Chiefs Split Doubleheader, Express Disappointment over PEDs

            

 By Dave Guberman

            The Syracuse Chiefs split a doubleheader with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Tuesday night, and Chiefs players responded to the PED scandal after the game. In the second of the two games, the Chiefs held off the RailRiders, winning 3-2. Yunesky Maya led the way, pitching eight full innings, giving up just two runs on five hits. He also tallied five strikeouts.

            However, before the Chiefs and RailRiders hit the field for the 7 o’clock game, they finished a game from July 12 that had been postponed due to rain. They began the game in the top of the 11^th inning, tied 6-6.

            In the bottom of the 13^th, Alberto Gonzalez brought Melky Mesa in to score on a soft fly ball single, giving the RailRiders the win, 7-6. After the Chiefs had jumped out to an early 6-1 lead on July 12, the RailRiders climbed their way back, tying the game on a Fernando Martinez home run in the 7^th inning.

            Despite the fact that the RailRiders ended up winning this game, which took a little less than a month to finish, a few Chiefs players were still upset about how it all played out.

            Martinez, who hit the game-tying home run, was caught for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal that has been spreading throughout the baseball world. He was one of 14 players to get suspended due to Biogenesis.
           Martinez was suspended 50 games, along with two of his New York Yankee teammates: catcher Francisco Cervelli, suspended 50 games, and third baseman Alex Rodriguez, 211 games.

            Four of the Chiefs players expressed their disappointment given the circumstances, as this Biogenesis scandal not only affects the players using PEDs, but everyone involved in baseball, from the major leagues, down to the minors.

            The effect could be something as small as a pitcher’s stats or a player’s batting average, to something as big as a potential shot at getting called up to the majors for one of these Triple-A players, according to Chiefs second baseman Will Rhymes.

            “That was 12 jobs. I know some of them are in the minor leagues, but it’s 12 jobs one of us could have had,” Rhymes said.

            If it wasn’t for PEDs and Biogenesis, perhaps Martinez doesn’t hit that home run and the Chiefs win that game on July 12, without needing to play extra innings.

            “To me it’s a total joke,” Rhymes said. “Obviously the system isn’t working, and a lot of us are pretty upset about it… (It’s) almost unanimous among players that we think the penalty should be harsher”.

            Alex Rodriguez is the only player of the 14 who is appealing his suspension, and will be able to play out the season for the Yankees before the appeal can be heard.

            Chiefs' reliever Erik Davis, recorded the save in the 3-2 win Tuesday night over the RailRiders. “Unfortunately, some people are going to try and take the easy way out," he told reporters. "The hardest thing is taking care of yourself… I can look myself in the mirror and do things the right way,” Davis said.
            Despite this ongoing issue of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, the Chiefs are still trying to work on improving. Tuesday's 3-2 win improved their record to 53-63. 
           After winning their first five games of their road trip, they lost three out of their last four, finishing their 11-game road trip with a 7-4 record.
          The Chiefs will face the RailRiders on Wednesday, before welcoming the Pawtucket Red Sox for a four-game series at NBT Bank Stadium.