A Miami New Times article reports that six MLB players purchased a variety of drugs from Miami-based antiaging clinic Biogenesis, marking the latest jolt for a sport that's gone from willful compliance to zealotry when it comes to PED suspicions.
The article lists Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, and Yasmani Grandal among the players who allegedly bought performance-enhancing drugs from the clinic and its former proprietor, Anthony Bosch. These allegations are the result of a three-month investigation by the Miami New Times, where the focal point of the evidence is a spreadsheet kept by Bosch, said to contain a list of his clients, and a stack of notebooks found by Juan Garcia. The article notes that Garcia was a former client of Bosch's who invested in the clinic. Rodriguez admitted in a 2009 press conference that he'd used PEDs years earlier while playing with the Texas Rangers, at a time when said substances weren't specifically outlawed by Major League Baseball. Cabrera, Colon, and Grandal were all suspended last year for violating MLB's drug policy. We'll get to their cases later.
The other two active major leaguers named in the article, Gio Gonzalez and Nelson Cruz, had never been publicly linked to performance-enhancing drugs before publication of the New Times piece. The mention of Gonzalez, in particular, is jarring, given the screaming lack of evidence he did anything wrong and the guilt by association he's now forced to endure.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman told a New York radio host that he "wasn't surprised" that former players Bartolo Colon and Melky Cabrera were suspended for PEDs after spikes in performance.
The baseball season is a long and lonely road. To preserve his sanity, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter keeps a diary. These are excerpts from The Captain's private journal.
Wednesday, August 15: vs. Texas Rangers
Baseball is a sacred trust. For some people, it's almost a religion. (For the record, I was raised Catholic, but you hate to talk about your belief system publicly; your faith is a matter best kept between you, your God, and whatever Hall of Famers up in the Cooperstown section of Heaven you quietly pray to for guidance during difficult slumps. That's nobody's business but your own. And possibly St. Scooter Rizzuto's.) So to knowingly betray our great sport feels like a sin. Baseball's been around since the dawn of time, and in the early days of The Game, cheaters were punished like sinners: They were forced to wear jerseys made of sackcloth, sit in bottomless chairs in front of the local field, and be struck in the genitals with a pair of wet rosin bags tied to the end of a rope. Some might consider this barbaric, but it sent a powerful message about the importance of integrity in our sport. These days, you get a 50-game suspension the first time you're caught cheating with steroids. Is that more or less "barbaric"? I don't know, I don't feel qualified to make that call. But I will say that if you really love the game, if you've got baseball religion, losing a third of a season should give you the same kind of queasy feeling in your lower abdomen as being repeatedly racked with a torture rope. You wonder if Bud Selig was reading a lot of Torquemada when he was figuring out how to replace those old punishments with ones that would hurt as much, but not violate the CBA.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Hey everyone, I'm back. I got married last Saturday, which means huge changes for "About Last Night." I'm an official adult now, and I realized that some of my material is immature and inappropriate. It's time to clean up my act and become a lot more conservative and family-friendly with my humor. That way, everyone can enjoy a good hearty chuckle in the morning. But it's only fair to give you a "transition day" to help you prepare. In the items below, I'll use an example of "old humor" after the link, and then show you what the new, more adult jokes will be like in bold. Tomorrow, the old humor will be gone for good.
Major League Baseball suspended Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera for 50 games after he tested positive for excessive levels of testosterone, wiping out the rest of his season and dealing a blow to San Francisco's playoff hopes.
The notion that Cabrera could have a major impact on a pennant race would have seemed ludicrous as recently as two years ago. At that point in his career, Cabrera had reached double-digit home runs in a season just once. Hell, he'd slugged .400 or better just once. He was a popgun hitter who provided moderate value when his bloops and grounders would find holes, next to zero value when they didn't.
Let's just sum up this guy's week real quick: negged the President of the United States and the First Lady's lack of comfort with public displays of affection and called David Stern's proposal to have Team USA be made up of players age 23 and under "stupid." Barack, Stern. Ether. He probably told all those kids in the picture above that they would never amount to anything. And he will probably spend the rest of his life making sure of it. So if you're one of the kids in the above picture: I'm sorry. Also?
It was an 8-0 blowout that was decided by the fourth. Both sides breezed through 1-2-3 inning after 1-2-3 inning thereafter — great if you're a student of pitching, not so much if you're looking for fireworks. And the game ended with a retired manager making sure he could lull fans to sleep one more time before hanging 'em up. But we still counted 13 lucky, awesome, winsome, and gruesome random moments from the 83rd MLB All-Star Game:
13. Luke Bryan would like a moment. Actually, he'd like all the moments.
The country singer's rendition of the national anthem took so long, it ripped a hole in the space-time continuum. As a reminder, the only person who's allowed to stretch out the anthem is Marvin Gaye. Although there's also something to be said for doing it like this.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Melky Cabrera blasted a two-run homer to lead the National League to an 8-0 rout in the All-Star Game — the NL's most lopsided victory ever — and took home the MVP in the process. "I'm just glad Melky has the monkey off his back," said teammate Pablo Sandoval, adding, "we were all sort of wondering when he'd win an All-Star MVP." Josh Hamilton agreed. "As much as I hate to lose, this has been a long time coming for Melky. It's nice to see him realize his destiny." Even the New York Post chimed in, with an uncharacteristically lengthy and bland front-page headline: "WE NO LONGER LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE MELKY CABRERA HAS NEVER WON AN ALL-STAR GAME MVP."
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Tony Parker scored 34 points and dished out eight assists as the Spurs remained unbeaten in the postseason, beating the Thunder 120-111 and going up 2-0 in the Western Conference Finals. "I'm … I'm running out of time," the Doctor told the Spurs star, in a quiet nook of the locker room. "The Bentonite has been too close to me for too long. Without the powder, I won't last much longer." Parker put his head in his hands. "But without you … my God, the whole sports landscape will explode! Only you can cure its ills!" The Doctor nodded wearily. He stood, slumped to the right, and walked away, weaker than Parker had ever seen him. "I can't help you anymore," he whispered, and was gone.
