Baseball Crank: BASEBALL: One More Thing

March 3, 2010

BASEBALL: One More Thing

Looking over the Biblical array of misfortunes plaguing the Mets last season (and I'm still kicking myself that that column didn't even get to the Tony Bernazard fiasco, which turned out to be a gift that keeps on giving), you'd be forgiven for thinking the Mets had covered pretty much everything that could possibly go wrong.

But no! We didn't have a performance-enhancing drug scandal! Which we have now, with Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes questioned in an FBI investigation of an HGH-dealing doctor (how HGH could help Reyes, in particular, is beyond me; HGH, which helps build mass but doesn't actually aid any sort of performance, is arguably useful to guys already using steroids to add muscle mass; while steroids can help sprinters too - think Ben Johnson - a player looking mainly to improve his fast-twitch lean muscles would have no need I can think of for HGH).

Anyway, yet another story I really would rather avoid. Can't anybody here just play this game?

Posted by Baseball Crank at 12:54 PM | Baseball 2010 | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Comments

I beleive HGH is also supposed to speed recovery from injuries (at least if Andy Pettitte can be believed), so it's not like there'd be no reason for Reyes to try it. I doubt he was trying to hulk out, even if he did do it.

The one thing that stood out to me about that article on the Mets emphasis on opposite-field hitting drills is that, except for probably Gary Sheffield, I can't recall seeing a more extreme pull hitter than Howard Johnson. So I'm sure it wasn't his idea.

Posted by: Jerry at March 3, 2010 2:30 PM

Play Ball is the right idea, forget everything else.

Posted by: Joe Deegan at March 4, 2010 9:56 PM

One more thing. In 2008 the Mets finished about 2 games behind the Phillies even though they lost around 9 games after Billy Wagner went down, for lack of a closer. This was not a collapse but a bad break. The Mets got KRod who saved 56 Games for the Angels and as a Phillies Fan I thought we could be in big trouble. It could have been a great race, but the Mets had the worst luck I have ever seen hit a baseball team.. I would love to see the Mets recover and make a run for it in 2010 because a NY-Philly rivalry is the best , but the 2 teams have not been contenders in the same years very often.
I would love to have David Wright, Jose Reyes is a guy the other team loves to hate because he is such a big threat and a hot dog and Santana is a great pitcher and maybe the greatest competitor in Baseball.
I am rooting for a great baseball season and that means the Mets as a threat to the Phillies going back to the World Series to beat the Yankees(if the Yankees make it)
Let's have fun this year.

Posted by: Joe Deegan at March 4, 2010 11:25 PM