WATERCOOLER CHAT: BAUTISTA ANKLE INJURY, SOX-ORIOLES BENCH CLEARING, CLEMENS MISTRIAL
BASEBALL
And the second half of the baseball season is underway. After people criticized Derek Jeter for not showing up to the All-Star game, his first game back after the break left a little to be desired for the New York Yankees. Toronto scored 8 runs in the first inning and ended up winning the game 16 – 7. But, the biggest news for the Blue Jays Thursday night was that the Major League home run leader, Jose Bautista left the game with an ankle injury in the fourth inning. If Toronto plans to make any push this year for the playoff, they need to have Bautista in the lineup.
Before the All-Star Break, the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles got into a couple heated, benches clearing incidents. And one even had punches thrown. David Ortiz and Kevin Gregg were each given four game suspensions for their parts in the brawl. Orioles‘ reliever Mike Gonzalez was given a three game suspension and his manager, Buck Showalter, was given a one game suspension. This went along with the numerous fines that were handed out by the league to both teams.
Roger Clemens’ perjury trial ended Thursday, after the judge ruled  a mistrial. The judge said that the prosecutors, were given explicit instructions not to show a certain piece of evidence in the trial, but they did not listen. The prosecution showed the jury the inadmissible evidence, and U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, ruled a mistrial. The new date everyone will look toward in this trial is September 2nd. That is the date that Walton will hold a hearing to settle on whether or not to retry Clemens for perjury.
