BY SCOTT LAUBERCLEARWATER, Fla. -- So, J.C. Romero was sitting on a picnic bench here yesterday morning, holding court with reporters, continuing his self-defense plea and railing that his 50-game suspension is "unfair" and "ridiculous." In other words, he was replaying his greatest hits from a month ago.
Then, he dropped this mini-bombshell: "My teammates knew what was going on. I told them, 'Hey, make sure you're careful what you put in your body from GNC. Cole Hamels, he was very stunned when this happened because he and his wife buy things at GNC all the time."
Uh, Cole? Care to do some 'xplaining?
Hamels (above, AP photo) admitted he uses several supplements from GNC -- mostly vitamins, he said -- and he clears everything with Cynthia Sass, the nutritionist who consults for the Phillies. "All you're trying to do is just kind of keep your body going," Hamels said. "I know this stuff is not going to make us play better. It's just going to make us feel better. That's not going to really affect how I'm going to get a guy out."
OK, fair enough. But Hamels, like Romero and several other Phillies players, said he wasn't aware of Major League Baseball's toll-free drug hotline until after Romero tested positive. That doesn't jive with anything MLB executive VP Rob Manfred has said about the extensive spring-training briefings that players receive every year, during which they're given a wallet card with the 1-800 number to call if they have any questions about nutritional supplements.
"When they come in, it's for very few minutes, and they don't really go over too much," Hamels said. "I think that [wallet card] just got thrown in my locker. But now, I think I'll be having that thing on me. I think now, because of the strictness, I think they'll go over that a little bit more."
In our Sunday MLB notes, we quoted "Cool Hand Luke" and examined the "failure to communicate" between MLB, the Players' Association and the players.
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Spent about 10 minutes with Kyle Kendrick yesterday. A year ago, he was the victim of an elaborate practical joke that had him believing he'd been traded to Japan. This year, he's fighting to reclaim his spot in the starting rotation. And, as you'll see from his quotes, he seems pretty determined to prove that he wasn't a one-year wonder.
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New arrivals into camp this morning included Matt Stairs. Still waiting for most of the position players, including Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Pedro Feliz, Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez. As you know, the first full-squad workout is Tuesday.
Enjoy your Sunday, everyone.
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