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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cactus Jack who wrote (166700)	5/3/2009 3:33:01 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 362769

Manager sees similarities between Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols detnews.com Detroit -- There's little dispute around the league that Cardinals first-baseman Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball right now. He's batting .356 with nine home runs and 29 RBIs in 24 games. Tigers manager Jim Leyland got to know Pujols real well as a Pittsburgh-based scout for St. Louis from 2000-04 and has no quandary proclaiming Pujols the best. "He is the best player in the game right now. That's just the way it is," Leyland said. "I think the thing I remember the most about him and watching over the years is that I've never seen Albert Pujols give a bat away. I don't care what the score of the game is, behind 10 up 10, I've never seen him give an at-bat away. That's saying something. He takes every bat, to me, like if he gets a hit it's going to win the World Series." Just as Leyland watched Pujols become a star in St. Louis, he's getting the same chance to watch Miguel Cabrera become one of the game's elite players in Detroit. "There are a lot of similarities between the two," Leyland said of Pujols and Cabrera, who was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run in Saturday's 9-7 victory over the Indians on Saturday. Both sluggers started their careers at third base and both have since moved to first base. Cabrera's .376 batting average is fourth in MLB. He has five homers, 17 RBIs and a .593 slugging percentage in 23 games. Like Pujols, he has become one of the most feared hitters in the game. "He is one of the best hitters in the league and he has proved that over the years," Cabrera said of Pujols. "I see how he approaches the plate and what he does at first base and I watch what he does." Leyland and Cabrera, 26, have talked about Pujols, 29, on several occasions. "We talk about how he's approaching home plate, how he takes pitches and sees a lot of pitches and what it takes to do what he does," Cabrera said.

To: Cactus Jack who wrote (166700)	5/3/2009 9:34:41 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 362769

Baseball Said to Be Inquiring About Rodriguez Drug Use _______________________________________________________________ By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT The New York Times May 3, 2009 Major League Baseball is investigating the accuracy of statements by Alex Rodriguez about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, according to people within baseball who were briefed on the matter. Investigators have contacted several of Rodriguez’s associates to determine whether he used performance-enhancing drugs for a longer time than he has admitted, the people said. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a continuing investigation. They said that the investigation began shortly after Rodriguez met with investigators March 1 in Tampa, Fla., because they had questions about his statements from that meeting. Rodriguez said he had used a substance called boli from 2001 to 2003 and that his cousin obtained it in the Dominican Republic. He said that he did not use performance-enhancing drugs after 2003. He also said that he had never received substances from the trainer Angel Presinal, who was barred from major league clubhouses in 2002 after he was linked to steroids. Questions about the truthfulness of Rodriguez’s statements were heightened among baseball officials last week after details of a new book about Rodriguez were reported by several news media outlets. The book, “A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez,” by Selena Roberts, asserts that Rodriguez used several different steroids under the supervision of Presinal and had human growth hormone in his possession when he played for the Yankees in 2004. In 2005, the book also says, Rodriguez was mocked by teammates who suspected that he was using drugs. On Friday, an investigator asked Roberts if she would cooperate with baseball’s inquiry. Roberts said she would not. “I said that as a journalist, I cover M.L.B., and cooperating with them on this would be a conflict of interest, and he said that he understood the position that I am in,” Roberts, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and a former reporter and columnist for The New York Times, said Saturday in a telephone interview. A lawyer for Rodriguez declined to comment. Commissioner Bud Selig can discipline a player if he feels the player was not forthcoming or truthful in a meeting with investigators. But pursuing whether Rodriguez told the truth will be difficult for the investigators; unlike law enforcement authorities, they have little power to compel a witness to speak with them. Many of the assertions in the book are based on anonymous sources. Others are presented without an explanation of how the information was obtained. Any discipline of Rodriguez would have to be strong enough to withstand an appeal before an arbitrator. In the book, Rodriguez is also said to have tipped off opposing batters to what pitches were coming during blowouts while he was with the Texas Rangers; and in return, they would tip pitches to him. It is not known if the investigators are looking into whether Rodriguez violated the loyalty provision of the player contract, which states that a player agrees to fair play and good sportsmanship. Investigators can try to meet with former and current players, team officials and even Rodriguez. M.L.B. has no power to compel former players to talk, and it is unclear whether current players would discuss the actions of another player. “There is not a lot of precedence to this, and especially what Selig could do if current players refuse to cooperate,” Gabriel Feldman, the director of the sports law program at Tulane University Law School, said in a telephone interview. “There is no specific language that requires players to cooperate with an investigation, but Selig could try and discipline them, and the union would likely appeal it.” Feldman said it would be easier to persuade team officials, coaches or employees to speak with the investigators because they were not protected by the union. Another possibility would be for the investigators to try to meet with Rodriguez again to ask questions related to the book. “A lot of this is Selig appearing like he has the situation under control,” Feldman said. “The last thing he wants is for someone else, like the federal government or Congress, to try and intercede and take this matter out of his hands.” Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company