papsrus

Boy, as good as Cliff Lee was tonight against the Yankees, (7 innings, 7 K's, no runs), the Jays' Shaun Marcum may have been better (8 2/3, 9 K's, 1 walk, 2 runs in the ninth). Rays couldn't touch him tonight. ... It's not over yet, but outrageous game between the Red Sox and Detroit. And how about the Cubs giving up four home runs in one inning? That can't be good. ... Joey Votto who?

PM sent.

howdy, howdy. Great selections. I should be taking notes. ...

Nice. Listening now.

Yep, Chipper's on fire alright. That division is shaping up kind of like the AL Central (except better), where nobody really emerges from the pack. Speaking of which, the Tigers are back into their funk, losing five in a row. ... And man, Gavin Floyd got so close (again) last night to tossing a no-hitter. ... Too bad for him.

Nice!

Poignant writer, Jenkins is.

And Sally Jenkins at the WashPost has a pretty even-handed column on the whole matter today. Excerpts:

I don't see concern for this "above" concern for humans killing humans. I think the thing that makes us feel responsible in some way is that we are responsible in some way. ... I heard some people compare horse racing to auto racing. Drivers have been killed in auto races, afterall. Why should we get upset when it happens to a horse? For me, the reason is clear. Drivers make the choice to take the risk. Horses don't. We make that choice for them. The rate of breakdowns in the U.S. is much higher than elsewhere in the world -- something like 1.5 per 1,000 racing starts in the U.S. compared to about 0.5 per 1,000 in Great Britain, for example. Conventional wisdom seems to be that this is partly because the horses here are raced at a much younger age than elsewhere, but other factors likely come into play as well, such as breeding for speed over stamina, an obsession with improving performance by any and all means, etc. These factors would seem to shift the burden to the owners and trainers to demonstrate that the horse was ready to race and was suffering no pre-race injuries or conditions. Based on the result here, it seems at least possible that this horse wasn't ready. The results of the necropsy should tell us more. It's true that there are innocent human victims of violence, but that's a separate issue. And again, animals do not have free choice in the matter. These horses are forced to race. Bottom line for me is this: We seem to be reaching a limit with these animals. Perhaps the thoroughbred industry should examine its thinking on breeding, racing age and its management of the overall health of these animals.

Horses are raced too young in the United States, they are bred for speed not stamina, and drugs are used to further juice up the animals to the point where this sort of thing is all but guaranteed to happen in a certain percentage of cases. ... The thoroughbred industry needs to take a long look in the mirror. In an ESPN snap poll today, 75 percent of the respondents said breakdowns are an acceptable part of the sport. Just 25 percent said the industry needs to react to the situation. Sad.

The problem with quotation means you have an opening quote command and no closing quote command somewhere in the message. To save a copy of your message, check the box that says "Add a copy of this message to my sent items folder" next to the send message button.

Bah! ... Kaz looked inconsistent. Good velocity but location was a bugaboo, and lead-off batters for the Sox reached on him in all four innings he pitched. Took him 90 pitches to make it through four and that's all they wanted from him. ... Great catch by Ellsbury seemed to take the wind out of the Rays' sails early. But ... Bartlett and Aki are finally coming around. ... The Sox just keep coming though. Damn Yankees buried Seattle with a 6-run third.

Ortiz is a late scratch.

Big goings on here in Sarasota to get the Red Sox to relocate their spring training here. Fort Myers is frankly not nearly as attractive as Sarasota -- on a variety of fronts. The Sox can escape their deal with Fort Myers in 2009 by paying them a mere $1 million. So if the muckety mucks here want them, they need to make it happen. We're losing the Reds after next spring, and the thinking is that the Sox will attract much more tourism dollars, enough to justify the cost of building a new stadium. It's early in the process, but they're already talking about building a park with a Green Monster, and fairly close to downtown. ... Now that would be cool. I look for the Rays to have a short leash on Kazmir today. Cubs keep rolling. Tonight's game vs. Cards for first should be good. Nice job by the Angles last night vs. the O's. Gotta like their chances again today with Saunders on the bump. And here's hoping Silva gets it done today vs. Yankees. ... Basically, I'm pinning my hopes on the fact that everybody else loses in the AL East today, cause I think the Sox are hungry for a sweep and some payback, and I'm not sure what to expect from Kaz. If he's on, we've got a good shot. ... We'll see.

12-4 final ....

This might be jumping to conclusions. Didn't Clemens make his reputation an issue in the first place? When you invite a bunch of lawyers to examine your reputation, don't be surprised if they find things your reputation might not like. ... at least, that's what I always say ...

... well this is a revoltin' development ... Each team loaded the bases in the fourth, but Pena decides to stroll home on a flyout to Manny in the top half of the inning and he's out by a mile at the plate. In one freakin' pitch we go from bases juiced with one out to inning over. ... Shields yanked in the bottom of the 4th.

A good argument for getting the MLB package from DTV, which I plan to do as soon as my move is done with. Won't help you. The national blackout rules apply to the Extra Innings package as well as MLB.TV, which is how I am watching (1/2 the price of Extra Innings, and with my new, extra large flat screen monitor, a perfectly good picture) ... Thanks for the info. I hadn't familiarized myself with the details. ... I'm pressing on!! It's not as though there's a shortage of baseball on TV, but I'm frankly going to need more than the Rays this summer -- and I'd like to watch some of the teams out West, Arizona in particular. I've thought about MLB.TV, but I use a laptop, and it doesn't have a big screen. If I can hold out, maybe DTV will offer some deals after the All Star break. ... But, I doubt I'll hold out. Lets be real.

A good argument for getting the MLB package from DTV, which I plan to do as soon as my move is done with.

Nice win by the Red Sox last night. They got some big momentum going in the fourth and Jackson couldn't handle them. Considering where he was last season, I'm not too worried though. He hung in there and and it wasn't like he was throwing horribly. Crawford -- again -- botched another play in left (although it was Fenway, so ...). I'm looking forward to today's matchup. We'll see if Shields can put together back-to-back standout performances. Mussina vs. Hernandez tonight also.

I'll admit that I just can't get worked up about steroids anymore. Some unknown number of players used steroids or other performance-enhancing substances in an unregulated way to further their careers and fatten their paychecks. They cheated. Some got caught. Some didn't. I think I've posed this question before: Are there not legitimate medical uses for substances such as HGH and steroids? Do they not aid in the treatment of certain injuries or conditions? And if so, should baseball allow their limited use under the supervision of doctors? Assuming for the sake of argument that Andy Pettitte used steroids to aid in the healing of an injury, is this different than using steroids to simply bulk up? (In the end it's not different because he wasn't under the supervision of a doctor, but ...) It seems to me that we're seeing a lot of injuries early in the season this year. Maybe I'm just more aware of it this year than in previous years, but if there is an increase, I wonder if there's any connection between this increase in injuries and the presumed diminished use of steroids and other banned substances by players.

It's going to be an interesting summer in the Bronx. ... Buster Olney is pinning his hopes on the fact that they had a worse record last April and managed to claw their way out of it. When Posada said they've already got seven first basemen, that spoke volumes. Strange injury to B.J. Upton yesterday. Popped his shoulder out (officially a strain) swinging the bat. Did not look good but he's day to day. ... And the Rays are going to have to start thinking about moving Aki out of the leadoff spot. OBP of 296. Shields v. Beckett on Saturday. Round Two! And circle June 23, 24,25 -- Arizona at Boston.

Even better, you're up by a full game ... (The mighty Rays are coming to town this weekend though )

... and now Phil Hughes on the DL ... I think you're right. They could be in for a rough ride here. (Not that Hughes was doing anything, but still. ... another setback.)

A-Rod on 15-day DL. ...