Players getting fed up with lying dopers

Protective no more, baseball players are downright disgusted these days with doping.

Now they are demanding even stiffer suspensions for those caught cheating.

"It's a new generation of athletes that are standing up," Travis Tygart, chief executive of the US Anti-Doping Agency, said on Tuesday. "The culture's been flipped on its head."

When Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers accepted a season-ending 65-game suspension on Monday rather than fight MLB over evidence he used performance-enhancing drugs, fellow players appeared tired of those who cast shadows on the sport.

"They're lying to the fans," Los Angeles Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson said.

"They're lying to their teammates. They're lying to their GMs, their owners and they're going to get caught."

Skip Schumaker of the Los Angeles Dodgers said Braun, the 2011 NL MVP, let him down.

"Watching him talk right now makes me sick," Schumaker said.

"I have an autographed Braun jersey in my baseball room that I'll be taking down. I don't want my son identifying what I've worked so hard to get to and work so hard to have - I don't want him comparing Braun to me."

Matt Kemp of the Dodgers, who finished second to Braun in the 2011 MVP vote, said the Milwaukee slugger should be stripped of the honor.

"We had conversations, and I considered him a friend," Kemp said. "I don't think anybody likes to be lied to, and I feel like a lot of people have felt betrayed."

New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi agreed. "It's another black eye for our game. I know this game is very resilient, and there's been a lot of scandals over the years, but you get tired of it," Girardi said.

He may soon face his own problem with a star slugger.

More than a dozen players have been targeted by MLB in its probe of the closed anti-aging clinic Biogenesis of America, including three-time AL MVP Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees.

New York expects A-Rod could face a much harsher penalty than the one Braun agreed to, a person familiar with the case said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no statements were authorized.

The Yankees anticipate Rodriguez could be accused of using PEDs over multiple seasons, recruiting other athletes for the clinic, attempting to obstruct the MLB's investigation and of not being truthful with MLB in the past when he discussed his relationship with Dr Anthony Galea.

Galea pleaded guilty two years ago to a US federal charge of bringing unapproved drugs from Canada into the US.

(China Daily 07/25/2013 page22)