The problem is the all the OF's were voted in by the players. If he takes Otsuka he can't take Santana. If you're Leyland, not an Angels fan, what sounds better?

Santana & Young or Cabrera & Otsuka?

Interesting goings-on in the Tigers/Indians game. The Tigers appear to be playing head games with the Indians - first Pudge points out Hafner standing too far back in the batters' box, then someone apparently alerted the umps that Rafael Bettencourt takes longer than 20 seconds to throw a pitch with the bases empty (that's the rule), because Doug Eddings was timing him and called him for 2 balls during his 2 innings. I've never seen that called, not even brought up!

I was going to post on this too, totally nuts to see. Itdidn't effect Bettencourt but it was funny to see.

Capallean looked good in his debut as well. Not getting my hopes up however as de la Cruz did as well and then began getting rocked.

Manny isn't having an All Star year, but he definitely belongs over Sosa. Sammy has been bad with ok power so far this year. Manny has had ok power, but is at least still above average for his position.

Granderson, Sheffield, and Youkilis are just as deserving as Cabrera is. All in all I think Leyland did a solid job. I question Manny making it, but there's been much worse selections (Ozzie Guillen's choices).

The NL has Fuentes on the team, when they could have taken a Pirates starter and then taken Hanley Ramirez over Freddy Sanchez. Then Renteria over Hardy. It makes the NL team shortstop heavy, but they're all deserving.

Usually the fans screw up a few positions pretty badly, forcing managers into really tough decisions, but the fans actually did a pretty solid job this year. A couple guys I'd rather see in there as far as player/manager choices, but this is the best All Star choices I can remember seeing.

Wait a second.....when the hell did the Phillies sign that fuck Jose Mesa. I should watch more often.

Matt Cain might actually get a win today.

Why do the Twins always suck against the Yankees?

A number of players rumored to possibly be traded this year are injured. I have a feeling this year's trading deadline is going to be a dud. So far, we have Tejada, Dye, Teixeira, Lidge, Otsuka, Al Reyes, etc., all with injuries right now.

Ha! Olney blogs about this today. The only names he mentioned that I missed are Glaus and Mike Sweeney. He also mentioned Rich Harden, but I don't see him getting traded until he establishes he can avoid injury or becomes a closer.

I always love these debates about who belongs in the All-STAR game. It's not about who the BEST players are, it's about who the most FAMOUS are. It's a chance for fans to see who they WANT to see play. Cy Young, etc are for the best players, while the All-Star game is all about fame.

.172? What the hell was he taking, sleeping pills?

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...ters&type=lgns

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Detroit Tigers shortstop Neifi Perez has been suspended 25 games for testing positive for a banned stimulant, Major League Baseball said Friday.

The 34-year-old native of the Dominican Republic has appeared in 33 games this season and is batting .172 with one home run and six RBI.

Neifi, a 12-year veteran, violated baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, the league said, adding that his suspension will begin immediately.

This is the Lord's way of saving Jim Leyland from himself.

Well, a drug-boosted Neifi Perez is still Neifi Perez . . .

See, this is where Neifi miscalculated. As opposed to Bonds where it changed warning track shots into home runs, for Perez, his increase in power just changed bloop singles into routine fly balls.

This is a ban for stimulants, not steroids (or similar). He was getting hopped up on goofballs to stay awake on the bench, not getting ripped to hit the long ball. He's the first to be suspended for stimulants, meaning he's already tested positive once before.

Was he really doing it to stay awake on the bench?

Oh hell, I don't know. I was just pointing out that this isn't the same suspension that Palmeiro got, it is the first ban under the stimulants provision.

Oh ok. I'll just keep on thinking it was to stay awake then. Seems funnier. I can picture Neifi acting like Jessie Spanno.

Yeah, Neifi is Jessi, Palmeiro is Slater.

Oh no, did Slater take steroids?? It would explain those quick wrestling wins...

I just assumed, since he was a wrestler and all.

Ouch! :o

No, that's Adam LaRoche ;)

McClatchy stepping down after 12 years running Pirates
 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2927649

PITTSBURGH -- Kevin McClatchy, a newspaper heir who likely prevented the Pirates from leaving Pittsburgh by assembling an ownership group in 1996, is stepping down as the team's chief executive officer at the end of the season.

The Pirates are on pace for a 15th consecutive losing season, one short of the major league record. If they do not have a winning record this season, it will be their 12th consecutive losing record under McClatchy.

McClatchy lost majority ownership stake in the club to West Virginia newspaper owner G. Ogden Nutting several years ago, and in January was supplanted by Nutting's son, Bob, as principal owner. McClatchy, who initially knew the elder Nutting through their newspaper ties and brought him into his ownership group, remained as chief executive officer.

"It was a difficult decision, but in the end I felt the time was right to step down as the day-to-day leader so the organization can move forward with a fresh perspective," McClatchy said in a statement.

The 44-year-old McClatchy became one of the youngest owners in major league history when his group officially completed the purchase in February 1996. The club -- formerly owned by a cross-section of Pittsburgh businessmen and corporations -- had been for sale for nearly 18 months, with cable TV magnate John Rigas unsuccessfully attempting to buy the club before McClatchy stepped in.

Bob Nutting said McClatchy's departure at the end of the season will give the franchise plenty of time to "conduct a thorough search ... give us an opportunity for a smooth transition into a new chapter of the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates."

McClatchy took months to assemble a group that finally bought the Pirates for about $95 million -- or about one-third the current value. At the time, no other group or individual was interested in buying the team and NL president Len Coleman guided McClatchy's group through the sale process so the team would not be forced to relocate.

While the Pirates stayed in Pittsburgh under McClatchy, they did not prosper. McClatchy was not privately wealthy, and the club's payroll was annually among the lowest in the majors except for a brief period in 2001, when the Pirates moved into PNC Park. Building one of the majors' best ballparks will likely be viewed as McClatchy's chief accomplishment.

The Pirates have contended only once under McClatchy, in 1997 when the lowest-paid team in the majors stayed in the NL Central race until the final week of the season until losing out to Houston.

McClatchy's reign also was marked by the departure of successful manager Jim Leyland, who wearied during four consecutive losing seasons, and a string of unsuccessful signings that included Derek Bell, Pat Meares and Kevin Young. The team also gave a far-above-market value $60 million deal to catcher Jason Kendall that still hasn't been cleaned off their books.

"Finding a new leader of the organization is the most important decision I will make in my first year as the principal owner of the franchise," Nutting said.

McClatchy had no baseball background when he bought the Pirates and, except for a brief period when Dick Freeman was brought in as club president, he never had a baseball executive in a day-to-day leadership role.

McClatchy served on several major league ownership groups, including its executive council and international and labor committees.

Watching the Braves & Padres, started wondering about something & did a little looking around.

At the moment Andruw Jones is hitting .201 with 15 homers & 51 RBI's.

Thanks to a handy little tool called the Season Finder at
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi...der.cgi#form:2
It appears that, from 1901 through 2006

Dave Kingman had the lowest season BA, .204, when hitting 30+ homers.
In '90 Mark McGwire had the lowest BA, .235, when having 100 or more RBI

Great tool, John. Helps me answer my earlier question in the thread.

Mark McGwire holds the record for most RBI's (64) with less than a .200 batting average. He accomplished this in 2001. His 29 HR's that year are also a record.

If Andruw can just getunder .200, he's got the RBI record sewn up. The HR record will be close.

Mendoza line takes on a whole new meaning...

Chicago gives up 32 runs in one day. I wonder if this is the straw that gets Guillen fired.

Wow, Bedard has looked awesome tonight. 10 Ks in the first 5 innings and he had zero in the first inning. The Ranger broadcasters just said, "uncle!" :)

Bedard is on fire, going for his 15th K. I've been flipping between this game and the Red Sox/Tigers, who keep leaving the bases loaded. No one wants to win it.

Ksyrup - did you see Carlos Beltran's catch in the bottom of the 14th to save the game against the Astros? The Houston announcers said, "you've just seen the best catch in Minute Maid park history" - it was amazing.

No, I'm still watching the Tigers/Sox in the 13th.

Crisp almost made an incredible catch...but he didn't, and the Tigers win!

I'm following the Mets/Houston game - 16th inning! But you know it can't last too long with Sele and Moehler in the game.

First off...amazing catch. The concentration it must take to make that play going up the hill is something I can't even fathom. Didn't Edmonds make a similar catch a few years back? I think his might have been even more impressive (and I'm a Met fan).

I have a question for the Astros fans...why all the hatred for Beltran? I haven't heard an opposing player get so mercilessly booed by a crowd since John Rocker made his first post-NY subway-related interview appearance at Shea. Yes, he spurned you guys to join a team for more money (actually, I think the Yankee offer he would've preferred might have been less than Houston's, but that's besides the point...), but he was a rent-a-player, not a guy who devoted six or so years to the organization and was the team's heart and soul. And not only did he not owe you anything for his half season with Houston, but he turned in arguably the greatest playoff performance of all-time to get you close to the World Series.

Seriously, what's up your collective asses? I can't think of other examples where a player who was on a team for a few months and then signed elsewhere and was booed like he was Hitler. From a Mets perspective, when we made a huge deal for Mike Hampton prior to the 2000 season, and he was an important piece to a World Series team...when he signed a big deal with Colorado, he didn't become Public Enemy #1.

One out away from the 17th! Should be interesting to see the bullpens tomorrow.

At least they'll have 3 days off after tomorrow. I hope it goes 20+ innings. Where's Fernando Valenzuela at 1B?

Lenn Sakata at catcher!

You know, for a 17 inning game, this shit is flying.

How's that for an "excuse me" single?

You mean the perfect execution of a hit and run?

Pseudo-perfect - that looked more accidental to me - though it ended perfectly. I know you'll hate this, but I'm hoping for an Astros rally in the bottom half :).

Mark McLemore changed his race and became a pitcher for the Astros?

I'll defer to another replay but my memory is that he threw the bat out there to put the ball right into the vacated SS spot. Gotay has shown pretty good bat control this year.

Lo Duca (0 for 8) might single-handedly kill my fantasy team's BA for the week from this game alone.

There's always one in every long game:

LoDuca, 0-for-8.

Dola. Beat me to it!

I'll defer - he and the Mets got the result they wanted!

I have to say, I love the MLB.TV package. There are few things better than heading off to bed every night listening to Vin Scully.

Prince Fielder has a very distinctive shape.

Anyone catch the Yanks-Angels? Anyone who likes good pitching would have loved it. Defense? Not so much (especially if you're a Yanks' fan). Lackey versus Clemens, both allowing just a run through eight. Three of the relievers that came in after them up to the 13th inning were Mariano Rivera, KRod and Shields--three of the best. That's a heck of a lot of pitching skill and talent that walked out onto the Yankees' mound today.

Round is distinctive?