No no-no for you:With two Tommy John surgeries under your belt and you haven’t pitched in the majors in nearly two years, it’s probably best if you listen to your manager. However, that was the last thing on Nathan Eovaldi’s mind as he handed the ball to skipper Kevin Cash when he was pulled from his no-no hitter after six innings. Eovaldi even had to be coaxed into shaking Cash’s hand. Eovaldi knew he didn’t have the stamina to go all the way and that he didn’t need the added pressure on the arm but it was still painful to hand over a no-no to someone else. The Rays eventually 1 hit the A’s and won 6-0.
Slide away:Two hard slides defined the Pirates/Cubs series this week. It should have been about the two teams battling for first place but instead the slide rule came into effect again. Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo took out Pirates catcher Elias Diaz at home while attempting to break up a double play in one game and Pirates pitche Joe Musgrave slid hard into second at Cubs infielder Javy Baez to break up a double play in another. One slide was reviewed and over turned in one game and the other. Cubs manager Joe Maddon is infuriated with the rule.
"It was a review which turned out to be a non-review," Maddon continued. "That's what they said, based on Javy not attempting to throw ... Throwing the ball, not throwing the ball. Good slide, bad slide. It's really all over the map and it makes it really difficult on the umpire."
I say get rid of the rule. It’s bad for baseball. Let them play.
Putting out a Theory:Tampa Bay outfielder Carlos Gomez used to make headlines because of his brash style of baseball and his stat line. Now, it’s just brash headlines. Gomez accused Major League Baseball of singling out certain players in the random test drug pool. Gomez claims he’s been tested six or seven times in the first nine weeks of the season; the latest one being only three days after a DL stint. Gomez believes that the drug tests aren’t random and that the league it targeting older players and Latino players.
So far, only three players in the MLB have tested positive this season and they all hail from the Dominican Republic.
"I am not afraid. Do all the tests that you want. Keep doing it to me," Gomez said. "But I say it clearly, it's not random, because it's not. And I'm not going to keep quiet, because I've earned my position here."
