Verdict in in Bonds trial.

...and?

Guilty of obstruction of justice, mistrial on the rest.

One count, obstruction. Probably get 6-12 months home confinement. I doubt the government will refile.

[1] No way this happens to a polite white man.

OK.... I have just hung a GIANT target on my chest.
He a Lefty SP, the very definition of an innings eater (averging 200 IP over 11 years), is 33, and can be had for money only.

Barry Zito (ducks head and runs like Hell....)

[5] Except Roger Clemens of course. And with all due respect, I don't think race had anything to do with this. If Mark McGuire had lied to a grand jury or to congress he'd be right there with them. Clemens insisted on attending the hearings, insisted! The height of arrogance. He then lied, and now he is being prosecuted. As someone who works in civil rights, an accusation of racism where none exists hurts our cause, it doesn't further it.

As for "polite," a racially charged term as used here already, I believe there is a benefit for anyone to cultivate a perception of politeness and respectability, especially a public figure. It is a lot easier for a prosecutor to gather up the gumption and support for a prosecution of a known ass hole like Bonds or even Ty Cobb, than for say, Derek Jeter or Hank Aaron, regardless of the charges. That is just common sense. If one is a belligerent fool, people will look to take the individual down, that has nothing to do with race.

By way of example, I am nearly certain that if Pete Rose could have stopped himself from being a giant buffoon, he would be putting polish on his plaque right now.

Where the hell is Ken Singleton?

[5] Did happen to Martha Stewart.

I hate many of the Orioles starting with Brian Roberts. He's a pest.
One more AJ!

Nice D, Tex!

[6] I agree. Do not lie to the feds. It pisses them off.

meanwhile down in The Bible Belt...

“I threw him under the bus by telling the truth about what happened,” Hamilton said. “What do you want me to do, lie about it? People are going to blame who they want to blame.”

[11] I also agree that calling racism on every little thing creates a boy who cried wolf problem.

[12] You know, I just don't like Josh Hamilton. I think his whole story is very phony.

Yeah, I don't think OYF meant that no white person could ever be convicted of obstruction of justice. [6] Clemens hasn't been convicted of anything!

Jeter passed Gehrig against Tillman

"Do not lie to the feds..."
Definitely, but Bonds was exonerated of lying to the feds.

[12] What a jerk. I'm sure the coach didn't tell him to slide in head first.

He was not well-liked in Cincinnati. He was completely shocked when they traded him...but I wasn't.

Out by a lot.

Not even close.

Daggnabit!

I blame Mattpat for that. Girardi wanted him to just stand there.

[14] I had a big discussion with a friend via email about him today, I'll just copy what I wrote:

I think its good that people in recovery look at him as a kind of role model, i honestly do. but when doc gooden would relapse he was a junkie piece of shit, when hamilton did he was "struggling with his sobriety." I think a lot of it has to do with race, and the fact that his overt christianity makes him appealing to a certain segment of fans and he's handled with kid gloves because of it.

I mean just imagine for a moment that was Miguel Cabrera. He's an addict, he's been in rehab, he's had a public relapse, there is really no difference between them. If he had done that he'd be getting torn apart right now.

[17] The obstruction of justice conviction was for lying to a grand jury.

In any case, it doesn't matter. If you lie under oath, they'll keep coming after you until they get you for something.

66

Dude's not fooling anybody.

This is a promising start.

coulda had a run by now...

I don't feel bad for Barry, but I do think that feds went after him driven by the negativity about him in the media and some fans. It is interesting how the tide has turned and he is viewed as the victim by a lot of those same ESPN posters who used to hate on him. Anyway, Clemens next.

Hamilton and all those players who slide head first are fools who risk injury. Sliding head first is not a good baseball play. It is Hamilton's own fault that he broke his arm.

[23] Lets not forget that when he did relapse, Hamilton, the Rangers and MLB all swept it under the rug until they were exposed by Deadspin. If baseball is willing to cover for him once, why should I believe he's clean at all?

[24] Are you sure? He was found not guilty of the perjury charge. If the jury decided he lied to a grand jury, surely they would convict him of perjury.

But in any case, I'm not disagreeing with the spirit of what you're saying about the feds. I just think the verdicts are somewhat odd.

that'll do

No doubt laser!

Now we a run. Or three...

Hell yes!

Damn. Tillman not fooling anyone thus far.

I like Chris Tillman. He's fun.

[31] Was he found not guilty or did the jury deadlock? I heard the latter.

[38] Yep, you're right, couldn't reach a verdict.

[38] He was convicted of obstruction of justice. Hung jury on all the other charges.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/sports/baseball/14bonds.html

It's not just the verdict... but 3 years, millions of dollars and questionable tactics by the prosecutibg team. Furthermore, because of the extreme politically correct environment, you do not hear a lot of overt racism... but it still exists.

Clemens has been the aggressor in this and has sued McNamee. If he shup up and did nothing, it might have blown over. Clemens has been his own worst enemy with his arrogance.

Anybody see Gardy look to the plate twice during that attempted steal? What's he looking for? If Jeter hits the ball, he will hear it. You can also see he's nit at full speed when he's turning. Whn you are out by 1/20th of a second, those head turns cost ya.

My damn tv feed is about 30 seconds behind GameDay.

Apparently, from what I heard from the ESPN crew, the obstruction charge was for a rambling answer Bonds gave to the GJ about being a celebrity child (Dad being Bobby Bonds and all.) He really didn't answer the question. As it's the DA who asks the questions, I'd put the onus on the DA to make sure the question got answered. If Bonds continued to duck and weave that question, then a judge could treat it as a Greg Anderson refusal to answer and thus send him to jail.

"deep left center."

[24] Except, the feds don't keep coming after you if you lie under oath. Tons of people lie under oath every day in federal court. If they went after all those people, the justice department would go broke in a couple months. The prosecution of Barry like every other BALCO case was/is selective prosecution. And in the eyes of a lot of people a waste of money. I suspect this is why the judge who has heard all these cases has made it very hard for the prosecutors to get these convictions and has purposely given every single athlete convicted the lightest sentence possible.

[43] Interesting. How did ESPN get that info -- interviewing jurors?

[46] It would have to be specified in the charge. You have to state specific facts in a charge. You are charging a defendant for specific acts.

[47] Aha! I get it. So that was in the bill of indictment.

Cripes, AJ is not going deep into the game tonight, that's for sure.

Also, see the update section in this post:
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/04/13/breaking-barry-bonds-guilty-of-obstruction-of-justice-but-not-perjury-which-makes-no-sense-at-all/

It shows Barry's actual answer.

[41] I agree, Clemens is a moron, and he couldn't let sleeping dogs lie. So now he'll be prosecuted too.

Bonds is an ass hole, and that made the prosecution so much easier to justify. However, he broke the record, and it wouldn't matter if he were black, green, orange, or fuchsia, if there was something to prosecute him for, he was going to be prosecuted.

And I for one applaud it! It means baseball still means something more than "a business" to some part of this nation. It is evidence that it remains our pastime to some and hasn't been swallowed completely by the NFL machine. Baseball is different. The record is different. This isn't some NFL rushing record or career touchdown pass aggregation - - this matters.

[49] Huh.
Do you think Calcaterra is right on this?

I really don't like watching AJ pitch

At least the pen is well-rested, with the off day and the rainout.

[51] I don't know, but that's what the reports are. At least with Martha Stewart, she did tamper with some evidence, this was simply a rambling non answer, even though he answered previously. It's an extraneous statement.

Good enough.
Tell you what, I'll take five scoreless innings, if that's what AJ can give us.

Bonds should open a juice stand somewhere on the other side of the world with Manny, McGwire, and Rose. They can all bugger off as far as I'm concerned.
On the bright side, If AJ's arm is ready for 150 pitches he might go 5 tonight.

[55] But at this rate, he'll be over 130 pitches by then.

[50} Yes.... with a 100 year history of cheating and drug use, and with probably 500-1000 PED users over the last 2 decades, MLB has been redeemed by hanging Bonds on to dry.

Mind you, Bonds is not my ideal of an attractive person. But as mentioned above, the process was very selective.

And lastly, I'll say this. If Bonds can be prosected for lying, the system should be sued and jailed for continually allowing 'confidencial' infomation to be leaked.

Meanwhile... is there a Yankee game tonight?

All right Martin!

Martin has been quite the stud so far.

Someone has to go drop in at Dodger Thoughts and express our appreciation for Russell Martin.

Gotta give Cashman some credit. While we were all salivating for Jesus, Cashman was just being a ninja GM.

Was playing some sporcle during AJ's inning. Tried to name all the starting second baseman from 2005-2009. Forgot about people like derosa and anderson hernandez

Wow.... Arizona has a Catcher named Miguel Montero

[62] And maybe get some opinions on Manny too?

65

JETER WITH A LONG SINGLE OF THE LEFT FIELD WALL!!!!!!

line drive rbi in the box score.

Captain to OYF: so what's wrong with ground balls?

[65] Is Montero going to be the new Molina?

[70] Err.... Jeter can have his balls on the ground when he's on top of Minky, but otherwise, I'd prefer a little air time.

[71] Not with that 1.2+ OPS he's now sporting.

[45] Simone??? Where ya been?

FEAR THE CENTAUR.

Tito has decided to skip John Lackey -- rain day, off day, he can play around with the rotation.
Not surprised, but it has to make Lackey feel like, you know, Freddy Garcia.

Wow.

Ballgame.

Yay Rob!

Christ, its still only the second inning?

Anyone listening to the new Joe Pos podcast? Pretty good.

I know. This game could go five hours.

[76] I was watching WEEI today. The conversation was about who sucked more: Dice-BB or Lackey. Anyone see yesterday's Sox game? Watching them incapable of overcoming a 2 run lead, and watching Lester lose the game 3-2, was better then watching the Yankees.

The good news is now, at most, the Sox can only win 153 games.

[81] Before the interminable Yankees/Sox games, Yankees/O's games went FOR-EVER

[82] Yes, I did see the game. It was a good game -- the Sox didn't look terrible at all.
Don't watch EEI. It will make your brain melt.

And now everyone has come to the plate this inning, right? There's Curtis on deck.

Mo better not come into this game.

Damn, Cletus needed a hit.

Holy cow, what a catch.

Wow! Shades of 2003, Game 7.

Wow, nice play. Saved at least two runs.

1,2,3. Everyone take a drink.

Hey, AJ is actually pitching like he has a big lead.
And there's the easy inning he needed!

[90] If you insist!

Good AJ tonight.

More about the Bonds case:

A juror who also gave just her first name, Amber, said that the final votes were 8-4 to acquit Bonds of lying about steroids and 9-3 to acquit him on lying about HGH use. The panel voted 11-1 to convict him of getting an injection from someone other than his doctor, with one woman holding out, she said.

Kay is just gushing over Showalter.

Looks like this really could be a huge year for A-Rod.

Good AJ, good!

Atta boy, AJ!

Impressive.

Hip Hip!