Jeff Kent, who is almost as old as you can be to still play this game, batted .447 during the month of July and had a monster home run in Houston, so I asked him before Tuesday night's game if he would take a drug test.
He poured out a bottle of water, and then offered to fill it on the spot, but I explained I was concerned about HGH and that would require a blood test.
"How about I fill the bottle and then spit blood in it," Kent said, and I've heard about 'roid rage, but how would you ever tell with Kent?
Kent is batting .305, and at his age and the way things are going these days in baseball, that raises questions, so I went to Barry Bonds, told him what Kent has been doing recently and asked Bonds if he thought Kent should be drug tested?
Bonds looked at me with a dazed look, and it got me wondering if he has ever been drug tested.
I asked about Kent again and told Bonds, "it's not that tough of a question," but he said, "I don't ever answer questions."
"That's not true," I said. "We talked twice last season and both times you answered questions." Just think how many fun Q & A sessions we would have if we spent an entire season together.
Bonds said he has kids and he doesn't like to argue with adults, and while I have no idea what that meant, I told him I had kids too. I thought about asking if he'd like to exchange phone numbers, get all the kids together and maybe arrange a meeting at Chuck E. Cheese, but he seemed a little distracted.
I told Bonds I'd give him a day to think about it and check back before tonight's game. I got the impression he couldn't wait.
I joined Grady Little's pregame chat and asked if Kent should be drug tested, and he said, "this guy can hit." I'm not sure if Little was talking about Kent's average, or Kent's reaction to being asked to take a drug test.
WHAT ABOUT Bonds -- once he passes Hank Aaron, I asked Little, "will the home run record be tainted?"
"I don't think so; that's a lot of home runs," Little said, and I asked him if he was telling the truth, and he said, "about 95%."
Then he said something about Bonds "carrying the torch through his entire career," and "pitchers were taking the same stuff he was doing" and yet Bonds was still hitting all those home runs.
That seemed to suggest that Little has Bonds pegged as a steroid user, and when I pointed that out, Little said, "No. I said if he was, then there was a good chance other players in the game were too, and some of them were probably pitchers."
