D-Day?

Wow. WTF?! A couple of quick thoughts. In Jose Canseco's book "Juiced" he makes the claim on pages 211-212 that "B-12" was code for steroids:

Page 211


It was so open, the trainers would jokingly call the steroid injections "B12 shots," and soon the players had picked up on that little code name, too. You'd hear them saying it out loud in front of each other: "I need to go in and get a B12 shot," a player would say, and everyone would laugh. (Of course, that was the kind of joke you really only made around other steroid users, because obviously they were in the same boat as you. What were they going to do, tell on you? Not hardly.)

Page 211-212


It was the pitchers that kept the "B12" joke going. For example, I've never seen Roger Clemens do steroids, and he never told me that he did. But we've talked about what steroids could do for you, in which combinations, and I've heard him use the phrase "B12 shot" with respect to others.

A lot of pitchers did steroids to keep up with hitters. If everyone else was getting stronger and faster, then you wanted to get stronger and faster, too. If you were a pitcher, and the hitters were all getting stronger, that made your job that much more difficult. Roger used to talk about that a lot.

"You hitters are so darn strong from steroids," he'd say.

"Yeah, but you pitchers are taking it, too. You're just taking different types," I'd respond.

And sometimes Roger would vent his frustration over the hits even the lesser players were starting to get off good pitchers. "Damn, that little guy hit it odd the end of the bat and almost drove it to the wall," he would say. He would complain about guys who were hitting fifty homers when they had no business hitting thirty. It was becoming more difficult for pitchers all the time, he would complain.

I can't give chapter and verse on Roger's training regimen. But I'll tell you what I was thinking at the time:

One of the classic signs of steroid use is when a player's basic performance actually improves later in his career. One of the benefits of steroids is that they're especially helpful in countering the effects of aging. So in Roger's case, around the time that he was leaving Boston-and Dan Duquette, the general manager there, was saying he was "past his prime"-Roger decided to make some changes. He started working out harder. And whatever else he may have been doing to get stronger, he saw results. His fastball improved by a few miles per hour. He was a great pitcher long before then; it wasn't his late-career surge that made him great. But he certainly stayed great far longer than most athletes could expect.

Whether Brian McNamee is a credible witness or not is besides the point. Andy Pettitte is credible. Chuck Knoblauch is also credible. And what about the nanny? Where is the peach swimsuit. If the suit still fits, I wanna see the hot nanny!

OH YEA. And somebody should test Debbie Clemens for 'roids. Did you see the mug on her? I don't know if its just me but she almost looks a little Brooke Hoganish manny. All this and what will be the end result? Will anyone actually see jail time or just probation? And what about MLB? The Mitchell Report makes it clear at least some owners and G.M.'s knew something. What I'd give to see Brian Sabean on the hot seat saying "what kind of idiot do you think I am?" to Mr. Waxman (who is btw the smallest non circus performer I've seen in a while). It kills me to say it but put Sabes up there. Maybe it will distract him enough so that he won't send my man Lowry packing for the "talk show" city for Pedro Crede. What this all boils down to is how are you gonna pin the Rocket down? Is there someone who can verify that "B-12" is indeed steroids? Roger would be proven to be telling the truth, after all, he was only taking "B-12" and not B-12. McNamee would be proven to be telling one version of his as truthful. I don't know, what do you think of all this? I guess it is what it is.