Rick Ankiel

I attended the Cubs-Cardinals game at Wrigley Field on Monday. I have been completely unsurprised as the Cards continue to unravel in September. You can only keep a gaping wound closed with band-aids for so long. We have been plagued by injuries and poor starting pitching for most of the season and it is amazing that we have even had a whiff of the playoffs this year.

What I also found completely unsurprising at Wrigley on Monday was the lack of class on the part of the Cubs' fans. These fickle folks were ready to write off the season after a two-game losing streak last week and focus their attention to the Bears. Every time, Rick Ankiel, the comeback story of the year, came to the plate, chants of "steroids" echoed throughout the stadium. While Rick certainly still has some questions to answer regarding his use of HGH (human growth hormone) in 2004, I thought I'd raise some valid points:

— Ankiel's power is nothing new. As a 17-year-old in 1997, he hit a 450-foot homer in his final high school game, then was one of the top hitters for the U.S. Junior National team that summer. He played left field when not pitching and batted .387 with three homers, four doubles and 16 RBIs in a dozen games. Ankiel hit a three-run homer into the upper deck of the Toronto SkyDome.

— There is a difference between steroids and HGH. Author Will Carroll, who wrote "The Juice: The Real Story of Baseball's Drug Problems," summed it up in an interview Friday. "In 2004, Ankiel was rebounding from Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery," Carroll said. "And HGH really helps with recovery and healing. But HGH has absolutely no proven application in strength gain of the type that would help a baseball player."

— If Ankiel wanted to muscle up for a raw power grab, he could have juiced without hesitation in 2004, because steroids weren't officially outlawed by MLB back then. This meshes with Carroll's theory that Ankiel could have tapped into HGH as a healing agent.