Cavalli Cages Cubs

Cade Cavalli pitched a masterpiece in this afternoon’s game, going 8 innings and giving up

a single hit, while walking 2 and striking out 10. Cavalli surrendered only a bloop single to

left field in the 7th inning off the bat of Cubs’ first baseman, Michael Busch.

Chicago’s starter Kevin Gausman pitched into the 5th inning before the Nationals finally got

their offense going.

Neither team had a base runner through the first 3 innings. Only the second time that had

happened in either league this season.

In the bottom of the 4th, the Nats broke the ice as Abimelec Ortiz singled to right and Dylan

Crews doubled to left field. Ortiz scored all the way from 1st base. 1-0 Washington.

The Nationals exploded in the bottom of the 5th. Jorbit Vivas started it off with a walk.

Andres Chaparro then singled to center, sending Vivas to 3rd. Andrew Pinckney sent Vivas

home with a sacrifice fly to right field. CJ Abrams then singled to right, with Chaparro

making it to 3rd base. Abimelec Ortiz followed with a 3-run blast to center field, his 5th,

scoring Chaparro and Abrams. Dylan Crews then singled to center and later came home

on another single courtesy of Daylen Lile. 6-0 good guys.

Gausman went 4 2/3 innings giving up 7 hits and 6 runs with 1 walk and 7 strikeouts.

And then in the top of the 7th, Cavalli lost his no-hitter to a bloop single to left field off the

bat of Michael Busch. You could see the obvious frustration on Cale’s face as the ball fell in

front of the Nationals’ hard-charging left fielder, Daylen Lile.

The Nats added another insurance run in the bottom of the 8th. Daylen Lile singled to right

and went to 3rd as Brady House singled to center. Jorbit Vivas hit the Nats’ 3rd straight

single, sending Lile across home plate. 7-0 Nationals.

And then Clete Beeter finished it off for the Nationals with 3 straight outs in the top of the

9th.

The Nationals avoided the sweep courtesy of Cavalli’s incredible performance this

afternoon.

An exciting game for all.

And now it’s on to the Big Apple…New York City…to face the Mets. Game time tomorrow at

7:10 ET.

Dave’s Dime…Doping in Baseball, the Early Years

One of the most disturbing times in the history of baseball, what we now call the Steroid Era, lasted from the late 1980’s to the mid-2000’s. But, believe it or not, baseball players have tried to gain an advantage with the use of illegal substances since the late 1800’s

Way back in 1889, the first baseball player widely known for his illegal drug use was a guy named Pud Galvin. He was a proponent of something called the Brown Sequard Elixir. Just the name itself sounds illegal. It was actually a testosterone supplement derived from the testicles of live dogs and guinea pigs. I’m sure it wasn’t derived willingly.

Galvin played professional baseball for seventeen years and was actually the first pitcher to win 300 games during his career. I’d hate to think that Brown Sequard Elixir had anything to do with that, but we’ll never know. On the down side, Galvin also lost over 300 games.

There’s also a story concerning Babe Ruth self-administering an injection of an extract from sheep testicles. As the story goes, the concoction proved ineffective and Ruth ended up missing a few games. The team reported his absence was due to “a bellyache.”

During World War II, both sides of the battlefield provided amphetamines to their troops in an attempt to improve soldiers’ mental focus and stamina. Many of the soldiers, after returning from the war, applied their knowledge concerning the supposed benefits of these amphetamines. This led to their widespread usage in college sports, which later expanded to professional sports as well.

If we remember the battle between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, in 1961, as they raced toward immortality by breaking Babe Ruth’s single-season home run total, Mantle suddenly started lagging behind Maris. This has been attributed, by one source, to Mantle’s attempt to gain an illegal edge by having some quack doctor inject him with an unknown chemical concoction.

The injection led to Mantle suffering from an abscess on his leg that obviously hindered his performance more than it helped. And he unfortunately lost the battle. Poetic justice, maybe?

Even the immortal Hank Aaron once wrote that he accepted an amphetamine pill from a teammate and took it before a game in 1968. He’d been in a little bit of a slump and was obviously exploring things he shouldn’t have been. Aaron later stated that it was a stupid thing to do, and the pill made him feel like he “was having a heart attack.”

Another early example would be that of pitcher Tom House, who played in the big leagues from 1971-1978. He came clean about his use of “steroids they wouldn’t give to horses.” Yeah, that really sounds like a smart thing to do.

House estimated that “six or seven” pitchers on every team were experimenting with steroids and human growth hormones. And this is back in the 70’s!

The lure of competition, the addiction to greatness, the struggle to be the best.

And then we come to one of the darkest periods in the history of the game.

To be continued…

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