Ryan Theriot Amused by Steroid Insinuations

Ryan Theriot is not bothered that people are beginning to whisper behind their hands about the possibility that some illegal performance enhancing substances could be behind his recent home run binge.  In fact, Theriot thinks the insinuations are rather amusing:

"Ryan Theriot owes his power surge to a change in his approach at the plate, the shortstop said, not performance-enhancing drugs, which was implied by a headline in a Chicago newspaper Friday.Theriot said he laughed when he saw the headline: “Small hitter, big problem: When even Theriot raises suspicions, baseball’s earned cynicism.”“It’s just comical,” Theriot said."

Ryan’s manager Lou Piniella?  Not amused:

"“Isn’t that crazy?” Piniella said. “When the wind is blowing out at Wrigley and you can show some bat speed and get the ball up in the pull field, you’re going to get rewarded.“The biggest problem with the steroid thing is not the fact that people took steroids, it’s that the people who haven’t get tainted along with everybody else,” Piniella said. “This is why truthfully, when they named Alex [Rodriguez] it’s unfair. They should’ve named all 103 [players who tested positive]. Look, if I were clean, I’d want to let people know I was clean so if I hit a few home runs, people don’t look at me and say, ‘Is this guy Popeye or what?'”"

Spinach isn’t against the rules last I looked.  And no, I do not think Ryan Theriot is on steroids.  Female fertility drugs maybe, but not steroids.