'Roid to Nowhere. Steve Chapman: "The NFL's experience ought to give pause to anyone who assumes a crackdown will clean up baseball's steroid problem. Looking at what's happened to NFL players' bodies in the last 15 years, you'd think steroids had become mandatory rather than forbidden." (Slate) (Thanks to Richard E. for the link.)

Derek Zumsteg: "If you're reading this, you've been selected for random drug testing. Do not be alarmed, this doesn't mean I think you're doing drugs. That's why this is random." (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan: "Let's make this clear: there is nothing wrong with Keith Foulke. He is the same pitcher he was last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. What Manuel is doing with him is a huge mistake, one of the signature managerial failures of the season." (Baseball Prospectus)

Next scheduled post: July 16.

Thanks to enetation, you can post comments here again.

Ted Williams' son to sign with Red Sox. "He'll try to begin a professional baseball career at the age of 33. And it's no joke." Sure it is. (Boston Herald)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for June 13-17. "It bears repeating: Scott Rolen is not a replaceable commodity, but tantrum-prone managers and destructive blowhards are. The Phillies need to be judged on the basis of who they keep and who they send away, and making the choice that's most agreeable to Bill Conlin really should be the last thing on their minds. Belittling, bullying and trashing a quality ballplayer to ...well, what is the objective, anyway? For its own sake?" (Baseball Prospectus)

Twins Takes is now TwinsGeek.com.

Bookworm's Blog is now Pinstripes.

Marvin Miller: Don't trust baseball's drug-testing proposal. Allen Barra interviews the former union head. (Salon.com)

Joe Sheehan: "To be unnecessarily pithy, I want to believe that Selig is evil, rather than stupid. Evil can be fixed much more easily." (Baseball Prospectus)

NY Yankees 20, Colorado 10. Hey, what happened to the humidor? (ESPN.com)

A's continue success against National League. She said "You can't repeat the past", I said "You can't? What do you mean, you can't? Of course you can!" They're now 39-31; a month ago they were 20-26. (ESPN.com)

Rany Jazayerli: "Nearly halfway through the season, the question isn't whether the Braves are on pace to finish with the best middle-relief corps in baseball history. The question is, have we become too jaded by Bobby Cox's greatness to even notice?" (Baseball Prospectus)

Indians don't have the offense to compete, says Rob Neyer. (ESPN.com)

Twins Put End To Met Mo-mentum. (NY Daily News)

John Harper: "The only momentum to be found at Shea last night was in the aisles after Vaughn struck out to end the seventh inning, as about half the crowd ran for the exits as if someone had pulled a fire alarm. Afterward the Mets were whispering about a letdown from the Yankees series." (NY Daily News)

John Bonnes: "[W]hen a $40 million payroll team like the Twins beats a $100 million payroll team like the Mets, this doesn't mean that the economic disparity between large and small media markets is a myth." (TwinsGeek.com)

Weaver shuts out Atlanta. (Detroit News)

Will Tigers shop their ace? (Detroit News)

Poll: "If they can get some good prospects, should the Tigers trade Jeff Weaver?" The nays have it, by a 2-1 margin, so far. (Detroit News)

Rob Dibble says Shawn Estes should have plunked Roger Clemens. "The night before Estes took the mound, Jeromy Burnitz was hit in the helmet, and there was no retaliation. So, the next day, when Estes took the mound, couldn't he have sent a better message than throwing three feet behind Clemens? Is that the best he's got?" (ESPN.com)

Mets fire back at Dibble's anti-Estes stance. (ESPN.com)

"He was the most unprofessional player to ever play, or one of them," Mets manager Bobby Valentine told the New York Daily News, referring to the former relief pitcher-turned-commentator. "He threw bats in the stands, threw balls in the stands, fought with his manager. When he hit people it was because they hit a home run off him, not protection for his teammates."

Dan Lewis on Dibble. (dlewis.net)

Marcos Bretón on Miguel Tejada's journey from poverty to the big leagues. (Sacramento Bee)

After 13 years, Zinter finally gets the call. He's a 34-year-old rookie first baseman who just joined the Astros. (ESPN.com)

Baker's Dozen: The week in preview. "This is not a week for great matchups...In fact, that is going to be the tone of the Dozen this week: The It Doesn't Look Good on Paper Week." (ESPN.com)

Estes shuts down Yankees in 8-0 rout. Estes tried to hit Roger Clemens with a pitch early in the game, but missed. (ESPN.com)

Dan Shaughnessy: "How could anybody miss that butt?" (Boston Globe)

Who's Got the Whammy on the Rocket? Chris Kahrl and Keith Woolner look at other pitchers' records vs. Clemens. (ESPN.com)

Vaughn's eighth-inning shot dooms Yankees. (ESPN.com)

   NYY 000 011 000 - 2 7 3
   NYM 000 000 03x - 3 8 0

Padres' Perez, 20, beats M's in big-league debut. (ESPN.com)

Lowe wins duel with Glavine, grabs 11th victory. (ESPN.com)

Gary Huckabay presents some new baseball drinking games. "Of course, we at BP suggest that these games be played with delicious Coca-Cola products, and not alcoholic beverages of any sort." (Baseball Prospectus)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for June 11-12. "Baylor seems incapable of accepting that his job is now one of letting the people who will be Cubs after he's gone go out and play. Jim Hendry and his staff have done an outstanding job of assembling talent down on the farm, but as long as Baylor is in place, it won't be easy for the Cubs to use it." (Baseball Prospectus)

Rob Neyer: "What I think is that Commissioner Bud has overplayed his hand. The death threat worked, sort of, on the Twins. But remember, Selig stood on that dais last November and said, 'We will contract' in 2002. They didn't, it's unlikely that they ever will, and people are coming to understand that what Bud says, Bud doesn't necessarily do." (ESPN.com)

Dan Lewis: "Fearless prediction alert! Someone -- and not Roger Clemens -- will get beaned early in Saturday's Mets/Yanks game." (dlewis.net)

Joe Sheehan: "Shea Hillenbrand is still hitting reasonably well, but after starting the season with a dramatic improvement in his plate discipline, he's now walked four times in his last 162 at-bats. Plate discipline isn't just about bases on balls—it's also about hitters' counts—but it's the rare player who can be a productive hitter with that kind of walk rate." (Baseball Prospectus)

Derek Zumsteg: "Why must Bonds be the story in every Giants' loss? Bonds fails to unify quantum gravitational theory, Giants lose 3-2" (Baseball Prospectus)

Craig Calcaterra on steroid-abuse allegations, competitive balance, and more. (Bull)

McCarthy at the bat. Voros McCracken on steroid-abuse allegations. (Baseball Primer)

Rob Neyer: "I still think Cirillo will turn things around ... but then again, I thought Cirillo would make hay in Denver, too. If he doesn't improve, and improve significantly, his big contract -- Cirillo makes nearly $6.4 million this season -- will stand as one of the few black marks against Pat Gillick's tenure in Seattle." (ESPN.com)

Keith Scherer: "Even if the Padres finish in last place it won't be a lost year. Bad organizations waste seasons like this; good ones use them to prepare for next year." Here's a look at the pitching talent in the Padres' chain. (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan on the Diamondbacks' bullpen woes. (Baseball Prospectus)

Braves edge Twins for eighth win in nine games. (ESPN) Atlanta wins the 1991 World Series Rematch, two games to one. Twins Takes now has to run a picture of Mark Lemke on its front page. (If the Braves had won the series, Braves Journal would have had to run a picture of Kent Hrbek.)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for June 9-10. "The [Red] Sox have reason to be concerned, because Tony Clark has been the least dangerous first baseman in the game. Not one of; the. And while life is about to get better with the return of Manny Ramirez, nobody should have to haul an inoffensive first baseman around." (Baseball Prospectus)

Bierbrodt shot in chest. "[Devil Rays] Pitcher Nick Bierbrodt was in 'serious but stable' condition Friday night in a Charleston, S.C., hospital after being shot twice in what team officials said appeared to be a 'random act of violence.'" (St. Petersburg Times)

Bierbrodt 'lucky' to be alive. (St. Petersburg Times)

"For an unfortunate incident, I would say he's an exceptionally lucky individual," said Dr. David Cole, chief of surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina.

"I don't know how to quantify it, but I would just say the majority of the people that have that situation, with those gun shots to that area, would not have made it to the hospital alive because they would not have been fortunate enough for the bullets to have missed all the major vessels. He was very fortunate in the path of those bullets."

Devil Rays explode for 11 runs in rout of Dodgers. Jared Sandberg hit two homers in the fifth inning. (ESPN.com)

Derek Zumsteg: "Can the Angels catch and beat the Mariners? When it comes down to it, you've got to look at the intangibles as well. The Mariners in the late innings have techno music. The Angels? The Rally Monkey. You can't bet against monkeys; they get agitated and bite you, you catch the deadly Mutaba virus, and then it's all over." (ESPN.com)

You don't hear the NBA complaining. Excellent column by Jayson Stark. (ESPN.com)

The Baseball Wars: A Labor Conflict Primer. "Selig is not clinically insane. An alien mind-control device has not been ruled out, however." (Village Voice)

Split between Rolen and Phillies gets wider. "Rolen, 27, is not happy in Philadelphia. Reports this weekend said the club has increased its efforts to trade him before he is eligible to leave as a free agent after this season. Twice he has turned down potential $140 million deals to stay with the Phillies, who drafted him in 1993." (ESPN.com)

Jim Salisbury: "All this adds up to one conclusion: The Phillies must trade Rolen. Now." (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Jayson Stark: "The Phillies' options aren't good. The Diamondbacks don't match up well with the Phillies. The Cardinals aren't in make-a-deal mode yet. The Braves are committed to Vinny Castilla this year and have heard Chipper Jones say he misses playing third. The Reds have Aaron Boone, just traded for Russell Branyan and can't add much payroll. The Dodgers continue to believe in Adrian Beltre. Only the Mets seem to fit." (ESPN.com)

M's Moyer blanks Cards for first shutout in 4 years. Ichiro tripled! doubled! and singled! (ESPN.com)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for June 6-8. "Charles Nagy's last remotely useful season was 1999, and his last actually good season was 1997. If the man won't take the hint and retire, pay him off and send him home." (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan on the aftermath of the Giambi-Mabry deal. (Baseball Prospectus)

The Week in Quotes from Baseball Prospectus. Nomar likes soccer. Rickey likes gum.

Rob Neyer: "I guess I just haven't accepted the likelihood that Elmer Dessens (4-3, 2.56) and Chris Reitsma (3-3, 2.92) are really this good. And considering that the rest of Cincinnati's starters are Jimmy Haynes, Joey Hamilton, Jose Rijo and Jose Acevedo ... well, if you're a Cardinals fan, you should feel pretty good about things." (ESPN.com)

Baker's Dozen: The week in preview. "I think I speak for most people when I say that my nightly prayers as a child always included this addendum (usually right after 'God Bless Mommy and Daddy and all the ships at sea'): 'Oh ... and please God, make there be some way that the Angels could play the Pirates. Please?'" (ESPN.com)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for June 4-5. "There are some rituals you have to accept as a matter of course. Breathing. Doing laundry. Coffee. Avoiding anything with Chris Kattan in it. And, of course, putting Rudy Seanez on the DL." (Baseball Prospectus)

Tejada hits go-ahead bomb for Oakland. Mariners, Angels and Red Sox fans have one more thing to worry about. The A's are rising from the dead again. They're 32-30, 6 games out of first. (ESPN.com)

China paper crying after chopping the Onion. (CNN.com)

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- Beijing's most popular newspaper has unwittingly republished a bogus story about U.S. Congress threats to skip town for Memphis or Charlotte unless Washington builds them a new Capitol building with a retractable dome roof.

The source? America's celebrated spoof tabloid, the Onion.

Interleague play comes with twist. "If you're into nostalgia, the Orioles and Dodgers will be stirring memories of the '66 World Series this weekend in Baltimore." And if you're into obscure TV movies from the seventies, the Astros and Athletics will be stirring memories of Murder at the World Series, starring Michael Parks and Karen Valentine, this weekend in Oakland. (Houston Chronicle)

World Series champs set to face Red Sox, Yankees. Mark Grace: "I'm going to go to the scoreboard and write my name. That's the tradition. I guess Ty Cobb and Ted Williams are up there. I think you can lump me in that group: greatest left-handed hitters ever - Williams, Cobb, Grace. What are you guys laughing at?" (Arizona Republic via BunkoSquad SportsBlog)

Once upon a time, Cubbies were champions. Baseball columnists must love interleague play, because it gives them new topics to write about. Here, Art Thiel of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer tells the "Cubs: Lovable Losers" story. Also in today's paper: the "Cubs Fans Are the Greatest" story and the "Rooftop Squabble" story.

Twins spared through 2003 in lawsuit settlement. (ESPN.com)

Paul Hoynes: "Jim Thome is 31 and 'three-gorilla strong.' He hit his 300th homer Wednesday night and manager Charlie Manuel and Ellis Burks say he can hit at least another 200 before his career ends." I wonder what team he'll hit them for? Braves, Red Sox, Cubs...? (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Derek Zumsteg: "The media plays a significant role in the retention of managers. The ones who have excellent relationships with local media--Phil Garner was the high epopt of their secret club--are rarely taken to task for their failures. When rumors surface about their jobs being in jeopardy, columns start to run on how it's not the manager's fault his teams suck, his players all love him, and he's nice to puppies." (Baseball Prospectus)

Keith Woolner answers FAQ about PAP^3, the system used by Baseball Prospectus for measuring pitcher abuse via pitch counts.

Joe Sheehan: "It was fun watching Alex Rodriguez, who is just scary good, and worth every penny the Rangers are paying him. He's on a path that will make him one of the ten best players ever, and he has a reasonable chance to be part of the 'greatest player ever' discussion with Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner." (Baseball Prospectus)

Rob Neyer: "The Athletics obviously decided to concentrate on drafting college players, which makes sense because the risk factor is lower with college players. This is so obvious, assuming of course that you bother studying the issue, that it continues to amaze me that teams continue to spend millions of dollars on bonuses for high school players." (ESPN.com)

Greg Hall: "While Tony Peña's Royals steal bases, chalk up wins and excite fans with their new enthusiasm, Kansas City's top-rated radio sports show has decided not to talk to the new manager because he has a thick Dominican accent and broken -- or at least sprained -- English. 'We have made a decision with this show that [Peña] is not a guy we will seek out for interviews because he is extremely difficult to understand,' Kevin Kietzman told his afternoon sports-talk audience on WHB 810 shortly after Peña was hired." (Pitch Weekly)

Jim Nesbitt on the Cardinals' stadium situation. "East St. Louis can be your friend. Although the city would lose hefty tax dollars from ticket sales and there are all manners of crime, traffic and pollution problems on that side of the river, having a glittering stadium in the loop of the sunset shadow of the Gateway Arch would clean up an eyesore that would suddenly make the west bank of the river highly attractive for redevelopment, says one downtown veteran of big-ticket projects...Beats the hell out of seeing the team move to St. Charles County." (St. Louis Riverfront Times)

Italian Olympian rescues Cardinals staff. "Without Jason Simontacchi, the St. Louis Cardinals probably wouldn't be where they are now: one win shy of first place." (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Mike Berardino: "Year Two was supposed to restore some semblance of normalcy to the Ichiro Suzuki story. A long-overdue slump or two, perhaps. Finally, some frustration for the otherworldly interloper as the pendulum swung back toward the bruised and battered pitchers. Somehow it's not happening that way. If anything -- are you sitting down? -- Ichiro might be better." (Orlando Sun-Sentinel)

Joe Sheehan: "Gary Sheffield -- yes, Gary Sheffield -- has a good chance to become a Hall of Famer, and his performance to date makes him a worthy candidate." (ESPN.com)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for June 2-3. "There are enough teams seriously hard up for starting pitching help that [Chris] Holt should wind up somewhere with a chance to resurface in a big-league uniform. The White Sox, Cardinals, and Marlins would all be good targets for Mr. Holt's agent." (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan looks at last year's first-round draft picks. (Baseball Prospectus)

Sifting Through the Discount Bin. Jonah Keri: "The 10 players below all make $4 million or less this year. They were all acquired via free agency signing or a trade for a player of limited value. None fared well at Plinko though, proving the price was not entirely right." (Baseball Prospectus)

PRIMER POLL 4 - Who wins the divisions? "There are currently good races in all 6 divisions...Who do you like to win each division? Why?" (Baseball Primer)

Craig Calcaterra disputes Peter Gammons's explanations of why Oakland and Cleveland are struggling. "If the A’s and Indians’ example demonstrates anything, it's (1) that even good teams can hit rough patches once in a while, and (2) when you strip your roster of talent in the interest of making money, you're likely to lose a lot of games. Gammons’ bogeyman of economic disparity has little to do with how well the A’s and Indians are doing this year." (Bull)

Lowe becomes AL's first nine-game winner. "'I had about 30 friends and family here tonight,' Lowe said. 'I'm sure everyone saw them, because with the weather, there were only about 45 people here, and they were all friends and family of someone in the game.''' (ESPN.com)

Yankees promote Rivera, give him starting job. Not the glove thief. Different Rivera. (ESPN.com)

[UPDATED 2:35 pm ET; read down if you're interested]

The May 17, 1979 mystery is getting deeper. To sum up yesterday's discussion: Tony Pierce and I both have vivid memories of the Cubs blowing a 21-9 lead in their game against the Phillies that day. BaseballLibrary.com confirms this. Retrosheet, however, has a totally different account, which I thought was just a mistake. The end...?

No. Jay Jaffe has sent me a couple of links that support Retrosheet's version: a Sporting News story, and a photograph from The Dave Kingman Web Site.

My own searching has turned up more conflicting accounts. A Cincinnati Post story from 1997 says:

May 17, 1979: The Cubs blow a 21-9 lead and lose 23-22 to the Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field.

But a Philadelphia Inquirer story from 2002 says:

Of course, [in a domed stadium] you would never have a classic such as the one that unfolded on May 17, 1979. With powerful winds blowing straight out at Wrigley Field, the Phillies and Cubs combined for 45 runs and 10 homers.

The Phils had built a 21-9 lead, and Wine, who then coached for the Phillies, recalled that third baseman Mike Schmidt, who played every game, lobbied for a rest. "It's OK now," Wine remembers Schmidt telling him. "Let me out."

Request denied. The Cubs caught up. And in his last at-bat, Schmidt hit his second homer of the game, and that won it for the Phillies.

What in the name of Randy Lerch is going on here???

-----------------------------

UPDATE: More on the 23-22 game. One vote for the 'Cubs blew the lead' version and two (probably decisive) for the 'Phils blew the lead' version:

From Baseball Primer: "On May 17, 1979, the Philadelphia Phillies outslug the Chicago Cubs, 23-22, at Wrigley Field. The Cubs lose the game despite owning a 21-9 lead at one point. Future Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt provides the winning margin with a home run in the 10th inning against Cubs relief ace Bruce Sutter." (link)

From James G. Robinson of BaseballLibrary.com: "I have a simple answer for your May 17th, 1979 confusion -- we have it wrong. Retrosheet has it right: the Phils, not the Cubs, jumped out to the early lead. As Jim Charlton, who compiles the Baseball Chronology at BaseballLibrary.com, writes, 'You are right. A slip by this old Cubs fan. It was 7-0 Phils on 3 homers. I was actually in Chicago for the book convention that date and remember the game.'" (link)

From the May 18, 1979 edition of the New York Times: "Philadelphia scored seven runs in the first inning, but the Cubs came back with six. The Phillies scored eight runs in the third and the Cubs trailed, 17-6, going into the bottom of the fourth. Chicago chipped away, scored seven runs in the sixth and caught the Phillies at 22-22 with three runs in the eighth." (via microfilm)

So...if the 'Phils blew the lead' version is what really happened, how did the 'Cubs blew the lead' version take such strong hold? Maybe because it's a more compelling story. Comebacks are much more interesting when the team making the comeback prevails in the end. So, even if only a small percentage of fans heard the incorrect 'Cubs blew the lead' version when the game happened, those people probably remembered the game more strongly, and felt more compelled to tell their friends about it, than those who heard the less compelling (but correct) 'Phils blew the lead' version. And they told two friends, and so on, and so on. And the 'Cubs blew the lead' version took hold.

Also from BaseballLibrary.com's James G. Robinson:

Speaking of Randy Lerch and baseball mixups: you may not realize that he was the subject of a (somewhat more serious) 1970s gaffe. From our Barry Lersch profile: "In December 1973, Lersch was mistakenly acquired by Atlanta in a deal that sent Ron Schueler to Philadelphia. Braves executives had confused Lersch with up-and-coming southpaw Randy Lerch. The way they found out was they called him and said, 'Lefty, we're glad to have you,'" Schueler later recalled. "He said, 'Uh, I'm a righty.'"

Don Malcolm: "Don Fehr should, in my opinion, simply tell his players that they should agree to random drug testing in exchange for the owners dropping their contraction plans. The owners would have to agree that contraction can occur only via the consultation and consent of the players, and that they waive all claims of unilateral imposition." (Baseball Primer)

Paul Hagen: "Babe Ruth used to stay out all night, wash down three hot dogs with a pitcher of beer for breakfast, then go out and hit three home runs. Grover Cleveland Alexander won a World Series game while he was drunk as a skunk. Paul Waner was asked how he was able to get four hits while so inebriated, he saw three baseballs coming toward the plate." And when the country was fallin' apart, Betsy Ross got it all sewn up. And then there's Jeremy Giambi... (Philly News)

Aaron Barnhart watched Game 6 of the 1985 World Series on ESPN Classic, and he argues that Denkinger's blown call wasn't quite as crucial as everyone remembers. (Barnhart makes a couple of mistakes here, calling Jack Clark "Will Clark" and putting Andy Van Slyke on the Royals, but his argument is worth considering.) (TV Barn; left-hand column, blog entry posted 6/3/2002 at 10:34:56 pm)

Joe Sheehan: "Personally, I loved the 'old' Coors Field. Not because I'm some simpleton who needs to be entertained by home runs, but because it was different. Baseball is baseball no matter where it's played, but baseball at altitude was a game unlike that I'd ever seen—yes, I'm too young to remember 1930, or the Baker Bowl—and that made it fun." (Baseball Prospectus)

Rob Neyer: "Carlos Tosca just joined a pretty exclusive fraternity. By my count, Tosca is just the sixth major-league manager since 1900 who never played professional baseball." (ESPN.com)

Rob Neyer: "There will be those who view last season as evidence that the A's can turn things around this season and win 100-some games again. I view the rarity of their performance last season as evidence that they almost certainly cannot win 100 games again." (ESPN.com)

Tony Pierce remembers the Cubs-Phillies game of May 17, 1979, in which the Cubs blew a 21-9 lead and lost 23-22. (tonypierce.com)

I turned to Retrosheet to refresh my memory of that game...and something is screwy. Retrosheet has the Phillies leading 17-6 at one point, with the Cubs mounting a great comeback only to lose in the tenth. Uh-oh.

Here's a link (courtesy of Tony Pierce) that has it right. Scroll down to May 17. (BaseballLibrary.com)

Baker's Dozen: The week in preview. "I could crank out about 2,000 vitriol-filled words right now about the worthlessness of interleague play, but what's the use? I was not consulted when they started the inane practice in the first place and I don't think my input at this juncture is much desired either." (ESPN.com)

Blue Jays fire Martinez; Tosca will take reins. "Tosca is known as a manager who isn't afraid to get in players' faces. Many felt the Jays had tuned out Martinez and Tosca is likely to bring a more fiery approach to motivate players." (ESPN.com)

Person gives himself run support with two homers. Keep an eye on the Phillies. They're in last place, but probably not for long. (ESPN.com)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for May 30 - June 1. "The Phillies don't have to match the Braves and the Mets starter for starter, they just need to get good consistent work while fixing the lineup. If they do that, anything is possible, because the offensive problems of the division's favored pair aren't about to end." (Baseball Prospectus)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for May 28-29. "That's right, the Brewers are picking scraps up from the Devil Rays. It's not easy being baseball's most lucrative franchise, and yet having a hard time competing for talent with powerhouses like Tampa Bay." (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan: "The Rockies have played very well under Clint Hurdle, thanks to some good pitching by the non-Mike Hampton members of the rotation...I think they can hang around .500, but not get much higher." (Baseball Prospectus)

Knights to give away one-of-a-kind Tommy John bobble arm dolls. "It is the first bobble head doll to have another appendage that moves."
(charlotteknights.com) (credit for the link: Futility Infielder)