Cathryn

This always seemed so weird to me because it was like Harden was throwing as if he were a little guy, when he has absolutely no need to. I always wondered if he came up with those mechanics on his own, or if the A's did.

That's really interesting. I continue to be impressed by how much I don't know after watching baseball for almost four years. My question is this: If Harden did indeed come up with those mechanics on his own, and they've been causing problems, wouldn't a good coach or trainer or whatever work with him to develop different, more appropriate mechanics? (Notice my use of the adjective "good" . . .)

But people call that a sprain. Y'see?

Yep, that makes sense. I looked up shoulder sprains while I was doing my research, and I ended up not using what I found because of exactly what you said - it was so vague and covered such a wide range. It sounded like a sprain could be anything from "oops, I pulled that" to "oops, I shredded those."

Because I am a dork, I knew exactly where to find the clip of the injury. Lowell landed full force on Piazza's shoulder while Piazza was on his stomach with his arm spread a little bit away from his body. I do remember him mentioning that for a moment, it went numb and he was afraid it had separated. So, yeah. Looks like it was definitely in the upper levels of "severe."

This is inexcuseable, and if it turns out to be true, the Union would have everything they need to eat the A's alive.

Man, I hope so. If I had just run across that story by itself, I'd have my doubts, but in the context of what's been going on this season alone - well, I have to find Halsey's version of events a little more plausible than Beane's blandly indifferent quotes. I will definitely be keeping a close eye on this one.