Touch 'Em All: Clemens, Bonds bid supported

Former slugger Rafael Palmeiro (569 home runs and 3,020 hits in 20 years, mainly with the Orioles and Rangers) said Friday that Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds should be voted into the Hall of Fame.

"Keep them out and then the Hall of Fame has no credibility," Palmeiro said.

Both men will be eligible for the first time starting in 2013, but their candidacies could be derailed because both have been implicated in baseball's performance-enhancing drugs scandal.

Palmeiro has his own problems with PEDs and the Hall.

He was suspended for 10 games in 2005 after testing positive for an anabolic steroid, and in 2011 he was on just 11 percent of the ballots in his first attempt into the Hall. He received 12.6 percent in 2012, well short of the 75 percent needed to get in the Hall.

Holding a lead in NL East race, the Nationals said Friday that they will hold Stephen Strasburg to an 180-inning limit in the regular season, according to Yahoo Sports.

So much for the 160-innings cap the brass had place on their ace, who is coming off Tommy John surgery.

Nats general manager Mike Rizzo said Strasburg - due to his youth - could see more innings than initially thought. And why not? So far this season, he has pitched 1271/3 innings, going 12-5 with a 2.95 ERA and 160 strikeouts.

We present this item from Inquirer alum and ESPN writer Jayson Stark's latest Five Astounding Facts column.

"I might have to create my own category for the Astros. They're not just astounding anymore. They're Astrounding. But they're also in the midst of a gravitational plunge unlike anything . . . ever witnessed:

"In their last 38 games, these Astros are 4-34. I'm shocked to report that no National League team has endured a 38-game stretch that grim since the legendary 1899 Cleveland Spiders finished their season with an attractive 1-40 debacle. . . .

"The only other teams in modern history to win no more than four times in any 38-game stretch? Clyde Vollmer's 1949 Washington Senators (4-34) and Whitey Witt's 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (2-36). And that's it."

Unfortunately for Stark, the Astros won Friday night - at home, yet! - vs. the Brewers.