TWiB #8: 5/22 - 5/28

[Brett Favre 0]

When did Sammy Sosa use steriods now? Chill with the assumptions. Just because they didn't hit these HRs in the 60s, doesn't mean they automatically did steriods.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I can't remember the last time Juan Pierre didn't try to lead off the game with a bunt. Juan, buddy, no one's surprised by your bunts. Your job is to take some pitches and possibly get on base. One or two-pitch at-bats are pointless.

[Guest]

When did Sammy Sosa use steriods now? Chill with the assumptions. Just because they didn't hit these HRs in the 60s, doesn't mean they automatically did steriods.

 

So, have you read the Rick Reilly interview in SI way back when?

 

Pierre tried to bunt against his former team. There's no way that they'll be surprised. I'm watching this one for possible comedic value.

 

That's how you lead off.

[Brett Favre 0]

Is that the interview where he got pissed at the guy for asking him to take a urine test or something? If not, then no.

[Guest]

Yes, it is.

 

Sosa said he'd take a urine test any time, any place, and then got pissed off when Reilly asked him to do it then. That's what I remember from it, even if my memory is shady.

[Brett Favre 0]

Still doesn't make anything official.

[naiwf 0]

Sammy Sosa's forehead tripled in size from his rookie season to when he retired. He may not have used steroids per se, but he looks a lot like a guy who used HGH. We all know he used a corked bat so it's just easier to assume he'd cheat, especially with stuff that wouldn't just fall into our awareness with an errant swing.

 

It's only right that McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, and Palmeiro get lumped together since every single one of those guys was on SOMETHING at some point in their career. Their numbers/careers/legacies deserve to be tainted.

 

 

The Red Sox 3rd base coach is a retard. Make a guy make the throw to the plate. If he guns you down, so be it. If he bobbles it, air mails it, or just makes a shitty throw you've got the lead and Manny on 2nd. Only Yankees commentators would praise a guy in that situation. It's not like he was running on Ichiro or Francoeur.

[Guest]

Goodness, Aramis is awful.

[Hawk 34 0]

They deserve to be tainted because of assumption? We'll never know unless concrete proof or confessional statements. You can listen to allegations until the cows come home, you can analyze size changes in a player all you want but you can't condemn a player for that.

[Hawk 34 0]

Looks like the Reds just needed some home cooking as they have pounded Milwaukee already with a pair of homers from Kearns and Junior to take a 5-0 lead in the first.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Sosa did cheat, though. We all know he used a corked bat. We don't know for how long. Therefore, I fairly question the legitimacy of his statistics.

[naiwf 0]

They deserve to be tainted because of assumption? We'll never know unless concrete proof or confessional statements. You can listen to allegations until the cows come home, you can analyze size changes in a player all you want but you can't condemn a player for that.

 

Allegations and common sense are enough to tell you that the aforementioned guys blew up in a short period of time, and as they grew to HHH like size, their power numbers became legendary. No one questions Griffey or A-Rod for example, and that's mainly because their body type/size remained the same. If all of a sudden A-Rod's skull size increased and he was sporting McGwire sized guns, I wouldn't need to see a failed piss test to know he was doing something. Human anatomy just doesn't change like that by eating vitamins and saying your prayers once you've hit your thirties.

[Guest]

I take it that none of you (or very few) have seen McGwire in person while he was taking steroids or afterwards.

[naiwf 0]

I take it that none of you (or very few) have seen McGwire in person while he was taking steroids or afterwards.

 

He looked pretty slim at the Congressional hearing. But then you'll have apologists say that he didn't need to be so bulked up once his playing days were over. McGwire's a hero damnit and how dare you suggest he was on something!

[Guest Brian]

They deserve to be tainted because of assumption? We'll never know unless concrete proof or confessional statements. You can listen to allegations until the cows come home, you can analyze size changes in a player all you want but you can't condemn a player for that.

 

Allegations and common sense are enough to tell you that the aforementioned guys blew up in a short period of time, and as they grew to HHH like size, their power numbers became legendary. No one questions Griffey or A-Rod for example, and that's mainly because their body type/size remained the same. If all of a sudden A-Rod's skull size increased and he was sporting McGwire sized guns, I wouldn't need to see a failed piss test to know he was doing something. Human anatomy just doesn't change like that by eating vitamins and saying your prayers once you've hit your thirties.

 

That's all assuming steroids affect everybody the exact same way. Beutiful thing about those things is that they don't. Not everyone is going to get a huge forehead or sport a bodybuilder's physique (not to mention they're all not using them for the same purpose) or is going to have the trouble with injuries or the ingrown tities. So who's to say any of us know how many of these guys are using them now. Ask Leena how much more muscle A-Rod's put on his BUTT and legs? Like Al said, who's to say Pujols never used? We're not infallible, and neither are the guys we WANT to speculate are clean.

[Guest]

It's not like it's hard around here to get in contact with people that know him, including his high school coach. McGwire's a local hero. Same thing with the Giambi's, though I don't know as much about them as I'd like to.

 

What I do know about one of them, is that Jason didn't need steroids at any point to be the player he is and was. I wish I knew whether or not he or anyone else took them for certain.

 

NOTE: I don't mean to sound like I'm an "insider" or like I'm bragging. The information I'm saying is well known in the area with people involved with high school athletics. With the quality of talent that comes through this area, you hear a hell of a lot about players that would surprise you. Some of the things I've heard (especially about one NFL player), I really didn't want to know.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Man, the Cubs suck.

[Hawk 34 0]

Man, Adam Dunn sucks. He really needs to get traded to an AL team and DH it. How you botch another routine fly ball?

[naiwf 0]

That's all assuming steroids affect everybody the exact same way. Beutiful thing about those things is that they don't. Not everyone is going to get a huge forehead or sport a bodybuilder's physique (not to mention they're all not using them for the same purpose) or is going to have the trouble with injuries or the ingrown tities. So who's to say any of us know how many of these guys are using them now. Ask Leena how much more muscle A-Rod's put on his BUTT and legs? Like Al said, who's to say Pujols never used? We're not infallible, and neither are the guys we WANT to speculate are clean.

 

You're right, but lifting weights doesn't cause the skeletal changes that guys like Sosa, McGwire and Bonds all showed. Again, I'm not saying they used 'roids, but they definitely weren't "clean". I'm not against saying that Pujols might have used something, or even still is. I'm not necessarily convinced that he isn't older than the 26 years of age they say he is. I wouldn't be shocked if Griffey or A-Rod were on something as well, but to say that McGwire & Sosa were clean because they didn't fail a drug test is something I can't agree with. I don't necessarily need anyone else to agree with me, but their numbers should come under heavy suspicion, and I'm glad that they have.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Man, Adam Dunn sucks. He really needs to get traded to an AL team and DH it. How you botch another routine fly ball?

We'll take him. Actually, we probably won't, since he's not a threat to steal 580 bases if he gets on.

[Guest]

Sean Marshall has a great pickoff move.

[Brett Favre 0]

McGwire hit like 40 HRs his first year, and Sosa was always a 30+ HR hitter throughout his career. Lets not turn this into Bret Boone type of numbers.

[Hawk 34 0]

I don't see how anyone can say Junior is "on" anything, the man has gotten smaller since his rookie season and when would he find the time to inject himself on the operating table?

[Guest]

Cubs fans, I'm sorry.

[Boon 0]

God damn, I love the 1-2 punch of Ortiz/Ramirez.

[Bored 0]

McGwire hit like 40 HRs his first year, and Sosa was always a 30+ HR hitter throughout his career. Lets not turn this into Bret Boone type of numbers.

That's what I always found funny about how according to Canseco's book he introduced McGwire to steroids in 1988. McGwire hit 49 homeruns in 1987. He hit 32 homeruns in 1988. Must have been using the wrong stuff.

[naiwf 0]

McGwire hit like 40 HRs his first year, and Sosa was always a 30+ HR hitter throughout his career. Lets not turn this into Bret Boone type of numbers.

 

McGwire hit 49 his first year but then it took him 9 years to get to 52, 58, 70 & 65 in consecutive years. His 4 best seasons prior to that run were the 49 in his rookie year, 42, 39 & 39. There's a HUGE difference between hitting 169 HRs in 4 seasons, and 245 HRs in 4 seasons. One guy has a nice little run, another guy is starting to hit the immortal range. Hank Aaron's best 4 years for example is 180, which jumps to 224 if you add in a 5th year.

 

Similarly, there's a HUGE difference between Sosa's 292 HRs in his 5 peak seasons and the 296 he hit in the rest of his career which was twice as long. 30-35 HR's a year for 15 years and you're slightly worse than Fred McGriff. 30-35 a year for 10-12 and then 60 a year for 4 or 5 muscleblown seasons and suddenly you're Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa.

 

Bret Boone only had 1 or 2 great seasons, and his baseline of 10-15 HRs pre-juice really wasn't high enough to make that much of a difference. Sosa and McGwire went from being really good power hitters to top 5ish all time in HRs thanks to their tainted stretch. An extra 80 to 100 HRs will do that for you. Imagine Griffey with an extra 100 HRs for example, he'd be closing in on Mays right now. But enough about that since those guys are already marred in the minds of many.

[Bored 0]

He's had a shitty year but Frank Thomas homers in his first at bat back in Chicago. Awesome moment.

 

Edit: Ozzie Guillen so upset over it he gets ejected.

[Guest]

I don't even know how Boone hit more HR's as a user in a park like Safeco.

 

That speaks volumes about what steroids can do to the body in the short term.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Al, can you help me with something?

 

My psychotic Yankee friend insists that his favorite player, Jason Giambi, is still on the upside of his career, and will play well into his 40's.

 

Please concoct some sarcastic statement that shows he's nuts.