John Chasey of San Jose, Calif. waves a rubber chicken after San Diego Padres' starting pitcher Brian Lawrence walked San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds during the third inning in San Francisco, Tuesday Sept. 13, 2005.(AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Posted on 09/19/2005 11:02:26 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK - Baseball had a brownout this year, with home runs dropping to their lowest level in eight years. Is there a link between the power outage and tougher steroid testing?
"A lot of guys who were hitting them haven't been hitting them," Florida's Lenny Harris said. "I think the drug policy had a lot to do with it. It changed a lot of guys' diets. There are too many people having off years."
An average of 2.06 homers per game were hit through Sunday, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, down 8 1/2 percent from last season's final average of 2.25. The figure hasn't been so low since it dipped to 2.05 in 1997.
"I think it's cyclical," baseball commissioner Bud Selig said. "It's very hard to determine what variables are at work here. I don't think anyone really knows, and it's hard to draw a conclusion."
Some players point to the first year of steroid testing with penalties for first offenders. Nine players have been suspended for 10 days each for violating the major league policy, including Baltimore's Rafael Palmeiro.
Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players association, said linking steroid testing to the home-run average is too simplistic and pointed out that this year's level is only slightly lower than the 2.09 average for 2002.
"The numbers are essentially the same as they were three years ago, before there was testing, and in those three years players have been tested a massive number of times," he said. "You might want to consider other possibilities for home run production: the players are bigger because of training regimen, the ballparks are smaller, bat manufacture and design is different. There can be a slew of reasons."
Boston center fielder Johnny Damon cites better pitching.
"We haven't really faced too many chumps for pitchers this year," he said. "Young guys coming in have got some unbelievable stuff."
Several stars had huge power drops, many because of long-term injuries. San Francisco's Barry Bonds went from 45 to two as of Monday, Philadelphia's Jim Thome from 42 to seven and St. Louis' Scott Rolen from 34 to five.
"If I hit 12, the ratio would still be down," Bonds said
Among those players who've been mostly healthy, Seattle's Adrian Beltre has fallen from 48 to 18, the New York Mets' Carlos Beltran from 38 to 15 and Washington's Vinny Castilla from 35 to 12. All three were free agents last winter and switched teams — and home ballparks.
Texas has done its part to ensure the home-run average topped 2.0 for the 12th straight season — a figure reached only once in 25 years before the current boom began in 1994. The Rangers have 152 homers at Ameriquest Field, a record for a home ballpark, and lead the major leagues with 252 overall — 12 shy of the mark Seattle set in 1997.
Bucking the trend are Houston's Morgan Ensberg, who has gone from 10 homers to 35, Atlanta's Andruw Jones, up from 29 to 50, and the New York Yankees' Jason Giambi, recovered from illnesses and back to 30 after hitting 12 last year. Jones is the first major leaguer to hit 50 since Thome and Alex Rodriguez in 2002.
"I know they've been saying a lot of stuff about a lot of people using illegal products to make themselves feel strong, but the game is still the same," Jones said. "All the guys still look strong, and there's no doubt in my mind they can still hit home runs, 50, 40 home runs."
Braves general manager John Schuerholz thinks some players look smaller, but added, "It's not scientific at all."
"There may have been some relationship. I have no data on that," he said. "Obviously, all of the supposition is that performance-enhancing drugs allow you to perform at a higher level physically, whether it's speed, arm strength or power."
It's hard to discern whether increases and decreases in size are related to steroids. Tigers coach Lance Parrish talked about All-Star catcher Ivan Rodriguez.
"The only guy on this team who's really lost any substantial weight on this team is Pudge, but I think that was by design on his part," Parrish said. "People accuse him of being on stuff and then getting off it, and who's to know? But I know just from watching him from the first day of spring training, he's been on an unbelievable running regimen, diet and workout programs that are second to none. So I can see why he lost so much weight."
Bush/Rove conspiracy ...
John Chasey of San Jose, Calif. waves a rubber chicken after San Diego Padres' starting pitcher Brian Lawrence walked San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds during the third inning in San Francisco, Tuesday Sept. 13, 2005.(AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Time to bring the fences in a few yards?
drop prices amnd move the fences out further. :)
Finally, pitching is coming into vogue?
'bout damn time too.
enough of these 23 - 2 games
nuf to make a manager commit hari kari at the 7th inning stretch, well in Japan at least ;-)
No Steroids = Fewer Home Runs
Speaking of Bonds does anyone think he would have been back sooner if there was no testing this year? LOL
That's the obvious knee-jerk unthinking reaction, of course.
Quite a number of PITCHERS have been busted for 'roids this year. People are mistaken if they think only power hitters are using 'roids.
I'd submit that one of the single greatest contributors of the decline is the use of RFK stadium, replacing Montreal's Olympic stadium (and what people forget is the many games the Expos were playing in a bandbox stadium in Puerto Rico.
It's been found the power alleys of RFK are an incredible 390 feet.
He's only tied in second place with 44 homers. Banged another one tonight, but we still lost by one run. Ortiz is also leading in RBI with 136.
Manny Ramirez might be having a little home run slump, ONLY 36, but he's tied for 3rd in RBI with 125.
Trying to kill the sport, eh? (grin)
Baseball is at it's best during great pitching duels. Nothing like it.
I don't know about anyone else but I see a big change (for the better)in umps calling balls and strikes. They are actually getting really close to calling the strike zone as it should be but in the past wasn't.
Amen!
If I have to apologize to Canseco I may have to shoot myself...
If you read the article, you'll find that some of those knee-jerk unthinking folks are the players themselves.
Sometimes a duck is in fact a duck.
I hazily recall seeing stories a while back saying that 'roid use didn't benefit pitchers as much as hitters. Maybe someone else has a link . . .
Exercise: count the number of "power hitters" who are saying that they need to drop a few pounds for next season "to get a bit faster" or some such excuse. I'm betting it will be more than a few.
Personally, I think all of the home run records in the past ten years probably need to be thrown out. Not that they will, of course . . .
I can't believe it took to the 10th post to say it. I love baseball but it seems the last 10 years' records should all hasve asterisks next to them.
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