That two-hit shutout was his third-best start this month. Unbelievable.
The Dodgers are 9-1 when he starts, 14-22 when he doesn’t.
Admirable sentiment
Apples and oranges. I hope the following makes you reconsider.
Ortiz failed one test, along with 100 other players, way back in 2003 (when he was a Twin), before PEDs were outlawed, and the results of the test were supposed to be secret (yet conveniently leaked somehow). He’s also probably the most tested MLB player ever.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/03/26/david-ortiz-still-haunted-failed-drug-test/
A-Rod, among other douchetacular* things, confessed to the DEA to using steroids, paid $1 million hush money to keep his involvement in Biogenesis secret and covered his doctor’s legal fees.
*cough centaur painting
He is a major league douchebag, but don’t forget that A-Rod never failed a test either. I simply believe this guy, and many others, juiced for as long and as frequently as Mr. Rodriguez. It would be fantastically naive to think that the majority of users got caught.
He leads the league!
Related to that, this article’s kind of interesting:
Basically, if Ortiz is indeed “the most tested MLB player ever,” it’s not because someone is out to get him, it’s not because he’s a nice guy who doesn’t kvetch and moan too much about being singled out; it’s because he failed a drug test of some kind after 2003.
The only way you can be tested as many times as Ortiz says he has been is if he was caught taking some kind of banned substance (the article says probably amphetamines) following the leaked PED test we all know about. That’s because the agreement between the union and MLB mandates an Ortiz-level of testing for people with certain “first offenses” following the 2003 survey tests. If Ortiz wasn’t among them, the union would have balked.
In any case, drug tests for athletes are notoriously unreliable. As others have noted, the fact that Ortiz can say “I’ve taken x drug tests in the last y years and they’ve all come up clean!” should convince absolutely no one that he has in fact never used banned substances.
Holy crap, I guess the Mariners were due for “one of those nights”.
Tony Gwynn’s family has filed a “wrongful death” lawsuit against the tobacco industry, claiming that they were looking for a way to appeal to more black athletes. According to the family, Gwynn was a dream come true. So the tobacco industry jumped on him in college.
He dipped for 31 years, and died of salivary gland cancer
Anybody want another lecture about their hypocrisy and manufactured outrage over PED’s? Or about how you *cannot *know who, if anybody, was clean in that era?
I didn’t think so. But it would be nice to see a few more people stop pretending.
Sure, ok, let’s pretend that Ortiz is the Virgin Swan of all athletic competition. For all times. La la la la, forever more.
OK, so in happier news: The Yankees have reached .500!
Yay Mediocrity!
But considering the Yanks were 8-16 on May 3rd, 22-22 looks pretty sweet right now.
In pretty good fashion, too. The pitcher had hit a two-run double before taking the mound.
Next game, Arrieta gets the start.
Um, no. Try again.
Nah. Arod isn’t especially likeable, but he hasn’t ever committed assault or drove drunk, or anything else that put other people in danger, which can’t be said about all major leaguers.
Whew. Mariners are back to their normal selves, though I was getting worried last night. Mariners were down 5-4 vs. the A’s. Bottom of the 9th, 2 outs, 2 strikes on the batter, and Leonys Martin whacks a walkoff 2-run HR.
I think those things are outside the scope of “douchebag,” which is more about attitude and carriage than material actions. A-Rod is self-absorbed, arrogant, entitled, obnoxious, tasteless, and crass. That’s a douchebag. Urinating on his cousin’s house more expressive than substantive, so I reckon that’s within the terms of his douchebaggery. Sending goons to threaten violence against his former drug supplier, however, was something a bit else.
By the way, I was on the road for a little bit yesterday and wanted to catch the Indians game on satellite radio, so I got tuned in to the White Sox’s pre-game show. I don’t generally have anything against the White Sox (other than Hawk), but Jesus Christ were those guys ever smug about the fact that Chris Sale was an automatic win yesterday, and that they were virtually guaranteed to win again the next day because they had Quintana on the mound.
Now, I fully acknowledge that Chris Sale is the best pitcher in the AL and that the Indians are not considered a powerhouse team. But the Indians have also been playing well of late AND they were also starting an undefeated pitcher (who, again, I acknowledge hasn’t had the stats that Sale has had). I took tremendous pleasure in Sale getting knocked out of the game early, not because I hate Sale, but because I was just imagining those radio bastards falling all over themselves trying to explain the implosion.
I mean, hell, even Kershaw has a bad game once in a while. There is no such thing as “automatic” in baseball. Also, Quintana’s going up against Kluber so maybe don’t bet the house on the Sox getting a W today, either.
Jesus. Assholes. 
Jake Arrieta’s line today:
5 IP, 4 runs allowed - all earned, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts.
First time he’d allowed over 3 runs in a game in almost a full calendar year. Luckily, the Cubs had another 6 run outburst, so he’s still in line for the win.
The other night, Coco Crisp had his 1500th hit in his 1500th game.
Arrieta, Kershaw, Syndergaard in the NL; Sale in the AL – so many pitchers off to phenomenal starts this year.
No love for Hawk? Mercy!! I’m not a White Sox fan but I get a kick out of him. If your home team announcers want to be, well, homers, then more power to 'em.