Melky Suspended

[familytoad]

What is the matter with the Melk-Man?
Is it that he can’t read the rules or is it the fine print on those little pill bottles??
Seems like they must have given him Barry Bonds’ old locker.
C’mon man…I‘m sure he’s innocent…sure he is.

It’s “Season Over” for the man whose Melk just soured.

Of course, the interesting part here is that he's actually hitting .346 and only needed ONE MORE plate appearance (to get to 502) to qualify for the league batting leader title...

Since he won't be playing the rest of the year, he cannot go down, and conceivably if Andrew McCutchen drops a little ( he's currently 12 pts higher at .358), Melky could have had the highest batting average in the NL.

That one plate appearance could avoid a *major controversy about having the season batting leader being suspended!!

[Jason]

That's a shame.You think they would just stop by now.He has had a great last couple seasons.Now I see why.

[pgellis]

At least he "manned up" and admitted to it. It's refreshing that he didn't blame the FedEx carrier for his positive test like Ryan Braun did.

[barrysloate]

As a Giants' fan....there goes the season.

[yanksfan09]

Originally Posted by familytoad

Of course, the interesting part here is that he's actually hitting .346 and only needed ONE MORE plate appearance (to get to 502) to qualify for the league batting leader title...

Since he won't be playing the rest of the year, he cannot go down, and conceivably if Andrew McCutchen drops a little ( he's currently 12 pts higher at .358), Melky could have had the highest batting average in the NL.

That one plate appearance could avoid a *major controversy about having the season batting leader being suspended!!

Read this: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-bi...u0u2uNPFuFCLcF

I believe he just gets an 0-1 tacked on to his total and he still qualifies at .346. I heard conflicting views on this rule today on the radio and am not totally sure. Hopefully McCutchen beats him outright anyway...

[yanksfan09]

Another interesting thing is that there were rumors of a failed drug test before the All Star Game, but baseball had to wait for the process and any appeals to take place. So he was still eligible for All Star Game.

He went on to win MVP and no doubt had a huge role in determining home-field advantage in World Series this year! Also, Bud Selig probably knew about the failed test as he reluctantly presented the MVP award to Melky.....

There's a whole lot more to this story than the Giants down an outfielder this year. Controversial Batting Title story and home field for WS!

I absolutely hate the idea that an exhibition All Star game decides anything for the World Series, BTW!

Balco's Victor Conte's view (for what it's worth?):http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/82...-many-mlb-peds

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by yanksfan09

Read this: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-bi...u0u2uNPFuFCLcF

I believe he just gets an 0-1 tacked on to his total and he still qualifies at .346. I heard conflicting views on this rule today on the radio and am not totally sure. Hopefully McCutchen beats him outright anyway...

That is correct. They used this formula for Madlock in '81 and Gwynn in '96.

[familytoad]

Yep I actually knew about the minimum plate appearance rule but forgot about Gwynn in 96 and that it in came into play that year.

Madlock technically had 320 PA in his 1981 season in which his Pirates played 102 games, so I think he had met the 3.1 per game requirement. (strike year)
He did have a big lead in the race, so either way he would have been champ.

Gwynn fell 4 PA below the 502 minimum (3.1 * 162) with 498 and was way way ahead of others.

Agree with poster above, let's hope it doesn't come down to giving the batting championship to a suspended player nor that the WS ends up being won in the 9th inning of game 7 because of the silly home field rule!

[brob28]

A week ago he was heading for a huge payoff entering free agency after this season. I wonder how much cash this is going to cost him in his next contract.

[CMIZ5290]

Could not have happened to a better a**hole. While he was in atlanta, he did'nt do squat,he was fat and lazy.now all of a sudden, he's a world beater. What's wrong with this picture? The last series in atlanta against san francisco, he was taunting the fans, and he was very abusive with the reporters. That news made my day.....

[barrysloate]

I read that Cabrera is only suspended for the first five games of the playoffs. If that's true, and I'm not sure it is, he would be eligible if the Giants make the second round. But I also heard all of this year and the first five games of next year. Does anyone know for sure which one it is?

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

I read that Cabrera is only suspended for the first five games of the playoffs. If that's true, and I'm not sure it is, he would be eligible if the Giants make the second round. But I also heard all of this year and the first five games of next year. Does anyone know for sure which one it is?

my understanding is '50 games' - any playoff games the Giants get would be included in that total.

Also, I don't consider how he responded as 'manning up' - this stuff has been going on for a long time. He got caught, otherwise he doesn't say a word. 'Manning up' is what Pettitte did when this whole steroid thing was still relatively young. The guys getting caught these days are just cheating idiots.

[pgellis]

By "manning up", I was simply referring to the fact that he admitted it without placing blame on someone else like everyone seems to do nowadays.

He didn't blame the FedEx carrier....he didn't blame the clubhouse attendant....he didn't blame his trainer....he didn't blame the Democrats.....he didn't blame the Republicans. He didn't blame anybody but himself and to me, that is what I meant by "manning up".

[CMIZ5290]

I would agree with phil as far as him completely coming clean on what he did. He still sucked big time for the braves!

[cubsfan-budman]

I would be so furious if I was playing (and not juicing) in the NL West!

As far as "manning up", I'm not so sure it's reasonable to give someone any credit for cheating.

I was STUNNED by how well his teammates were handling it when interviewed on ESPN. It really must be just that common. I, for one, would be livid. He just blew their playoff chances!

[novakjr]

I'm not sure how the league handles that. I'd assume it's 50 regular season games, stretching 5 games into next season(plus whatever playoff games come in between)...I'm probably wrong about that though... Personally, that's the way I think it should be though. If playoff games are counted towards the 50, I'm ok with that too..50 games is 50 games. BUT, those are bonus games, a player not on a playoff team's suspension would still stretch into next season, so why shouldn't his, especially since their playoff status is partially due to his enhanced performance?

[HRBAKER]

He probably "misremembered" about the bogus website caper while he was "manning up."