Baseball, baseball and more baseball

• Stat-mode lasted all of one week. Not only did Bonderman not win last night, but he got injured. Oakland's feared slugger Marty Scutaro blasted a pitch off of Bonderman's wrist that left Bonderman thinking his wrist was broken. Luckily it wasn't but it'll cost Bonderman at least one start. This season has been infinitely more frustrating than the 119 loss season two years ago. At least you knew what you were getting when Adam Bernero took the mound. These guys are up and down and hurt and not hurt. I like the fact that the Tigers aren't a guaranteed win for other teams in the American League. I don't like the fact that the Tigers have a lineup littered with .300+ hitters and five starting pitchers that aren't terrible along with an above average bullpen yet are still under .500.
  

• This is something I wanted to mention yesterday but I didn't have the time. Much has been made about the asterisk-issue with current major leaguers. Whenever something happens that seems to be underhanded, someone brings up the idea of adding an asterisk to highlight the fact that the number isn't as good as it appears to be. The idea of the asterisk seems to have started with the Roger Maris controversy. Maris broke Babe Ruth's single-season home run record but played eight more games than Ruth. Billy Crystal even made a movie about this called 61*. The problem is that there was never going to be an asterisk. MLB was simply going to have two different home run records. One record would stand for the 154 game season and the other would stand for the 162 game season. I don't understand why this was such a big deal. Maris was treated poorly by the press and was made to feel like a villain for beating Babe's home run record. That was reprehensible and unfortunate. However, I don't see how that makes it OK to ignore the fact that Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in 154 games. Ruth may or may not have reached 61 with eight extra games but his record shouldn't be lost because the schedule was lengthened. What if the schedule went from 154 games to 254 games? There's no doubt MLB would've made separate records. Eight games are enough to make a difference especially when we're talking about the difference of one home run.
  
  
• The Florida Marlins suspended one of their bat boys yesterday for taking a dare from Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny. Penny dared the kid to drink a gallon of milk in under an hour without throwing up. If he completed the task, he'd get $500. ESPN describes what transpired:
  
  "Penny offered the batboy $500 if he could drink a gallon of milk in less than an hour before Sunday's game without throwing up. Penny told the paper the boy drank the milk and didn't throw up, but didn't finish the gallon in the allotted time frame to win the dare."
  
  It says that "the boy drank the milk and didn't throw up, but didn't finish the gallon in the allotted time frame to win the dare." Ok, my question is, if the time had expired, why did the boy continue to drink the milk?
  
  The most absurd part of this story is that the penalty for the first steroid offense is a ten-game suspension yet the bat boy got suspended for six games for drinking milk! I think six games is a little harsh for a first time offense. MLB should establish a more fair milk policy. For instance: 1st milk offense= one game, 2nd milk offense=six games, and 3rd milk offense=suspended for the season. I don't think it's fair to start off with a six game suspension. Milk is just too tempting.