Earlier today Dan posed a question on here asking people’s opinions on PED’s and the Hall of Fame. In his post he proposed the example of Rafael Palmeiro as a player with a Hall of Fame caliber career, but with a failed steroid test. In my response I said that it is irrelevant to me if a player used performance, but I would not vote for Palmeiro simply because I do not believe he was a good enough player...

@Red Sox 4, Orioles 3 — A game to lament if Baltimore’s playoff quest falls short.

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To tell you something you already know, the youngster in Baltimore, that kid named Machado, is a pretty fine ballplayer. Had a very creditable run at the all-time doubles mark before slowing down in the dog days. And, a very steady job at 3rd base – silky smooth hands and footwork, an effortless gun for an arm, and a particular highlight reel play that I, for one, will not soon forget. Mind-boggling to think that he just turned 21...

UPDATE: The developer emailed me with some comments related to issues about the game we raised in the software. Please see just below for a transcript of those comments.

You can hear some of the HHS folks review the great baseball simulation software, OOTP Baseball, on the latest episode of our podcast–Episode 10. (Get to that by clicking on the podcast tab near the top of the screen.)

If you’re interested in buying the software...

Forgive me for generalizing here, but when it comes to PEDs and the Hall of Fame, we can pretty much break everyone into two camps: those who will consider confirmed PED users for the Hall, and those who won’t. Of course, there are many sub-categories of each of these groups, but this distinction serves the intent of this post.

If you’re in the latter category–i.e. you’re against any confirmed PED user ever being inducted into the Hall of Fame–that’s OK...

Angels 6, @Rays 5 — You live by the bow, you die by the bow.

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To call any of Mariano Rivera’s seasons elite seems kind of pointless. I don’t think anyone would argue that he is definitively the greatest relief pitcher of all time. He  currently has the 16th most Pitching Runs ever, despite having only the 805th most innings accumulated. His 205 ERA+ is the greatest in MLB history. He had stretch where  in 8 of 9 seasons he had an ERA below 2. There is a reason that he was the focal point of this years All Star Game...

(No crying in baseball; so then, what is this salty discharge?)

@Cardinals 8, Reds 6 — Allen Craig filled a blank column on the back of his RISP Superheroes trading card, his first grand slam building an 8-5 lead with 2 outs in the 7th to finish a comeback from 4-0 down.

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The players in this quiz share a single game accomplishment since 1961 that no other player has matched. What is this feat?

Player Notes Jose Lopez Ichiro was the only player to appear in this game and the Edgar Martinez game Edgar Martinez A player who appeared in the George Bell game had 5 RBI in this game Juan Gonzalez Gonzalez’s team had 15 hits and lost, despite 4 runs by the starting 3rd baseman in the Edgar Martinez game Chad Kreuter Krueter was one of 7 starters with a hit...

Braves 5, @Cardinals 2 — Given their hefty lead, there was no immediate cause for Atlanta to fret about losing the first three in this series, their first games since the loss of Jason Heyward reopened their leadoff hole. But with no certainty of Heyward’s productive return come playoff time, there’s no doubt that Jordan Schafer’s two extra-base hits in the first 2 innings raised a big sigh of relief, breaking his 0-12 skid and building a 3-0 lead for Mike Minor...