Please don't forget that the Yankee players are old. Not old for the general population, but old for professional baseball players.

The Yankees are so old, their social security number is 1.

The Yankees are so old, when they went to school, there was no History class.

The Yankees are so old, their birth certificate is in Roman Numerals:


"There have been so many injuries this season with the Yankees — and then more injuries on top of the original injuries — that it’s easy to forget how old this team was before everybody started dropping like flies."

It's easy to forget the guy who was Bob Dole's running mate in the 1996 Presidential election. It was Jack Kemp.

It's easy to forget the first AL pitcher to win a Cy Young Award. It was Bob Turley.


I'm not entirely sure why some things are easy to forget. Part of it is undoubtedly the "first/last" bias (aka serial position effect), but mostly it's just that our memories are constructed in the present and our brain stores a little memory template. The memory needs a context and a trigger, then we can build it, regardless of its accuracy.

For some reason, Jack Kemp and Bob Turley and Canadian Prime Ministers don't trigger the template.


One thing I know for sure is that it's basically IMPOSSIBLE to forget that the Yankees are old. Some lady at work reminded me on Opening Day. I can guarantee she doesn't know how may outs are in an inning, but she knows that the Yankees are old and she doesn't like that ARod guy.


"Their top three starting pitchers are 32-year-old CC Sabathia, 41-year-old Andy Pettitte and 38-year-old Huroki Kuroda.

Mariano Rivera, of course, is 43, in his last season."

Four of the best players on the team.


"The Yankees might not have won the AL East even if they had all stayed fitter than fighter pilots, but they sure would have run away with things in the AARP East."

The Yankees are so old, they shouldn't play in the AL East, they should play in the AARP East.

Damn!

Destroyed by the Master.

I wish I had thought of that one.

Two games out of the wild card last time I checked.

Trending poorly, that's for sure. But even the team as currently constructed ought to rebound somewhat from a terrible June (86 runs scored in the whole month):

" 'My job is always to see if we can improve regardless of position,' Cashman said. 'If something declares itself as an opportunity that makes sense, that we can acquire, then obviously we’ll have to look at it.'

'We’re in striking distance,' Cashman said. 'And we want to fortify if we can.'

In other words, Cashman owes it to his players, his ownership, his fan base and manager Joe Girardi and his field staff not to consider this a lost season – no matter how many players are lost for the season, or might not return at the top of their game."

"Throwing in the towel" in this context means trading your veterans for prospects.
I can only think of maybe 1 or 2 veterans who are healthy and useful for trade bait: Gardner and Cano.

Maybe Robertson? Maybe Sabathia or Kuroda in a a salary dump?

So, yeah. It's a little early to panic and trade any of these players.

I would assume that's too ridiculous to mention, but that's the only thing I can think of that would constitute "throwing in the towel."


The only other action I can think of that suggests tanking the season is rushing AAA players to the majors. Which is what the Yankees are being forced to do, anyway.

8 Wins, 6 Losses, 4.15 ERA

When a fat pitcher pitches eight shutout innings, he is durable.

When a fat pitcher continually blows leads in the sixth and seventh innings ... and when he can't make a play on a crucial infield single ... he is no longer durable. He is just fat.

"Machado went to third on a fly ball to center by J. J. Hardy. Adam Jones, the dangerous cleanup hitter, then tapped another swinging bunt up the first-base line. Sabathia ran to retrieve it and tried to make a spinning play. But he is not athletic enough, and his feeble throw dribbled well wide of the mark, and Machado scored to even the tally, 3-3."

"Not athletic enough."

Sources can be stupid.

So he's going through rehab and publicly announcing his progress so he can be Albert Belle II:

"The News reported on Thursday that sources close to the ongoing drama surrounding the embattled third baseman believe Rodriguez has fast-forwarded his return to the team so he can then claim he is physically unable to perform and announce his retirement.

That way, he could collect the full amount of his salary — $114 million over the next five years — even if he is suspended by commissioner Bud Selig’s office because of his alleged ties to Biogenesis, the South Florida clinic that Major League Baseball investigators believe supplied banned drugs to Rodriguez, Milwaukee Brewers star Ryan Braun and approximately 20 other players.

But Jeter, from what he has seen of Rodriguez in Tampa, doesn’t think A-Rod looks like he is ready to call it quits."

Of all the scenarios that seem ridiculous, the rush-to-retirement angle seems to be the most ridiculous of all.

Cashman is the loose cannon.

" 'Visit from Dr. Kelly over the weekend, who gave me the best news the green light to play games again!' A-Rod tweeted."

Great, especially since David Adams had an other 0-fer .... and a fielding error, as if that was even possible.


"Less than two hours after A-Rod shared his exciting news with the world, Brian Cashman made it clear that he wished he hadn’t done that.

'You know what, when the Yankees want to announce something, (we will),' Cashman told ESPN New York. 'Alex should just shut the f--- up. That’s it. I’m going to call Alex now.' "

If you randomly picked 100 tweets, 99 would be more controversial than ARod's.


"There have also been some not-so-memorable moments. Several postseason failures, a mid-World Series opt-out, one steroid admission, another embarrassing PED scandal, one photo shoot (mirror included), the 'Ha!' play, the slap play . . . the list of clownish antics goes on and on."

1) I dispute whether all of these antics are "clownish."

2) If these moments are not-so-memorable, then why do you remember them so easily?

Moral outrage tends to be subjective.

89 at-bats for David Adams.

.191 BA, .226 OB%, .292 SLG%, 23 Ks, 2 walks.


To this particular Yankee fan, the continued presence of this in the lineup is outrageous.  

AL East living up to its preseason hype.

Toronto's 9-game winning streak has the AL East tightening up:

AL East	W	L	PCT	GB	HOME	AWAY	L10	STRK
Red Sox	45	31	.592	-	23-15	22-16	5-5	W1
Orioles	42	32	.568	2.0	20-15	22-17	6-4	L1
Yankees	40	33	.548	3.5	21-15	19-18	3-7	W1
Rays	38	36	.514	6.0	21-16	17-20	3-7	L1
Blue Jays	36	36	.500	7.0	20-17	16-19	9-1	W9

The Bronx is Vernon.

I'm not sure what options Girardi has until Granderson returns.  You play Wells in the hopes he snaps out of it.  Or I guess it couldn't be any worse to give Zoilo Almonte the starting LF job:

"In 56 June at-bats heading into Thursday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Wells had only six hits — all singles. That is a .107 batting average and a .107 slugging percentage for the month. 

The numbers illustrate the difficulties Wells has been experiencing; he does not need to be reminded. 

'I don’t need to know the numbers,' he said before Thursday’s game. 'I know they’re terrible.'

Wells even had trouble against a pitching machine in the Yankees’ batting cage Thursday afternoon. He came to Yankee Stadium early to work with the hitting coach Kevin Long after he went hitless in both games of a split doubleheader Wednesday. The Yankees have a machine that cranks up the velocity to almost unhittable speed, and sure enough, it got the better of Wells."

Wells has about 9 hits in his last 90 at-bats.

The .300 April was quite optimistic, but he can't really be this bad, can he?

I think Phil Hughes should keep his spot in the rotation.

Kidding!  I'm kidding!

The dream is long over.  Phil Hughes is not a "tease," unless you're teased by mediocre pitchers who throw a good game every month or two.

Phil Hughes is not an effective major league pitcher.  There is not point in discussing his spot in the rotation or his future with the Yankees.  Hughes is #8 on the depth chart as far as I'm concerned ( behind Kuroda, Pettitte, Sabathia, Phelps, Pineda, Nuno, and Nova).

A long time ago, Hughes had a decent season pitching out of the bullpen.  He could probably do that again -- it's an easy job.

He also has enough "stuff" to be a decent major league pitcher ... but he's out of shape, stupid, stubborn, and gutless.

The bad luck Mets :-(

When I read something like this, I truly wonder if Lupica is on the Mets' payroll:

"Alderson was asked this question: Does he ever consider what the current Mets record would be if Santana were healthy and Ike Davis hadn’t turned into such a hopeless case that he is now playing baseball in Las Vegas.
'Honestly?' Alderson said. 'I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think we could be a .500 baseball team. A little above. A little below.' "

The Mets are 15 games under .500.  Approximately 40% of the season has been played.

So Alderson is saying that two players ... Johan Santana and Ike Davis ... would be worth 8 wins through 40% of the season.  Which translates to 20 wins for the full season.

Unless I'm misinterpreting ... but the column specifically says current Mets record.

If that's what Alderson truly thinks, then he's quite unreasonable, because the math defies reason.

"Then he was talking about the arrival of Zack Wheeler. And about Travis d’Arnaud, the catcher he got from the Blue Jays for R.A. Dickey, who is still hurt, but is expected to play for the Mets before the season is over; talking about the draft, stockpiling young talent, how slow that process can be."

Just for clarification, it's d'Arnaud who's still hurt, not R.A. Dickey.  I know when you read the words "R.A. Dickey, who is still hurt," you'd naturally assume R.A. Dickey is hurt.  

Then you'd give the 3rd-grader a grade of "check minus" and return the paper for proofreading.

Last time I checked, Wheeler had an ERA above 4.00 in AAA.  I guess he throws really fast, but lots of pitchers throw really fast.  I don't know if he's going to be Nolan Ryan or Todd van Poppel.  For every Tom Seaver, there's a thousand Matt Kinneys.

Same for d'Arnaud.  Maybe he's Gary Carter, maybe he's Josh Thole.  Maybe he's Buster Posey, maybe he's Dioner Navarro.

"All that. And how this is a time of the year when teams still aren’t ready to make any kind of trade for another few weeks at least, and how right now 'you are reduced to the waiver wire or released players.' "

Boo hoo.

If only the Mets had a bunch of good players who stayed healthy, they'd be in first place.  Just like every other bad team.

Alderson and Collins don't get enough blame.  

The Mets are underachievers who play stupidly and sloppily.  The Mets bullpen has been awful for three years in a row while Oliver Perez is lighting it up in Seattle as a lefty specialist (Alderson can't even take responsibility for that?).

If Ike Davis stinks, it's the GM's fault for failing to recognize this.  Fans and WFAN radio hosts similarly overrated Davis's talent, but it's not their job to properly evaluate Davis's talent.  

If your players go down with injury, you need to have depth.

The day the Yankees blame bad luck is the day I know they're a bunch of losers.

Somebody needs to tell him this joke isn't funny.

Mike Lupica on 2/6/2013:

"This is what Ryan Braun, who seems to be the most falsely accused guy since Jean Valjean in 'Les Miserables,' says when his name turns up in the ledgers of a two-bit South Florida scammer and drug pusher named Anthony Bosch:"


Mike Lupica on 6/16/2013:

"It’s so heartwarming to see Ryan Braun reaching out to baseball writers these days, but only to talk about baseball matters.

Because it would be wrong, wrong, wrong for him to, say, talk about why once again he is the most wrongly accused man since Jean Valjean in 'Les Miserables.' "


1) This unfunny joke didn't spontaneously become funny.  It wasn't funny in February and it still isn't funny in June.

2) When you use an unfunny joke twice, it suggests that you think it's really funny.  So funny, you had to use it again for the benefit of any readers who missed it the first time.

3) Never explain your joke.  If your audience doesn't know who Jean Valjean is, then they won't get the joke.  If your audience knows who Jean Valjean is, then there is no need to explain he's a character in "Les Miserables."

3a) Do you think "Les Miserables" is an impressive cultural reference?

3b) Are you too lazy to think of another example of a wrongly accused man?

Is this some kind of joke to you?

"The minutiae might dull the agony of the day’s events. The Yankees stranded 14 runners. They loaded the bases in the 11th and again in the 14th. A leadoff, 13th-inning double from Cano went nowhere. A familiar set of culprits deflated the offense time and again, the quartet of Mark Teixeira, Travis Hafner, Kevin Youkilis and Vernon Wells. As a group, they went 0-for-28 with 12 strikeouts.

'We’ve got to be better than that,' Teixeira said. 'That’s a no-hitter for all of us. That’s not good.'

'You probably won’t see that very often,' Girardi said. 'My guess is we won’t see that the rest of the year.' "

Useful reporting from Jeff Passan.

News that is actually something new:

"Under threat of suspension, the minor league players gave testimony that Major League Baseball plans to use to confirm the veracity of Bosch's story, the sources said. The league last week cut a deal with Bosch, the proprietor of the so-called wellness clinic, to drop a lawsuit against him, provide him with protection and try to sway the government from prosecuting him in exchange for his detailing players' involvement with Biogenesis. 

The revelation that multiple minor league players used Biogenesis products confirms a long-held belief that immunity could be an option for major leaguers and that the list of players who sought out Bosch exceeds the 20 or so publicly named from his logbook."

That is corroboration.

I can't believe what I just saw!

Robinson "Robbie Hustle" Cano just tagged up from first base to second base on a deep fly ball to CF.

I went to my first baseball game.

"Most people would think of the legacies of Joe Girardi and Terry Francona as scrappy players turned successful managers for two of the most influential franchises in baseball history."

That would be accurate.

"But the Biogensis bombshell this past week, where as many as 20 big leaguers could face suspension as a result of their link to the performance-enhancing-drug lab, has exposed the two skippers for what they truly are:
Frauds."

Not mutually exclusive things.  They may be frauds, but they're still scrappy players turned successful managers for two of the most influential franchises in baseball history.

"Case 1: On Wednesday, Girardi, when asked about Alex Rodriguez’s alleged PED use and looming 100-game ban, said he was only going to talk about baseball.

'This is in MLB’s hands. For me to speculate doesn’t make a lot of sense.' "

 "No comment" is the only proper answer in this situation.


"Really? What could be more about baseball than a guy taking illegal drugs to improve his performance to the point that he hits the fifth-most home runs (647) in history, drives in the seventh-most runs (1,950) and wins three MVP Awards?"

Betcha didn't know Alex Rodriguez was a productive baseball player.  Well, now you know.  Thanks for the minimal research.

"Hypocrisy oozes from Girardi’s dismissal of the discussion as a distraction, nothing more than a persistent gnat buzzing around the brim of his interlocking N and Y on an otherwise peachy spring day."

Metaphor Man is on a roll today.



"Here is a guy who, as a player, stood shoulder to shoulder with steroid cheats ranging from Sammy Sosa to Chuck Knoblauch, then went on to manage the likes of A-Rod and admitted HGH user Andy Pettitte."

You missed dozens of cheaters with whom Girardi stood shoulder to shoulder, but you don't seem to know much about this topic in the first place. It actually sounds like you entered a pro sports locker room for the first time ever and were shocked that the manager didn't answer your provocative questions.  That's not what happened, that's just what it sounds like.  An outsider who is just learning about PEDS, locker room etiquette, human's tendency towards self-preservation, etc.


You also don't seem to know the meaning of the world "hypocrisy."  If Girardi made a living chastising the teammates of PED users, and then he refused to rat out PED users himself, then he would be a hypocrite.
 

"So, let’s get this straight, Joe: while you were earning close to $30 million as a player and/or coach over the past 24 years, it was OK for you to benefit from all of those players’ pumped-up performances, but when someone wants your thoughts on how they went about executing and maintaining that level of play, you say it doesn’t make a lot of sense for you to speculate?
Stunning."
 
Girardi was a player and then he was a coach.  He earned that money as a player and a coach.  He was never a player "and/or" a coach ... what is that use of "and/or" supposed to do? Utilize pseudo-legal language to give a BS article a veneer of credibility?

You absolutely got it straight, by the way.  It does not make a lot of sense for Girardi to speculate, regardless of how much money has has earned in professional baseball.

"Case 2: Cleveland manager Terry Francona also said Wednesday 'as an industry we kind of buried our heads in the sand a little bit.'

While, on its surface, Francona’s indictment is refreshing, where was his searing self-assessment when busted steroid cheats Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were blasting a combined 289 home runs while leading Boston to two World Series over the eight years that Francona was manager?

Francona won an average of 93 games a season and made the playoffs five times on the inflated backs of Ramirez and Ortiz, but did you ever hear a word of suspicion from him as he was hoisting his World Series trophies and being lauded as one of the best managers in the game?"

I'm not quite understanding the logic here.  Francona deserved to be lauded as one of the best managers in the game.  His steroid cheats were defeating the steroid cheats on other teams.

"Francona and Girardi certainly have had plenty of company in allowing this fraud on the game and its fans to exist, but there have been very few who have basked more in its tainted glow."

Off the top of my head, I can list 500 people who have "basked more in the tainted glow" of this fraud.

Do frauds even glow?

I guess this particular fraud glowed.  A tainted glow, but, still ... a tainted, glowing fraud ... in which few people basked more than scrappy players Terry Francona and Joe Girardi.

I must admit, Mike Lupica doesn't know a lot about sports or the law, but he's probably an expert when it comes to lacking credibility.

When Cervelli comes back from the DL later this season, and Cheater Pettitte is pitching to Cheater Cervelli during the pennant race, Lupica will be silent and Yankee fans will cheer.

The issue is not whether or not ARod is a sympathetic character.

The issue is that, when you take so much delight in ARod's predicament, your biases are showing:

"Bosch tried to shake down poor Alex Rodriguez, officially the most misunderstood man in America, unless Ryan Braun eventually takes the title away from him. He likes to party. So he is supposed to be the Brian McNamee of this thing, we’re not supposed to trust Anthony Bosch anymore than we were supposed to trust McNamee, Roger Clemens’ former trainer."

As usual, Lupica attempts to score points by taking down a non-existent opponent.  Nobody is claiming ARod is "poor" or "misunderstood."  Most observers get that ARod is a stupid, arrogant man who lost credibility a long time ago.

However, if he's guilty of association with Bosch, it really makes one wonder why ARod has never failed a drug test, what is deficient in MLB's program, and why Selig isn't focused on fixing these deficiencies.

"You already hear from various experts in and out of the media — whose idea of investigative reporting involves reading actual investigative reporting in newspapers such as this one — that Major League Baseball will lose with Bosch and Biogenesis of America the way the feds lost with Clemens."

Is Mike Lupica seriously attacking his fellow sports commentators for speculating?  What is Mr. Gumshoe's idea of investigative reporting ... did he look up "biogenesis" on Wikipedia?  

"If we’re not supposed to believe Bosch, even before we know whether he has the goods or not, because he’s supposed to be some kind of pimp, why are we supposed to believe the alleged johns?

What about the credibility of Alex Rodriguez at this point, if the present story about Biogenesis goes absolutely nowhere?"

We're not supposed to believe ARod, nor do we need to believe ARod.

ARod has the presumption of innocence.

ARod does not shoulder the burden of proof.

ARod has never claimed innocence while under oath.

Since you asked.


"You now even see some of Bosch’s associates — you can also call them defendants — being given a platform to whine about being bullied by MLB.

I hope they did. Get bullied, I mean. It is a good thing that MLB has taken this fight to them and out into the open, even knowing it could lose in arbitration or in court in the end. It is a good thing and the right thing for the sport."

I hope MLB goons, in their zeal to to uncover sources at the Daily News, give a knock on the door of Mike Lupica.  Or maybe on the doors of Mike Lupica's family.

It's a good thing and the right thing for the sport.


"Alex Rodriguez talks about the 'process.' He and Braun and others better hope the 'process' doesn’t end with Bud Selig invoking the 'best interests of the game' clause if he feels a solid case has been made against them; these are the most sweeping powers for any commissioner in any sport, ones Selig has never used, not once. They all better watch out that the end of this 'process' isn’t just a suspension, but some of them being banned like Pete Rose."

I must say, I totally agree that Selig has not acted in the best interests of the game, not once.  Ba dum bum.


I suppose this process could result in lifetime bans for several players.  It's a possibility, but not very likely.  So Lupica will likely be wrong again -- and, make no mistake, Lupica is predicting a lifetime ban.

I also don't believe that's in the best interest of the sport in any way, shape, or form: 

• I'm a Phillies fan.  I say Matt Harvey took steroids.
• MLB files a scattershot lawsuit and subpoenas all Fed Ex deliveries and cell phone calls for all MLB trainers.
• I'm the Dodgers GM.  I want out of Zack Greinke's contract.  I found a guy who says Greinke took steroids.

This is what can easily occur once the goons feel comfortable bypassing the process.

The whole point of the process is to help avoid these biases and abuses.


Perhaps Selig can leverage this threat to improve the testing program or to elicit some confessions.  Perhaps, in the long run, this will help weigh down the "cost" side in the cost-benefit analysis.  But a lifetime ban of Ryan Braun is in the best interests of the game?  That is a very tough sell.

"Baseball goes after these guys the way Travis Tygart of the United States Anti-Doping Agency went after Lance Armstrong. How did that one come out?"

Armstrong was banned from racing after he had already retired.


Here's the other thing: Let's say the Accused MLB ballplayers are as lacking in credibility as the Accuser.

Are you familiar with MLB's bizarre lawsuit against Bosch?  The supposed leverage they have against this guy?

It seems to be that MLB is claiming that Bosch damaged the reputation of baseball by supplying its employees with steroids. 
 
Bosch couldn't possibly damage the reputation of MLB because MLB's reputation was already shot.  I mean, MLB hasn't even fired Mark McGwire.  Bosch wouldn't hire a high-profile criminal like Mark McGwire because Bosch has a reputation to maintain.  Bosch doesn't make MLB look bad -- MLB makes Bosch look bad.


Lupica is correct: MLB players are scoundrels.  Since MLB players are well-documented scoundrels with a long, disreputable history, Bosch could not have damaged the reputation of MLB players.  Since Bosch could not have damaged the reputation of MLB players, the lawsuit against Bosch has no merit.  Since the lawsuit against Bosch has no merit, Bosch has no reason to flip.  If Bosch doesn't flip, nobody gets suspended.

I want to talk about a baseball player named Melky Cabrera.

He used to be on youtube, shirtless in a hotel room, eating peanuts with a porn star.

He is on youtube eating something off his bat.

He created an infantile fake website to throw investigators off his trail.

He failed a PED test and was suspended 50 games.

After the suspension, the Blue Jays signed him to a $16 million contract.

He is batting .280 with 2 HRs so far this season.

Lots of players come back from suspensions. Also, lots of players are stupid. So, while Lupica can scarcely contain his glee at another chance to bury ARod, there is no reason to think ARod's career is over:

"But if he does confirm everybody’s worst suspicions about A-Rod, confirms that A-Rod was not just trolling for a way to make himself what he used to be but actually getting drugs from a two-bit scammer like Bosch — Biogenesis Bosch! — then he would be suspended for a long time; suspended for being a user all over again and lying to baseball about that. His career would be over. Nobody comes back from that."

Why not?


"A-Rod would have to fight to get the rest of his money from the Yankees."

Contract Law is on his side.


"And maybe, if he ever recovers from his latest hip surgery, he would become the kind of novelty act in Taiwan that Manny Ramirez has become."

He's expected to recover in July or August.

He'd likely be more productive than Brignac, Adams, and maybe even Youkilis.

 
"No wonder all these big guys from the Yankees have suddenly been liberated to talk about how 'disappointed' they are in him. They act as if they all knew that Bosch was in the chute this way."

Yes, they knew Bosch was ... ummm .. they knew Bosch was "in the chute."



"Or maybe he was doing some form of baseball drugs from the time he was a kid — was never the golden-boy, natural talent, home-run-king-in-waiting that we thought he was when he was a kid with the Seattle Mariners."

I agree, maybe ARod has been on steroids all along and his entire career is a fraud.

Which is why I can similarly speculate that the careers of Piazza, Pedro, Big Papi, and hundreds of others are fraudulent.

Which is why proof is so important.

Which is why ARod won't get suspended 100 games.

Which is why the Yankees won't be able to get out of his contract.

Which is why everyone is supposed to be equal under the Law.

Which is why a person's popularity with Mike Lupica is not a legal determinant of innocence or guilt.

The draft is working as it was designed.

Joel Sherman does the research:

"Consider this: Of the 74 players at last year’s All-Star Game, 57 were drafted and 31 of those (54.4 percent) went in the first round — and 22 were not available when it was the Yankees turn to pick."

Something-gate.

"In the case of Bountygate, the NFL’s zeal to protect its image resulted in an obsessive pursuit of a handful of players and coaches whom it never had the evidence to convict. Of course, this inconvenient fact didn’t stop the league from trying. And the harder NFL officials tried, the worse they looked. In the end, all they could come up with was an affidavit from a former assistant coach who had been indefinitely suspended from football after being caught on tape goading his team to intentionally target opponents’ heads. In other words, he had every reason to tell the NFL what it wanted to hear.

Which brings us to Biogenesis-gate. Given what we know right now, there’s not much reason to believe that Major League Baseball’s case against the players whom it’s seeking to suspend is much better. Already, the league has behaved in ways that have undermined its cause. It has sought to buy the clinic’s records from a former employee. In a new twist of biochemical McCarthyism, MLB has reportedly offered some players on the list immunity to testify against others. Finally, it sued Bosch to force his cooperation.

he ploy worked; Bosch is cooperating. But what, exactly, does baseball have here? Some sloppily kept records from a shady anti-aging clinic and a sketchy cooperator with every reason to tell league officials what they want to hear. Maybe there’s more compelling evidence to come. But before he goes any further down this path, Commissioner Bud Selig might want to remember how badly Bountygate worked out for his NFL counterpart, Roger Goodell."

Creepy.

"Tony Bosch, the fake doctor who ran the Biogenesis Clinic exposed by the Miami New Times earlier this year, merely has to tell MLB everything that went on at his defunct business. In return, the league will drop its lawsuit against him; 'indemnify him for any liability arising from his cooperation; provide personal security for him and even put in a good word with any law enforcement agency that may bring charges against him.' "

Provide personal security for Bosch?

"Put in a good word" with law enforcement agencies?

This is Bud Selig we're talking about. It sounds like Vito Corleone.



We will provide personal security for you, Mr. Bosch.

Why would I need personal security?

Just in case somebody would want to hurt you.

Who would want to hurt me?

Nobody would want to hurt you. But just in case somebody would want to hurt you, we will provide you with personal security. In exchange for your completely voluntary testimony.

I don't doubt they're guilty ...

... but some of this still doesn't add up.

1) You can't just skip the first-level suspension and go to the second-level suspension. These players have not even tested positive. So the players will certainly have a solid appeal.

2) What kind of immunity can MLB offer? MLB is not a Court of Law. MLB agreed to withdraw a potential lawsuit against Bosch ... but MLB can't order around the Florida Attorney General.

So we promise not to sue you, but we can't stop anyone else from suing you? That's it?

3) I think it's a bad move by MLB. Stick to your testing program and leave this other stuff up to the Courts. Attendance is down and I just don't think the majority of (potential) baseball fans are wringing their hands about PEDs.

Joe Girardi narrows down the problems with Phil Hughes.

"Hughes took a familiar beating from the Red Sox on Saturday night, allowing five runs and seven hits in just 4¤ innings. The right-hander struck out seven, but that hardly mattered. Hughes continues to be plagued by an inability to finish off hitters with two strikes. Incredibly, the Sox fouled off 29 of his 100 pitches, which Joe Girardi acknowledged as a problem early Sunday evening.

The manager mentioned the 'eight-pitch at-bats, 'which have a corrosive effect on Hughes over the course of a game. When asked what can be done to correct that – if anything – Girardi said Hughes still hasn’t mastered 'expanding the strike zone' or 'mixing [his] pitches a little better' and 'not making mistakes.' "

We don't have all day.

Easier question: Which aspects of pitching has Phil Hughes mastered?