I Ain’t Doing No Drugs

February 28, 2005

Barry Bonds? Ya think?

Juan Gonzalez, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Ivan Rodriguez?

Wilson Alvarez? CortiSlim maybe.

Rafael Palmeiro is an admitted Viagra-taker, so leave him alone. But he’s smart to ream Jose Canseco for libel. Sure, it’s difficult to prove the negative, absence of malice and all that BS. But it’s worth every penny to stand up for yourself, and doubly so to make Canseco blow his ill-gotten booty on something with which he’s quite familiar – paying lawyers.

Don’t listen to Tony La Russa, sue the dude. Go Raffy, brother man.

Tony La Russa is no favorite of BaseballSavvy.com. No secret there. We’ve pretty much viewed him as the most overrated manager of his generation, who over-tries to be clever (see the pitcher batting eighth), and who’s led four highly favored clubs to three humbling World Series defeats. La Russa shares his one Series win with Jose Canseco, who he now says he knew used steroids even then, while taking zero responsibility for letting it happen in his clubhouse…

Henry Aaron needs little propping as the superior man and player to Barry Bonds, but if you’ll indulge me, a couple of thoughts beyond the drug-taking distinction:

Yes, Aaron went through his own period of resentment, but it was a short one, and he experienced more adversity than Bonds could ever imagine (imagine being the key word). Barry’s had a bug up his butt for two decades, for no other reason than that's his thing.

Aaron batted righty against right-handed pitchers 9000 times, give or take; Bonds had the advantage an inverse proportion of the time. Ever wonder about all the batting titles going to lefties? There you go.

Postseason? C'mon. Aaron, playing in his first World Series following an MVP season at age 23, led his Milwaukee Braves to victory over the Yankees, batting .393, with three home runs and seven RBIs.

Aaron hit .333 in an October rematch with New York the next year, and in his final postseason appearance in the 1969 NLCS, hit .357, with three homers and seven RBIs once again.

Bonds of course, stunk up his first five pre-enhancement postseasons, had one great one that involved a memorable Series choke by his club, then disappeared yet again the following October. Lifetime NLDS and NLCS averages respectively: .236 and 202…

John Schuerhotz’s signing of Tim Hudson is exactly the way to do it. Textbook. Though less of a sure thing, a nod to Kevin Towers for inking Jake Peavy…

Sean Forman, of Baseball-Reference.com, will handle the Angels this way:

“I tend to go with the official team names and I will call them the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on their 2005 page and on their franchise index.”

Comments?

“Well, I think using the full name will point out how ridiculous the whole thing is. I don't mind seeing them hoisted by their own petard.”

BaseballSavvy.com happily springs for the sponsorship of the Ramon Ortiz page on Forman’s great site, to go along with old standards, the 1963 Dodgers, Darren Dreifort and Jack Daniels. Really.
www.baseball-reference.com.

For a little perspective on the John Chaney thing, rent “The Great Santini.” Rent it anyway…

Memo to Martin Scorsese : Wanna win an Oscar? Make a two hour movie…

A one-time only mention of Paris Hilton. Just to see if we can get a rise out of, uh, the search engines…

Dodgers Season Tickets : BaseballSavvy.com has a fine middle loge location to share with its readers. Quarter season seats, every fourth game, face price. No Angels fans please…

Statue for Sandy : The Koufax in bronze campaign continues, so please scroll down to the photo below and vote yes on 32…

Remember, glove conquers all….