May 4, 2013

Cheating Epidemic Against Blue Jays Is Out Of Control

Let's look at the unassailable evidence:
On Wednesday night, Boston's Clay Buchholz beat the Blue Jays 10-1.

On Thursday night, Boston's Ryan Dempster beat the Blue Jays 3-1.

On Friday night, Seattle's Felix Hernandez beat the Blue Jays 4-0.

On Saturday afternoon, Seattle's Hisashi Iwakuma beat the Blue Jays 8-1.
Obviously, every one of these pitchers is cheating. How long will MLB allow this anti-Jays conspiracy to continue?

6 comments:

drugkingfred said...

Poor Toronto.sucked in with dickey deal.ss is always on disabled list.buyers beware. A great pick for last.cabrerra a druggy.what do you expect

drugkingfred said...

Not out of control.true, not a very good team.nopitching or hitting

Maxwell Horse said...

This whole "story" has legitimately pissed me off. I tried to post a comment on the WEEI site under a posted segment of it, but I couldn't figure out their crazy new system. If no one minds, I'd like to post it here as a catharsis of sorts.

***

I've never taken a debate course, so I don't know the name of what Dirk Hayhurst does here. But he’s resorting to some pretty lame tactics to avoid actually having to provide proof that Buchholz is cheating. He's stating some beside-the-point truths (like you don't need to have a great major league career to speak the truth) to get people on his side and distract from the fact that he's making baseless accusations. I don't think the term is "strawman," but it's something akin to it.

And then he says some crap about how "when you cheat so blatantly, you have to expect to be caught" or something like that. Did it not occur to him that the reason Buchholz rubbed his fingers on his forearm so blatantly and out in the open (and also literally powdering his arm with the rosin bag during the game)... did it occur to him that he did it so openly because he WASN'T cheating? If you cheat, you're supposed to try to hide it. But he did it with all the batters and manager of the opposing team watching. And no one complained about it. Not even the umpires. And do you know why? I would guess the answer is because he’s not doing anything wrong.

Hayhurst's argument basically amounts to, "If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle." Meaning, hey, maybe there is something illegal on Buchholz's arm. I have no proof that that's the case, but if there was, then he was cheating.

No kidding, Sherlock. But that doesn't give you the right to state factually that he's cheating. That's like showing footage of a player drinking soda from a can and then stating as a fact that you know the player is taking steroids and amphetamines because, hey, who KNOWS what's in that can?! It could be some cheating substances, so that proves he's a cheater!

Hayhurst, in addition to being just an insufferable douchebag and further embarrassing a Blue Jays organization and fanbase that already had every reason in the world to feel embarrassed--is crossing the line into slander. How about someone comes out publicly to announce that they know for a fact Hayhurst has stolen money from his company? (Why? Well, we know he's a broadcaster. So technically in theory, if he had stolen money from his bosses, then that statement would be true! That's Dirk Hayhurst logic right there.)

allan said...

It's some crazy shit for sure. Can't say I am pissed because I have not followed it much, outside of scanning the SoSH thread. Morris sounds like a total tool. ... Weird that it is solely driven by the broadcasters. Gibbons has said nothing and the Jays players have said nothing. They are likely embarrassed by the whole thing.

As long as Clay laughs it off and it doesn't get into his head, we're okay. ... Looks like he'll face the Jays at Fenway next weekend.

laura k said...

That's like showing footage of a player drinking soda from a can and then stating as a fact that you know the player is taking steroids and amphetamines because, hey, who KNOWS what's in that can?! It could be some cheating substances, so that proves he's a cheater!

This is exactly the kind of non-logic that one hears in the workplace or other gossipy venues. People make shit up, then act like their made-up premise is fact.

I'm also hazy on the names of those logical fallacies, but I think strawman applies.

Maxwell Horse said...

Yeah, and I just remembered one more thing about this that bothers me. I've heard/read more than one person say, "Well, all eyes are on him now. We'll know for sure in his next start. If he touches his forearm like he was doing before, then we'll know the allegations are correct."

No. I don't think people making this statement (one of them was the WEEI weekend host) actually understand the situation. Buchholz has said that he put rosin on his arm. NESN the other night showed footage of him in the Blue Jays game where he literally picked up the rosin bag and powdered his forearm with it. So if in fact he displays the same routine on the mound in his next start, it doesn't confirm anything.

But I too hope that this story doesn't make his self-aware or mess with his head as to affect his pitching.