MySports Today

We all kind of suspected it, but our suspicions were confirmed when the NY Times reported that Sammy Sosa was one of the players that tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs back in 2003.  The Yankees Alex Rodriguez is the only other player that has been linked to the 2003 positive PED test results.

Sosa went from a skinny outfielder to a muscular hunk of a ballplayer during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.  Sosa is the only player in major league baseball history to hit 60 or more home runs in 3 different seasons.  While the release of Rodriguez’s name and Sosa’s name has raised other issues – the test results were to remain anonymous under an agreement between MLB and the players union – it is a shame to finally have confirmation that Sosa used PED’s to enhance his play on the field.  Sosa played for the Cubs from 1992-2004 and was the main draw for Cubs fans during that time.  He is the Cubs all-time home run leader with 545 home runs.

During the Cubs-White Sox cross-town classic this week at Wrigley Field, Cubs Manager Lou Pinella and White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen both commented on the Sosa outing and the test results.

Pinella had this to say:  “It’s a shame that baseball keeps going back to the past.  Baseball is doing a good job today of cleaning up all these issues.  That’s what we should be focusing on.  I don’t know how this news gets out.  In my case, I wasn;’t here, and I wish that we would just focus on today and what the sport is doing as opposed to what happened in the past.”

Guillen had this to say:  “It’s very, very sad how names start to come out.  And every week baseball has to deal with these names.  And whoever is leaking the information, whoever got the rights to the information, they should right away say something and get it over with, because it’s put everyone in baseball, not just Chicago people, everyone in baseball, dealing with this situation they shouldn’t be dealing with any more.  We got enough time to clean this thing.”

Only 2 of the 103 players that tested positive during the 2003 testing have been identified.  At this point, if names are going to be leaked out 1 by 1, we should really just get it over with it and have all the names disclosed.  It’s ridiculous that all of the focus is on Sosa and Rodriguez because someone broke the law and violated the terms of the confidentiality of the testing.  The person leaking these names should be forced to disclose the source, so that the source can be properly punished for violating the terms of the testing.  We doubt this will ever happen, but until someone makes a fuss over this, we’ll continue to get information piecemeal over time.  Not good for baseball, for the players or for us, the fans.

The Twins defeated the White Sox 20-1 on their home turf on Thursday afternoon.  It matched the most lopsided loss in White Sox history – the White Sox lost 19-0 against the Angels in Anaheim back in 2002.

Bartolo Colon took the loss for the White Sox – lasting only 2 innigs.  He gave up 8 runs, although to his defense, the 7 runs in the 2nd inning were all unearned after a Wilson Betemit error kept the inning alive.  The White Sox bullpen did not do much better.  Lance Broadway pitched 3 1/3 innings giving up 5 earned runs on 7 hits.  Jason Gobble lasted only 1 inning giving up 6 earned runs on 5 hits.

The Twins teed off and put up some amazing numbers.  The Twins scored in every inning except for the 5th, 8th and 9th innings.  The Twins had a 7-run 2nd inning, a 6-run 6th inning and a 4-run 7th inning.  The Twins pounded out 20 hits.  Michael Cuddyer had 4 hits for the Twins – he was 4 for 6 with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored.  4 other Twins had 3 hits each.  Some other notables:  Joe Mauer went 3 fo4 with 6 RBI’s and 2 runs scored including a grand slam.  Former White Sox 3rd baseman Joe Crede went 1 for 6 but had a 2-run home run against his former club. 

Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko hit back-to-back home runs in the 2nd inning of the White Sox 10-6 win over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday.  It marked the 300th career home run for each player.  Pretty cool way to reach the 300 home run plateau with your own teammate matching the same feat on consecutive at-bats.

The White Sox brought out the whipping sticks against the Tigers during their 2009 home opener at Comerica Park.  Dye finished the day going 3 for 5 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored.  Konerko finished the day going 4 for 5 with 4 RBI’s and 2 runs scored.  Carlos Quentin hit 2 home runs of his own in the 4th and 6th innings and had 4 RBI’s and 3 runs scored.  Every White Sox player who took an at-bat got a hit.

The White Sox were fortunate to have the big offensive outburst, as starter Gavin Floyd struggled for much of his 5 innings.  Floyd needed 98 to pitch enough innings to qualify for the win.  He gave up 6 earned runs on 5 hits and 7 walks.