I don't believe him.

I think Pedro took steroids because of the transformation of his head. He just looks like he took steroids. In the court of public opinion, freed from the annoying burden of proof, I can think whatever I want.

He said "taint."

"When the Yankees won their third successive World Series and fourth in five years in 2000, Torre, their manager, was hailed as an automatic entrant to the Hall of Fame. Now, however, it develops that the Yankees’ 2000 team was loaded with players who used performance-enhancing drugs before, during or after that season.
...

According to the Mitchell report, Clemens used steroids in the latter half of the 2000 season. Neagle played for the Yankees in the latter half of that season and, according to Mitchell, used human growth hormone.

Neagle won four successive starts from Aug. 27 through Sept. 12. Clemens, following Neagle in the rotation, won three of four starts. Three times they won consecutive games. Their efforts helped the Yankees increase their division lead from three games to nine."

Yeah, but everybody was using steroids. The teams that beat the Yankees had steroids users.

Every World Series Champion of the past, say, twenty years likely had players on their roster who used steroids.

Some are just more obvious than others.

Some people just want to get lots of angry responses on their message board.

When your name is Justice, your opinions carry more weight.

"Andy Pettitte did the honorable thing. He didn't do it willingly, but he did do it. Good for him."

Great for him.

No: Great for the Youth of America.

In fact, Andy Pettitte is so unbelievably honest and honorable that, if Selig decides to enact stricter drug testing, I think Andy Pettitte should oversee the entire operation.


"If Pettitte had denied using performance-enhancing substances, it would have been virtually impossible not to believe him."

Did I read this correctly? "It would have been virtually impossible not to believe him"? I think you mistakenly put a "not" in your sentence, Mr. Justice.


"Players were put in a quandary during the steroids era. They saw teammates getting bigger and performing better by cheating. Inside the industry, rumors circulated that some general managers and agents encouraged players to try performance-enhancing drugs."

I love it.

I love, love, love, love, love it.

It's more than love. I lerve it.

Can't get enough of it.

It's like that bad karaoke video that you have to watch 1,000 times.

I love it when the steroid era is referred to in the past tense.

If you really wanted to help the team, you should have taken steroids.

I was being sarcastic when I said that Pettitte would take the "team" angle:

"I had heard that human growth hormone could promote faster healing for my elbow. I felt an obligation to get back to my team as soon as possible. For this reason, and only this reason, for two days I tried human growth hormone."


I hereby nominate Pettitte to the Jay Gibbons Hall of Fame:

"Earl Ward, the attorney for Brian McNamee, the trainer who gave the Mitchell investigators the information on Pettitte and Clemens, was not shocked that Pettitte would confess to his actions.

'One of the things Brian has always said to me is that Andy is a decent and honest guy, and it is not a surprise that he has stepped up,' Ward said."

Or maybe just the Greatest Human Ever Hall of Fame:

"According to the Yankees media guide, Pettitte and his wife 'teach youth classes and sing in the choir' at the same Baptist church her father has been pastor for 40 years. Pettitte has participated in tee-ball games in the White Hose lawn, been honored as 'good guy' by the New York Sports Photographers, nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award for community service and won a Thurman Munson Award in 2006, presented by the Association for the Help of Retarded Children."

"The TV Guys."

"If a player wanted to deny (the charges made against him)," Mitchell says, "why didn't he come in and deny them to me?"

Come on, now. You're a lawyer.

If I say Mike Lupica is a computer-generated avatar, the burden of proof is on me. Lupica is not compelled to deny charges which have not been proven.

This is precisely why this report is widely criticized and widely dismissed. Without the legal power of subpoena, and the accompanying legal defense, it's just a bunch of people saying stuff.

Pettitte's defense is, "I did not do it. Your sources are liars. I didn't deny it then, but I am denying it now." That's it.

If you want the players to defend themselves, then charge them with something.


"The TV guys were saying that Mitchell was sloppy before they'd even read his report. He's sloppy, they say, his reporting is sloppy. Mostly because they don't like it. They treat George Mitchell like some fan who fell out of the stands and onto the field trying to grab a foul ball, as if he could broker peace in Northern Ireland and be undone by drug cheats in baseball. Like Mitchell was some kind of rank amateur, not getting his facts straight, not even knowing what questions to ask."

I don't think this is accurate. A lot of people think this report is a waste of time and a lot of people question his relationship with MLB ownership in general and the Red Sox specifically. But I haven't seen any personal attacks on Mitchell himself.

I found it somewhat distasteful and self-serving to continually bring up Northern Ireland during the press conference, but it's a minor complaint.

I was also ironing at the time, so my attention was divided.


More interestingly, who the heck are "the TV guys"?

As opposed to the "radio guys" or "the newspaper guys"? As opposed to the "TV gals"?

Tomorrow morning, on ESPN, won't Lupica be a "TV guy"?


If Lupica was watching commentary on television, then the commentator had a name.

Be a man, Lupica, and name the commentator with whom you have beef.

"TV guys" is a bit vague, don't you think?

F.P. Santangelo shocked me, actually ...

... I didn't know F.P Santangelo was a real-life person. I thought he was made up on the 2002 version of EA Sports baseball. The name even sounds like one of those old-time made-up names from Japanese video games. I think Mattingly was "D. Matts," or something like that:

"Without any sanctions against the juicers or any stark revelations, this was, for the most part, a waste of time. This was done to titillate and get us talking baseball in the winter. This did not and will not clean up baseball."

I pretty much agree with the entire analysis by Shaun Powell. The report was only shocking in its lack of breadth.

Merely two key informants (both linked to New York baseball teams) and very few players mentioned with any degree of certainty.

At the same time, Mitchell is claiming that steroid abuse was widespread and pervasive. Well, maybe so, but this report -- two years in the making -- certainly didn't demonstrate its pervasiveness.

We're back where we started. "Widespread" means 2%, 10%, 20%, or 50%?


I don't think this was done to get us talking about baseball in the winter. I think it was mostly a PR move. Mitchell seems like an earnest enough guy, but he also has to know that the findings will influence the Court of Public Opinion, as opposed to the Court of ... well ... the Courts of Laws and Stuff.

"US sportswriters" urge something.

I mean, look, who in their right mind is going to be pro-steroids? When Mitchell said that hundreds of thousands of teenagers are taking steroids, it's probably true that they are inspired by pro athletes.

But will the "US sportswriters" boycott the NFL for one week? For one day?


The Mitchell report listed 77 current and former players. As Tim Marchman points out, this is less that 2% of the players during the time period in question.

We know that at least 2% of current United States governors have taken steroids.

Would Schwarzenegger have achieved fame and fortune without steroids? I doubt it. Perhaps Lou Ferrigno would be the Governor of California and Schwarznegger would be applying green body makeup and making appearances at comic book stores.

California is home to five major league baseball teams and ... ummm ... a whole bunch of minor league baseball teams.

The State Government probably won't be involved in the creation or enforcement of anti-steroid steroid rules.

But can you imagine the irony if such a bill appears on Schwarzenegger's desk?

You want to inspect every package that is delivered to a baseball clubhouse?

How about every package that is delivered to the Governor's mansion?


I also have a suspicion that the $25 million (?) spent on the Mitchell report -- which accomplished very little legally or tangibly -- could have been more wisely spent on youth prevention.

If youth prevention had been the true goal.

I thought they meant Homer Bush.

About that mortgage crisis thingy:

"My hope is that this report is a part of putting the steroid era of baseball behind us," he said, surrounded by Cabinet members in the Rose Garden.

That's the point of this entire exercise. Seventy-seven players took steroids. It says so in the report. Now the steroid era is behind us.

In baseball, at least.

It's different.

Clemens and Bonds did it for their own glory. Pettitte did it because he wanted to get healthy so he could help his team.

I'm not taking delight in Pettitte's (dubiously) tarnished reputation. I became President of the Pettitte Hater's Club when he bolted for Houston and tried to blame it on Steinbrenner. But I don't give the Mitchell report much credence in the first place and it simply doesn't bother me too much if baseball players take performance-enhancing substances.

I'm just as fascinated by John Harper's reaction.

This is a beat writer who acts like he just learned there's no Santa Claus. I mean, this is downright embarrassing, pal:

"For one thing, he was a homegrown Yankee who delivered time and again in October. For another, he has that unassuming, down-home quality that always made him so easy for fans to embrace.

And for anyone covering baseball, Pettitte has always been one of the good guys, admirable for his toughness on the mound and his accountability in the clubhouse.

...

It seems clear that Pettitte wasn't on the same drug-cheat level as Clemens. Unless they can prove that their trainer, Brian McNamee, was lying for some reason, Clemens comes off as a hardcore steroid user, going all the way back to 1998, while Pettitte used human growth hormone primarily to help recover from an elbow injury during the 2002 season.

You can even make the case that Pettitte never would have taken such a route if not for his association with Clemens, who introduced him to McNamee and made Pettitte a partner in his famous workout routine after coming over to the Yankees in 1999.

...

None of this means Pettitte is any less tough or likeable. Just last spring he was telling me about that first year in Houston, when he tore a ligament in his elbow in his very first start with the Astros, and pitched in pain all the way into August, refusing suggestions by the club to shut it down months earlier.

He was giggling as he told the story, still in disbelief that he survived for four months with an 82-mph fastball. Later the same day, he came looking for me after the spring training workout, concerned that he had revealed too much in the way of details, and asking not to portray him as some kind of hero in the story for putting off surgery.

'I just couldn't let the guys down, that's all,' he said.

That's Pettitte. His teammates will tell you he's as genuinely caring as they come. Upon returning to the Yankees last season he befriended Carl Pavano, hoping to improve Pavano's outcast status in the Yankee clubhouse.

...

Actually, Pettitte has built up the type of goodwill to be forgiven by Yankee fans if he makes a contrite apology, and embraced as long as his cutter still has its bite."

What can I possibly add to that?

The ridiculousness speaks for itself.

This all really boils down to the "unassuming, down-home quality," doesn't it? That's what I suspected all along.

Pettitte's got it. Ankiel's got it. Bonds does not.

Be nice to reporters and you'll get into the Hall of Fame.

How do you pronounce his name?

Carefully.

Revisiting a theory.

Do the players prefer the AL because the DH leads to more offense, which leads to more money?

Of course, this makes no sense for pitchers.

Or maybe it's just because the AL teams have more money to spend and the players don't prefer the AL.

The games take longer in the AL and the players like quick games.

I don't know. It's just a theory.

That didn't take long.

The Baltimore Sun reports on what Jay Gibbons said:

"I am deeply sorry for the mistakes that I have made. I have no excuses and bear sole responsibility for my decisions."

I just looked up that solely to verify that Lupica / New York Daily News are stupid. This seems to verify that they transcribed Gibbons's words and simply don't know the difference between "bare" and "bear."


Happily, the search led me to this guy, who may be even stupider than Lupica.

How's this for a defense of Good Guy Jay Gibbons?:

"In the meantime, he did what most of us would have done. He waited, he sweated it out and he stepped up when the news broke. Honestly, how many of you would have held a news conference and fessed up a year or two ago?"

Wow. That is what I call "stepping up."

Speaking for myself, I am a better person just by sitting here, surfing the Net, watching Monday Night Football, and eating mushy raisin bran.

It's not much of a Monday night, granted.

But maybe Roch Kobatko ought to praise my clean livin' instead of Gibbons's post-capture contrition.

Because what I "would have done" is not cheated in the first place.

Oy.

Some people are offended by the size of Alex Rodriguez's contract.

The Yankees just signed LaTroy Hawkins to a one-year, $3.75 million contract.

In his career, Latroy Hawkins has compied is 56-76 record with a 4.68 ERA, 1,211 hits, 359 walks, and 132 homeruns in 1,072 innings.

You can't be a little pregnant.

World's Greatest Human Caught Cheating:

"In the same week that Barry Bonds stood in a courtroom and issued not-guilty pleas to felony charges that are primarily about him being a stone liar on the subject of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs, Jay Gibbons of the Orioles did something rather amazing in baseball:

He told the truth.

'I am deeply sorry for the mistakes I have made,' Gibbons said. 'I have no excuses and bare [sic] sole responsibility for my decisions.' "

It's "bear" sole responsibility, not "bare" sole responsibility, you pathetic, stupid so-called professional "writers" and "editors."

This is New York, for crying out loud. A newspaper for New York City. This is not the Sunshine Street Elementary School newsletter.

Before acting like the arbiter the nation's morality, start with the basics: Pick up a pocket copy of Strunk and White.

In all seriousness, proper use of the English language just makes you seem smart, even if you're not. Your argument will naturally karry more wait. If you don't believe me, axe Curt Schilling.


I've said it before and I'll say it again. In Lupica's mind, Gibbons is seemingly less guilty than Bonds because:

1) Gibbons is not a good baseball player.

2) Gibbons is contrite.

3) Gibbons is white.

If I was Barry Bonds, I'd have no reason to think otherwise.

Everybody's got an opinion.

First headline on the Star-Ledger's Yankees page.

The next headline on the Star-Ledger's Yankees page.

Season over.

Ignoring the fact that Johan Santana has exactly zero Championship rings:

"The Red Sox remain the American League's best team, and if they land Santana in the next day or two, will tighten their grip on a dynasty the Yankees have been fearing since 2004."

Sure, the Red Sox are the AL's best team, though the Tigers might give them a run for the money.

But it should be obvious to everybody by now that the best team doesn't always win the World Series. In fact, the best team does not usually win the World Series.

Which is why the Yankees might win the World Series in 2008.

Like Pedro Martinez.

"The Yankees have already spent $400 million the past few weeks and you know what that means, right?

They're ready to spend more!

They're ready to break the bank for Johan Santana and thereby go against all the data on signing starting pitchers to longterm deals."

Just to be clear, that $400 million pays for a combined 16 seasons of baseball by three different players, two of whom are going to the HOF and one of whom makes a pretty decent case for the HOF.

Use the mathematical concept of "average" and the economic concept of "future value of money," and I think you'll find the Yankees paid the 2007 equivalent of 25 Roger Clemens strikeouts.


Over the past three seasons, the Mets have paid Pedro Martinez an average of $13 million for an average of 9 wins.

Ask Mike Lupica, and he'll tell you that Pedro is the baseball equivalent of Moses leading the Mets to their current status as (ahem) the Kings of New York City.

(Speaking of the George Mitchell report, hasn't Lupica noticed the peculiar swelling of Pedro's head over the past ten years?)

Pedro was worth every penny, and if you don't understand why, then you've never been at the pink-and-grime colored walls near Gate D, waiting for the #7 Train, cannoli in one hand and warm Bud Light in the other.

It's about Hope and Pride and dem straphangers.

Yankee fans are eating caviar and hiring people to shovel their driveways.


I don't really think the Twins will trade Santana until July. See if they're out of the race and wait to drive up the price.

The Yankees may part with one of their young pitchers, but they'll be getting a young pitcher in return. Yes, Santana will likely get injured at some point, just like Hughes will likely get injured at some point. They all get injured at some point.

The high rate of injury amongst MLB pitchers also explains why Cashman will likely take a different approach, stockpiling his starting staff with young, cheap, effective arms.

But the reason you trade Hughes for Santana is because Santana has already accomplished what Hughes can only hope to accomplish.

It's the difference between potential and realized potential.

Write something bad about Eli Manning.

I just find it fascinating when a writer invents a reality and sticks with it.

Case in point is Mike Lupica's love affair with Eli Manning. Four interceptions in a game won't invite as much criticism as one GIDP by Gary Sheffield.

Similarly, Lupica is one of many writers who are still insisting that baseball fans care about steroids:

"The real star of the baseball offseason won't be Alex Rodriguez, or Johan Santana. It will be a former United States Senator from the state of Maine, a cancer survivor, slightly hard of hearing, named George Mitchell."

I didn't know that George Mitchell was a former Senator from Maine. That's mildly interesting. I couldn't name the current Senators from Maine if you put a gun to my head.

Like most baseball fans, I will now fast forward to the end of the article without reading the part about steroid use in baseball. At the end of the article, I find an amazing occurrence. Mike Lupica sort of indirectly criticizes Eli Manning:

"You know why the Giants have to be right about Eli Manning?

Because if they're wrong, they've burned nearly a whole decade, that's why."

"If" they're wrong.