After the All-Star break left us with two days without a single MLB game last week, we return to our normal schedule. Fans in Britain will have to stay up late on Monday and Tuesday to catch some live MLB action, but there is a decent amount of choice during the evening for the rest of the week. As always, all times are listed in BST. Continue reading
Week 15 is an All-Star game special. It’s the event that has dominated the week, as it does every year, and fortunately it actually deserved all of the attention this year. Continue reading
The MLB publicity machine has been running on full speed for weeks now, promoting the 2007 All-Star Game as a must-see event. Up until last night, I had been fairly ambivalent towards it all. Continue reading
Well, we’ve reached the halfway point of the season, the All-Star game is nearly upon us and players who are not part of the festivities are looking forward to a break (all three days of it!). As always, MLB has produced a wide variety of stories over the last week. Here’s my personal selection of the highlights and lowlights. Continue reading
Ask a baseball fan to draw up a list of potential “drug cheats†and you would probably find several names coming up time and again, but Neifi Perez wouldn’t be one of them. MLB has announced today that Perez has been suspended for twenty-five games after failing a drugs test for a second time (first-time offenders don’t even get a slap on the wrist by the looks of it). “No hit†Neifi was found to have an illegal stimulant in his system, with the MLB.com website report referring to amphetamines, or “greenies†as they are known in clubhouses.
The knee-jerk reaction is to make fun of the situation. Yes, you have to wonder how bad Perez would be if he wasn’t on something! The underlying issues are more interesting than that though.
While everybody focuses their “does he?/doesn’t he?†musings on the big-name players, maybe a guy like Perez, a thirty-four year old fringe player in danger of losing his Major League spot, is more likely to risk taking something because he has more to lose than most? The fact that he has been banned for taking amphetamines clouds the issue somewhat: many Major Leaguers see them as a part of the job rather than an illegal performance enhancing drug. Still, the rules say they are illegal and that’s the end of the matter. Dosing up on strong coffee or cans of Red Bull is now the order of the day it seems.
It will be interesting to hear the reactions of his fellow professionals and, of course, whether anyone else fails the test for a second time for the same reason in the near future.
Once again, British baseball fans should clear their schedules for Wednesday and Thursday evening, with some great match-ups to enjoy via MLB.TV or Gameday Audio. Continue reading
Another week brings another batch of historic achievements. With the 2007 All-Star line-ups set to be announced later this evening, let’s take a look at who may have increased their chances of getting picked during the final week of voting, and who may have done the opposite. Continue reading