AP photo: Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred takes questions from the media at the baseball owners meetings last Thursday in Houston

On the podcast with Matt, the San Francisco Giants took an important win over the Mets on Friday 8-1 after the score was tied 1-1. The Giants Ehire Adrianza hit an opposite field RBI single to give the Giants the lead in the seventh. Meanwhile the investigation by MLB into performance enhancing drugs allegedly cleared two high profile players Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals Ryan Zimmerman. Al Jazeera TV reported that both Howard and Zimmerman were taking PEDs which both vehemently denied and demanded proof.

The Houston Astros General Manager Jeff Luhnow says the no trade clause is stopping progress in the game. Luhnow wanted to bring Texas Rangers Cole Hamels to the Houston Astros. Hamels implemented his ten years in MLB and five years with one club rights. The same can be said for the Rangers Jonathan Lucroy who denied a trade to Cleveland. Luhnow says if it wasn’t for the 10-5 rule things would be a lot different in MLB but the players have stated at that point in their careers they’ve earned the right to choose where they’ll stay or go.

The MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement is about to expire at the end of this season and MLB and the Commissioner’s office are looking at changes in the limiting over excessive pitching changes, limiting defensive shifts, and introducing a 20 second clock between pitches to speed up the game, the Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs says that introducing a 20 second clock “is a little extreme” Triple A baseball is using a 30 second clock now and pitchers are satisfied with that amount of time to pace themselves.  The MLB CBA expires on December 1st.

Matt Harrington does the MLB podcast each week at http://www.sportsadioservice.com