The Baseball Thread

@Region Philbis,

the way I heard it is that the sample showed a positive result. Whether or not it truly was his sample cannot be proven....due to the casual way the the tester stored the sample on his desk at his home (apparently). The tester who had the sample is a part-timer..and seems to have not follwoed the proper protocol to prove the chain of custody. 'Cause the proprietary chain of custody couldn't be guaranteed, it's not provable that it wasn't someone else's. Technicality for sure...but I'd try the appeal too if it were me.

However, FIW, I heard on ESPN that Braun in the past has been tested 50 other times with never a single positive result. so, what should be done in general with first timers?

MLB had better get their proverbial act together and do this chain of custody issue more consistantly and far more professionally or else lawyers are going to help make the testing for PED and enforcement a mockery and will invalidate the efforts to keep the sport clean.

1 Reply

Twins’ Zumaya hurts elbow in throwing session

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AgKB5kURjHGVvx7ifQQVwA4RvLYF?slug=ap-twins-zumayahurt

how can you not root for a guy that once had a guitar hero injury during the playoffs...

1 Reply

@Rockhead,

i'm rooting for him to consider a different line of work.
the pitching thing just ain't workin' out...

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for Roberta...

The 10 best things about being a Yankees fan

1. Old-Timers' Day. Other franchises have attempted to stage an exhibition game for aged, former players, but only the New York Yankees have the star power and history to do it every single year since 1947. Rounding up 50 or so Hall of Famers, All-Stars, and World Champs for one day each summer to tip their caps to a sellout crowd, glad-hand former teammates, and play a few innings under the sun in the Bronx is one of the great traditions in baseball.

A fan would need a baseball encyclopedia to keep track of all the big (and somewhat less big) names that appear at the sold-out Stadium year in and year out. Yogi Berra? Check. Whitey Ford? He's there. Reggie Jackson? Yep. The older guys don't have the energy to stand in the batter's box anymore, but the most recent game featured a great moment between two of the more recently retired stars when Tino Martinez homered off David Cone. Plus, the Yankees won't bring back Keith Olbermann to provide in-stadium color commentary again, so that's a positive....

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/10-best-things-being-yankees-fan-185908452.html;_ylt=Aofd0Rel8LwxGB1nRfvNTGwRvLYF

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@Ragman,

Quote:

Collector says he acted as instructed

A man identifying himself as the collector who took Ryan Braun's urine samples last fall said he followed
the same protocol with the Milwaukee Brewers slugger as he had with hundreds of previous samples.

In an email sent Tuesday to ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney and other media outlets, Dino Laurenzi Jr.
said he issued the statement "to set the record straight" about his role in testing Braun, whose 50-game
suspension under baseball's drug policy was overturned Thursday.

Laurenzi said that at the time of the test, he obtained a signature from the NL MVP, stipulating that the
samples were capped and sealed in his presence.

(espn)

1 Reply

In Mets news, the players received a cheery t-shirt with a big U for Underdog on it.
Apparently Mr.Met is being replaced http://www.nesn.com/2012/02/mets-coo-jeff-wilpon-buys-players-underdog-themed-shirts-irks-david-wright-photo.htm
not all players were happy about it.

Quote:

The New York Mets missed the playoffs for the fifth straight season in 2011. Their string of collapses and disappointments has become a running joke in professional baseball, and now it seems the Mets are getting in on it too.
Jeff Wilpon, Chief Operating Officer for the team and son of owner Fred Wilpon, tried rallying his players with a little gift placed in their lockers on Monday. He purchased each Mets player a blue and orange t-shirt with a large "U" on the chest, playing off the symbol of 1960's cartoon character Underdog.
Unfortunately, the gift did not go over quite as well as Wilpon likely hoped. David Wright, the Mets' starting third baseman, felt like the gift was more degrading than motivational.
"I don't really like using the whole underdog thing," Wright said. "I don't like really playing that card. I think it's just a way to remind everybody in here that the outside expectations aren't the expectations that we have for ourselves."
Wright has a point -- plenty of baseball fans make underdog jokes at the Mets' expense and it seems the front office guys are unknowingly getting in on the ribbing. As well-intended as the gifts likely were, Wilpon's purchase is only adding fuel to the fire.

1 Reply

@Region Philbis,

I just heard that report on ESPN this morning. IMHO it was a worthwhile credible defense. However my thought is this: Seeing that the sample was collected on a Saturday, the issue could have been avoided if the sample did not go back to the house of the collector - apparently, due to the timing of the collection, FEDEX was closed. Why not just take the sample on Monday..or ONLY when FEDEX is open ... NOT on a weekend. Doing it that way no sample would need to sit at the home of collector. Who knows what could have happened without the awareness of the collector as a result of other people potentially tampering with the sample.

Why isn't this just a common sense procedure or protocol?

Also, in defense of Braun's innocence...another potential wrinkle could be that the urine test could have been a false positive. I guess another report is due in a week or so from an arbiter.

2 Replies

@Ragman,

i see no reason to second-guess why this case wasn't handled differently than hundreds of others.
MLB will just have to revise their collection policy so it never happens again...

0 Replies

@Sturgis,

http://metsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mets-underdog-shirt-224x300.jpg

U as in ugly?

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@Ragman,

A few months ago, I had to take a drug test as a part of getting a contract.

The contract is long done, but the memory of the drug test remains. The protocols that have to be followed, as you might imagine, are rather stringent. I am sure that there is plenty that went on after I left the collector's premises.

Knowing when Fedex closes, and not scheduling any appointments for collection so as to avoid that problem - I would think that that would be a part of the procedure. E. g. Fedex closes at 5, therefore no collections past 4:30 or whatever, regardless of how much of a big shot the athlete is.

Bad timing, bad judgment by the collector, it seems, and bad policy.

So - yes - fix the policy.

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done deal...

Quote:

MLB, union agree to expand playoffs

Major League Baseball expanded its playoff format to 10 teams Friday, adding a second wild card in each league.

The decision establishes a new one-game, wild-card round in each league between the teams with the best records
who are not division winners, meaning a third-place team could win the World Series.

This is the only change in baseball's playoff structure since the 1995 season, when wild-card teams were first added.

"This change increases the rewards of a division championship and allows two additional markets to experience playoff
baseball each year," commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.

Had there been additional wild-card teams last season, the Braves would have made the playoffs in the NL, while the
Boston Red Sox would have qualified in the AL. Instead, each missed the postseason by a game, both going down with
historic September swoons.

"I would've taken it last year," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez joked Thursday.

(espn)

considering that more teams make the playoffs in other major team sports,
i will reserve judgement until after the season is over...

1 Reply

@Region Philbis,

It's Bud's world, we just live in it...

in other news, the Royals opened the spring with a 6-1 victory over the Rangers.

(repeat after me: I will not get overly excited about spring training)

can't wait for games that count this year...

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Bud is a chump...

"The one big downer, though, came in last month's news that the Houston Astros must remove the pistol from their Colt .45s throwback jerseys as they plan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the franchise. Even though it's just for two games, Major League Baseball decided that one measly gun was too much and that the 'Stros had to surrender the piece. Thus the uniforms from the franchise's first three years won't be armed — or accurate..."

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/astros-owner-jim-crane-opposes-removal-pistol-colt-171330866.html;_ylt=AgK7dELf7fjl2WV7Mh60qMQRvLYF

jeez louise. Rolling Eyes

I think they should put a 40 oz bottle on it instead...

1 Reply

@Rockhead,

adding insult to the injury of having to switch leagues next year...

in a related story, children will no longer be allowed to play cops 'n robbers...

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I dread seeing this thread come up on "My Posts," because I just know that it will be discussing the latest colossally idiotic thing that MLB just did. What's next? Will the Pirates be forced to change their name to "the Jolly Sea Captains?" Will the Brewers be called "the Barristas" in order to discourage underage drinking?

1 Reply

@Region Philbis,

League switching - don't get me started! Just on principle, that one gripes me far more than many other changes they propose. How does a fan win? Especially one that loves his fave team being in a particular league? That should be fodder for a wonderful class-action lawsuit for some ambitious lawyer.

Then there's Bud taking the gun off of a temporary nostalgia uniform change for Houston Astros? Pure idiocy!

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@joefromchicago,

jeez joe, if Ida known you felt that way, Ida brought this up sooner...

Will AJ Burnett's inability to bunt ultimately bring about a DH in both leagues?

"Traditionalists prefer the game without the DH because that's the way the game originated. But the DH has become a tradition unto itself -- it began in 1973 -- while baseball continues to change how the game is played, i.e. the addition of wild cards, interleague play, four rounds of playoffs, instant replay, 26-man rosters, centralized rather than league-based umpiring and administration, etc. With the exception of 49-year-old Jamie Moyer, every major league player today grew up regarding the DH as a normal part of baseball. It is used at every amateur level."

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/tom_verducci/03/06/designated.hitter.national.league/index.html#ixzz1oaTk0LVT

and...

Somebody remind me what the excuse was for Milwaukee having to switch leagues back when we trusted Bud. and why shouldn't they have to go back to the American league instead of holding a gun to the Astro's new owner and making him switch. and then taking away his guns...

I think the DH should just be flat done away with, but nobody other than Stinky listens to what I got to say...

2 Replies

@Rockhead,

i like the idea of sending milwaukee back (sorry garg) -- as karmic punishment for the braun fiasco.

i think the DH is here to stay, at least in the AL.
eliminating 15 jobs is not something the union would ever likely agree to...

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@Rockhead,

Rockhead wrote:

jeez joe, if Ida known you felt that way, Ida brought this up sooner...

Will AJ Burnett's inability to bunt ultimately bring about a DH in both leagues?

...

I read this as
Will AJ Burnett's inability to burp ultimately bring about a DH in both leagues?

1 Reply

@jespah,

baseball trick shots...

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/padres-prospect-goes-viral-trick-shots-video-144852348.html;_ylt=AgQ7C7bMiL9biNZXRP1DAcgRvLYF

he needs to work more with live pitching is my take...

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