The Baseball Chick

According to Wired Science:

Individuals who inherit a particular gene variant that tweaks the brain’s reward system are especially likely to drink a lot of alcohol in the company of heavy-boozing peers.

That’s the preliminary indication of a new study directed by psychology graduate student Helle Larsen of Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Adults carrying at least one copy of a long version of the dopamine D4 receptor gene, dubbed DRD4, imbibed substantially more alcohol around a heavy-drinking peer than did others who lacked that gene variant, Larsen’s group reports in a paper published online July 7 in Psychological Science.

“Carriers of the long gene may be more attuned to, and influenced by, another person’s heavy drinking than noncarriers are,” Larsen says.

Her study provides the first evidence that a gene influences human alcohol use in social situations.

Scientists have yet to decipher the precise brain effects of DRD4’s long form. Larsen hypothesizes that in the presence of heavy drinkers, the gene variant may increase dopamine activity in brain areas that amplify alcohol’s appeal as a rewarding social activity.

“If this gene-environment interaction stands, and I don’t see why it shouldn’t, there is every reason to expect the effect would extend to drugs besides alcohol, as well to many motivated pursuits,” remarks biopsychologist Kent Berridge of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who was not involved with the new study.

Sociologist Michael Shanahan of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill lauds the new study for ruling out the possibility that carriers of the key gene simply like to drink a lot of booze and tend to do so with other heavy drinkers. Instead, alcohol use jumped among volunteers with a long DRD4 gene who happened to see a stranger imbibe heavily for a brief time.

Larsen and her colleagues asked 60 women and 53 men to evaluate advertisements for an alcohol-abuse prevention campaign. Each volunteer entered a room that had been furnished as a typical Dutch pub, accompanied by a person of the same sex who the volunteer thought was another participant but who was actually working with the researchers.

In between two 10-minute evaluation sessions, volunteers and the researchers’ confederates were given a break. An experimenter asked them to sit at a bar stocked with peanuts, beer, wine, soda and mineral water and to drink whatever they wanted.

As instructed, confederates took the initiative and drank either two sodas, one alcoholic drink and then one soda; or three alcoholic drinks for women and four alcoholic drinks for men over a 30-minute period.

DNA analyses of saliva identified 31 volunteers as carriers of the long DRD4 gene, which contains an amino acid sequence that repeats seven times.

When confederates stuck to sodas or drank one alcoholic beverage, long-gene carriers and noncarriers alike limited themselves to an average of less than half a glass of wine or half a bottle of beer.

When confederates quaffed multiple alcoholic drinks, carriers of the gene variant consumed an average of almost two wine or beer servings, versus almost one serving for noncarriers.

These results held for men and women, all of whom said they drink socially, regardless of how much alcohol they reported drinking weekly.

Deceptive research techniques can backfire if volunteers see through them and don’t admit it to researchers (SN: 6/20/98, p. 394). But when interviewed after testing, none of the participants guessed the study’s real aim or the confederate’s agenda.

Other researchers need to confirm these findings, Larsen says. Some attempts to replicate findings from other studies of gene-environment interactions have yielded mixed results, including follow-up work on a study by researchers from Duke University in Durham, N.C., that found that another gene variant promotes depression in people who experience stress.

Thanks, dopamine D4 receptor gene!!! And cheers!

Carl Crawford sustained a testicular contusion on Tuesday night when he was hit directly in the junk by a Jake Arrieta pickoff throw.  He will be out of the lineup tonight against the Orioles.  However, when he does return, Crawford will remain protective cup-less.

“I’m just not going to wear a cup,” he said Wednesday morning. “I don’t think that’s going to happen again. It had never happened in eight years, you know what I’m saying? I’ve got nothing to worry about. [I'm not going to] let that one little incident change the way I do things, especially if I’m feeling better. Just be real careful when I’m out there.”

If I was a major league pitcher, I would always direct my pickoff throws directly at the wang and balls.  It is a great way to get a really good ballplayer out of the lineup.  It’s something the rest of the AL East should keep in mind!

(Very unique LeBron, seeing as Michael Jordan did that shit 15 years ago, JAGOFF)

Frankly, I went bowling instead of watching this steaming pile of bullshit, but Yahoo! Sports has made a list of the most bizarre things LeBron James during his “Decision” television special, a stunt that should result in his PR people being taken out back and shot like Old Yeller.   Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports:

• “This whole free agent experience, I’m looking forward to it.”

This was pretty much the first thing out of LeBron’s mouth, which was strange because I was under the impression that “this whole free agent experience” was ending. Maybe he’s just as anxious as I am to see where Brad Miller ends up.

• “It’s a very small number and I could probably count it on my fingers.”

LeBron’s response to Jim Gray’s inquiry in to how many people knew his decision before the TV show just came off very awkward (and also untrue, it seems). Clearly LeBron James is capable of counting as high as 10, but the way he said it sounded like he wasn’t sure.

• “The last time I changed my mind was probably in my dreams, and when I woke up this morning I knew it was the right decision.”

Lots of people get ideas when they’re sleeping. Not very many of them result in changing the landscape of a multi-billion dollar business. I guess all that fretting we did over where LeBron would end up could have been solved by him taking a nice nap the first day of free agency.

• “One thing you can’t control is you never know.”

This could be a Ringo Starr lyric.

• “I never wanted to leave Cleveland.”

Obviously none of us were privy to the negotiations between LeBron and the Cavs, but it seems like the easiest way to not leaving Cleveland is to not leave Cleveland.

• “They can have mixed emotions, of course.”

When asked how fans would react to LeBron leaving the Cavaliers, James allowed their fans to have mixed emotions, which was pretty nice of him.

• “It was a tough decision because I know how loyal I am.”

Signing a contract that is longer than any he’d signed with the Cavaliers is definite proof of his loyalty.

• “I think I was attracted to a lot of cities.”

LeBron James, like, totally thought a lot of cities were, like, super hott. He played MASH in study hall to figure out which one he should totally play for, for real.

• “When you see KG and Ray and Paul and you didn’t even understand the guys around them.”

Well yeah, it’s hard to understand Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo. They never smile. Open up, fellas.

• “Put the shoe on the other foot. If the Cavs would have got rid of me at one point, would my family burn down the organization? Of course not.”

This was the biggest laugh of the night for me. I am still very happy to know that LeBron’s family would have never burned down the entire Cleveland Cavaliers organization. You have no idea how many nights I’ve stayed up worrying about that.

• “If I draw a guy and Joel Anthony is under the rim, he has to make plays.”

I guess this means Joel Anthony is coming back. And since he’s going to be a playmaker, we might as well start calling the Heat the Fantastic Four or something like that.

I can’t wait until this egomaniac needs microfracture surgery on his knee.  I have both my fingers and toes crossed.

I’m not kidding, Carlos Zambrano is mentally ill.  He needs to be institutionalized.  And he needs to get socked really hard in the face for blaming the fact that he is shitty now on Derrek Lee.  Yeah, it’s Derrek Lee’s fault you gave up four runs in the first inning, you psychopathic jagoff.

In baseball news, Coco Crisp is back up with the Oakland Athletics after his second stint on the disabled list already this season.  Crisp has missed all but two games this season after beginning the season on the Disabled List with a broken left pinkie finger.  He then returned for a total of one game before being deactivated again with a strained rib cage.

Crisp has been inserted into the starting lineup for Tuesday night’s game, playing center field and batting leadoff.

He will be killing pitching again in about a month, when he begins another rehab assignment in Triple A.

By Dana Bashor

Dana Bashor, from Dana Bashor Baseball Fan, is known by her husband as a “super fan”. Growing up around baseball Dana Bashor’s love for the game continues to grow on a daily basis. Dana Bashor attends as many games throughout the year as she can and she now shares her baseball banter on her website, DanaBashorBaseballFan.com.

Happy Fathers’ Day to the man who made me the hyper-opinionated, asshole-ish, drunken, easily angered, baseball-obsessed, super-cool, Napoleon-complexed, talkative, and insanely intelligent bitch I am today!!!  In celebration of the man, the myth, and the legend, my Dad and I are going on baseball and beer-related research this weekend.

Boston’s Daniel Nava hit the first pitch he saw as a big leaguer for a grand slam, leading the Red Sox to their second straight rout of the Phillies with a final score of 10-2 on Saturday.  Nava connected on a fastball from pitcher Joe Blanton in the second inning, after earlier being called up from Triple-A Pawtucket.

In a precious little side note, his folks were in the stands operating a video camera.  “It’s funny. They really hadn’t seen me play in the last two years,” Nava said. “They were in Indianapolis to watch me play on Friday and I told them I might be playing up here.”

Only four players in MLB history have hit grand slams in their first career at-bat.

According to Nava: “I wanted to treat it like I normally do.  I just said, `How are you guys doing (to umpire Bill Hohn and catcher Brian Schneider)?’ They didn’t say anything.”  As he rounded second base, it began to hit him, what he’d accomplished. Nava “started to scream. I was pumped.”

Nava got an enthusiastic greeting in the dugout, with veteran Kevin Youkilis and others pounding him on the batting helmet and pushing him to take a curtain call, which he subsequently did.

This is probably the first and last time this kid will be on my site, but I thought it was a nice enough story.  It almost warmed my cold, dead heart.

Check out former Major League second baseman Wally Backman tell off some Minor League umpire. I have a strange feeling this is my real father.

Jim Joyce, PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE. What a JACKASS!!!

Armando Galarraga was one out away from the third perfect game of 2010 and the second in less than a week, until Jim Joyce ripped it away from him.

After retiring the first 26 batters in succession, Indians shortstop Jason Donald was called safe on an ground ball to first baseman Miguel Cabrera. Replays showed that Galarraga clearly beat Donald to the bag while receiving Cabrera’s toss, but Joyce called him safe.

Despite the call, Galarraga finished with the first complete game and first shutout of his career — a one-hitter — as the Tigers beat the Indians, 3-0, in the second of three games.

But this fat tub of shit, excuse me, Jim Joyce, should never ump in the big leagues again.  I’m sorry, if you can’t even make the easy plays when they count the most, how can we trust this utter moron with any call in the MLB?!?  The umps are there to correctly call the game, not to decide it.

Worst call in Don Denkinger.  FACT.

So I guess it’s no longer “Lima Time.”

Right-handed pitcher, Jose Lima, who was a 20-game winner and an All-Star during a 13-year major league career, died Sunday. He was 37.  Lima died of an apparent heart attack, according to the Aguilas Cibaenas, a winter ball team Lima had played for in the Dominican Republic.  Lima posted his best season in 1999 when he was selected to the All-Star game as a Houston Astro.

In 13 major league seasons, he had a 5.26 ERA. He hadn’t pitched in the major leagues since a four-game stop with the New York Mets in 2006.

“He was a man full of life, without apparent physical problems and with many plans and projects on the agenda,” his wife, Dorca Astacio, told ESPNdeportes.com.

On this past Friday night, he attended a game at Dodger Stadium, where he was introduced between innings and received an ovation from the crowd.  With the Dodgers in 2004 and 2005, Lima had a record of 13-5, with a 4.07 ERA.

“He would sign autographs all the time and ask the kids, ‘What time is it?’ They would answer ‘Lima Time!’ I can see it right now.” said Guillermo Mota, now a Giants reliever. “He had so much energy. I used to play catch with him and I’d be laughing on every throw.”

So sad.  I will always remember when he dyed his hair blond.  That was so ridiculous.  My thoughts go out to his family, friends, and fans.