So Act II begins as a flashback sequence. We see Rafael Palmeiro, the embattled protagonist sitting in a closed room, pleading his case before a three-person arbitration committee.
He knew what was on the line: his reputation, his baseball legacy, his spot in the Hall of Fame alongside the game's immortals.
The positive steroid test had already tainted all that. But what he said could have been even more damaging.
It was a tainted supplement, Raffy insinuated to those three people. I didn't think it was bad, he said. And then the knockout blow - Miguel Tejada is the one who gave it to me, he said.
So now Tejada - the strongest pillar of the entire organization during this stomach-turning summer - is involved, too.
According to Orioles officials, vitamin B12 was the substance that Tejada offered to Palmeiro. The vitamin is not an illegal steroid, but is used by some athletes to help with workouts.
The story shifted. Last month it was akin to a Shakespearean tragedy. Suddenly, it feels like we're watching Three's Company on Nick at Nite, and the whole gang has found itself embroiled in this slapstick plot.
If there's one thing to cling to, it's this: With Palmeiro delivering the story, there's plenty of room for error. Period.
So many pieces here don't make sense. Since Palmeiro still won't formally share his side of the story, we have to connect the dots, forced to leap over the gigantic holes in logic.
Palmeiro's attorneys issued a carefully worded statement late last night, saying their client "has never implicated any player in the intentional use or distribution of steroids."
But Palmeiro brought it up in that meeting for a reason. Though he didn't say it precisely, he seemed to think that the B12 might have been what triggered the positive steroid test.
Of course, several published reports have since indicated that he was busted for stanozolol, an illegal steroid. Funny how that apparently wasn't mentioned to the arbitrators.
Palmeiro's defense still leaves us scratching our heads. I'm not a lawyer, but it doesn't strike me as the smartest defense maneuvering to suggest that you injected something into your body but not offer it up as an excuse. According to people familiar with the player's testimony, Palmeiro did not specifically blame the B12 for the failed steroid test.
So it makes you wonder, if he didn't put much weight into the B12 injection, why share it at all, and why name a teammate?
