Gonzo Reilly

Posted at 10:41 am on Thursday, February 19, 2009, in Sports, and tagged baseball.

Rick Reilly is not that funny of a guy, but he tries to be in his ESPN column, and I respect that.

In his latest column however, Reilly abandons logic when he suggests that the 2001 MVP award should have gone to Luis Gonzales, as well as the home run record, because the actual winner — Barry Bonds — had used steroids that season. There is a fine point that Reilly purposely misses: Luis Gonzales also used steroids that year. Gonzales may have not admitted it yet, but numbers do not lie.

Here are Gonzales’ home run totals for the five years leading up to his break-out 2001 season when he hit 57 home runs: 15, 10, 23, 26, 31. And here are the home run totals in the years following the 2001 season: 28, 26, 17, 24, 15, 15, 8.

In the court of public opinion, based on the evidence, Gonzales should also be convicted of steroid use.

What is even more perplexing is that Reilly shrugged off Adrian Beltre’s 2004 season numbers as an obvious steroid-infused campaign, yet Beltre’s career numbers and break-out season parallel Luis Gonzales’ career to a tee.

Reilly is utilizing alternating logic, and I cannot respect that.

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