Miguel Tejada Charged with Lying to Congress

Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada has been charged with lying to Congress about the prevalence of steroid use, ESPN is reporting.

It is going to be painfully apparent pretty soon that this goes way beyond Alex Rodriguez and perhaps strikes at the very heart of baseball.

As long as there has been a game there has been cheating, but the difference is that with the media now--TV, radio, blogs, etc--it's a hell of a lot more noticeable. Alas, many casual fans don't care if Mantle was a drunk or Cobb a racist--they care about what their players are doing now.

Is it too early to call for Selig to resign?

This did happen on his watch.

Selig's done some good for the game--look at the attendance totals and revenue sharing--but the idea that people didn't know what was going on, ranging from players to owners, is preposterous.

Oh well. Not like there are tons of things more American than a good scandal, anyway...

A-Rod's admissions create more questions

Undoubtedly, Alex admitting that he used steroids was the right course of action--ie, not doing what Clemens or Bonds did.

That says, it raises a whole host of other questions:

1) How on earth did he not know what he was taken? I'm right now only taking one prescription medication and I was damned sure I went over everything with my doctor--side effects, risks, etc. However, I'm not being paid hundreds of millions to keep my body in top shape.

2) How did Alex get the drugs? Fortunatley for us, this steroid use took place before Alex was a Yankee, but however he got them, the procurement was still illegal.

3) How many times has A-Rod been tipped off about tests since then? Did he really stop using when he came to New York? Who else was tipped off?

4) Why did Alex feel it necessary to hide this from the Yankees once Roberts told him he would be named?

There are maybe another thousand questions that we could ask, and now, only a few days before pitchers and catchers report, we are no closer to getting our answers.

Just remember this, folks: if Alex did it, chances are, your favorite probably did as well. Until that list of 103 names is made public--nearly 15% of active mlb players for that year--no player is safe.

Alex Rodriguez admits to Steroid Use

According to the handy dandy text I just recieved from ESPN.com, A-Rod has admitted to steroid use in 2003 and will make confession on the 6 PM edition of Sportscenter

I'm on my way out to do grad school stuff but I'll write more later.

A-Rod A-Ruined?

With A-Rod's situation now out in the open, there are these possible courses of action for him to take:

1) Admit whatever allegations are true, even if they aren't. The Pettitte/Hamilton/Giambi route seems to be the most successful in terms of dealing with illicit substances, although it should be noted that Hamilton's situation was different.

2) Clam up and say nothing, which solves nothing.

3) Go the Clemens/Bonds/Palmeiro route and deny everything. This, I don't need to tell you, hasn't always worked very well.

However, whatever path Alex takes, there is one basic constant--rightly or wrongly, he'll never be considered a "clean" player again.

That clean break of Hank's record?

Gonna have to wait for someone else.

It sucks for everyone involved--Alex, the team, the fans, baseball as a whole.

For every argument that the anonymous names should have remained anonymous, there's the more powerful argument that Alex shouldn't have put himself in that situation in the first place.

We want to like A-Rod. We excused the stripper in Toronto incident, and then tried not to pay too much attention when he started banging Madonna and divorced from his wife, despite their two young daughters.

For everyone that argued 2006 and 2008 were subpar, we said, look at 2005 and 2007.

We welcomed him back after the op-out fiasco and only a few dared voice complaint when he signed on for ten years.

But this, this strikes at the very heart of the game. If it's true, we can't simply brush it aside, and neither can Alex.

While we hope that it's not true, unfortunately, in public perception he's already guilty (just check out that poll on ESPN.com)

You know, I have to think, for all the wishing we did that the Torre book wouldn't be a distraction during Spring Training, I think we may have to be just a little more careful about what we wish for...

Alex Rodriguez fails Steroid Test?

I was woken up this morning by a phone call that went something like this:

J: WFAN is reporting that in 2003 Alex Rodriguez failed a steroid test, and Alex is not denying this.


I have not yet found anything to substantiate these claims, but if I do I shall edit this post accordingly.

Check this SI article out

Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrggghhh (Postgame Notes 24 june 08)

Of all the Yankee losses this season, tonight's has to rank as one of the worst. It's not that Pittsburgh is necessarily is a bad team (they are), but that the level of play from the Yankees was just flat-out embarrassing.

They didn't pitch. They didn't play very good defense. They didn't hit when they needed to.

Someone needs to send the Yankees a memo that the idea of the game is to score more runs than the other team. Or something.

Seriously, when Darrel Rasner is arguably the best hitter of the evening? Yeah, there are some issues there.

The bats have gone ice cold. In their past four games they have scored nine runs--not as bad as it could be, but nowhere near what the offense is capable of doing. In fact, this offense has not hit a home run since the second game of the Padres series (though Melky missed a grand slam by inches). Okay, Bobby Abreu homered, but the point is still the same.

That the Yankees will have clunkers is a given.

The problem, however, is that the Yankees are having too many of them, and against the wrong teams.

Losing to Pittsburgh is bad enough on its own.

Getting blown out? Getting blown out against a starting pitcher with an ERA over seven?

That's not a performance from a team that wants to be considered a playoff contender. That's not even a performance from a third place team.


Again, the Yankees have some serious issues with their bullpen, especially now that Rasner's magic seems to have worn thin. With the trade deadline approaching sooner than you think, look for Brian Cashman and the Yankees to make some moves. They might be as simple as promoting David Robertson or Mark Melancon, or they might me more complex, but either way, the Yankees need help.



If you want some good news, though, Fresno State is winning--their Cinderella story looks like it might live on one more night.