Posted by Brian Joseph on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 2:45 am

Someday Randy Johnson will win 300 games… and we will proclaim no one will ever do it again… like we did last time someone won 300 games.

Oh, the Hu-Manny-ty!: I had just reached page 100 of the Selena Roberts bio of A-Rod when I noticed my Blackberry blinking meaning I had a message. It was Thursday and courtesy of ESPN Text Alerts, I learned that Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games for violating the League’s Performance Enhancing Drug policy. “Wow,” I thought. The “Wow” wasn’t shock though. Sure, I was mildly surprised because Manny wasn’t on my PEDs Pool but my surprise came from the fact that I wasn’t all that surprised.

The details were sketchy at first. There was the leaked report, the official confirmation, Manny’s statement, the media spin and the ESPN over-analysis of it all. Now, we’re no closer to the truth but the consensus is pretty simple: Manny cheated. The story isn’t about whether or not “you” believe Manny’s lame, currently unsubstantiated alibi (the doctor made him do it but whether or not “you” care. The people that do care seem to think that everyone will care. The people that don’t care can’t believe how much coverage the story is getting.

For the record, I think Manny cheated. I don’t know it like nearly everyone else. And I hope if I ever get into any sort of mix-up that requires a trial by jury, I can find a group of people that aren’t baseball fans to judge me. The rush to judgment on Manny in this case was ridiculous. Sure, at this point, with superstar after superstar tarnished because of PEDs, it’s hard to blame them. But what happened to at least entertaining an alternate theory.

Going from think to know would be easy and I can’t believe we haven’t gotten there yet. It’s simple. It’s not what you know, it’s what you can prove. Or in this case disprove. Manny contends he was prescribed hCG by a doctor. Is there a legitimate reason that a male would be prescribed hCG? Yes, I know hCG is typically used as a female fertility drug — I tried to forget but the World Wide Leader wouldn’t let me — but there have been hints of other uses. It’s a simple, direct question to a notable, respected doctor preferably in the area of fertility drugs: “Is there any reason in the world an adult male would be prescribed hCG other than something steroids-related?” Why hasn’t that happened?

Instead, there will always be that case for reasonable doubt. As ridiculous as it is, it’s always there. Personally, I like my cheaters to be free of an alibi, no matter how flimsy they may be… like A-Rod.

Someday the Nationals will fill their typically empty ballpark… and it will probably have something to do with Stephen Strasburg.

Early “A-Rod” Book Thoughts: Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been a big fan of ESPN. Just not lately. One thing that has really turned me off to the network is their recent treatment of the Selena Roberts book. At first, I wasn’t sure if my gut reaction to their approach to the book was wrong but after reading half of the book, I am more inclined to think my gut was right.

If you’ve paid attention to what the talking heads at the Worldwide Leader have said about Roberts’ biography on “A-Rod”, you would think the book was cover-to-cover anonymous sources and stories more suited for TMZ than sports journalism. My initial reaction was that ESPN’s motive to discredit the book was out of jealousy because the network’s usual unabated path to a story was blocked by Sports Illustrated and Roberts.

Earlier today, in the New York Post, Richard Johnson of Page Six reported that Roberts was “blackballed” by the network. ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys responded to Roberts’ absence from the network’s usual “overcoverage” of all that is sports with “By the time we had a chance to put her on, the story was four days old.”

When has that stopped ESPN before? Didn’t this story grow new legs with A-Rod’s return to the Yankees lineup on Friday, four days after the book hit stores? Anyone else not buying ESPN’s claim? A quick look through this week’s programming sees the network’s ad nauseum re-airing of the World Series of Poker, a tournament over before it was originally aired. Then there’s Rachel Nichols who should have breaking news on Brett Favre’s next bowel movement on SportsCenter. Is this really a network put off by old news?

The major issue critics of Roberts like ESPN cite is her “heavy” use of anonymous sources. That is typically tied to Roberts’ accusations that A-Rod used Performance-Enhancing drugs as early as high school. So far, I’ve read that chapter three times and can’t find those exact words from Roberts. What I do find are quotes from people around the Miami high school baseball scene who questioned the ethics of Westminster Christian School, the school where Rodriguez played ball. She also ties A-Rod to dog-kennel owner Steve Caruso (A-Rod flew Caruso to Seattle to see his first pro game according to another named source, Steve Ludt) and ties Caruso to steroids through a handful of named and unnamed sources. There is a quote from long-time college and major league strength and conditioning trainer Fernando Montes who said, “[Rodriguez's 25 pounds of added muscle and sudden ability to bench press 310 pounds] is an automatic red flag. It’s so out of the ordinary. It’s not physically possible without some type of steroid enhancement.”

Immediately following that paragraph, Roberts offers an alternative theory:

Vitamin shops in the malls were stocked with steroid-tainted substances that would later be banned by MLB.

Roberts also details A-Rod’s impressive work ethic and attention he gave his physical condition. You are left to draw your own conclusion.

While I’ll write a more thorough piece on the book once I finish, it’s important to bring this topic up in conjunction with the way the media and public have reacted to the Manny story. So many people have formulated their opinion on the Roberts’ book without reading a page. The writers who have read a page seem hellbent to discredit Roberts as a hack. Take Danny Knobler of CBS Sports, for instance. He claims “it took him less than an hour to find a mistake” in Roberts’ book. According to Knobler, one thing was wrong… for sure! Knobler claims the statistics referenced by Roberts don’t match the timeline presented — he even looked it up on Baseball-Reference. He also says that A-Rod couldn’t have been where Roberts claims he was. However, Knobler condenses the quote from the book which takes it out of context and references A-Rod’s gamelog and not the team’s. Here’s the actual “fact” in question:

[Alex] was floundering. At the outset of his first full season with the Mariners, Alex was hitting a dismal .105. He needed a faith healer for the psyche. Fortunately, he knew who to call.

So far, so good. Even Knobler concedes that A-Rod was hitting .105 six games into the season. Maybe the statement was overemphasized but it wasn’t factually wrong. What was wrong was Knobler tying that statement to the next paragraph:

In a downtown Milwaukee hotel room, with April nearing its chilly end, a motivational guru in a sharp, tailored suit asked Alex to close his eyes to envision his future. Visualize three goals, Jim Fannin told Alex in a sedate voice lightly flavored with a southern drawl.

While it’s easy to see how the two could be linked in their timeline, it is made fairly clear later in the chapter of when A-Rod met Fannin. On page 81, she explains how A-Rod was given the name of Fannin through Joey Cora during spring training. At the bottom of page 86:

Fannin met Alex in mid-April and immediately confronted him with questions…

But there’s still Knobler’s claim that A-Rod couldn’t be in Milwaukee at the end of the month because the Mariners didn’t visit Milwaukee until July. Here’s Seattle’s Gamelog for that year. Apparently, it’s Knobler who made the factual error because the Mariners visited the Brewers on April 26-28.

See how easy it is to put together the timeline if you actually aren’t out to condemn someone. And be careful because you could easily fall victim to the exact thing you are accusing your target of.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not out to praise Roberts. I think her treatment of the Duke University lacrosse case was indefensible. However, it doesn’t mean facts should be ignored or exaggerated to paint Roberts as a journalist lacking credibility. The type of treatment exhibited by ESPN puts people on the attack. Maybe Knobler had the best of intentions when he “found an error” but I’m not buying it. And maybe he didn’t jump on the “Let’s rip Roberts” bandwagon captained by the Worldwide Leader but his erroneous pot shots were well received by the anti-Roberts faction. Aren’t we held to an even higher standard when we are attacking the journalistic integrity of another journalist?

Someday we’ll go a month without a PEDs story tied to baseball… and then I’ll breathe a sigh of relief as I turn on sports radio in my flying car.