Lance, who is still probably pissed at Lee for mixing up Tuesday and Thursday (and who among you never went to class on the wrong day? Never mind that you were never paid $18 million to go), absolutely took it out on A-Rod and his press conference today:
"I don't feel the least bit sorry for him. If you do something like that, you're going to pay the piper eventually. I'm sure his teammates will be right there for him like we would for anybody on our team. But you make your bed, you've got to lay in it."
Then on Papi's call for a one-year suspension for positive tests:
"I'd make it a blood test. Guys are still doing stuff, I don't think there's any doubt about that. There's stuff that can't be tested for that guys are probably doing. Obviously, that's the whole goal of getting rid of performance-enhancing drugs in the sport. As a player that has never done that, you certainly want to have a level playing field."
Huzzah! Then, even better, in the Times Herald-Record:
“How many guys have I faced that are throwing 95 that should be throwing 89? It makes a huge difference. Or how many guys have hit more home runs and won more MVPs or whatever it might be that have been on that stuff and you’re trying to do it naturally. It just makes you mad.”
Other players not sugar-coating it included Padres' pitcher (and former Ranger) Chris Young:
“It didn’t affect me personally, but I look at some of the moral decisions. To me, it’s not really gray, it’s right or wrong. It’s not only cheating the fans and the game and yourself but also all the players.”
Cubs' third baseman Aramis Ramirez:
“You know you can’t judge everybody based on one guy. And in every sport people cheat. And people try to get an edge over the other players. I don’t think that’s right, but everybody has a different mentality. I guess he quit doing it in ‘03. ... I can’t really say much about it because I don’t really know A-Rod.”
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith