A former BALCO chemist, Patrick Arnold, said last night on an airing of “Costas Now” that Gary Sheffield used the “clear” that was provided to him by BALCO. He said that both Barry Bonds and Sheff were part of “the program”. “The program” being supplements including the “clear”.

Arnold is widely credited with creating “the clear,” a previously undetectable steroid that Balco provided to athletes. In 2006, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute steroids, and was sentenced to three months in prison and three months of home confinement. He was among five people convicted in the case. As part of his plea agreement, he did not have to name athletes and coaches to whom he supplied drugs.

In that interview, he also stated that Bonds used it as well. If you remember recently, Sheff said he has never used steroids because “they are something you shoot in your butt’.

Arnold responded to Sheff’s statement about steroids going in your butt.

“That’s an ignorant statement. That’s some sort of weird rationalization. No, he took steroids. This (‘the clear’) is a bona fide anabolic steroid.”

It will be interesting to see what the outspoken Sheffield’s remarks will be about the latest accusations that he “knowingly” used steroids.

It’s good to see that the SCRAM alcohol monitoring device was working last night for Lindsey Lohan. Lohan was arrested last night for DUI, driving with a suspended license, and cocaine possession by the Santa Monica Police. Police had received a phone call from a black Escalade that they were being chased by Lohan’s Denali.

Police met up with the SUV’s near the Santa Monica Police Department and gave Lohan a field sobriety test which she failed. She blew a .12 and .13. The legal limit is .08 in California.

This comes on the heels of Lohan being booked on DUI charges in Beverly Hills five days ago stemming from her DUI arrest there back in May. Lohan had been in rehab at the Promises Rehab Facility and had completed a 45 day stint there.

Lohan is scheduled to appear on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” tonight to discuss her upcoming feature film release, “I Know Who Killed Me” in which she stars. No word on whether she will still be making the appearance.

What does this say about the SCRAM monitoring bracelet? It obviously didn’t work in this case. I know alcohol and drug addiction is a disease but shouldn’t have Lohan’s “friends” been looking out for her. It’s bad enough she was driving drunk but knowing that she could have killed someone or herself, makes things all the worse. Hopefully she can get more help again and overcome this horrible disease that is afflicting her.

If you’re interested, you can follow all the latest developments on TMZ.com.

This one is for my Minnesota readers and everyone who enjoys a good commercial.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgSa5UxzSLM[/youtube]

From CSTV:

July 22, 2007, Rio de Janiero, Brazil – The United States defeated Cuba 78-63 in the final preliminary round game of the Pan Am Games at Rio Multipurpose Arena Sunday evening. Maryland’s Marissa Coleman led the U.S.A. with 19 points while Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry was the second leading scorer with 13 points.

Cuba jumped out to an 8-6 lead in the first five minutes of the game. The United States finished the first quarter with a slight 17-13 lead. McCoughtry entered the game at the five minute mark of the first quarter. She finished the quarter with five points. That included a steal that she converted into three points to end the quarter.

Cuba came back to cut the U.S. lead to 22-20 in the first five minutes of the second quarter. The United States finished out the quarter with a 14-4 run to lead 34-26 at the break. McCoughtry played the whole second quarter, finishing with nine points.

The United States continued to build its lead, jumping out to a 47-30 lead in the first five minutes of the third quarter. Cuba made a 17-11 run in the final five minutes, cutting the U.S. lead to 58-47 at the end of the quarter.

The U.S. held the lead with a 68-51advantage in the first five minutes of the final quarter. Cuba outscored the United States 13-10 to finish out the quarter but it was not enough. The United States shot 42 percent from the field while Cuba shot 38 percent. The U.S. held a slight 38-34 rebounding advantage.

McCoughtry finished the game 42 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the arc. She also finished with five rebounds and two steals. McCoughtry saw action in all four quarters for Team USA.

The United States will play in the semifinals on Monday, the time and opponent will be determined following the Brazil-Canada game.

Notes: UCONN’s Mel Thomas did not play in the game. No reason was listed as to why. Charde Houston had 7 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic-pnKYX8pI[/youtube]

[Hat tip to Sox Space for the find]

Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell both hit 3-run homers as Tim Wakefield went 6 1/3 solid innings as the Red Sox sent the White Sox into the AL Central cellar with a 8-5 win. The win for Wakefield was his 11th of the season and he now has a decision in all 20 of his starts. Manny ended up with 4 RBI on the day as he added a RBI single in the 6th inning. Coco Crisp continued his hot hitting as he had three more hits while Manny and Lowell had two each for the hometown team.

The Bosox got on the board in the 1st inning as walks continued to doom the White Sox pitching staff. Jon Garland walked Julio Lugo to lead off the inning but Lugo was erased from the base paths when Alex Cora grounded into a fielder’s choice. Garland then issued his second walk of the inning to Kevin Youkilis. Manny made Garland pay for his mistakes as he put a ball into the Red Sox bullpen for a 3-run homerun and 3-0 lead for the boys from Beantown. Garland got out of the inning as he got J.D. Drew to ground out and Lowell to strikeout swinging.

Wakefield was perfect through the first two innings but ran into a little trouble in the 3rd. He got Rob Mackowiak to strikeout leading off the inning but then he walked Josh Fields. With Juan Uribe at the plate, Fields took advantage of Wake’s slow delivery and stole second base. Fields went to third on a Uribe single. Wake then got Jerry Owens to fly out to Coco in short center, keeping Fields at third. Wake got himself out of the inning as he retired Alex Cintron on a groundball to first base.

The Chi-sox would get on the board in the 5th inning. Jermaine Dye led off with a double and he would go to third on a Mackowiak ground out. Fields brought in Dye with a single cutting the Red Sox lead to 3-1. Wake then got Uribe to fly out to left field. With Owens at the plate, Wake uncorked a wild pitch allowing Fields to move to second. The wild pitch wouldn’t hurt Wake as he got Owens to pop out to Lugo at short.

The local nine would make Garland pay again for issuing walks in the 5th inning. After Garland got the first two outs of the inning, he issued walks to Manny and Drew. Lowell provided the punishment for Garland’s walks as he lined a ball into the first row of the Green Monster seats for a 3-run homer and a 6-1 lead for the good Sox. Coco followed the homer with a single that would chase Garland from the game. Charlie Haeger, a knuckleballer, came into the game for Garland. With Eric Hinske at the plate, a Haeger knuckleball got past A.J. Pierzynski for a passed ball, allowing Coco to get to second. Haeger got out of the inning as he retired Hinske on a ground ball to second.

In the 6th inning, the Red Sox would make Haeger pay for control issues. Haeger walked Doug Mirabelli and Lugo to lead off the inning. Cora moved the runners over a base each on a ground out to Konerko at first. Youk followed that with a sacrifice fly scoring Mirabelli for a 7-1 Red Sox lead. Manny brought in the 8th run of the day with a single. Haeger got out of the inning as he got Drew to line out to left.

Wakefield’s afternoon would end in the 7th inning as he got himself into a jam. Pierzynski led off the inning with a single and went to third on Dye’s second double of the afternoon. Mackowiak brought in a run with a sacrifice fly cutting the Sox lead to 8-2. Fields hit a single scoring Dye and chasing Wake from the game. Manny Delcarmen came in for Wake and was wild to say the least. Uribe greeted Delcarmen with a single moving Fields to second. Delcarmen then walked Owens to load up the bases for Cintron. Cintron laced a single to left scoring Uribe, bringing the deficit to 4 runs and keeping the sacks full for Thome. At this point with the lefty Thome at the plate and Delcarmen struggling, you would have thought Hideki Okajima would come in. Terry Francona decided to stick with Delcarmen and he walked Thome bringing in another run, making it 8-5 Red Sox. Delcarmen settled down to get Konerko. With another lefty coming to the plate in Pierzynski, Francona brought in Okajima. Okie got out of the inning as he got Pierzynski to strikeout swinging.

Wakefield went 6 1/3 innings, giving up 6 hits, 4 runs, 2 walks and he struck out 2 on 96 pitches.

The Red Sox had chances to score more runs in the 7th and 8th innings but were unable to push anything across off of Haeger.

After Okie-Dokie worked a perfect 8th inning, Jonathan Papelbon came in and decided to provide a little more drama to the game. Just like he did with Delcarmen, Uribe greeted Papelbon with a single. Uribe went to second on an Owens single. Papelbon then walked Cintron to load up the bases for Thome. After a visit from John Farrell, Papelbon rebounded to strikeout Thome for the first out of the inning. Papelbon followed the strikeout of Thome by getting Konerko to hit into a 5-4-3 game-ending double play. The save was Papelbon’s 22nd in 23 tries.

The Red Sox finished up the homestand at 6-5 and now the entire eyes of Red Sox Nation will be focused on one person in Cleveland. That person is Jon Lester, who will return to the Red Sox rotation, almost one year after finding out he had a treatable form of lymphoma. The local nine will play 4 in Cleveland before heading to Tampa for a 3 game set.

Continue reading →

Just saw this on Extra Bases. The Red Sox have called up Jon Lester to start tomorrow’s game against the Cleveland Indians. Julian Tavarez will go to the bullpen. The Red Sox will make a roster move after the game and the speculation is Javier Lopez will be sent back to Pawtucket after the game since he has minor league options left.

“We want to win games so bad,” Francona said, “but I can’t say there won’t be some emotion involved when he gets to take the mound. I think his folks are going to be there, which I’m sure for them will be extra special.

“I think talking to Jon, he just wants to win the game. I think he’s got that attitude, he’s already been through this enough and answered the questions, I’m sure he’ll have to answer them again, but he just wants to win baseball games. He’s pretty refreshing, pretty remarkable for a kid that age.”

What went into the decision to summon him back?

“So much did,” Francona said. “We’ve been staying up on this kid, I think it’s pretty evident, all year. Where we thought he was, what needed to happen, what’s best for him, what’s best for us. I think we got to a point where we thought this might be in his best interest and ours.

“It’ll be interesting to see how he does. We’re excited. We’ve had a lot of conversations with a lot of people, trying to do the right thing.”

Francona was asked if it was tough to separate the baseball from the emotion during the process.

“No, it wasn’t, we didn’t let it be, ever, or he would have been here three months ago. We never let that get away of our decisions. I wouldn’t apologize to be crazy about a kid like Lester. I would be crazy not to. We don’t ever let that get in the way of making decisions.”

This is a huge step for Lester who just under a year ago was diagnosed with cancer. I am sure it will be an emotional night for Lester but it will be very nice to see him back in Boston with the boys.

Behind Emily Fox’s game high 18 points Team USA crushed Argentina Saturday night, 85-54 to improve to 2-0 in the Pan-Am Games. Fox, a junior from the University of Minnesota (Highlands Ranch, CO) came off the bench to provide the spark for Team USA in 19 minutes of game action. Tasha Humphrey (Sr., University of Georgia/Gainesville, GA) had 14 and Marisa Coleman (Jr., University of Maryland/Cheltenham, MD) added 12 points. Tennessee’s Nicky Anosike (Sr./Staten Island, NY) and UConn’s Mel Thomas (Sr./Cincinnati, OH) also chipped in with 9 points each for Team USA. Thomas was 4-4 from the line and 2-7 from the field (1-5 from 3-point land) in 17 minutes of play. UConn senior Charde Houston (San Diego, CA) scored 2 points in 13 minutes.

Argentina, who drops to 0-2, was lead by Mariana Cava who had 13 points.

Team USA will face Cuba Sunday at 7:45 p.m. Rio Time.

David Ortiz is having a rough week. Last night, he is hit with a lawsuit and during the game he strains his shoulder. But that’s not the worst of it. Earlier in the week, Big Papi found out his best friend had been living a lie.

Known as Edwin “Monga” Garcia, Felix Leopoldo Marquez Galice was arrested on 3 counts of identification fraud upon his return from the 2007 MLB All-Star Game.

Beginning in 2003, Marquez allegedly submitted a series of applications to the Registry of Motor Vehicles in which he claimed to be a US citizen named Edwin Manuel Cotto Garcia, of Puerto Rico, according to a criminal complaint charging him with fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents; fraud and related activity in connection with identification documents; and false claim to US citizenship.

Big Papi met “Garcia” when he was a teenager back in the Dominican Republic and was the one who introduced Big Papi to the Mariners scout who signed him back in 1992. “Garcia” is free right now on $10,000 bail.

Big Papi’s only comments were “I don’t know anything about it.”