I suppose I should be shocked at the news concerning baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez.
I'm not.
I was a little surprised that a Phillie, Antonio Bastardo, was caught up in the scandal emanating from the Biogenesis lab in Florida that offered a little "help" to a handful of baseball players in the form of performance-enhancing drugs.
Forgive me if I fail to see any effect along the lines of enhanced performance with Bastardo, who has struggled for much of the year before righting his ship in the past few weeks.
Bastardo, A-Rod and 11 other baseball players were suspended by Major League Baseball for getting caught with their hands in the PED cookie jar.
No, you were not hallucinating. That was Rodriguez in Yankee pinstripes last night as they lost to the White Sox. That's because Rodriguez is the only player contesting his suspension. Of course, A-Rod has a lot more to lose than the other players. The MLB poobahs want him gone for the rest of this season, the post-season and the entire 2014 season.
With the stakes that high, A-Rod has nothing to lose. Expect him to exhaust any and all appeals. So long as he's playing, he gets paid. Once the suspension kicks in, the money dries up.
Baseball created this mess, embracing the drug-induced hysteria of the Mark McGwire-Manny Sosa home run mania a decade ago that breathed new life into the game.
But it also largely looked the other way, along with the players union, at what was fueling all those numbers.
Now, all the numbers of this generation of players is suspect, including players who have never dabbled in drugs.
That is what baseball has wrought. And that is what really should be sparking outrage.
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