Medical Staffs' Spotty History Caused This Latest Gaffe

If I got shot in the chest and was bleeding in the street and a member of the Mets' medical team came up to me and offered assistance, I'd say, "Go away. I need a real doctor."

That is exactly what Carlos Beltran did with his aching knee.

He could no longer listen to the hackery coming from the Mets' team doctors that his knee was simply bruised and it just needed some rest.

Beltran underwent a surgical procedure in Colorado yesterday, allegedly of the "microfracture" variety since the operation was performed by Dr. Richard Steadman, the champion of the genre.

Beltran's surgery caught the Mets by surprise and the front office has switched to damage control mode, which means they are about to make a bad situation worse - as usual.

His agent, Scott Boras, is claiming the Mets had full knowledge of Beltran's plans. They are angry because the front office was asleep at the wheel again. They let another explainable situation out of the barn before they could spin it. They look like fools, and its not the first time.

No one can blame Beltran for having what the Mets are calling "elective" surgery. He's looking out for his career. The Mets' doctors are not deemed reliable by many of the players and their agents. Their track record speaks for itself.

Last year, the Mets were overrun by the injury bug. That happens to teams on occasion, but it is becoming more commonplace with the Mets. At some point, it stops being a coincidence and starts becoming someone's fault.

If you examine the injuries the Mets have sustained the past few years, you will see a disturbing pattern. They misdiagnose, then mistreat injuries causing players to lose more time than necessary.

Its no wonder the Mets only won 70 games last year. People said they had no depth. The real reason is that when players go on the DL its like going into the witness protection program. They're never seen again.

Had Beltran listened to the Mets, he would have begun the season on his "bruised" knee and most likely would have been shut down shortly after. Now, he will miss only a few weeks in April.

Jose Reyes missed most of 2009 with leg issues. At first, the Mets could not pin down what the problem was. They were calling it " tendinitis in the calf". He then tore his hamstring while rehabbing the calf. The Mets are blaming the Dodgers' medical staff for misdiagnosing Reyes' initial injury.

Really? What happened when Reyes came back to New York? Last time I checked the Upper East Side was chock full of world-class hospitals. Bottom line, the Mets screwed this situation up five ways til Tuesday.

The concussions were another debacle. Ryan Church's career was practically ruined by the Mets. They knew this guy was in no shape to fly, yet here he was cleared by the Mets' doctors to make a cross-country flight. Yikes.

They did the same to Carlos Delgado and his ailing hip. They flew him out to the West Coast only to fly him back the next day to see a doctor in New York.

And what about all the injuries to the pitchers? Mike Pelfrey is the only starter who made it through 2009. The rest? Well, they weren't so lucky. Let's hope they were treated properly and don't break down in 2010.

Don't miss this....an American/Greek tragedy...you don't have to be boxing fan to watch, either....

Matt Lauer of The Today Show cornered Sen. John McCain regarding his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate in the 2008 Presidential Election.

This is nothing more than a liberal sideswipe at McCain.

The election is over, the Democrats won, yet they still manage to snipe at the Republicans every chance they get. So much for the "reaching across the aisle" approach.

Now don't take this as an endorsement of Palin or McCain in any way. We respect McCain's lifetime of service to his country and he deserves the utmost repsect - especially from media types and other punks who try to suckerpunch him.

Sarah Palin, on the other hand, has no place in national politics. Her credentials are shaky and no one is sure where she registers on the intelligence meter.

There is no doubt that baseball legend and pariah Mark McGwire partook in the performance enhancing drug craze of the 1990's.

Yesterday, he finally admitted that he had used PEDs, but somehow does not think they were the driving force behind his record home-run season of 1998.

He's kidding, but only himself. First off, it was his idea to come clean. Now, he is a state of denial about the effect those substances (he can't name which ones, btw) had on his body and performance.

That is the story on the surface. What is really going on.......

In October, the St. Louis Cardinals hired McGwire to be their batting coach. In order for him to assimilate back into the game he must clear up his name and image. The last we saw of McGwire was in 2005 in front of a congressional panel investigating the use of PEDs in Major League Baseball.

His words...."Asking me or any other player to answer questions about who took steroids in front of television cameras will not solve the problem. If a player answers 'No,' he simply will not be believed; if he answers 'Yes,' he risks public scorn and endless government investigations.... My lawyers have advised me that I cannot answer these questions without jeopardizing my friends, my family, and myself. I will say, however, that it remains a fact in this country that a man, any man, should be regarded as innocent unless proven guilty."


This was construed as backhanded mea culpa. When asked if he was exercising his Fifth Amendment rights he replied: "I'm not here to talk about the past. I'm here to be positive about this subject."

Yesterday, in a statement to the Associated Press and in an interview with Bob Costas, McGwire was still elusive about his exact usage and why he felt he needed to take PEDs. Injuries, he said, were threatening to shorten his career so he made a Faustian deal that morphed his body into WWE proportions.

Bulls**t.

He cannot come completely clean. He knows what drugs he took, but cannot divulge because many of them were illegal and could possibly incriminate him.

McGwire also has to choose his words carefully so that they do not conflict with his testimony under oath in 2005. From what we see, that may not be an issue, but he is being closely advised to watch what he says.

In conjunction with that, McGwire probably wanted to deny he was a user in 2005, like the others, but was still on the juice and had he been forced to surrender blood or urine would have tested positive and been charged with perjury.

Any admission either way at that time could have opened him up for oodles of prosecution since their were many open cases regarding illegal steroids in baseball being conducted at that time.

The timing of this is no coincidence. He is only coming out now because he is clean and needs a job. The window for a sincere, contrite admission from Mark McGwire has been closed for some time.

He has actually made a bad situation worse by coming forward.  No one will ever take him seriously ever again.

Beginning February 1st, 30 Seconds Over America will bring you a daily analysis and interpretation of the top stories collected from the varied spectrum that is America.