Cheap Shot

It's one thing to take a hard line with an idiot like Jason Grimsley, even if there is every chance that it will backfire. Grimsley is a knucklehead, has always been a knucklehead, and probably will be a knucklehead for the rest of his life. He's not a beloved icon in Phoenix, has no ties to the community, and has made a very margin contribution this year. He's also made a fool of himself in public, and revealed himself as a target for the current witchhunt. He's a perfect scapegoat.

But having Diamondbacks team president Ken Kendrick open his pie hole to "defend" Luis Gonzalez against "whispers" that he has been a steroid user is akin to asking someone, "when did you stop beating your wife?"

Gonzalez is regarded, from all indications, as one of baseball's nicest guys. I've never met him, so I can't personally vouch for that, but everything I've ever read points to that. He's taken a very active role in the local community and has been a positive rolemodel, at least publicly.

Of course, one could, I suppose, be all of that and still cheat with chemicals, but the catch is this: there has never been a single public disclosure or shred of evidence that Gonzalez is anything of the sort.

Not that this matters to the witchhunters. Now Gonzalez has to defend himself against a charge that has never been made. I'll bet he never expected a Spanish Inquistion.