The Sports Thread

[Gazoo]

This made the rounds in my fantasy baseball league: purportedly the infamous Roid List.  No surprises:

http://rotoinfo.com/read_article.php?articleId=318

 Rumored 2003 Steroid list leaks out? at on June 29, 2009

Rumored steroid list (UNCONFIRMED)

 

1.Nomar Garciaparra
2.Manny Ramirez
3.Johnny Damon
4.Trot Nixon
5.David Ortiz
6.Shea Hillenbrand
7.Derek Lowe
8.Pedro Martinez
9.Brian Roberts
10.Jay Gibbons
11.Melvin Mora
12.Jerry Hairston
13.Jason Giambi
14.Alfonso Soriano
15.Raul Mondesi
16. Aaron Boone
17.Andy Pettitte
18.Jose Contreras
19.Roger Clemens
20.Carlos Delgado
21.Vernon Wells
22.Frank Catalanotto
23.Kenny Rogers
24.Magglio Ordonez
25.Sandy Alomar
26.Bartolo Colon
27.Brent Abernathy
28.Jose Lima
29.Milton Bradley
30.Casey Blake
31.Danys Baez
32.Craig Monroe
33.Dmitri Young
34.Alex Sanchez
35.Eric Chavez
36.Miguel Tejada
37.Eric Byrnes
38.Jose Guillen
39.Keith Foulke
40.Ricardo Rincon
41.Bret Boone
42.Mike Cameron
43.Randy Winn
44.Ryan Franklin
45.Freddy Garcia
46.Rafael Soriano
47.Scott Spiezio
48.Troy Glaus
49.Francisco Rodriguez
50.Ben Weber
51.Alex Rodriguez
52.Juan Gonzalez
53.Rafael Palmeiro
54.Carl Everett
55.Javy Lopez
56.Gary Sheffield
57.Mike Hampton
58.Ivan Rodriguez
59.Derrek Lee
60.Bobby Abreu
61.Terry Adams
62.Fernando Tatis
63.Livan Hernandez
64.Hector Almonte
65.Tony Armas
66.Dan Smith
67.Roberto Alomar
68.Cliff Floyd
69.Roger Cedeno
70.Jeromy Burnitz
71.Moises Alou
72.Sammy Sosa
73.Corey Patterson
74.Carlos Zambrano
75.Mark Prior
76.Kerry Wood
77.Matt Clement
78.Antonio Alfonseca
79.Juan Cruz
80.Aramis Ramirez
81.Craig Wilson
82.Kris Benson
83.Richie Sexson
84.Geoff Jenkins
85.Valerio de los Santos
86.Benito Santiago
87.Rich Aurilia
88.Barry Bonds
89.Andres Galarraga
90.Jason Schmidt
91.Felix Rodriguez
92.Jason Christiansen
93.Matt Herges
94.Paul Lo Duca
95.Shawn Green
96.Oliver Perez
97.Adrian Beltre
98.Eric Gagne
99.Guillermo Mota
100.Luis Gonzalez
101.Todd Helton
102.Ryan Klesko
103.Gary Matthews

[mshray]

Interestingly, I don't see any 2003 Cardinals on that list of 103 players, only one then former Cardinal (Tatis) & three who became Cardinals later (Glaus, Spezio & Franklin). 

Granted if Tatis was using in '03 he probably was using in 2000 & 2001 when he was on the Cards, which maybe explains the record he owns that will never be broken.

[Lightnin' Rod]

Interestingly, I don't see any 2003 Cardinals on that list of 103 players, only one then former Cardinal (Tatis) & three who became Cardinals later (Glaus, Spezio & Franklin). 

Granted if Tatis was using in '03 he probably was using in 2000 & 2001 when he was on the Cards, which maybe explains the record he owns that will never be broken.

Oh mc'yeah, mc'right, mc'none of the Cards mc'used.  Give me a break.   

[Gazoo]

Interestingly, I don't see any 2003 Cardinals on that list of 103 players, only one then former Cardinal (Tatis) & three who became Cardinals later (Glaus, Spezio & Franklin). 

Granted if Tatis was using in '03 he probably was using in 2000 & 2001 when he was on the Cards, which maybe explains the record he owns that will never be broken.

The two grand slams in one inning?

Astonishing in its own right, but more so in that both were hit off the same pitcher.

[Tinka Cat]

Interestingly, I don't see any 2003 Cardinals on that list of 103 players, only one then former Cardinal (Tatis) & three who became Cardinals later (Glaus, Spezio & Franklin). 

Granted if Tatis was using in '03 he probably was using in 2000 & 2001 when he was on the Cards, which maybe explains the record he owns that will never be broken.

The two grand slams in one inning?

Astonishing in its own right, but more so in that both were hit off the same pitcher.

wow. I'm guessing it was late innings, late in the season, and game meant nothing to the other team?

[mshray]

Interestingly, I don't see any 2003 Cardinals on that list of 103 players, only one then former Cardinal (Tatis) & three who became Cardinals later (Glaus, Spezio & Franklin). 

Granted if Tatis was using in '03 he probably was using in 2000 & 2001 when he was on the Cards, which maybe explains the record he owns that will never be broken.

The two grand slams in one inning?

Astonishing in its own right, but more so in that both were hit off the same pitcher.

wow. I'm guessing it was late innings, late in the season, and game meant nothing to the other team?

I forget, but how many players have ever even had two AT BATS in the same inning with the bases loaded?  I bet Elias could give us a list & it would be prety short.

Speaking of Cardinals hitting home runs, last week Pujols struck out with the bases loaded.  Prior to that on the season he had been 5 for 5 with three slams.  He can go 0 fer his next 9 bases loaded at bats and still be hitting .333, slugging .933, with 16 RBI's.

[urth]

Interestingly, I don't see any 2003 Cardinals on that list of 103 players, only one then former Cardinal (Tatis) & three who became Cardinals later (Glaus, Spezio & Franklin). 

Granted if Tatis was using in '03 he probably was using in 2000 & 2001 when he was on the Cards, which maybe explains the record he owns that will never be broken.

The two grand slams in one inning?

Astonishing in its own right, but more so in that both were hit off the same pitcher.

wow. I'm guessing it was late innings, late in the season, and game meant nothing to the other team?

I forget, but how many players have ever even had two AT BATS in the same inning with the bases loaded?  I bet Elias could give us a list & it would be prety short.

Speaking of Cardinals hitting home runs, last week Pujols struck out with the bases loaded.  Prior to that on the season he had been 5 for 5 with three slams.  He can go 0 fer his next 9 bases loaded at bats and still be hitting .333, slugging .933, with 16 RBI's.

It wasn't in the same inning, but in the only game I've ever attended at Fenway Park, I saw Scott Hatteberg come up with the bases loaded twice, in consecutive at bats. First time he hit into a triple play. The second time he knocked it out for a 'slam. At the time he was the only player ever to have done that, and probably still is. He went from goat to hero in one swing.

[mshray]

It wasn't in the same inning, but in the only game I've ever attended at Fenway Park, I saw Scott Hatteberg come up with the bases loaded twice, in consecutive at bats. First time he hit into a triple play. The second time he knocked it out for a 'slam. At the time he was the only player ever to have done that, and probably still is. He went from goat to hero in one swing.

Well triple plays are even rarer than perfect games, so the odds of that are astronomically higher than even what Tatis did.  Pretty cool to see with your own eyes.

[urth]

It wasn't in the same inning, but in the only game I've ever attended at Fenway Park, I saw Scott Hatteberg come up with the bases loaded twice, in consecutive at bats. First time he hit into a triple play. The second time he knocked it out for a 'slam. At the time he was the only player ever to have done that, and probably still is. He went from goat to hero in one swing.

Well triple plays are even rarer than perfect games, so the odds of that are astronomically higher than even what Tatis did.  Pretty cool to see with your own eyes.

Wow, I didn't realize triple plays were *that* uncommon. I've seen two of those (saw the Padres turn one against the Giants at the 'Stick once). I've never seen a perfect game--or even a no-hitter.

Triple plays mess with the fans' minds and probably the players, too. You're sitting there, got at least two on base and nobody out, the batter hits the ball, and next thing you know everyone's running back into the dugout. "WTF just happened?!?"

Maybe you were thinking of an unassisted triple play? Now *those* are really rare.

[mshray]

Maybe you were thinking of an unassisted triple play? Now *those* are really rare.

I guess I must have been.  per Wikipedia there have been 17 perfect games and only 14 unassisted triple plays in MLB history (also on the same level of rareness is a player hitting 4 HR's in a game - 15 times).  So while the comparison is incorrect, the odds of Hatteberg doing that are still an order of magnitude higher than Tatis's feat.  There have been 672 triple plays in MLB history dating from 1876, while there were 152 grand slams in 2005 alone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_play#cite_note-1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_game
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_slam_(baseball)

and since Tinka wondered:

wow. I'm guessing it was late innings, late in the season, and game meant nothing to the other team?

Tatis hit his in the 3rd inning of an April 23 game against Chan Ho Park of the Dodgers.

[mshray]

a couple of other intersting facts I learned while noodling around on this topic:

In Game 5 of the 1920 World Series (remember this was the next year after the Black Sox scandal), Cleveland and Brooklyn were tied at 2 games each.  In the bottom of the first, Elmer Smith hit the first grand slam in Series history.  Then in the bottom of the 4th Jim Bagby hit the first home run by a pitcher in the WS.  In the next half inning Brooklyn got back to back singles and only a good throw from Tris Speaker kept the runner at second.  Brooklyn send up pinch hitter Clarence Mitchell (who was 6 for 16 that year as a PH), and he hits a line drive to center.  2nd baseman Bill Wambsganss snags the ball, his momentum carries him a few steps to tag second base, and when he turns to throw back to first he finds the base runner frozen directly in front of him (see photo).  Unassisted triple play.  Mitchell stayed in the game, and coming up again in the 8th he hit into a double play: two swings, five outs.



In Game 1 of the 1988 WS, Jose Canseco hit his first career slam, but nobody remembers because in the bottom of the 9th Gibson limps up & hits the home run off of Eckersley that makes Jack Buck say, "I don't believe what I just saw!"

In 2006 Travis Hafner hit 5 grand slams before the all-star break, and then hit one more in the second half to tie Don Mattingly's record of 6 in a single season.  And even more amazingly, how many grand slams did Mattingly hit in his 14 year career?  Just those 6.

[RGMike]

So, after reading the news here about Palin, I switched from the Giants game (which had just started) to CNN to catch up on that and other news. An hour later I switch back to the game... and the G-men are winning 13-0 !!. All hail "The Big Sadowski"!

[urth]

Interestingly, I don't see any 2003 Cardinals on that list of 103 players, only one then former Cardinal (Tatis) & three who became Cardinals later (Glaus, Spezio & Franklin). 

Granted if Tatis was using in '03 he probably was using in 2000 & 2001 when he was on the Cards, which maybe explains the record he owns that will never be broken.

The two grand slams in one inning?

Astonishing in its own right, but more so in that both were hit off the same pitcher.

wow. I'm guessing it was late innings, late in the season, and game meant nothing to the other team?

I forget, but how many players have ever even had two AT BATS in the same inning with the bases loaded?  I bet Elias could give us a list & it would be prety short.

Speaking of Cardinals hitting home runs, last week Pujols struck out with the bases loaded.  Prior to that on the season he had been 5 for 5 with three slams.  He can go 0 fer his next 9 bases loaded at bats and still be hitting .333, slugging .933, with 16 RBI's.

He got another one tonight. That makes him 6-for-7 with the bases loaded, four slams, and 20 ribbies. That's insane.

[RGMike]

The All-Star starters have been named -- among pitchers in the NL, both Lincecum and Cain are going.

[mshray]

He got another one tonight. That makes him 6-for-7 with the bases loaded, four slams, and 20 ribbies. That's insane.

He's even more insane than that. After seeing that last one, I rechecked the info, and found out that I was wrong earlier - he didn't strike out.  Facing Johan Santana, he hit the ball to the warning track in left (where it was caught by none other than Tatis!), but there were already two outs. 

In fact that was the only time in his last TWELVE! plate appearances with the bases loaded that he was scored with an out, covering a calendar year. He's actually 9-10, with 2 Sacrifices & a total of 28 RBIs.  If the at bat vs Santana had been with 0 or 1 outs it would have been a Sac Fly, and in most other ballparks (incl. Busch) it would have been another Slam.   

7/9/2008, @PHI, Chad Durbin, down 0 - 2, 1 out, 0-0 count, Flyball: LF/Sacrifice Fly, 1 RBI
7/19/2008, SDP, Randy Wolf, down 0 - 5, 1 out, 0-0 count, Double to LF, 3 RBI
8/6/2008, LAD, Derek Lowe, tied 3 - 3, 1 out, 0-0 count, Home Run, 4 RBI 
8/22/2008, ATL, Charlie Morton, ahead 1 - 0, 1 out, 1-1 count, Double to RF, 2 RBI
4/11/2009, HOU, Roy Oswalt, ahead 2 - 0, 1 out, 0-0 count, Home Run, 4 RBI 
4/14/2009, @ARI, Chad Qualls, down 5 - 6, 1 out, 0-2 count, Single to RF, 1 RBI 
4/17/2009, @CHC, Carlos Zambrano, down 0 - 3, 1 out, 0-1 count, Flyball: LF/Sacrifice Fly, 1 RBI
4/25/2009, CHC, David Patton, ahead 3 - 1, 1 out, 0-0 count, Home Run, 4 RBI 
6/21/2009, @KCR, Gil Meche, tied 4 - 4, 1 out, 3-2 count, Home Run, 4 RBI 
6/23/2009, @NYM, Livan Hernandez, ahead 1 - 0, 1 out, 0-0 count, Single to LF,2 RBI
6/25/2009, @NYM, Johan Santana, ahead 1 - 0, 2 out, 1-0 count, Flyball: LF out, 0 RBI
7/3/2009, @CIN, David Weathers, down 3 - 0, 1 out, 2-2 count, Home Run, 4 RBI

(I found this on a cardinals fan site, I only had to add the last at bat)

This means he's batting .900 and slugging 2.600.  There simply aren't any suitable superlatives for this.