Mike Cameron flexed his considerable biceps, pointed at it and smiled.
“If that was the result of steroids, it’d be a lot bigger,” he said. “I can hit the ball a long way, but if I don’t put a good swing on it, it doesn’t matter how big I am.”
The topic Wednesday, in the clubhouse and on the networks, was steroid usage in baseball – the result of ex-player Ken Caminiti’s assertion that more than half of all major league players use steroids.
In the Devil Rays dugout, manager Hal McRae shook his head.
“I first heard about the rumors – what- about 1990 or so,” he said. “And it wasn’t because guys were hitting more home runs. It was because of the bodies you suddenly started seeing.
“But you can’t use that ‘duck’ theory – the one that says if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it must be a duck. Somebody says half the players in the game take it? So far, nobody’s proven anyone playing today is taking them.
“It reflects badly on a lot of players who work hard to get here, to stay strong, to stay healthy. I don’t care what percentage you want to use, until it’s proven, it’s zero.”
Sitting half naked at his locker, Bret Boone fielded questions.
“I think the theory that it makes you a better player is wrong to start with,” he said. “If you don’t have a good swing, will steroids let you hit .350? Yeah, strength helps, but it’s not what makes you a good player. Talent does that.”
Example?
“How many guys in the game are stronger than me?” Boone asked. “Plenty. How many of them can hit a ball out where can – to left field or to right field? That’s bat speed, not muscles. That’s ability, not steroids. You can make yourself better, but you can’t take steroids to make you a player.”
“With the money that can be made in the game today, guys have personal trainers all off-season, they have nutritionists, they change their whole lives,” Cameron said. “I lift weights to get stronger, yes, but the point of being stronger in baseball is to keep you fit over 162 games. And if you do get hurt, that strength gets you back faster.
“I don’t lift to hit more home runs. If my swing is bad – and it has been for awhile – it doesn’t matter how strong I am.”
Would teammates automatically know if a player was using steroids?
“Probably not,” Boone said. “It’s nothing you’d talk about, it’s nothing you’d be doing in a clubhouse. When my dad played, there was talk about this red juice guys would take to feel stronger. Where’s that stuff now?
“You ever heard of anyone drinking red juice and hitting .350 all of a sudden? I’m sure some guys have tried it. Some guys – in and out of baseball – will try anything.
“Me, I’m still wondering about that red juice.”
Take a seat: Cameron was out of the starting lineup Wednesday, a night after hitting coach Gerald Perry and manager Lou Piniella had a talk with him. The topic?
“I told him he wasn’t driving the ball to right center field the way he did all last season, that maybe he was pulling a bit too much,” Piniella said. “Mike has good strength, good power that way, and I can’t remember the last time he drove a ball there. We reminded him, that four homer game, he hit three of those home runs to center field. It’s something to work on.”
Changes: Pulling Cameron wasn’t the only lineup change. In an attempt to inject a little offense into the attack, Piniella put Mark McLemore in center field and Ben Davis behind the plate.
Walk this way: Over their last 11 games (before Wednesday), the Mariners were 5-0 when walked five times or more – and 0-6 when walking four times or less.
Larry LaRue
Opponent: Baltimore Orioles
When: 4:05 p.m.
Where: Camden Yards, Baltimore, Md.
TV: FSN (cable)
Radio: KIRO (710 AM)
Starting pitchers: Seattle right-hander Rafael Soriano (0-1, 2.53 earned run average) vs. right-hander Scott Erickson (3-5, 4.66).
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