The increased traffic lately (i.e. the last two days) is entirely attributable to one FP Santangelo.  And sadly, this has really turned his “Cinderella” story into one with a very unhappy ending - see today’s story in the Ottawa Sun, I’m sure it won’t be the last.  To his credit, he’s had the courage to “man-up” and admit what he’s done: Human growth hormone.  And why: Fear.

This one is tough.  Tough to accept at a personal level, and tough to explain to Zak (Neate’s point duly noted).  The difficulty for me however is not that my son has built any of these guys up as heroes - far from it.  He is impressed with their athleticism, their abilities, their physical talent.  He’s met Howie Clark - spoken with him, participated in some practice drills with him.  What he finds most difficult now is reconciling his feelings about these guys with the knowledge that some of them are “cheaters”.  That sense of morality is self-imposed, just ask any teacher, coach or parent: The worst offense in the schoolyard, the most scarlet of letters is to be labelled a cheater.  At ten years old, most boys don’t know much about genuine sportsmanship - helping a competitor to his feet, respecting - perhaps even admiring an adversary’s ability, accepting defeat gracefully.  They do understand rules.  And there’s no quarter given for cheats.

As an adult, I understand why guys might turn to drugs, steroids, hormones - I get it.   Temptation, fear, money, ego - all of those things, perhaps none of those things.  Kids on the other hand don’t get it - they shouldn’t get it, not yet anyway.  Let’s not forget, the game is marketed towards them too - should I have given a pre-emptive word of caution that some of these guys were possibly taking drugs?  Maybe.  But I didn’t.  I also didn’t tell him about Santa Claus, or the tooth fairy.  I let him figure it out on his own.

But when the news came on Thursday night, I turned the channel; he still really loves this game and doesn’t need to be buried under a 479 page avalanche of reasons why he should reconsider.

*** UPDATE ***

Am I “hiding the truth” from my son?  Hardly - in the age of cable, the internet and 24 hr. sports news, I got to shield him from it for about a day.  But at least I had the chance to talk to him about it first.

And there’s a lot - most of it, isn’t good.  I’m not going to blog the Mitchell report, because quite frankly I don’t have the time.  A quick glance at some of the headlines (and a bit of TV) is surprising though - I blogged my thoughts on this earlier this summer, but I have to admit I never would have expected to see guys like Howie Clark and FP Santangelo implicated in any of this stuff.  And I didn’t consider myself naiive - but I guess, that’s why it’s a surprise; we figure we’re cynical enough not to be shocked by these things anymore.  I figured incorrectly.

Anyway.

Good guy, and fan and blog favorite, Joe Thurston has found his way to Boston.  Brian Mazone (second blog interview) has given up on the Korean experiment and is back with Philadelphia.  Thanks to Pete Toms for spoon feeding me the Baseball America transactions wire last night.

No, not the City beat, nor the courts - baseball stuff.  Strange, I know.  And before I delve too deeply into this post, I appreciate the paradoxical nature of the poll I posted yesterday; visitors to the blog who answer “yes” are effectively saying they want to stop coming to a site… that they’re coming to.  Don’t get me wrong - I want the input, and I understand that there’s a segment of [cough] regular visitors that would like ottawalynxblog.com to go away for reasons having nothing to do with [cough] baseball coverage.

Anyway.

From scout.com:

Question: “Erik Bedard or Dan Haren would look good in a Phillies uniform. Do you see either of them coming to town in a deal?”

Answer: No and probably not.

The Phillies offered Baltimore Kyle Kendrick, Shane Victorino, Jason Donald and Zack Segovia for Bedard and were turned down flat. It’s simply going to take a LOT for a team to get Bedard away from Baltimore and the Phillies aren’t going to want to give up what it would take. They may be even further away from a deal to bring Haren to town, since the A’s would want a huge return in young players and the Phillies won’t sell out the farm to get one pitcher.

[Blogger - whoa.  Kendrick, Victorino, Donald and Segovia and still a no-go.]

The Phillies and Pirates could match up very well for a deal. Damaso Marte is signed for $2 million in 2008 and a $6 million team option for 2009 and would be a nice addition to the back of the Phillies bullpen. Marte has pitched well in a set-up role for the Pirates and could be dealt, but so far, the Pirates are asking for a lot in exchange. A step down would be John Grabow, a left-hander with decent Major League numbers for Pittsburgh. He would be a late inning option and a complement to lefty J.C. Romero to get left-handers out.

With Rowand out of the picture, the Phillies talked to Mike Cameron, but he wants multiple years and the Phillies won’t do it. That again shifted the Phillies to Pittsburgh where they found Nate McLouth. The lefty hitting McLouth has decent power (13 HR in 329 AB last season) and carries a small contract. Again though, the Pirates may want more than McLouth could be worth.

Don’t count out the possiblity of the Phillies putting Josh Outman or J.A. Happ at the top of a package for Pittsburgh to get McLouth and one of the relievers. The Phillies would bite the bullet and include some good prospects in the right deal.

[Blogger: Interesting to see the Pittsburgh connection taking shape.  Happ is a known commodity as far as John Russell is involved.  He would probably have a little inside information about Outman as well.  Add to that the fact that the Pirates also recently picked up the Phillies minor league hitting coordinator, Don Long, and you have the possibility of creating a similar dynamic as exists between Philadelphia GM Pat Gillick, and his former organization in Seattle.