MARINERS TO REACTIVATE JULIO MATEO

Julio Mateo will be back on the diamond for the Mariners’ triple A team in Tacoma on Friday. The reliever was suspended for 10 days and sent down to the minors after an altercation with his wife left her with stitches in her lip. Mateo wants to put the events of May 5th behind him.

“I am very happy to be back. I am very excited to be getting a second opportunity. I haven’t killed anybody. I don’t sell drugs. I’ve never done anything like that. I am proud to have a second opportunity.”

Mateo, speaking through an interpreter, also said:

“The situation in New York is an unfortunate situation between my wife and I. It’s one of those things that no one will know except for my wife and I.”

I’m pretty sure the courts will know too since Mateo has a June 15 hearing in Manhattan regarding the third degree assault charges. The Mariners don’t know when, if ever, they will bring Julio back to the bigs. The team wants to wait and see what the fan reaction will be to Mateo in the minors.

It’s important to have all of the details before passing judgement, but if Mateo is found guilty of assaulting his wife he has to be given another suspension. He shouldn’t be out for the year but 15-20 games without pay will send a nice message.

Mariners’ Mateo “proud” of second chance following domestic assault arrest. Courtesy of Slam! Sports

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STERN TO CRAWFORD: SIT YO ASS DOWN

Everybody in the NBA including superstar players, coaches and ball boys know that David Stern isn’t messing around this year. Remember how many techs were called the first few weeks of the season when the league was stressing it’s new “behavior policy”? The policy now extends to NBA refs. One of the NBA’s finest, Joey Crawford, has been suspended for the rest of the regular season (two days) and the playoffs for his ejection of Tim Duncan on Sunday. David Stern on the suspension:

“Joey Crawford’s handling of this situation failed to meet the standards of professionalism and game management we expect of NBA referees. Especially in light of similar prior acts by this official, a significant suspension is warranted. Although Joey is consistently rated as one of our top referees, he must be held accountable for his actions on the floor, and we will have further discussions with him following the season to be sure he understands his responsibilities.”

All of the details aren’t in yet on this story, but something major had to go down for Stern to hand out an Artest type suspension. Here’s Tim Duncan’s account:

“He looked at me and said, ‘Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?’ If he wants to fight, we can fight. I don’t have any problem with him, but we can do it if he wants to. I have no reason why in the middle of a game he would yell at me, ‘Do you want to fight?”

I’m not sure (ok I’m positive they’re not) if Tim Duncan and Joey Crawford are in the same weight division, but there has to be a way to get the two of them on the De La Hoya/Mayweather undercard.

NBA suspends Joey Crawford. Swacked from ESPN.com

Tim Duncan ejected by Joey Crawford. Swacked from Youtube.com

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