I'll run (naked) with this one

Last time I passed on a hot tip, I regretted it. So without further ado, I'd like to direct your attention to a friend of a friend.

It occured to me yesterday evening, after posting here, that THE story of the day was Rafael Palmeiro failing a drug test, and I didn't even mention it in passing. I made a joke when the "Juiced" controversy was in full swing about Palmeiro not being above better living through chemistry.

I acknowledged that he, Pudge and Juan Gonzalez would make pretty likely suspects for steroid use, but I didn't think that meant they actually were, ya know, juiced. Well it looks like Raffy was after all.

And, AND - I admit to taking perverse pleasure in this sort of thing (see also: Rush Limbaugh's painkiller addiction) - he'd denied it in front of Congress, under oath of course, and participated in something called the "Zero Tolerance Roundtable"!

That's how I like my athlete/celebrity public humiliation: served in generous portions with all the fixins.

Anyway, back to the New York Metropolitans... Tonight at Shea: Victor Zambrano, coming off a positively gemlike 7-inning performace at Coors last week, takes the hill against Milwaukee. He will be opposed by former National Tomo Ohka, who is the kind of pitcher that the Mets have an unfortunate habit of making look awfully good. Ohka is really much closer to bad, and I'll be disappointed if we don't begin another Sisyphean push over the .500 mark right away.