Albert Pujols Doesn't Run On Juice

I’m thinking about burying any credibility I have.

I have the shovel in one hand and my self-written obituary in the other.

I am taking a stand.

I believe that Albert Pujols’ home run streak is the real deal, and not tainted through the use steroids or any type of performance enhancers like HGH.

Pujols currently has 30 home runs in 2009 and according to MLB.com, is on pace to get 62 home runs by the end of the season. Not enough to catch the current single-season home run leader, but enough to surpass the real record.

The last time an MLB player passed 60 home runs in a single season was Barry Bonds, 72, and Sammy Sosa, 62, in 2001. Both these men have been linked to steroids and are the faces for the steroid era.

This is why it is so hard to believe that any player who overachieves in the post-steroid era is not influenced by performance enhancers. The game has such a dark cloud over the players the public once loved.

Go back to 1998, to the famous “Home Run Chase” between Mark McGuire and Sosa.

As a young child, I remember sitting with my father in front of the television, watching those two players just compete. Night after night. Homer after homer. Just to see if it was either McGuire or Sosa surpassing Roger Marris’ home run record of 61.

My father and I personally were rooting for Sosa to win.

It was McGuire who eventually won with 65 home runs for the season and the heart of Americans.

What a difference a decade makes.

Now, The New York Times reported on June 16 that Sosa is one of the 103 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 and McGuire still tells Congress that he doesn’t want to talk about the past.

We thought we witnessed history, not forgery.

Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Jason Giambi were once proud players who people trusted to be the best. Instead, they are the faces of the steroid era. The trust that once existed between these baseball giants and the fans who pay their salaries is broken. They are no more than Luchadors who lost their masks.

Can it be repaired? Yes and No.

No, because it only takes one blog to damage a baseball player’s image.

Back in 2006, a blog written by Will Feitch, columnist and former contributor to The New York Times and GQ, suggested that he had “80 percent” faith in a source who said a Kansas City-based strength and conditioning coach was on the redacted names in the Jason Grimsley report.

“Does (the trainer's) name sound familiar?” Leitch wrote. “If it doesn't, he—and we assure you, this gives us no pleasure to write this—has been Albert Pujols’ personal trainer since before Pujols was drafted by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 draft.”

A photo of Pujols was included in the blog.

The problem with the blog is, the trainer’s name wasn’t found anywhere in the report.

People outside the sports blog-a-sphere brought attention to the claim, including Keith Olbermann, who ran the story in his MSNBC “Countdown” program.

Pujols, shocked by the report, threatened legal action against Leitch and media outlets that published this information. Leitch later retracted this blog and wrote a correction entitled “A Deeply Regrettable Wrong,” apologizing the trainer and Pujols.

That is the world we live in.

So, can it be repaired?

Yes, because of the new intense steroid policy that MLB has instituted.

According to MLB, since 2004 the new steroid policy has seen 43 player suspensions for performance-enhancing drug use, including Manny Ramirez of the Los Angeles Dodgers, formally of the Boston Red Sox.

The new policy tests players for various steroids and other drugs. The policy has given the sport a cleaner image, but not without criticism. The system doesn’t institute blood testing, which is the only way to detect human growth hormones.

Good first step for a long journey for baseball to get a clean image. Thanks to Giambi, Bonds, and Sosa, we have to wonder if the numbers we see are legit.

I’m here to say I believe that Pujols’ numbers are not enhanced, and here’s why I believe this to be true.

Bonds’ stats from the early ‘90s are extremely different from the numbers in the early 2000s.

In 1991 and ‘92, Bonds won various awards in his late 20s and early 30s, including eight Golden Gloves and three MVP awards.

He was a finesse player who focused on fielding and base-running. His average in home runs per season was about 34.

By age 33, Bonds was a sure first-ballot hall-of-famer, but this was the year that ended his seven-year All-Star streak. His stats were good for any baseball player, but not for Bonds.

According to the best-selling book Game of Shadow, Bonds took a steroid called stanozolol; two years later he broke McGuire’s home run record with 72. The point is that Bonds changed from a player who used to work off his skills as an effective offensive runner and later in his career transformed into a fence buster, a home run producing machine.

Sammy Sosa was an average to good player in his early career.

He never earned awards for his skills. In 1994, he averaged .300 batting average but he only produced 70 RBI and 25 home runs. Meanwhile, the following year, his RBI was 119 and his home runs were 36, but his batting average took a hit. His average was .268.

It can’t be said when Sosa started using performance-enhancing drugs, but his stats started a dramatic increase during his All-Star years. He averaged 40.8 more RBI in each year between 1999 and 2003 than his years playing in 1992 to 1997.

What does this have to do with Pujols?

If you look at his numbers, there is not really a drastic notable difference between his numbers from when he first started to the present year.

In his 2005 MVP season, Pujols averaged 117 RBI, 41 home runs and a batting average of .330.

His career average per season is 122 RBI, 40 home runs and .335 batting average.

His numbers are consistent with someone who is improving his game by natural progression—not influenced progression. His average season is the average player’s above-average season.

This year, he is leading the season in home runs and RBI while being in third in batting average. His is having an above-average season by his standards and a great season by ours.

In this editor’s opinion, Pujols is one of the good guys in the speculation era.

Bloggers, journalists, and fans will always question if players are using the juice. In the end, if he is using a performance enhancer, then the truth will come out eventually.

But, we need a player who is doing well who isn’t on enhancers, because in a game of shadows, that little beacon of hope keeps this dying sport from dropping dead.

Omar Gonzalez is the Current-Argus Sports Editor and can be reached at ogonzalezcurrentargus.com.

Originally published in the Friday, July 3 edition of the Carlsbad Current-Argus.