Cleveland Sports Forum

UPDATE: Buster Posey is out for the year with a fractured bone “in his lower left leg”

Craig Calcaterra May 26, 2011, 1:47 PM EDT

UPDATE: Now the Giants are terming it a fractured bone “in his lower left leg.” Depending on your definition of leg, that could include the ankle. Although at the moment it hardly seems to matter. Why? Because the Giants are now confirming that Posey is out for the year.

UPDATE: Mychael Urban of CSN Bay Area updates the earlier report, noting that the information about Posey’s broken bone — an ankle, not the leg — is based on x-rays performed at the park which revealed the fracture. The ligament tears are not yet confirmed, but will be looked at in today’s MRI. Earlier today Brian Sabean said of Amy Gutierrez’s report (below) that “it’s probably half right.” My guess is that he knows about the broken bone part but is unwilling to say anything about the ligaments until later.

11:30 AM: As I watched the Buster Posey play this morning I thought “man, he’s gonna have a broken leg. Or maybe some torn ligaments.” Of course those things aren’t mutually-exclusive, which is something we learned from CSN Bay Area’s Amy Gutierrez moments ago: Posey has a broken leg and torn ligaments. As everyone has been saying all morning: not good. It’s hard to see how his season isn’t over.

In response to Posey’s imminent trip to the DL, and Darren Ford‘s trip to the DL announced yesterday, Gutierrez reports that the Giants have called up Chris Stewart and Brandon Belt. Stewart fills the catching hole. Belt is the hope to fill in for the offense that Posey would almost certainly have been producing soon.

A bad scene for Buster Posey and the Giants. An opportunity for Brandon Belt. But one that no one, including Belt himself, likely wanted to have happen under these circumstances.

Cubs announcers are saying that Jamie Moyer is trying for a comeback next season. He will be 49. I didn't know he was Digger Phelps' son-in-law.

Dodgers down 3-1 right now - between the team's performance and the organization's financial problems, you have to think that at some point they will be looking to unload salaries.

BRING BACK CASEY BLAKE!!!!!

Another possibility is old friend Ryan Lugnut. Supposedly the Padres may be looking to move him.

http://www.mlbdailydish.com/

He hasn't had much success in San Diego but he did well enough in St. Louis.

Ray Fosse was just talking about the relevance of pitch count and theories of the past versus the present.

He referenced Gaylord Perry's season going 24-16 with The Tribe.

He added the anecdote that Gaylord also had a save that 1972 season.


Fosse shared that in the save game Gaylord Perry was sitting in the stands in his street clothes charting pitches as he was to start the next day. Ken Aspromonte motioned him out of the stands to put on his uniform and get in to pitch. And he got the save.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes ... 4300.shtml



Above is the box score from April 30, 1972



Dick Tidrow started, followed by Ed Farmer, Steve Mingori, Vince Colbert, Ray Lamb and Gaylord Perry.

Which baseball commissioner made a lineup change for one of the teams during the 7th game of a
World Series? Who was the player being replaced? Why?

rocky raccoon wrote:Which baseball commissioner made a lineup change for one of the teams during the 7th game of a
World Series? Who was the player being replaced? Why?

Do you want the answer double spaced on college ruled paper?

Be specific. Give examples.

Landis, Medwick, he spiked the third baseman and was on his way to setting the WS mark for most hits.

Being a baseball question, answers would have been graded on a curve.

With balanced league, Tigers still in the hunt

BY DREW SHARP

DETROIT FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Memorial Day is the actual starting point of the baseball season. Everyone's paying more attention now. It's when clubs get serious. More than 50 games are in the books, certainly enough for gauging strengths and weaknesses, surprises and disappointments. What's fluke? What's fact?

The Tigers are what I thought they were -- a .500 team struggling to maintain consistency. Second base remains a juggling act. The bullpen hasn't exactly been flame-retardant, and they're more fizzle than spark offensively.

But the Tigers are also lucky.

They're fortunate that baseball is more competitively balanced right now than the NFL. If Memorial Day is also the first time you seriously look at the standings, you'll notice that only seven of the majors' 30 teams sit more than seven games out of their respective divisional leads. That suggests a potential wide-open summer, fueling enthusiasm in a lot of those cities that they could be the acquisition of one player away from genuine contention once we get to Labor Day, the actual start of the playoff chase.

Despite the Tigers' obvious ills, there's no reason they shouldn't be one of those teams.

Everyone knows that general manager Dave Dombrowski must -- not should, but MUST -- acquire another potent bat in the coming days. The question becomes whether it's something bold (like trading for Mets shortstop and impending free agent Jose Reyes) or something low risk like last summer's deal that brought in a struggling Jhonny Peralta from Cleveland for a low-end minor league prospect.

Peralta and Alex Avila have been the two most pleasant surprises.

Same as with the Scott Sizemore trade, whatever deal Dombrowski pulls the trigger on next will largely depend on how much pressure he feels regarding his job security. Something dynamic, costing the Tigers at least a couple of their premier prospects, would generate some excitement and perhaps shake up an offense that has grown stagnant. It would also suggest that he knows the heat is on and must win now.

Confusing parity with mediocrity might encourage fans as summer progresses, but Dombrowski can't make that mistake. Even if only 85 wins are required to win the underachieving American League Central, he must make sure he has got enough guys in that lineup who can deliver the clutch hits at the clutch moments to get to the Tigers to that threshold.

What separates Boston from the Tigers was clearly evident in the Red Sox's 4-3 win in Game 1 of their day-night doubleheader Sunday afternoon. They saved David Ortiz on the bench for one reason -- a late opportunity for knocking one out. And that's exactly what happened in the ninth inning against Jose Valverde, spoiling what had been a nice Tigers comeback from an early 3-0 deficit.

The Red Sox left town Sunday night as the hottest team in the majors. Just a month ago, they languished following a 0-6 start. They lost 10 of their first 12 games. They weren't just booing in Boston. They were organizing lynch mobs. History didn't support the chances of a team recovering from such a bad start and still making the playoffs. But many advised waiting until Memorial Day. By then, you have a more accurate read on where you are probably headed.

The Sox are streaking upward.

The Tigers are spinning in circles.

We absolutely need another bat. Two of our best hitters (Hafner and Sizemore) are injury concerns and two of our everyday players (Hannahan and O-Cab) are below average hitters who need to stay in the lineup because of their defense and the leadership they provide. However, that means the slack needs to be picked up by somebody else.

I don't know why or how Bartolo Colon has become an effective pitcher again, but I have him on my fantasy team now.

Ken Williams’ silence fuels speculation on Ozzie Guillen

JOE COWLEY jcowley@suntimes.com Jun 1, 2011 4:52AM


What does a World Series ring won more than five years ago and a career .500-plus record as a manager get you these days?

Well, it gets you a contract extension that runs through 2018 — basically a lifetime scholarship. It earns you the right to be in charge of player-personnel and coaching decisions. And it affords you a payroll that has been over $100 million seven of the last eight years.

At least it does outside of Chicago.

Right, Mike Scioscia?

On the South Side, it gets you coaches who feel like they’re dead men walking, all of them working on contracts that run out after the year. It gets you players you had very little say in acquiring. And it earns you a noose, hanging from the rafters under the guise of the “Ozzie Watch,’’ that lets you know your neck is one tug away.

So excuse White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen if he’s a little on edge this season. After all, respect is a two-way street, and there seems to be a traffic jam building up from the front offices of 35th and Shields these days.

Guillen, admittedly, is not perfect.

He pointed that out again Tuesday afternoon, just days after his latest tirade was twisted into somehow being an attack on Sox fans.

Trial by fire?

His crimes are the same ones. He’s a repeat offender. Too much passion, too much honesty, not enough of a filter. That’s the perfect storm the public and media hope for in their athletes and coaches, and once they have it, somehow it becomes too dangerous.

No wonder Guillen is feeling like he’s being put on trial these days.

“Sometimes I do [feel like that], but maybe it’s my fault in trying to be too honest and giving the people honest answers,’’ Guillen said. “The bad thing is they never print or say how I say it. When I say what I say, they pick little things and talk [about them]. They never use all my stuff, only the things I say that will make me look like an idiot, ignorant or stupid.

“But if they would use everything I say, then the people would understand what I mean. I just try to give the media and the fans my honest answers because I respect them. But I keep getting in trouble because people do not want to read or hear the truth. It’s my fault because maybe I talk more than I should.’’

And now he does so on an island.

Before the Guillen-Ken Williams cold war last season, the general manager would often appear as the safety net for the man he considered his “brother.’’ Williams seldom even speaks to the media these days.

The problem is, that leads to more speculation and questions about which direction the organization is headed.

Player busts

The standings show that the $127 million payroll is failing. Still breathing but failing.

Adam Dunn falls under the free-agent-bust category through June 1, while struggling veterans Alex Rios and Juan Pierre have anchored a lineup from taking off far too often this season. At last check, Guillen wasn’t responsible for throwing Sox uniforms on any of those players.

But Sox fans somehow seem convinced that someone’s head has to be offered up for two months of failure in a season they were handed a big batch of “All In’’ Kool-Aid to slurp on.

And Williams’ stealth seems like a setup for the GM to hand over a body for the lynch mob to string up, whether it’s a coach or Guillen. Who knows? Maybe Williams will even take it out on a coach close to Guillen, knowing that by sacking one of his lieutenants, the general’s emotions will lead him to all but fire himself.

Last year at this time, the Florida Marlins were hoping Guillen would be out as the Sox’ skipper so they could throw a teal hat on him the minute he stepped back into his hometown of Miami.

Even this offseason it seemed like Florida was making itself available for Guillen, signing manager Edwin Rodriguez only to a one-year deal. But the Marlins are winning, and Rodriguez is proving to be more than capable at the helm.

So where does that leave Guillen?

He’s signed through 2012, with no promises of even getting tomorrow.

A far cry from how similar success is rewarded in Anaheim.

Bartolo Colon's treatments inject controversy into his comeback

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2011 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY JUNE 1, 2011, 9:31 AM

By BOB KLAPISCH

RECORD COLUMNIST

The cynics, doubters and haters are speaking with one voice these days about Bartolo Colon. It’s a chorus: no man shaped like a watermelon should be throwing 96-mph on the black.

After all, just look at Colon – try matching the waistline to the nuking of the A’s lineup on Monday. Not only did Colon throw his first shutout since 2006, a whopping 86 of his 103 pitches were fastballs, a lopsided total even for a young, fit hurler.

Crazy, right? Colon isn’t young (soon to be 38) and he isn’t fit (Joba Chamberlain looks like a greyhound in comparison.) So what gives? Major League Baseball is asking that very question, continuing to probe Colon’s medical treatments in the Dominican Republic 18 months ago.

The Yankees pitcher, who was out of baseball at the time, was administered a stem cell injection in his shoulder and elbow – a desperate procedure to resurrect his career. It’s a stirring comeback, except that the commissioner’s office suspects there’s more to this story.

The doctor who treated Colon, Florida-based Joseph Purita, admits he’s used HGH on his other patients. One industry official says, “it’s hard to believe” either Purita or Colon drew the line at stem cells, although investigators have been unable to prove a thing.

At the very least, the commissioner’s office believes Colon should’ve disclosed these treatments when he signed with the Yankees, which he did not. In fact, GM Brian Cashman had no idea Colon had undergone stem cell treatment until the New York Times broke the story last month. The higher-ups at Major League Baseball believe the Yankees have the right to void Colon’s contract, although such talk is purely theoretical, dismissed by the Bombers as corporate hot air.

Anyone who thinks the Yankees are going to punish or investigate Colon hasn’t paid attention to the mini-emergencies they face – from Phil Hughes’ injury to Ivan Nova’s chronic under-achievement. Colon isn’t just throwing better than at any time since 2005, he’s become the No. 2 starter in the Bronx. So whatever he did or didn’t do, the Yankees have no incentive to dig for an answer.

For all their posturing, MLB knows that Colon is beyond their reach, as well. There is no rule banning the use of stem cells, since it’s considered a medical procedure. And even if Colon did use HGH, he was out of the game at the time, not part of the Players Association, not bound by the Basic Agreement.

“[Colon] was a private citizen, free to make whatever choices he wanted,” said one person close to the pitcher. “Baseball can’t do a thing to him. It’s a loophole that’ll have to be addressed in the next [Basic Agreement].”

Fair point: Bud Selig will be looking for ways to govern players on hiatus or in semi-retirement, especially those living in other countries. Currently, there’s no way to stop anyone from loading up, whether it’s HGH or steroids.

Colon, then, would fit neatly into the Yankees’ PED culture of the early 2000s. There was Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Jason Giambi, Chuck Knoblauch, David Justice – and now Colon. But Purita is protesting any loose logic that indicts his client.

Not only does the doctor swear Colon never took HGH, he’s willing to take a lie-detector test. And for those who object to stem cell usage on ethical grounds, Purita has a separate rejoinder: Colon harvested the cells from his own body (his hip). No embryos were used.

That means Colon is in for the long haul, although the Yankees aren’t greedy enough to think his second golden era will last forever. Cashman, for one, says: “I can’t sit here and tell you how Bartolo is going to be pitching later on this summer. It’s been a long time since he’s been this good. So, honestly, I don’t know where this is going.”

It’s both a thrilling and terrifying proposition for the Yankees, knowing Colon’s mirage could end at any time. The realists in the front office are more like fatalists, half-expecting Colon to blow out his arm again – a partially torn rotator cuff is what drove him out of the big leagues and into Purita’s office.

What’s more likely is that Colon loses his elite-caliber velocity. Logic says it has to happen, although there was no sign of decay against the A’s. According to BaseballAnalytics.org, Colon ran most of his best fastballs away from righties and lefties, effectively creating a “donut hole” in his computerized pitchchart. The hole was the middle of the strike zone, where Colon rarely visited.

Ninety six is as hard as any Yankees starter has thrown this year, a full 6-7 mph better than his spring training radar reading. It hasn’t hurt Colon, either, to be throwing 67 percent first-pitch strikes – his best ratio since ’05 – and that his fly ball ratio is just 34.9 percent, his lowest since 2002.

The numbers hardly need a translation. For whatever reason, pure or diabolical, whether it’s good chemicals or good luck, it’s hard to square up on Colon’s moving four-seamer this year. The pitcher isn’t about to reveal his secret, although Purita is first in line to defend him.

“We gave [Bartolo] the means, but he has the focus and desire, the killer instinct,” the doctor told the Times. “He worked his tail off to get back in the game. That is something stem cells cannot fix.’’

E-mail: klapisch@northjersey.com

Jun 2, 7:35 PM EDT

Gay softball league limit on straight players OK'd

By GENE JOHNSON

Associated Press


SEATTLE (AP) -- A gay softball organization that runs an annual tournament called the Gay Softball World Series can keep its rule limiting the number of heterosexual players on each team, a federal judge has ruled.

The decision came in a lawsuit filed by three men who say they were disqualified from the annual tournament because they weren't gay enough. They said in the suit filed last year that their team's second-place finish in the 2008 tournament in Washington state was nullified because they are bisexual, not gay, and thus their team exceeded the limit of two non-gay players.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour said Tuesday that their suit can proceed to trial. But he also ruled that the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance, which also oversees gay softball leagues in dozens of U.S. cities, has a First Amendment right to limit the number of heterosexual players, much as the Boy Scouts have a constitutional right to exclude gays.

"It would be difficult for NAGAAA to effectively emphasize a vision of the gay lifestyle rooted in athleticism, competition and sportsmanship if it were prohibited from maintaining a gay identity," the judge wrote.

However, Coughenour said questions remain about the way the softball association applied its rule, including whether the questions asked about the men's sexuality at a protest hearing were unnecessarily intrusive. Therefore, the case can proceed toward a trial set for Aug. 1, he said.

The San Francisco-based team the men played on, D2, was disqualified after others at the tournament questioned their sexuality and filed a protest. Under questioning, the men, Stephen Apilado, Laron Charles and John Russ, were evasive or declined to discuss their sexuality, according to the organization.

For example, minutes of the hearing say that Charles claimed to be gay but acknowledged being married to a woman, and Apilado initially said he was both gay and straight but then acknowledged being more attracted to women.

The minutes say rumors had persisted for years about whether D2 was stacking its team with straight ringers. In addition to the three plaintiffs, the team had two designated straight players. The organization says it has always considered bisexuals to meet the definition of "gay" for roster purposes, but the minutes also note that one official involved in the decision to disqualify D2 commented that "this is not a bisexual world series. This is a gay world series."

"Plaintiff's allegations about defendant's treatment of bisexuality remain of central importance to this case," the judge said. "Defendant could still be liable for its actions."

Chris Stoll, a spokesman for the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco, which is representing the three men, said Friday its lawyers were reviewing the opinion and legal options.

"We think that the law is clear; NAGAAA doesn't have a First Amendment right to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation," he said.