president Rob Manfred delivered to Tacopina, Manfred informed the lawyer he was in violation of baseball's Joint Drug Agreement confidentiality clause, but if he was now willing, MLB would reveal all of its information on Rodriguez.
A copy of the letter was obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
"While we believe that your public comments are already in breach of the confidentiality provisions of Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program," Manfred said in the letter, "we will agree to waive those provisions as they apply to Rodriguez and the Office of Commissioner of Baseball with respect to Rodriguez's entire history under the Program, including, but not limited to, his testing history, test results, violations of the Program, and all information relating to Rodriguez's treatment by Anthony Bosch, Anthony Galea and Victor Conte."
Tacopina issued a rebuttal, noting that any such release would have to include the permission of baseball's players association. "This letter was a publicity stunt," Tacopina wrote.
In response, Manfred said, "The Players Association has never stood in the way of an individual player publicly disclosing his own drug testing history. We are more than happy to add a signature line for the MLBPA to my letter."
MLB interviewed Rodriguez before the 2010 season about his relationship with Galea, a Canadian doctor who admitted using human growth hormones but said he didn't distribute it to clients. Conte, the man behind the BALCO doping scandal that ensnared home run king Barry Bonds among others, met with Rodriguez in May 2012 regarding the use of legal nutritional supplements, according to New York's Daily News.
Rodriguez was first publicly connected to performance-enhancing drug use in 2009, when Sports Illustrated reported he tested positive during MLB's anonymous survey testing in 2003.
MLB willing to release its evidence on Alex Rodriguez
Rodriguez and his attorney, Joe Tacopina, say the Yankees let Rodriguez play during the 2012 postseason despite an MRI scan by team doctor Chris Ahmad that indicated a significant injury to his left hip. Rodriguez had surgery on the hip in January. Tacopina, in remarks to The New York Times, said the Yankees "rolled Rodriguez out there like an invalid" during the playoffs. Rodriguez had an MRI on Oct. 11, the date of Game 4 of the Yankees' American League Division Series against the Baltimore Orioles.
Rodriguez had three hits in 25 at-bats, with 12 strikeouts, in the two playoff series.
Also Monday, Major League Baseball welcomed a challenge from Tacopina to publicly divulge all of the information it gathered in recent years to reveal that Rodriguez has been taking performance-enhancing drugs since 2010.
In a letter from MLB vice president Rob Manfred delivered to Tacopina, Manfred informed the lawyer he was in violation of baseball's Joint Drug Agreement confidentiality clause, but if he was now willing, MLB would reveal all of its information on Rodriguez.
A copy of the letter was obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
"While we believe that your public comments are already in breach of the confidentiality provisions of Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program," Manfred said in the letter, "we will agree to waive those provisions as they apply to Rodriguez and the Office of Commissioner of Baseball with respect to Rodriguez's entire history under the Program, including, but not limited to, his testing history, test results, violations of the Program, and all information relating to Rodriguez's treatment by Anthony Bosch, Anthony Galea and Victor Conte."
Tacopina issued a rebuttal, noting that any such release would have to include the permission of baseball's players association. "This letter was a publicity stunt," Tacopina wrote.
In response, Manfred said, "The Players Association has never stood in the way of an individual player publicly disclosing his own drug testing history. We are more than happy to add a signature line for the MLBPA to my letter."
MLB interviewed Rodriguez before the 2010 season about his relationship with Galea, a Canadian doctor who admitted using human growth hormones but said he didn't distribute it to clients. Conte, the man behind the BALCO doping scandal that ensnared home run king Barry Bonds among others, met with Rodriguez in May 2012 regarding the use of legal nutritional supplements, according to New York's Daily News.
Rodriguez was first publicly connected to performance-enhancing drug use in 2009, when Sports Illustrated reported he tested positive during MLB's anonymous survey testing in 2003.
MLB willing to release its evidence on Alex Rodriguez
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The infield was in because it often has to be against one of the game's great small-ball players. There was no defensive shift because there was no telling which way the ball might go.
For Ichiro Suzuki, career hit. No. 4,000 came with familiar unpredictability. He simply found a way to get it done, this time with a soft line drive in the first inning of Wednesday night's 4-2 Yankees win against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.
It wasn't until the eighth inning that the game was won on a two-out, two-run home run by Alfonso Soriano, giving the Yankees their 10th win in 13 games on the same day that Ichiro reached a rather obscure milestone by hitting an opposite-field single past diving third baseman Brett Lawrie. "It was supposed to be a number that was special to me, but what happened tonight, I wasn't expecting," Ichiro said.
Combining his major-league and Pacific League (Japan) totals, Ichiro became the third player in baseball history to reach 4,000 hits in any country's top level of professional baseball, and the game was delayed while the Yankees poured out of the dugout to congratulate him on the field. A video message from former teammate Ken Griffey Jr. also played on the scoreboard.
"At first I was trying to stop (the players) from coming," Ichiro said. "But it was just because I was so happy and overjoyed with the way they supported me. … When I look back on this, that's what's going to make this very special."
While the Yankees are known for their power hitters — and while they needed a home run from an often all-or-nothing slugger like Soriano to continue their hot streak — Ichiro has reached 4,000 hits with a diverse mix of infield singles, hard line drives, and occasionally surprising power for such a small, wiry player.
"Anything that I get a hit with is going to be Ichiro-like," he said. A combined hit total is hard to put in perspective. Only two major-leaguers — Pete Rose and Ty Cobb — have ever reached 4,000 hits, but clearly Ichiro's is a different sort of milestone. ESPN's researchers reported that only five players — Rose, Cobb, Stan Musial, Hank Aaron and little-known Jigger Statz — have reached 4,000 by combining major-league and minor-league hit totals.
Derek Jeter presents a convenient comparison because he's the same age as Ichiro and started his minor-league career in the same year that Ichiro debuted in Japan. Jeter has 3,859 hits combining his big-league total with his minor-league total, leaving him short of Ichiro's 4,000 plateau. Of course, Jeter has missed most of this season due to injuries.
"I didn't have 4,000 hits in my whole career and you can go back to T-ball," manager Joe Girardi said. "To me it's an unbelievable feat, and he's some kind of hitter."
The milestone — and Ichiro's stunned reaction to Yankee Stadium's celebration — provided a sideshow highlight to another win for a team that's suddenly surging and now sits four games out of the second wild-card spot.
"I realized today is that the Yankees are so used to things like this happening that they're so good at ceremonies like this," Ichiro said.
They're used to making the playoffs too, and with milestones and big home runs, they're creeping closer.
Ichiro Suzuki gets 4,000th hit between MLB and Japan
For Ichiro Suzuki, career hit. No. 4,000 came with familiar unpredictability. He simply found a way to get it done, this time with a soft line drive in the first inning of Wednesday night's 4-2 Yankees win against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.
It wasn't until the eighth inning that the game was won on a two-out, two-run home run by Alfonso Soriano, giving the Yankees their 10th win in 13 games on the same day that Ichiro reached a rather obscure milestone by hitting an opposite-field single past diving third baseman Brett Lawrie. "It was supposed to be a number that was special to me, but what happened tonight, I wasn't expecting," Ichiro said.
Combining his major-league and Pacific League (Japan) totals, Ichiro became the third player in baseball history to reach 4,000 hits in any country's top level of professional baseball, and the game was delayed while the Yankees poured out of the dugout to congratulate him on the field. A video message from former teammate Ken Griffey Jr. also played on the scoreboard.
"At first I was trying to stop (the players) from coming," Ichiro said. "But it was just because I was so happy and overjoyed with the way they supported me. … When I look back on this, that's what's going to make this very special."
While the Yankees are known for their power hitters — and while they needed a home run from an often all-or-nothing slugger like Soriano to continue their hot streak — Ichiro has reached 4,000 hits with a diverse mix of infield singles, hard line drives, and occasionally surprising power for such a small, wiry player.
"Anything that I get a hit with is going to be Ichiro-like," he said. A combined hit total is hard to put in perspective. Only two major-leaguers — Pete Rose and Ty Cobb — have ever reached 4,000 hits, but clearly Ichiro's is a different sort of milestone. ESPN's researchers reported that only five players — Rose, Cobb, Stan Musial, Hank Aaron and little-known Jigger Statz — have reached 4,000 by combining major-league and minor-league hit totals.
Derek Jeter presents a convenient comparison because he's the same age as Ichiro and started his minor-league career in the same year that Ichiro debuted in Japan. Jeter has 3,859 hits combining his big-league total with his minor-league total, leaving him short of Ichiro's 4,000 plateau. Of course, Jeter has missed most of this season due to injuries.
"I didn't have 4,000 hits in my whole career and you can go back to T-ball," manager Joe Girardi said. "To me it's an unbelievable feat, and he's some kind of hitter."
The milestone — and Ichiro's stunned reaction to Yankee Stadium's celebration — provided a sideshow highlight to another win for a team that's suddenly surging and now sits four games out of the second wild-card spot.
"I realized today is that the Yankees are so used to things like this happening that they're so good at ceremonies like this," Ichiro said.
They're used to making the playoffs too, and with milestones and big home runs, they're creeping closer.
Ichiro Suzuki gets 4,000th hit between MLB and Japan
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Ryan Braun still has a long way to go, but on Thursday the disgraced Brewers star voluntarily stepped to the plate as the first Biogenesis player to explain to the public his violation of baseball’s drug program and the strident lies that followed.
Apologizing and unequivocally taking responsibility for the doping offense that resulted in the 65-game suspension he is serving, Braun stood in stark contrast to Alex Rodriguez, the embattled Yankee who has fought his 211-game ban with a wild campaign of accusations and threats of litigation against Major League Baseball and the Yankees.
“I want to apologize for my actions and provide a more specific account of what I did and why I deserved to be suspended,” Braun said, adding that he had no one to blame but himself. “I have disappointed the people closest to me the ones who fought for me because they truly believed me all along,” he said. “I kept the truth from everyone. For a long time, I was in denial and convinced myself that I had not done anything wrong.”
Braun says a “nagging injury” led him to take banned substances from Biogenesis on two occasions in 2011 — “a cream and a lozenge, which I was told could help expedite my rehabilitation.”
One of those led to his positive test for hugely elevated levels of testosterone.
“It was a huge mistake for which I am deeply ashamed and I compounded the situation by not admitting my mistakes immediately,” Braun said.
Braun made it clear in his statement that no one around him knew of his deceptions.
“It is important that people understand that I did not share details of what happened with anyone until recently,” he said. “My family, my teammates, the Brewers organization, my friends, agents, and advisers had no knowledge of these facts, and no one should be blamed but me. Those who put their necks out for me have been embarrassed by my behavior. I don’t have the words to express how sorry I am for that.”
The positive test came as the Brewers were making a playoff push in October of 2011. Braun, who was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player just weeks after the test, did not offer any details Thursday on who gave the substances to him, but the implication is that they came from Biogenesis, the Miami-area anti-aging clinic.
According to a source familiar with the case, Braun did not purchase the products directly from Biogenesis owner Tony Bosch.
Braun’s statement, issued through the Brewers, included apologies to commissioner Bud Selig, MLB vice president Rob Manfred and union boss Michael Weiner and his staff, Braun’s teammates, his fans, family, friends, sponsors and advisers. He also apologized to the man who collected a urine sample in 2011 that tested positive for testosterone — a reading that Braun hinted was attributable to tampering by Dino Laurenzi.
“I sincerely apologize to everybody involved in the arbitration process, including the collector, Dino Laurenzi Jr.,” Braun said. “I feel terrible that I put my teammates in a position where they were asked some very difficult and uncomfortable questions. One of my primary goals is to make amends with them.”
Braun’s campaign of denials began in 2011, after the urine sample Laurenzi collected from him on the day of the Brewers’ Oct. 1 playoff victory over Arizona showed off-the-charts testosterone levels. He was notified of the positive test in late October — about a month before he was named the NL’s MVP.
Braun successfully fought that positive test in a bruising arbitration battle that became public in early 2012 after ESPN reported in December of 2011 that he had failed a test and been hit with a 50-game penalty.
Braun declared victory two months later, standing before the media and saying, “I would bet my life that this substance never entered my body at any point.”
He was implicated a year later, after being linked in reports to the Biogenesis scandal (reportedly fingered after Alex Rodriguez leaked his name to the media.) Again, Braun adamantly defended himself, denying any links to Bosch and claiming his name only appeared in documents that originated at Biogenesis because his attorneys used Bosch as a “consultant” in beating the positive test.
That was his story right up until July, when MLB investigators confronted him with evidence of his guilt. After that meeting, in which he declined to answer questions, Braun reportedly asked MLB for a second interview and this time, he admitted using the banned substances and accepted his 65-game suspension from Selig without a fight.
Since then, Braun has been lauded by MLB and the Players Association for accepting responsibility for his actions.
In the court of public opinion, Braun’s biggest mistake might have been questioning the integrity of Laurenzi, the man who had collected his urine sample, then kept it in his Wisconsin basement over the weekend before delivering it to Federal Express for shipment to a drug lab. It was on the basis of the handling of the sample that arbitrator Shyam Das overturned the suspension. MLB said it “vehemently disagreed” with the arbitrator’s decision, revised its collection procedures and later fired Das.
On Thursday, Braun said he supported baseball’s drug policy and saw the importance of cleaning up the game.
“What I did goes against everything I have always valued achieving through hard work and dedication, and being honest both on and off the field,” Braun said. “I also understand that I will now have to work very, very hard to begin to earn back people’s trust and support.”
Read more: Ryan Braun apologizes for lying about violating MLB
Apologizing and unequivocally taking responsibility for the doping offense that resulted in the 65-game suspension he is serving, Braun stood in stark contrast to Alex Rodriguez, the embattled Yankee who has fought his 211-game ban with a wild campaign of accusations and threats of litigation against Major League Baseball and the Yankees.
“I want to apologize for my actions and provide a more specific account of what I did and why I deserved to be suspended,” Braun said, adding that he had no one to blame but himself. “I have disappointed the people closest to me the ones who fought for me because they truly believed me all along,” he said. “I kept the truth from everyone. For a long time, I was in denial and convinced myself that I had not done anything wrong.”
Braun says a “nagging injury” led him to take banned substances from Biogenesis on two occasions in 2011 — “a cream and a lozenge, which I was told could help expedite my rehabilitation.”
One of those led to his positive test for hugely elevated levels of testosterone.
“It was a huge mistake for which I am deeply ashamed and I compounded the situation by not admitting my mistakes immediately,” Braun said.
Braun made it clear in his statement that no one around him knew of his deceptions.
“It is important that people understand that I did not share details of what happened with anyone until recently,” he said. “My family, my teammates, the Brewers organization, my friends, agents, and advisers had no knowledge of these facts, and no one should be blamed but me. Those who put their necks out for me have been embarrassed by my behavior. I don’t have the words to express how sorry I am for that.”
The positive test came as the Brewers were making a playoff push in October of 2011. Braun, who was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player just weeks after the test, did not offer any details Thursday on who gave the substances to him, but the implication is that they came from Biogenesis, the Miami-area anti-aging clinic.
According to a source familiar with the case, Braun did not purchase the products directly from Biogenesis owner Tony Bosch.
Braun’s statement, issued through the Brewers, included apologies to commissioner Bud Selig, MLB vice president Rob Manfred and union boss Michael Weiner and his staff, Braun’s teammates, his fans, family, friends, sponsors and advisers. He also apologized to the man who collected a urine sample in 2011 that tested positive for testosterone — a reading that Braun hinted was attributable to tampering by Dino Laurenzi.
“I sincerely apologize to everybody involved in the arbitration process, including the collector, Dino Laurenzi Jr.,” Braun said. “I feel terrible that I put my teammates in a position where they were asked some very difficult and uncomfortable questions. One of my primary goals is to make amends with them.”
Braun’s campaign of denials began in 2011, after the urine sample Laurenzi collected from him on the day of the Brewers’ Oct. 1 playoff victory over Arizona showed off-the-charts testosterone levels. He was notified of the positive test in late October — about a month before he was named the NL’s MVP.
Braun successfully fought that positive test in a bruising arbitration battle that became public in early 2012 after ESPN reported in December of 2011 that he had failed a test and been hit with a 50-game penalty.
Braun declared victory two months later, standing before the media and saying, “I would bet my life that this substance never entered my body at any point.”
He was implicated a year later, after being linked in reports to the Biogenesis scandal (reportedly fingered after Alex Rodriguez leaked his name to the media.) Again, Braun adamantly defended himself, denying any links to Bosch and claiming his name only appeared in documents that originated at Biogenesis because his attorneys used Bosch as a “consultant” in beating the positive test.
That was his story right up until July, when MLB investigators confronted him with evidence of his guilt. After that meeting, in which he declined to answer questions, Braun reportedly asked MLB for a second interview and this time, he admitted using the banned substances and accepted his 65-game suspension from Selig without a fight.
Since then, Braun has been lauded by MLB and the Players Association for accepting responsibility for his actions.
In the court of public opinion, Braun’s biggest mistake might have been questioning the integrity of Laurenzi, the man who had collected his urine sample, then kept it in his Wisconsin basement over the weekend before delivering it to Federal Express for shipment to a drug lab. It was on the basis of the handling of the sample that arbitrator Shyam Das overturned the suspension. MLB said it “vehemently disagreed” with the arbitrator’s decision, revised its collection procedures and later fired Das.
On Thursday, Braun said he supported baseball’s drug policy and saw the importance of cleaning up the game.
“What I did goes against everything I have always valued achieving through hard work and dedication, and being honest both on and off the field,” Braun said. “I also understand that I will now have to work very, very hard to begin to earn back people’s trust and support.”
Read more: Ryan Braun apologizes for lying about violating MLB
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2006/12/07
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29893
The big leagues aren't the only place you'll find late-inning drama.
The National Youth Baseball Championships wound its way through the quarterfinals Saturday, and the first two games both brought compelling theater to Gameday Fields. One act involved a team desperately trying to protect a narrow lead, and the other brought a late-game reversal of fortune.
The two teams that emerged victorious from the top of the bracket -- Miami-based Team MVP and the SY Titans from Santa Ynez, Calif. -- will face off Sunday in the semifinals. BPA DeMarini, which defeated two-time defending champions Houston Banditos, and Diamond MVP became the final team to advance with a victory over the EM Majors.
Team MVP played early Saturday against the Lamorinda Spartans, and the first inning never would've suggested a dramatic finish. Team MVP scored seven runs in the first inning, aided by six walks from the Lamorinda starter, and came back to score three more runs in the second.
But that was all the offense Team MVP would get, and Lamorinda spent the rest of the day working its way back into the game. The Spartans scored six times in the bottom of the second inning to make it a 10-6 game, and Israel Quintana homered in the bottom of the sixth to pull within two runs.
Team MVP would close out the home team for a 10-8 win that was a little closer than it would've liked, and coach Mandy Sierra told his team he was proud of its resilience. But Sierra also told his players that they came close to letting one get away and that they'd need to play better Sunday.
"One of the biggest problems we had in this game was that we jumped out ahead of them," he said. "Once we were out ahead, we sort of laid back a little bit. We threw away a lot of opportunities where we left runners on base to get some insurance runs, and we almost needed them at the end.
"We've played this team a lot of times. In the last month, I think we've played four or five times, and it's always been tough. We played them in California, we played them in Puerto Rico and now twice here. We had to beat them to actually get here, and to win here doubles the sweetness."
Eight different players scored for Team MVP, which had also beaten Lamorinda in Friday's qualifying round. Jake Holland, who started at catcher, threw three solid innings to take the victory. Sierra said the win felt great for his players because of how hard they've worked to get to this point.
"We've been everywhere. We've traveled so much," said Sierra of Team MVP. "The experiences these kids have had this year have been outrageous. They don't realize that right now. A couple years down the road, they'll sit back and say, 'I can't believe I went to Las Vegas, California and Puerto Rico to compete against the top talent in the country.' And they've been very successful at it."
The Titans, playing in the second quarterfinal of the day, found themselves in a taut pitchers' duel against the Houston-based TC Nationals Force. The Titans held a 1-0 edge after four innings, but Cade Graves came through with a two-run chopper through the infield in the top of the fifth.
Did the Titans get down? No, they quickly got even. Pinch-hitter Cole Knightley started the inning with a single, and the next batter -- Conagher Sands -- powered a two-run homer over the center-field fence. The Titans would score six more times in the fifth inning en route to a 9-2 victory.
David Lawrence, manager of the SY Titans, said he was thrilled to see their winning effort.
"The kids never give up," he said. "We've played a lot of baseball and we have all the confidence in the world. When we went down 2-1, it was, 'Let's make it happen. Execute.' A kid came off the bench that hasn't been in the game -- Cole Knightley -- and gets a base hit. We got the big home run from Conagher Sands and took the lead. From there, it was just run after run after run."
The crazy part? The Titans almost didn't make it to the tournament. Their West Coast qualifier was canceled, and the Titans had to come to Memphis and win another tourney to qualify.
"We booked a trip and we called it the Ten-tucky trip, because we went to Tennessee and we also went to Kentucky," said Lawrence. "We were here for 10 days, and it was a short three weeks ago. We came here for four days and won a tournament, and we went to Nashville for three nights, goofed off and went to a water park. And then we went to Kentucky for four days and played baseball. It was a nice 10-day trip. I was telling them they got their first experience being Minor Leaguers."
Saturday's third game brought perhaps the biggest upset of the tournament. The Banditos had won the tourney two times in a row, and they took an 18-0 victory in their second qualifying game on Friday. But BPA DeMarini, based in Lake Forest, Calif., took it to the Banditos early on Saturday.
"I respect those guys. Who can't respect those guys?" said BPA DeMarini coach Wade Jackson. "They deserve it. But our guys came out and did what they had to do against them."
BPA scored three times in the first inning and held a 5-2 lead after the third, and it weathered a late Houston run to deliver a devastating counter-punch. BPA DeMarini finished strong, scoring five times in the sixth inning inning to salt away a 10-3 victory and a place in the second semifinal.
"It was a nail-biter," said Jackson. "I was telling the boys that top to bottom, it was going to be a battle. The best thing you can do is put up three or four runs in the first inning on somebody. Knock them down, then come out and do what we do on the mound and on defense. It's like I tell my boys: 'If we throw strikes and we play defense, we can play with anybody in the country.'"
The final game of the day was the quickest (one hour, 40 minutes) and the most competitive. Diamond MVP and the EM Majors combined for just three runs in the first four innings, but Diamond -- based out of Norwalk, Calif. -- pushed
The National Youth Baseball Championships wound its way through the quarterfinals Saturday, and the first two games both brought compelling theater to Gameday Fields. One act involved a team desperately trying to protect a narrow lead, and the other brought a late-game reversal of fortune.
The two teams that emerged victorious from the top of the bracket -- Miami-based Team MVP and the SY Titans from Santa Ynez, Calif. -- will face off Sunday in the semifinals. BPA DeMarini, which defeated two-time defending champions Houston Banditos, and Diamond MVP became the final team to advance with a victory over the EM Majors.
Team MVP played early Saturday against the Lamorinda Spartans, and the first inning never would've suggested a dramatic finish. Team MVP scored seven runs in the first inning, aided by six walks from the Lamorinda starter, and came back to score three more runs in the second.
But that was all the offense Team MVP would get, and Lamorinda spent the rest of the day working its way back into the game. The Spartans scored six times in the bottom of the second inning to make it a 10-6 game, and Israel Quintana homered in the bottom of the sixth to pull within two runs.
Team MVP would close out the home team for a 10-8 win that was a little closer than it would've liked, and coach Mandy Sierra told his team he was proud of its resilience. But Sierra also told his players that they came close to letting one get away and that they'd need to play better Sunday.
"One of the biggest problems we had in this game was that we jumped out ahead of them," he said. "Once we were out ahead, we sort of laid back a little bit. We threw away a lot of opportunities where we left runners on base to get some insurance runs, and we almost needed them at the end.
"We've played this team a lot of times. In the last month, I think we've played four or five times, and it's always been tough. We played them in California, we played them in Puerto Rico and now twice here. We had to beat them to actually get here, and to win here doubles the sweetness."
Eight different players scored for Team MVP, which had also beaten Lamorinda in Friday's qualifying round. Jake Holland, who started at catcher, threw three solid innings to take the victory. Sierra said the win felt great for his players because of how hard they've worked to get to this point.
"We've been everywhere. We've traveled so much," said Sierra of Team MVP. "The experiences these kids have had this year have been outrageous. They don't realize that right now. A couple years down the road, they'll sit back and say, 'I can't believe I went to Las Vegas, California and Puerto Rico to compete against the top talent in the country.' And they've been very successful at it."
The Titans, playing in the second quarterfinal of the day, found themselves in a taut pitchers' duel against the Houston-based TC Nationals Force. The Titans held a 1-0 edge after four innings, but Cade Graves came through with a two-run chopper through the infield in the top of the fifth.
Did the Titans get down? No, they quickly got even. Pinch-hitter Cole Knightley started the inning with a single, and the next batter -- Conagher Sands -- powered a two-run homer over the center-field fence. The Titans would score six more times in the fifth inning en route to a 9-2 victory.
David Lawrence, manager of the SY Titans, said he was thrilled to see their winning effort.
"The kids never give up," he said. "We've played a lot of baseball and we have all the confidence in the world. When we went down 2-1, it was, 'Let's make it happen. Execute.' A kid came off the bench that hasn't been in the game -- Cole Knightley -- and gets a base hit. We got the big home run from Conagher Sands and took the lead. From there, it was just run after run after run."
The crazy part? The Titans almost didn't make it to the tournament. Their West Coast qualifier was canceled, and the Titans had to come to Memphis and win another tourney to qualify.
"We booked a trip and we called it the Ten-tucky trip, because we went to Tennessee and we also went to Kentucky," said Lawrence. "We were here for 10 days, and it was a short three weeks ago. We came here for four days and won a tournament, and we went to Nashville for three nights, goofed off and went to a water park. And then we went to Kentucky for four days and played baseball. It was a nice 10-day trip. I was telling them they got their first experience being Minor Leaguers."
Saturday's third game brought perhaps the biggest upset of the tournament. The Banditos had won the tourney two times in a row, and they took an 18-0 victory in their second qualifying game on Friday. But BPA DeMarini, based in Lake Forest, Calif., took it to the Banditos early on Saturday.
"I respect those guys. Who can't respect those guys?" said BPA DeMarini coach Wade Jackson. "They deserve it. But our guys came out and did what they had to do against them."
BPA scored three times in the first inning and held a 5-2 lead after the third, and it weathered a late Houston run to deliver a devastating counter-punch. BPA DeMarini finished strong, scoring five times in the sixth inning inning to salt away a 10-3 victory and a place in the second semifinal.
"It was a nail-biter," said Jackson. "I was telling the boys that top to bottom, it was going to be a battle. The best thing you can do is put up three or four runs in the first inning on somebody. Knock them down, then come out and do what we do on the mound and on defense. It's like I tell my boys: 'If we throw strikes and we play defense, we can play with anybody in the country.'"
The final game of the day was the quickest (one hour, 40 minutes) and the most competitive. Diamond MVP and the EM Majors combined for just three runs in the first four innings, but Diamond -- based out of Norwalk, Calif. -- pushed
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2006/12/07
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Major League Baseball showed its hypocrisy in the ridiculous penalty given to Ryan Dempster, which is really no penalty at all (Aug. 21). MLB allowed players to take drugs for years, decades, before taking any real action. But when someone throws at a batter, which could result in career ending injuries, or worse, they do nothing!
It doesn’t make any real sense, but it does show what twisted priorities the owners have — money first, players’ welfare second.
- See more at: MLB drops the ball | Boston Herald
It doesn’t make any real sense, but it does show what twisted priorities the owners have — money first, players’ welfare second.
- See more at: MLB drops the ball | Boston Herald
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2006/12/07
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Through this season's first five months, no Mets pitcher had engendered more hope than Matt Harvey, the franchise's best pitcher and its engine for future optimism. But Harvey's season almost certainly came to an end on Monday, and his 2014 campaign is in jeopardy as well.
Harvey has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, the Mets learned Monday, and is unlikely to pitch again this year. Tommy John ligament-replacement surgery, which would sideline him for most if not all of next season, is one treatment option.
"This is sort of the last thing we expected," manager Terry Collins said.
The Mets learned of Harvey's injury after sending him for an MRI exam Monday morning at Manhattan's Hospital for Special Surgery. Harvey and the Mets will determine over the next few weeks whether the right-hander will undergo surgery or attempt to pitch through the partial tear.
"When I heard the news, I was pretty shocked," Harvey said. "I'm still very optimistic. I'm going to do everything I can so that I don't have to get surgery."
As recently as 48 hours ago, Harvey was presumably healthy, set for a much-anticipated Saturday matchup against Max Scherzer and the Tigers. But Harvey gave up a career-high 13 hits that day and admitted to being "pretty tired" afterward, a rare admission of fallibility from the typically brash right-hander.
A day later, he told team officials that he was experiencing an abnormal level of forearm discomfort. The Mets sent him for an MRI, which revealed the tear.
"I didn't feel a snap," Harvey said. "I didn't feel a pop. No tingling or anything like that. It was just some tightness in my forearm -- that's why I was pretty shocked."
"We're going to do the prudent thing," general manager Sandy Alderson said of Harvey, who will be placed on the disabled list later this week, with Carlos Torres assuming his rotation spot. "We're not going to do anything to jeopardize Matt's future with the Mets. I wouldn't expect him to pitch the rest of the season."
Prudence is something the Mets have exercised throughout Harvey's career, shutting him down last September on an innings limit with plans to do so again this season. Ever mindful of Harvey's pitch counts and innings totals, the Mets hoped to unleash him without any limits for the first time next year.
Now, that blueprint may change. Tommy John surgery typically requires a recovery period of 12-18 months, meaning Harvey may not pitch again until 2015.
For the Mets, that is the worst-case scenario. The best case is that Harvey strengthens the area around his elbow, foregoes surgery and returns in time for Opening Day 2014. But big league history is littered with stories of pitchers playing through partial elbow ligament tears, only to undergo Tommy John surgery at a future date.
If Harvey does undergo surgery, Tommy John operations have improved to the point that most pitchers return with their previous velocity -- in Harvey's case, as fast as 100 miles per hour -- fully intact.
"They can fix this," Collins said. "Not that it's a bright side to look at right now, but certainly Matt will be fixed, and he'll come back as good as ever."
While Monday's news caught the organization by surprise, Alderson acknowledged that Harvey has been receiving treatment for right forearm tightness for much of this season. Though Harvey sidestepped a question regarding his forearm, and Collins said he was unaware of it until Sunday, Alderson made it clear that Harvey had been pitching at something less than 100 percent.
"This has been the longest that something has been this tight over a long period of time," Harvey said. "I've obviously had issues before, getting tight, as is expected with throwing a lot of innings and throwing as hard as I do. You're going to get sore. This was just something I couldn't quite shake, and with all the treatment, it wasn't going away."
The news also sheds some light on the unpredictability of pitcher injuries; despite everything the Mets have done to protect his right arm since the day he was drafted, Harvey tore a ligament in his elbow anyway.
"This is always a risk associated with Major League pitching," Alderson said. "These innings limits are not a guarantee of anything, and they're certainly not based on any science that will tell you that, 'If you don't do this, you're safe.' There is no safe harbor here."
Collins recalled his time as the Dodgers' Minor League field coordinator, when Los Angeles imported a team of medical professionals led by Frank Jobe -- the surgeon who performed the first ligament-replacement operation on Tommy John in 1974 -- to sketch out a framework for protecting pitchers.
The last thing Jobe said before leaving, Collins recalled, was that there is no avoiding most injuries.
"No matter how hard you try, if they're going to break, they're going to break," Collins remembered Jobe saying. "And there's not a pitch count or an innings limit you can designate to ever save them."
That is a sobering reflection for an organization that has now lost starting pitchers Harvey, Jenrry Mejia and Jeremy Hefner to season-ending injuries, and only recently welcomed Jon Niese back following a two-month recovery from a shoulder injury.
Still, none of those pitchers is as critical to the team's future as Harvey, who established himself as one of the game's best pitchers by going 9-5 with a 2.27 ERA, 191 strikeouts and 31 walks in 26 games this season. Harvey's starts had become events. His future was limitless.
"It's unfortunate from Matt's point of view, and it's unfortunate from the standpoint of the organization," Alderson said. "On the other hand, these are the kinds of things that happen in the game. The successful teams, the successful organizations, respond to these setbacks, and that's exactly what we have to do. This is not a career-ending injury by any stretch of the imagination.
"This news was tough today, th
Harvey has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, the Mets learned Monday, and is unlikely to pitch again this year. Tommy John ligament-replacement surgery, which would sideline him for most if not all of next season, is one treatment option.
"This is sort of the last thing we expected," manager Terry Collins said.
The Mets learned of Harvey's injury after sending him for an MRI exam Monday morning at Manhattan's Hospital for Special Surgery. Harvey and the Mets will determine over the next few weeks whether the right-hander will undergo surgery or attempt to pitch through the partial tear.
"When I heard the news, I was pretty shocked," Harvey said. "I'm still very optimistic. I'm going to do everything I can so that I don't have to get surgery."
As recently as 48 hours ago, Harvey was presumably healthy, set for a much-anticipated Saturday matchup against Max Scherzer and the Tigers. But Harvey gave up a career-high 13 hits that day and admitted to being "pretty tired" afterward, a rare admission of fallibility from the typically brash right-hander.
A day later, he told team officials that he was experiencing an abnormal level of forearm discomfort. The Mets sent him for an MRI, which revealed the tear.
"I didn't feel a snap," Harvey said. "I didn't feel a pop. No tingling or anything like that. It was just some tightness in my forearm -- that's why I was pretty shocked."
"We're going to do the prudent thing," general manager Sandy Alderson said of Harvey, who will be placed on the disabled list later this week, with Carlos Torres assuming his rotation spot. "We're not going to do anything to jeopardize Matt's future with the Mets. I wouldn't expect him to pitch the rest of the season."
Prudence is something the Mets have exercised throughout Harvey's career, shutting him down last September on an innings limit with plans to do so again this season. Ever mindful of Harvey's pitch counts and innings totals, the Mets hoped to unleash him without any limits for the first time next year.
Now, that blueprint may change. Tommy John surgery typically requires a recovery period of 12-18 months, meaning Harvey may not pitch again until 2015.
For the Mets, that is the worst-case scenario. The best case is that Harvey strengthens the area around his elbow, foregoes surgery and returns in time for Opening Day 2014. But big league history is littered with stories of pitchers playing through partial elbow ligament tears, only to undergo Tommy John surgery at a future date.
If Harvey does undergo surgery, Tommy John operations have improved to the point that most pitchers return with their previous velocity -- in Harvey's case, as fast as 100 miles per hour -- fully intact.
"They can fix this," Collins said. "Not that it's a bright side to look at right now, but certainly Matt will be fixed, and he'll come back as good as ever."
While Monday's news caught the organization by surprise, Alderson acknowledged that Harvey has been receiving treatment for right forearm tightness for much of this season. Though Harvey sidestepped a question regarding his forearm, and Collins said he was unaware of it until Sunday, Alderson made it clear that Harvey had been pitching at something less than 100 percent.
"This has been the longest that something has been this tight over a long period of time," Harvey said. "I've obviously had issues before, getting tight, as is expected with throwing a lot of innings and throwing as hard as I do. You're going to get sore. This was just something I couldn't quite shake, and with all the treatment, it wasn't going away."
The news also sheds some light on the unpredictability of pitcher injuries; despite everything the Mets have done to protect his right arm since the day he was drafted, Harvey tore a ligament in his elbow anyway.
"This is always a risk associated with Major League pitching," Alderson said. "These innings limits are not a guarantee of anything, and they're certainly not based on any science that will tell you that, 'If you don't do this, you're safe.' There is no safe harbor here."
Collins recalled his time as the Dodgers' Minor League field coordinator, when Los Angeles imported a team of medical professionals led by Frank Jobe -- the surgeon who performed the first ligament-replacement operation on Tommy John in 1974 -- to sketch out a framework for protecting pitchers.
The last thing Jobe said before leaving, Collins recalled, was that there is no avoiding most injuries.
"No matter how hard you try, if they're going to break, they're going to break," Collins remembered Jobe saying. "And there's not a pitch count or an innings limit you can designate to ever save them."
That is a sobering reflection for an organization that has now lost starting pitchers Harvey, Jenrry Mejia and Jeremy Hefner to season-ending injuries, and only recently welcomed Jon Niese back following a two-month recovery from a shoulder injury.
Still, none of those pitchers is as critical to the team's future as Harvey, who established himself as one of the game's best pitchers by going 9-5 with a 2.27 ERA, 191 strikeouts and 31 walks in 26 games this season. Harvey's starts had become events. His future was limitless.
"It's unfortunate from Matt's point of view, and it's unfortunate from the standpoint of the organization," Alderson said. "On the other hand, these are the kinds of things that happen in the game. The successful teams, the successful organizations, respond to these setbacks, and that's exactly what we have to do. This is not a career-ending injury by any stretch of the imagination.
"This news was tough today, th
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Fan loyalty can be measured several different ways, but one of the clearest benchmarks is the number of fans who show up at the ballpark to support their team. Here’s a list of the most dedicated MLB fanbases this season, based on average attendance for home games relative to stadium seating capacity.
Introducing the MLB fanbase power rankings | For The Win
As expected, most of the top teams on the list have winning records. The Cardinals, Red Sox and Tigers are three of the top-four teams on the list and they all lead their divisions. Also, the Dodgers have won 77 games and they’re pulling an average home crowd of 45,396 (the highest overall average and seventh-highest average relative to stadium size). It makes sense that teams with better records are drawing better crowds.
However, San Francisco clearly goes against this trend. The Giants are pulling the largest crowds relative to stadium size, filling 99.4% of AT&T Park on average. They are are also dead last in their division, sitting 19 games behind the Dodgers. Some of this can probably be attributed to the team winning last year’s World Series, but the dedication is still admirable.
Another surprise is that the teams at the bottom of the list aren’t necessarily the worst teams in baseball. For example, the Indians are only filling 46.6% of their stadium, but they are only 5 1/2 games behind the division-leading Tigers. Likewise, the Rays have won 72 games and are only 1 1/2 games behind the Red Sox, but they are playing in front of 18,927 fans on average (55.5% capacity).
While wins and losses definitely influence attendance, they aren’t the deciding factors. It’s nice to see some fanbases sticking with their teams even through the rough stretches.
Introducing the MLB fanbase power rankings | For The Win
As expected, most of the top teams on the list have winning records. The Cardinals, Red Sox and Tigers are three of the top-four teams on the list and they all lead their divisions. Also, the Dodgers have won 77 games and they’re pulling an average home crowd of 45,396 (the highest overall average and seventh-highest average relative to stadium size). It makes sense that teams with better records are drawing better crowds.
However, San Francisco clearly goes against this trend. The Giants are pulling the largest crowds relative to stadium size, filling 99.4% of AT&T Park on average. They are are also dead last in their division, sitting 19 games behind the Dodgers. Some of this can probably be attributed to the team winning last year’s World Series, but the dedication is still admirable.
Another surprise is that the teams at the bottom of the list aren’t necessarily the worst teams in baseball. For example, the Indians are only filling 46.6% of their stadium, but they are only 5 1/2 games behind the division-leading Tigers. Likewise, the Rays have won 72 games and are only 1 1/2 games behind the Red Sox, but they are playing in front of 18,927 fans on average (55.5% capacity).
While wins and losses definitely influence attendance, they aren’t the deciding factors. It’s nice to see some fanbases sticking with their teams even through the rough stretches.
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Finally, the secret is out. The mission has been disclosed. The race is over. Only the result is not known, at least publicly.
The wives of two Major League players, Royals second baseman Chris Getz and Rays outfielder David DeJesus, are contestants on the new season of "The Amazing Race" on CBS.
Nicky Getz and Kim DeJesus mysteriously disappeared for more than a month this summer, trekking 35,000 miles around the world, to make the reality show. They were competing with 10 other two-person teams for a $1 million prize, and it was all very hush-hush.
"We had the best time ever; it was such a great adventure," Nicky Getz said. "It was so great to have Kim with me."
CBS announced the participants Wednesday, and there is another team with a sports connection: Chester Pitts II and Ephraim Salaam, who were NFL teammates with the Houston Texans. Yep, the women had some tough competition.
Chris Getz's initial reaction to the Nicky-Kim globetrotting?
"I was shocked," he said.
"We traveled like all over the world; it was amazing," Nicky Getz said. "Unfortunately, we didn't have our cell phones or email or anything, so I didn't get to talk to Chris for a while, but other than that, it was the best experience ever."
The no-communications edit was true enough, her husband said.
"That month was pretty interesting," Getz said. "While they were gone, DeJesus went on the DL for a separated shoulder for six weeks, and I was demoted to the Minor Leagues. So it shows how much we need our wives around."
The wives got that news when they got back just before the All-Star break.
"Nicky said, 'Oh, the wheels definitely fall off when the women go away,'" Getz said.
The show will debut Sunday, Sept. 29, and Nicky said she could not reveal many details. Suffice to say, the network press release mentioned paragliding in Chile, a "bone-chilling plunge" in Norway and Formula One racing in Abu Dhabi.
"She definitely did some things that she would have never done on a regular vacation, let's put it that way," Getz said.
He was asked if his wife was normally a daring person.
"Not really," he said. "That's another reason I was encouraging her to do it. I knew it was going to be a challenge. Opportunities like this don't come around very often, so I figured, 'Go for it.' You're young, it's just you and I, and we don't have family. This will just be a really cool experience you'll never forget, and we'll be talking about it for the rest of our lives."
Kim and Nicky have been friends since they met, when both of their husbands were playing for the Royals. During Spring Training this year, "The Amazing Race" approached them about being a baseball wives team, and they accepted.
"It was harder for Kim because she has a son, so it was a little bit hard for her to decide, but at that time they were in Chicago [with the Cubs], so her parents babysat," Nicky said.
The race, she said, had 11 different legs.
"Each clue we had, we just went to the different country that they instructed us to. So it was a great adventure," she said.
"I'm looking forward to everyone watching it so they can see how far we got. We know how we did, but I think that's supposed to be a secret."
The baseball-playing husbands were somewhat amused by their wives' participation.
"We were laughing about it, wondering if they were still in the race," Getz said. "And we still are. They can only say so much, so it'll be fun to see it unfold in the fall."
The best part of the race?
"She came back in one piece," he said.
MLB wives Nicky Getz, Kim DeJesus team up on The Amazing Race | MLB-com: News
The wives of two Major League players, Royals second baseman Chris Getz and Rays outfielder David DeJesus, are contestants on the new season of "The Amazing Race" on CBS.
Nicky Getz and Kim DeJesus mysteriously disappeared for more than a month this summer, trekking 35,000 miles around the world, to make the reality show. They were competing with 10 other two-person teams for a $1 million prize, and it was all very hush-hush.
"We had the best time ever; it was such a great adventure," Nicky Getz said. "It was so great to have Kim with me."
CBS announced the participants Wednesday, and there is another team with a sports connection: Chester Pitts II and Ephraim Salaam, who were NFL teammates with the Houston Texans. Yep, the women had some tough competition.
Chris Getz's initial reaction to the Nicky-Kim globetrotting?
"I was shocked," he said.
"We traveled like all over the world; it was amazing," Nicky Getz said. "Unfortunately, we didn't have our cell phones or email or anything, so I didn't get to talk to Chris for a while, but other than that, it was the best experience ever."
The no-communications edit was true enough, her husband said.
"That month was pretty interesting," Getz said. "While they were gone, DeJesus went on the DL for a separated shoulder for six weeks, and I was demoted to the Minor Leagues. So it shows how much we need our wives around."
The wives got that news when they got back just before the All-Star break.
"Nicky said, 'Oh, the wheels definitely fall off when the women go away,'" Getz said.
The show will debut Sunday, Sept. 29, and Nicky said she could not reveal many details. Suffice to say, the network press release mentioned paragliding in Chile, a "bone-chilling plunge" in Norway and Formula One racing in Abu Dhabi.
"She definitely did some things that she would have never done on a regular vacation, let's put it that way," Getz said.
He was asked if his wife was normally a daring person.
"Not really," he said. "That's another reason I was encouraging her to do it. I knew it was going to be a challenge. Opportunities like this don't come around very often, so I figured, 'Go for it.' You're young, it's just you and I, and we don't have family. This will just be a really cool experience you'll never forget, and we'll be talking about it for the rest of our lives."
Kim and Nicky have been friends since they met, when both of their husbands were playing for the Royals. During Spring Training this year, "The Amazing Race" approached them about being a baseball wives team, and they accepted.
"It was harder for Kim because she has a son, so it was a little bit hard for her to decide, but at that time they were in Chicago [with the Cubs], so her parents babysat," Nicky said.
The race, she said, had 11 different legs.
"Each clue we had, we just went to the different country that they instructed us to. So it was a great adventure," she said.
"I'm looking forward to everyone watching it so they can see how far we got. We know how we did, but I think that's supposed to be a secret."
The baseball-playing husbands were somewhat amused by their wives' participation.
"We were laughing about it, wondering if they were still in the race," Getz said. "And we still are. They can only say so much, so it'll be fun to see it unfold in the fall."
The best part of the race?
"She came back in one piece," he said.
MLB wives Nicky Getz, Kim DeJesus team up on The Amazing Race | MLB-com: News
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Major League Baseball sweats its postseason schedule, providing ample travel days to keep the players as fresh and sharp as possible for those World Series games in the snow. In recent years, they've even built in the occasional off-day when the teams weren't traveling between cities.
Now if only baseball could find a way to improve the regular-season travel schedule for West Coast teams.
For example, the Dodgers just completed their fourth trip to the East Coast to play against NL East opponents. (It was their fifth overall cross-country trip.) The Athletics are at the tail end of their fourth trip to the East Coast to one of the five AL East teams; and next month, they will make their fifth trip to the state of Texas. The Mariners, likewise, have four trips to the East Coast and five trips to Texas this season. The Angels have four trips to the East Coast and SIX trips to Texas on their schedule. Meanwhile, the Yankees and Red Sox make just one trip each to the West Coast to play the three AL West teams. They also make a single trip to play interleague games against NL West opponents; but even so, they are only making half as many cross-country trips as the West Coast teams do to play the same number of series on the other side of the country.
I'm not the first person to write about this. It's a geographical fact that West Coast teams will have to travel great distances more often during the season than East Coast teams do. There are 22 teams east of the Mountain time zone and only seven in the Pacific time zone. But the schedule, the way it's currently constructed, makes that geographical imbalance even worse.
"The Mariners are disappointed with the schedule that the American League West always seems to come out with on the wrong end," Mariners president Chuck Armstrong says. "I'm not happy with the schedule for next year and I'm not happy with the schedule for this year."
Katy Feeney, baseball's senior vice-president for scheduling and club relations, says the schedule disparities are due to geography, as well as the interleague matchups, the makeup of the divisions, team requests for specific home dates and union rules regarding West-to-East travel.
"Nobody is ever happy with their schedule," Feeney says. "As much as we would like to try and accommodate everyone with all their wishes, they are often in conflict with each other."
Granted, major league players don't face the same travel rigors the rest of us do. They do not have to schlep their bags through overcrowded airports; the clubhouse crew transports luggage from locker to hotel for them. They do not stand in security lines behind parents with strollers, seniors with wheelchairs and first-time travelers with no clue. They are not cramped in middle seats; they fly comfortably in business-style seats (even when they're next to Bartolo Colon). They fly nonstop. They don't have to pay for a weak in-flight Wi-Fi connection, a lousy movie starring Vin Diesel, a tiny plastic glass of wine conservatively poured from a carton or a dreary meal of mystery origin.
They don't have to listen to babies whining behind them. Unless Alex Rodriguez is a teammate.
But still. All that extra travel can have an effect on performance, especially if a player already has a sore body from a summer of games.
"It's something you can never figure out mathematically in black and white [terms], but it definitely is a disadvantage," Seattle shortstop Brendan Ryan says. "If you're arguing otherwise, then you're not being fair." Ryan wants to be clear that he isn't complaining. He's a professional and a well-paid major leaguer. But having played in both St. Louis and Seattle, he knows firsthand the difference in travel schedules. And when teams on one coast have to travel twice as often to the other coast for the same number of series, it's simply not fair.
The travel disparity might be worse next year. A preliminary 2014 schedule has the Mariners making FIVE trips to the East Coast to play the five AL East teams, plus a sixth trip to play an NL East opponent, plus six trips to the state of Texas. The Angels also make six trips to Texas, including a bizarre road swing in which they play a series in Houston, then fly to Minnesota for a series, then fly back to Texas for a series against the Rangers. Six trips to Texas? Really? There are two Lone Star State teams in the AL West and this is the best the schedule makers can come up with?
Look, I don't think anyone is trying to intentionally screw West Coast teams. And I realize creating an equitable schedule is difficult. Everyone wants more home games in the summer and fewer home games during the school year. Everyone wants games against the Yankees to boost attendance. Everyone wants as many off-days at home as possible. Ichiro (and probably a few others) don't want to go to Cleveland at all. (Ichiro once said, "If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited going to Cleveland, I'd punch myself in the face, because I'm lying.")
But even so, baseball needs to work harder to make the travel schedules more equitable.
"Sure, there's no perfect schedule-making, and I'm sure it's a headache of a job," Ryan says. "But can we do better?"
Yes, we can. Schedule fewer trips to the East Coast for West Division teams by letting them play three East Division series in a single road trip. Make sure the three AL West coast teams play the Rangers and Astros on the same trip as many times as possible. To share the travel burden, have the Yankees and Red Sox travel cross-country at least twice to play AL West opponents (as the Red Sox are tentatively scheduled to do next year).
And if baseball can't do that, at the very least it should contact Alec Baldwin so the West Division players can get frequent-flier miles for all their charter flights (with no blackout dates).
[url=espn-go-com/mlb/story/_/id/9605783/mlb-west-coast-teams-face-unfair-travel-schedules]MLB's West Coast teams
Now if only baseball could find a way to improve the regular-season travel schedule for West Coast teams.
For example, the Dodgers just completed their fourth trip to the East Coast to play against NL East opponents. (It was their fifth overall cross-country trip.) The Athletics are at the tail end of their fourth trip to the East Coast to one of the five AL East teams; and next month, they will make their fifth trip to the state of Texas. The Mariners, likewise, have four trips to the East Coast and five trips to Texas this season. The Angels have four trips to the East Coast and SIX trips to Texas on their schedule. Meanwhile, the Yankees and Red Sox make just one trip each to the West Coast to play the three AL West teams. They also make a single trip to play interleague games against NL West opponents; but even so, they are only making half as many cross-country trips as the West Coast teams do to play the same number of series on the other side of the country.
I'm not the first person to write about this. It's a geographical fact that West Coast teams will have to travel great distances more often during the season than East Coast teams do. There are 22 teams east of the Mountain time zone and only seven in the Pacific time zone. But the schedule, the way it's currently constructed, makes that geographical imbalance even worse.
"The Mariners are disappointed with the schedule that the American League West always seems to come out with on the wrong end," Mariners president Chuck Armstrong says. "I'm not happy with the schedule for next year and I'm not happy with the schedule for this year."
Katy Feeney, baseball's senior vice-president for scheduling and club relations, says the schedule disparities are due to geography, as well as the interleague matchups, the makeup of the divisions, team requests for specific home dates and union rules regarding West-to-East travel.
"Nobody is ever happy with their schedule," Feeney says. "As much as we would like to try and accommodate everyone with all their wishes, they are often in conflict with each other."
Granted, major league players don't face the same travel rigors the rest of us do. They do not have to schlep their bags through overcrowded airports; the clubhouse crew transports luggage from locker to hotel for them. They do not stand in security lines behind parents with strollers, seniors with wheelchairs and first-time travelers with no clue. They are not cramped in middle seats; they fly comfortably in business-style seats (even when they're next to Bartolo Colon). They fly nonstop. They don't have to pay for a weak in-flight Wi-Fi connection, a lousy movie starring Vin Diesel, a tiny plastic glass of wine conservatively poured from a carton or a dreary meal of mystery origin.
They don't have to listen to babies whining behind them. Unless Alex Rodriguez is a teammate.
But still. All that extra travel can have an effect on performance, especially if a player already has a sore body from a summer of games.
"It's something you can never figure out mathematically in black and white [terms], but it definitely is a disadvantage," Seattle shortstop Brendan Ryan says. "If you're arguing otherwise, then you're not being fair." Ryan wants to be clear that he isn't complaining. He's a professional and a well-paid major leaguer. But having played in both St. Louis and Seattle, he knows firsthand the difference in travel schedules. And when teams on one coast have to travel twice as often to the other coast for the same number of series, it's simply not fair.
The travel disparity might be worse next year. A preliminary 2014 schedule has the Mariners making FIVE trips to the East Coast to play the five AL East teams, plus a sixth trip to play an NL East opponent, plus six trips to the state of Texas. The Angels also make six trips to Texas, including a bizarre road swing in which they play a series in Houston, then fly to Minnesota for a series, then fly back to Texas for a series against the Rangers. Six trips to Texas? Really? There are two Lone Star State teams in the AL West and this is the best the schedule makers can come up with?
Look, I don't think anyone is trying to intentionally screw West Coast teams. And I realize creating an equitable schedule is difficult. Everyone wants more home games in the summer and fewer home games during the school year. Everyone wants games against the Yankees to boost attendance. Everyone wants as many off-days at home as possible. Ichiro (and probably a few others) don't want to go to Cleveland at all. (Ichiro once said, "If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited going to Cleveland, I'd punch myself in the face, because I'm lying.")
But even so, baseball needs to work harder to make the travel schedules more equitable.
"Sure, there's no perfect schedule-making, and I'm sure it's a headache of a job," Ryan says. "But can we do better?"
Yes, we can. Schedule fewer trips to the East Coast for West Division teams by letting them play three East Division series in a single road trip. Make sure the three AL West coast teams play the Rangers and Astros on the same trip as many times as possible. To share the travel burden, have the Yankees and Red Sox travel cross-country at least twice to play AL West opponents (as the Red Sox are tentatively scheduled to do next year).
And if baseball can't do that, at the very least it should contact Alec Baldwin so the West Division players can get frequent-flier miles for all their charter flights (with no blackout dates).
[url=espn-go-com/mlb/story/_/id/9605783/mlb-west-coast-teams-face-unfair-travel-schedules]MLB's West Coast teams
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It's not quite like the Thunderdome, where two men enter and one man leaves, but MLB's regular season is every bit as vicious and demanding as the fictitious combat dome from the 1985 Mel Gibson classic, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
Instead of two men, we have 30 teams, all vying over the course of a grueling 162-game schedule for one of 10 spots in the playoffs, where some would argue that the real MLB season begins.
With 16 teams holding or within seven games of one of those playoff spots and a month's worth of games to be played before the postseason field is set, the competition in September is going to be fierce.
Will the Pirates end 20 years of ineptitude and make it to the postseason? To that end, will three teams from the NL Central advance to the playoffs for the first time? Can Cleveland catch Detroit in the AL Central, or are the Indians doomed to sit out this year's postseason festivities once again?
Can a dark-horse contender, like the Nationals, Royals or Yankees, pull off the unthinkable and sneak into the playoffs?
Let's take a look at how I see things playing out.
Pictures: 2013 MLB Playoffs: Predicting Every Playoff Team with a Month to Go | Bleacher Report
Instead of two men, we have 30 teams, all vying over the course of a grueling 162-game schedule for one of 10 spots in the playoffs, where some would argue that the real MLB season begins.
With 16 teams holding or within seven games of one of those playoff spots and a month's worth of games to be played before the postseason field is set, the competition in September is going to be fierce.
Will the Pirates end 20 years of ineptitude and make it to the postseason? To that end, will three teams from the NL Central advance to the playoffs for the first time? Can Cleveland catch Detroit in the AL Central, or are the Indians doomed to sit out this year's postseason festivities once again?
Can a dark-horse contender, like the Nationals, Royals or Yankees, pull off the unthinkable and sneak into the playoffs?
Let's take a look at how I see things playing out.
Pictures: 2013 MLB Playoffs: Predicting Every Playoff Team with a Month to Go | Bleacher Report
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.jpg?v=1.014689161)
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Not long ago, offense was the name of the game in Major League Baseball. But in the past few years, offense has become downright offensive—and not in a good way.
Consider the following statistics regarding the state of offense in 2013:
The league-wide runs per game per team number is 4.20 R/G, lowest since 1992 (4.12 R/G).
The league-wide batting average is .253, lowest dating back to 1990.
The league-wide on-base percentage is .317, lowest dating back to 1990.
The league-wide weighted on-base percentage (wOBA) is .313, lowest dating back to 1990.
So in case you weren't buying into MLB's severely depleted run-scoring and hitting environment in 2013, it's time to make your purchase from the believer's bin.
How can baseball jump-start offense across the league? It's an intriguing question with plenty of possibilities.
The more controversial and fanciful ideas, though, aren't going to be entertained here. For instance, we're not going to suggest legalizing performance-enhancing drugs, especially in light of the recent suspensions related to the ongoing Biognesis investigation.
And no, forget the idea of adopting metal bats. As Bryce Harper said during the media session prior to participating in last month's Home Run Derby, "If major leaguers got to use metal bats, I would tell fans to get out of the stands so they don't get killed."
That goes double for fielders and pitchers, who already have enough trouble avoiding injury from comebackers hit by wooden bats. Just ask J.A. Happ and Alex Cobb.
But what about some options for upping offense that are based more on good, old-fashioned reality? Like these.
Adopt a Robot Strike Zone
Here's the old we-have-the-technology-so-we-might-as-well-use-it case.
While the idea of instant replay in baseball is a divisive one, it has already been introduced to the game for determining home runs—and it's likely to be expanded soon too. So why not extend the efforts to include calling balls and strikes?
Anyone who watches baseball is aware of those little strike-zone-outlining boxes that appear in the lower-right corner of the television screen and indicate—almost magically—whether a borderline pitch is a strike or a ball.
Thanks to endeavors like QuesTec and all of the various other cameras used for broadcast purposes, ballparks already have the gadgets and gizmos needed to get this done.
But why would this improve offense? Think about how much variation there is now in strike zones, which can change based on everything from the umpire to the hitter to the inning to the count to the game situation. Certainly that doesn't make things any easier for batters, who occasionally have to worry about something like this happening: Forcing hitters to deal with not only 95 mph fastballs, knee-buckling curves, wicked sliders and deceptive changeups but also moving and shifting strike zones? That's a battle batters aren't going to win very often.
But after a little time to adjust, hitters would welcome—and eventually have more opportunities to excel with—a more uniform strike zone.
Bring in the Fences
If players can't hit it out, move the walls in, right?
In recent years, shortening the distances between home plate and the outfield fences has become somewhat of a trend. Teams like the San Diego Padres, New York Mets and Seattle Mariners have all done this in the past season or two.
The good news is, these ballpark adjustments are helping hitters, which not only makes sense but also proves that it can be done.
Obviously, shorter distances leads to more home runs, which leads to more runs and more offense. But it also means fewer outs made, which results in more opportunities for more runs. That's a lot of "mores," but if we want to help hitters, isn't that the idea? Here's another idea that the purists will hate, but it's still worth at least discussing.
Care to guess what the triple-slash line for hitting pitchers is in 2013? Try .133/.163/.172.
Now, how about for designated hitters this year? .256/.337/.425.
Step back and really ingest those numbers, and you'll realize that DHs own a batting average and on-base percentage that are more or less twice as high as pitchers. The difference in slugging percentage? Practically two-and-a-half times higher.
That's incredible. It's also an opportunity.
By removing pitchers from batting lineups altogether—c'mon, National League!—offense would spike dramatically. Even if there aren't as many sluggers acting as full-time DHs as there used to be, the addition by subtraction in this scenario would mean hundreds more runs would be scored over the course of a season. Again, this is something MLB appears to be inching closer to at some point. Between the implementation of everyday interleague play this season and the arguments and logic for making the game more uniform, it might not be too long before pitchers no longer have to hit.
Considering how inept hurlers are at the plate, especially compared to how dominating they are on the mound, that would be a very good thing for offense.
How Can MLB Kick-Start Offense Again in the League? | Bleacher Report