Dan Gould

I find it kind of strange how different media outlets are picking up the story that Clemens DNA "will be found" on the syringes and gauze, when the source is only McNamee's filing in their motion to dismiss the claim. I mean, they've been saying all along that they believe Clemens' DNA will be shown to exist along with traces of steroids. Is this really a new, more conclusive claim? When I first saw the report on mlb.com I thought, has someone used his connections with the Feds to break the story about the testing of the syringes, which we've heard nothing about since their existence was revealed in February? But no - its just what is said in his filing. But then I thought about the wording that was used in the filing. There was another bombshell that no one is really picking up on. In the part of the filing that said that in lieu of dismissing the suit, grant our motion to move the case to the New York district court, they listed a number of reasons (outside of the fact that they made mincemeat out of the claim that Texas should have jurisdiction) like where McNamee works and lives and the proximity of witnesses and the fact that Clemens has had a home in New York and has the resources to travel there for a trial, whereas McNamee is virtually indigent and has no connection to Texas. Anyway - in the section that listed witnesses was this: Kirk Randomski CAN testify that he shipped steroids to Roger Clemens' home. This is huge, because Randomski never said these things to the Feds or Mitchell, and a direct connection to a steroid dealer could mean that Roger would be indicted very soon, theoretically, since its clear that the first thing the Feds want to do to nail Roger is find his supplier outside of McNamee. But look again - "CAN testify". That's a lot weaker than what they said about the syringes - "WILL show". Here's the theory I came up with last night. I think that McNamee's attorney, who has been dealing with the Feds successfully for a period of time, has gotten word that the syringes yielded DNA evidence, that they've got a single person's DNA on multiple syringes/gauze pads, and maybe trace elements of PEDs. SO, because now the lawyers know that DNA evidence was recovered, they are confident in their belief that it will be shown to be Roger's DNA, once the Feds seek a DNA sample. Therefore "will show" was used instead of "we believe that Roger's DNA is on that evidence". Does that make sense to you guys?

Well, nothing like a five hit shutout by Lester to start to wash the stench of Tampa off. Seriously, the no-hitter was a great accomplishment, but throwing a shutout like that in 25 fewer pitches is just as nice. I don't know if anyone, even the most optimistic, expected Lester to be this good this soon this year. He gives me real hope that we don't need Dice-K to be an ace, he can be a number three until Masterson or Buchholz pushes him out of that slot, too. And it will be interesting to see how Pettitte bounces back in the second game of the Tampa series. He'd thrown very well over the past four starts - something like three earned runs, or maybe its vice versa - so you can say he was due for a stinker. Whichever, he really didn't have anything tonight. Gotta have hopes for the pitching matchup tomorrow - Beckett has pitched very well lately while Rasner has really stunk it up. You might think Rasner would be due for some better luck but the fact is, he's likely a borderline a major leaguer, so his initial success was probably more luck related and his current struggles more indicative of his skill level. But we'll need to win on the Fourth with Masterson going on Saturday and Joba on Sunday.

What possibly makes the headline "great" or the story "crazy-good"????? Do you find animal abuse amusing? Or perhaps stupid criminals tickles your funny bone. At any rate, for the headline to be "great" some sort of cleverness would be needed. And otherwise, the story itself is a straightforward tale of a punk and a putz who should have gotten 30 months in prison and sixty days of probation.

My older brother has just informed me that he believes next Christmas will be his last. After a lengthy, mysterious illness, he was finally diagnosed with several different progressive, debilitating, incurable diseases. I've been dealing with the implications of his diagnosis since Christmas but this is the first he's made reference to a time frame.

The advice may be reasonable but I can't stand drunken ass hats like him and his ilk.

I don't think you understand how popular and well-respected this guy is - by the pitching staff, the entire organization, and baseball in general. To fire him would be insane. He coached a similar staff to be the best, or one of the best, pitching staffs in the entire league. Was he a genius last year and an idiot this year?

It makes no nevermind to me, actually. I was just surprised to see that level of info, for those who actually care about the film.

A hit and run call makes absolutely zero sense with someone who has more swing and miss strikeouts in the last week than most people have in two months. Its ludicrous. If you insist on letting Varitek bat, then Lowell doesn't move off the base - let Varitek, the all-important Captain, get rung up, and at least you get one more chance. Having him run was like conspiring to end the inning. It was worse than a suicide mission, it was as if Francona had money riding on the game and was going to do everything he could to make sure the comeback fell short. Well, Timlin was called up, and as scary bad as he has been, I would actually now prefer to see him pitch against the Yankees. He had strong performances at Pawtucket, and Hansen is a joke and MDC has completely lost whatever feel he had when he was on his hot streak. Bring on Timlin! This is really unfair. Everything I read about this guy is that he is an outstanding coach. No one tells his pitchers to nibble. And a shitty pitcher in the majors wouldn't say "do what I did". This is almost as ludicrous as what Francona did. Wake doesn't nibble - no one controls a knuckleball enough to be a nibbler. Either it breaks over the plate or it doesn't. And Lester - it was the pitching coach who drilled into his head, and finally reached him, that he has to get into a quicker tempo, think less and pitch more, and its changed Lester into the potentially strong pitcher we've seen for a month or more. Beckett throws more strikes than anyone. And Masterson is too young to fully control his pitches and also has a slider that breaks out of the zone. That leaves you with Dice-K and again, the pitching coach and Francona have tried and tried to talk to him about trusting his stuff and going after batters. And what I believe the problem is that Dice-K has still not adopted to the larger, slicker ball of the American game. His stuff is not as good, his feel is not as good, because the ball is different. Watch him constantly wipe sweat off his neck to try to alter the ball after every single pitch and tell me I'm wrong. Its true that there are other Japanese pitchers who have excelled regardless of the ball but its clear to me that Dice still hasn't figured it out.

Very interesting new information from the Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball...for.html?page=0 McNamee is making a motion for dismissal based on Federal Statutes of Limitation on defamation claims - particularly Rusty's ludicrous additional claim that when McNamee told Pettitte in 1999 or 2000 that Roger was using HGH, he had defamed him. Alternatively, he seeks to move the venue to New York, where McNamee lives and works and pays taxes. But there are several pieces of new info that is pretty damning: 1. The article says that Randomski will testify that he sent PEDs to Clemens. That is a totally new allegation and a little surprising since he didn't give that info to the Mitchell investigators. 2. An email exchange between Roger and McNamee was appended to McNamee's filing. They were discussing the false allegations that came out linking Roger to Jason Grimsley's affidavit. But there is a very odd exchange. Roger: The real problem will be in any of the people I represent pull out. Then I will be going after someone with many law suites. Brian: I am not sure what that last statement means ... but if it has anything to do with me in regards to being a rat or flipping on you or any of my clients I will hop on a plane, find you, and slap you very hard ... This is direct communication in which Brian refers to being a rat or flipping on you - and does Roger say anything like "what would you have to rat about"? No - he simply clarifies to say that he was talking about going after the LA Times writer who was actually reporting incorrectly about Grimsley. I don't care what anyone says, that's great evidence that Brian was involved with Roger's use of PEDs, Roger knew what he was getting from Brian, and with that guilty conscience, he doesn't go into his cock & bull story like he did with Pettitte. He just takes it as a given that Brian won't turn on him. And the third thing that is interesting? Well, actually its two things: Roger is completely illiterate, judging from his emails Roger doesn't sign his emails "Rog" or "Roger" or even Rocket. He signs them "22" I knew he was vain enough to insist that his salary always end in "22" but that is ridiculous. You can read the email exchange here and the full motion to dismiss here.

I may have predicted the series sweep, but never in my worse nightmares did I imagine it would happen in this way. And it starts with that good-for-nothing piece of shit Matsuzaka. If he had any ability to throw strikes, he might not have been pulled after five innings and forced them to go to the bullpen. And ah, the bullpen. The worst arsonists in history. Making me long for the 2003 "committee". NO ONE can get anyone out. Okajima had a relatively good inning, but he's been so fucked up, they were afraid to try to use others to get to him in the eighth, they had to use him in the sixth. And once that seventh inning started, I immediately knew that the motherfucking umpire with the bullshit "interference" call and the other failures by the anemic offense to capitalize on opportunities would bite them in the motherfucking ass. But the baseball gods were saving the final debilitating kick in the 'nads for the ninth inning. What in fucking God's name was franCOMA thinking, sending Varitek to hit with the tying run at first base and one out? Did he really think that this man, who is so discombobulated at the plate he looks like a high school catcher trying to hit major league pitching instead of a 10+ year veteran, could get a hit? Or did he think "he's the captain, I can't pinch hit for him"? This takes every fucking idiotic move by Bobby Cox, raises it to the nth degree, and still beats it comfortably for Dumbest Move of the Millenium. You've got Sean Casey on the bench, who hits anyone and would have a shot at least at a gapper that might score Lowell. Heck, you could pinch run Cora and either have Cora play third base if there is a bottom of the ninth or put Youk there and keep Casey in to play first. But no - and it gets worse. The Captain who has more swings and misses during his lost three weeks than Bud Bundy at a stripper's convention, is asked to execute a hit and run. Of course he swings and misses and Lowell is gunned down by ten feet. Think Sean Casey might have made contact? I withdraw my previous prediction about the standings at the All-Star Break. IT WILL TAKE A MOTHERFUCKING MIRACLE FOR THEM TO BE FIVE GAMES OR CLOSER, OR IN SECOND PLACE.

Check your version number again - the update that was pushed out today (I got it this morning too) was for version 2.0.0.15, if you were already using 2.0.0.x. They usually don't push out major version upgrades (like from 2.x to 3.x) automatically at first - you have to manually download and install the new version if you want to migrate to it. In the upper left corner it says "Firefox 3.0".

Don't you think you might have put some sort of "spoiler alert" before writing that? I mean, I couldn't care less about these films, I'm quite happy having never spent a single minute with a single movie "superhero" since the entire misbegotten genre began. But from the reviews I bothered to read, it seems as though the connection between Hancock and Theron's character was the entire point of the second half of the movie, and you just gave it away.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programs to announce that THE MOTHERFUCKING "CHAMPIONS" SUCK SHIT AND THAT MANNY DELCARMEN AND CRAIG HANSEN SHOULD EAT SHIT AND DIE. Seriously, how do you fucking expect to compete when your middle relief turns a 4-1 seventh inning game into 4-3 with a shitload of walks and then a bases clearing double? And of course the fucking Yankees let the Rangers toy with a sweep than motherfucking destroy them. SO WHO GOES INTO THE BRONX WITH SOME MOMENTUM? IT AIN'T FUCKING US.

I have to apologize for not yet participating, MG. I keep trying and trying to find the time to extract and play these tracks, at least the main disc but life has been conspiring against me. I'm hoping for this Holiday weekend, though.

Unfortunately, I think the history of these sorts of arbitration cases is that the player will get his money, just under a million dollars was left on his contract. And Wade wasn't firing him in the first place. First he ignored a request from his manager to have a meeting, which was to discuss his usage out of the bullpen. Chacon wants to be a starter and doesn't want to hear about the bullpen. So he basically flipped his manager the bird. Then the GM was called in, because the guy was insubordinate - again. He had previously ignored a request by the pitching coach that he throw a bullpen session to keep sharp.

IT'S HARD ENOUGH TO BEAT THE FUCKING RAYS IN TAMPA WITHOUT HAVING TO FIGHT THE MOTHERFUCKING UMPIRES TOO!

Tom's thread titles/rules of engagement require extreme levels of reading comprehension. Or knowledge of his color coding.

For whatever reason, I got the automated download this morning, and after I shut down at lunch, it installed and launched afterwards. But the only thing I see differently is a noticeable increase in speed, which is of course very nice. But I don't see changes to the organize bookmarks or really anything else. Fact is though that I am not the type of user who explores all of the supposedly wonderful features of browsers. I like the tabs because it really comes in handy for reading newspapers with splash pages, and I like the fact you can clear History automatically when you close - never have to worry if your surfing takes you to a website you'd rather not explain to the Misses.

Safin is playing as well as when he was winning Slams. Should be a good match to watch on the 4th.

Citation?

I thought I read something about the Yankees being like 20+ wins vs 6 losses to the Rangers in recent years, but that five of those losses came at the Stadium. So actually the Rangers winning on the road shouldn't be that much of a surprise - if they are going to beat the Yanks its likely to happen there. I'm not sure if I should root for the Rangers again tonight or hope that the Yankees get their inevitable win out of their system so that some how, some way, the Sox can keep them on a losing trend. I know the Yankees are due to bust out and how long can the Rangers keep them down, but if anyone is due for an outburst, its the number one scoring offense in the league! I'm hoping Ponson will be amped up and out of control and that the Rangers can spank him. That's probably the best outcome since I am pretty sure the Sox will lose. Better the Yankees stay behind us and don't gain ground. I like most of the pitching matchups this weekend. Lester vs Pettitte should be good, as a lefty throwing with a lot of confidence, I think Jon has a shot to keep the offense in check. Pettitte has been pitching well though and usually gives us a tough time. Becket vs Rasner is an obvious advantage to us on the Fourth. Saturday will be either Masterson or Buchholz against Moose. I'm still not convinced that Moose has completely reinvented himself, and we've had his number lately. As I've said before I hate the idea of Masterson facing those lefties, but the Globe seems almost certain that Clay will be called up for Saturday's game. Over his last five starts, Clay has an ERA under .50, so it looks like he's really figured out his fastball command issues. Even being clobbered in his only start at the Stadium, I like their chances if Clay gets the call. And then Sunday Night baseball is Joba vs Wakefield, the hard luck loser last night. Wake is on one of his patented rolls - seven innings a start, three runs or less. And Joba didn't look good last night, he missed the zone a lot and was fortunate to get out with only two runs (the Rangers running into two outs at third base in one inning killed them, particularly when one of those outs was a horrible call on a phantom tag. Classic bad positioning by the umpire. Why does he stand behind A-Rod in foul territory? If he steps out into the field and gets a lateral view, he sees that A-Rod missed on the swipe. F-ing moron.

That was the absolute best cartoon I've ever seen. Absolutely brilliant from start to finish.

I don't think this thread has enough color or is BOLD enough.

I have not felt this negative about the Red Sox at least since a certain "massacre" in 2006. Unless the bats wake up somehow against a pitcher who usually kills them, you can book that sweep, and the reason is that Dice-K will nibble, and walk a couple and then he will groove one and it will be 3-0. And the reason that the bats won't do anything is that no one is doing anything in the first place. Last night doesn't even count in Ellsbury's favor when his two hits went fewer than 92 feet total. Pedroia is hot, but Drew isn't any longer and Manny hasn't done squat since he hurt his hamstring. Varitek is a fucking joke at the plate. This team, with five runs over the last three games, is going to get to Kazmir? Prediction: Dan will have turned the PC off by the third inning. Honestly, with the road trip from hell moving onto Yankee Stadium, and then the Twins after that, I will be ecstatic if at the ASB, the Red Sox are still in second place and fewer than 5 games out of first. But I don't expect it.