I have no idea why anybody in the world would come out and defend Sammy Sosa, but off to the races is Steve Phillips who appeared on the Screamin A and Jackass Mike Missanelli show this afternoon. First of all Phillips proclaimed that he does not think there is any smoking gun surrounding Sammy Sosa which is absolutely ridiculous. But here's some of his points on why he thinks Sammy Sosa did not take steroids and me taking him to town on them:1. At the trial, despite not being able to speak english during the majority of it, he denied using steroids.
Oh no a verbal denial, Sammy wouldn't lie right? Just ask Rafael "I did not take steroids period" Palmeiro if you can lie in front of a grand jury.
2. Roger Maris' 61 home run year came out of nowhere so why couldn't Sosa's 60+ come out of nowhere.
That's complete nonsense. First of all Roger Maris had one season where he hit 60+ not 3 out of 4 like Sosa did. Oh and here's a fact Maris lead the American League in rbi the prior season and won the AL MVP award. Yes, he was declared the best player in the American League the prior season, so it didn't come out of nowhere. Sosa was always a solid player, think Alfonso Soriano speed + power. But all of a sudden he went from a 36 homer guy to a perennial 60+ guy. That doesn't happen. 60+ homers had never been a routine thing before. Sammy made it routine, how does that not provide a little smoke.
3. Sosa's never tested positive for steroids nor been implicated in BALCO or Canseco etc.
The MLBs first random drug testing was done in 2001. When the cream and the clear and every other possible untestable drug was at the forefront of usage. No one tested positive for steroids then, so why should this tell us anything. Also, just cause he didn't get steroids at BALCO or ever take steroids with Jose Canseco that certainly doesn't free him from guilt.
4. If we go after Sammy Sosa why wouldn't we go after Clemens who had his "best years" of his career at 41,42 43.
Ok the Clemens steroid thing great. First off can we just establish a few facts Clemens was a pretty big dude when he pitched for the Texas Longhorns. Clemens in the 1980s and early 90s far before Sammy's 60+ stretch had already one an AL MVP, 3 AL Cy Youngs and finished 2nd and 3rd in two other ballets. His worst year with the Sox was his last when he had a 4.18 era and was injured. Now if you want to say that Clemens probably took steroids during his Blue Jay days you can provide a decent argument. But his Yankee days he never had an ERA under 3.50 and was never that studly so that doesn't look like steroid numbers and that brings us to Roger in Houston. Haven't we already established just how much easier it is to pitch in the AL than NL, it's much more believable for a pitcher to drop his ERA a run moving from the AL East to the NL Central and during each of those years the MLB steroid policies were further along. Clemens and Sosa's arguments for them taking steroids are not in the same stratosphere.5. He thinks that Sammy Sosa corking his bat somehow tells us that he did not take steroids. His reasoning, a steroid user gets the mentality that they can dominate and thus wouldn't want to cork his bat.
Oh this is my absolute favorite. Instead of looking at the corked bat logically and thinking to yourself if he's willing to cheat and cork his bat and then lie about it why wouldn't he be willing to A) Cheat and Take Steroids and B) Lie in front of congress. Philips pulls a complete 180 and some how convinces himself that if you take steroids you are a god and why would you want to cork your bat. Steve the corked bat happened in 2003 during somewhat random testing period, and Sosa was on his perennial decline at the plate. Perhaps he thought to himself, damn it I want to hit 60+ homers like I did when I was in my steroid prime, I bet if I corked my bat I could hit another 10-15 HRs. That wouldn't make sense would it Steve?
Steve that last point has no logic behind it, and your thought that their is no smoking gun surrounding Sammy Sosa is ludicrous. There's a smoking gun surrounding Sammy Sosa and it resembles the smoke from a rocket launcher more than that of a Pellet Gun. So do yourself and everyone else a favor Steve, please shut up.
Comments