Yusaku Iriki, a righthander who was pitching Triple-A Norfolk, has been suspended for 50 games for violating Minor League Baseball’s performance-enhancing drug regulations.
Iriki, 33, is in his first year in the U.S. after going 35-35, 3.73 in nine seasons in Japan. This season he was 1-2, 3.74 in 22 innings at the time of the suspension.
Iriki becomes the 10th minor leaguer suspended for performance enhancing drugs this year. Nine of the 10 suspended players are pitchers.
Iriki’s mugshot and bio have already been removed from the Tides’ website.
Mets P Brian Bannister has been placed on the 15 day disabled list ; OF Victor Diaz has been recalled from Norfolk.
The Mets will face John Smoltz, John Thomson and Kyle Davies over the next 3 days at Turner Field, a trio surveyed with aplomb by MetsGeek’s Andrew Hintz.
The Journal News’ John Delcos asked Pedro Martinez, tonight’s Mets starter, to compare the Mets’ rivalry with the Braves to that of the Red Sox and Yankees.
“I haven’t been here long enough to know,” Martinez said. “But you’re talking about the best rivalry in sports.”
With apologies to those who’d have cited ‘Bama/Auburn, Arsenal/Spurs or Duke/Carolina, I’ll give Pedro a pass on this one. For one thing, there should be no tough talk from the Mets end until they’ve finally beaten the Braves for the division crown. For another, there are still plenty of tickets available in Atlanta this weekend.
Braves games previously scheduled to air on Turner South will now end up on Fox Sports Net South, as the Fox inspired homogeneity of baseball on cable contines.