This was, of course, a direct result of the “Better Baseball through Chemicals,” strategy that the players had adopted and MLB Executives pretended not to see.  So, then, it should come as no surprise that this trend seems to be reversing now that MLB decided, at Congressional gunpoint, to clean up the game.

Leading the way is one of the former AL East Muscle Beach competitors, the Boston Red Sox.  Jason Bay, arguably the most powerful Boston bat last season, was allowed to board the Acela Express to New York to join the Mets.  The Sox countered by signing 37 year old centerfielder, Mike Cameron who, despite his advanced baseball age, is still considered to be among the better defensive MLB outfielders.  What he is not, is an offensive player on Bay’s level.

The Red Sox did not bank the money they saved on what would have been an expensive contract for Bay, rather, they bolstered an already impressive pitching staff by signing the Angels’ number one starter, John Lackey.  In the discussion of the best starting staffs in MLB, its difficult to argue against a team that trots out Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Lackey at the top of the rotation.

In the infield, injuries and age have reduced Mike Lowell, once a productive player on both sides of the ball, to a stationary defender with an average bat.  Off season rumors had the Sox in hot pursuit of the San Diego Padres’ slugging superstar first baseman, Adrian Gonzalez.   Whether the rumors were accurate or not, the deal did not materialize.

So what did GM Theo Epstein do?  Find another slugging corner infielder?  That would have been so 2009.  Epstein signed Adrian Beltre, perhaps the best defensive third baseman in MLB today, to a one year contract.  Yet another indication of the philosophical change taking hold over on Yawkey Way.

“We needed to improve our run prevention,” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said in December when Cameron was introduced to the Boston media.

There is a fear among Boston fans and  media outlets that Theo’s sudden emphasis on gloves over bats is more a result of his failure to add bats to a lineup that silently perished at the hands of the Angels in last year’s ALDS while batting, as a team, far south of the Mendoza Line.

It should be noted that Epstein is not the only MLB executive who has fallen in love with defense and pitching.  According to self appointed baseball genius and Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane, his club and division rival Seattle Mariners are charting a similar course to the Red Sox.

“At the end of the day, if you score 500 runs in a season and your opponents score 400 runs in a season, it’s the same as scoring 1000 and giving up 900,” Beane told Sports Illustrated.  ”It’s still ultimately a zero-sum game. You try to use some equation, and some combination, that allows you to succeed. For us and the Mariners, it’s defense.”

After delivering two World Series trophies, Epstein was viewed as something as a baseball savant by the once jaded Red Sox fandom.  “In Theo, we trust,” replaced, “Wait til Next Year,” as New England’s official baseball motto.

Should the Red Sox stumble out of the gate, it won’t take long for the Nation to turn on the Boy Wonder as quickly as it anointed him as the chosen one.  Time will tell whether Run Prevention was an effective strategy or just a desperate attempt to explain away Epstein’s inability to improve an offense that often times 2009, seemed powerless against good pitching.

Those of us old enough to remember when pitching and defense truly did win championships would welcome a return to an MLB in which it takes more than chemically ehnaced offense to be the last team standing

Well, at least that’s what was supposed to happen and then I started to wonder.

Could A-Rod getting caught really be good for baseball?

I’ll let you catch your breath before I continue on down this path. I am not about to suggest that I think steroids, there use and abuse has any place in this game. Not Coke, Greenies or HGH, not a single one of them is good for baseball.

But can we make their legacy something. By we, I am talking the royal we, you, us, baseball, the people that love it,cherish and celebrate it. The numbers are what they are…..don’t forget the Asterisk.

But something else has happened, something very genuine. I mean we can be serious for a moment, the steroid scandal is kind of like a bell. You can’t unring a bell, and you can’t pick and choose which numbers are legit. To be fair without the leak and/or release of the results of ever drug test ever conducted we’ll never know.

Ken Griffey Jr.? Are his 600 plus homeruns legitimate? Some would say of course they are, look at that sweet swing. True, but wouldn’t steroid use explain this knee conditions, and you can’t tell me with the ability to speed up the healing process wasn’t an option considering the amount of time he missed due to injury.

What about Howard, Ortiz, Thome, Pujols and Manny? What about Miguel Cabrera? He wouldn’t break into the Majors in 2003 but he’s 25 years old with 175 homeruns, should we question every last cheese puff or potential needle that entered his body in the minors?

All that being said my intention here wasn’t to muddy the waters around guys that have yet to have their so far good names dragged through the mud. My point is that we have to do what we can to clean up the game, but dirt digging and claims of indiscretions from 2003 aren’t going to do that.

Luckily I believe that A-Rod and his outing have done what Bug Selig couldn’t do, what Senator George Mitchell couldn’t do, what House Government Reform Committee was unable to do, what the Players Association has been unwilling to do. That is genuinely starting to heal baseball.

In the broadest sense this will help baseball from the point of view of the fans, players and owners. I’ll start with the fans, and then describe the betterment of the game from the other you points of view later. This could get a little long. So I promise I’ll break it up for you.

Let’s start with the Fans of the grand old game. Our first reaction to steriods was to be expected. We were outraged, upset and indignant. As a collective we acted exactly how social scientists would have predicted. We started tearing through the 5 stages of grief.

1 – Denial. There was no way all our home records were brought down by these Juicers? Was there?

2 – Anger. How could they do this to us? How could they do this to baseball?

3 – Bargaining. Every time we saw another name we’d make one of two deals. If one more star comes up Dirty I am done with this game! Or that has to be the last one right? I’ll give anything for this to be the last one.

4 – Depression. If you guys are like me you didn’t want to follow baseball anymore. You questioned yourself, you fandom. You still loved the game, but felt like you’d been hurt too many times.

Now this is where you come in.

5 – Acceptance. You can admit it, it’s ok, and I saw them too. I saw the articles, and was battered and bruised by the Colin Cowherd’s of the world that said. I don’t care, what’s done is done. Juicer or not, give me interesting, screw the integrity of the game. Who gives a flying flip if he did them or not? They were all on them, so what?

If was at that moment a rumble started, somewhere in the pit of a collective stomach. A rumble that said, the MLB isn’t baseball. It’s just a league. People were rejuvenated. See we had given the MLB power over our game; they were its care taker. Under their watch, it had fallen, fallen into a state of disrepair. Like a little kid with a skinned knee. He knew we must pick it up, dust it off. Start cleaning out the wound. You remember being seven, the rubbing alcohol is going to sting. In the long run, it’s worth it. Alan Bug Selig only wanted to talked Revenues and Attendance. What Bud failed to tell you is everything in an America was up, the Dow Jones was up, the Real Estate Market was up, and the Price of Gas was up. Revenue’s aren’t the indicator of a strong game of baseball.

That is like saying what is the great movie of all time? People will say the Godfather, Citizen Cane, Gone with the Wind, not a single one of them is in the top 50 in Revenue. According to Old Bud the best five films ever are as follows, Titanic, the Dark Knight, Star Wars Episode 4, Shrek 2, and E.T.; does that seem wrong to anyone else? As a matter of fact only 3 of the top 30 all time were shot before 1990. Only 5 of the top 50 were filmed before 1990, and in that top 50 we have movies like Night at the Museum, Dr. Seuss: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Home Alone, Meet the Fockers, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.. According to the American Film Institute only 5 movies made since 1990 crack the top 100 and none are in the top 50. Oh yeah and of those 5, one are in the top 50 in revenue.

Now that being said, A-Rod some how managed to take that group, you know the one that missed baseball and all it’s glory. His positive test some how seemed to bring together a group less interested in his persecution and more interested in saving their game. Restoring it so that when he was passed on, it was in a condition that their fathers would’ve recognized.

A-Rod was the one we could believe in. We hated him, but as I’ve said before we hated him for all the right reasons. He was really good and he was a New York Yankee. In baseball those two tend to combine into a lot of hate. But again the good kind, the I love my team and hate you cause your not on it kind. A-Rod was a player we all wanted to have on our team. Don’t get self righteous Sox fan, you acted like a spurned lover when we was traded to the Yankees.

But he looked Katie Couric in the eye and said, never. Never had he taken steroids, never had he thought about taking steroids. And at 553 home runs it would only be a matter of time until Bond’s was wiped off the books. Then it slipped, maybe never wasn’t a time that included 2001-2003.

Maybe never wasn’t as all inclusive a statement as we had thought after all. But I will tell you what never now means. Never will we give them our game back. We the fans now must hold the standards up and decide who measures up. We must demand more as the Owners, Commissioner, Players Association Heads, and Players themselves weren’t willing to do it.

If we can be fair, this A-Rod positive test was just galvanizing force we needed. How will this affect the owners? How is it a positive for the game as far as the PA and Players are concerned? Well that I will cover in my next article, so yeah there will be a part two and three.

But for now understand simply, it’s not there game it’s ours. They’ve proven they can take care of it anymore. So let’s take it back.

To quote Zach Del Rocha, who had a very different vision of an America, “It has to start somewhere, it has to start sometime, what better place than here, what better time than now.”

As of last evening the Station Fire was approaching his Flintridge neighborhood, but miraculously firefighters were able to save his home as the blaze tore through the neighborhood.

A relieved Furcal and his wife were able to return to the home, after staying in a nearby hotel for a few hours.

Juan Castro started at shortstop on Monday night in his place for the Dodgers.

According to Cnn.com, cooler temperatures Tuesday could help firefighters slow down a fast-moving, deadly wildfire that has charred more than 105,000 acres in Southern California.

According to BumpShack.com, Fielder said, “I’ve never hit a ball 500 feet, so that’s pretty cool. I’m just happy. It was pretty cool to actually win one. You never think as a kid you’re going to win one, but I just always hoped I would win one. So to win one tonight is kind of like a dream come true, I guess.”

Check out these cool photos from the 2009 home run derby and celebrity softball game.

A slew of batters hitting the 300 (Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko, Lance Berkman, Ivan Rodriguez and Adam Dunn) and 400 (Jason Giambi) home run plateau…check, check, check, check, check and check.

FINALLY…thanks to a first inning home run Thursday night against the Royals, David Ortiz can add his name to the list, The Hall of Very Good reports.

Suspended Philadelphia Phillies reliever J.C. Romero has filed suit against a nutritional supplement manufacturer alleging an unlisted ingredient in one of its products caused him to test positive for a substance banned by Major League Baseball, according to ESPN.com.

Romero, was suspended for the first 50 games of the 2009 season, after he tested positive for androstenedione, a banned substance. The supplement called 6-OXO did not specify androstenedione on the label nor in the ingredients and Romero continues to plead his case about not knowing about the substance.

Not only that, clerks at the stores where he purchased the supplements told him that 6-OXO would not cause a positive test for a banned substance.

Lesson learned; never believe the idiots behind the counter. Androstenedione is a natural substance that is found in humans and plant pollens, but has been on MLB blacklist since 2006 because of saftley concerns.

The over-the-counter supplement, colloquially known as “andro,” gained public attention in 1998 when Mark McGwire, then with the St. Louis Cardinals, disclosed he used the substance during his pursuit of the single-season home run record that year. McGwire ultimately hit 70 homers, eclipsing the record of 61 set by the Yankees’ Roger Maris in 1961.

Romero’s suit was filed in Camden, NJ on Monday.  Romero wants compensation for the money and time he has missed because of the positive test.

Joe Torre gave Manny the day off after he seemed to be a little “behind” during Saturday night’s game in which he went 0-5 with 3 strikeouts. Torre felt Manny may have been fatigued because his swings were starting too soon.

Ramirez felt he could use a day off and responded with, “It’s such a long season, it doesn’t matter,” Ramirez said. “Everybody needs a day off. What do you think I am, Cal Ripken?”

So where could you find Manny on during Sunday’s game? Who knows. Not sure if he was even in the dugout, but he sure got to stick another signature punchline on the sarcasm wall.

Torre also decided to rest infielders Casey Blake and Rafael Furcal in hopes to get a good jump on the upcoming series with the Giants which begins on Monday.

The New York Post published and article today that slashes Perez at the knees, similar to when a weed-whacker hits a bumble bee.

Statements like “he has no pitching IQ”, “he generally has no clue where the ball is going once it leaves his hand”, and even calling Perez a “the Mets 36 million dollar disaster”.

Jerry Manual has said  he is “really, really concerned”, and in a “round-about” way mentioned that if Perez can not find his “stuff” he will be useless to the club.

Making a somewhat valid point right?

At the moment, Perez does have an atrocious ERA of 9.31, he has walked 15 batters, and has allowed a skyrocketing amount of hits (23). Yes these numbers could make a pitcher feel like an exploding bumble bee, but we need to remember these numbers are only after 19 total innings and the beginning of a very hectic season in New York.

If you compare him to someone like Johan Santana who currently sits at 0.70 in the ERA column, for a recent $36MM addition you should be concerned, but to be “really, really concerned” might be jumping the gate.

The whole entire season remains in front of  Perez to make improvements. If the Mets have any confidence in their pitching staff, the organzation should feel somewhat at ease with the situation.

Bad luck in previous seasons, may have the inventors of the rally cap on the edge, but I think it is far too soon to call Perez “the Mets $36MM disaster”.

Unfortunately nobody seems to be noticing. The Jays fans were their normal loud and loyal selves on opening night. Unfortunately a few bad apples decided that with the bases loaded and a seven run lead in the eighth on opening night to participate on a level of stupidity that caused the MLB to threaten forfeit. That was the Ugly. Even more predictable was the dramatic drop off in attendance over the next couple of days.

The Good:

The kids started off scorching hot and were looking to prove that the 12 spot they dropped on the Tigers on opening night was more indicative of the potential offense that they are have. With 46 runs score in the first week and twice knocking out double digits Cito and Gene Tenace seem to have the boys in blue swinging hot sticks right out of the gate.

Adam Lind – Has been on a tare to open his second full big league campaign. He’s managed 12 hits, five for extra bases in just seven games. He’s also shown a knack for the five spot driving in team high 12 runs.

Aaron Hill: Returning for post-concussion syndrome that kept him out of a large chunk of 2008 Hill looks to be back on track to be the player he was becoming, by batting .300 with three double and two long balls. Not to mention he has already knocked in eight RBI from the two spot. Not a proto-type two-spot hitter Hill is capable of creating a lot of excitement with his ability to generate runs.

Vernon Wells: Looking like the guy they gave all that money to, Wells has started the year batting .321 and has also knocked around three doubles and a home run in his first seven games.

The Bad:

Alex Rios: Although Rios seems to have learned the value of a walk with five in his first seven games, he hasn’t exactly been on fire in the three spot. The Jays have scored a league high 42 runs and Rios has driven in six. Combine that with Vernon Wells and you’ve gotten nine RBI out of the 3 and 4 spot. Luckily Hill and Lind has book ended them with 20 out of the two and five spot.

The Pitching: Everyone is enamored with the offense, but people shouldn’t turn a blind eye to the false promise that is this Blue Jays pitching staff. The Jays rank 17^thin the majors in ERA. In the American League alone the Jays rate in the top three in average, runs, slg, OBP and OPS on offense. On the reverse, of the 14 teams in the AL they are ninth in WHIP, ERA and tenth in OPS in pitching.

The Ugly:

I’ve discussed my disappointment in the opening day crowd already with their behavior. Lets talk about the fact that on the night the Blue Jays were attempting to take their third straight from the Tigers to start the season (Their best start since 1996) and drew 12,145 or 24% of capacity. Cito Gaston showed measurable improvement in this teams offense last season and opening day did nothing to dispel that. But 24% capacity by the third game of the season is nothing short of embarrassing.

So what do we know?:

After one week the Jays are mashing and their pitching is right on track with what we might have thought. The glut of runs has allowed them to get into the pen with a lead. Camp, Carlson, Downs and Fraser have held down the late innings. The Jays have gotten one quality start out of rookie Rickey Romero and Roy Halladay is 2-0, but Litsch, Purcey and Richmond have been the weak link accounting for the team’s two losses. In four starts and 21 innings the trio has surrendered 14 earned runs.

Are the Jays for real? Well as long as their two, four and five hitter keep up this pace they should be fine, even with this below average pitching. Unfortunately for them I just don’t seem Adam Lind being the first guy in 68 years to crack .400, and knocking out approx. 70 bombs.

Are the Jays better than most thought, it sure looks that way, but their team ERA and WHIP are cause to be concerned that what we have seen so far can not maintained.