Closing the Book on MLB 2009

As the last of the confetti was cleaned up this weekend after the Yankees parade in lower Manhattan, I had some good time to close the book in my own head on the 2009 baseball season. With a few days to reflect, most of my impressions from last week of course remain the same, but there are some additional thoughts that gradually crept into my head a day or two after Game 6 and which have only gotten stronger since then.

For starters, although most predictions about the greatness of this series coming in (my own included) proved to be inaccurate and exaggerated by the time the teams got on the field to actually play the games, one thing was clearly correct: the ratings for this series were strongly up from past years. The average share for the six 2009 World Series games was just under a 19, meaning approximately 18.8 million viewers in U.S. households tuned in each night to watch the Phillies and Yankees battle it out for the world championship. The most-watched game was Game 4 -- the game I attended in Philadelphia -- with nearly 23 million viewers, while Games 3 and 5 both garnered between 15 and 16 million watchers on the low end. Game 1 of the 2009 Series was viewed by over 19 million in the U.S., while in contrast, Game 1 of the 2008 World Series between the Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays brought in just over 10 million viewers, and Game 1 in 2007 between Colorado and the Red Sox came in at around 13 million. Overall viewership was up just over 40% above the series last year, and the 2009 Fall Classic was the most watched World Series since the Red Sox broke their 50,000 year slump by riding steroided-up horse-pill-takers to the World Series championship back in 2004.

But the main feeling I am left with now that the 2009 major league baseball season has come to a close is that it really is sick what the Yankees have done, using the absurd structure of the sport and their deepest of pockets to their extreme advantage. And yet, like most non-Yankee fans I keep running in to in real life, on the internet, national sports talk shows, etc., I do not say this with a whole lot of admiration, so much as rather with a solid helping of disdain. Here's the thing: the Yankees missed the playoffs in 2008 one time. One year. The Bombers were not in the playoff hunt in 2008, after participating in the postseason previously in every year since 1996. And their reaction to missing the playoffs one time -- keep in mind they had made the playoffs twelve straight years before that, equalling the number of times the Phillies have made the postseason in their entire nearly 130-year history -- but after just one year of missing the playoffs, they had had enough. Oh sure, Yanks' GM Brian Cashman had thought he had had enough before already -- several times in fact -- but what everyone involved in the Yankees organization found out quickly during the 2008-2009 offseason was that they hadn't seen anything yet.

Before anyone could say "competitive imbalance" five times fast, the Yankees went out in the offseason before this year and signed the not one, not two, but the three biggest free agents out there in CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and Mark Teixeira. And it's not like they had to scrimp or anything in paying these guys in order to manage to afford all three of them in one offseason on top of what was already for years the highest payroll in all of baseball. Nope -- they committed to $161 million for 7 years with Sabathia, $82 million for 5 years with Burnett, and $180 million over 8 years on Teixeira. All three of these deals were announced within a few days of December 18, 2008, and it was obvious that the Yankees were negotiating with all three players simultaneously and, clearly, without real regard to the money it was costing them. That's over $420 million committed by the Yankees over the next 8 years on just these three players, again on top of what was already the highest payroll in baseball by about $20 million more than the second-place Red Sox even before last season came to a close.

In 2009, the Yankees spent a total of a whopping $208.1 million on their payroll. Second place on that list is now the New York Mets, but coming in way "down" at 145.3 million. In third are the Cubs, coming in at $134.8 million, with Yankees rival the Boston Red Sox rounding out the top four at 122.4 million. So the Yankees are spending more than 70% more money on their team than their closest rival in the AL, and the team that still has the fourth-highest payroll overall in the majors, and the Yanks are spending 43% more than anybody else in baseball. 43% more than the 2nd highest payroll in the league right now. And lookie there, they went out and won the 2009 title. Shocker.

When a team is spending 43% more than the 2nd place team in a professional sport, and between 70% and 500% more than any other team in their league, that sport is walking a really fine line. Basically, it's fine when that team is not winning the world series title every single year and when, generally speaking, at least a decent handful of other teams are entering every season with a reasonable shot at winning it all. But when someone is spending more than 43% more than the next closest payroll, and more than 70% more than anybody else in their league, and they go out, win more games than anybody else by a mile, and basically show game in and game out why nobody else in the major leagues can even touch them, well, that really causes some problems. Obviously it is bad for the sport as a whole -- take a look at the teams at the bottom of the payroll list in Florida, Pittsburgh and Washington, for example, who cannot compete so have just given up trying, not to mention the teams like Minnesota, Cleveland, etc. who seem to come up every few years in talks of bankruptcy, significant losses and even contraction. But the Yankees just keep chugging along, even in the worst economy of any of our lifetimes. Think about it -- this was December 2008, right smack in the midst of all that shit last winter with the financial meltdown, the markets were in the tank, just about everything seemed to have come to a standstill. Everything, that is, except the Yankees, who in the span of three or four days committed to spend over $420 million on three players for the next 5-8 years in what was without a doubt the most sweeping, literally not believable free agency extravaganza by any team at any time in baseball history.

All I know is that I, like just about every other non-Yankee baseball fan in America it seems these days, am left with a very bitter taste in my mouth about this Yankees team and what exactly they did to basically secure their 27th world series title before the 2009 season has even begun. Sure this team has always spent the most money in the league for most of their history, but what they did prior to the 2009 season was corpulent and gluttony even by Yankees standards, and it bought them exactly what they wanted. I guess if you spend enough money on players, enough more than everybody else in the league is willing to spend regardless of the situation, the economy, the state of the game, etc., you really can buy a championship. And that's exactly what we saw in the 2009 baseball season: the purchase of a World Series. Price tag? $208.1 million. Not even a fraction of a bailout.

And one of the least satisfying aspects of this entire thing is what it means for the future. Look at the state of baseball right now, and ask yourself who you honestly think is going to win the world series in 2010. Think about that lineup we just watched the Yankees trot out there every night against the Phillies, and think about that starting rotation that held the Yankees back for years but which was completely and totally transformed by the addition of Burnett and Sabathia at the top of the list, and think about Mariano Rivera coming in from the pen in the 9th. Face it -- the Yankees are already your 2010 World Series champions. Might as well book it now. The only question is: do the Yankees win 120 games next year? I have very little doubt that this team -- without the issues around A-Rod's getting caught for steroid use, the injury and the poor start without him in April and part of May -- will give the 1998 Yankees and their 114-42 regular season record a serious run for their money. There is some age on the Yankees roster, but outside of Rivera who is still, far and away, the best relief pitcher in baseball today, there isn't much that the addition of last year's three huge free agents can't overcome for at least the next couple of years. The Yankees are here to stay, the $200 million+ behemoth in a league of $30-120 million competitors, unless and until baseball does something to change their system that they have shown no indication of changing whatsoever thus far.

I mentioned A-Rod's preseason revelation about having used steroids from 2001-2003 in baseball. Personally, I find the Yankees' reliance over the past several years on steroided-up players to be one of the most disgusting aspects of this whole nasty team that has been permitted by league rules to completely trump all others in terms of skill and experience amassed on its roster. Think about this for a minute -- although Hideki Matsui won the 2009 World Series MVP award (and deservedly so), who would you name as the Yankees' overall postseason MVPs in 2009? I'll tell you who -- Alex Rodriguez, for starters. Despite an only "good" World Series in which A-Rod won Game 4 in the top of the 9th and contributed solidly on offense to one other win as well, the man ended the 2009 postseason going 19-for-52 for a .365 batting average, with 6 home runs, 2 doubles, 18 RBIs and two stolen bases. A-Rod was an offensive machine for the Yankees and would simply have to be thought of as the MVP of this team's postseason run in 2009. And who would be next on that list for the 2009 Yankees? Andy Pettitte, who pitched and won the series-clinching game in each of the three playoff series in 2009 against the Twins, the Angels and then the Phillies in the World Series. Pettitte really lived up to his career reputation as a stopper for the Yankees, taking the ball in the biggest and most crucial of spots time and again in the postseason, and coming through in a big way. Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte literally led their team 1-2 in postseason contributions in 2009, including both winning games during the World Series itself.

And both are admitted juicers. And guys, might I add, who only admitted their steroid usage after getting outed publicly, A-Rod by the biography of him released earlier this year, and Pettitte in connection with the ongoing investigation into the steroid activities of Roger Clemens, another guy who contributed greatly to the World Series runs of the Yankees several years ago.

Both A-Rod and Pettitte have had their bodies forever altered in immeasurable ways by the illegal and banned substances they knowingly ingested over the past several years in their attempts to cheat skirt the rules. Both found muscles that most people never even know they have, as a result of illegal steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, muscles which are still more developed in their bodies today as a result of that usage, regardless of how long it's been since they received more PEDs. Both used illegal steroids to rehab from injuries, injuries which we'll never even know if they could have recovered from the same without cheating the rules of the game. And both of those guys are now on the roster of the team with the astronomically high payroll, and the two led the New York Yankees to the first world title in 10 years in 2009. It's disgusting, it's despicable, and most of all, it's just not fair.

A last impression I have after the 2009 baseball season relates to home field advantage and the All-Star Game. It is truly and totally ridiculous that home-field advantage in the World Series is decided by who wins the freaking All-Star game in mid-summer every year. Yes, I mean, everyone has said this and there's no doubt that it's an accurate statement, but I mean it for a slightly different reason, getting right back at the competitive imbalance in the sport these days. For years the Yankees and the Red Sox have led the league in terms of team payroll, and even though this year the Red Sox have fallen to 4th place, the fact remains that the highest-payroll teams are still concentrated in the American League, and the lower-paying teams are still concentrated in the National League. Just the presence of the Yankees alone, stockpiling and overpaying for talent in wallet-busting fashion, basically helps ensure that the American League teams will have homefield advantage in the World Series under the current system because they help tilt the talent scale in favor of the AL over the NL. Four of the top six payrolls in baseball were in the AL in 2009 (Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers and Angels), while the bottom four payroll teams in baseball -- including the bottom three which are each at least 25% below the lowly Washington Nationals' 2009 payroll -- are all in the National League. The result? There is more talent in the American League because there is more money being spent there, year in and year out -- at least partially due to the outdated DH rule in the American League, by the way -- and as a result, the National League is stupidly disadvantaged in the World Series by never getting to have home field advantage.

Prior to 2003, home field in the World Series simply alternated every year between the AL team and the NL team. That's also dumb, in that in a year like 2009, it could have given the Phillies home field advantage despite the Yankees having the best record in baseball by far. Instead, home field in the Fall Classic should simply be based on which team had the better regular season record (just like the other sports have figured out years ago by now). In the seven years that the All-Star game has been used to determine home field advantage in the World Series ever since Bud Selig butchered the 2002 All-Star game after 11 innings, the AL has won the All-Star game with their clearly superior talent every single year -- again buttressed tremendously by the Yankees' and Red Sox's penchant for extravagant spending and bidding wars, as the AL has held at least four of the top 6 payroll spots in each year in the league since 2003 -- and as a result of the Yankees' and Red Sox's largesse, the AL team has had four home games on the World Series schedule every year. In a year like this year, that dictates the correct result, but allowing the league with all the overspending to get this kind of a home-baked advantage in the location of the World Series games is just the final stick in the eye of all true baseball fans in this country who are sick and tired of the Yankees taking extreme (and growing) advantage of this sport being the only one of the major professional sports in this country not to enforce some form of a salary cap to help ensure that all teams have a chance to win it all.

Here is where I normally would make some kind of an optimistic statement about the powers that be in the sport hopefully recognizing the problem in their league and doing something to fix it right away. But that's not going to happen here. So given that, get yourselves ready everyone for another year (or more) of the Yankees on top.

My Secret Obsession

I think I am obsessed with the New York Mets.

I'm serious. I just can't help it. It's like the proverbial car wreck when you drive past it on the highway -- I just can't help but pay attention to the biggest bunch of bums I've seen in New York sports in some time. And the Knicks play in this city, so you know I am really saying something there.

For those who didn't see the action this weekend, the Mets really came up strong to try to outdo their losing 2 of 3 to the Your World Champion Philadelphia Phillies last week, which included the Phils smacking four home runs in the deep confines of Citi field off of Mets ace Johan Santana in a one-run loss in game 1, the Phils' first win of the series where Carlos Beltran lost it for the Mets when he dropped an easily-catchable fly ball near the center field wall that was basically right inside his glove, and then another loss in the rubber match when Phillies' free-agent signing Raul Ibanez slugged a 3-run blast in the top of the 10th to take that one down in extras. Well, the next team in the path of the Mets was the Yankees, as Subway Series 2009 began with three games in the new Yankee Stadium.

And that's when this happened:



I mean, what do you say at this point with this effing team? It's not like it hasn't been highly obvious that the team is poorly coached, makes no effort and is just generally an embarrassment to the sport in almost every facet of the game. The Mets have lost what, four or five different games this year just on errors in the field? And another three on baserunning mistakes? They've lost a game recently after missing third base in the top half of extra innings and then making two errors in the bottom half of that inning. They've lost a game this year when Carlos Beltran wouldn't slide into home plate and got called out trying to score what would have been the go-ahead run as a result. And now that beautiful play above, to which the Mets responded by crushing Andy Pettitte and the Yankees in game 2 of the subway series, only to return on Sunday for the rubber game and getting smushed 15-0 as their ace Santana once again took a beating, recording the worst outing of his career as the Yankees smacked 8 runs and 9 hits off Santana in just three innings of work.

Well, this weekend was it. I am officially starting the Jerry Manuel watch here. After what went down this weekend, I just don't see how Omar Minaya continues to retain any relevance at all if he does not dump the Mets coach on his scrawny, unintelligible ass. I heard on sports radio this morning that, even after Castillo's embarrassing drop on the pop-up from A-Rod to lose the game on Friday, all the Mets were out in the field on Saturday, all still catching flies with one hand. Good coaching, Manuel. You are an absolute dog.

This was a large weekend in sports in general, come to think of it. The Penguins won their first Stanley Cup since the Mario Lemieux years in 1992, beating the Red Wings on the road in a Game 7 of the Finals. And the Lake-show completed their run to and through the NBA Finals as well over the weekend, dispatching the Orlando Magic in five games as Kobe Bryant finally earned his place among the elite NBA players of all time in winning his fourth NBA title, and more importantly, his first as the leader of the team after his first three championships all as Shaquille O'Neal's sidekick. Kobe now with four titles, that really puts him up there indisputably in my view, dickhead though he may be. Just like Phil Jackson, who won his all-time record tenth NBA championship with the Lakers' victory on Sunday. Ten NBA titles. It's one thing when Red Auerbach won nine titles with the Celtics a couple of generations ago. But it's an entirely other thing to have done that totally within the time of free agency, when keeping teams and star players together -- and happy -- for more than one or two good years has become an immense challenge in and of itself. Red did his thing with Bill Russell there the entire time, either as a player or a player-coach near the end there. Now Phil has done it with Michael Jordan, with Shaq, and now in 2009 with Kobe.

And for those of you who discount with the Zen Master has done on the basis that he always had star players on his team, I ask you two questions: First, what NBA championship team did not have at least one star player on it over the past 25 years or so? Name one. The most recent Detroit Pistons championship teams is as close as you're gonna get, and even that team had the player formerly known as Ben Wallace, to go along with Chauncy Billups in the backcourt. So these winning teams always have talent, that's not debatable. And my second question to those Phil Jackson haters is what do you say about this year's team? This is, in my view, far and away the worst team of all of Phil's title-winners. It basically comes down to Kobe, and who else? Pau Gasol? Lamar Odom? Shawn Bynum? Let's face it -- this team was Kobe's and Kobe's alone, and the way I see it, this is probably Phil Jackson's greatest individual season accomplishment, maybe behind the 72-10 season in Chicago, but maybe not. I'm still trying to figure out how this particular Lakers team was able to get past the Dallases, the San Antones, the Nuggets, the Blazers, the Rockets and all the other teams like Utah, Phoenix, etc. that have normally been hanging around lately at the end of the playoffs on the Western side of the bracket. To Kobe and to Phil, this one is huge in my view, and frankly I would be very surprised to see Phil Jackson spend any more of his years coaching in the NBA. I could be wrong about that, but personally I believe the whole recent comeback to the Lakers for Phil was all about one thing: getting his tenth championship, and getting his name alone in the recordbooks for all time with ten titles won. More than Auerbach's nine, more than Scotty Bowman's nine in the NHL, and far more championships than anyone else has ever coached in baseball or football. I think Phil has accomplished what he set out to do -- probably much sooner than he expected, looking at his roster at the beginning of the season this year -- and I don't expect to see him sweating it out one the sidelines and screaming at millionaires for much longer.

Just a week and a half until I roll into Vegas with my peeps and a walletful of cash, destined for the donation pile in World Series of Poker Event #51 on June 27. Who else is gonna be man enough to plunk down for that?

This Guy Seriously Has No Class, and Back to BDR

So I'm watching Baseball Tonight Wednesday night on ESPN, and Rick Sutcliffe is doing some analysis of the Yankees' 9-2 pounding of the Rangers in Texas. As Sutcliffe discusses how , Mark Teixeira slamming a home run deep down the left field line by turning early on an inside fastball, almost like he knew exactly where the pitch was coming. But of course, that's not possible. Right?

Cue A-Rod. Not only is A-Rod providing the vital protection to the previously slumping Teixeira simply by virtue of batting behind him, but he helps Tex from his perch in the on-deck circle in other ways as well. As Sutcliffe shows the replay of the pitch where Tex hit his left field blast, he points out -- and you can distinctly hear it yourself -- a sharp whistle coming from just off camera to the right as the pitch comes in to Tex. In a split second Tex has turned on the pitch and slammed it into the left field seats. Although Sutcliffe could not be sure, he said he was fairly certain that the whistle was A-Rod, making the previously agreed sound to let Teixeira know that the catcher had moved to his set-up too early, and the pitch was coming inside. After the play, the ESPN cameras showed A-Rod and Tex talking in the dugout, and although nothing could be heard and no lips could be read, it definitely seemed like something fishy was going on there.

Remember that shit about a month about how A-Rod would tip pitches to opposing batters late in blowout games, in an attempt to get them to do the same for him when all that matters was getting his own offensive numbers up at the plate? So there's the rampant steroid use, admitted by A-Rod from 2001-2003 (only after he got caught of course) and suspected through his Yankee years when his teammates called him "bitch tits" due to the surprisingly fast growth of his muscles as well as all the way back to his high school days in Miami. Then the guy tips pitches, throwing his own pitchers under the bus, just to pad his own individual stats. And now he also throws the opposing pitchers under the bus in a sense, but signalling to his teammate what pitch is coming in when he is in the on-deck circle. Which, I solemnly guarantee you, is only being done in the hopes that someone will do it for him in return -- to help pad his individual stats. Guaranteed.

Is there any rule that this guy won't break in the name of furthering his own selfish, egocentric agenda? A-Rod is quickly becoming one of the biggest actual losers in all of sports, regardless of how much money he has in the bank.

Update: Speaking of guys with no class whatsoever, it looks like it's official: this coming Sunday night, when the BBT4 ends with everyone's last chance to get in to the upcoming Tournament of Champions in Miami Don's Big Game, the Asshat Frat Crew will be taking over Buddydank Radio for the first time in over a year. We will plan to start around the start of the Big Game at 9:30pm ET on full tilt, and then make sure you register for Chad's Big Game Mulligan that he has set up for exactly one hour after the start of the Big Game, at 10:30pm ET, with a password of "vegas". That I believe is a $40 buyin nlh tournament that should give everyone something fun to play during (or after) your time in the Big Game.

With the loose lips of the Crew members on the radio, I definitely suggest you tune in to BDR to hear the stuff we'll be saying. To do that, all you gotta do is go to buddydankradio.com, click on "Tune In!", and then choose Windows Media Player (or be ghey and choose the Apple option). It's that simple. And then you'll get to hear us all give updates on the poker we've been playing this year, our thoughts on the Big Game and the Big Game Mulligan as they go on, and especially we plan to talk all about the BBT4. Who's lucky, who's good, and who has the best chances of winning their way into the 2009 World Series of Poker in the June 7 BBT4 Tournament of Champions. You won't want to miss the show, so be sure to be there at BDR on Sunday, and play in the Big Game at 9:30pm ET as well as the Big Game Mulligan at 10:30pm ET on full tilt!

The Bad News Mets, and a Little Protection in Baseball

Well, the Mets committed five errors, including two in the field in the bottom of the 11th inning to lose 3-2 to the Manny-less L.A. Dodgers on Monday night, or should I say Tuesday morning after 1:30am ET as any tired-looking diehard Mets fan will tell you this morning. The Mets started off the 11th inning by breaking the tie with two outs and scoring the go ahead run to make it 3-2, but then error-prone Ryan Church was amazingly called out for missing third base after the Dodgers appealed the call at the base, a call which Church has not disputed. Then in the bottom of the inning the Mets quickly let some guys on base and then a throwing error allowed the walkoff run to score for the Dodgers, who won 3-2. That's about as hard a way to lose a game as there is, don't you think? Five errors. Five. Two in one inning in extra innings, after a redonkulous baserunning error already cost your team the lead in the top half of that same inning? That's seriously ludicrous. I've been screaming this all season, but where is the accountability on this team?

Said Ryan Church on somehow missing third base for the crucial third run of the game: "I mean, touching the bag is a simple thing to do. But obviously, I didn't....As for me missing third base...it just wasn't meant to be." I heard the interview with him in the locker room on sports radio today and I was just floored. I nearly crashed my damn car. It wasn't meant to be? So some higher power decided tonight was not Ryan Church's night to touch all the bases on the field? How many times is a Met player (or coach) going to not take responsibility for their mistakes before someone does something about it? Do they honestly not see the connection between the total lack of accountability on this team, and the September choke-jobs that this team has by now become famous for? It's unreal to a third-party observer to see how what is obvious to some, others can be completely oblivious to.

But the real thing that got my attention today was the Yankees, and specifically what Alex Rodriguez has been able to do by protecting Mark Teixeira in the batting order. Before A-Rod's return to the Yankees lineup 10 games ago, huge first baseman free agent signing Mark Teixiera's struggles were public knowledge. The guy was hitting .191 as of the day A-Rod returned from hip surgery, and by all counts Tex's acquisition by the Bronx Bombers was heralded as an abject failure to that point. New Yorkers were starting to wonder if Tex fits squarely in to the hole that so many others have fallen into when signed from other cities, particularly smaller markets. It's not just the size of New York that creates problems for people not used to big city life -- it's really the size and the character of the media in town that gets most of these guys. Just having to listen to what gets said about you on any one of four or five sports radio stations now available to New Yorkers thanks to the proliferation of satellite radio, every time you strike out in a big spot turns into a 12-hour trashfest focused primarily on you. Mark Teixeira was heading right down that path, the same path of Randy Johnson, Javier Vazquez and so many other free agent signings during the past several years have gone -- just not fitting in in New York.

But then cue Alex Rodriguez. Although Alex struggled early in his return from surgery, hitting below .200 through his first 6 games of the 2009 season, A-Rod has now hit three home runs in three nights and things are definitely looking up for the American League's best steroid user home run hitter. But the effect on Mark Teixeira has been even more striking. I don't have all of the exact stats in front of me here, but in the 10 games since A-Rod returned to the starting lineup, where he bats one spot after Tex, Tex's batting average has soared to .340, close to double what he hit in the 25 games prior to that. With pitchers suddenly unable for the first time all season to pitch around Tex for fear that A-Rod will come up next and roid-rage one right over the already tinderbox walls of the new Yankee Stadium, Tex has also pounded five home runs over the last 10 games after he hit just five home runs in those previous 25 games sans A-Rod. And with just 15 RBIs in his first 28 games, since A-Rod's return Teixeira has knocked in an additional 13 runs in those 10 games. .191, 5 homers and 15 RBIs over 25 games without A-Rod, and now .340, 5 homers and 13 RBIs in 10 games since The Roided One's return.

What a difference a little protection makes.

The Story That Just Won't Go Away

Just bask in the greatness that this story could turn into. It seems that A-Rod is painted in a far less than flattering light in the upcoming book "A-Rod" by Selena Roberts, the Sports Illustrated writer who outed Alex Rodriguez as having failed major league baseball's drug screening tests in 2003 for use of testosterone and hyperbolin, an injected anabolic steroid.

Some of my favorite highlights from the article:

-- After A-Rod suddenly gained 15 pounds in the offseason between the 2004 and 2005 Yankee campaigns, Yankee teammates nicknamed him "Bitch Tits" in 2005 after he seemed to develop round pectorals, a condition called gynecomastia that can be caused by anabolic steroids.

-- An "unnamed major leaguer" as quoted as having seen Kevin Brown and A-Rod together with Human Growth Hormone in 2004.

-- Jose Canseco -- formerly thought to be no more credible than these ridiculous "unnamed major leaguer" sources, but who since has proven to be highly prescient in his beliefs and predictions about steroid use in baseball -- believes Rodriguez was using steroids in high school in Miami. Apparently, A-Rod put on 25 pounds of muscle between his sophomore and junior years, and "word was that his connection was a dog kennel owner". Various members of his high school team and relations to the coaching staff also allege the team knew of Rodriguez's use of steroids during his time on the high school team.

And then there is this one, by far my own personal favorite, which I'm just going to quote directly from the article because it's just too crazy to believe otherwise:

"In one shocking disclosure, the book accuses A-Rod of "pitch tipping" when he was with the Rangers - letting a friendly opponent at the plate know which pitch was coming in lopsided games. Rodriguez expected players he helped would do the same for him when he was having an off night and needed to get his batting average up and it wouldn't affect the outcome of the game."

Let's put aside the fact that A-Rod is going to have ten or eleven new assholes ripped for him all throughout this season, both inside and outside of New York, if he is shown to have lied again about steroids in claiming he only injected them from 2001-2003 in Texas, when in reality he may have been on the juice since his teenage years. The fact that he may have used both steroids in 2004 and 2005, and HGH in at least 2004, would be particularly damning in New York after Alex's insistence earlier this year that his Yankee years have all been clean (which I have never believed). But let's put all that aside for a minute here. If it's true that A-Rod (1) was so concerned about his own batting average late in meaningless games that have already been decided to even consider doing this, and (2) actually tipped pitches to opposing batters like that, I swear there are going to be some serious more fireworks still to come here in the Bronx.

Wait....There's No Lying in Baseball!

Being in New York and being obsessed with sports, I have been forced over the past two weeks to listen to Alex Rodriguez point out at least three or four dozen times that he is "clean now" and that "his years with the Yankees have been drug-free". A-Roid keeps talking about how history, and major league baseball writers, historians and hall of fame voters will have ample opportunity by the end of his career to judge his performance sans performance-enhancing drugs.

Which, of course, is a load of horseshit.

At least from 2001-2003, A-Roid admits that he took Primabolin combined with testosterone in a calculated attempt to gain lean muscle mass without the usual bulk that comes along with ingestion of just anabolic steroids. His muscles changed. His body changed. Over three years, A-Roid found muscles he didn't know he had, and bulked up others that he would never have been able to build up without the use of performance enhancers. And this is just the stuff he has admitted to taking so far.

I sat and listened to caller after caller after caller into New York sports radio over the past week, telling of either their own stories or those of acquaintances of theirs who have used steroids. The general theme of the calls was that these people took steroids for a few years like ten years ago, then they were off the juice for several years, and yet to this day when they go the gym they still can automatically bench press 450 pounds or otherwise still feel the effects of the steroids they took many years ago. That once you bulk up certain muscles in the ways that many steroids can help you to do, you just don't "lose" them when you stop taking those substances in the future. That is not to say that it would be impossible to lose those bulked-up muscles through overuse or other abuse of one's body, but rather that it is simply a pure falsehood for anyone to suggest, "Hey, I took steroids years ago, but I haven't now for several years, so I'm clean and my numbers are all legit now."

So, A-Roid, I'm gonna have to call bullshit again on you today, you lousy turd. Number one, I don't believe you only took banned substances between 2001-2003 anyways; I would bet money that you used HGH while with the Yankees and Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens and Jason Giambi in 2007. And number two, I don't care if it's true anyways -- your numbers, at least since when you admitted you started taking steroids in 2001, are forever tainted, and they mean nothing to me. I would guess that you will probably hit 250-300 home runs more with your steroided-up body than you ever would have in your career if you had never taken the "bolee" and the testosterone in the first place.

So, A-Roid, talk to me when you hit 1000 home runs for your career, then maybe you are getting close to Babe Ruth's real 715 career home runs.

A-Rod At It Again

So Alex Rodriquez is back at it again this week, giving a press conference to the New York media for the first time since the reveltation that he took steroids some years ago. He made his statements in front of several Yankee teammates, co-own Hal Steinbrenner and team GM Brian Cashman earlier this week, once again opening himself up to an entire wave of speculation about his lack of true candor with respect to his steroid use. All I can say is, here in the New York market, we are going now on two straight weeks of basically constant A-Rod talk on the sports talk radio shows.

Here is a transcript of A-Rod's prepared remarks, which he read from five pieces of paper for the first several minutes of his press conference:

"First, bear with me. I'm a little nervous, or a lot nervous, so bear with me a little bit.

"Let me start by thanking the Yankees, my teammates, our fans, for your support over the last couple weeks. The fact that you're sitting with me here today means the world to me. The last couple weeks have been difficult and emotional.

"On the one hand, it's extremely tough to admit mistakes. But on the other hand, it feels great to be moving forward. I know that I'm in a position where I have to earn my trust back, and over time I am confident that at the end of my career, people will see this for what it is: a stupid mistake and a lesson learned for a guy with a lot of baseball to play.

"Last Monday, I began the first step in the process of earning back trust when I sat down with Peter Gammons. I did so to accomplish two things: to tell the truth and to apologize to my teammates and baseball fans everywhere. Now the next step is to address the media about what I took and where it came from.

"On reflection, here's what I remember:

"As I discussed with Peter Gammons, in the year 2001, 2002 and 2003, I experimented with a banned substance that eventually triggered a positive test. In September 2004, I had a meeting with Gene Orza. During that meeting, he explained to me that I had been among the players from which people might conclude that I tested positive. That was as specific as Gene could be, because Gene stated to me that there were a number of players on that list who might not have actually tested positive.

"I think it is important to know that the tests that were taken in 2003 were requested and voted by players to determine the extent of the drug problem in Major League Baseball.

"Going back to 2001, my cousin started telling me about a substance that you can purchase over-the-counter in DR know as, in the streets, known as boli or bole. It was his understanding that it would give me a dramatic energy boost and otherwise harmless. My cousin and I, one more ignorant than the other, decided it was a good idea to start taking it. My cousin would administer it to me, but neither of us knew how to use it problem, providing (sic) just how ignorant we both were.

"It was at this point, we decided to take it twice a month for about six months during the 2001, 2002 and 2003 season. We consulted no one and had no good reason to base that decision. It was pretty evident that we didn't know what we're doing.

"We did everything we could to keep it between us, and my cousin did not provide any other players with it. I stopped taking it in 2003 and haven't take it since.

"I stopped taking the substance for several reasons. In 2003, I had a serious neck injury and it scared me half to death. I was scared for my career and truly my career after baseball -- my life after baseball. Secondly, after our voluntary test, all the players voted for a major league drug policy. At that time, it became evident to me how serious this all was, and I decided to stop then.

"Since that time, I've been tested regularly. I've taken urine tests consistent with Major League Baseball and blood tests for the World Baseball Classic. Before I walked here today, I took a test as part of my physical, and I'll take another blood test next week for the Classic.

"In the days ahead, I know that a lot of people are going to debate my past with various opinions. People are going to talk about my future as though it's already been determined, however, I realize that these opinions are out of my control. What is within my control is going out and doing the job that I am blessed to do. Spring training represents a new start for me and a chance to win a championship, two opportunities I'm very excited about.

"It isn't lost on me the good fortune I've received from playing baseball. When I entered the pros, I was a young kid -- the major leagues. I was 18 years old, right out of high school. I thought I knew everything, and I clearly didn't. Like everyone else, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. The only way I know how to handle them is to learn from them and move forward. One thing I know is for sure that baseball is a lot bigger than Alex Rodriguez.

"And to my teammates -- (37-second pause)

"Thank you."

The first thing that struck me right away upon hearing this speech is how prepared it sounded, how orchestrated. I knew A-Rod was just going through the motions as he read it -- the proof is right there in the transcript, in the one line where A-Rod says "My cousin would administer it to me, but neither of us knew how to use it problem, providing just how ignorant we both were." The word isn't supposed to be "providing" -- it's supposed to be "proving", since that proves just how ignorant both Alex and his alleged cousin were being. My point is, A-Rod wasn't meaning, or even hearing, these words as they came out of his mouth on Tuesday. He was simply reading from a prepared statement, not even listening to the actual words as they came out of his mouth. Real sincere.

Furthermore, the statement itself, which is startlingly short on some details, miraculously happens to contain a surprisingly strong recollection of certain other details like who actually purchased the drug, where it was purchased, who administered the drug, etc. Why would A-Rod use a prepared statement to take such great pains to clarify all of these seemingly minor details in this story? Because, I say it's just that -- a story. This thing is made up, plain and simple. Here's what I think really happened.

When A-Rod finally got to sit down with his agent, superagent and also lawyer Scott Boras, A-Rod told Boras he just wants one thing and one thing alone from all this mess -- he wants to put it behind him. A-Rod has said as much time and time again in the week since Sports Illustrated first broke the news that he had tested positive for testosterone and Primabolin in 2003. Now, seeing what has happened to Miguel Tejada, and watching the Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds prosecutions progressing, with talks about indictments, serious offenses and even jail time being discussed, A-Rod also wants to make sure he is going to keep his freedom and remain able to do the things he wants to do in his life. He tells this all to Scott Boras as he pours out his feelings, and Boras begins to hatch an idea. He asks A-Rod if A-Rod would be willing to lie in his statement to the New York media. When A-Rod asks if he can be prosecuted if they catch him in the lie, Boras assures him that no, a press release is not legal proceedings, he is not under oath and therefore not subject to perjury or any other form of prosecution if he is later found not to have been truthful, other than in the court of public opinion. Alex says he can live with lying then, if it will help him to move beyond this and get himself out of any further steroids-related trouble, in particular with the long arm of the law.

So here's the story that Boras concocts, putting on his lawyer hat here for a minute.

First, the drug itself. In 1989, the Food and Drug Administration banned Primobolan from the United States, saying still today that there are no approved uses for the hormone replacement product. So naturally Alex's story is that the drug was purchased outside of this country, raising questions right off the bat of the applicability of U.S. laws to the purchase. No illegal drugs were purchased in the U.S., so no U.S. laws about purchasing of controlled substances have been violated.

So now let's look if there is a crime committed in the country where the Primobolan was purchased. A-Rod says the drug was purchased in the Dominican Republic, where "boli" or "bolee" is allegedly legal. So, no crime committed in buying this illegal drug in the U.S., and conveniently, no crime was committed in the jurisdiction where the drug was allegedly obtained, either, because A-Rod says it was legal there in 2001.

What about getting this substance, legal in DR but illegal in the U.S., into America to begin with? Isn't that a crime in the U.S.? Hells yeah it is. But A-Rod never mentioned in his prepared statement above how the drug found its way to America for A-Rod and his unnamed cousin to take twice a month for six months each year from 2001-2003. It must have been here, because if A-Rod took it all during the baseball season, it's not like he was flying down to DR every other week for a shot. But that's where the cousin comes in.

It's a tricky question as to whether or not A-Rod could be compelled to out the cousin. So far, mum is the word on the actual identity of this mysterious cousin, who just popped up out of nowhere in time for Tuesday's press conference. The cousin allegedly has not committed any crime, and A-Rod never explicitly stated that it was the cousin who smuggled the Primobolan into the U.S. But in any event, the clear impression left by A-Rod story to the New York media is that he did not purchase the drug, it was purchased by an unnamed someone in A-Rod's family -- not a father or a brother or someone that would be easily trackable like that, but a "cousin" -- and that it was not A-Rod who brought it illegally into the United States.

Also worth noting is that in some jurisdictions and under certain federal codes, mere possession of needles with the intent to inject an illegal substance in the U.S. can be classified as a crime. But don't worry, fans and media of New York, because A-Rod's prepared statement -- again I have to remind you, prepared by a team of lawyers no doubt -- was very clear that he himself did not do the injecting. Nope. Twice a month every month for six months, three consecutive years, all injecting into his body, but A-Rod never once touched the needles. How convenient.

Lastly, I have to note that I heard on the radio this week that the statute of limitations in federal cases like this is five years. This means that the government may only bring a case against someone for violation of the substance-related laws of the United States for up to five years after the infraction occurred. Conveniently, A-Rod only admits to having used illegal substances for three years starting in 2001. Convenient in that this means that he last took steroids in 2003, and wouldya lookie there, now it's 2009 so these actions are not prosecutable by the government anyways, even if they found additional corroborative evidence at some point in the future. Very clever.

So here's what A-Roid came to New York with earlier in the week. Despite none of this coming up in his previous interview at all, and none of it turning up in the Sports Illustrated story last week either, we were suddenly told that the real truth is that the illegal substance was not actually illegal where purchased, that A-Rod had nothing to do with bringing it into this country, where it is illegal, and he never had possession of the needles or other paraphenalia either. And, it's been more than five years anyways since all this happened, so A-Rod can't be touched in any event. Uh huh. Like I said, how picture-perfect convenient, for everybody on the A-Roid team.

In addition to going out there and reading a statement, prepared by his lawyers, that just happens to involve Alex skirting around every possible loophole in every possible law in connection with his steroid use, but A-Rod also managed to once again dodge any comments about the effects of the drug on his performance.

“I’m not sure what the benefit was,” Rodriqeuz said. “I will say this: when you take any substance, especially in baseball, it’s half mental and half physical. If you take this glass of water and say you’re going to be a better baseball player, if you believe it, you probably will be. I certainly felt more energy, but it’s hard to say.”

Right. It's hard to say. 47, 52 and 57 home runs in three years he admits he was on steroids. Under 40 home runs in out of 5 years since then, when he claims to have stopped taking the juice. Yeah, I'm sure the effect is just mental. Riiiiiiiight.

Another of my favorite weasel moments for A-Rod during this press conference was when he was asked why he stopped using the substance in 2003. Rodriquez responded that his awakening moment was after suffering a neck injury in spring training of 2003, which made A-Rod open his eyes and say, What am I doing with myself? "Thank God that I realized after my neck injury that I was being silly and irresponsible," Rodriguez said, "and I decided to stop." So, to be clear for the fans and the eventual hall of fame voters out there some day, A-Rod did not do steroids right up until he learned there would be testing for the substances in 2004, and then stop out of fear of getting caught, after already getting caught once in the diagnostic tests in 2003. No, his decision to quit the juice in 2003 had nothing to do with him getting caught then and in the future, but rather he figured out himself how silly he was being. God that must be great.

A-Rod also reiterated several times in his speech how he and his cousin were being "amateurs", how the cousin obtained the drug and how A-Rod did not even know what he was putting into his body. "We knew they weren't tic-tacs," A-Rod said, but he did not know they were steroids. But then consider this -- A-Rod has long been known as someone who considers his body to be like his temple, as well as someone who consults with a team of advisers before his every move. And he had just signed a 10-year, $252 millino contract with the Texas Rangers. To think that he took this substance for three years and never once knew what it was, strains all possible credibility in my view. Plus, Primabolin is apparently known as an ultra-expensive steroid designed to increase lean muscle mass, and according to steroid experts, steroid users often use Primobolan in conjunction with testosterone because the combination builds strength but doesn't add extreme bulk, a process known in body building circles as "stacking". This suggests that whoever was helping A-Rod administer the drugs clearly knew what they were doing.

The last bit of fakery I will mention about the A-Rod press conference the other day was the ridiculous 37-second pause at the end prior to thanking his teammates. I don't know about you -- go check out the video if you haven't already -- but I sure as hell think that entire thing seems quite contrived. A-Rod has long been known as someone who choreographs his words and actions, and I don't see how you can't question the legitimacy of that emotional display toward his teammates. Just watch what he does during it. He looks around, he makes some faces, he looks down to his left, he drinks some water, he faces his teammates a couple of times, and then -- finally -- he thanks them.

This entire thing came off to me and it seems to most of the people in the room with A-Rod as one big phony bit of bullshit. I say A-Rod is lying through his teeth, and I challenge anybody who says they think the have reason to believe anything that comes out of A-Rod's mouth at this point. I bet he got the drugs himself, I bet he got them in the U.S., I bet A-Rod injected himself, and I bet he worked with someone loosely associated with baseball who knew all the details of how best to use these drugs to combine to give A-Roid the illegal and unfair cheating edge he sought. I can only hope that someone will uncover the truth and A-Roid will have to go through this all over again, only much, much worse.

The Death of Baseball

Quick! What's the current single-season home run record in Major League Baseball? Barry Bonds holds it, but what's the number? Seriously. Do you know it?











It's 73, set in 2001, not coincidentally the same year that A-Rod claims to have begun doping. And while we're at it, do you know the career home run record? Once again it's held by Barry Bonds, but do you know how many dingers he hit over his 22-year career in the majors? Think it over, and let's see if you know the answer.












The correct answer is 762 home runs. I will admit that I got both of these numbers wrong when I first tried to remember them. And that right there is the crime of all the steroided-up players over the past 15 years or so in Major League Baseball. These guys have literally ruined the tradition of the game, the game with far and away the best tradition of all four major sports in this country. Baseball has always been the most traditional, the most historic and the most statistic-laden of the sports in America, and now these cheating a-holes have ruined that. Forever.

Try in your mind to go back 15 years or so, to the early 1990s. Did you know then what the single-season home run record was? Of course you did. Everyone did. 61 homers by Roger Maris, besting Babe Ruth's previous record of 60 homers. And let's see...did you know the career home run record? Of course! 755, Hank Aaron. 715, Babe Ruth. 660, Willie Mays. Everybody knew these hallowed numbers, the stuff of legends, literally. How could you not know these things, growing up as a baseball fan in this country? Those records were real, and they were everything. The fact that you know the best average in the past 80 years is Ted Williams' .406 in 1941, or the 61 homers hit by Roger Maris, or the 755 home runs hit by Hank Aaron in his career, that's precisely what has made baseball America's pasttime, and exactly what set it apart from all other sports in this country.

Now, all that is gone. If I don't even know Barry Bonds' 762 home run total, then lord knows that kids today won't be growing up knowing it either. Shit, when it's time I will be teaching my girls that Hank Aaron is the home run king, with 755 home runs, before a bunch of cheating losers came along and defiled the game and the richest history of any sport widely played in America. So the days of growing up with these numbers etched into our minds are dead and gone forever. All because of a bunch of tiny-dicks (literally) and their unstoppable need to cheat and to push things further into excess than they ever needed to go.

It's sad, really, how similar this all sounds to what led us to the massive financial crisis we are facing right now as a country as well, isn't it? People's greed, their insatiable appetite for excess, has led us to do innumerable stupid things in countless aspects of our existence over the past generation, from our Presidents chasing blowies from fat Jewish chicks instead of Osama Bin Laden, right down to the average joe who takes out the $350,000 "liar loan" adjustable-rate mortgage that he can't possibly afford in realistic terms. The people of this country, and the world at large, have been treated over the past 10-20 years to an absolute clinic on what unbridled, unregulated greed and excess leads to if left unchecked for long enough. One can only hope that this is a lesson that we as a people will figure out how to stop repeating in the future.

Before I go for the day, is there anybody in America (outside of Raleigh-Durham) who does not flat-out love watching Duke lose a college basketball game, any game at all? I've got plenty of people who I wouldn't talk to if we were on a plane together that was going down, but I'll be damned if Duke losing for the fourth straight time to UNC at home doesn't bring warmth to the heart and shared smiles to even the bitterest of enemies. My college basketball team may suck balls this year, but the NCAAs will always be fun and interesting for me when there are the hated Dookies and their dorkass coach to root against.

More on A-Fraud

Yesterday, I noted that I did not expect to talk much further about the A-Rod topic, since the news was related to a drug test which he would never have agreed to take if there was any chance that the results could ever become public. But now, A-Rod has opened the whole mess up himself to the public by doing what I think was definitely the right thing on Monday afternoon, sitting down with ESPN's Peter Gammons and giving the following interview where among other things he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-2003:



It's worth watching the entire clip I think, if you have the time and the inclination. And now that A-Rod has decided to go public about this story, I feel a little better in talking some more about my opinion on this whole thing.

My reaction to this interview is mixed at best. I mean, for starters, A-Rod is clearly very broken up about this whole issue. At one point in the middle of this interview, you can see the pink splotches form under his eyes, and it actually looks like Rodriguez might cry. He pulls himself together and recovers, and by the end of the interview those prominent pink areas are gone from his face, but he almost loses it there in the middle. But, try as I might, I simply do not believe that A-Rod is broken up about the poor role model he is for children, or for cheating the game that he loves, or for the fact that he simply did something he knew was wrong. No. I think A-Rod is all upset because he got caught, and he knows that now all of the great records he will amass in his career will and should be asterisked just like those of fellow cheater Barry Bonds, and that his entire legacy is tarnished beyond repair, among current fans and in the record books over time.

There were a lot of things about this interview that rubbed me the wrong way. First and foremost, the first few minutes of A-Rod's answers sound like a speech that has been written by someone with experience deflecting scandals, and like A-Rod is just going through the motions repeating what he's been told to say. In fact, I'm sure that's exactly what it was, as his agent furiously worked with him over the weekend to plan a response, and this is what they came up with. Just tell 'em it was many years ago, and keep saying how sorry you are. No matter what happens, keep emphasizing how sorry you feel for the whole thing.

But is he really sorry?

"Back then, it was a different culture. It was very loose. I was young. I was stupid. I was naive. And I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time."

"Back then". I love it. Rodriguez makes it sound like this is the 1880s we're talking about here, or at least the 1980s. "I was young, I was stupid, I was naive." You were young, Alex? We're talking about five years ago here. Not 15, or 25, and not when A-Rod was a young boy of 7 years old or something. It's not exactly accurate or fair to talk about how young he was when he made this decision. It was this decade. Well into this decade in fact. The guy hasn't aged all that much since then. I just don't buy it.

"I did take a banned substance. And for that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful."

Wow! Very sorry and deeply regretful! That's like saying I'm a pompous ass and an arrogant prick. I mean, doesn't it just sound like these are his talking points, and he is trying to focus on how sorry he is over and over and over again, saying it as many different ways as he possibly can? I just really get the feeling that A-Rod thinks he can just come out and apologize for what he did, and that it will go away.

"Again, it was such a loosey-goosey era. I'm guilty for a lot of things. I'm guilty for being negligent, naive, not asking all the right questions. And to be quite honest, I don't know exactly what substance I was guilty of using."

To me this one really strains all credibility. I get the feeling that A-Rod and his people somehow think it makes him seem less guilty if he claims not to even know what substance he was taking. I don't buy that for even half a second. This guy had just signed a $250 million contract, he works out hard every day, he feels all this pressure to perform as he admits himself in the interview, and yet he ingests things that he doesn't even know what they are? You know what, I don't believe that for a second, and more than that, I simply don't think it makes him look any better even if it were true.

"I am sorry for my Texas years. I apologize to the fans of Texas."

Again, it's just not that simple. I really think A-Rod thinks he can just say over and over again how sorry he is, and that's all he needs to do.

Gammons then went on to ask about A-Rod's years as a Yankee (since 2004), and A-Rod assured Gammons that those years "have been clean."

"I've played the best baseball of my career since. I've won two MVPs since and I've never felt better in my career. Of that I'm very proud of."

Is that so? A-Rod has played the best baseball of his career since 2004, huh? Let's take a look at some of the numbers on that one, because living in New York and having to live with the puss that is A-Rod for these past few years, I can only say that most of us baseball fans in New York don't think he's been all that in his time here. So let's take a look at A-Rod's career numbers, by season, keeping in mind that he admits to having used performance enhancing drugs just during the three years from 2001-2003:

Yr Team G  AB  HR RBI AVG
1994 Sea 17 54     0  2    .204
1995 Sea 48 142  5  19  .232
1996 Sea 146 601 36 123 .358
1997 Sea 141 587 23 84 .300
1998 Sea 161 686 42 124 .310
1999 Sea 129 502 42 111 .285
2000 Sea 148 554 41 132 .316
2001 Tex 162 632 52 135 .318
2002 Tex 162 624 57 142 .300
2003 Tex 161 607 47 118 .298
2004 NYY 155 601 36 106 .286
2005 NYY 162 605 48 130 .321
2006 NYY 154 572 35 121 .290
2007 NYY 158 583 54 156 .314
2008 NYY 138 510 35 103 .302
Total -- 2042 7860 553 1606 .306

OK so you can see it for yourself -- I don't see how there is any conclusion other than that the peak of A-Rod's statistical career was 2001-2002, smack in the middle of the period when A-Rod admits to using steroids. I mean, yes, 2007 was a great year with the Yankees for sure, but he hit more homers and had a higher average in 2002 with the Rangers, and 2001 also saw him hit more than 50 home runs for the only other time in his career.

It seems pretty obvious to me what went on with this guy and the steroids. He started taking them in 2001, and watched himself break his previous personal best for home runs by a full 10 dingers when he hit 52 in 2001. He loaded up again on the roids in 2002, and hit 57 home runs for the best season of his career. Then in 2003, the rumors about the steroid testing started, and at some point during the season I would bet that A-Rod either lightened up on the performance-enhancing drugs, or possibly stopped entirely in an attempt not to test positive during the coming diagnostic tests, and it hurt his results, with him hitting 47 homers -- his lowest output since 2000 -- and 118 RBIs, his lowest run production since 1999. So I can't really explain how or why 2007 was such a great statistical year for Rodriguez -- for all we know, maybe he got in to HGH for a while then, who knows -- but what I do know from those numbers is that "the best baseball of his career" was surely 2001-2002, again right smack in the middle of his anabolic steroid days. So nice try Alex, but I'm gonna have to call bullshit on that one. The best years of the man's career were surely right while he was taking the performance-enhancing drugs, end of story,right there in black and white.

Another element of the Gammons interview that I thought was interesting and telling was when A-Rod was asked what he thought the steroids did for his performance. All A-Rod could say was "I can't say, I don't know, it's so hard to tell." Yeah right. So let's see. 1998? 42 homers and 124 RBIs. 1999? 42 homers and 111 RBIs. 2000? 41 homers and 132 RBIs. Then cue the steroids. Now in 2001? 52 homers, 135 RBIs, both career highs at that point in time. 2002? 57 homers, 142 RBIs, again both career highs. But he can't say what the steroids did for his performance, huh? Nice try, Alex.

Taking this a step further, let's look at what happened in 2004, the year after Rodriguez stopped taking the steroids as the league implemented its performance-enhancing drugs policy. 36 home runs and 106 RBIs -- both his lowest since 1997. In fact, both of those numbers sound relatively average among strong hitters. Phillies fans out there will recognize them basically as Pat Burrell stats. Certainly not where A-Rod wants to be, and not even close to his output at the plate in his previous two steroid-fueled seasons. Over the following two seasons in 2005-2006, A-Rod would average 41 homers and 125 RBIs; better numbers than in 2004, but still not close to his 2001-2002 form. Not even close. I mean, over the three seasons when A-Rod admits to having used steroids, he averaged 50 home runs a year. Since 2003 when he got off the juice, he has hit under 40 home runs three out of five times.

And again, who knows what A-Rod might have been taking in 2007 when he busted out with that 54-homer, 156-RBI season for the Yankees in nabbing his third MVP. One of the most interesting answers given in his interview with Gammons is something you barely see written about anywhere. This was when Gammons asked A-Rod if his performance-enhancing drugs use took place only from 2001 through 2003. Rodriguez responded, "That's pretty accurate, yes." Now, no one made him use the word "pretty" there. That was solely by A-Rod's own choice, and I would say it belies the fact that he knows -- beyond a shadow of a doubt -- that he has used other performance-enhancers at other times in his career. I mean, if the guy felt all that pressure coming to Texas in 2000 and that's the reason he turned to roids back then, lord knows he felt immense pressure coming to New York and playing for the Yankees in the mid 2000s. And you have to admit, those numbers in 2007 kinda came out of nowhere, yknow? And he's playing there in the Bronx with Jason Giambi, a known, admitted steroid user, and Roger Clemens, who we all basically know used PEDs, and Andy Pettitte who has since admitted to using "the clear" and "the cream" to rehab from injuries. So to suggest that anyone is sure that A-Rod was clean in 2007, or in 2004 or 1999 for that matter, is absurd.

When Gammons asked A-Rod for the best evidence that he's been clean since 2004, Rodriguez kind of dodged the question in a way, and responded instead by pointing out that he has gained only 15 pounds from when he came in the league in 1994 until now, from 210 pounds then to 225 today. Now, for starters, I have no actual idea what he actually weighs today, nor do I know what he actually weighed then. And more than that, I believe him that he did not use any PEDs in 2008, a year that saw him play the fewest games, hit the fewest home runs and by far knock in the fewest runs in any season since he became an everyday player. So what's to say that he didn't lose 10 or 20 pounds of bulk since a couple of years ago? I just find that answer to really miss the point of how we know he's been clean since 2004. We don't know that, we don't know it at all, and there is no good evidence to demonstrate something that may very well not be true in the least.

To me, A-Rod does sound in the Peter Gammons interview like he is truly sorry. Sorry that this whole story came out, angry at the reporter who worked hard to get the scoop, sorry that his union effed him so hard to let these results become public. Sorry that he got busted and now has to sit on national tv with Peter Gammons and talk about the performance-enhancing drugs he used. Sorry about what he's going to face from the fans even in Yankee stadium and certainly on the road for the foreseeable future. Sorry at the thought of what the Philadelphia fans will do to him when he dares show his face in that park during inter-league play. But is A-Rod actually sorry about taking the performance-enhancing drugs to begin with, for what he did to the game, and what he did to his fans? I just don't see it.

A-Fraud

Wow. Big news in the world of sports over the weekend, huge news here in New York, is of course word that Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez tested positive in 2003 for two anabolic steroids, as part of the Major League's "survey" drug test where they performed an anonymous, random screening across 1198 players in the league in an attempt to determine if the steroid problem were prominent and widespread enough to merit further intervention by the league. The names of the players whose samples were being tested were not kept with the results, and the only way the union would ever acquiesce to allow this survey test was with explicit agreement from the league that there would be no penalties or punishments as a result of this purely "diagnostic" test, and the names or individual results could never become public. The actual samples of the 1198 players tested were kept in the testing lab in Las Vegas of all places, with the samples tied to numerical codes without the player names included. The list of the names of all the tested players and their corresponding codes was in an office nearly 300 miles away in Long Beach, California. The two were never supposed to be united, and never would have until BALCO got raided in 2004 and then suddenly the federal government found itself seizing all sorts of information and documents, among which included the list of names and the corresponding results. And as the folks on ESPN have been putting it all weekend long, it was only a matter of time until this stuff came out, once the two lists had been put together.

This is a huge story for a couple of reasons. First, of course, is that A-Rod is the premier offensive player of the past whatever many years in the Major Leagues. Having this guy now tainted as badly as Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro along with most of the other offensive stars of the Steroid Era is probably the very worst thing that could have happened right now for the sport, or something close to it. But I think there's a larger reason why this story is hitting so many of us so hard at the moment, and that has to do with bullshit. See, I recently heard this theory that I really subscribe to that given what has transpired in this country over the past several months, the American people at this exact point in time have, in historical terms, seriously low tolerance for bullshit. Not from our presidents, not from our legislators, not from CEOs, not from investment advisors, brokers, bankers, lawyers or anyone. Right now, bullshit is trading at an all-time low compared to mostly all of our lives. And in a nutshell what we just learned is that Alex Rodriguez is a Class A bullshitter.

Seriously. It turns out, A-Rod really is A-Fraud. Not just because he did steroids, but because, like Bonds and Palmeiro and Sosa and so many others before him, he openly and brazenly lied about it. Here is A-Fraud with Katie Couric on December 7, 2007, talking about the steroid controversy:



In a scoop that has every network and media outlet scrambling for all the random video they can find of A-Rod chatting it up with Rafael Palmeiro there in the Rangers' dugout in 2003, it turns out that I guess A-Fraud actually did feel overmatched on the baseball field, enough in his MVP year of 2003 to take both testosterone and Primobolan, an illegal anabolic steroid that can be injected or taken orally to improve strength without significant side effects. So A-Rod is a liar, and as I said above, liars are never a great thing, but ten years ago when our president was the king of all liars the whole dishonesty thing was much more accepted. Nowadays, after a year of everyone in government, everyone on Wall Street and basically anybody in any position of authority lying through their effing teeth to us and costing millions of jobs and literally trillions of dollars in the process, A-Fraud is gonna get as little slack as you can imagine for this stuff.

Perhaps surprisingly, I am really of two minds about this whole thing. I mean, clearly this changes the way I view A-Rod, and the entire game of baseball, forever. I have made no bones here for years about my lack of respect for anything even remotely related to cheating, and to have to add a guy to the list who I've always held out in my own head at least as the best example there is of a clean superstar in this sport is devastating for my view of the game as a whole. But you know what? I don't think I'm going to have much more to say about this. Because A-Rod got effed with this whole thing. Hard. Those test results were required to be private and confidential forever. Originally, even the players who were tested were not given the results of their own screenings (though ESPN has since confirmed that A-Rod was in fact aware of his positive tests), and as I mentioned, the results and the player list were kept a long distance apart, very much by design. I understand that the government seized what they could related to the BALCO case and of course I defend their right to do that, but I have to wonder, why on earth were those test results and that list of names and testing ID numbers even retained in the first place so that they would be seizable by the government a year later? More than anything else, Alex Rodriguez's union threw his ass under the bus in a huge, huge way, by allowing those test results to exist for long enough that they could be discovered as part of an investigation, matched up with the right identities of the test subjects and then released to the public.

The bottom line is, this information was supposed to never be disclosed, to anyone, for any purpose whatsoever, and then through a series of events that were completely and totally unknown and pretty much unforeseeable to everyone involved at the time, the fact that A-Rod used steroids ended up being leaked anyways. I simply don't feel like using my blog to crush a guy based on information, though credibly true, that was never supposed to be made public. The players' union would never in two trillion (i.e., one bank bailout's worth) years have sanctioned these "diagnostic" tests if they thought there was even the slightest possible chance of the results coming public six years in the future. Not a chance. So I'm going to at least give that the slightest modicum of respect and not kill A-Fraud any more than I already have here, even though I could say a lot more about him under different circumstances.

Suffice it to say, it seems that over the past eight years or so, the world really has become an increasingly worse place to try to explain to my kids. And I find that to be very, very sad.