Johnny Bench defends Bonds ... I think
You know, for a guy who gave Pete Rose such a a hard time, I find some of Johnny Bench's most recent comments hard to take.

"Have there been guys who are probably guilty [of steroids]? Probably so. And your wife has probably had a face lift or [breast implants] or a tummy tuck. We're all trying to do performance enhancement every day. Tiger Woods got lasik surgery. Is that performance enhancing?"

I don't know. Maybe your wife has Johnny, but the rest of us? How much money do you think we make?

More brilliance from Bench.

"If I could take HGH, I would in a heartbeat because I want to live longer," said Bench, who turns 60 in December and has a 15-month-old son. "I want to be as good as I can possibly be."

That's right. HGH makes you live longer. Just ask all the pro wrestlers about that. Actually, don't, because according to a lot of them, there is no drug problem in wrestling.

Still, at least Bench isn't bitter.

"We're second-class citizens now, our era. Our records are bygone," he said. "They're making $15 million or $20 million a year. I made $11,000 my first year. I was rookie of the year and made $20,000, was MVP and made $40,000, was MVP again and made $80,000. So I'm only like $19,920,000 behind.

You know what the hardest part about this is for me? I agree with Gary Carter:

"I saw him when he first broke in. He was a scrawny, skinny, 185-pound guy that had great talent. And then he turned himself into a freakin' power hitter with, what, 245, 250 pounds, and his head got twice the size. So, you know, you figure it out," (Carter) said. "I know he likes to go to the gym. We all like to go to the gym. You just don't get that big," he said.