bobby jr

Most likely the O's are not going to make the playoffs but I haven't completely given up. I recall in 1974 they were 8 games behind the Red Sox on August 30 and they also had to pass the Yankees and the Guardians, and they ended up winning the AL East. I don't think the O's will catch the Red Sox this year but there is the Wild Card too. If the O's went on like a 10 game winning streak and kept playing like they did in April and May, well stranger things have happened.

It is true that I don't want the Yankees and Steinbrenner to win, that I want the Orioles to win. Your other allegations are both false and immature, and you really have no place on this board if all you have to offer is absurd allegations and false references about what occurred on other discussion forums. Stick to the subject. As for Palmeiro testing positive, yes he has. I wish he were suspended for the rest of th season, I don't want to win with a steroid user on the team. Now what about Sheffield ( I didn't know what I was taking) and Giambi, who were both tied to Balco? And people throughout baseball are questioning Giambi's power explosion and weight gain this year , which is highly suspicious to say the least considering his past history.

Is that what you as a Yankee fan have about me, an Oriole fan? It would seem so, the way you follow me around from forum to forum.

The Giambi speculation jis no longer just on talk radio and the baseball forums, it is now getting major press copy: An excellent article: http://www.nydailynews.com/front/st...6p-286196c.html "The truth is, he should want to be tested all the time, as a way of convincing people that he is clean. But even if that happened, he would still be a suspect, because there will be enough people who will not believe him when he says this is only about hard work, who will believe instead that Giambi is taking some kind of human growth hormone that shows up only in blood tests, which baseball is not allowed to administer. Or that he is ahead of the curve with some sort of new designer steroid that is undetectable in urine tests, this year's version of hGH, the last designer steroid that was supposed to rock everybody's world. Even Giambi has to understand that he is expecting us to take an awful lot on faith these days, starting with this: Without any medical help, without trips to the chemist, he looks exactly the same and hits exactly the same as he was when he was on the juice, when he was the kind of slugging MVP guy who could eventually command $120 million from the Yankees. After the news about Rafael Palmeiro hit this week like a force-five baseball hurricane, Giambi was asked about suspicions still directed at him. "I really don't care, to be honest with you," he told reporters in Cleveland. Then he said, "If somebody wants to shortchange (his offensive production over the last month or so), that's their problem, not mine." He ought to care. And it is his problem. Maybe it would be different if Giambi had ever answered one question honestly about steroid use...."

That's true I should have said in the mid season.

First of all I have my doubts that MLB has access to Giambi's confidental medical records such as blood tests related to his tumor. All players are treated the same until the first offense and technically GIambi has not been caught . Secondly from what I have read the blood would have to be specifically tested for steroids or HGH. There would be no "alarms" simply because Giambi was taking steroids, unless the blood was tested for steroids. Finally even if the doctors knew Giambi was back on steroids they would not tell MLB and compromise their professional standards like that. Remember Giambi testified before the Grand Jury that he was on steroids then he went out and assured the press that he would never take steroids. Then his grand jury testimony was leaked and he was exposed as having lied and cheated. He has shown that he will try to hide his steroid use from the public.

OK here is what I think happened. Of course this is just my opinion, there is no proof at this time that Giambi is back on the juice. Giambi in April and May. No more cheering crowds at Yankee stadium, but instead jeers, boos and ridicule. Talk of the Yankees getting out of his contract. Talk of sending him down to the minor leagues. So most likely he decided to go back to what worked before. His whole life was going down the tubes, he would be ridiculed as someone who was a bum without his steroids. He saw that he must take the chance and go back on something, anything would be better than what he was going through. Steroids are psychologically addicting. Considering Giambi's situation, they would be even more so. So he goes back on steroids, very likely a designer steroid one that cannot be detected. He has millions, he can afford the best. Or perhaps HGH, which MLB does not test for. There are all kind of possibilities. What strains credibility is to think that this man could suddenly regain the steroid induced HR power he had three years ago at the age of 34 WITHOUT TAKING STEROIDS (or HGH). It has been well established how much steroids help, and Giambi simply could not give that up. In a way I don't blame him, many would have taken the same route, if what I suspect has happened has indeed happened. He is human and we all fail. But to let him get away with it again, to let him lead the Yankees into the playoffs or even to the World Series after he has returned to steroids, that would turn MLB into a joke.

I've always liked Raffy, these are the worst of times for an Oriole fan like myself living in Baltimore. But I cannot regret that he got caught, he was cheating and I would not want to win like that. I hope that the other players who are on some kind of "juice" even now are eventually found out too, whether they are on the Orioles the Red Sox or the Yankees, nobody should be allowed to get away with this any longer.

I think the mistake Giambi has made, assuming that he is back on something, is making it so obvious that MLB will be forced to do something. Come on the guy looks a totally different hitter than in April and May. Most fans are not buying it, even on the Yankee forum there are constant arguments on whether or not he is back on something. If he is back on HGH or some type of steroid, he should have not suddenly gone on this record setting pace, putting himself in the spotlight. Makes me wonder how bright he is.

He just hit another in the 9th to put the Yankees ahead. Two HR's. I am thinking he may set another record in August for HR's in a month. It really makes me sick that he might be on steroids or HGH again. The cirumstancial evidence is growing stronger. He is starting to hit like Barry Bonds two years ago, virtually cannot pitch to him. This is just so wrong, baseball is being ruined by this steroid mess. I wish Selig would step up to the plate and demand that Giambi be given a blood screening for HGH and steroids. That is the only way this matter will be resolved. Or are we supposed to watch him hit 20 HR a month and just sit back and naively applaud?

You are wrong. The blood tests for tumors and parasites do not detect HGH or steroids, unless the blood is speciifcally tested and screened for HGH and steroids. Giambi's blood tests for his medical problems would not be screened in this manner by doctors who are treating him for the tumor and parasites. They would only look for enzymes in the blood which would indicate the tumor or parasites had returned. So the blood tests would be not prove anything. The blood was not tested for HGH or steroids.

We are talking about a quantum leap in performance during the same season with Giambi. Not two years as with Mays, or Babe Ruth's adjusting to being an everyday player instead of pitching. Giambi went from looking completly lost at the plate in April and May to looking like the best hitter in baseball in July 2005, a period of two months, during which time his weight seemed to be increasing. I have not seen him closeup myself but I have heard others who have say that he has the body he did two years ago.

Watch him go to work? We did that before, we watched him go to work with two HR in game seven of the 2003 ALCS. The problem is, Giambi was on steroids when he hit the HR, and this enabled the Yankees to go to the World Series. No, the days of naivety are over. This isn't a witch hunt, nobody wants to see Giambi banned. But the questions are legitimate ones given his history and the Canseco revelations, the congressional hearings and all. Sweeping the questions under the rug won't work.

First 3 months of 2005 5 HR. July HR 14. Ties all time Yankee record. He has also gained weight and looks like he did when he was on steroids. The circumstancial evidence points to him being back on steroids or something similar. That worked for him before, it makes logical sense that he went back to it.

That's pretty good. I live less than a half hour from Camden Yards. I could go to the next O's game he suits up for, and when he comes out yell "Say it ain't so, Raffy, say it ain't so." No it wouldn't sound right, it would have to be a kid to say it, like the kid who said it to Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Maybe for this year. But even if the O's fail to make the playoffs this year, we dominated the AL East for the first third of the season, that bodes well for the future.

Now Raffy has been caught using steroids, as an Orioles fan I wouldn't want to win like this. Unless there is some mistake, I believe he should be suspended for the rest of the year. If I were a Yankee fan I'd be very nervous right now after what has happened to Raffy. Giambi's power surge this year was far more dramatic than Rafael Palmeiro's. I am listening to the Dan Patrick show on ESPN radio right now and the substitee for Dan, Dana Jacobson, is speculating whether or not Giambi is back on steroids! She said that she cannot help but wonder after the big July that Giambi had. !!!! This is on ESPN radio! This is on ESPN radio! This is not just on the forums any longer, it is hitting the big time when it comes on ESPN. The only way to put these rumors to rest is congressionally mandated testing that cannot be compromised.

As an Oriole fan living in Baltimore I am ashamed of this, this is a dark day in Oriole history. And if he lied before Congress....this is just so bad. Unless there is some kind of mistake, I hope he does not go to the Hall of Fame now. I cannot help but think that many others are taking steroids too, and I am very suspicious of Giambi. His resurgance and hitting 14 HR in July that just is hard to swallow. Like Raffy he was terrible at the beginning of the year and his power surge is much more dramatic than Raffys.

I'm starting to wonder about that myself. Still no star players have been exposed, and Giambi has mysteriously regained the skills he had when he was on steroids. In addition to the weight. Giambi had 5 HR going into July. He now has 19. That Mattingly must be one heck of a hitting coach.

I'd agree if the tests could not be compromised. However MLB does not currently take blood tests,and that is the only way to tell if someone is taking HGH (Human growth hormone). Also there were reports last year that Bonds' trainer knew in advance when the tests were going to occur. Can baseball be trusted to police itself and expose their biggest stars, thus costing MLB millions of dollars in ad, ticket sales, tv ratings? Why have no superstars been exposed in baseball or the NFL by the league? The Balco scandal was what exposed Giambi and Bonds initially, not MLB and their testing program.

Giambi had Two more HR's today. After being considered completly washed up at the begininng of the year, after talk of him being sent to the minors, or released, he has miraculously become his old self, or even better. His weight is back, and so is his power. He is getting better in his mid 30's much like Barry Bonds did in his late 30's. Does MLB expect us to just accept this at face value? An admitted steroid user becomes a shadow of himself at the plate. Hitting around .200 with no power. He is humiliated, shamed, threatened with being sent to the minors. Now he looks like Babe Ruth reincarnated at the plate. So, the steroids were not helping him after all? Or is there some other explanation for this sudden and dramatic turnaround? As far as I am concerned the only way I will know that he is not back on steroids or human growth hormone is if he goes through a full battery of the best tests that exist, by an independent testing agency. And that includes blood tests. MLB does not have blood tests and without that they cannot even tell if Giambi is taking HGH! I will not sit back and naively believe these HR's are legit, not until I see proof that Giambi has not gone back to what worked for him before. I don't know if Giambi is back on something or not. Perhaps he has just made a miraculous comeback. But this is why Congress needs to mandate strict testing for all professionals, these questions will not go away until they do.

I hope and pray Clement is OK. Did it look real bad on TV? I'll have to watch it on sports center.

I cant believe the Sox would let him go after what he did in the 2004 postseason

That bothers me too, those two HR's. Nobody could have hit that pitch from Pedro Martinez over the center field wall like that except for someone heavily juiced and bulked up on steroids, as Giambi later turned out to be. The Red Sox may well have won two WS in a row if Giambi had not cheated like that. What a great game seven that was, too bad that the memory of it is now diminished by what Giambi did.

As bad as the Orioles have been playing, it amazes me they are only 3 1/2 games out of first place. And there is the wild card too.....if they can only start playing like they did in April. I drove up to Boston once, went to Fenway Park in the 1980's. 1984 it was. Wanted to see the Green Monster in person. It was easy to buy a ticket then, the Sox were not in the running. It was a late season game in September, a very memorable experience, I hope that Fenway is never replaced. I drove out to the ocean I think it was called Martha's Vineyard, had some good clam chowder and lobster up there in New England as I recall, but we in Baltimore have you beat on the Old Bay seasoned crabs, which taste even better than lobster.