The headline at MLB.com:
Pettitte says he used HGH for injury recovery
I suppose you could be forgiven for thinking that according to the Mitchell report, New York is the center of the steroid-ingesting, HGH-injecting, in-general-cheating universe. The report makes passing mention to San Francisco and Oakland, but only by way of referencing the ongoing BALCO investigation being conducted under a separate jurisdiction from that of Mitchell.
Me, I find it extremely difficult to believe that for twenty months, the MLB Players’ Association was able to successfully stonewall Mitchell in all of the various locations in which they play Major League Baseball, except for New York City. As far as I’m concerned, Mitchell just didn’t try very hard at all, and satisfied himself with New York (after all, to a member of the Red Sox Board of Directors, who’s the Evil Empire?) and all of two witnesses.
The report does not meet the larger goal: a comprehensive overview of doping in baseball. The report soundly accomplishes little more than a personal vendetta against one team.
Notwithstanding all of that, there is considerable doubt now about the makeup of the post-2000 Yankee lineups, as I am certain there would be about the other 29 Major League teams, had Mitchell’s report shown enough due diligence to include them. As has been written elsewhere, you could field an entire nine-man team, just about, with the names mentioned in the report, and if you opted for one starter over another, there were three or four others from which to choose mentioned therein.
I don’t think it’s hit me yet that Andy Pettitte is trying now to rationalize his way out of having used HGH, and that he is in the end a human being, who does anything other than succeed. That may not crystallize until the first time I see him take the mound at the Stadium.
The stated goal, from the upper echelon on down to the players on the team and on the bench and in the bullpen, is a World Series championship. The win-at-all-costs attitude is one that has permeated American business and caused men to do very bad things to other men in the pursuit of dollars and the high life.
I’ve been able to dismiss all that as a fan; if the Yankees don’t make the Series, I’ve still had six months of very good baseball watching, so I don’t take it as personally as the players, managers, and executives might– I couldn’t, really. To now, I have tried not to allow the attitude of Yankees’ brass to affect my enjoyment of the team they field year in and year out. And it hasn’t.
Going forward… it may.
That said… hurry on pitchers and catchers.
Son et lumiere 