Phillieshome.com | Philadelphia Phillies News, phillies Scores, Game Recaps & Commentary - <div>YOU BLEW IT, J.C. </div>How could a guy used to turning the seventh inning into Death Valley for hitters, a pitcher that lefthanded hitters see in their nightmares, know so little about playing the game outside the game? All you had to do to stay outside the short arm of MLB's drug law was follow the lead of the superstars. You mean to tell us you relied on a Phillies employee, a health-and-strength guy fairly new to the organization, for "nutritional" advice? Gag me with a syringe filled with Genotropin. The big guys who either lied to Congress or stonewalled grand juries, the former Hall of Fame locks, had it down to a science, so to speak. "See this guy? He's my nutritionist, strength coach and anything else I ask him to do. He's cool to be in the clubhouse at home and on the road, dig it?" Or you do like the big righthanded pitcher, the one who kept looking into the cameras with his lantern jaw as set and resolute as Leno's, swearing that he never, ever, had sex - oops, wrong celebrity - had needles stuck into his butt by that liar who was once on his payroll. Didn't you read Jose's book about how easy it was to just walk into the clubhouse lavatory, drop your drawers, expose a cheek and gain a yard on your fastball, 50 feet on your home runs and an inch on your hat size? Didn't you, J.C.? You could've been somebody. You could have been a contendah. All you had to do was go all-in with a BALCO-type lab practicing strange science. They would have had your back a lot better than the fumbling foofs from the MLPA. Your union threw you under the bus with a series of statements yesterday supporting MLB's testing program - after a decade of fighting it - then said it still thought you have been unjustly penalized. That was like saying, "Hey, better jack up the bus a little so this guy doesn't get crushed completely." And the Phillies, what a job they did in your behalf. With your statement already in the Inquirer, on our Web site, on ESPN and ESPN.com, the crack PR department gave the beat writers a 36-minute heads-up on a Ruben Amaro conference call at 11 a.m. The Phillies say they didn't know about Romero's arbitration hearing on Oct. 22, the day of World Series Game 1. An arbitrator decided that an over-the-counter supplement contained enough of a banned testosterone-boosting substance for a 50-game suspension that will cost you $1.25 million in salary. Ruben said he's cool with the harshest penalty ever imposed on a Phillies active player, a penalty for being "negligent" in the use of an OTC supplement that Cloris Leachman could walk in and purchase - if she wanted to dance a little faster. You blew it big-time, J.C. No matter what is written in the meat of the MLB agreement with the MLPA, the minute the guy from the Roid Patrol offered to reduce the suspension to 25 days if you admitted guilt, you should have run to the best lawyer you could find. But what could we expect from an athlete who did his business with a GNC store in Cherry Hill instead of in the back alleys of BALCO, home of the Cream, the Clear and enhancements so new when they came out of the labs they didn't even have names? Barry got Body by BALCO. J.C. Romero got that wicked, hip-locking slider from a General Nutrition Center outlet store near him. Is there a mall in the western world that doesn't have a GNC? So, welcome to Bud's Brave New World, J.C. That's the one commissioner Bud Selig and the Lords of Baseball stonewalled for so many years of rising home-run totals and attendance it took a room filled with congressmen and serial liars - OK, that's redundant - to alert America to the extent of the taint in a sport where the only advantage to being skinny is not being a suspect. But congratulations are in order, as well. You cost them the big win they were looking for, J.C. Had you admitted the guilt you still deny, had you taken 25 days instead of 50 and admitted wrongdoing in the shadow of a World Series that would have been played without you and your two relief wins, MLB would have had a trophy conviction to brandish as proof that the new testing plan not only was working but had sharp teeth. Roger Clemens still swears he never took an illegal substance. The agent for Barry Bonds says his client won't be ready to play during the exhibition season - should somebody sign him - but will be ready for the regular season. Barry has a very big leg up on you, J.C. He stayed away from the GNC hells of Mall America.* Send e-mail to bill1chair@aol.com. For recent columns, go to http://go.philly.com/conlin.

YOU BLEW IT, J.C.

How could a guy used to turning the seventh inning into Death Valley for hitters, a pitcher that lefthanded hitters see in their nightmares, know so little about playing the game outside the game?

All you had to do to stay outside the short arm of MLB's drug law was follow the lead of the superstars.

You mean to tell us you relied on a Phillies employee, a health-and-strength guy fairly new to the organization, for "nutritional" advice? Gag me with a syringe filled with Genotropin.

The big guys who either lied to Congress or stonewalled grand juries, the former Hall of Fame locks, had it down to a science, so to speak.

"See this guy? He's my nutritionist, strength coach and anything else I ask him to do. He's cool to be in the clubhouse at home and on the road, dig it?"

Or you do like the big righthanded pitcher, the one who kept looking into the cameras with his lantern jaw as set and resolute as Leno's, swearing that he never, ever, had sex - oops, wrong celebrity - had needles stuck into his butt by that liar who was once on his payroll.

Didn't you read Jose's book about how easy it was to just walk into the clubhouse lavatory, drop your drawers, expose a cheek and gain a yard on your fastball, 50 feet on your home runs and an inch on your hat size?

Didn't you, J.C.?

You could've been somebody. You could have been a contendah. All you had to do was go all-in with a BALCO-type lab practicing strange science. They would have had your back a lot better than the fumbling foofs from the MLPA. Your union threw you under the bus with a series of statements yesterday supporting MLB's testing program - after a decade of fighting it - then said it still thought you have been unjustly penalized. That was like saying, "Hey, better jack up the bus a little so this guy doesn't get crushed completely."

And the Phillies, what a job they did in your behalf. With your statement already in the Inquirer, on our Web site, on ESPN and ESPN.com, the crack PR department gave the beat writers a 36-minute heads-up on a Ruben Amaro conference call at 11 a.m. The Phillies say they didn't know about Romero's arbitration hearing on Oct. 22, the day of World Series Game 1. An arbitrator decided that an over-the-counter supplement contained enough of a banned testosterone-boosting substance for a 50-game suspension that will cost you $1.25 million in salary. Ruben said he's cool with the harshest penalty ever imposed on a Phillies active player, a penalty for being "negligent" in the use of an OTC supplement that Cloris Leachman could walk in and purchase - if she wanted to dance a little faster.

You blew it big-time, J.C. No matter what is written in the meat of the MLB agreement with the MLPA, the minute the guy from the Roid Patrol offered to reduce the suspension to 25 days if you admitted guilt, you should have run to the best lawyer you could find.

But what could we expect from an athlete who did his business with a GNC store in Cherry Hill instead of in the back alleys of BALCO, home of the Cream, the Clear and enhancements so new when they came out of the labs they didn't even have names?

Barry got Body by BALCO.

J.C. Romero got that wicked, hip-locking slider from a General Nutrition Center outlet store near him. Is there a mall in the western world that doesn't have a GNC?

So, welcome to Bud's Brave New World, J.C. That's the one commissioner Bud Selig and the Lords of Baseball stonewalled for so many years of rising home-run totals and attendance it took a room filled with congressmen and serial liars - OK, that's redundant - to alert America to the extent of the taint in a sport where the only advantage to being skinny is not being a suspect.

But congratulations are in order, as well.

You cost them the big win they were looking for, J.C. Had you admitted the guilt you still deny, had you taken 25 days instead of 50 and admitted wrongdoing in the shadow of a World Series that would have been played without you and your two relief wins, MLB would have had a trophy conviction to brandish as proof that the new testing plan not only was working but had sharp teeth.

Roger Clemens still swears he never took an illegal substance. The agent for Barry Bonds says his client won't be ready to play during the exhibition season - should somebody sign him - but will be ready for the regular season.

Barry has a very big leg up on you, J.C. He stayed away from the GNC hells of Mall America.*

Send e-mail to bill1chair@aol.com.

For recent columns, go to

http://go.philly.com/conlin.