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October 23, 2006

Is Kenny Rogers a cheater? Many say yes!

Lefthander Kenny Rogers, who had built an 18-year reputation as a man who wilted in the biggest stages, suddenly had started to change that part of his awful reputation this postseason.

But on the night of one of his biggest performances, many fans were left to wonder if he had cheated by using pine tar to get some illegal action on his pitches. Do you believe he cheated? His guilt appeared more clear by the fact that he lied - or whitheld the truth, whichever you prefer - to the media about his conversation with plate umpire Alfonso Marquez.

It seems that Rogers got away with using a foreign substance illegally. Listen, pitchers make a living by getting a grip on their pitches and delivering. Yet, Rogers expects you to believe that he somehow didn't know what he called a "clump of dirt" was on his pitching hand. Come on!

It would have been better if the umpires had just checked Rogers' glove and hat to see if he had put the pine tar there. We'll never know if he cheated, but it's hard to believe a guy like Rogers finally has become a money pitcher without cheating this postseason after a track record of wilting in the postseason. Geez, he was 0-3 with a postseason ERA over 8.50 in his career before this year. If that postseason ERA is broken up into his starts, the ERA is actually over 10. So you mean to tell fans that now he's doing it legitimately this year? The real Kenny Rogers, the man most remembered for attacking two innocent cameramen, wouldn't lead anybody to predict he'd throw 23 scoreless innings. Unfortunately, America will never ever know.

Considering how veteran baseball writers admit to letting the steroid era go by without asking the tough questions, baseball media must at least alert fans that Rogers may have been cheating out there.

"It was just detected that there was a noticeable dirt mark of some sort on his left hand, his pitching hand, and after the first inning, I believe it was, Alfonso Marquez, the home plate umpire, just asked Kenny to remove that dirt, so there wouldn't be any question as far as any controversy," said umpire supervisor Steve Palermo. "And I think if you see the following innings, Kenny pitched just fine without the dirt.

"You have to understand, obviously everybody realizes it was wet out there. You've got a compound of water and dirt and it's going to create a little bit of mud. And Kenny may have had that spot on his hand or whatever it was, when he left the bullpen, warming up out there, and maybe trying to get a good grip on the ball. And dirt is not a foreign substance. That's what we play on, that's the playing surface."

Unfortunately for fans, Marquez did not inspect Rogers.

"No, there was not an inspection, there was an observation," Palermo said. "And he observed that there was some dirt or whatever, and he asked him to take it off, because he had noticed it. If you look at the time frame as to how everything went down, Alfonso Marquez was talking to Kenny Rogers as he came off the field, and Randy Marsh, the crew chief, was informing Tony at the same time, because there had been some question with the dirt that was on Kenny's hand. So the umpires were very proactive and they asked that Kenny just clean that dirt off so that there wouldn't be any question as to him with any foreign substance or dirt or whatever it may have been on the ball. What they're doing is they're trying to remove doubt in that situation. And that's exactly what they did."

To hear Rogers orginally tell it, nobody asked him about the substance on his hands.

"He just came and told me how much time I had between the innings, I had to slow down a little bit because I didn't want to stand out there too long in the cold," Rogers said of Marquez. "He knew I'm older than most. We discussed that and I told him I'd slow down a little bit. It was not a big deal."

Actually it was, which is why Rogers got several follow-up questions that caught him in a lie.

"The umpires didn't mention it at all to you?" Rogers was asked in the interview room.

"No," Rogers said. This question followed: "Not to beat a dead horse here, but you say a clump of dirt. How can you have a clump of dirt on your hand?"

"It's dirt and resin and all that stuff put together. When it's moist you're going to rub up the baseball and it was left on my hand when I rubbed them up."

For the record, Tigers manager Jim Leyland admitted that the umpire asked Rogers to wash his hands.

So who do you believe: Rogers version or the ones given by Leyland and Palermo? That's not the only Rogers controversy going on this postseason. It seems he is boycotting questions from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram but literally embracing the reporter from the Dallas Morning News.

It seems Rogers is still upset that the Star-Telegram didn't give him a free pass on his behavior last year with the Texas Rangers. Now for doing their jobs professionally, the Star-Telegram is being snubbed. The funny thing about it all is that Rogers essentially answered the same two questions the Star-Telegram reporters asked later in his press conference. Brats will be brats, but kudos for the Star-Telegram for giving fair and truthful coverage to their readers.

More importantly, the Star-Telegram gave Rogers his credit of Sunday's outing while not ignoring his warts. It's fair to say Rogers answered the Morning News' questions.

Posted by Jose de Jesus Ortiz at October 23, 2006 02:53 PM

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NEW YORK -- Four days after earning a World Series ring, Albert Pujols became only the sixth player to get a perfect 100 score in the annual player rankings.

Albert Pujols

First Base
St. Louis Cardinals

Profile

2006 SEASON STATISTICS
GM	HR	RBI	R	OBP	AVG
143	49	137	119	.431	.331

The St. Louis Cardinals first baseman finished first at his position in plate appearances, batting average, on-base percentage, home runs and RBI over the 2005 and 2006 seasons, according to rankings released Tuesday by the Elias Sports Bureau.

Since the rankings were created in the settlement of the 1981 strike, the only previous players to get perfect scores were New York Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly (1987), Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. (1991), Chicago White Sox first baseman Frank Thomas (1995), Houston first baseman Jeff Bagwell (1995) and Boston designated hitter Manny Ramirez (2002).

Pujols was the top NL first baseman for the third straight year after finishing among the top three outfielders in 2003. Catcher Michael Barrett and reliever Billy Wagner also repeated.

Chase Utley replaced Mark Loretta at second, and Miguel Cabrera took over from Aramis Ramirez at third. Cabrera was among the top three outfielders in 2003.

Rafael Furcal replaced Jimmy Rollins at shortstop, Chris Carpenter was the starting pitcher in place of Roy Oswalt and Jason Bay, Matt Holliday and Moises Alou were the top three outfielders, replacing Cabrera, Lance Berkman and Bobby Abreu.

In the AL, starting pitcher Johan Santana, reliever Mariano Rivera, catcher Victor Martinez and designated hitter Travis Hafner repeated. Alex Rodriguez was the top third baseman for the second straight year after leading shortstops for six straight seasons.

Paul Konerko replaced Mark Teixeira at first base, Brian Roberts took over from Placido Polanco at second, and Michael Young followed Derek Jeter at shortstop.

Ramirez was among the top three outfielders for the 10th time in 11 years, and Vladimir Guerrero repeated. Abreu, acquired by the Yankees in July, replaced teammate Hideki Matsui.

Rankings are used to decide whether players are Type A or B free agents, and what draft picks their former teams get as compensation if they sign elsewhere. The top 30 percent in each group get an A ranking, and the next 20 percent a B ranking.

Compensation from Type C players -- the group between 50 and 60 percent -- was eliminated in baseball's new labor contract. Clubs that sign Type B players won't give up any draft picks, but their former clubs will receive "sandwich" picks between rounds.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press