MLB

Alex Rodriguez admitted to using PEDs from late 2010 to October 2012, according to a new report, and described his novel method for beating the tests. The lies will be his downfall

Alex Rodriguez, according to a synopsis of a January meeting between him and the feds cited by the Miami Herald, has admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs supplied by Anthony Bosch, a fake doctor who ran a South Florida steroid ring. According to the Herald, Rodriguez copped to using PEDs between late 2010 and October 2012. That A-Rod did drugs will surprise no one–the slugger previously admitted to taking steroids in the early 2000s.

However, what’s especially revealing is the way in which A-Rod says he beat the tests. As the Herald reports:

Rodriguez also described how Bosch gave the ballplayer “tips on how to beat MLB’s drug testing,” according to the DEA report.

The secret? According to Rodriguez, “Bosch advised him to only use mid-stream urine for MLB drug testing. Bosch told Rodriguez not to use the beginning or the end urine stream.”

It worked. A test he took while using the drugs came up negative.

Could this strategy have possibly worked? Victor Conte, founder of the infamous BALCO lab that created designer PEDs, calls it “good instruction” for avoiding detection. “I do think there is a different concentration of metabolites in the first portion of a urine stream,” says Conte. However, Conte doesn’t think submitting the end of the stream would increase an athlete’s likelihood of getting caught.

Don Catlin, former director of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory – the world’s largest PED testing facility – disagrees with Conte’s assessment. He says the chemical makeup of the urine stream is consistent from beginning to end. “I think that’s nonsense,” Caltin says. “But it does speak to the difficulty of urine testing. There are lots of ways to wiggle around the actual test.”

Catlin says he’s seen Olympians carry a “bladder-type device” under their armpits, and squeeze someone else’s clean urine down a rubber tube taped to the penis. You can also stick, say, bleach on your fingers, and put your finger in the urine stream while taking the test, tainting the sample. “The bleach no longer renders urine a pure substance,” says Catlin.

In theory, testers should watch an athlete urinate to make sure the process is pure. “But leaning over and being aggressive,” says Catlin, “sometimes doesn’t happen. That’s the nature of life.”

The troubles with urine testing, says Catlin, eventually forced him out of the testing game. He knew too many athletes were getting away with things. Outgoing baseball commissioner Bud Selig touts his sport’s testing protocol as tough. And yet Rodriguez – and several other high-profile players – have shown they can beat it. No matter how Rodriguez did it, a positive test didn’t catch him. An investigation, and now this reported confession, did. “I don’t have the confidence,” says Catlin, “that baseball is doing it right.” This is coming from one of the pioneers of modern testing. And he says baseball’s not alone: you can’t be certain other sports are clean either.

Still, it’s Rodriguez who’s now going to face Lance Armstrong-levels of public scorn. Few sports fans have ever believed his innocence. But his posturing looks so noxious now. Last November, Rodriguez left a grievance hearing regarding his 211-game suspension after finding out that Selig would not have to testify. He ran over to the studios of WFAN radio, and denied to host Mike Francesa that he used PEDs.

It’s not the drugs that doom the steroid users. It’s always the lies. Baseball is coming off a charming post-season, with the underdog Kansas City Royals 90-feet away from sending a classic Game 7 into extra innings. Madison Bumgarner’s performance was historic.

Now, this off-season and into spring training, the A-Rod sideshow is back.

Read next: Prosecutors Allege A-Rod Paid Cousin for Silence Over PEDs

His reported confession is at odds with his public statements

Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez admitted to federal prosecutors in January that he repeatedly used banned performance enhancing drugs, according to a new report in the Miami Herald, despite 21 months of adamantly denying charges against him.

The “report of investigation” cited on Tuesday states the third baseman came clean on paying Biogenesis of America for human growth hormone injections, testosterone cream and testosterone lozenges. Eighteen days before his sworn testimony, in exchange for immunity, Rodriguez had defiantly issued a public statement: “I have been clear that I did not use performance-enhancing substances … and in order to prove it, I will take this fight to federal court.”

Rodriguez finished serving a 162-game suspension last week, the longest meted out for a steroid scandal because he was considered a repeat offender, and has returned to the Yankees lineup.

Read more at the Miami Herald.

The parade from the Financial District to City Hall is expected to draw record crowds

Undaunted by forecasted chilly weather and steady rain, up to a million baseball fans are expected to crowd into downtown San Francisco Friday for a parade to commemorate the Giants’ third World Series win in five years.

The parade, which started at noon, will stretch for a mile and a half from Market and Steuart streets, then up McAllister Street to the steps of City Hall for a celebration including players, politicians and local celebrities.

The National Weather Service says conditions will be “uncomfortable” with steady rainfall and temperatures in the 50s, but organizers don’t expect fans to be deterred.

The Giants emerged victorious over the Kansas City Royals Wednesday after a tense match up that came down to a final pitch in game seven of the series. The fact that the celebration also falls on Halloween—a day for which orange and black-clad Giants fans will come already dressed appropriately—is expected to draw even more partiers to a wild street celebration.

Bay area transit operators expect Friday to be the busiest day ever on Bay Area trains.

[San Jose Mercury News]

San Francisco wins its third championship in five seasons

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — Madison Bumgarner pitched five innings of near-perfect relief and the San Francisco Giants held off the Kansas City Royals 3-2 Wednesday night in Game 7 of the World Series for their third championship in five seasons.

With both starters chased early, this became a matchup of bullpens. And no one stood taller than the 6-foot-5 Bumgarner, who added to his postseason legacy with a third victory this Series.

After Gregor Blanco misplayed Alex Gordon’s drive for a single and two-base error, Bumgarner got Salvador Perez to pop foul to third baseman Pablo Sandoval for the final out.

The Giants ended a Series streak that had seen home teams win the last nine Game 7s. San Francisco took this pairing of wild-card teams after earning titles in 2012 and 2010.

Pitching on two days’ rest after his shutout in Game 5, Bumgarner entered in the fifth with a 3-2 lead. After giving up a leadoff single to Omar Infante, he shut down the Royals.

The former baseball star was reportedly cleaning his handgun when it went off, taking out most of his left middle finger

The Giants trailed the World Series headed into game 4 against the Kansas City Royals, but dug deep for a dramatic 4-11 victory in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO — There were the Giants, exactly where they didn’t want to be. Oh, sure, they can talk about their infinite pool of belief, but some parts are shallower than others. They admitted afterward: They did not want to have to score three runs against the back end of the Royals’ bullpen. That’s like stealing three steaks from a lion.

The Giants trailed the World Series, 2-1, and Game 4, 4-1, in the bottom of the fifth inning. There is no clock in baseball, but the Giants heard one ticking anyway because this is what the Royals do. They shorten the game. They delete your last chapters. Kansas City relievers Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland loom over everything in this series. You might as well just call them Those Guys, the way the Giants’ Gregor Blanco did: “We were able to accomplish it before Those Guys came around. At the same time, we knew even if Those Guys come, we can do something to get us going.”

Blanco said in the dugout, “We were saying, just keep pushing, just keep playing hard. We knew we just needed something to get us going.”

The Giants were very clear about two things:

1. If they had to try to score three runs against the back of the Royals’ bullpen, then hey, that’s what they had to do.

2. Who the heck would want to do THAT?

So there they were, bottom of the fifth, down 4-1, when the ironically named Joe Panik hit a double. That chased Royals starter Jason Vargas; it was like a wedge in the middle of the Royals’ pitching staff, prying an opening between the starter and shutdown relievers. Jason Frasor came in to pitch. Hunter Pence singled in Panik. Danny Duffy replaced Frasor. A hit, a walk and a sacrifice fly later, Pence scored.

The Giants now trailed 4-3, and that still wasn’t ideal, but it meant that they would at least have a shot if the score held into the eighth inning. As Giants starter Jake Peavy said of Davis and Holland: “They’ve got to give up runs at some point, right?”

The Giants never found out. They added three in the sixth and four in the seventh, and Davis and Holland might as well have gone down the street for some Vietnamese food. It was a reminder that dominant relievers can finish World Series wins, but only if they have something to finish. Ask Mariano Rivera, history’s best postseason reliever, who pitched only one playoff inning in 2002 and one in 2006, and got only one out in 2011 when his team had a lead. He never got the baton.

How did the Giants do it? We have two sources on this, and they tell different versions of the same story. One is the box score, which tells a tale of 16 hits and 11 runs, including a three-hit, three-RBI night for Pence. The other source is the Giants themselves, who sold another gallon of that mushy stuff about teamwork and undying belief and feeding off each other.

You don’t have to buy it. But the point is: They do.

It’s why Peavy says, “We believe in our bullpen the way the world believes in Kansas City’s bullpen.” It’s why nobody cares, or even seems to notice, that star Buster Posey does not have any extra-base hits in the postseason. It’s why Pablo Sandoval fights off a pregame illness and two early strikeouts to get two big singles.

It’s why Yusmeiro Petit has now thrown 12 shutout innings in the postseason and allowed only four hits, and why Petit has so willingly assumed so many different roles. Posey said what Petit is doing is even more impressive than when he retired 46 consecutive batters in the regular season, a major-league record, because of the stakes.

“He’s expected to go in and pitch three, four, five innings, sometimes less,” Posey says. “You never know when it’s gonna be. He’s gotta be ready every game.”

And it’s why first baseman Brandon Belt says: “I guess everybody at this level wants to win the World Series. But it just seems like when it matters most, we dig down deep. We have the ability to dig down deep and get the big hits when we need it, and scratch and claw our way to the top.”

You can look at this World Series so far and figure it’s all just a prelude to the inevitable: A dramatic finish in Game 6 or 7 for these evenly matched teams. And that may be true. But make no mistake: The Giants were in an extremely tenuous position in Game 4. Down two games … down three runs … two of the last three games in Kansas City. If the Giants win their third World Series in five years, they will point to this moment, with the game’s scariest bullpen and an enormous deficit looming, and be proud they didn’t blink.

This article originally appeared on SI.com

The Giants' win knocks the Royals off course to best the Yankees' all-time winning streak

The San Francisco Giants thrashed the Kansas City Royals in the opener to the 2014 World Series, stealing a 7-1 win and disappointing Royals fans who have waited 29 years to see their team in the championship.

The much anticipated Game 1, played at Kansas’ Kauffman Stadium, boasted an intriguing mix of odds for the two wild-card teams: the Royals were the slight favorite to take the World Series title in the seven-game series, but the Giants were the favorite in Game 1, despite the Royals’ home-field advantage, USA Today reports.

Snatching an early lead, the Giants scored twice in the top of the first inning — a predictable start, since the team has taken the first point in seven straight World Series games. San Francisco then sailed through the rest of the game, albeit for a brief Royals rebuttal in the top of the 6th, with Salvador Perez home-running to the team’s first and last point. SB Nation reported that two Royals fans fell asleep in their up-to-$1,000 seats during the home team’s somnolent game.

The winner of Game 1 bats good odds at the World Series title: Game 1 winners have nabbed 69 of the 109 World Series titles, plus have won 15 of the last 17 series.

Still, the odds bode less well for San Francisco when broken down by road vs. home teams: the Giants are the 46th road team to win World Series Game 1, and just a third of the previous 45 winning road teams went on to win Game 2.

The loss put a stop to the Royals postseason winning streak at 11 wins, falling short one win of the all-time record held by the Yankees.

The teams will face each other again on Wednesday night in Game 2.

In baseball, power is out. Speed and defense are in. And the Royals play small-ball best

Updated on Oct. 15, 7:18 p.m.

Sure, the Kansas City Royals are an intriguing tale for the typical rags-to-riches reasons. A team that hasn’t made a post-season appearance in 29 years becomes the first team in baseball history to win its first eight games in the playoffs. On Wednesday afternoon, the Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-1 in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, completing a sweep and sending the team to the World Series.

But the Royals are more than just an enchanting small-market success story. They represent the changing game of baseball.

In the post-steroid era, the game is going through a remarkable transition. Power is out. Pitching, speed and defense are in. Home runs per game are at their lowest levels since 1992. Teams scored 4.07 runs per game during the 2014 regular season, according to stats site Baseball-Reference.com–the lowest total in 33 years. Runs-per-game are down 15% since 2007, and off 21% from their steroid-era high of 5.14 in 2000. Players are striking out 7.7 times per game, an all-time record, breaking the prior high of 7.55 set last season. In fact, in each of the past seven seasons, baseball set a new all-time high for strikeouts per game.

Enter the Royals. The Royals had the fewest home runs in the majors this past season, with 95. But no team had more stolen bases, and the Royals have kept running this post-season. The team has stolen 13 bases so far: seven of them came in Kansas City’s wild 9-8 comeback win over the Oakland A’s in the AL Wild Card game.

The last big-league club to reach the World Series while finishing last in home runs, but first in swipes, was the 1987 St. Louis Cardinals. Those Cardinals teams of the 1980s played an exciting brand of “small-ball” throughout the decade: the ’82 Cards finished second in steals, and last in home runs, and won it all (the ’82 Oakland A’s finished first in steals, thanks to Rickey Henderson’s 130 swipes, a modern-era, single-season record that still stands).

For the Royals, that speed pays off in the field too. According to FanGraphs.com, Kansas City players collectively finished with the highest Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) – an advanced metric that measures defensive value – in the majors. Kansas City’s outfield, with three-time Gold Glove winner Alex Gordon in left, Lorenzo Cain in center, and defensive replacement Jarrod Dyson shoring up center field in the late innings (Cain then usually moves to right), have baseball analysts raving. “Let’s be clear what we’re talking about here,” wrote Sam Miller of Baseball Propectus. “We’re not just talking about a good outfield, or a great outfield. We’re talking about what one might decide to argue is the greatest defensive outfield of all time.”

The Royals have found a winning formula. These days, if you swing for the fences, you’re more likely than ever to strike out. So just put the ball in play – Royals hitters have both the lowest strikeout rate in the majors, and the lowest walk rate – and take your chances with your legs. Steal bases to eke out those diminishing runs.

Since today’s pitchers are better keeping balls in the park, if your opponent does make contact, make sure you have players who turn these balls into outs. (Like third baseman Mike Moustakas diving into the stands). Let the big-market New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels overpay for aging sluggers who will inevitably depreciate at the back-end of their ludicrous contracts (Alex Rodriguez, Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols). Small-ball is cheap, and effective. This is where the game is heading. The Royals just do it best.

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