And That Happened

Red Sox 8, Athletics 5: Before the game Ortiz said this:

Today I was informed by a reporter that I was on the 2003 list of MLB players to test positive for performance-enhancing substances. This happened right before our game, and the news blindsided me. I said I had no comment because I wanted to get to the bottom of this.

The judges would have preferred the Costanza-esque “Was that wrong? Should I not have done that?” but they will accept the O.J.-esque “I’m going to search for the real killers” response as well. Either way, he wasn’t so blindsided that it took him off his game, as his three run homer in the seventh put the Sox up for good.

Mets 7, Rockies 0; Rockies 4, Mets 2: Santana was fantastic in the first game (7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER 8K). Omir Santos caught Luis Castillo played the second game despite the fact that his wife gave birth earlier in the day. When my wife gave birth the only place I was allowed to go was to the room across the hallway where they kept the ice. Good for Omir for having his priorities in order. Kids are born every day. Twin-bills are rare.

Cubs 12, Astros 3: That’s 30 runs in three games for the Cubbies. Kevin Hart got the win and then was traded to Pittsburgh as soon as it was over. I’m pretty sure that Pittsburgh has been involved in every trade that has been made for the past week. Query: if they have so much desirable talent, why they hell do they suck so bad?

Orioles 7, Royals 3: Brad Bergesen gave up one run on seven hits in seven innings and got the win, but not before being knocked out of the game when a liner off the bat of Billy Butler smacked him in the shin. “The pain was bad. I wanted to throw up,” Bergesen said. Tonight, as he elevates and ices the leg, he’ll be updating this seemingly dormant web page.

Brewers 7, Nats 3: The Brewers win back-to-back games for the first time in a month. Yovani Gallardo allowed five hits and three runs while striking out 11 and walking nary a Nat.

Padres 7, Reds 4: Remember in spring training when some folks were picking Cincy as their dark horse contender? Nah, me neither. The Reds have dropped six of seven the Padres this season, which is as close to pathetic as you can get. Game story: “Outfielder Wladimir Balentien, acquired Wednesday by the Reds from Seattle for right-hander Robert Manuel, arrived in Cincinnati early Thursday morning and was in uniform.” Early morning? Must have taken the Red eye. Get it? RED eye! Because he’s joining the REDS! Ha! Um, er. Yeah.

Rangers 7, Mariners 1: Newark, Ohio’s own Derek Holland had a shutout into the ninth, striking out ten Mariners and giving up only two hits. It may have been better, though, if he had given up a run earlier, because maybe then Ron Washington wouldn’t have left the 22 year-old in for 118 pitches on a 90 degree night.

Braves 6, Marlins 3: Brian McCann with the three run dinger in the 10th! (I can use exclamation points there, because he plays for my favorite team; were it the Cubs or something, I would have used a period or would have written some dependent clause set off by dashes — like this — in order to tone it down a bit. But go Braves! Nice to salvage one!!!

Giants 7, Phillies 2: Rodrigo Lopez gave up eight hits and seven runs — only three earned — in four innings, mostly due to a Pedro Feliz error. Feliz used to play for the Giants. According to the game story, Ryan Garko was asked to provide information on Friday’s starter — Cliff Lee — to the Giants, because Lee and Garko used to play for the Indians. Basically, no one can trust anyone in this series, and death and betrayal lie around every corner.

Dodgers 5, Cardinals 3: Guess what: Todd Wellemeyer doesn’t work in relief either! To be fair, he didn’t cause the 10th inning jam — that was Dennys Reyes’ doing — but he did come in and give up the game-losing single, and I’m not sure why Tony La Russa decided that runners on second and third in the 10th inning was the best spot in which to launch Wellemeyer’s bullpen career.

White Sox 3, Yankees 2: If you lived in outer space and just came to Earth to visit on Thursdays, you might come away with the impression that DeWayne Wise was actually good, what with the big catch in Buehrle’s perfecto last week and hit the walkoff RBI single last night. Hmm, maybe I won’t go back to outer space. Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise my kids. In fact it’s cold as hell.


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Jack Marshall
14 years ago

Ortiz’s quote has everyone puzzled, and now Bronson Arroyo is saying that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if he was on the list because of some un-named over-the-counter supplement in use in 2003 that he says had steroid traces. Did the union inform the players who tested positive, or didn’t they? If it was supposed to, didn’t tell some players who were unwittingly using supplements that rang the alarm, and guys like Ortiz really believed they had never used (I find this unlikely, mind you) until the names started being leaked…UGH. What the hell is going on here?

mike in brooklyn
14 years ago

You never closed your parentheses on the Braves story.  Just sayin’.

Brian
14 years ago

Regarding how much longer we have to keep hearing about people on this 2003 list:  I think it’s gonna be a long, long time…

Jack Marshall
14 years ago

The Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan had the most idiotic argument: release the whole list of players assured of anonymity, because four players have been leaked, and it’s unfair that they should be the only ones. Yes, the old “they screwed four players, so the fair thing is to screw all of them” principle. He must be on the New Haven City Council….

py
14 years ago

Wellemeyer was ONLY in the bullpen for the Cubs.

Tom
14 years ago

I’m surprised you never mentioned the Bill Hohn story between yesterday and today. Fist-bumping John Baker after the Marlins win yesterday, calling a strike to Brian McCann on a pitch that would have hit a right-handed batter in the shin, and then calling time during an at-bat to go over and throw out Bobby Cox, even though it was clear Cox was trying to just get on with the game. I guess a bunch of people are calling for Hohn’s head.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090730&content_id=6156730&vkey=news_mlb&fext;=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Tom—missed it yesterday, but I wrote about it this morning on NBC:

http://bases.newsvine.com/_news/2009/07/31/3097981-umpire-bill-hohn-is-a-disgrace

Melody
14 years ago

I’m with Jack Marshall—I want to know if the players who tested positive in 2003 were informed.  I feel like I’ve heard conflicting stories about that.  I found this in a letter from Don Fehr to Congress dated July 2, 2008… he says players weren’t told they tested positive, but that they were told their names were on a list the government was seeking (how many of those lists are floating around baseball?).  Craig, maybe you can help interpret the lawyer-speak.

Q4: Were players who tested positive in 2003 informed at any point that they had tested positive? How many of these players were informed,
when were they informed, and what individuals with the MLBPA informed them of the positive results? Were these players also informed
of the end of the program suspension?

Answer: Players were not told that they had tested positive. The MLBPA attorneys who spoke in 2004 with players on the government list had not
seen test results and did not know who had tested positive. Privileged conversations with these individuals were conducted by MLBPA attorneys
Michael Weiner, Gene Orza, and Steven Fehr. Our records indicate these conversations took place with 65 players between September 4 and 16.6
The players were told (because we believed that as their legal representative we were obligated to tell them) that they were named on a
list of individuals whose records the government was targeting. Players were not told that the program had been suspended; nor were they told a
suspension had ended. During these conversations, players were told that if they had not yet been tested in 2004, that they would be tested before
the season ended, but that was something the players already knew before the conversations took place, because the agreement required that each player be tested once during the year. They were not told (and no one knew) specifically when any test would be conducted.

Melody
14 years ago

Hey Craig,
You were a bit unfair to Ortiz in characterizing his quote as you did without including the full comment.  Here’s what he said after the small section that you block-quoted:

I want to talk about this situation and I will as soon as I have more answers. In the meantime I want to let you know how I am approaching this situation. One, I have already contacted the Players Association to confirm if this report is true. I have just been told that the report is true. Based on the way I have lived my life, I am surprised to learn I tested positive. Two, I will find out what I tested positive for. And, three, based on whatever I learn, I will share this information with my club and the public. You know me – I will not hide and I will not make excuses.

Now, of course we’ll wait and see if he comes through.  But that’s a hell of a lot more open and honest than most players have been.

Jack Marshall
14 years ago

If Ortiz WASN’T told, then it makes his unequivocal statements against steroids more plausible, and leaves open the possibility, at least, that he had a Romero-like situation and was not, in fact, a steroid user. The flood of anti-Papi articles and “I told you so” blog posts do not allow for that possibility.

APBA Guy
14 years ago

Big Papi also had a loud double off Gio Gonzalez in the first, so unfortunately for the A’s he appeared more lively than usual this season after getting the news that he was on the 2003 list.

Genius Terry Francona was fortunate that Papi bailed him out this game. John Lester had pitched beautifully through 5, then hit the wall in the heat and humidity in the 6th and started missing his spots. Tito left him out for something like 3 walks, and 2 more 3-2 counts. The sun got higher and hotter, then aged Mike Lowell couldn’t reach a pop up that would have been the third out and would have held the game at 2-1, Oakland. Rajai Davis then singled in 2 runs and all of a sudden it was 4-1 Oakland, and Lester looked like he was about to expire. All four runs surrendered in the 6th, and 3 of them unnecessary.

Nature giveth and Nature taketh away, because in the bottom of the 7th Jack Cust lost a Youklis fly in right with 2 outs that landed about 3 feet from him. That set the stage for the eventual winning homer by Ortiz.

Ben from Flushing
14 years ago

Castillo had the baby, not Santos.

Gohare (UK)
14 years ago

It was actually Luis Castillo’s wife who gave birth. He missed the first game and came back for the second

TC
14 years ago

I suspect Craig sounds more Shatner than John in his reading.

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Someone besides Shatner sings that song?