Unreal.

So lies the career, however neatly parsed for us, and the image of Alex Rodriguez. Even when he took a proper step forward, admitting on Monday that he was a drug cheat, the mirror he looked into was a fun-house mirror. Believe me now, he told us, while making belief difficult for people such as Tom Hicks.

Hicks, the owner of the Texas Rangers, paid Rodriguez $150 million to play just three seasons in Texas and then go away. The Rangers finished in last place every year and Rodriguez admitted on Monday that he was dirty every year, pretty much assuring that this was the worst investment in sports history.

Hicks made a similarly oversized personal investment in Rodriguez, befriending him and ceding to him strong influence on personnel matters. Of course, those times being what they were in baseball, those two discussed steroids, Hicks says, and Rodriguez didn't just slough off the subject. According to Hicks, Rodriguez personally assured his good friend that he would never get involved in anything like that. It was, of course, not just a lie but a dramatic lie.

"I feel personally betrayed," Hicks said on a conference call Tuesday. "I feel deceived by Alex. He assured me that he had far too much respect for his own body to ever do that to himself ... I certainly don't believe that, if he's now admitting that he started using when he came to the Texas Rangers, why should I believe that it didn't start before he came to the Texas Rangers?"

Hicks asks a very good question about Rodriguez's drug use, the kind of question about credibility that remains with Rodriguez even after his admission. The admission was wise, especially given a) he was caught cold by an impeccable story by SI's Selena Roberts and David Epstein and b) the road map for if and how to come clean has been clearly drawn by the lessons of other performance-enhancing drug users. We've reached a point where actually admitting three years of PED use, no matter what the qualifications, gets you bouquets. So, good for Rodriguez. He displayed some honor among scoundrels. If he continues to speak out against drug use and not run from the subject and his past, he will elevate himself further.

Like all things Rodriguez, though, it is never so simple. The calculation to his story was both clever and clumsy, and sloppy questioning left much to be desired. For instance, ESPN's Peter Gammons handed Rodriguez his own timeline by asking, "You're saying that time period was 2001, 2002 and 2003?" And when Rodriguez responded, "That's pretty accurate, yes" (emphasis mine), Gammons, as he did throughout the interview, stuck to the script and did not follow up.

What Gammons missed (and most of the news media that reported on it, for that matter) is that Rodriguez clearly never admitted to using steroids. His choice of words was Clinton-esque. He never wanted that sound bite in which he spoke the word "steroids" to put in the time capsule -- a manufacturing of the truth that created the clumsiness.

So we got Rodriguez first telling us he used "a banned substance," then saying "I don't know exactly what, um, substance I was guilty of using," and then going to the plural and saying, "I started experimenting with things that today are not legal." So what he is saying is that this fitness freak took something or some things for three years and didn't know what they were, but even though he didn't know what they were, he somehow knows that they were banned.

(SI and, in an independent follow-up story, TheNew York Times, reported that Rodriguez tested positive for Primobolan, one of the most expensive steroids available, and testosterone. Gammons never asked Rodriguez whether his "banned substance" was taken in tablet or injectable form.)

As contradictions go, Rodriguez also said he had some epiphany in spring training of 2003 to stop using PEDs, but acknowledged he played all his years in Texas, including 2003, under PEDs. He said he never knew he tested positive in 2003 until Roberts informed him last week, but the Mitchell Report stated that "all of the players [who tested positive] were notified by early September 2004" by the union. Even when Gammons asked him about being called "A-Fraud," a reference to a comment by teammates in 2004 in The Yankee Years, written by Joe Torre and myself, Rodriguez contradicted himself within a single answer. His immediate response was to blurt back "Never." But before he finished answering the question, he admitted, "So did I hear 'A-Fraud?' Yeah." Huh?

The worst performance, by both Rodriguez and Gammons, was in the treatment of Roberts. Rodriguez went out of his way to try to impugn Roberts -- mostly with what Roberts has called "fabrications" -- in response to questions that had absolutely nothing to do with her reporting. (Questions about World Baseball Classic testing, the union, the Hall of Fame and his daughters somehow sent Rodriguez off on Roberts.) Not once did Gammons follow up, letting attacks on a fellow journalist with a sterling reputation go unquestioned. Rodriguez was well advised to take the high road in making an admission, but he undermined that standing with a personal viciousness that took him off point.

Rodriguez's hope is that this managed interview will put his drug use in "a vault," he said, so he can move forward. It's a nice sentiment, not just as it applies to him but also for the entire Steroid Era. We should hope it is true. It's just not realistic, not when too many questions remain and the truth, like water from an aquifer, is relentless.

Oswalt would erase A-Rod's numbers



HOUSTON -- If Roy Oswalt had his druthers, any player who was proven to, or admitted to, using performance-enhancing drugs would have his numbers erased from baseball history, the Astros ace said on Tuesday. That includes Alex Rodriguez, who on Monday admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs after a Sports Illustrated report revealed he had failed a drug test in 2003.

<table class="floatLeft" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="150"> <tbody><tr><td>
</td></tr></tbody></table>Rodriguez has 553 home runs, 1,606 RBIs and is widely recognized at the best player in the game. But Oswalt says A-Rod is simply one of many whose numbers should be stricken from the record.
"A-Rod's numbers shouldn't count for anything," Oswalt said in a phone interview with MLB.com. "I feel like he cheated me out of the game."
Oswalt said he feels that way about a lot of players who have been proven steroid users. He still gives former teammate Roger Clemens the benefit of the doubt, calling the allegations against him "suspicion," but if Clemens is indeed proven to have used performance-enhancing drugs, then his numbers, and all seven Cy Young Awards, need to be erased, according to Oswalt.
Oswalt also said he is bothered by the blanket of suspicion that has covered all players from his era because of the actions of those who have tested positive. Oswalt broke into the big leagues in 2001, won 19 games in 2002 and 20 in both 2004 and '05. He says he did so without the help of PEDs, and that he resents anyone who chose to cheat.
"It does bother me," Oswalt said. "Especially for the guys that went out there and did it on talent. We're always going to have a cloud on us, and that's not fair at all.
"The ones that have come out and admitted it, and are proven guilty, [their numbers] should not count. I've been cheated out of the game," Oswalt continued. "This is my ninth year, and I've done nothing to enhance my performance, other than work my butt off to get guys out. These guys [who took PEDs] have all the talent in the world. All-Star talent. And they put times two on it.
"I'm going out there with the ability God gave me. They have that ability, too, and they're putting something on top of it."
Oswalt said he considers Henry Aaron to be the all-time home run leader, despite Barry Bonds' official place at the top of the record books in that category.
Rodriguez admitted in an ESPN interview on Monday that he took performance-enhancing drugs during his three years with the Rangers from 2001-03. That irks Oswalt even more, he said, because the Astros faced him a handful of times during that period when the Astros played the Rangers during Interleague Play.
As a Ranger, Rodriguez was 3-for-5 vs. Oswalt with two doubles, one home run, three RBIs and two walks. Last year, as a Yankee, Rodriguez was hitless in two at-bats against Oswalt.
"The few times we played them, when he got hits, it could have cost me a game," Oswalt said. "It could have cost me money in my contract. He cheated me out of the game and I take it personally, because I've never done [PEDs], haven't done it, and they're cheating me out of the game."

They enhance recovery, allowing him to recover from the strain of pitching and allowing him to increase and maximize his workouts, workouts that would have surely diminished with age had steroids not allowed him to keep them up.

...and there is an assumption that Maris juiced in the article. Kolidas stated that Maris' stats jumped from '60-'61 like many other players' stats at that time.

I know we all like to think of baseball as a past time and it is, but it also a business and the core of business is to make money. That's what these players are doing.

I personally don't care about steroids, if the playing field is even. I say legalize them and lets see who can hit 100 home runs in a season.

After Alex Rodriguez sat down with ESPN's Peter Gammons on Monday, he was widely praised for coming clean about using performance-enhancing substances. But, says SI's Tom Verducci, as with everything related to A-Rod, it's not quite that simple. "What Gammons missed (and most of the news media that reported on it, for that matter) is that Rodriguez clearly never admitted to using steroids," says Verducci. "His choice of words was Clintonesque. He never wanted that sound bite in which he spoke the word 'steroids' to put in the time capsule -- a manufacturing of the truth that created the clumsiness. So we got Rodriguez first telling us he used 'a banned substance,' then saying 'I don't know exactly what, um, substance I was guilty of using,' and then going to the plural and saying, 'I started experimenting with things that today are not legal.' So what he is saying is that this fitness freak took something or some things for three years and didn't know what they were, but even though he didn't know what they were, he somehow knows that they were banned."

Alex Rodriguez will have a thick pinstriped wall of New York Yankees looking on during his news conference Tuesday, with teammates coalescing around A-Rod following his admission that he used banned drugs.

The Yankees still didn't know how many specifics of his drug use Rodriguez planned to divulge when he speaks in the tent behind the third-base stands at Steinbrenner Field.

"I don't think it's necessary in my eyes that he answer every detail," manager Joe Girardi said Monday.

While Andy Pettitte spoke from the heart during his news conference a year ago admitting use of human growth hormone, the image-conscious Rodriguez appears to be formulating his strategy surrounded by an entourage large enough to fill a television series.

Even before Sports Illustrated reported on its Web site Feb. 7 that Rodriguez tested positive for a pair of steroids during baseball's anonymous survey in 2003, Team A-Rod included agent Scott Boras and his staff, manager Guy Oseary and the William Morris Agency.

He has retained James E. Sharp, a lawyer who represented Pettitte and Sammy Sosa before Congress and then-President George W. Bush in front of a federal prosecutor. Rodriguez also brought in Outside Eyes, a media strategy and crisis management company based in Newport Beach, Calif., that includes communications specialists from Republican campaigns.

While Yankees officials were in charge of Pettitte's news conference, the team was uncertain who would run Tuesday's session, scheduled for live television transmission by the team's YES Network, which will provide its feed to other networks. It will be a must-see event for many, if not most, of the Yankees.

"It's part of playing here. Everything is somewhat magnified to a certain degree being here, and just some things you've got to deal with," said Pettitte, who planned to attend.

Pettitte was joined at his news conference in the same tent last February by Yankees captain Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera -- "like brothers to me" -- who joined him on World Series champions. Rodriguez, a three-time MVP who is on news and gossip pages in New York as much as the sports section, figures to draw a far higher percentage of teammates.

"I don't think it's window dressing," Girardi said. "I think it's out of their hearts and their feelings for Alex and them wanting to stand behind him and help him through this situation."

Stopping by the clubhouse to drop off gear, Mark Teixeira said he planned to go. The first-year Yankee was A-Rod's teammate on the 2003 Texas Rangers.

"When I see him tomorrow, I'm going to give him a big hug and just tell him I'm there for him. I'm going to be a teammate and a friend if he needs one," Teixeira said.

Girardi planned to speak with Rodriguez before the event "just to look him in the eyes and see how he's doing."

While Pettitte made his news conference his first public appearance after admitting his HGH use to a congressional committee, Rodriguez responded to the SI report by conducting a Feb. 9 interview with ESPN. He admitted using banned drugs while playing for Texas from 2001-03 but sidestepped saying exactly what he used, how often he used, where he obtained banned drugs, whether they were injected and whether he used them during the offseason.

Some columnists criticized ESPN for not pinning him down.

Pettitte, in contrast, went into great detail.

"It didn't matter what lawyers said or whatever, I was going to get it all out," he recalled Monday.

Girardi could see merits in both approaches. The stakes are higher because Rodriguez is 12th on the career home run list with 553 and trails leader Barry Bonds by 209.

"It's going to be different, I'm sure, just because of the magnitude of who Alex is. I think the record that he's chasing has something to do with it, too," Girardi said. "Would he like to probably put it behind him tomorrow? Yes. But I don't think that's realistic."

A cartoon of a bulked-up Rodriguez signing autographs for bulked-up kids is on this week's cover of The New Yorker. He has been the subject of numerous jokes on late-night television.

He is the most prominent player to admit having used performance-enhancing substances.

"A lot of people think that, you know, this is going to tear the team apart," Teixeira said. "I think it's going to bring the team together."