Dan Gould

Experts have stated that the muscle mass Bonds added in one offseason in the late '90s was so extreme that the only way it could have been done was through the use of steroids. Furthermore, I believe there are big differences between impacts that supplements have vs steroids. Its a whole 'nother thing altogether.

No we are not because it is the DUMBEST FUCKING THING you've said to date, and considering the other extraordinarily stupid things you've said, its a title to be taken seriously. Isn't the biggest gain from steroids the recovery ? when i lifted it would wipe me out for days, so these guys can recover quicker lift more often and create the muscle mass. Goodspeak is kinda right , look at Sam Horn he was a big dude but didn't hit hundreds of home runs like Bonds. You have to have the whole total package a good eye , bat speed etc etc.. I don't think steriods increases your bat speed ?? .......does it ? Horn was a marginal ballplayer. He never had the hand-eye coordination or vision that Bonds showed even before he made the majors. The simple facts are that he went from being a decent home run hitter to an extraordinary one, at an age where every other comparable player in history showed declining skills. He became an extraordinary home run hitter after hooking up with Greg Anderson and BALCO and after putting on an extraordinary amount of muscle. Its hysterical to me that goodspeak can keep claiming, contrary to everyone else, that strength doesn't help you to hit home runs, when its his hero who chose to reconstruct his body with massive muscle power - you want to ask the cheater himself if he thinks being stronger helps him hit homers? Why else did he put on all that muscle? Apparently, if you have "the gift" you not only put on muscle for no reason whatsoever, but you can beat extraordinary odds by becoming better when everyone else in the history of the game has shown declining skills. That's a helluva "gift".

No we are not because it is the DUMBEST FUCKING THING you've said to date, and considering the other extraordinarily stupid things you've said, its a title to be taken seriously.

Scott Proctor should be suspended for his actions in today's game. It all starts with an extremely cheap play by Josh Phelps, going three feet to the side of the plate to hit the catcher for no apparent reason. At least he took his retaliation like a man and trotted to first, and then Proctor throws behind someone's head ... what a punk.

Forget him. This will allow Lester to continue his development from June to the end of the season. He should be ready to really excel next year, and we'll be going after them with three starters 27 or less, and Bucholz likely to get the call by the middle of the season. And this year I still prefer our rotation and bullpen to theirs (so long as Dice-K works through his issues). And how about Pedroia? Up near .250 now. If he's finally settled into a groove at the plate, he and Crisp will make it a very strong bottom of the order.

Not that its a surprise to anyone, but there can be no doubt whatsoever that Clemens' agent is lying through his teeth when he claims that both Houston and Boston told him that they would rather have Clemens start at the end of June, and only the Yankees wanted Clemens now when he's "ready" or close to it. We're supposed to believe that its entirely coincidental that the Yankees desperately need Clemens immediately, and he just so happens to have sped up his workouts. Yeah right. We're also supposed to believe that the Red Sox said "No thanks, Roger, we'd like Julian Tavarez to continue to make starts until the end of June. It won't help us if you take his spot at the end of May. No thanks, we want you a month later." Yeah right. I'm waiting in vain for someone to pose this question to Clemens, "The Red Sox have the best record in the league and are second only to the A's in pitching. Don't they have the better chance to win it all, considering that you are a six inning pitcher and the Yankees have huge problems in the bullpen?"

Apparently there won't be a month of rumors or a nationwide tour, ESPN is reporting that Roger Clemens Will Return to the Yankees Fine. It will make his return to Fenway that much uglier than its ever been in the past, and it will make beating them that much more satisfying. Seriously, I'd rather have Lester back and working towards being an effective major league pitcher than Clemens. That's a much better "feel good" story anyway. I can only imagine how much money Cashman offered to get him to make this decision now before their season slips away. Too bad there is no way that he can be ready to help them through the White Sox - Mets - Red Sox - Angels - Toronto portion of the May schedule. He might make it back in time to help with the beginning of June schedule, which is a series at Fenway and at Chicago before interleague play takes over. IMO, the Yankees will be very lucky if they stay five games behind by the time Clemens returns. One question: Who will they blame when Roger blows his hamstring?

This one has been floating around trading circles for a while: The Seattle date that is also available is from 1965: Looks like they are tuned in to the bit-torrent sites.

one day later anyone want to guess who has the best record in the entire big leagues? One day later and it ain't the Indians no more. Its that team with the big payroll that plays in the "lyric little band box of a stadium" and they've extended their lead to 6 1/2 games. You gotta love it when it would take a week of crappy play (and a week of great play by a rival) to lose hold on first place. And I never thought it would happen last night, when there were three teams tied for second. I figured there was no way that each of them would lose while we beat Minnesota. But I'll take it - especially the way the Yanks imploded. I just can't see how they hang around with Kei Igawa and Darrel Rassner in the rotation for the next six weeks or more. (Of course, who knows what might happen if Hughes and Clemens returned around the third week of June? ) Today's "Reverse Lock" Match-ups?? Part of the reason I was so happy to pick up a game on Friday was looking ahead to today's matchup. In New York, its Wang vs Jeff Weaver. That's such a mismatch, even if Wang isn't pitching very well, it would take a miracle for Weaver to shut down the Yanks. And in Minnesota, its Cy Young himself, Johan Santana, vs Julian Tavarez. Poor Tavarez - as the number five starter, with all the April weather shenanigans, this will be the fourth time he's faced an opponent's number one. On the other hand, he beat Wang last start, and before that, the team came back to beat Doc Holloday, so who knows? I still say it would take an act of God for the Yanks to lose and the Sox to win today, so I'm just going to enjoy the Fox game, hope for the best, and not sweat it either way.

The Duke Jordan, Horace Parlan and Kenny Drew are all very nice, though I wouldn't necessarily call them "essential". The Dexter Gordon is a relatively recently dug up live recording with Kenny Drew and if you are a fan of Dex, it is essential. I picked up the Brew Moore because I enjoy Kenny Drew and it is exceptionally good. Not a lot of recordings of his available, so its nice to see this again.

I'm just saying that any team relies on its closer to a considerable extent. I hadn't looked at his innings or appearances. Finishing up a win when you are up by six runs is no big deal. Its hanging on to win the tight ones that make the difference in a tough division. Borowski has converted 80% of his save opportunities. I'd say that defines "mediocre" among closers, especially when you factor in how many of those saves are of the three run, one inning variety. Add in his obvious injury risk and I have to wonder whether he will do the job for the entire season. If Betancourt can step up, all the better for the Tribe, because I wouldn't trust Borowski. The comparison might better be to Todd Jones, actually. He's got the same 80% save rate, and a similar career ERA. Borowski actually has a better Career BAA (.248 to .260). Wickman is weaker in save percentage at 74%. But all three will give you indigestion about 60% of the time that they are given a lead to nail down.

That would be one of those teams not located on the east or west coast but from the north coast, a team from arguably the toughest division. Your Cleveland Indians!! Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez appear to be locked in right now. Grady Sizemore is getting a lot of key hits, and playing gold glove center, but only batting .240 right now. Jhonny Peralta is starting to improve--batting only .260 but has 6 HRs. Casey Blake and Josh Barfield, not to mention Andy Marte, are currently missing in action (or on the DL). Getting some contribution from Trot Nixon, Ryan Garko, and Shin-Soo Choo. This team will hit a lot better. The main strength has been most of the starting rotation--Sabathia, Byrd, and Carmona. Cliff Lee just came off the DL (and had a rough season debut), and Jake Westbrook is headed there (good news is that this means Fausto Carmona comes back from Buffalo). 17 quality starts in 24 games. And a bullpen that appears functional (already 10 saves, only had 24 as a team last year). Hopefully, the pitching will continue to be this good. Only lost series so far have been a sweep by NYY and another by Mother Nature (snowouts). Now back to Boston, NY, SF, etc. I wouldn't count on any bullpen that leans so heavily on Joe Borowski and his right arm that cost him a multi-year contract because the results of his physical were so disconcerting, and so far has a 1.6 WHIP and 7+ ERA. That's a disaster waiting to happen. Aside from that, Cleveland looks very good and is more likely to maintain it than that other Northern team, the Brewers. I just wish they hadn't taken the series against the Yanks off or the Yanks would be even further behind.

Truer words were never spoken. San Francisco Giants 2007 Payroll: #11 in MLB at just under 95 million dollars So, you think that the Giants should put money into the pot for KC, the Marlins and Devil Rays? Or do you think that the Giants ought to get a cut of what the Yankees/Red Sox/Mets have to pay? Because under no circumstances would greater revenue sharing help your team.

Well, he is certainly not showing the devastating repertoire he was supposed to have. For the hype, he ought to be 5-0 with an ERA around 2.5 right now. I didn't have a problem with the money spent, because half of it went to his former team, not him, and they did hang tough in the negotiation. If they had been so desperate to get him and truly believed he'd refuse the final offer and go back to Japan, they would have been paying him 12 or more million right now instead of an average of about 8 million over the next six years. If he stops having so many games marred by temporary loss of the strike zone/command, he'll be very much worth it at the actual salary they are paying. At least he's settled down since then, and the offense has picked him up. 7-5 Boston.

Yeah? Well when the hell will the "real" Dice-K stand up? FIVE f-ing runs in the first inning to freaking Seattle. All started by walking the first three batters and then hitting the fifth (there's a fucking suprise). This guy isn't getting better, he's getting worse! What if KC was the best he can do? I am freaking pissed right now.

I think Mike Hampton is also in the running for the worst free agent deal ever. Jeff Weaver is also making a very good run at the title also -- 0-4, ERA. 18.26, all that for eight million a year! I remembered Hampton right after I posted. I don't think Weaver is in there because of the shortness of his deal and the fact that he had extremely mixed results prior to signing. Hampton certainly qualifies as the worst signing in the 100 million + category. But at least Hampton is a bulldog who wants the ball. For sheer comedy, no one matches Pavano's bruised buttocks or crashing his Porsche into a stationary garbage truck and then not telling anyone.

No one can say if this is good news or bad news for the Yankees, but Carl(a) Pavano has had yet another setback. Apparently he shut down his second bullpen session with continuing pain in his elbow, and is now considering Tommy John surgery. That would be likely to wipe out the remainder of his contract. For what he's done (4-6 his first season, exactly two starts since then) for a four year/39.95 million dollar contract, this has got to be one of the all-time worst signings in the free agent era. And he had the gall to refuse to pay his agent his commission, simply because the man didn't negotiate a contract for the full 40 million!

One of the things that has me excited is the fact that Coco is finally starting to hit. He's showing he can be a little spark plug at the bottom of the lineup - if Tito decides that its time to give Cora more time, that makes it even easier to turn it over and get it to Lugo/Youk/Papi. I think the offense will be very good; if the pitching stays this good, I can see 98 wins, maybe more.

Bingo. That's the conclusion that can be drawn. Why? Because the only legitimate study would take the specific race of the referee making a specific call against a specific race of player. And according to the article, the NBA did that: Given a choice between an inexact measurement that shows "bias" and an exact measurement that shows no "bias", which do you think is a better designed study? This is a non-story. A flawed measure found bias. An unflawed measure found no bias. In short, there is no rational basis for the claim of bias.

Presumably they used the racial breakdown of the ref team. I agree that this is not as perfect as using the racial identity of the ref, but I don't find it to be as problematic as others suggest. Why do you not find it problematic? As you well know, correlation is not causation, and without a racial categorization of the specific referee making a specific call, you don't even have correlation. What conclusion can be drawn? When there are two or more white referees, more fouls are called on black players? Its a completely bogus study.

Well, you got your wish, and 1/2 of your prediction. Personally, I think this was the most reasonable eliminations possible. Neither of these two strike me as having a future career in the biz, while the remainder are definitely the best four. I favor Melinda with Jordin a dark horse.

I used to think the same thing, but after seeing past AI winners like Taylor Hicks, Fantasia and Reuben, it seems America may not be caught up in looks as much as we think. I will say Melinda's hair, makeup and wardrobe have really been top notch throughout. Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight were no beauty queens and I think Melinda might be a true legend in decades to come. She's no beauty queen but its not like she's hard on the eyes. Nice smile and a genuinely warm, down-to-earth, and nice personality makes her very appealing. On the other side, I completely fail to "get" Blake in any way, and while he won't win it all, the ghost of Blake will live on next season when every fourth audition will feature a "beat-boxing" loser. I agree he showed guts in how he handled that tune, but to me its still crap.

And that's now official, according to SI: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/base...s.ap/index.html He felt a "pop" in his hamstring and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks. Sorry to hear it, Yankee fans. He looked every bit the stud he is supposed to be. Now it leaves a big hole in the rotation, and means that Igawa has to stay there even if he goes back to stinking up the joint. And I hate to say it, but "hearing a pop" and 4-6 weeks doesn't sound very likely. I mean, Wang missed the first month of the season, almost, and he barely felt anything while jogging. They didn't even know it was an injury til the day after. This sounds much worse than that and I wouldn't be suprised if its more like 8 weeks, even 10. Hamstrings that "pop" don't heal that quickly. I got a feeling that Brian Cashman is not only calling Clemens' agents, but he's also got out an APB on Aaron Small.

It's about time! Marty, if the news I'm hearing about Mr. Hughes is accurate, you won't be celebrating very long, I'm afraid.