DocTee

Excellent. Guy taking a leak at 8:19.

Cool pics, thanks for sharing them. Did you pour some of that Heiny on the ground, ghetto style, to remember Shea, your fallen friend?

By Selena Roberts and David Epstein Alex Rodriguez won his third consecutive AL home run title and his first MVP award in '03. Darren Carroll/SI In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently told Sports Illustrated. Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004. When approached by an SI reporter on Thursday at a gym in Miami, Rodriguez declined to discuss his 2003 test results. "You'll have to talk to the union," said Rodriguez, the Yankees' third baseman since his trade to New York in February 2004. When asked if there was an explanation for his positive test, he said, "I'm not saying anything." Phone messages left by SI for players' union executive director Donald Fehr were not returned. Though MLB's drug policy has expressly prohibited the use of steroids without a valid prescription since 1991, there were no penalties for a positive test in 2003. The results of that year's survey testing of 1,198 players were meant to be anonymous under the agreement between the commissioner's office and the players association. Rodriguez's testing information was found, however, after federal agents, armed with search warrants, seized the '03 test results from Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., of Long Beach, Calif., one of two labs used by MLB in connection with that year's survey testing. The seizure took place in April 2004 as part of the government's investigation into 10 major league players linked to the BALCO scandal -- though Rodriguez himself has never been connected to BALCO. The list of the 104 players whose urine samples tested positive is under seal in California. However, two sources familiar with the evidence that the government has gathered in its investigation of steroid use in baseball and two other sources with knowledge of the testing results have told Sports Illustrated that Rodriguez is one of the 104 players identified as having tested positive, in his case for testosterone and an anabolic steroid known by the brand name Primobolan. All four sources spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the evidence. Primobolan, which is also known by the chemical name methenolone, is an injected or orally administered drug that is more expensive than most steroids. (A 12-week cycle can cost $500.) It improves strength and maintains lean muscle with minimal bulk development, according to steroid experts, and has relatively few side effects. Kirk Radomski, the former New York Mets clubhouse employee who in 2007 pleaded guilty to illegal distribution of steroids to numerous major league players, described in his recent book, Bases Loaded: The Inside Story of the Steroid Era in Baseball by the Central Figure in the Mitchell Report, how players increasingly turned to drugs such as Primobolan in 2003, in part to avoid detection in testing. Primobolan is detectable for a shorter period of time than the steroid previously favored by players, Deca-Durabolin. According to a search of FDA records, Primobolan is not an approved prescription drug in the United States, nor was it in 2003. (Testosterone can be taken legally with an appropriate medical prescription.) Rodriguez finished the 2003 season by winning his third straight league home run title (with 47) and the first of his three MVP awards. Because more than 5% of big leaguers had tested positive in 2003, baseball instituted a mandatory random-testing program, with penalties, in '04. According to the 2007 Mitchell Report on steroid use in baseball, in September 2004, Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players' union, violated an agreement with MLB by tipping off a player (not named in the report) about an upcoming, supposedly unannounced drug test. Three major league players who spoke to SI said that Rodriguez was also tipped by Orza in early September 2004 that he would be tested later that month. Rodriguez declined to respond on Thursday when asked about the warning Orza provided him. When Orza was asked on Friday in the union's New York City office about the tipping allegations, he told a reporter, "I'm not interested in discussing this information with you." Anticipating that the 33-year-old Rodriguez, who has 553 career home runs, could become the game's alltime home run king, the Yankees signed him in November 2007 to a 10-year, incentive-laden deal that could be worth as much as $305 million. Rodriguez is reportedly guaranteed $275 million and could receive a $6 million bonus each time he ties one of the four players at the top of the list: Willie Mays (660), Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755) and Barry Bonds (762), and an additional $6 million for passing Bonds. In order to receive the incentive money, the contract reportedly requires Rodriguez to make extra promotional appearances and sign memorabilia for the Yankees as part of a marketing plan surrounding his pursuit of Bonds's record. Two sources familiar with Rodriguez's contract told SI that there is no language about steroids in the contract that would put Rodriguez at risk of losing money. Arguments before an 11-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena are ongoing between government prosecutors and the players' association over the government's seizure of the test results from the Long Beach lab. The agents who collected the material had a search warrant only for the results for the 10 BALCO-linked players. Attorneys from the union argue that the government is entitled only to the results for those players, not the entire list. If the court sides with the union, federal authorities may be barred from using the positive survey test results of non-BALCO players such as Rodriguez in their ongoing investigations.

Tough break. You know who I'd like to see the Mets take a flyer on: Mark Mulder.

That unforgettable night, the lovers gave themselves to the Bishop of Mexicali That's what I call religion!

If it's beauty you want, Aurilia's your (wo)man: [url:hqe2z5js]http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://graphics.ink19.com/magazine/interviews/raquel.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://www.ink19.com/issues/september2006/interviews/raquelAurilia.html&usg=__6M3HaNMFvmuGhhEDIKh1GM0hlTo=&h=264&w=175&sz=11&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=Rfe5plkM1PpwpM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=74&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drich%2Baurilia%2Bwife%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4HPIA_enUS312%26sa%3DN[/url:hqe2z5js]

FWIW, Aurilia is an awesome person...involved in lots of charitable causes in the Bay Area and is a beloved here as if he were a "true Yanqui" in Da Bronx.

Junior says he went to Rice University, but he's not on the roster.

Funny stuff. The line about Kei Igawa's underwhelming bp session ("I hope he's hurt or hungover..") is an instant classic.

At least it's not Geoff! Thanks

Among those he'll battle for a rotation spot is fellow Notre Dame alum Jeff Zmardija.

I couldn't agree with CF more. The need for a bat was/is obvoius and should have been priority number one. The difference between, say, Dunn and Murphy/Tatis is far greater, I think, than that between Putz and, say, Brandon Lyon. My point is that if Omar had spent his time/energy/money improving the offense first, there would still be time and $$ available to land a bullpen improved over 2008.

As Paul Lukas explains today, the Mets might be off the sartorial hook thanks to Texas awful new batting helmet: [url:3aj1ya7j]http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/090126&sportCat=mlb[/url:3aj1ya7j]

Phormer Phillie now contributing to the NY Times. I really, really like this guy. [url:2m0tuzct]http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/opinion/27glanville-success.html?pagewanted=2[/url:2m0tuzct]

A-Fraud. Classick!

A persepective from Bay Area columnist Bruce Jenkins: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/23/SPP215FUV9.DTL Expecting the worst, I sat down for an interview with Jeff Kent in the spring of 1997, his first season with the Giants. I was amazed at his candor, his utterly forthright nature. We'd never met before, but he told me about the harsh lessons delivered by his father, an Orange County cop, and how they shaped his life. "My father watched everything I did, and whatever it was, I had to do it right," he said, gazing intensely into the distance. "He'd let me know if I did something half-ass, and then I'd feel that I let him down. I had two younger brothers, but as the oldest by six, seven years, I was more roughed up, if you will. "So if I went 3-for-4, I'd criticize that fourth at-bat. If I hit .350, I could have hit .400. I could go out and pitch a one-hitter, and he'd say, 'You could have gotten that guy on a curveball.' That's the way it was with my father, and I'm still that way. I have a tremendous fear of failure. I'm afraid of letting even one guy down." After about an hour's conversation that day, I felt I understood Kent, or at least his basic nature. From that moment on, I knew him a little bit less each day. The next time I saw Kent, he brushed past me without making eye contact, as if he'd never seen me in his life. He had no problem with the column I'd written in The Chronicle, or so I heard, but he was done with me until further notice. No hello, no small talk. I was just another face on the baseball landscape, like every teammate he ever had. I'd seen some grouchy guys in my time - Dave Kingman, John Denny, Mike LaCoss - but no one so completely removed from everyone in his profession as Kent. He doesn't have one friend on the team. That's what I heard from sources along every stop in Kent's career, including the last one, Los Angeles. But there was an interesting comment from Bob Milano, his coach at Cal, where Kent helped lead the Bears to the 1988 College World Series. "If something goes wrong with this guy, it's not a team problem," he said. "It's just a problem for Jeff. He always found a way to beat you on the field." I'd like to think that's how Kent will be remembered, along with his genuine display of emotion during Thursday's news conference. He was an exceptional player, solid in the clutch, a winner, the greatest slugging second baseman in history. He played the game with unrelenting desire, and he played hurt. Those attributes should earn him a place in the Hall of Fame (he'll have my vote). Turns out the man has a heart, as well. That was no phony at the podium, trying to win over critics who had ripped him for years. That was the real person inside Kent's uniform, a man only his family and friends (all of them outside the game) recognized. There were times in his career when Kent's brutal honesty served him well, especially after a tough loss, when he'd come out to give reporters his perspective while the rest of his teammates were nowhere to be found. But that hard-line persona never cracked. He had taken it upon himself never to show emotion, vulnerability or weakness. We see those things now, as he walks away. I'm thinking there will be more tears from Kent in the coming days. And here's a nod of admiration to someone who truly gave his life to the game.

According to Buster Olney, Texas mulling a two-year, $16M offer to Ben. http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/1162289.html That's a steal, considering: "Over the last five seasons, the 30-year-old Sheets has an ERA of 3.24; his ERA has never been higher than 3.82 in any season, and was as low as 2.70 in 2004. His strikeout-to-walk ratio has never been worse than 2.87 to 1. Hitters have never had an OPS against him, in any season, higher than .705. In 2008, Sheets made 31 starts, threw 198 1/3 innings, posted an ERA of 3.09 while pitching in Milwaukee's bandbox, held opposing hitters to a .390 slugging percentage, started for the National League in the All-Star Game, struck out 158 while walking just 47..."

The one on the extreme right is easily the hottest. Judging by the bling on her wrist, her hubby is well-paid.

But birds can fly. Sorry.

Intense competitor. Spoke out against PEDs. Major donor to and supporter of female athletics at UC Berkeley (his alma mater). What's not to like?

My hope is that the ML staff performs well enough that they need not call on Fossum.

I'm hoping he spends the whole season in Buffalo! Anything else is a sure sign that the Mets staff is in serious trouble.

The opposite can be true as well: these days (internet, TV, etc) it's easier to follow an out-of-market team, but what would you do if work or family took you away from NYC? I still root for the Mets (and would do so if the moved to Duluth) but find myself watching A's and Giants games because those are the ones I have access to.

It's a patch. It takes up like 2% of the uniform, and will be gone in ten months. Yes, they could've done better. Yes, I hope they change it. No, I'm not losing sleep over it. It's a patch.

John Smoltz, Red Sock.