FanPost

DLD 8/23: Beat it, AN

You Are Not Alone
For all the medical staff haters:

Clayton Hamilton felt the persistent pain in his lower side for more than a year.

The Pittsburgh Pirates doctors and trainers kept telling the right-handed pitching prospect that he had a strained oblique muscle, which has become the baseball injury of the 2000s. They told him to rest and it would get better.

However, the pain never went away for the Blackhawk High School and Penn State graduate.
...
It turns out Hamilton had been pitching and living with a broken 11th rib since sometime early last season.
...
"Unless you were 90 or older, there was no way you couldn't look at the X-ray and tell that the rib was broken," Hamilton said. "It was plain as day."

The initial thought is that there was a gross case of negligence on the part of the Pirates' medical staff for Hamilton to be allowed to pitch with an undiagnosed broken bone for more than a year. Though the whole world has become sue-happy to the point of ridiculousness, Hamilton seemingly has a strong malpractice case in this instance.

(It Don't Matter if You're) Black or White
A reasoned take on the dwindling number of American blacks in Major League Baseball:

What's abundantly clear is that black athletes have chosen to play sports other than baseball.  During the past 30 years, the number of black players in the NBA increased from 60 percent to 70 percent, down from a high of 80 percent in the previous decade.  The number of black players in the NFL increased from 30 percent to 67 percent.  Does anyone refer to the situation in those leagues - either the increase in the number of black players or the decrease in the number of white players - as a crisis?

The answer, of course, is no.  Nor should they.  Choosing to play a sport other than baseball isn't a "crisis," it's the American way:  Having choices and choosing what's (perceived to be) best for you.  The irony is that baseball careers last, on average, longer than careers in basketball and football.  Baseball players make more money - on average - over a career than players in other sports.  One conclusion:  Baseball has lost the marketing battle for black athletes to other professional sports.

Leave Me Alone
Barry Zito confesses that the contract may have gotten to him:

"It's a major adjustment," he said. "I didn't think it would be that much of an adjustment. Going into a situation like this, I never experienced anything like it in my life. It took a little getting used to things. To say it's all behind me, I don't know. But I'm feeling better."

Don't Stop Til You Get Enough
Rangers win 30-3:

The Texas Rangers rounded the bases at a dizzying pace and became the first team in 110 years to score 30 runs in a game, setting an American League record Wednesday in a 30-3 rout of the Baltimore Orioles.

"This is something freaky. You won't see anything like this again for a long, long time. I am glad I was on this end of it," said Marlon Byrd, who hit one of two Texas grand slams.

Smooth Criminal
Swisher's sniper arm takes down an old friend:

Thomas was at first base after a walk when Gregg Zaun hit a liner toward Swisher in right. Thomas had to hold up briefly to see if the ball would be caught, and when it fell in, he lumbered toward second, where Swisher threw him out with a strong throw that Marco Scutaro gloved on the hop just before Thomas arrived. That meant a fielder's choice for Zaun rather than a single.

"That was kind of funny," Swisher said. "Frank's not the quickest of cats, and he thought I could come in and make a play on it. That's a tough position for him - I was shallow and it got on me quick because it was hit so hard. He had to guess either way."