So much for going to bed early... it's all over the news. In fact, lead story on each of the newscasts: Sosa ejected after cork is found in shattered bat. First inning of the game tonight (Boxscore), Sammy Sosa comes to the plate with Alex Gonzalez on 2nd and Mark Grudzielanek on 3rd, and with a 3-2 count from former teammate Jeremi Gonzalez he hits a ground ball to 2nd and his bat explodes. Sure enough, there's cork in it. Sammy is ejected.

Rule 6.06

A batter is out for illegal action when ...

(d) He uses or attempts to use a bat that, in the umpire's judgment, has been altered or tampered with in such a way to improve the distance factor or cause an unusual reaction on the baseball. This includes, bats that are filled, flat surfaced, nailed, hollowed, grooved or covered with a substance such as paraffin, wax, etc. No advancement on the bases will be allowed and any out or outs made during a play shall stand. In addition to being called out, the player shall be ejected from the game and may be subject to additional penalties as determined by his League President.

OK, now look: I do not follow the Cubs (I have chosen to follow the other Chicago Baseball Franchise). I really have never liked Sammy. Yes, he does hit home runs. Well, in my eyes, that's all he's good for. He just came off the DL last Friday (he's only played in 39 of 55 games this year) and his team did absolutely fine without him. His Fielding Percentage has been at or below the league average for years. He has 47 strikeouts for those 39 games (an average .340 per at bat, compared to .258 for all of last season) and he only has 6 homeruns - his last was May 1, and he's batting 283. Since coming back, he's 2 for 15 in the three games he's been in, with 8 strikeouts (5 of which came in one game). He hasn't been the same since getting beaned on April 20 (broke the visor on his helmet, even) by the Pirate's Salomon Torres. It's clear that he's struggling now.

No matter what happens, the man is now tarnished. It doesn't matter if the bats that Major League Baseball security confiscated last night all turn up un-doctored. Because of this one incident, everything he has done and everything he will do will have a question around it. (Update: MLB tested 76 bats, all were "clean").

Here's the thing that just bothers the hell out of me.

He admits to using a corked bat. ("It's a mistake, and I take the blame for it.") That's the good thing - he actually owned-up to it. OK, fine.

But why the hell is he using a corked bat to begin with? He claims that he uses a corked bat "for exhibition and batting practice".

OK. Exhibition. Like, Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game? (And, you know, I was looking at that bat he used in Milwaukee at that event last year and it has this weird-ass knob on it - identical to the one tonight.) Yeah, that's fair. I mean, nothing is really on the line, but was everyone doing it? If not, it's not fair. It's not fair to the competition, it's not fair to the fans. Period.

Batting practice? "...To put on a show for the fans." What? Hey, shouldn't you be more concerned with how you're swinging, your timing? Concerned with placement and consistency? Wouldn't you want to use a heavier and not a lighter bat to warmup with than what you use during the game? BP is actually The Sammy Sosa Show???

So, he admits to owning and using corked bats. Are they marked? Wouldn't he know he was using an illegal bat? He doesn't make an effort to keep the illegal bats away from the ones that he can use? Or is this going to come down to blaming it on the bat boy?

What it now boils down to is this: can Major League Baseball believe him? Can the fans (other than the ones sipping the Cubs Kool-Aid) believe him? And if there's any doubt that he may, just may have used a corked bat in the past, then what about the valiudity of those home run races he was in for few seasons, or his career 505 home runs?

And what about punishment? - a suspension should be levied. It says so in the rules. He damn well better not get a pass on that. And I don't want to hear "After all he has done for Chicago baseball..." bull crap. Punish him. Period.

And here's the next big leap... if you have trouble believing that he never used a corked bat before, then you call into question his integrity about what he says about how he plays the game. And, if you have that doubt, can you still believe he is innocent of using steroids or other performance enhancing drugs?

See what I mean when I say that this one public incident has the potential to tarnish him?

So, punish him and move on. Oh, and knock him off his pedestal. He's a human for cripe sakes. A human that cheated - intentionally or unintentionally. And after his latest non-hitting streak, and the way the Cubs have played without him - I say they really don't need him.

(BTW, here's an odd coincidence: umpiring crew chief Tim McClelland who ejected Sosa also was the umpire who took away a home run from Kansas City's George Brett of the Royals at Yankee Stadium on July 24, 1983 because of excessive pine tar, and was on the umpire crew for the Albert Belle corked bat incident at Comiskey Park July 15, 1994!) (That one was the weird one - Umpires took the bat to their dressing room before Indians Pitcher Jason Grimsley crawled across the ceiling and switched Belle's confiscated bat with one belonging to teammate Paul Sorrento.)