Texas Rangers are Cheaters.....well at least according to Buehrle

[Down to Earth]

Evidently they aren't very good at it as they are 12.5 games out in their division and only the 7th best home record in the AL.

Updated: Aug. 31, 2005, 1:19 AM ET

Buehrle accuses Rangers hitters of cheatingAssociated Press

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Chicago White Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle called the Texas Rangers cheaters on Tuesday, claiming that the team signals pitches to batters through a high-tech light system in center field.

Buehrle

Buehrle suggested Monday night that the Rangers knew what he was throwing during Chicago's 7-5 loss, and he repeated the accusation before Tuesday's doubleheader.

"I've heard rumors, so it's not just me saying this," Buehrle said. "I've heard it from tons of people. It's not just me saying this. ... Something's going on because they hit so good at home. The way they hit here, you'd have to raise an eyebrow to figure something's going on. Look at the stats. I'm not just making this up."

Texas entered Tuesday batting .285 with 125 homers at home, compared to .256 with 86 homers on the road.

The Rangers dismissed the allegations -- in some cases with a chuckle.

"It's crazy and it's funny," said Rangers home run leader Mark Teixeira. "It's an outrageous comment, an outrageous claim."

Texas DH Phil Nevin jokingly asked Rangers manager Buck Showalter why the lights weren't working when he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts on Monday night.

Buehrle, who allowed nine hits and seven runs -- four earned -- in seven innings, said he suspected the Rangers knew the pitches in advance by how they reacted in their at-bats.

"Certain pitches you throw, they lay off them like they knew it was coming," Buehrle said.

Stealing signs is common in baseball, and it's legal if done on the field. But using television or having a spy in center field to pick off a catcher's signals is forbidden.

"To have somebody out in center field or whatever they're doing, that's cheating," Buehrle said.

Texas hitting instructor Rudy Jaramillo said Buehrle's charges were insulting.

"We just had a good approach," Jaramillo said. "Maybe he said that out of frustration. He can think whatever he wants."

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen softened Buehrle's charges.

"You can go either way with it," Guillen said. "The way Buehrle pitched yesterday, it seemed they didn't need signs. Everything was right down the middle of the plate.

"This is a tough issue. We have to respect them because they kicked our butt last night. If we think they're doing something different, then we have to change the signs, location, whatever."

[SledNeck]

Look at the source of the accusations! Buehrle has beeing saying stupid things since the first day a microphone was put infront of his face. Im not suprised by these comments at all.....reminds me of all the other crazy conspiracy people...."there's UFO's!" "I saw BIG FOOT!" "Iraq has WMDs!"

[Eric Wettschreck]

Being that far back I'd think that if, and I say if with much sarcasm, if they're cheating they should do a better job at it.

Maybe Buehrle needs to go to Fleet Farm and buy a clue.

[PierBridge]

Quote:

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all the other crazy conspiracy people...."there's UFO's!" "I saw BIG FOOT!" "Iraq has WMDs!"

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You don't believe in BigFoot?......and your from the Iron range thats just not right...you need to get out in wooods more young man.....

[CNY Tim]

That's good stuff... Enjoyed reading it. Windy won't :^)

[fishyguy]

"You can go either way with it," Guillen said. "The way Buehrle pitched yesterday, it seemed they didn't need signs. Everything was right down the middle of the plate."

That statement right there moves Guillen up on my Manager of the Year list. He is the biggest reason the Sox are finally playing to their potential. Take the excuses away and just play ball.

[Jarrod32]

Of course they're trying to steal signs. Just like every team does. Is he going to say that the White Sox aren't trying to steal signs every chance they get?

Just change up your signs, like every team - from little league through high school through college through the minors to the major leagues - does, to prevent it from happening.

[Commanche Jim]

Hey Redneck,

Please tell us just one (1) stupid thing that Mark has said with a microphone in front of him..........if he has said so many stupid things, it should be easy for you to respond.

Please enlighten us....

[buzzsaw]

You may find some here: web page

[FI Guide]

Hey stealing signs is a good thing if you dont get caught. As a pitcher I stole the signs to see what the 3rd base coach was telling the hitter so I could do something different.

[rundrave]

here chew on this for a while, seems as Mr Buerhle has tried to use the cheat card before...hmmmm

THE MARK BUEHRLE CENTER FOR PLAYERS WHO CAN'T CHEAT GOOD, AND WANT TO LEARN HOW TO DO OTHER STUFF GOOD, TOO

"I don't want to get too many people in trouble, but I think there are a lot of people who may use something out of the ordinary, even if it's a spitball."

--White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle (Chicago Sun-Times)

"You see a lot of guys licking their fingers off the mound, which is legal, but when they act like they wipe it on their pants, they're really not wiping it on their pants, they leave their fingers with a little bit of spit to make the ball move a lot. Some of the guys you see out there making the ball move two-three feet, I'd want to check into those guys."

--Buehrle

"I can't get myself in trouble because he's on the North Side. I don't know personally, but I'm just saying from years of experience that he's had success that he very well may be using something."

--Buehrle, when asked to name names

"Basically I use snot if I have it. Mark, you caught me. I'm glad, with your busy schedule, you had nothing else to do but imply I was using spit on the ball."

--Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster, responding to Buehrle's accusations (Chicago Tribune)

"He must get bored in-between the four days off. As a [former] starter, I can appreciate that."

--Dempster, on Buehrle's motivation

"Doing the relieving thing, I don't have enough time to think of things like that. Although I know that one of the White Sox players, I heard, is using some sort of atomic bomb in his jockstrap."

--Dempster

"I said I don't know personally. You hear rumors around the league [about] guys cheating. There are guys on every team that cheat. Take it and run whichever way you want to go, but I didn't think it was a big deal."

--Buehrle

"Hitters get to use pine tar, so why can't pitchers? I know it's illegal, but it's a good argument."

--Buehrle

"If they want, umpires can come out and check guys after every inning, I'll be more than happy to drop my drawers and they can check whatever they want to check on me. I don't care."

--Buehrle

source: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4143

[buzzsaw]

I guess thats a good response to Commanche's question. Buehrle is a good pitcher, but he needs to just shut up and not make comments that make him look like a donkey.... I mean he just gets shelled and it has to be that Texas is cheating, it can't be that they have a good lineup or advance scouting has picked up a flaw in his delivery where he is tipping his pitches, it has to be that they are flasing light signs in the outfield back to the batter. In my opinion the pressure is mounting and he didn't help his team win and this is his true character shinning through! I hope he's not considered a leader on that team or they're in trouble come playoff time. What do you guys in Illinois think??

[SledNeck]

he he he!

[Willy]

Buerle's a jerk. Good pitcher, but a jerk none the less. I lost all respect for him after his comments on the Twins last year. You think you'll hear Torii Hunter talking smack about the white sox this year? I don't think so. Our guys might not be making the playoffs this year, but at least they have some class.

[rundrave]

Probably just frustration, hate to see a professional make excuses for not getting the job done. Why cant he just go out there and say, I didnt have my best stuff tonight, happends to the best of us. Instead choose to point the figure in the other direction.

His numbers are not by any means impressive since the all-star break. Hard to believe this guy was the AL starter.

Since the break he has only won 4 of his 9 starts, given up 35 runs in 60 innings, and has an era of 4.15

Looks the like the sox will be limping slowly into the playoffs, unless perhaps cleveland catches them....

Hey Jim, we have enlightened you with the facts, whats your response?

[buzzsaw]

Quote:

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Since the break he has only won 4 of his 9 starts, given up 35 runs in 60 innings, and has an era of 4.15

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It looks like everybody must be cheating when they face him... atleast since the all star break.

[SledNeck]

He's not a big enough man to admit his pitching has been sub-par after the break. It is funny how you never hear the Twins talking trash about the sox in the media...

[Commanche Jim]

Wow Redneck,

HE HE HE. Got other people speaking for you, huh? Can't back up any of your own smack talk, huh.

Is anything that Buehrle said in Rundrave's post not true? What did you guys think of Canseco before his book? What do you think of him now?

I am in no way putting the 2 of these guys in the same league, but do any of you dismiss what Buehrle said about doctoring the ball? If you do, you need to wake up.

[Commanche Jim]

Are the Sox trash talking the twins in the media? Did I miss something?

I'm glad the Twins aren't trash talking the Sox. Last time I checked they were 12.5 games back. If anyone should be talking trash, it should be you twin fans trash talking your team and organization. They were supposed to win the world series this year. And after how many division titles, your team still plays in that convention center???? I've played on better fields.

HE HE HE

[Commanche Jim]

if you guys are refering to the sox busting on Hunter last year, yeah, they should trash talk him. He hurt one of their teammates...........and I don't care what any of you say, it was a dirty play........He didn't need to go out of his way to hit Jaime..........Yes it was a legal play, but he didn't even have the ball yet.

I guess what comes around goes around.

[SledNeck]

Ha Ha Ha Ha. You wont be so vocal when the Indians win the division this year.

[rundrave]

Quote:

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but do any of you dismiss what Buehrle said about doctoring the ball? If you do, you need to wake up.

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NO we dont dismiss what he said. Point I am trying to make, is that he only does it after he gets rocked, and gives up some runs, then just makes excuses. Greg Maddux, gets beat do you hear him cyring in the media, NO.

If you look at my post, and read his last 2 comments, if those dont tell you what kind of a moron he is, im sorry maybe you need to wake up, and from the looks of it, looks like this morning was the wrong side of the bed

[Commanche Jim]

Rundrave,

You don't think Maddux has ever gone nuts after a game in which he should of won, but his defense committed 3 errors behind him allowing a bunch of unearned runs? So Buehrle sounds off after a bad outing and he's automatically labeled as a crybaby? Is Clemens a crybaby?

[Willy]

Buerle's a well known crybaby and mouthoff. And no, he shouldn't have been talking smack about the Twins last year. That shows no class, just like most of the Sox and their fans.

Have fun on top of the heap while it lasts. After going one and done in the playoffs, next year will be a different year.

Hate to break it to ya, but the Sox aren't that good, no matter what their record says. I would venture to say they will be the weakest among all playoff teams this year except whoever comes out of the NL West.

But hey, at least you guys will be IN the playoffs.

[Commanche Jim]

I honestly have never heard people say Buehrle is a crybaby, never heard it on national news (ESPN, Fox, CNN), and certainly the local news has never bashed him or called him a crybaby or a whiner.

Must be the local news up there that gives our players bad names.

And YES, the Sox had every right to bash the Twins. That play at the plate could have really injured Jaime Burke a lot worse. He did put him in the hospital, and you guys all thought it was so cool. If you want to argue about it, find the clip and watch the replay. All Hunter had to do was run straight, and he scores. Instead, he went INSIDE the baseline to hit a guy who hadn't even received the ball.

And yeah, you're right about the Sox. They aren't that good. Despite a losing record in August, they're still 31 games over .500, and 4 games up on the Red Sox for home field advantage thru out the playoffs. I think they're overrated, they're pitching staff is marginal, and they can't hit a home run.

Actually, I'm not even expecting them to make the playoffs. But it was a good run. At least they were in it longer than the twins.