A Different Type of Testing

A few interesting stories came out yesterday about a different type of testing…

 -The first one, from The New York Times, says that for older athletes, the drug question emerges (H/T Sarah). And they’re not talking about Jamie Moyer. It’s an interesting article about a segment of the population that one wouldn’t think of for performance enhancing drugs, but the issue is there. The best part, though, is the opening:

In his apartment outside Philadelphia, Frank Levine pulled a list of prescription medications from his refrigerator, his hands shaking slightly. There was metformin HCl and glipizide for his diabetes; lisinopril for his blood pressure; and Viagra.

“I need it,” he said recently.

Mr. Levine, who is 95 and has had operations on both knees, in June set the American record in the 400-meter dash for men ages 95 to 99, only to see it broken at the U.S.A. Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships a few weeks later. “Nothing counts unless you’re first,” he said.

Sounds like Ricky Bobby to me.

-The second one comes from ESPN about South Africa’s Caster Semenya and whether Caster is a he or she. It’s been going on for “several weeks” now. Gawker asks what’s taking them so long (H/T Sarah again)? My question is what does the mea culpa look like when they find out she’s really a she? That would be quitttttte embarrassing.

-Lastly, the test to see how good a fielder a player is. In March, River Ave Blues looked at John Dewan’s “The Fielding Bible” and figured out that the defense from the 2008 Yankees cost the team. I could have told you that just by watching, but they figure that it cost the Yankees 4 wins. So now, this year they’re a good defensive team as Sweeny Murti points out. I know sometimes we, as Yankees fans go a little overboard with Mark Teixeira praise, but are we really to expect that more hard work in the offseason really made Robinson Cano (-13 runs, 35^th at 2nd) and Derek Jeter (-8 runs, 31^st at SS) plus fielders in 2009? Did they just decide they were going to now try on defense? Or maybe, just maybe, could their improvement have a little something to do with Mark Teixeira bailing them out at first base?

Yesterday, with runners on first and second and nobody out in the bottom of the 8^th, the A’s looked like they were threatening against Phil Hughes. Hughes got a groundball to A-Rod who stepped on third and tried to throw to first to complete the double play. But it was an awful throw. Guess what? Teixeira found a way to dig it out and complete the double play. The Yankees got out of the inning unscathed because of that. I’m really interested to know how Tex is a bad defender this season. I’m a big fan of statistical analysis, but that may be one area where defensive statistics are way off.