They’re making a fictionalized TV show out of PEDs in baseball

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This is fun: there is a proposed TV series for Showtime called “Dope.” It’s ” an hourlong drama about the business of performance-enhancing drugs for athletes and the doctor who popularized it in South Florida.” Attached to it are a couple of reporters who worked on the Biogenesis stories last year.

As friend of HBT and Technology Tell writer Stephen Silver notes, If done right this could be good. They GOTTA play this with some serious comedic and absurdist angles. There is high comedy to be had regarding athletes setting up fake websites to cover their tracks, using personal checks to pay for drugs and having them delivered to the ballpark, reporters asking ballplayers to pee in cups on demand like Rick Reilly did that time, Clemens’ ridiculous p.r. assault after the Mitchell report came out and a billion other angles. Ultra-seriousness could play a part — if you touch on kids and drugs and stuff, sure, go for The Message — but too much of that will make it into some unbearable and unintentionally silly “Reefer Madness” thing.

Also, a suggestion: if you’re going to cast a role for an obnoxious blogger/PED apologist, you could do way worse than hiring Jim Rash:

 

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MLB homer leader Pete Alonso to IL with bone bruise, sprain in wrist

pete alonso
Dale Zanine/USA TODAY Sports
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PITTSBURGH — The New York Mets will have to dig out of an early-season hole without star first baseman Pete Alonso.

The leading home run hitter in the majors will miss three-to-four weeks with a bone bruise and a sprain in his left wrist.

The Mets placed Alonso on the 10-day injured list Friday, retroactive to June 8. Alonso was hit in the wrist by a 96 mph fastball from Charlie Morton in the first inning of a 7-5 loss to Atlanta on Wednesday.

Alonso traveled to New York for testing on Thursday. X-rays revealed no broken bones, but the Mets will be missing one of the premier power hitters in the game as they try to work their way back into contention in the NL East.

“We got better news than it could have been,” New York manager Buck Showalter said. “So we take that as a positive. It could have been worse.”

New York had lost six straight heading into a three-game series at Pittsburgh that began Friday. Mark Canha started at first for the Mets in the opener. Mark Vientos could also be an option, though Showalter said the coaching staff may have to use its “imagination” in thinking of ways to get by without Alonso.

“I’m not going to say someone has to step up and all that stuff,” Showalter said. “You’ve just got to be who you are.”

Even with Alonso in the lineup, the Mets have struggled to score consistently. New York is 16th in the majors in runs scored.

The team also said Friday that reliever Edwin Uceta had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Uceta initially went on the IL in April with what the team called a sprained left ankle. He is expected to be out for at least an additional eight weeks.

New York recalled infielder Luis Guillorme and left-handed reliever Zach Muckenhirn from Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets sent catcher Tomás Nido to Triple-A and designated reliever Stephen Nogosek for assignment.

Nogosek is 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA in 13 games this season.