Hot Tip!

There's a great article on fangraphs.com from 5/13 entitled, "Apparently, the Phillies Cheated, So What?" It's a must read, including the responses. I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. It seems a Phillies bullpen coach was caught peering in at the opposing team's catcher with binoculars. The catch? Apparently there is nothing in the MLB rule book about signs or stealing signs. It's one of those unwritten rules, kind of like stepping on the pitching rubber when returning to first base after rounding second on a foul ball, or whatever ARod did. Here's some samples of the discussion after the article that had me howling with laughter:

Llewdor says:
"Officially, it's cheating if 'electronic devices' are used. I'll take it one step farther, though. I say anything beyond the naked eye is cheating."

So presumably contact lenses are cheating too?

LOL! Here's another one from don:

"How would he relay the signs from the bullpen to the batter in time for them to be useful? If the Phillies have a buzzer system set up at Coors, that would be pretty slick."

Travis L: Agreed. so what. The only thing this means is that obnoxious Phillie fans can't bring out the "and they play the game the right way...!" comment. Without looking stupid.

Alex Remington: For many baseball fans, the fear of looking stupid is clearly not an effective deterrent."

Todd Doug: A.J. Pierzynski is a complete douche, no question, but he didn't break up a perfect game by pretending to be hit. Romero had two BB before that.

joser: Such is Pierzynski's imperfection as a human being that by breaking it up he erased those walks and made it a perfect game retroactively.

Here's the best one of all:

bowie: Alderson's memo said: "No club shall use electronic equipment, including walkie- talkies and cellular telephones, to communicate to or with any on-field personnnel, including those, in the dugout, bullpen, field and-during the game-the clubhouse." Is a coach not allowed to call the bullpen to tell a pitcher to warm up?

Gina: those phones are non electric I believe.

bowie: coffee can and string?

LOL!!!!!!!! Be sure to read the whole thing!