Top News:
Sports Illustrated:
Former Mets employee busted in raid — Pleads guilty to distributing steroids to MLBers — Since last summer, Sports Illustrated reporters Luis Fernando Llosa and L. Jon Wertheim have been investigating an alleged illegal steroid distribution network that has implicated pro athletes.
RELATED:
Amy Shipley / Washington Post:
Former Mets Employee Distributed Steroids — A former employee of the New York Mets admitted to distributing a variety of performance-enhancing drugs, including anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, to dozens of Major League Baseball players over a 10-year period beginning in 1995 …
Associated Press:
Radomski admits to selling steroids — Ex-Mets employee pleads guilty; names may follow — SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A former New York Mets clubhouse employee pleaded guilty Friday to distributing steroids to major league players for a decade and has agreed to help baseball's steroids investigators.
Discussion:
Can't Stop The Bleeding
ESPN:
Report: Ex-Met trainer pleads guilty in steroid case — SAN FRANCISCO — A former personal trainer for the New York Mets has pleaded guilty to distributing steroids and human growth hormone to dozens of major league players between 1995 and 2005, several media outlets are reporting.
Brian McTaggart / Houston Chronicle:
Randolph replaces White — The Astros purchased the contract of lefthander Stephen Randolph from Class AAA Round Rock prior to Thursday's game to replace righthander Rick White, who was put on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with a strained oblique. — Randolph was called upon to escape …
RELATED:
Joe Cowley / Chicago Sun Times:
No longer a gone-slinger — Odds aren't that great, but at least Buehrle's departure doesn't seem inevitable anymore — There's a memorable scene at the end of ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' in which ''Blondie,'' played by Clint Eastwood, lets everyone know who's holding all the cards.
ESPN:
Lester solid in rehab start, may join BoSox soon — PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Red Sox left-hander and cancer survivor Jon Lester pitched five shutout innings for Triple-A Pawtucket on Friday night in what is expected to be his second-to-last rehab outing before he returns to the Boston rotation.
Discussion:
Over the Monster
RELATED:
Amalie Benjamin / Boston Globe:Lester update — Jon Lester appears to have had an excellent …
Discussion:
SOX & Dawgs
Yahoo! Sports:
Hoffman honored, then blows save in loss (AP) — SAN DIEGO (AP) — It was Trevor Hoffman Night — and wouldn't you know it, he blew the save. — Hoffman, baseball's career saves leader, disappointed a sellout crowd at Petco Park by giving up four runs in the ninth inning …
Discussion:
6-4-2
Yahoo! Sports:
Nats finally score in first, beat Mets (AP) — WASHINGTON (AP) — First things first: The Washington Nationals actually scored in the first inning, the only time they've managed to do that all season. — Austin Kearns hit a three-run homer to stake Washington to an early lead …
Discussion:
The Griddle
Baseball Prospectus:
Lies, Damned Lies: The PECOTA Top 100 by Nate Silver — This is my favorite column of the year to write, perhaps because there's relatively little actual writing involved. Let's bring the PECOTA Takes on Prospects series to its long overdue conclusion. — Below is PECOTA's …
Discussion:
Brew Crew Ball
Sports Illustrated:
Heirs to the throne? — Dolan family has keen interest in buying Yankees — Also in this column: — With age creeping up on George Steinbrenner and his team's succession plans seeming unsettled, it was only a matter of time before someone surfaced with interest in buying the Yankees.
Curt Schilling / 38 Pitches:
Ignorance has its privileges — Take Gary Thorne, John, Jack Joe or whatever his first name is, Heyman, Karen Vescey, Woody Paige, CHB, Jay Marriotti, Bill Plaschke, and a host of other people that litter the media landscape, and put them all on an island somewhere. — Does anyone stop reading their newspapers?
Yahoo! Sports:
Griffey diagnosed with pleurisy (AP) — PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ken Griffey Jr. remained out of the Cincinnati Reds' lineup for a second day Friday with pleurisy, an inflammation in the lining of a cavity surrounding the lungs. — Griffey was held out of Thursday's game in St. Louis with soreness in his chest.
Amalie Benjamin / Boston Globe:
Lineups, etc. — There's a whole lot of standing around going on in the Red Sox clubhouse, so I decided to bow out to give you all a peak at the lineups for tonight. I also have some news of note from Terry Francona, and the update that "Talladega Nights" was bringing down the (club)house.
