The Steroid Age?

I know a lot of us are trying to figure out how to absorb the vast steroid use in baseball following the release of the Mitchell Report earlier this week. And with Andy Pettitte's acknowledgment yesterday of his use of HGH, it is foolish to discredit the Mitchell Report as simply a pile of hearsay or a pack of agenda-laden lies. There is something of substance to the allegations in this report.

I think we can all agree that the game as a whole must share responsibility for this problem. From the owners, general managers, managers, coaches, players and yes, even the fans-- we all ignored this issue to some degree. I think I mentioned it earlier in another article here, but how excited were many of us to see what Jason Giambi would do with that right field wall in Yankee Stadium back in 2001? At the time, I don't think any of us would have been surprised to have been told that he was using steroids. And who was surprised when the same fact was revealed a couple of years later? And when was Giambi forgiven by the fans? Was it when he starting with a hot bat again? And when was he back in the doghouse? When he couldn't sustain his offense as a DH? We fans (not us specifically) are a fickle bunch.

So, do we write off the post-strike era as one where records cannot be taken seriously? How does the game reclaim its legitimacy? I don't think this is baseball's definitive ruination, but I believe strongly that if things don't change in a significant way, historians will look back at this week as a lost opportunity. The reason baseball recovered from the 1919 Sox scandal was that the response by the sport brutal towards the cheaters. If you cheat at the game, you're disqualified- simple as that. Unfortunately, this form of cheating that we're dealing with today is less contained. I'm not sure that there is any single move the game can make to put this issue to rest. I think attitudes need to change. I think fans need to take better care of the game by not looking past steroid use when victory is the tradeoff. I myself have been guilty of this, so I'm not throwing stones here. I think there's too much motivation to cheat, that the amount of money this game brings in is an incentive to do bad things. And I think there is still too much denial in clubhouses and front offices regarding this issue. It will not go away by us simply ignoring it. And if it doesn't go away for real, then we've lost a national treasure.

LIES, DAMNED LIES, AND STATISTICS

I just want to publicly apologize to my father.

Dad, you were right. You were always right.

Steriods Report

Named were several Yankees:
Roger Clemens
Jason Giambi
Andy Pettitte

Former Yankees:
Randy Velarde
Gary Sheffield
Chuck Knoblauch
David Justice
Kevin Brown

New News

According to the NY Post:

• The Yanks are now pursuing Dan Haren

• Luis Vizcaino and Andy Philips have declined arbitration or assignment and will not be playing for the Yankees next season
  

• The Yankees are shopping Hideki Matsui for relief pitching

Haren is NOT Santana, and I wouldn't give up Melky and Hughes for him. He is, however, under contract for three more seasons at $16.5 million (Santana is asking around $20), supposedly making him a better values. But considering their difference in ability, I don't think that's better value at all.

I'm with Curt

In case you haven't heard, Curt Schilling is campaigning with John McCain in New Hampshire. Finally, something for me to like about the most hated Red Sox.

Many of you probably disagree. Well, for you, there's Ozzie Guillen supporting John Edwards.

Santana to Sox?

It looks that way. And if it is...we're screwed.

Santana, Beckett and who cares...

NICEAHH!!! ANDY'S BACK

Andy's coming back. He smells the HOF, perhaps.

Now let's get Santana and make this a very productive day....

Santana, Wang, Pettitte, Chamberlain...Kennedy/Mussina...

Deadly! Dominant!