CBS: Catching Up With Bobby Valentine

“I think we’ve shot ourselves in the foot”...Hey, stop lifting my R. Budd Selig material!

TA: This scandal, involving Biogenesis in Miami.  How damaging is this to the game overall?

BV: I think our entire posture on this situation has damaged the game.  I think it’s been handled poorly from the start, whenever the start was.  I don’t know when guys starting using performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, but I would think that it was about the same time that they were being used in other ...

Schultz: Strasburg injury reaffirms Nats blew it last year

The Big Train to The Karma Train…Washington has it all!

We’re barely into June and the Braves already hold an eight-game lead over the Washington Nationals, the team that had been given the most likely chance to win the National League East and the pennant. This doesn’t guarantee that the Braves are going to win the East. But it does somewhat reaffirm how dumb the Nationals were to all but drop kick a potential World Series season last year.

...The Strasburg effect? Nothing is certain, but ...

Angels order fan to take paper bag off his head

Nice try, El Hombre.

Henry Bouldin could not bear to watch the Angels, not after the team was swept by the lowly Houston Astros.

So, as he sat behind home plate for Tuesday’s game against the Chicago Cubs, the Angels fan wore a paper bag over his head.

Until the seventh inning, that is, when the Angels ordered him to take it off.

“Security just showed up out of nowhere,” Bouldin said Wednesday. “They said you can’t wear anything over your head.”

That indeed is the Angels’ policy, team ...

MLB: Ichiro embraces magnitude of 4,000 hits

Ichiro Suzuki is about to join the pantheon of the baseball gods on a statistical plateau only two other players have passed: 4,000 hits.

Including his infield single in the Yankees’ 6-4 victory over the Indians on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium, Ichiro needs only 67 to match that lofty level.

Considering his legendary durability, it will happen sometime during the months ahead, certainly before the end of the season. True, Ichiro gets there by combining the hits he accumulated playing for ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 6-6-2013

Pittsburgh Gazette Times, June 6, 1913:

Pitcher Hopper, the New England right-hander, who has pitched two no-hit games and who is sought by the Cardinals…is probably the only pitcher in baseball who has the reputation of having been sold for a dog.

[Roger Bresnahan] decided that Hopper wasn’t worthy of a trial, and…[Dick Kinsella], who was then owner of the Springfield Three-I League team needed pitchers, [so] Bresnahan offered Hopper to him. They could not agree on a price until Kinsella ...

Anthony Bosch asked A-Rod for money before turning to MLB

Bosch needed funds to mount a defense against MLB’s once-pending lawsuit against him, but Rodriguez turned him down.

At that point, the Daily News reports, Bosch and MLB agreed to collaborate.

“They (MLB) were afraid someone else would pay him,” a source told the Daily News. “Bosch is the only guy that can provide them with what they need.”

In exchange for his cooperation, MLB will reportedly be “dropping the lawsuit MLB filed against him earlier this year and paying his legal bills, ...

Strauss: Cards’ offense taking a different route

How is St. Louis fending off the Reds and Pirates? Grinding, says hitting coach John F. Mabry.

Mabry uses terms like “process” and “grinding” almost interchangeably. Mind-set is as important to success as technique.

Mabry knows that style carries lots of weight in a market that loves to reminisce about Whitey-ball, which was played on a rug with lots of fast guys, two elements this club no longer boasts. (Nobody in the NL has attempted fewer steals than the Cardinals’ 17.) The new ...

Mets pound Nationals behind Byrd’s 2 HR, Gee impresses again

For the second straight night, a Mets pitcher fighting for his job made a strong case, but this time the struggling offense delivered for him.

Dillon Gee made a strong case to keep his spot in the rotation and the Mets jumped on some shaky pitching as they beat the Nationals 10-1 Wednesday night.

OMNICHATTER for 06/06/13

You can find the Draft OMNICHATTER here, although I don’t think anybody would complain if you threw in any major news or selections from it- just try to keep it primarily in that thread.

Anyway, 11 games today, with the first game (Rays at Tigers) at 1:08 PM.

Downey: Baseball, this time throw the book at users of performance-enhancing drugs

Downey Clean Breeze…Sheeet.

Throw the bums out, some will scream. I am totally OK with this.

Who’s legitimate and who ain’t? That’s all we want to know anymore.

We have spent much of this century wondering which individuals in the national pastime are squeaky clean and which are as stained as a dugout floor.

...All I do know is, we’re sick of it, man.

Baseball’s zero-tolerance policy is an absolute must. Oh, the players’ union reps will surely react and be appalled and appeal. But if ...

SF Giants Fans are not hypocrites for booing Melky

Absent any real news this morning, I want to touch on something that has always bugged me: the notion that Giants fans have no right to boo other steroid users because they cheered Barry Bonds.

I started to hear that creep into the conversation after the fans booed Melky Cabrera last night. Tim Brown, a national baseball writer for Yahoo whom I greatly respect, gave San Francisco fans a slight jab by noting the “incongruity” of booing Melky when they cheered Bonds.

In my opinion he’s ...

Nationals’ Strasburg placed on DL with lat strain

The Washington Nationals have placed Stephen Strasburg on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained muscle in his back.

The Nationals made the move Wednesday after Strasburg skipped a scheduled bullpen session. The session was supposed to determine whether he could make a start on Saturday

ESPN’s Franchise Player Draft - ESPN

Click the link to see the list.

If you were starting a franchise and you could pick any player in professional baseball, who would be your franchise player? That’s the question we asked 30 of our resident baseball “experts,” who participated in ESPN’s third annual Franchise Player Draft.

Baseball scout Epy Guerrero, the Blue Jays man in Latin America - The Globe and Mail

Known for his work ethic and dedication, the scout was not above calling upon subterfuge and legerdemain when needed.

He hiked up mountainsides and rode donkeys to check out athletes, and is said to have once dressed as a soldier to slip a prospect out of Nicaragua.

One of his more famous capers involved a beanpole boy who showed soft hands in the field and a lashing stroke at the plate. The youth was so poor he could not afford a glove, so had fashioned a cardboard milk carton around his ...

Sandalow: CSN’s Chris Kamka Crowned Chicago’s Undisputed Stats King

Even Seymour Siwoff laughs at Chris Kamka.

People who love sports are dime-a-dozen. Face it, in that way, Kamka and I aren’t unique. But what makes him original is the ability to not just love sports, but have the capacity and the patience to dive deep and find narratives in numbers. Finding out the ERA of all position players who have pitched since the 1980s, after all, isn’t the kind of stat the average fan can reel off.

“It’s an ability, but I’ll tell you it’s a real lot of ...

Chris Perez being investigated in connection with drug-related incident

At a noon news conference today, Rocky River Police Chief Kelly Stillman said police, U.S. postal inspectors and the West Shore Enforcement Bureau searched the home that [Chris] Perez and his wife are renting on Parklane Drive after a package was delivered there on Tuesday.

He said they found what he called “a controlled substance” — which is what police often call drugs. Stillman said he would not speculate on what was confiscated.

Hey Tribe fans, don’t forget to call 216-420-HITS to buy ...

The Murky Waters of MLB’s Latest Steroid Case - The Triangle Blog - Grantland

This is a great article about the rumored Bosch-related suspensions.

THT: Freedman: Does MLB have a case this time?

Eugene Freedman has the answer…

Just cause doesn’t mean just ‘cause. You’re probably thinking about your non-unionized workplace. Your employer can discipline or fire you for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all. In a workplace represented by a union, like Major League Baseball’s, it doesn’t work that way.

...But, beyond that, there’s something that MLB has to go up against in this case: its own testing regime. MLB has called its testing the best in sports or at least ...

Keith Olbermann will lead TBS’ studio coverage of the MLB postseason

After a messy public breakup with his last employer resulted in a $50 million lawsuit, Keith Olbermann will return to television in October as a studio host for Turner’s coverage of the Major League Baseball postseason.

The deal will have Olbermann leading TBS’ Atlanta-based studio show with Dennis Eckersley and possibly a second analyst. TBS this season has both Wild Card Playoff games, 18 of the 20 League Division Series games and exclusive rights to the National League Championship ...

Al Leiter, ex-Yankees and Mets pitcher, ‘interested’ in Lautenberg’s senate seat

Good, out with the righty lefty…and in with the lefty righty David Cone!

Could Al Leiter be a potential name on the long list of possible replacements for the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg? The ex-pitcher said he’d be interested.

Leiter was listed by Philadelphia Inquirer’s Matt Katz as an “outside the box wildcard” earlier this week. When the former hurler was asked by ESPNNewYork’s Andrew Marchand yesterday about it, he responded, “Who wouldn’t be interested if the governor of your state for ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 6-5-2013

New York Tribune, June 5, 1913:

Montreal, June 4.—Physicians feared to-day that Miles Main, the Buffalo pitcher hurt by being hit on the head by a batted ball in yesterday’s game with the Montreal club, will be temporarily blind and probably permanently deaf.

An X-ray examination of Main’s skull made at the Western Hospital showed that both ihs ear drums were seriously injured, while the optic nerve also was affected. At the best he will be out of the game for weeks.

I can’t find any evidence ...

Ryan Braun addresses “Outside the Lines” report

Braun Series ____

The media had gathered in the wake of an “Outside the Lines” report that indicated Braun, injured Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez and nearly 20 other players could be suspended as a result of Major League Baseball’s ongoing investigation into Anthony Bosch and his Biogenesis clinic in Miami, which is believed to have provided performance-enhancing drugs for major-league players.

There were plenty of questions, but Braun did not want to entertain them.

“I’ve already ...

Jeff Pearlman: Q&A: Steve Trachsel

“In order to master changes, we have to recover slowness, reflection and togetherness. There we will find real renewal.”

J.P.: In the lord’s year of 1998, you surrendered Mark McGwire’s 62nd home run, to break Roger Maris’ record. You’ve since stated that you knew he was using; that it was beyond obvious. So I’d like to ask you this: A. Did that make giving up the homer worse—knowing the man was cheating? And can you, having played nearly two decades in the Majors, understand why ...

Hardy HR HR: Puig conquers the heavens

Viva Puig!  (Even ringtones are available.)

If Matt Kemp came on as the Bison, what is Puig? Beast of the Cuban Wild? If I’m Hushpuppy, this is what he looks like to me.

I don’t think I’m alone. Puig’s exploits brought youthful thrills from Vin Scully, who shouted “Que viva Cuba, viva Puig!” as each moment topped the last.

“If you joined us late,” said Scully, “I’m sorry.”  And that was before Puig’s second homer, an opposite-field laser over the right-field wall.

...Read More...

Jim Furtado Posted: June 05, 2013 at 05:19 AM | 16 comment(s)
  Beats: dodgers, vin scully, yasiel puig

OMNICHATTER FOR 06-05-2013

The OMNICHATTER is not on the Biogenesis list, although it has tested positive for unusually high levels of awesome in the past.

Anyway, 15 games, with the first at 12:10 PM in Atlanta.

Condition of fan hurt at Orioles game worsens

A University of Maryland Medical Center official says the condition of a man injured in a fight and fall at an Orioles game has worsened.

MLB seeks to suspend A-Rod, Braun

This’ll go over as well as a Frey Family wedding.

Major League Baseball will seek to suspend about 20 players connected to the Miami-area clinic at the heart of an ongoing performance-enhancing drug scandal, including Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, possibly within the next few weeks, “Outside the Lines” has learned. If the suspensions are upheld, the performance-enhancing drug scandal would be the largest in American sports history.

Tony Bosch, founder of the now-shuttered Biogenesis of ...

Hamilton | Bryce Harper: When it comes to sound medical decisions, he’s not a natural

Time will tell whetherBryce Harper is Roy Hobbs or Bump Bailey, but the Washington Nationals have a chance to shape his legacy more toward “the greatest there ever was” status and less toward running through a wall and killing himself.

Grantland: Keri: Ranking the Best Ballpark Experiences

Ranking them, No. 21-36.  (I guess the rest will come in a future article).  Nine of these are gone, including the entire bottom seven.

Billy Crystal Developing Another Baseball Movie Project!

How do you follow up the comedic blockbuster “Parental Guidance”?

This weekend I was at Pixar for the MONSTERS UNIVERSITY junket, and had a good sit down with Billy Crystal about his work as Mike Wazowski and his film directing.  When I asked him if he wanted to tell another baseball story if he directed again, Crystal replied,

“We’re developing one now of a book that I found in the mid 50’s… it was written in the mid 50s that is a really wonderful unusual baseball novel that ...