More Baseball Blogging

My hatred for the New York Yankees is deep and timeless. However, I find myself feeling greater hatred to some yankees past and present (Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui, etc.) than others (Robinson Cano, Randy Johnson).

However, my hatred for Jason Giambi is huge, and thanks to his obnoxious behavior and superior attitude, has only gotten worse. Now, I'm no A-Rod lover by any stretch (seriously - is anybody else bothered by his PURPLE lips?), but suddenly, I find myself slightly sympathetic to him. Is he an overpaid? Sure. Does he exude some inexplicable aura that just makes you hate him? Absolutely.

But for Giambi to call him out like he has is absurd. Hey, Giambi - at least he produces without performance enhancers like you. Why you've been given a free pass for doing steroids while Palmeiro did not is inexplicable and infuriating - you lied about it as much as he did. Sure, you didn't point your finger at Congress, but that's only because you somehow weasled your way out of the limelight. Your lies are no less - it was you who tried to tell us a few springs ago that your huge weight loss was really just 2-3 pounds due to a "better diet."

While we're at it, Jason, you're no "comeback player of the year", and you're no role model. You are a criminal one year, plain and simple, and then because you manage to hit in 2005 after clearly admitting to steroid use, your efforts were somehow more valiant than somebody like Bob Wickman, who only managed to lead the AL in saves after coming of season-ending surgery in 2004.

And in the realm of performance....how dare you criticize A-Rod for batting .286/34/116?? If, as you say, he only hit singles, he's still ahead of you and your paltry .250. Sure, you're total numbers are .250/36/109, but so what? You've hit two more homers than him. Big deal. You of all people have NO room to criticize him, to call him out. Ask any of the GMs in baseball, and they'll tell you they look for hitting over power. You may be slightly ahead of him in OPS, but anybody would take a .900+ OPS on their team, so you're not a unique commodity.

And again, let's not forget, A-Rod does this without any enhancers. You may not be on steroids anymore - the testing has probably put the fear of god into you (probably). But you know they can't test you for human growth hormone yet, and there have been many not-too-quiet whispers about what you're still consuming. They aren't even rancorous rumors from angry Red Sox or Athletics fans - the men of ESPN's Baseball Tonight (such as Buster Olney) have heard and mentioned on national TV that you're still using human growth hormones. How well would you perform without them? Would you be even close to A-Rod? Would you even be playing, or would you be sitting beside Jeremy watching baseball and reliving the glory days?

Again, I'm not a huge fan of A-Rod (which an understatement if there ever was one), and he probably isn't the best team-mate out there, but Giambi is completely out of line on this one. A-Rod is totally justified in being perplexed as to how he can be so hated when Giambi has nearly completely professed to using steroids, makes only 5 million dollars less than A-Rod, and yet gets a free ride. Remember, Jason: you're a criminal due to your use of steroids, and your numbers still aren't better than A-Rod's. You aren't the leader of that team. You aren't a hall-of-famer like A-Rod probably will be. He won his MVP without any drugs, and you didn't.

Until you can look as clean and as productive as him, shut up.