A-Rod Silent, but Hank Bashes Josebag

Alex Rodriguez has refused to answer Jose Canseco's rants, but Hank Steinbrenner, to no surprise, let the king of sleeze have it in the Bergen Record.

"if [Sandy] Koufax, [Mickey] Mantle, [Babe] Ruth, [Willie] Mays or [Hank] Aaron were playing today, they all would be suspected of doing something — and of course, they didn't do it. There was no such thing in their day.

"This is the age of paranoia."

"Consider the source, that's No. 1," Steinbrenner said of Canseco. "He wouldn't have been able to hit the ball out of the infield without steroids.

"And No. 2, if Mantle or Ruth were playing today, with the 550-foot home runs they hit, everybody'd be saying they were on something. They didn't even lift weights in those days. They played on alcohol and hot dogs.

"There are certain naturals. There are guys who can just do it, and Alex is one of those guys," Steinbrenner said. "He's just friggin' great."

"He got a couple of things right with the first one, and now he's just trying to make money," said Steinbrenner, who suggested that Canseco needed this attention, "or else he'd be on some reality show on TV.

"It's a shame, because he's preying on a player that everyone's attention is on," said Steinbrenner, who emphasized A-Rod's comparison to a modern-day Mantle regarding natural ability.

"Without injuries," Steinbrenner said, "[Mantle] would've broken every record in the book.

"[Rodriguez] is not only one of the greatest hitters ever, he's one of the best shortstops ever, and one of the best third basemen," Steinbrenner said. "He is just a natural. People have to come to grips with that."

Canseco's claims are disturbing, but not as disturbing as Canseco himself. Deadspin.com has excerpts of a piece by Pat Jordan on the overmuscled creep. Be warned that after reading this you may want to shower or vomit.

All those needles and vials of performance enhancing drugs around the house which his woman of the moment must learn to differentiate, winstrol from deca-durabolin from HGH, and then draw the proper amount of fluid into each syringe and inject that needle and its fluid into Jose's buttocks.

That's just a minor example. One wonders why any woman would even hang with him. They must be under the false impression that he has money.