From 53 Home Runs to 25 Games: Orioles' Chris Davis Latest to Open Our Eyes

Crush Davis, indeed.

Chris Davis was crushed with a 25-game suspension for amphetamines, so now what do you think of the fallen Baltimore Orioles slugger's 53 homers last summer?

Don't be ridiculous—amphetamines are not steroids.

And yet...there's a reason players take them, right? Several reasons, actually.

I stood and talked with Davis in Citi Field last summer during All-Star festivities in New York, and given that he pulled into Queens with 37 homers already at that point, he was fielding performance-enhancing drug questions as frequently as ground balls during spring training.

And talk about the newest Boy Wonder: Fact is, he was the leading vote-getter at last year's All-Star Game. That sweltering day in New York—96 degrees—he talked all about baseball's "super-sophisticated" drug testing system and said he didn't understand why anybody would try to cheat it. He said he still considered Roger Maris' 61 homers in 1961 as the single-season homer record, Barry Bonds' 73 in 2001 be damned. And he spoke eloquently about taking seriously his responsibility to give fans "a little hope for the future."

Where is your hope level now?

Lacking, given Davis' paltry (compared to 53) 26 homers this year and his luge-like drop in both slugging percentage (.634 last year to .404 this year) and batting average (.286 to .196)?

Destroyed, given Friday’s suspension?

To its credit, baseball emerged from the steroid era with the toughest PED testing program in professional sports.

Here, though, is where things remain murky: steroids versus stimulants.

No comparison, you say? Fine, then Davis' suspension is a misdemeanor, not a felony.

Yeah, but he's a dirty, rotten cheater, you say? Yep, by the letter of the law, he's guilty.

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He apologized profusely in a statement Friday "to my teammates, coaches, the Orioles organization and especially the fans. I made a mistake by taking Adderall. I had permission to use it in the past, but do not have a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) this year."

As is ever the case in these statements, it brought up more questions than there are answers.

The biggest: Why did Davis go from having permission to take Adderall in the past to suddenly not having permission?

Did MLB deny him? Did he not apply because MLB toughened the rules? Did his doctor think circumstances had changed?

What we do know is that this is the second offense for Davis this year, because first-time offenders under the "stimulants" umbrella escape with a warning. The 25-game suspension comes into play when a test is failed for a second time.

According to the most recent MLB report on its testing program, which covers the period between the start of 2012 and the end of the 2013 postseason, 122 players received TUEs, 119 of which were because of attention deficit disorder.

So here Davis is, here the Orioles are, here we are.

Everybody loves a Cinderella story, a fresh face producing a breakout season. But the head-shaking truth of the matter is, sooner or later, we usually learn we can't trust them.

With offensive levels down to some of their lowest points since 1972 (the cumulative MLB batting average Friday was .252, lowest since .244 in 1972), the chatter among several former players is that banning amphetamines and similar stimulants has had as big an effect on the depression of runs as banning steroids.

No question, players are looking for ways to keep an edge, as they always have and always will. A couple of seasons ago, during one particularly notable rash of hamstring injuries, then-Texas manager Ron Washington hypothesized to me that many of the muscle strains were because of players gulping highly caffeinated energy drinks and coffee. Caffeine is a diuretic; consequently, Washington's point was that players are at higher risk for muscular injuries when they are dehydrated.

However much truth there is (or isn't) in that, Washington's overall point is well taken: Over the grind of a 162-game season, the ban on amphetamines has had an enormous effect.

Now, is it right to be upset with Davis now when, given what we know today, he's apparently been granted permission to use Adderall in the past?

And knowing this, does that change your opinion of his 53 home runs last year?

One year, Davis was within the law. One year, he wasn't. And we're not even 100 percent sure, given Davis' assertion that he used it in the past, that he was using it in 2013—though that sure seems safe to assume.

What we do know for certain today, beyond the shadow of a reasonable doubt, is that another Popeye home run hitter has landed on the suspended list. And while chicks may dig the long ball, we still can't trust the long ball.

Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

"At this point it's not up to me to gauge what's fair or not fair," Orioles manager Buck Showalter told reporters before the first game of Friday's doubleheader with the Yankees in Camden Yards. "I know what the positive test was for, and believe me, I'm not condoning any positive test...

"These are the things that everybody knew about beforehand, and it's another way that we want our fans to be able to trust a lot of things."

I close my eyes and I see Davis besieged by admirers at last year's All-Star Game. I see Buster Posey recalling how the two played against each other in the minors and Posey comparing the sound of his bat to that of Giancarlo Stanton. I see Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy telling me, "You see him in the weight room lifting as much weight as he can, and then he picks up a bat that looks like a tree to me. And he swings it like a toothpick."

I open my eyes and I see Davis too often not being able to get out of his own way at the plate this summer. And I see him tied with the Nationals' Ian Desmond with an MLB-leading 173 strikeouts.

And I think to myself, damn, here's just one more piece of evidence that to watch this game today, a guy's even gotta sleep with his eyes open.

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. He has over two decades of experience covering MLB, including 14 years as a national baseball columnist at CBSSports.com.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball @ScottMillerBbl.