The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in a 2-1 decision that the federal government could obtain the test results of about 100 baseball players that tested positive for steroids in 2003.  This was the year of experimental testing, whereby the players would be tested anonymously, but there would be no individual repercussions for positive tests.  The only reason for the tests was to determine the extent of the steroid use in baseball.  If 5% or more of the tests came back positive, then testing would continue.  It looks like there were 100 or so positive test for about 1200 players (30 teams X 40 players) for about a 8% positive rate.

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Per ESPN

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The Phillies are coming off an off day and travel to Shea to take on the New York Mets tonight.  This brings out many stories from the infamous New York press.

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Since his promotion to AAA Scranton, Cole Hamels has increased the buzz surrounding him for good reason.  In his 2 starts, he has pitched 16 innings, giving up 0 runs, only 5 hits and walked only 1 with 26 Ks.  Frankly, these are amazing numbers, exceeding his already outstanding career minor league numbers.  How does Hamels compare to past young pitching prospects and what might we expect from him with the Phillies?

I'll take a look at Hamels' minor league numbers and compare them to several other pitchers: Felix Hernandez, Dontrelle Willis, Doc Gooden, Rick Ankiel, Zack Greinke and Scott Kazmir.  Each of those pitchers was very heralded in the minors at a  very young age.  Some of them panned out and others did not.

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As an organization, the Phillies are not strangers to run-ins with the law, nor to players who bring unwelcome attention to the organization by their off-field behavior. From Ed Delahanty over a century ago to Jason Michaels throwing hands with a cop earlier this summer, the embarrassments and entanglements stemming from these incidents could fill an entire chapter in the franchise's long book of woe.

So it might have been of more than passing interest in south Philadelphia when the Baltimore Orioles released pitcher Sidney Ponson on September 1 with the intention of terminating his contract under the "morals clause" in the standard MLB contract.

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test

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ESPN says that Eight players from eight different countries will compete in the Home Run Contest at the All Star game.

If I'm taking a guess at the 8:
Bobby Abreu - Venezuela
Miguel Tejeda - Dominican Republic
Derrick Lee - US
Andruw Jones - Curacao
Hideki Matsui - Japan
Carlos Beltran - Puerto Rico
Hee Seop Choi - South Korea
Jorge Cantu - Mexico
Jason Bay - Canada

That's actually 9 countries.  Choi's probably the odd man out here.

You can probably pick any number of players from the DR or the US and Venezuela has Cabrera as well.  Canada has Justin Morneau as well.

Given the 6/27 vote totals and the 1 player per team requirement, here's my predicted 32 man NL roster. This takes into account prior roster compositions and the fact that LaRussa will probably take some extra Cards if he can. I've based it on something of a 60-30-10 system where 60% of the consideration is based on this year, 30% is based on recent years, and 10% is based on overall career value.

The last 3 or 4 cuts were amazingly hard to do. Also, it was really hard to find someone worthy from Colorado, Arizona, and Pittsburgh.

Starters - all are currently leading the voting.
1B - Pujols - STL
2B - Kent - LAD
SS - Izturis - LAD
3B - Rolen - STL
C - Piazza - NYM
OF - Abreu - PHI
OF - Edmonds - STL
OF - Beltran - NYM

P - Clemens - HOU
P - Willis - FLA
P - Martinez - NYM
P - Hernandez - WAS
P - Peavy - SDG
P - Smoltz - ATL
P - Carpenter - STL
P - Webb - ARI

P - Cordero - WAS
P - Isringhausen - STL
P - Lidge - HOU
P - Fuentes - COL

1B - Lee - CHC
1B - Delgado - FLA
1B - Johnson - WAS
2B - Utley - PHI
SS - Lopez - CIN
3B - Ramirez - CHC
C - LoDuca - FLA
OF - Cabrera - FLA
OF - Alou - SFG
OF - Lee - MIL
OF - Jones - ATL
OF - Bay - PIT

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