Maybe he'll have better luck than as a pitcher...and better accuracy when throwing from the outfield than the mound?

Kind of sad that he's completely lost it. Has all psychological help failed, and are there are no meds that can help him focus?

I hope he can make it as an outfielder. Perhaps he can be like Dale Murphy: he was brought up as a catcher but was moved to the outfield when he developed some sort of mental glitch in getting the ball back to the pitcher. The Cards must think Ankiel's bat is worth the effort.

Side point: does anyone else find it strange that whenever Ankiel is discussed by either his manager or the press, they always refer to the numerous off-field "issues" he's had to face over his life, almost dropping their voices to a whisper when mentioning "issues."

~Adam

Well Ankiel has finally made it back to the majors and in his first three games back, he has 3 HRs. Even a heartless bastard like me flet bad for his meltdown on the mound, si it's great to see this kid keep his dream alive. I'm not really a Cardinals fan, but I'm rooting for Ankiel!

Like I've said before, I'm not the baseball fan I once was but this is a great story. I'm rooting for Rick as well. He's worked very hard to come back. I just hope we don't find out that he used steroids along the way.

It is the feel good story of the week. I saw that he had .207 average as a pitcher, and was very athletic overall so I guess he had potential to make the conversion to a position player. He had 32 HRs batting .267 in the Pacific coast league ths year, so let's see if this translates to Major League career or just a late season wonder.

This is such a great story. I can't help but smile when I see his highlights on TV. He must be feeling great.

To me, this is what makes sports so great.

There's a taint of suspicion now. There's a report that Ankiel received human growth hormone in 2004.

NY Daily News article

Ankiel drove in 7 runs last night vs. the Pirates. Tony LaRussa said: "Marvel is a good word," manager Tony La Russa said. "It's kind of amazing, isn't it?" Of course, LaRussa has seen a lot of marvellous players up close: Canseco, McGwire, Giambi... In 81 ABs, Ankiel has 9 homers and 29 RBI, which would project to 55 homers and 178 RBI in 500 ABs. True, as a pitcher (in 2000) he hit .250 with 2 HR in 68 ABs (excellent numbers for a pitcher), but his current .765 SLG is higher than Prince Fielder (.605), Chipper Jones (.588) and, gulp, Barry Bonds (.583). Hmmm...

I bemusedly await fans of "The Natural" using my Bonds-related arguments that the stuff wasn't banned by MLB when the 'taking' went on...

I seriously have a hard time with vilifying Ankiel. If he was injured and took a legal substance before it was banned by the MLB to improve himself and continued to improve once he stopped HGH, then more power to him.

It wasn't 'legal' w/out a prescription, it just wasn't MLB-banned.

Again, lots and lots of players have done and are doing this stuff -- you are a naif if you think otherwise. Some succeed, some don't.

That's why the "legal" is italicized young Bill. Did Barry have a prescription?

What's a naif?

It sounds like he knew he was taking HGH, based on today's interview. I'm old school, I admit, but from here, legal or not, medically prescribed or not, HGH provides an unfair advantage, so in my mind, amounts to cheating. Ankiel has been a terror at the plate this month..and all this came out of nowhere. His sudden improvement is nothing short of a miracle.

The line that HGH users seem to be taking is that they're not using a performance-enhancing drug. They're using something that helps them recover from injuries.

Gee. If you recover from your injuries much faster than other players, doesn't that enhance your performance?

PUJOLS. His name should among the first on your list.

And he's not pumping up using HGH.

As for Ankiel, very disappointing, but in a way not surprising.

I admire Pujols a lot, but there is, of course, NO WAY anybody can say a specific player "isn't using HGH." How the hell would we know?

Marvin Benard used HGH. Didn't help him much, did it?

I selected Canseco, McGwire and Giambi because they are all steroid users formerly managed by LaRussa. (And the "marvellous" was sarcastic.)

If Pujols is not on drugs, then he doesn't belong on the list.

I got you. He, like Chris Carpenter, is one of the outstanding athletes LaRussa's seen who hasn't been abusing drugs.

I happened to flip onto the Cards-Reds game briefly earlier. Ankiel was at bat, and a few people were chanting "H-G-H! H-G-H!" It was sort of amusing.

The Cards have been tanking since he was revealed to have gotten his HGH boost. They were just a game and half behind Chicago and Milwaukee before the slide, and now they're careening further and further from the playoff summit.

Eight straight losses since the Ankiel revelation, and the Cards are 6 games back now. They're not mathematically eliminated, and heaven knows the NL Central doesn't have a dominant team, but I think the Cards are done now.

Make it 9 straight and 7 back.

You're right. I didn't realize they had a day-night DH today.

Will Tony LaRussa return in 2008?

This year may be the straw that broke the camels back for both sides. There were Jocketty/LaRussa to Cincy rumors earlier in the year.

The Cards finally win one after nine losses in a row. This team was left for dead on July 1st 9 1/2 games out, then climbed all the way back to 1 game out on Sept. 6. How in the heck could they have lost nine in a row playing in such a mediocre division? I thought there might be a repeat of last year's late run, but I guess lightning doesn't strike twice for the same team.

Ankiel's offense was more valuable than Card fans realized. Without the drugs, he's a very ordinary hitter. Pujols is not the same player as last year. Plus, the Card starters have not performed well lately...at all. Bad combination.

It's just a sad turn to the comeback story. I wonder if someone could do some research to find lousy players who are making no impact at all that took HGH at some point? At least then it would give us some assurance that it takes more than drugs to make a good ballplayer.

karma is a bitch.

You grasp the concept, right? (Cf. irony; tanking Mets, etc.)

Back to the Cards: since the shiny little charlatan (doper) was revealed the Cards have completely collapsed. Tonight they were blown out by Houston 18-1. Just disgusting. Pujols, Duncan and others are out with injuries. Mulder's arm is shot but LaRussa or someone is under the impression he should be brought back yet again. The Cards barely have a starting rotation even without Mulder, and little semblance of a lineup. It's sad. And LaRussa supposedly may take his non-managing to Seattle! Sayonara and don't forget your booze, Tony!

Oh well, someone get Ankiel some more HGH so he can at least provide a bit of entertainment and spectacle these last few games.