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      David Wells: ‘Players that cheat should be banned after first offense’

      May 18, 2009 /

      Former MLB pitcher David Wells tossed a few high hard ones at Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens this past weekend, saying that any player that cheats the game should be banned from baseball after the first offense.

      Wells said the home runs that Rodriguez hit during the time he admitted he was on steroids shouldn’t count, including the three he jacked against Wells in 2003. He also questioned Roger Clemens’ veracity on his constant denials that he never juiced, and said all steroids cheats should be banned from baseball after the first offense and have no shot at getting into the Hall of Fame.

      “I think that would be great. No 50-game suspension. Ban them right away,” Wells said. “That would stop it in a heartbeat, especially with the money they are giving out today. It would be incredible if they did that. You wouldn’t have to worry about steroids or HGH.”

      Why do players abuse steroids? So they can post incredible numbers, assault records, extend their careers, sign big contracts.

      “It (stinks) because of the fact that these guys are playing dirty and that’s not fair to the guys who busted their butt all those years to try and stay here and just didn’t have what it took,” Wells said.

      If baseball truly wanted to stop player’s use of performance-enhancing drugs, they would take on Wells’ philosophy. No player in their right mind would risk taking steroids if they knew a positive test would result in a lifetime ban from the game. (Well, maybe I shouldn’t suggest that no player would risk using, because I’m sure some nitwit would do it anyway thinking he’d never be caught.)

      One thing to note is that MLB wouldn’t be able to make this rule retroactive because if they didn’t think it was important to have a testing policy in place 10 years ago, then they shouldn’t be able to ban a player who admitted using during that time. So guys like A-Rod and Andy Pettitte would be given a free pass for now.

      But a lifetime ban would put the responsibility back into the players’ hands – where everything starts anyway. If a player isn’t sure that a supplement or medication will get him banned, he needs to check with a team doctor and have it authorized. That way everyone knows what’s going into these players’ bodies and therefore there wouldn’t be any surprises. And this wouldn’t just help keep the game clean, but it would also show that MLB cares about the players’ long-term health, too. It seems to be a win-win for all parties involved.

      MLB

      Steelers’ Harrison refuses to visit White House with team

      May 18, 2009 /

      It’s always been tradition that the team that wins the Super Bowl is invited to the White House every year. But Steelers’ linebacker James Harrison will pass on the visit once again this year, just as he did when Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl in 2006.

      “This is how I feel — if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don’t win the Super Bowl. As far as I’m concerned, he [Obama] would’ve invited Arizona if they had won,” said Harrison.

      Harrison also skipped the Steelers’ visit to the White House in 2006 following their victory in Super Bowl XL.

      Harrison is getting way too deep with this line of thinking. If a team wins the Super Bowl, then they get invited to the White House. End of story. I guess on some level I understand his point of view in that every NFL player should have the chance to visit our nation’s capital regardless of whether or not they win the Super Bowl, but his overall stance on this subject is weird.

      Plus, history was made this year when Obama was voted in – why wouldn’t you want to participate in that? I would think he would want to tell his grandchildren some day that he met the our first black president instead of saying, “Well, I could have met President Obama, kids. But he would have invited the Cardinals had they won and that just doesn’t sit right with me.” Oooookay.

      NFL, Super Bowl

      Tempers flare between Indians, Rays in Tampa this weekend

      May 17, 2009 /

      Cleveland Indians C/1B Victor Martinez has one simple rule for opposing pitchers that throw inside on him during an at-bat: If you throw at his head, he will go after you. And evidently his pitching staff also has his back, as Tribe closer Kerry Wood threw two inside pitches on Tampa Bay Rays OF B.J. Upton that began a brief scrum in the bottom of the eighth inning of Sunday’s game.

      The beanball war began on Friday night, as Martinez thought Rays lefthander J.P. Howell was purposely throwing at his head. After ducking away from a high and tight fastball, Martinez began yelling (click here to see video) at Howell before home-plate umpire Greg Gibson stepped in to calm the situation.

      After the game, Martinez explains his side of the incident:

      “I don’t like that, throwing at my head,” Martinez said. “If you want to hit somebody, [throw at] a different spot. But don’t throw at the head.”
      Howell shrugged off the whole incident.
      “I was just pitching, man, playing ball,” he said. “I mean, whatever. I threw a pitch in. Whatever. Where the ball was, if his face was in that area, you make up your own mind what you think. I just threw a pitch barely in, a little up. And whatever. He didn’t like it. I don’t know what that is.”

      After the first two pitches went behind and inside to Upton, Rays manager Joe Maddon got into a shouting match with Martinez before both benches emptied. Maddon felt Wood was intentionally throwing at his player in retaliation to the incident in Friday’s game. The Indians have denied the accusation.

      These two teams meet again in Cleveland for a four-game series beginning on May 25. Stay tuned!

      MLB

      Fan catches Chris Coghlan’s first home run. Fan receives arm, demands leg.

      May 17, 2009 /

      SPORTSbyBROOKS has a great piece up about Nick Yohanek and his adventures with the Florida Marlins’ Chris Coghlan. Apparently, there’s a great start-up business here: Selling home run balls back to the guys who hit them out. After Coghlan hit his first in the majors, he was approached by Yohanek (who had caught the ball) after the game. Upon giving the fan a signed game bat and photo-op, Coghlan was surprised to learn that that just wouldn’t be enough to get Yohanek to fork over his ball (the identity of the preceding pronoun is anybody’s guess). Let’s hear from Yohanek and Brooks now:

      Yohanek, not surprisingly, has a different view of things. We’re a little more suspicious of his version of the facts, mainly because he’s got far more reason to lie and even in his quotes, he comes off as an unholy prick:

      “I explained that ballhawking is my hobby and that what I was asking in return was fair,” Yohanek said Thursday, in an e-mail to the Associated Press. “I told him I make $50,000 a year working in law enforcement and that I didn’t feel like I was asking for too much. He responded, ‘Good for you.’ Real classy. Way to respect law enforcement. Way to respect a fan.”

      Yes, exactly. Clearly his tone was indicative of a disrespect for law enforcement and fans, and in no way affected by annoyance when a grown man makes demands for what should be a treasured keepsake. Real classy, Yohanek.

      I can’t help but agree with my esteemed colleague on this one. While it is true that modern athletes make an exorbitant amount of money, it’s simply a matter of capitalism: if someone’s willing to pay that amount, then make them pay it, right? Supply and demand and such…Wait a sec, I may have just agreed with Yohanek here.

      Continue reading »

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Baseball, General Sports, Humor, MLB, Rumors & Gossip

      What’s most important about Zimmerman’s streak…

      May 17, 2009 /

      maggio

      …is that it reminds us how phenomenal Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak really was. Legendary reporter Art Spander has written a nice column for Real Clear Sports looking closely at Zimmerman’s streak, DiMaggio’s record, and how fans respond to these hitting achievements.

      The best part is we may understand how good Ryan Zimmerman is going to be. The second-best part is we may again understand how good Joe DiMaggio was.

      Zimmerman, the kid from the Washington Nationals, caught our attention there for a month. He hit in 30 consecutive games.

      The streak ended Wednesday against the Giants. The streak ended with a standing ovation. From fans of the visiting team.

      The streak ended with greater appreciation for Joe DiMaggio.

      We don’t know much very about Joltin’ Joe these days. He came before ESPN and CNN and Twitter. He retired 58 years ago. But Ryan Zimmerman, age 24, knows all he needs to know about DiMaggio.

      Watching from the press box Wednesday was 85-year-old Charlie Silveria, who grew up here, who as a 10-year-old watched DiMaggio, then with the San Francisco Seals, hit in a Pacific Coast League record 61 straight games in 1933.

      Silveria joined Joe on the Yankees in the late 1940s and was Yogi Berra’s backup catcher. They talked about the old days. They didn’t talk much about streaks. “He was private,” reminded Silveria.

      We never learned what DiMaggio thought of hitting in 56 straight major league games. We did learn what Ryan Zimmerman thought of hitting in 30.

      Personally, I don’t think DiMaggio’s streak will ever be broken. When the Yankee Clipper hit for 56 straight games in 1941, the complexion of Major League Baseball was much different. Nowadays, hitters may face three or different pitchers in a game. When DiMaggio played, it was common that a team would only use one or two different pitchers. This makes it much harder on a hitter to make the proper adjustments after “studying” a pitcher from a previous at-bat. Even more so, rosters are much larger and contain many more pitchers than they did in the ’40s. Thus, it’s tougher for hitters to get a feel for pitchers over time since they really may not face them all that often in the grand scheme of things. On top of that, players are bigger babies than they were back when DiMaggio was around. Team management is so quick to act on a precautionary measure rather than have their guys man up and take the field. It’s also rare that a guy even plays 56 games in a row. I really like ballplayers like Zimmerman, Longoria, and Utley because they are multi-talented athletes that remind me of DiMaggio. Still, Joltin’ Joe was simply that much better than those guys. They just don’t make ’em like him anymore and even if they did, it would be hard for DiMaggio to eclipse his own record if he played in these times.

      MLB

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