HARD DRIVES: Japan can't be blind to doping

In this Christmas story, now that the furor over the recently released Mitchell Report has somewhat settled, not a chemist is stirring--we hope.
Presumably, there is no stirring of substances, nor are there clear creams being applied and no pills being popped in Japan's baseball world.
The proof is in the testing.
That is, if the testing is really proving anything in Japan pro baseball.
Drug testing here ostensibly kicked off with a trial period in 2006 and went full force this past season.
As it turned out, the first offender was a non-Japanese player who may be more guilty of trying to mask his age than masking the use of a banned substance.
Rick Guttormson of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks was the only guilty party in the inaugural year of drug testing.
The import got busted in August for using Finasteride, a common component found in hair-growth stimulant often used to mask illegal substances.
Guttormson, who said a doctor issued the hair enhancer, got 20 games for his act of vanity.
Score one for Nippon Pro Baseball.
But 10 days ago, the collection of active--and wanna-be active--foreign players here listed in the Mitchell Report sent a few jaws dropping.
Kirk Radomski, a former New York Mets clubhouse employee, gave up the goods on a roster's worth of players--including the names of Hanshin hurler Jeff Williams and sporadic Yakult slugger Adam Riggs--sending eyebrows toward hairlines.
Also among the listed were free agent Alex Cabrera, whose bulging biceps have long drawn attention in making Seibu's dome look like a high school field, and Chad Allen of Orix.
According to information in the Mitchell Report, Allen said he used steroids in the 2003 offseason.
Riggs, who denied using anything illegal, exploded for 39 homers with Yakult in 2006 but has a total of 30 in two other seasons. Williams came out right away to vigorously proclaim purity.
But the report said Radomski furnished five checks and money orders he received for the healing-enhancer HGH from Riggs and had deposited into his bank accounts between July 10, 2003 and Nov. 30, 2005.
Radomski also claimed Williams purchased the steroids Anavar and Dianabol, and turned over a check from Williams dated Dec. 10, 2004 in the amount of 1,820 dollars.
Cabrera was said to have had a package believed to contain steroids delivered to the Arizona Diamondbacks' clubhouse in September 2000, but before the team could investigate the matter, the slugger had joined Seibu.
All the speculation and all the mystery could be solved with a noninvasive process.
Japan tests randomly tests a pair of players per team at any given game. At the end of the fifth inning, each player on the active roster has his name essentially thrown into a hat and the chosen ones must report for testing within 30 minutes of the final out.
The usual suspect substances are on the banned wagon: steroids, amphetamines, marijuana and cocaine.
But Tyrone Woods of the Japan Series champion Chunichi Dragons, a three-time homer champ, told Hard Drives that testing here is lenient.
"I think having the testing is good, but it could be more strict," Woods said by phone from his home in Florida.
"Why not test the whole team? It's a random thing," chimed Woods, who said his name was drawn twice this past season.
When quizzed about the possibility of some Japanese players using performance-enhancing substances, Woods was confident the sport here is clean.
"I don't think so. You may have had a couple, but not now since the start of testing.
"The simple fact is that you can look at a guy's production level and you can tell who is on steroids and who has been. If the numbers decline...."
His confidence was recently echoed by NPB commissioner Yasuchika Negoro.
"Of the players who were listed in [the Mitchell Report], we have tested at least two of the three and there was no problem," Negoro told the Yomiuri Shimbun.
"There is no reason to worry."
Certainly there is no homer-hammering hulk among Japanese players.
But as the salary figures soar and the competition level rises in Japan, tougher testing wiill stir the chemists.
(Dec. 26, 2007)