Come to Think of It...Jake Peavy Caught Black-Handed

Yesiree, nothing gets by those boys from thebiglead.com. Especially when it comes to athletes in compromising or otherwise controversial positions.

As this picture shows, Padres ace Jake Peavy seems to have some pine tar, rosin or other dirty substance on the index finder and thumb of his pitching hand.

Does that mean Peavy was cheating? Well, I guess that's for you to decide. If it was, in fact, pine tar or a similar substance, it can alter the flight of the ball and at worse, give the pitcher an advantage.

Any way you look at it, it's a sticky subject.

As you may know, Peavy is off to a fantastic start this season. He has pitched 16 innings in '08 thus far, and given up only five hits and one run. He has struck out 12 and is 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA.

Of course, Peavy has always been pretty good.  In fact, he won the Cy Young award last season. Of course, he may have had dirty hands before, right?

Any way you look at it, it gives new meaning to how "filthy" his stuff is.

Kenny Rogers fans unite! Normally, one doesn't see a hand like this except at an auto garage. Hey maybe that's it - Peavy had to stop to fix a flat tire on the way to the ballpark that day. I'm sure today's multi-million dollar athlete routinely pulls his $100,000 dollar tricked out Hummer over to the side of the road and changes his own flat. Sure. And Hugh Hefner orders his own Viagra.

Look, Peavy was open to having any one check him during a game if they want to. And, in his defense, he does bat during the game, unlike pitchers in the A.L. (hello again Mr. Rogers). And the substance looked less sticky than what Kenny had on his hands during the World Series.

Perhaps if he is cheating, Peavy should have taken a page from Gaylord Perry's book. He will be the first to tell you that North Carolina pine tar is clear.

Come to think of it, everyone, get a grip. That's apparently what Peavy was trying to do.