So three years later he’s back in the bigs, transformed into a power-hitting outfielder, and everyone was saying it’s one o the best stories the game has had in years. Then the Daily News ran its story and suddenly Jocketty is saying it’s a potential tragedy.

Why? Because of what he probably did three years ago? When he was trying to be a pitcher?

HGH is undetectable by current testing technology. That’s very important to remember. It means that neither you nor I nor George Mitchell knows how many major and minor leaguers are using even as you read this.

But if there’s a chance that it can help a player’s performance and it can’t be detected and doesn’t have all the nasty side effects of steroids – so far, there’s been no mention of "HGH rage" — you can bet that a whole lot of players are using the stuff. And not just baseball players, but football players, basketball players, hockey players, golfers, tennis players, swimmers, runners, cyclists, skiers — the list is just about endless.

But the only sport anyone really gets outraged about in this country is baseball, and then only when it’s linked to someone who hits home runs. That says it all. It’s the sacred homer we really care about, not the drugs.

Because we don’t care if it helps running backs score touchdowns or linemen block other linemen.

And as we’ve already seen, the fans — most of them, anyway – don’t care about it at all. It’s only the writers and the baseball executives who get their jocks in a twist over it. Let’s go back to the basics, I can guzzle HGH — or inject it — by the quart, and I’m still not going to able to hit a 96 m.p.h. two-seamer. Same for most of you. Before Ankiel took anything — if, indeed, he did, which can’t be proved — he could hit a baseball.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more. more photos

Look at pictures of the guy. He’s hardly got Popeye forearms or a bowling-ball head. A-Rod looks at least as big as he, and Albert Pujols is a lot bigger.

You may as well suspect them all, including Prince Fielder, who could be slipping HGH into the sauce on the bacon double-cheeseburgers for all we know. Anytime you have a drug that can’t be detected, it’s your only choice.

Assume everyone’s doing whatever he feels he needs to do, then sit back and enjoy the game.

And if you insist Ankiel is a black eye for baseball, why aren’t you screaming about Rodney Harrison?

Get back to me when you have an answer that makes sense.

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