If you've been paying any attention to baseball or the internet today, you have definitely seen the screen shots of Jake Peavy's hand during his complete game shutout from last night. Everyone wants to know why in the mess his right hand (yes, the pitching one) has some icky brown substance all over it. Well, more specifically, everyone wants to know what that substance is. Via Inside the Dodgers, Jake is kind enough to let us all know.'I have zero problem with anyone checking me out anytime during a game to see if I'm doing anything wrong,' Peavy said. 'I do pick up a lot of resin, and I pick up a lot of dirt. I pick up dirt every inning. It's perfectly legal as far as I know.'Now, that's not the most specific explanation for a resiny looking splotch on his hand, but it certainly is not unreasonable. And Joe Torre seemed to agree -- for the most part -- as he pointed out that there was zero logic in trying to queue up a witchhunt on Peavy's hand because all it amounted to was making excuses for the Dodgers' inability to get any hits off of the reigning Cy Young winner.
'If I start making a big deal of this -- and again, I'm not saying he should be allowed to do something illegal -- but all of a sudden, I'm saying to my players that this is why they didn't get anyhits. It's like accusing sombody of throwing a spitball. Well, hit the dry side. I just don't want to make any excuses for why we didn't win.'However, Torre did add a caveat to that is best described by Tony Jackson as "cryptic" and which certainly sheds a little light on how the Dodgers' skipper actually feels about Peavy's spotty hand.
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A girl from Merrylands High School in Sydney's west is comforted after being allowed to leave following an attack by five youths who stormed the school on April 7, 2008. Five teenage boys armed with baseball bats and a machete invaded the Sydney high school, smashing classrooms and injuring several students and a teacher, police said. Merrylands High School went into "lockdown" with pupils confined to their classes as the intruders assaulted students and shattered windows before police arrived and arrested them. AUSTRALIA OUT NEW ZEALAND OUT RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE NO INTERNET NO SALES NO ARCHIVES AFP PHOTO / AAP IMAGE / Paul MILLER (Photo credit should read PAUL MILLER/AFP/Getty Images)
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A school boy (R) from Merrylands High School in Sydney's west leaves the grounds with a woman believed to be his mother following an attack by five youths who stormed the school on April 7, 2008. Five teenage boys armed with baseball bats and a machete invaded the Sydney high school, smashing classrooms and injuring several students and a teacher, police said. Merrylands High School went into "lockdown" with pupils confined to their classes as the intruders assaulted students and shattered windows before police arrived and arrested them. AUSTRALIA OUT NEW ZEALAND OUT RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE NO INTERNET NO SALES NO ARCHIVES AFP PHOTO / AAP IMAGE / Paul MILLER (Photo credit should read PAUL MILLER/AFP/Getty Images)
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DENVER - APRIL 06: Pitcher Edgar Gonzalez #31 of the Arizona Diamondbacks delivers a pitch in the first inning of the MLB game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field April 6, 2008 in Denver, Colorado. The Diamondbacks won the game 5-2. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
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DENVER - APRIL 06: Pitcher Edgar Gonzalez #31 of the Arizona Diamondbacks delivers a pitch in the first inning of the MLB game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field April 6, 2008 in Denver, Colorado. The Diamondbacks won the game 5-2. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
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DENVER - APRIL 06: Catcher Robby Hammock #7 speaks with pitcher Edgar Gonzalez #31 of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the second inning of the MLB game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field April 6, 2008 in Denver, Colorado. The Diamondbacks won the game 5-2. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
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DENVER - APRIL 06: Pitcher Edgar Gonzalez #31 of the Arizona Diamondbacks delivers a pitch in the first inning of the MLB game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field April 6, 2008 in Denver, Colorado. The Diamondbacks won the game 5-2. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
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DENVER - APRIL 06: Chad Qualls #50 of the Arizona Diamondbacks delivers a pitch in the bottom of the 10th inning of the MLB game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field April 6, 2008 in Denver, Colorado. The Diamondbacks won the game 5-2. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
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DENVER - APRIL 06: (L-R) Garrett Atkins #27, Todd Helton #17, Troy Tulowitzki #2 and Jayson Nix #4 of the Colorado Rockies gather together during a pitching change in the 10th inning of the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field April 6, 2008 in Denver, Colorado. The Diamondbacks won the game 5-2. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
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DENVER - APRIL 06: Matt Holliday #5 of the Colorado Rockies watches the flight of his game tying home run in the 9th inning of the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field April 6, 2008 in Denver, Colorado. The Diamondbacks won the game 5-2. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
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DENVER - APRIL 06: Matt Holliday #5 of the Colorado Rockies hits the game tying home run in the 9th inning of the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field April 6, 2008 in Denver, Colorado. The Diamondbacks won the game 5-2. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
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'We were the visiting team yesterday. We'll be the home team on Friday, so the balls that get thrown out of the game will come over to our dugout.'Click, click, burn. Now, I don't want to go off on some Buster Olney-esque rant about Torre's brilliance as a manager and how his ability to manage superstars and nullify clubhouse emotions is what makes him so great, but this is a pretty sweet response. First you downplay the situation and then take a shot at Peavy before walking out the door. His team is already going to be fired up to get some shots at the guy who shut them out in his previous start and if the Dodgers lay into Peavy, you can guarantee that everyone will be a lot more skeptical about that "dirt". Well done, Joe.
Update: Via SignOnSanDiego, clearly Joe's last response produced the desired affect, as Peavy has come back with another kind-of potshot at the Dodgers, or at least a shot at Torre's notion that the balls would be rolling back to the L.A. side of the field.
Personally, the more and more I think about this, the less I actually think Peavy cheated. And, as the vibe I've picked up from the numerous Dodgers blogs out there insinuates, it's not like he has been putting resin or any other foreign substance his whole career. And it's worth noting that he's absolutely dominated the Dodgers since he has been in the majors, too. Still, even if nothing comes of this, the National League West, which already featured four playoff caliber teams, just got a lot spicier. In addition, there is a serious Padres - Dodgers rivalry building, which is huge for baseball, what with the Giants being the equivalent of a Triple-A squad right about now.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-07-2008 @ 8:30AM
Gary said...
If it is legal for a pitcher to put dirt on his hands, then why do they always throw out the balls after a pitcher pitches a ball that hits the dirt before it gets to the catcher? Weird.
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 8:37AM
Patty said...
Gary, those balls are not cast out due to dirt on the ball, they are cast out due to scuff marks on the ball from hitting the dirt. (It's not really "dirt" as we know it, baseball infield is a bunch of litle clay-colored pebbles.)
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 8:57AM
Dave said...
Does anybody really care? The people who run baseball don't care if players are cheating, as long as profits are up. Players don't care, as long as they get their huge contracts. I think the players would refer to what Peavy did, as getting a "edge", not cheating.
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 9:05AM
nyranger26 said...
quit your crying Torre. I wonder why you never bitched and moaned about anything when you managed the Yankees.Oh yeah,you were always sleeping
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 9:20AM
Curmudgeon said...
Since when is use of a resin bag illegal? If there's a big question, let the baseball commissioner order an immediate post-game test of the substance on Peavy's hand.
Ever think maybe the Dodgers just haven't figured this guy out yet? Nobody said crap years ago when Drysdale and Koufax were pitching no-hitters.
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4-07-2008 @ 9:33AM
tanman105 said...
As long as people keep paying to see these cheats, then the inmates [oops players] will continue to run the game. Without " A CAP", THE YANKEES/RED SOX/METS/DODGERS will continue to rape and pillage every others' teams stars. Best part is THE MORONIC FANS of these teams think this is great.
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4-07-2008 @ 9:38AM
Bradley said...
Peavy doesn't need to cheat. He's one
of the very few good pitchers in the game
currently.
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 9:44AM
Sean said...
Last time I checked, there are plenty of pitchers using "rosin and dirt" to keep there hands dry, but I have yet to see what can best be described as black grease on the thumb, index, and middle fingers of any pitcher in the league. Call it what you want, but those three fingers were black and anyone that wants to call it "dirt" is a complete moron. Why wasn't there any "dirt" on the rest of his hand? Why just those three fingers?
I don't really care either way. If Jake Peavy wants to cheat and the Padres organization and its fans want to condone it, that's their problem. I put up with Barry Bond's blatant steriod use and I watched as he broke records, while single handedly destroying the integrity of the game.
This is just another good reason for the Dodgers fans to hate the pretenders to the South.
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4-07-2008 @ 9:57AM
Bobby said...
The guy's wearing short sleeves, he'd have to be better than David Copperfield to hide a foreign substance somewhere. The umps check the balls periodically for scuff marks & if the balls were coated even slightly it should have been noticed by them or Peavy was taking a helluva chance of being caught. More drummed up drama, it's over, the evidence is gone, it's a non issue....
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4-07-2008 @ 10:25AM
Rich Schumacher said...
Yes, this is huge for baseball - a little rivalry. Show me the money. I am losing the fun of watching 18 millionaires set out to play a child's game but you great fans keep up the good work.
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4-07-2008 @ 10:59AM
DON DESHAM said...
i would really like to know how many baseballs are used by all teams in a season.I am sure many of them contain an unexplainabe substance, if they were all checked the game would never end.
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4-07-2008 @ 11:01AM
John said...
Canseco did it !!! Peavy shook Jose's hand earlier & the brown shit that Canseco rubs all over his shaved plastic body was on Peavy's hand.
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4-07-2008 @ 11:10AM
vickitot said...
BaseBall has turned into a sport for the RICH ! ! ! the TICKET PRICES ARE OUTRAGEOUS ! ! !
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4-07-2008 @ 11:29AM
Marshall said...
Hey tanman 105 the Angels and White Sox have bigger payrolls than the Dodgers or Mets. Why didn't you mention them in your rant? Do you homework first before you bash. I take it you never played baseball, at least higher than little league.
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4-07-2008 @ 11:42AM
paul larkin said...
get jerk arlan spector to investergate
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 11:56AM
Daddy-O said...
Jake Peavy is a jerk! I watched him several times last season, and every time he pitches, he's just angry. He's berating his teammates, yelling like the spoiled child he really is. I hope they DO find something and penalize him for it! Take away the Cy Young Award too, isn't there some clause about good sportsmanship attached to it anyway??
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4-07-2008 @ 12:07PM
BAMA said...
OVERPAID AND BORING
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4-07-2008 @ 12:09PM
Some Woman said...
Joe Torre is a lucky guy who happened to manage a group of talented players. He doesn't know how to manage...everything from his petty attitude to his players to his stupid little "rules" like the "Joba rules" sucked big time - I pity the Dodgers...I really do!
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 12:32PM
Jeff said...
Daddy-O - are you kidding me??? Jake Peavy a jerk??? Have you ever met the man. He is one of the most down to earth and friendly athletes you would ever meet..You have obviously never competed in
anything, and are a casual observer of baseball, and sports in general because Jake Peavy is one of the most intimidating, intense, and incredible athletes on the field since Michael Jordan..He isn't
berating teammates - he is firing himself and his teammates up!!!!Losing is not an option for Jake.. Ask any of his teammates, and they will all tell you HE IS THE MAN !!!! As far as being a "spoiled
child", he resigned with the Padres for less money than he could have got elsewhere, because, he, unlike other "spoiled" atheletes isn't greedy...He loves San Diego, and is happy getting paid to
play a kids game..To call Jake Peavy a jerk is just plain ignorance on your part..
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 12:33PM
benandgerrys1 said...
TORRE THE RHUG, BACK TO SOME OLD TRICKS
Reply