Dumb mistake by the prosecution side but considering ESPN or some other place had details about some of the jurors, I wouldn't have been surprised if the jury decided on a mistrial as well if it had gone on that long.

A few of them sounded like legit dumbasses in terms of sports or knowledge of what the case is about. I think one of them didn't understand how perjury is a crime or what steroids was.

The jury was made up of 10 females, 2 males, and 4 alternates. Unless the women were sports savvy, he probably would have walked anyway.

He used to have a lot of success versus Baltimore, so why not lol

Colon got lit up like a god damn christmas tree.

Time to evaluate the Padres' best trading chips, and what club, in my opinion, they match up best to.

RYAN LUDWICK-LF
245/310/390 11HR 55RBI 14DBL

Though not having a banner year offensively, Ludwick has put up a respectable line despite hitting in one of, if not arguably the worst hitter's park in all of baseball. He is the Padres' number one offensive trading piece, and the Padres will likely move him come the trading deadline, if not earlier. A few teams could use the help, but the CINCINNATI REDS seem to be the best fit. Jonny Gomes' 218/345/417 line has left much to be desired this season in Cincy, and Ludwick getting inserted into the middle of that lineup looks like the best fit for him and the team.

MIKE ADAMS-RHP
3-1 1.32 ERA 41K 6BB 1SV 23H

Adams might be the most attractive bullpen piece up for grabs for the Padres, not only due to his numbers this season, but also due to the fact that an acquiring team would have him for the final two months or so of the season, as well as next season. He has yet to have a bad season since coming to San Diego, and has appeared in at least 50 games in 3 of the last 4 seasons. Padres are rumored to be looking for a team's best prospect in return, and have a good amount of leverage with Adams due to his team controlled status through the end of 2012. The New York Yankees, with all the injuries their bullpen has suffered, seems like the best fit for Adams, and they have a few young players who could be moved to appease the Padres.

HEATH BELL-RHP
2-3 2.43ERA 27K 13BB 26SV

Bell has converted all but one save opportunity this year, where a lead was blown due to a throwing error. He's been one of the best closers in the game since he took over for the departing Trevor Hoffman in 2009. Bell is a free agent at the end of the season, so his trade value may not be as high as Adams'. He has stated, however, that he's more than willing to accept a set up role if it means having a chance at a championship. The St. Louis Cardinals have been the team mentioned most for Bell, who could easily slot into their closer role.

CHAD QUALLS
4-3 2.70ERA 24K 12BB 0SV 40H

Qualls is having a good bounce back season after struggling mightily all season in 2010. He likely does not have much value, but is still a strong candidate to be moved to any team looking to pad the bullpen.

SLEEPER PICKS

CHASE HEADLEY-3B
.299/.391/.401 2HR 31RBI 25DBL

Headley is finally having the season that resembles what he was scouted as having the potential to do. His power is sapped from batting primarily left handed at PETCO park, but every other offensive stat across the board has shown great improvement over 2010's production. Headley has more power than he's show, and could be a 15HR type hitter in a more neutral ballpark. He's also controllable for the next few years, and is one of the better defensive 3rd baseman in the league. Jed Hoyer has said Headley's a guy he'd like to build around, but with 3rd baseman James Darnell getting closer, and top prospect Jedd Gyorko seemingly fast tracking himself to the bigs, Headley could be moved for a package of prospects. The team seemingly in most need is the Reds. Rolen's production has fallen off a cliff this season, and Headley is a nice, controllable upgrade there. The only issue is Rolen is due $6mil for next season, and I have a hard time seeing any team taking on that salary without the Reds picking up the tab.

I don't want to see Carlos Marmol in a Cubs uniform ever again.

Somebody shoot Marmol and Quade.

and probably Kerry Wood.

Carlos Marmol just put a nail in the Cubs season, Quade, Jim Henry and his own job. All in one inning. I hope they deport him back to the Dominican.

I wish this was Zambranos start. If this was Zambranos start, Marmol wouldn't make it out of the clubhouse tonight.

How many blown saves does Marmol have? his numbers make it seem like he's having a pretty good season on a team that is going nowhere. I don't get all the hostility.

I would imagine it's more the way he blows saves than the amount, since he is a giant walk monster.

Yeesh you weren't lying. Oh well. I'm sure some team will take a chance on him. He's not owed a ridiculous amount over the next few years.

these Ubaldo Jimenez trade rumors are getting out of control, yet I stupidly continue to read them.

Mets are said to be going with a 3-way closer by committee.

I gotta figure Isringhausen gets first dibs. The Mets have basically 2 weeks to go on a tear/get back into any realistic contention...so they go with the proven guy and if nothing else, a good couple of weeks for Izzy could see him get moved for a mid-level prospect. Then Parnell and Beato share the duties to figure out who will close in 2012.

lol the Yankees lost to Jo Jo Reyes, despite his best attempts to give the Yanks the game.

Gertie what's the word on Bautista? That slide was nasty.

Marmol has blown 7 of 26 save attempts. Please give us Ubaldo for him.

damn that's a lot more than I thought

So who's worse for the Cubs, Carlos Marmol or Mike Quade?

Carlos Marmol in to close this bitch out!!!

1 Walk

Mike Quade is unbelievable right now. I can't believe he has Marmol out there again.

is this seriously happening right now?

I don't believe this. Is Quade really that stupid?

If Marmol doesn't close this, Quade will be fired. You can see it on his face .

BOOM Marlon Byrd.

and Hanley Ramirez makes an awful mistake

Marlon Byrd might have just saved Quades job for another game.

holy fuck Marmol. Throw a goddamn fastball.

god the marlins have an irritating television broadcast

HIS NAME IS DAAAAAAN UUUUGGGGGGLAAAAAAAAA

I really feel like Quade just bet his job on this ninth inning.

Praise Jesus for Sean Marshall.

Sean Marshall is money

I love the broadcasters, they just play a super annoying song everytime they go to the bullpen and it makes me want to kill myself

damn, was hoping for a home run

I personally cannot stand the Marlins announcers.

Doug Melvin is a genius.

He renegotiated K-Rod's contract. He kicked the buyout up from $3.5 mil. to $4 mil. and K-Rod can be used anytime during the game in exchange for turning that games finished vesting option into a mutual option.

<font color=goldenrod>It's a concession that makes sense from K-Rod's perspective, since there was no way in hell he was gonna finish 21 games otherwise. Now if Axford blows, K-Rod can get more saves with no consequence.</font>

<font color=goldenrod>Some Mets fans are gonna wonder why Alderson didn't ask K-Rod to drop his option...but there is no chance it would have happened. Getting traded caused K-Rod to lose negotiating flexibility. On the Mets, there was zero reason to willingly drop the option since he'd be guaranteed to either finish enough games for it to vest or he'd get moved to set-up and file a grievance to get the money either way.</font>

Great move by Melvin. Love how aggressive he can be. I have very little doubt that Melvin and Boras didn't have, at the very least, the parameters of this recent contract restructuring worked out prior to the deal.

Good deal for both sides. KRod gets the chance to finish more games, and the Brewers don't have to foot that atrocious bill. Someone should have sent Minaya to the school Melvin went to.

Braves become the 3rd team in baseball history to reach 10,000 wins after beating the Nationals 11-1 today.

Only the Giants and Cubs have more wins while I think the Phillies are still the only team with 10,000 losses.

I think the next team closet to 10,000 is the Yankees but they are around 5-10 years away from reaching it while the next closet for 10,000 losses (Orioles or Cubs) needs almost a decade to reach that one.

<font color=goldenrod>Unless you're a fan of one of the other NL Central teams - if you aren't rooting for the Pirates, you have no soul.</font>

Great start Carlos. Pick up right where Marmol left off. Lets just get rid of all Carlos's please.

The Braves will get to 10,000 losses this year too. They aren't far off.

<font color=goldenrod>Beltran out today with flu-like symptoms. So the Mets are trotting out this lineup against Cole Hamels:

1. Angel Pagan, CF
2. Justin Turner, 2B
3. Scott Hairston, RF
4. Daniel Murphy, 3B
5. Jason Bay, LF
6. Ronny Paulino, C
7. Nick Evans, 1B
8. Ruben Tejada, SS
9. Jon Niese, P

And of course it's the FOX game, so I won't even have the SNY team to keep me entertained.</font>

What a pathetic peice of shit team. Seriously. What a joke.

From what I've heard, he'll be held out of the Yankees series and return for the Seattle series on Tuesday. Small chance of his return Sunday.

Mike Stanton is destroying lives in Chicago right now.

<font color=goldenrod>Holy shit Scott Hairston.

Carlos Who?</font> :shifty:

:eek: Lackey has managed to pitch 2 good games in a row and that is not saying much considering how awful or inconsistent he's been at times.

He had his typical horrible inning with today occurring in the 1st but after stopped Tampa from doing any more damage.

Good for lackey. They are going to need him to pitch decent enough down the stretch to remain ahead of the Yankees, and possibly the Rays. Once they get into the playoffs, though, I don't see where Lackey figures.

:rofl:

Minus the pitcher, this should be the A lineup since they sent Hamels packing early and kicked ass at the same time today.

It depends on Buccholz but right now Lackey would be the #4 guy. Buccholz got his return pushed back to around late August to early September which now leave him with just a few starts to get back to his old self before the playoffs.

The bigger concern is Lester because as long as he doesn't have a set back, then the Red Sox don't have to suddenly panic at the trade deadline to boost the rotation.

I think they should at least look for a solid middle of the rotation starter. Buccholz is going to need some time to get back into the swing of things, and having a solid starter in the rotation would be a wise move.

<font color=goldenrod>Yeah, incredible game. And Hairston drove in a career-high 5 runs.

Alright, it's safe to trade Beltran now. We got this.</font> :cool: :shifty:

The Padres brought their hitting sticks to the ballpark this afternoon. They;ve tagged Zito for 2 three run homers and an RBI single ad hold a 7-1 lead in the bottom of the 4th. Loving this.

There's a deal on the table for Aramis Ramirez to go to the Angels for two prospects, one possibly being Chris Schnoll and the other being a top 15 prospect. They are waiting for Ramirez to decide if he wants to waive his NTC.

I hope it's Tyler Chatwood

I had my doubts about Freddie Freeman starting as a rookie at first this year, but he is playing ridiculously good baseball right now. Unfortunately, Jason Heyward is having a horrible second year. He isn't squaring up balls very often, and seems to roll out to second at least once a game.

Red Sox-Rays now in the 15th inning at 12:12 am central time score is 0-0 geez

Epic pitching matchup that finally ended 1-0 Red Sox after 16 innings.

The worst part is the Rays won't have much of a bullpen for Monday's game against the Yankees while the Red Sox still need to travel for their game against Baltimore.

Yeah, I'm still for the Red Sox acquiring another starter rather than a right-handed bat. Buchholz is going to have a difficult time getting back to his old self in September after dealing with a back injury, and I think it's only a matter of time before Wakefield starts falling apart since he hasn't been good in the 2nd half for a number of years now, not surprisingly given his age.

Im happy about that. Anything to help the Os out after they just got on a 2 game winning streak for the first time in a month is fine by me.

If the Pirates can stay within reach of the NL Central lead over the next month, they MIGHT just have a chance.

Thursday they have an off day, then play 20 consecutive days (the most allowed by the agreement with MLBPA) - including 3 at home vs the Cardinals, 3 at home vs the Padres, 3 games in Philly, 3 in SF, and 4 in ATL. This is definitely MAKE IT OR BREAK IT for the Battlin' Bucs.

Pirates are crazy, who the hell even pitches for them? I know the black kid McDonald, but I don't think he's really been anything special. I guess Morton and Maholm have apparently done well. Who else is in their rotation? Jeff Karstens? Ohlendorff? No idea


Dirty bullpen and some crazy nice young bats though


Edit

Forgot about Correjia (sp) is having a pretty nice year

I'm pulling for the Pirates. An old friend of mine who's dad I've known since I was a kid is a big time Pirates fan, and I know it'd make his day if they were able to somehow find their way into the playoffs.

1. Correia (11-7, 4.04 ERA)
2. Maholm (6-9, 3.06)
3. Morton (8-5, 3.62)
4. McDonald (5-4, 4.42)
5. Karstens (8-4, 2.34)

Evan Meek (1-1, 3.15) is currently on the 15-day DL (since June 10). for the second time this season. Ross Ohlendorf (0-0, 7.27 in 2 starts) has been on the 60-day DL since VERY early in the season.

The Pirates are 15-6 against shitty teams (read: the Cubs and the Astros) and 35-38 against everyone else.

They're basically making due with a respectable, non spectacular pitching staff. I'd be willing to bet they're and at least above average team defensively considering all of their starters are pitch to contact guys who won't miss many bats.

Sounds like the 2010 Reds :shifty:

...If you beat teams you SHOULD beat, and maintain a .500 average against winning teams, you win the NL Central.

GO PIRATES!

I wish next week would hurry the fuck up and get here. Outside of a few glimmers of hope (Cameron Maybin's development, Chase Headley's emergence, etc.), watching the Padres has been a chore in and of itself. Not only are they bad, but they're unexciting. I just want them to trade their best pieces so I can see some young guys come up and get excited for the possible prospects they recieve.

The Pirates in first place, who knew? I'm quite excited really. Going to follow them more now rather than the Braves. Still rooting for both teams though.

http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/...if?w=256&h=192

I hope I never get tired of seeing this.

The Pirates might be in first place but there is still the annual trade deadline deals left that the Pirates love to do each year although the backlash would be huge if the team dismantles again for no real reason like every year.

That deadline and not their 20 game stretch is probably the biggest obstacle left for them reaching the playoffs or having a winning record.

It has been stated in several outlets that the Pirates are looking to add pitching and possibly a LF bat. They're not trading anyone this season. As long as they don't mortgage their future, they're going to make a move to get better.

Good news for our favorite Mets fan:

According to Buster Olney of ESPN.com, the Mets are now "100 percent certain" that they will not trade Jose Reyes before the deadline.

That settles that. It wasn't too long ago that many assumed that a trade was a foregone conclusion, but Olney writes that Reyes has "changed their minds." The Mets are a longshot to contend for a playoff spot this season, but parting with Reyes would almost certainly cause an uproar in the fanbase which would be difficult for the new front office to recover from.

Just imagine the uproar the fans will emit when Reyes walks for a monstrous contract elsewhere, and the Mets are left hoping the two draft picks they get will turn out.

<font color=goldenrod>I wouldn't write off the Mets being able to re-sign Reyes. K-Rod's monster option is off the table and the bloated contracts of Beltran, Perez, Castillo, etc. are coming off the books. Add that to the fact that Reyes clearly wants to stay and his agent has been known to negotiate team-friendly deals and I think they'll work something out.

I'd guess the big "sticking point" is years. I'd think the Mets will need to wind up guaranteeing a 6th year to seal the deal but who knows. Alderson's normally not one to ink huge contracts, but Einhorn will be kicking in more capital so the money to retain Reyes is there and keeping him will be huge from a ticket sale perspective. Not to mention the free agent market this year is going to be incredibly weak anyway.</font>

I hope the Mets do resign Reyes. I wouldn't want to hear you cry about it all offseason.

Stephen Drew just broke something.

Yep, his ankle. Done for the season. Goodbye playoffs.

Jays sweep the Mariners and their bullpen somehow manages not to fuck things up.

Pirates sign Jason Grilli.

I guess they're gonna use him to set up Hanrahan.

I think there's a good chance the Mets resign him, but if they don't get it done during their exlcusive negotiating period, they're going to be in trouble. There are a few teams that could sweep in and sign him.

In Padres news, rumors are swirling that Ryan Ludwick being traded to the Indians is close to being finalized. Also, Anthony Rizzo, the 1st baseman the Padres received in the 3 fo 1 Adrian Gonzalez deal, has been sent back to AAA Tuscon, while Kyle Blanks, for top Padres prospect, has been recalled. Blanks has ridiculous power, He struggled a lot last year before getting hurt. I'm hoping he finds his stroke, because when he's on, the ball goes a long way.

Whatever happens with Reyes, I'm sure it'll be the best thing for the Mets, since Alderson is in charge, and he's been there, done that.

Now, the Mets HAVE to do something about David Wright...dude's fallen off the radar HARD...they gotta get him back into it...

What are you talking about? Wright has been injured this year. Period. Last year was pretty much a regular year in his career.

...IDK, I just feel David Wright hasn't lived up to expectations...you don't hear about him as much the last couple years as you did before...maybe it's the fact he's been injured, and I've forgotten him, who knows...

A lot of it has to do with the Mets not being a playoff front runner, and playing second fiddle to the Yankees.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...righda03.shtml

The guy had one "bad" year, but even then, the only thing that took a dip was his HR totals. Everything else was on par. If the Mets were playoff contenders, Wright would be heard from more often. The guy is arguably the best 3rd baseman in the National League.

I would say that he is. With no question. Who's better?

<font color=goldenrod>Wright's on tap to return tomorrow, which will be excellent.

Today was probably Beltran's last home game as a Met. :( Fucking crazy to think that I was only a sophomore in high school when he signed his huge contract. :o Time flies.</font>

I thought you were 12?

Offensively, some would give Aramis Ramirez an honorable mention...but he's just so streaky...

Wright is a better player than Ramirez. He's a better defender, has more speed, and is a more complete player in general. Not to say Ramirez isn't good, 'cause he's a stud. But I'd take Wright over him any day.

As a Cubs fan, so would I.

I respect your objectivity.

I wouldn't take anyone over Ramirez RIGHT NOW, but of course, he's in the middle of a hot streak...

...now, 2 weeks from now or so, when he's in the middle of one of his weeks-long slumps, I'll probably feel otherwise...