General Chat / MLB

Yeah, he does. And yeah, sucks to be Nevin.

But you know what really sucks.



This division sucks so bad, NO ONE'S IN FIRST PLACE!

Can't they, like, just say the NL West doesn't get a playoff spot, and give out an extra wild card, or something?

...and all is well in the Nation.

I apologize to everyone for the sorry display that the Twins put on against the Red Sox yesterday. I am terribly sorry.

They'll do better, I swear..

Umm, yeah. Right. The Twins were fading fast and needed to make a deal to get a legitimate hitter. So when Hunter goes down for the season you'd think they'd finally make the deal to show they want to compete. But no, even after losing Hunter they do nothing by the trade deadline showing that they have no interest in competing for the rest of the year. They'll be lucky to finish in 3rd.

Yeah, he does. And yeah, sucks to be Nevin.

But you know what really sucks.



This division sucks so bad, NO ONE'S IN FIRST PLACE!

Can't they, like, just say the NL West doesn't get a playoff spot, and give out an extra wild card, or something?

LMAO

This is the latest a team's led a division with a sub-.500 record in like... decades. Just plain pathetic.

And the Dodgers are STILL in third place...


Meanwhile, hopefully the Angels can recover from this horrible roadtrip that saw them blow two games in New York as well as lose two games on the last at bat in Toronto.

And GAH.. Oakland's only 1.5 games behind us... and 1 behind in the loss column!!!

I was at the Sunday game in Oakland. It should have been 5-0. Saarloos was one strike away from a complete game shutout and gave up a homerun. Other than that little slipup, it was all Oakland all day long. Man, it was a pleasure to see this team in person. Our number 5 starter would be the ace in the yankees bullpen this year. That was (almost) his second complete game shutout of the season.

Meanwhile, the Angels bullpen doesn't seem quite so untouchable anymore. It's only a matter of time...

I prefer to think it's just a slump. It's been much too consistent outside of this roadtrip to really worry me unless this continues or it turns out people are hurt.

So um. What's the deal with Palmeiro. And roids.

Secondly. What's the deal with the fact that the steroid policy raises more questions than answers? For instance, this is what I've been thinking. When did Raffy test positive? What can he test positive for? Is it possible that just having a bit of Thera-Flu the night before a steroid test can set it off?

Oh how I love Bud Selig.

(One final note: My career aspiration is to be a sportswriter, but this entire weekend and the way the Boston media treated Manny made me not want to. This continued into today, witnessing the drivel of Skip Bayless and Bill Simmons on ESPN.com. There are no two sportswriters I hate worse than those two. Except maybe Dan Shaughnessy.)

Park for Nevin was the best trade ever, for a Rangers fan anyways. Glad to dump that useless POS.

As for Palmerio, thats just crazy, you'd never expect it to be him at all....which makes me believe that like JellyB said, he took something non-banned that tested positive. Who was it in the offseason that took something, then it became banned and got suspended for it? Stuff like that doesnt make sense, they should really publicize a bit more details, I understand they're trying to protect the players, but again, like JellyB, it just raises more questions than answers.

I myself, am in favor of steriod testing (and in favor of the 'stricter' policy of seligs), obviously, I think this stuff tarnished baseball. Cameniti won MVP while on them, everyone knows the Canseco story, I'm positive Sosa and Mcgwire were on them in '98 (what are the chances that two guys smash a record thats held for 40+ years in the same year). And Bonds is my least favorite player ever, because he more than anyone has tarnished the record books, and I'm confident that hes been on 'roids.

Obviously theres plenty others, I doubt as many as Canseco claims, but plenty of guys out there putting up numbers are on the 'roids. Notice how the league leaders in homeruns has dropped the past year or two? Cuz guys realized they were testing and stopped takin 'em. (or at least some did).

Anyways, were do you draw the line in what you can and cant take? Steriods, Creatine, Protein Shakes, Vitamins??

As for JellyB ^^, you should become a sportswriter, even moreso for the fact of how the other reporters treated the players...just cuz your a sportswriter doesnt mean you have to hound the players, you'd be great and known as the guy who does get along with them, and isnt just goin for the players head so to speak.

Jelly, you have to remember how much of a faggot Dan Shaugnessy was about the whole Doug Mientkewitz (sp lol) and the ball that won the 2004 series... he made it look like Doug was the asshole, when in fact, nobody bugged him about the ball, and once they asked him for it he was just like "its mine, but here it is ill loan it to you for showing off"

it is, after all, rightfully his ball.

Hey man... Canseco said Palmiero was on the juice, and Jose Canseco is NEVER wrong.


And I'd also like to add my daily FUCK YOU A'S!!!! as well.

Jelly, you have to remember how much of a faggot Dan Shaugnessy was about the whole Doug Mientkewitz (sp lol) and the ball that won the 2004 series... he made it look like Doug was the asshole, when in fact, nobody bugged him about the ball, and once they asked him for it he was just like "its mine, but here it is ill loan it to you for showing off"

it is, after all, rightfully his ball.

I remember every bit of faggotry Dan Shaughnessy writes, mostly because everything he writes/says is some kind of faggotry. Shaughnessy is so amazingly full of himself, I can't even take it. He's also the only man in Boston who ever believed in a certain curse...and wrote a book about it. Goddammit. I hate him.

ROFL @ Palmiero.... kiss your Hall of Fame chances goodbye. :lol



http://sports.espn.g...tory?id=2123113



NEW YORK -- Rafael Palmeiro's positive steroid test was for stanozolol, a powerful anabolic steroid that is not available in dietary supplements, according to a newspaper report.

The New York Times, citing a person in baseball with direct knowledge of the sport's drug-testing program, reported on its Web site Tuesday that Palmeiro tested positive for the drug known by the brand name Winstrol, most notably linked to the Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson of Canada.

Johnson was stripped of his 100-meter gold medal in 1988 after testing positive for stanozolol.

"It's a mildly strong to strong steroid," Dr. Gary Wadler, a professor at New York University and an expert in sports doping, told the Times. "Potent is the word I would use."

The person who said that Palmeiro tested positive for stanozolol did not want to be identified because the testing policy prohibits anyone in baseball from disclosing information about test results without authorization, the Times said.

The Baltimore Orioles first baseman was suspended by Major League Baseball for 10 days on Monday after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. The highest profiled player to be punished so far, Palmeiro testified before Congress in March that he "never used steroids."

Palmeiro didn't deny turning in a positive test, but was adamant it was an accident.

The test was taken some weeks after Palmeiro testified before Congress in March, meaning he is probably not at risk for perjury, the Times reported, citing a committee staff member who spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity because official statements are supposed to come from members of Congress.

The Baltimore Sun reported on its Web site Tuesday night that Palmeiro tested positive in May and chased his 3,000th hit with the knowledge that he had failed a drug test. Palmeiro appealed the ruling in secret arbitration proceedings in June, a source told the Sun.

The Sun also said that Congress is looking more closely into the chronology of Palmeiro's case and is poised to call on baseball to reveal more details: when his drug test was conducted, analyzed and disclosed to the player and the team. Some members also want officials to reveal what Palmeiro tested positive for.

The House Government Reform Committee was drafting a tentative information request Tuesday, the Sun said.

Palmeiro was the seventh player to fall under baseball's new, tougher steroids policy; Seattle Mariners right-hander Ryan Franklin became the eighth when he was also suspended 10 days for a violation Tuesday. Baseball does not release what type of drug a player has tested positive for, and so far none of the eight have spoken openly about details of their violations.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.




Oh man... talk about lying, lying, and lying some more. Not only was it a steroid, it was a major steroid. It's like saying you've never even done pot then getting caught with straight out pure heroine.

See. Maybe it was unintentional, because he thought he was shooting heroin. When in fact, he was shooting roids. Common mistake, really. I make it all the time. Syringes all look alike really.

So... how bad is the NL west? Lets look at the facts:



http://sports.espn.g...yson&id=2125778

THE USELESS INFO DEPARTMENT

You've gotta love that NL West. Has there ever been a division like it? Let's take a look:

• We'll get the most-asked question out of the way first: Has there ever been a division in which every team finished with a losing record?

And that answer is … no way -- unless you count the 1994 strike season, when the plug was pulled in August with the Rangers (52-62) in first place.

Worst records ever by teams that won their divisions (a list that might come in reallllllly handy):

1973 Mets (82-79)
1997 Astros (84-78)
1984 Royals (84-78)
1987 Twins (85-77)

• Now the next-most logical question: What's the closest any division has ever come to having all its teams finish with a losing record?

We're happy to announce that the answer to that one was looked up for us by loyal reader Brian Smith, of Dartmouth College's little-known School of Lousy Baseball Division Research Studies.

1997 NL Central (Astros only team over .500)
1995 NL East (Braves only team over .500)

Back before then, of course, there were only two divisions in each league. So it was just about impossible to pull something like this off.

• How bizarre is this division? The last-place team (the Rockies) had the second-worst record in the entire sport through Thursday (39-68). But they still were closer to first place (13½ games) than the Indians, Twins or Cubs -- three teams that still have realistic shots to win the wild card.

• Here's yet another way to sum up this goofiness, courtesy of Giants assistant GM Ned Colletti, who asks: "Has a team ever won the World Series and still picked in the top 10 in the draft?"

We're not sure how to describe that question: Hilarious? Scary? Brilliant? Fascinating? So we'll go for all of the above.

If the draft were held tomorrow, the first-place Padres would pick 12th. But they were only a half-game better than Detroit and a game better than Baltimore. So it isn't out of the question that the Padres could be in the top 10 next June -- but still have a chance to win the World Series this October.

If you're wondering (and of course you are), the highest drafting locale by any World Series team we could find, with the help of Baseball America's Jim Callis, was 17th, by those '74 Mets. (Free-agent compensation picks, naturally, were not included.)

• OK, so now we move along in earnest to those first-place Padres. Since June 1 (through Thursday), they'd gone a mind-boggling 16 games under .500 (20-36), yet had lost just two games off their lead.

So how amazing is that? The Padres actually have a worse record since June 1 than all six last-place teams have. (Worst record by the last-place group: Pittsburgh, at 24-35.)

• Fifty games into the season, the Padres were 31-19, and leading the West by 2½ games. But until they won Thursday, they'd gone a debacle-ish 18-32 in their previous 50 games. And the Elias Sports Bureau reports that's the worst 50-game stretch by any team in history that was in first place 50 games into a season. Previous record: 20-30, by the 1995 Angels.

• Meanwhile, not only do the Padres have a losing record for the season -- they've had just one winning month (May).

So has there ever, you ask, been a first-place team that could make that claim? Nope. Not over a full season, anyway.

The 1994 Rangers had just one winning month when the strike hit. But they never got a chance to play out August and September, so they don't count. And we can't find any other first-place team that ever had fewer than three winning months.

• In case you were wondering, through Thursday, the Padres would have been 9½ games out of first in the NL East, 15 games out in the NL Central, 9½ out in the AL East, nine out in the AL West and a spectacular 17½ games behind in the AL Central.

• Or, looked at another way, at their current pace, the Padres would win 79 games. Which means they would have finished 37 games behind the 2001 Mariners, 37 behind the 1998 Yankees and 29 games behind the 1986 Mets -- but would still make the playoffs.

• But let's not blame this mess on the Padres. This has been a total group effort. Through Thursday, the five NL West teams were an insane 62 games under .500 (128-190) when they played anyone except themselves. That's a sad .403 winning percentage against those other divisions.

Not surprisingly, they're heading for some serious history in that department. Elias reports that the record, in the division-play era, is held by the fearsome 2002 AL Central.

Led by the Tigers and Royals (who were 62 games under all by themselves), that group was a combined 76 games under .500 and played .412 ball overall against anyone but each other.

• Across the country, on the other hand, you have the mirror-image version of this division -- the NL East, where every team still had a winning record until the Mets fell back to .500 Thursday.

That made this the third time in history (not counting the '81 strike season) in which every team in a division was over .500 in August, according to SABR's Frank Vaccaro. The others:

1991 AL West -- through Sept. 25 (151 games)
1986 AL East -- through Aug. 28 (125 games)

• But what has never happened -- to answer to a question from loyal reader Brian Rutledge -- is a season in which a last-place team in one division would have finished first in another division. And we're rapidly approaching the latest date in any season when a last-place team would even have been leading any other division.

When the strike pulled the plug on the 1994 season after games of Aug. 11, the last-place teams in the AL East and AL Central both would have led the AL West.

But could it really happen over a full season? Uh, stay tuned.

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Send your Useless Information to uselessinfodept@yahoo.com.

fuck off.

fuck off.

Hey man. Don't worry. First place is first place.

and FUCK.


A's have caught the Angels. And August is supposed to be their traditional hot month. Geez.

Yeah and it only took a historic 2 month period of some of the winningest baseball of all time. The hard part will be continuing to play this well for another 2 months into the playoffs. We'll see what happens. I'm very confident that this this A's team is a better team than the past 3 years though, so it may be time for the So Cal'ers to start watching the Wild Card standings.

PS - 4 homeruns in 4 games for Dan Johnson. Has a team ever had the top 3 finishers in the Rookie of the Year award before? It's looking liking a possibility. And if Joe Blanton pitches like he did in June, maybe even top 4.

Wtf happened to my Rangers. They teased us with good pitching early in the season....and now....

Oh well, Danks and Diamond will be in the big leagues in a few years...

What happened is they lost 7 of 8 to the A's to go under .500 and out of second place and then they lost Kenny Rogers. Good move dumping Chan Ho Park on SD though. I don't know who there is to replace him, but they couldn't be much worse.