Ankiel, Glaus, HGH, coin flips and two Idaho Falls rookies

These days, you don't appear out of corn in the middle of August, belt nine home runs in 81 at-bats, hit .358, slug .765 and spark an improbable resurgence out of a team left for dead just a month earlier without raising suspicion. It was baseball's version of the public secret for weeks before the New York Daily News brought it into the open yesterday, reporting that Ankiel apparently received shipments of HGH. Troy Glaus was also implicated.

I'll reserve my comments for a later time, except to say that I wonder how Tony La Russa's enjoyed this season.

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Is this really necessary?

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Mike Moustakas finished his brief season at Idaho Falls with a .314 batting average and nine RBIs in 35 at-bats. KC's No. 5 pick, Adrian Ortiz, batted .324. With so many failed prospects in the past, maybe the Royals scored (at least) two winners in this year's draft. We can always hope.

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Royals-Yankees... NOW.

UPDATE, 9/8: Ankiel: "I've been through a lot emotionally and physically. There are doctor-patient privileges, and I hope you guys respect those privileges."

Wow. "Doctor-patient privileges," therefore I will not answer your question (paraphrased from Pedro Gomez), "So, just to be clear, you took HGH, right?"

Doctor-patient privileges. I can't believe athletes haven't used this defense sooner.