Tony DeMarco

Gary Matthews Jr. says he didn’t do it.

No, he never has taken human growth hormone — never mind that his name showed up on a list of those who received the performance-enhancing drug as part of a mushrooming internet investigation.

The one performance-enhancing drug for which Major League Baseball’s incomplete testing policy doesn’t screen.

And that’s where this story very well could end, because as Matthews also said in a long-awaited response this week to his alleged involvement, “nobody has accused me of (using HGH), and no law enforcement agency has said I am a target of investigation for doing so.’’

So what we have is another tease, a couple of days of sexy headlines. But nothing really accomplished in the face of another black mark on the game that remains mostly powerless in its attempt to stop a never-ending scandal.

But just for the record, Matthews allegedly was sent human growth hormone in 2004 by a pharmacy that is part of the investigation. Matthews had been released by the Atlanta Braves in the spring of that year, then signed with the Texas Rangers and was sent to Triple-A Oklahoma. The Rangers were his fourth team in a two-season span, and his eighth organization in a journeyman big-league career that began in 1999 with the Padres.

Matthews played in only 87 games with Texas in 2004, and batted .275 with 11 homers and 36 RBI. Then in 2005 and 2006, he put together his two best seasons at age 30 and 31, batting .255 with 17 homers and 55 RBI in 2005, then .313 with 19 homers and 79 RBI in a career-year in 2006.

And the kicker, he signed a five-year, $50-million contract last winter with the Los Angeles Angels, whose owner — Arte Moreno — publicly has called him out, asking for an explanation.

But now that Matthews has professed innocence, he is facing no suspension from the Angels. And don’t expect one to be handed down from the commissioner’s office, either.

The problem is that while this probe and others like it are welcomed and well-intentioned, they are aimed more at the distributors than the buyers. Other current and former players linked to the scandal include Jose Canseco, John Rocker, Jerry Hairston Jr., David Bell and Darren Holmes. But, of course, nobody has admitted guilt, although Canseco is an admitted steroids user and whistle-blower.

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Meanwhile, the George Mitchell-led MLB investigation has been hamstrung by the lack of power to force testimonies. Its best chance for effectiveness may be granting immunity to those who do testify. But even then, there won’t be large groups of players rushing to the witness stand.

So instead of trying to figure out who did what and when in the past — an incomplete and impossible task — the focus should be on devising a test that can accurately detect human growth hormone use, and get it into the MLB testing policy as quickly as possible.

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Even the man commissioned by MLB to develop that test — Dr. Don Catlin, head of the Olympic Analytical Laboratory at UCLA — says it’s no easy task. In fact, Catlin told the Denver Post recently that an adequate urine screen for HGH may never be developed, and that blood testing may be the best way to go.

Players unions from baseball and the NFL don’t agree, saying those tests can’t be trusted, either. But that shouldn’t deter MLB from continuing down this path. It should be about what can be prevented in the future, not dredging up what’s already happened.

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