This nonsense about Rodriguez tipping pitches while with the Rangers is more than folks in baseball are going to be able to handle. Where does she get this crap? Robert’s book is filled with “might haves” and “maybes”. No wonder Rodriguez filed a complaint against her. Roberts has a serious credibility problem as she continued to go after Duke lacrosse players after the story came out.

I hope that ESPN pulls the plug on Roberts’ appearances as her continued over-the-top “reporting”, well, “might be” slanderous.

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In an ESPN story today, former Yankee strength trainer Brian McNamee says two things that are puzzling. First that one of the injectables he used on Clemens was lidocaine with B-12.

It’s easy to envision how he got the B-12, but not so much with the lidocaine. The later is a anesthetic that’s promarily used as a numbing agent to apply stiches or in dental work. In athletics its easy to see why a physician would choose to add lidocaine with any steroid. Its a technique the pysician uses to see if they “hit the spot” with their injection into a shoulder, knee or elbow. It would never be added to steroid injection into a large muscle like that of the buttocks. Nonetheless its worth questioning McNamee where he got the vile of lidocaine as this is considered to be a narcotic.

Second, McNamee says he injected Clemens at Yankee Stadium in the area which the hot tub was located. Was this area in a place where long time Yankee atheltic trainers Gene Monohan and Steve Donahue were working? If So, McNamee’s claim is questionable as there is no way on this earth that either Monohan or Donahue would have allowed a layman like McNamee to give a shot to an athlete. Nor would have Clemen’s chanced it if he felt that either of the two would have discovered them. If the hot tub at Yankee Stadium was clearly seperate from the training room does it make McNamee’s statement’s questionable.

At any rate the whole episode sheds light on the surge of “personal trainers’ whom baseball let in without vetting. Too may of them – like McNamee – had far too many links to the community of body building and traditional power lifting. Barry Bonds now notorious strength trainer, Greg Anderson is another. They saw major league players as willing dupes who could deliver the kind of access they could never obtain by going through the front door.

Still responsibility lies with players who felt they were untouchable and the suits whom run the game. It unltimately is about sceeding power and influence – something the game’s executive branch often sought to supress in their ATCs . Ultimately their lack of professional respect for ones like Monohan and Donohue helped fuel the disaster. ATC’s have long since earned the respect and appreciation by players and might have been one group if respectfully empowered by management might have been able to raise the alarm against charlatans like Anderson and McNamee.

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David Pinto, a former ESPN statistitian, was one of the first bloggers to go pro. He’s maintained Baseball Musings as a first stop for baseball fans of any team. This is his pledge month. Times are tough, but David would be appreciative of anything.

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The late Tommy Mckenna took the urine sample from Dwight Gooden in the clubhouse at Huggins-Stengal Field in old downtown St. Petersburg, Florida one morning in March of 1987, It was the fateful test that revealed Gooden had been using cocaine. It had been part of his contract at the time. He could have said no, not today, but he gave Mckenna the specimen. Days later his public battle with cocaine would become public. Doc had to know at the time the test would be positive. McKenna maintained for many years afterwards that Gooden’s willingness to take the test had been a cry for help.

Gooden returned to the Mets in June after serving a suspension. As part of his return, he was required to take mandatory tests administered by the commissioner. Tests were adminsitered both on the road and at home. A witness for the ballclub was required along with the commissioner’s adminsitrator. From the years 1987 through the end of the 1991 season that person was either me or my boss, Head Trainer Steve Garland. We signed a document after Gooden supplied the sample in our presence. No person would have been able to swith a sample afterwards as they were sealed in our presence and we signed the sealed packaging afterwards.

I was let go after the 1991 season and Gooden’s time with the Mets ended after the 1994 season – Garland’s last. Sam McCrary served as assistant – a man I know well. Although I was not there, I’m comfortable in saying that Garland – or Gooden for that matter would have allowed anyone besides Garland or McCrary to witness Gooden’s drug test for the ballclub. That person would never have been a man who served as a clubhouse attendant as Kirk Radomski is quoted as saying in an interview with ESPN.

Garland was extremely protective and fond of Gooden. I shared those same feelings and I imagine that McCrary was the same. He also cared for Gooden in the minor leagues. Needless to say, its unlikely that Garland would ever have anyone besides himself or McCrary to witness Gooden’s test.

While it is true that Gooden sadly lapsed into cocaine uee during the 1994 season that resulted in a positive test administered by the commissioner’s office, Radomski’s interview opens a can of worms of ramifications of which are impossible to calculate. He’s lost his credibility. As he’s not telling the truth about Doc Gooden, its easy to ask whether of not he’s telling the truth about about anything else.

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From the NY Daily News:

In a stunning upset, the Jets finalized a trade Wednesday night for Packers legend Brett Favre, according to Fox Sports and ESPN. They landed the future Hall of Famer for an undisclosed conditional draft pick in 2009.

They spoke extensively of their new free-agent class and an offensive line that includes four former No. 1 picks. They tried to ease Favre’s concerns about moving to a big city, emphasizing their new facility in Florham Park, N.J. is close to rural areas. They also told him he’d be the focal point of the marketing campaign for their new stadium, which opens in 2010.

Here’s more from Jetsblog

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From ESPN:

“Then,” Favre said, “they tried to buy me off to stay retired.”

He added, “So they can say they welcome me back but, come on, the way they’ve treated me tells you the truth. They don’t want me back, so let’s move on. I don’t know where it’s headed. We’ll see.”

The tortured genious that is Metstradamus notes how much Farve mirrors Manny Ramirez.

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Maybe.

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