Grimsley

Former Orioles first baseman David Segui, who revealed over the weekend that he is one of the players named in Jason Grimsley's affidavit on drug use in baseball, said yesterday that he informed the club in 2003 that he had obtained a prescription for human growth hormone. However, one team official said last night he wasn't aware that Segui, who retired a year later, had received the medication through a physician. "He never revealed to us or the medical staff that he had a chronic condition that required human growth hormone," said Mike Flanagan, executive vice president of baseball operations.

While everybody waits for the remaining names in the Jason Grimsley affidavit to be revealed, the Orioles are trying to proceed as if they aren't all aware that the other shoe is going to land right in the middle of their clubhouse. Three of the blacked-out names in the leaked affidavit clearly are current or former Orioles, based on Grimsley's claim that he had a conversation with three teammates last year about "how they were going to play the baseball season next year when Major League Baseball banned the use of amphetamines and began testing for them."

It just keeps hitting home. David Segui became the second player to surface in baseball's blossoming human growth hormone scandal and - what do you know - he also has roots in the Orioles' organization. Don't be surprised if the next names you hear also sound very familiar, because there might be as many as four more current or former Orioles in the now-infamous Jason Grimsley affidavit. The whole ugly mess has left a lot of Baltimoreans scratching their heads and wondering the same thing: How exactly did Charm City become Steroidville, U.S.A.

NEW YORK -- Former Orioles first baseman David Segui told ESPN yesterday that he is one of the players named in Jason Grimsley's affidavit on drug use in baseball and that he used human growth hormone obtained through a doctor's prescription. Segui, the first player in the affidavit to be identified, was a 15-year major league veteran who finished his career with the Orioles in 2004. He is the third former Oriole along with Grimsley and Rafael Palmeiro to be connected to baseball's battle against the use of performance enhancers.

Chan Ho Park, Denny Neagle and Juan Guzman may be off the hook. The Arizona Diamondbacks' Russ Ortiz may now own the unofficial title of "Baseball's Worst Free-Agent Buy Ever," assuming, of course, Carl Pavano ever pitches again for the New York Yankees. The Diamondbacks - who've had a 2005 Orioles-esque bad week considering the fallout from the Jason Grimsley nightmare - designated Ortiz for assignment Tuesday, meaning they'll be eating what is thought to be a historic $20.45 million in salary through 2008.

On the day that Rafael Palmeiro was suspended for a positive steroid test, he took part in a conference call and insisted that there was no logical reason for him to have turned to anabolic steroids during the final stages of his apparent Hall of Fame career. "There's no absolute reason for me to do anything at this stage of my career; there's nothing for me to gain and everything to lose," he said. "This is probably going to be my last year. I was not about to put everything on the line, my reputation and everything I've worked for so hard in my life, to do anything like this.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have it easy. Easier, anyway, than the 2005 Orioles. When former Oriole Rafael Palmeiro failed his drug test last year, he was still a member of the club. He came back from his suspension 10 days later while his teammates tried to avoid the spotlight as best they could. One prominent veteran walked past the media throng that day and hummed the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey theme song. Later, the club had to deal with questions about Palmeiro and his infamous earplug decision in Toronto during his first post-suspension road trip.

Welcome to the worst nightmare of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Former Orioles relief pitcher Jason Grimsley might have created a portal to a new era of enforcement in baseball's battle to eradicate illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Call it a loophole if you want. Major League Baseball recently embarked on a wide-ranging investigation to determine the true extent of the sport's steroid problem, but it appeared powerless to punish past offenders because the collectively bargained anti-steroid program requires a positive urine test to trigger specific disciplinary action.

Three months after the hype and headlines, I have finally read Game of Shadows, the book by two San Francisco Chronicle investigative reporters who broke open the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) steroid scandal. Before turning the first page, several fellow baseball writers had already shared their feelings about the book. One said it read like a 250-page newspaper article. Another said there was too much track and field and not enough focus on San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, whose back adorns the front cover.

The player at the center of baseball's latest drug controversy, Jason Grimsley, is perhaps more distinguished by the company he kept than anything he did in his 15-year career. He has played with everyone from Lenny Dykstra to Eddie Murray to Derek Jeter. He won two World Series rings as an anonymous bullpen guy for the star-studded New York Yankees of 1999 and 2000. He was the guy who climbed through a false ceiling to swipe Albert Belle's corked bat from the umpires' locker room in 1994.