Another tarnished slugger limps into the sunset...this surely kills whatever minuscule chance remained of an HoF induction...in separate news, I wish I sold my Ramirez rookie card five years ago...fuck...

Goddamnit! Not looking like the Rays were gonna have a good season but Ramirez wasn't going to hurt their potential. Oh well.

Classic. He sure had a good drug combo going that first season with the Dodgers, but he was an anchor after getting caught.

in related news greg anderson has been released from prison. he is now a millionaire

Manny could kiss the Hall of Fame good bye for sure now.

His retirement wasn't actually a huge shock when I saw that, but the reasoning why actually was. I didn't see that coming but maybe I should have as he does appear to have lost his magical touch at the plate.

His legacy is gone the way of the Canseco/Mcguire/Sosa/Bonds..

Ah well..the end of the steroid era is pretty much over at this point (though will be the occasional moron). I can say I would ever blame them, in an era that it was never tested for, not banned and where money was thrown at you hand over fist if you put up the big numbers.

Put me in the camp that still isnt sold on steroids being the end all factor in baseball. I think alot of it is psychological, as youve developed an 'edge' on the competition just by using. The rest falls somewhere in the 'rest and recovery' phase of muscle development.(which of course, gives you another advantage). Now before someone jumps all over this, I'm just saying that by shooting steroids in your ass, doesnt instantly make you hit a ball harder or make you run faster, there is still work to be done, weights to be lifted and hitting to be done in the cages. What you see with the big bombers, is pretty much 'successful' useage (in a sense, that they stayed invoved in training and developing skills to help with their game). I'm sure there are many that shoot it and sit around waiting for the triple crown to appear...hello Brady Anderson?

There couldve been very well thousands that used it though the 80's and into the 90's..such a tough call, because you know there are some already elected in the hall that used. I know for a fact there are some from the 70's that used amphetamines.

What Mcguire and Sosa did that one year was fucking exciting and jaw dropping, face it..hard to take away from that

Just think of the many that I'm sure used HGH and steroid and never amounted to shit. I think, if anything, it would help pitchers more if you think about it. It enhances the recovery time and stimulates growth. Pitchers are using such a violent motion, the muscles are basically the stopgap from their arm coming out of the shoulder socket when they follow through.

you forgot... ortiz, schilling, drew and the rest of the roidsox

I hate Barry, but he is a HOFer. Even the most incriminating evidence against the guy says he didn't start juicing until after the monster seasons McGwire/Sosa had, I think in 1998? Jealousy of those guys. Bonds' stats really didn't start soaring until the 2000's and by then, he already had 450 HRs and had carried poor Pirates/Giants teams for years by himself. At age 34 in 2000, you could figure he'd hit another 100 or so HRs without the juice, which would put him in the Reggie Jackson/Mike Schmidt range as far as slugger go.

I'm not saying he should be first ballot (and he won't), but he deserves in.

i dont know dude. barry bonds his prime is the greatest baseball player of all time. the same argument can be said about griffey jr. like you said about bonds he didnt start juicing until after he got hurt in 2000. its just a guy with his amazing talent starts juicing, he ends up superhuman. that is what barry was after 2000. barrys numbers without the juice would have been. 300 avg 550 homeruns 300 stolen bases at least a 450 obp. you have to remember that before everyone started walking barry he still walked more than everyone. before he stopped playing in the outfield he had 8 gold gloves. the only thing that killed griffeys number were the injuries. if he styaed relativly healthy im not sure if griffey jr wouldnt be the career homerun leader

Who's to say Griffey didnt use em? or Ripken? I heard murmurings awhile back that Ripken was using them, but once again, they werent testing back then.

I think it was the Olympic committees that backtracked alot of the ones that tested positive and found trainers that shared the same clients that happened to be major leaguers. The owners knew it was going on, they were supplying/shooting them up it right in the locker room by the trainers. MLB got exposed and suddenly something they knew was running rampart and putting fat asses in the seats, they had to admonish. No one cared when Canseco, Big Mac and Sosa were pounding the snot out of the ball every night, the owners had to suddenly turn on something, that essentially helped them make millions.

There's a lot of blame to go around, but seriously...if your salary was based on how many home runs you could hit, and steroids could supposedly give you an advantage in hitting them, wouldn't you if THE LEAGUE DIDNT BAN THEM and the UNION DIDNT TEST FOR IT AS A BANNED SUBSTANCE?

They were illegal to buy in any power lifting city gym/high school gym, but were freely dealt and used in the professional athletic locker rooms. Different set of standards was set along time ago. Caminiti, Dykstra, Rickey Henderson, Griffey? Ripken? etc etc..they were all on roids..They were all allowed to live above the law..high risk, high reward.

the big hurt

The HOF voters will have to use their best judgment(s). A lot of stuff; evidence true or not has leaked out over the years, a lot of legal documents/testimony, guys growing physically out of proportion of their induction to the game (look at a photo of Sammy Sosa when he came in versus when he left), players that a resurgence/spike in their career stats in their mid-late 30's, at time when most MLBers drastically regress. And dudes like Brady Anderson and Brett Boone, who had a single huge ass year. A lot of it will be a sniff test, but generally I'm okay with the HOF voters being assholes about letting borderline players in there. The threshold SHOULD be higher. The game and feats are that much older than any other sport in existence in this country. That is the reason why the HOF can keep these assholes out. They sold out their legacies in the grand scheme of the game for short-term riches and fame.

MLB/Bud Selig have the largest portion of the blame in this equation, because these type of drugs were NOT made illegal until Jose Canseco of all people exposed their hypocracy. The thing is, I don't think the HOF should bend in this era just because the game was being led by a fucking weak commisioner. Selig turned a blind eye to this problem because MLB needed a shot in the arm (pun intended) after the bad aftertaste of the cancellation of the 1995 season. And he got it.

But Bonds gets in, he was a HOF before the steroid era. Griffey gets in. That guy was so naturally gifted he didn't even consider stretching as a pregame warmup and ate whatever he wanted to. The whole life/game was an afterthought to him, so he isn't shooting anything into his arm. I hadn't heard accusations made toward Ripken's way, but that would be interesting. There will definitely be guys that get off out of this scot-free, who left before things started getting really out of hand. As with any HOF vote, it's all going to be subjective. You know, they made Bert Blyleven wait until his last year of eligibilty to get in. That right there is a load of bullshit, but hey, the HOF are assholes.

Watched most of an epic battle tonight between the Jays and Angels in 14 innings. Kind of felt bad about the Jays losing it based off a fucked interference call in late innings, but my fantasy H2H opponent took the loss with Jon Rauch so all is okay (I guess?).

Speaking of which, are you guys still doing the fantasy league? I'm not wanting in, I just figured that Gene Mullett would have been back here by now talking smack about the Indians/Cleveberg-alumni. I miss that guy.

Mullet is currently kicking priest's ass in fantasy and I'm giving Hungus all that he can handle. Kinda surprised so many of the SR.com crew have bailed on this place.

That Angels/Jays game was crazy, thought sure the Angels had blown it the inning before with their baserunning blunders. That was a pretty weak interference call to decide the game on.

Hey Red, are you upset that Lisa Kearney is not covering the Mariners anymore? She's a hot piece of ass.

http://mlb.mlb.com/network/personalities/?id=16664706

cute..but have to give the edge to Heidi Watney

Is that the new gal that's been on Quick Pitch? Actually, I haven't seen Kearney here, as we don't get KING-TV down here, it's the local Seattle NBC affiliate. The M's are covered by FOX Sports, who have the ugliest women ever as sports anchors/reports. Or I should say they "were" covered by FOX. FOX sold their Seattle, Denver and Pittsburgh affiliates to Direct TV, who renamed the network "ROOT Sports". Kind of gay, but I doubt I'll be watching much of the M's the season anyway.

Pretty weird seeing the Indians in sole possession of first place in the AL Central and no sign of Mullett. priest was pretty much M.I.A. the last couple years on sr.com, except for the time he decided to hold the draft for his shithead fantasy football league on that board.

Edison Volquez didn't look like he was getting out of the first inning in San Diego tonight, but he and the Reds rebounded pretty big. First time I've heard Dick Enberg call baseball, at least in recent memory. Love the Extra Innings.

Volquez hasn't looked he would get out of the first inning any any of his 3 outings this season. Every start as been a horrible 1st followed by a smooth rest of the way.

And I was wondering why it was all of a sudden Root Sports.

So glad baseball is back.

Watched the Rockies-Mets game yesterday....Tulo is a monster. Opposite field home run at Citifield on a pitch out of the strike zone was impressive....he's had a sick start to the season.

No surprise re: Tulo...when healthy, he's one of the best in the game, period...am HUGELY surprised by the recent Lance Berkman revisitation though...he's unconscious right now, but I doubt it'll last...regardless, I picked him up off the waiver wire trash heap to reap any short-term gains possible...Vernon Wells' decision to shit the bed and die factored into my Berkman move...

Rockies play a double header today, I have the day off, and neither game is being broadcast on tv. WTF?!

I was actually at the game where Tulo hit his first career homerun (against the Mets I believe). I had never heard of him before and really had no clue what was in store for him.

He's just continuing on how he finished last season. He's the best shortstop in baseball, not Hanley Ramirez who i find to be a bit overrated.

Long-term, it'll be interesting to see who has the better career - Tulo or Ramirez. Before last year, I would've said Ramirez, but watching his average drop 42 points and his RBI production plummet by 30 didn't help his case...we'll soon see if that was a fluke or not...while Tulo is great, I can't help but wonder what his numbers would look like if he didn't play so many games in CO...

One thing I'm certain of is who the best Marlins player is: Josh Johnson...that dude should win gobs of Cy Young awards...the addition of a filthy curve makes him all the more impressive...

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd ... b&c_id=mlb