Former Nats, Mets pitcher Michael O’Connor was suspended for drugs

I’m wondering if when the Biogenesis suspensions come out if they’ll be released in little emails just after 5pm. And I wonder if I’ll still use the Rachel Leigh Cook pic. Probably not and probably not, respectively, but I’ll consider it. Anyway:

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that free agent Minor League left-handed pitcher Michael O’Connor has received a 50-game suspension without pay after testing positive for metabolites of Trenbolone, a performance-enhancing substance in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

O’Connor — assuming this is the same Michael O’Connor — had three stints with the Nationals, starting 20 games for them in 2006 and last appearing in the bigs in 2011 with the Mets. A veteran of 12 minor league seasons, O’Connor turns 33 in August and was last seen on the Twins’ Triple-A roster. He was released in May.

Now he roams the Earth, presumably.

Christian Yelich simply can’t be stopped. The Brewers outfielder (and defending NL MVP) entered Saturday’s game with a league-leading 11 home runs after swatting two against the Dodgers on Friday night, then clubbed another two homers in the first six innings of Saturday’s game.

The first came on a 2-1 pitch from the Dodgers’ Hyun-Jin Ryu, who lobbed a changeup toward the bottom of the strike zone before it was lifted up and out to center field for a solo home run in the third inning.

While Chase Anderson and Alex Claudio held down the fort against the Dodgers’ lineup, Yelich prepared for his second blast in the sixth inning — this one a 421-foot double-decker on a first-pitch curveball from Ryu.

One pitch. That's all. #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/CI5BGNHdZl

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 21, 2019

Yelich’s 13 home runs not only gave him a stronger grip on the league’s leaderboard, but helped him tie yet another franchise record, too. Per MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, he’s tied with Prince Fielder for the most home runs hit by a Brewers player in a single month, and sits just one home run shy of tying Álex Rodríguez’s 2007 record for most home runs hit within any club’s first 22 games of the season.

It may be far too early to predict which players will finish first in the MVP races this fall, but there’s no denying Yelich has already set himself apart from the competition. Through Saturday’s performance, he’s batting .361/.459/.880 with a 1.329 OPS and MLB-best 31 RBI across 98 PA so far.