First off, a tip of the cap to Wandy Rodriguez who was named NL Pitcher of the month for July. A 4-0 record with a microscopic .75 ERA.
Darin Erstad is on his way back! He's in AA now either working on some fake punt plays, or rehabbing for his return to the Astros..either one is possible.
Ex-Astro farmhand Cody Ransom isn't exactly tearing it up for the Bronx Bombers, and one Yankee fan has had enough. I dunno how someone can be so upset at someone who so little was expected of to begin with.
Hump Day got ya down? Take a look at this bit of comedy, courtesy of Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins. If that doesn't make you chuckle, then look for the Will Farrell video where the baby curses at him.
Count Hank Aaron among those people who think that releasing the names of those players who tested positive for steroids in the now infamous 2003 test will help MLB.
Among the other notable injuries to ML players, Edinson Volquez' name sticks out for fans of NL Central clubs. The righty could be lost for all of 2010 in addition to the rest of the 2009 season.
Asst. GM for the San Diego Padres, Paul DePodesta, has his own blog. Yesterday he opined about some of the youngsters that the Padres are playing.
Speaking of those guys, they apparently nixed a blockbuster of a trade that involved Adrian Gonzalez and Felix Hernandez all changing addresses.
Baseball + brains = this.
0 recs | 14 comments
We've talked about steroids a lot recently
but this was posted over at BTB in the link you posted, and I thought it was fairly interesting. As a philosophy student, I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about moral problems, and the steroids issue is probably the only moral issue that really intersects with my love for baseball (well, that and some collective bargaining issues, but by now I’ve been trained to look at those through an economist’s eyes).
Anyways, the author (Goldwater) attempts to come up with a moral principle explaining why so many people think that steroid use is wrong. He settles on what I think is a fairly accurate description of how people think the universe operates:
I think that’s a pretty good description of a certain view of the difference between the “natural” and “unnatural.” I’m not sure that that is how people really operate – while the vast majority of people seem to have a moral problem with steroids (that’s not to say that they have the same “Off with their heads!” attitude that many in the media have), they are also quite willing to do a lot that would seem to cross that natural/unnatural divide. And (and this was brought up in the comments section of the article) they don’t seem quite as upset about football players using steroids.
In philosophy, we have this tendency to see defining principles where there probably isn’t any such principle. The exercise that Goldwater engages in is similar to what philosophers try to do with the “Trolley Problem” and other such thought experiments that seem to reveal people’s inconsistencies. I don’t think most people are really rational when it comes to ethics and morality. They don’t say steroids are bad but performance-enhancing equipment is good because they have really thought this thing out – they do it because one thing is alien and the other is familiar. Trying to find some principle in this is just a silly exercise. Really, I think the guiding principle for people in steroid use is that it just seems wrong. But that’s no reason to ban it.
Only_A_Lad - August 5, 2009
Aren't there opposing views of man (oversimplified)
Some believing man is basically good, and society should punish those who stray.
The other being man is basically evil; and society should punish those who don’t control their natural evil instincts.
Reminds me of an irrelevant joke I heard the other day, “If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, where are teenagers from?”
Joe in Birmingham - August 5, 2009
Steriods are Illegal
Aside from medical use, Steriods are illegal. How are players getting steriods? Other countries and unethical doctors writing them prescriptions for steroids when they don’t need them for medical reasons.
Timothy De Block - August 6, 2009
See, that's the point of the article.
Laws are founded on some sort of moral principle. We make things illegal because we think it’s wrong to do them. And yet people can’t seem to explain why they think steroids are wrong, and so the law is unfounded, and so there’s good reason to just repeal the law.
Only_A_Lad - August 6, 2009
BUT you have to think of the children!
=P
I thought you were just talking in the context of MLB. =)
Timothy De Block - August 6, 2009
But the law has yet to be repealed
whether laws are founded on some sort of moral principle or not is irrelevant. The law says that it is wrong and until the law is repealed it will remain illegal to use steroids (or PED’S if you prefer)
Professional Assassin - August 6, 2009
Cecil Fielder and the Dodgers
Dodgers pitcher plunked Prince Fielder with 2 outs in the ninth as retaliation for Brewers hitting Manny Ramirez. Fielder after the game stormed toward the Dodgers locker room, to be stopped before he entered the locker room. Here’s a recap from the Brew Crew of the ninth inning aprt:
Sure, the Brewers lost 17-4 and that sucks and is also really embarrassing (it was the most runs by the Dodgers at home since 1979), but the bigger story is the inexplicable drilling of Prince Fielder in the top of the 9th with two out.
Former Brewer Guillermo Mota was on the mound. The Dodgers were up 13 runs and had one out to go and HAD A PITCHER WARMING IN THE BULLPEN.
Then Mota drills Fielder in the leg and immediately heads towards the dugout, with a bit of a chest puff out, glaring and generally preening.
Joe in Birmingham - August 5, 2009
Prince not Cecil Fielder
Joe in Birmingham - August 5, 2009
what's with
the Brewers’ players getting all pissy when the other team retaliates for something they or their teammates did?
Only_A_Lad - August 5, 2009
Nobody plunked a Dodger
ol Pete - August 5, 2009
well
going through the boxscore, Kuroda hit Cattalanotto, then Smith hit Ramirez, then Swindle hit Pierre, and then Mota hit Fielder. Looks nice and even to me. Maybe those others weren’t intentional, but LA obviously felt that they had reason to throw at Fielder.
Only_A_Lad - August 5, 2009
ESPN says Ramirez hit but "less purposeful":
The trouble started when Manny Ramirez was hit by a pitch in the seventh while Los Angeles had a nine-run lead, but it didn’t boil over until Guillermo Mota was ejected for drilling Fielder with two outs in the ninth. Dodgers catcher Russell Martin acknowledged it was a response to Chris Smith hitting Ramirez with what appeared to be a much less purposeful pitch.
Joe in Birmingham - August 5, 2009
They didn't have a reason
Russell Martin even admitted it wasn’t about the Brewers, it was about protecting Manny’s feelings. It reminds me of the Pirates throwing at Braun’s injured back up near his head and then pointing out that Dave Bush later hit batters. Of course Bush was throwing his twisty soft junk and some of the HBP were brushing jerseys. Is it ok to throw a 100 mph fastball at Roy’s lower back because some reliever brushs a jersey?
ol Pete - August 5, 2009
crap
Bourn won’t be in the lineup tonight.
Only_A_Lad - August 5, 2009
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