a700hitter

No way. Pedroia has been great defensively this season.

It depends on how much time Betts will miss.

Very tough loss, but we will steamroll them tomorrow.

What happened to Betts? I got an alert about him.

I got an alert that the Rangers are close to a deal for Sale.

I thought this was settled days ago. Koji's injury had nothing to do with pitching. It happened during breakfast eating cereal.

Or he would have had to drink a lot more black coffee.

Those were horse steroids back then. Anyone that took that stuff was out of their minds. I doubt that it was prevalent at all. Players in the 70s didn't even believe in weight training. They were told to avoid it and they did.

I don't put amphetamines in the same class as steroids. Heck, if they need something to keep them awake, let them have it. It's good to be alert when a 90+ mph fastball is coming at you. It didn't make them any stronger or faster.

Tough way to make a living.

I hope the Twins hire Ben, because I will not have to worry about them beating us out for good pitchers.

Napoli is having a very good season. He has already hit 23 bombs, and he looked like he was finished when we traded him, and he is still a better first baseman than Hanley.

I think the only fair way to evaluate the legacies of players that played during the steroid era is to realize that we have no reliable list of players who used PEDs with proof that they used. We do know enough to acknowledge that the use of PEDs was fairly pervasive during that era. There is hard evidence of use against very few players -- e.g. Palmiero, Bonds, ARod and Clemens, but with regard to others there is merely suspicion and innuendo e.g. Nomar. Next because there is no reliable list of who used, every player from that era should be viewed with suspicion. These decisions should not be made on the basis of rumor and innuendo. For these reasons, I think the PED issue can't be an issue in voting for admission to the Hall, even for those who got caught. The use was pervasive, and if it wasn't openly encouraged by MLB (they loved the MaGwire - Sosa HR race because it brought baseball back from the 94 strike), they certainly turned a blind eye and tacitly approved it. They are in large part responsible for the pervasiveness of PEDs. They cannot act holier than thou at this juncture. As for tainting the players from that period, unfortunately they all carry a taint. Molitor and others went in without any taint, but that is not fair. No one should be beyond suspicion from that era including Jeter. When all the crap was going down with MaGwire and Bonds and Sosa, there was a time when the press was heralding ARod as the player who would rescue baseball from the steroid era by re-writing the record books and doing it the "right way". They could not have been more wrong. Everyone should carry the taint from that era, and if their achievements are borderline Hall-worthy, it should count against them.

Sale is one of the best pitchers in the game on a very cheap contract. There is absolutely no reason to move him. He is the kind of pitcher and contract that you build around.

Rosenthal is right about 10% of the time.

They are 5 games out. If they get hot, they could be a problem for us with their bullpen. Let them rebuild and wallow at or below .500 for 3 to5 years. Rebuilding doesn't guarantee future success, but it does guarantee short term surrender, and I love when they are dead and buried.

Pedroia needs to go.

This confirms that you are crazy.

I was listening to the radio feed of yesterday's Houston Astros game and the announcers were talking about the old practice of in-season exhibition games. I remember that the Yankees and Mets used to play a Mayor's Trophy game for charity each year. Some teams would play a game against one of their minor league affiliates. That practice has been long since abandoned, probably largely due to the lack of open dates. Once single admission doubleheaders were eliminated, there are very few open dates on the schedule. Until the late 70's, teams had off either Monday or Thursday, sometimes they had 2 off days. Anyway, back to the Astros broadcast. They mentioned that the Astros had an in-season exhibition game against the Detroit tigers at the Astrodome in 1973. There were a few interesting points about that game: Jerry Lewis played first base (not sure for which team) and went 1 for 1 with a walk -- that's right-- The Nutty Professor Professor Billy Martin, the manager of the Tigers who was well passed his playing days, pinch hit and struck out The Astros played a regular season game that same evening against the NY Mets It was a different time.

The Yankees will get to face Bumgarner and Cueto in their upcoming series against the Giants. We missed them.

I am pretty sure that I made that prediction fairly early on if not during ST.

I left mine, because I think it is funny.

What difference does it make!

He decided to throw his BP fastball after the first two batters got on.

His stock has fallen over the past two seasons.