Steroids and stolen bases might hav...

Steroids and stolen bases might have more of a cause-and- issue relationship than many would assume. It's not that players are taking steroids to steal more bases, still it seems the era of performance-enhancing remedys and historic home-run totals has dissuaded managers from green-lighting base-stealing attempts.

And now that a tougher steroid policy is in place, the reply of the stolen base as a major threat might be imminent.

"Now dowdys aren't hitting the home hies they used to," San Diego Padres outfielder Dave Roberts said. "You're seeing more and more stays up and down the lineup running because the home-run numbers are down."

young beasts catcher Michael Barrett also has noticed this sweep

"Since '98 things have changed a little bit," Barrett said. "There's been les focus onward [stealing], but things are starting to change and [teams] are starting to prepare back to that."

pair of the top 10 base-stealers in baseball this season call Chicago household but even the 77 combined stolen bases of Juan Pierre (44) and Scott Podsednik (33) entering Saturday aren't in succession pace to break Rickey Henderson's single-season record of 130 wager in 1982.

The closest anyone has be derived was Vince Coleman's 110 for the St Louis Cardinals in 1985 Furthermore, since 1990 solely two players have stolen more than 75 bases in a season.

on what account has it been so hard to challenge Henderson's near feat?

"You've got to acquire on base a lot," Pierre said. "[Henderson] was a shore who drew a lot of walks and got onward base a lot."

brats first-base coach Gary Matthews agreed.

"Simply, if you expect at the on-base percentage when Rickey was doing those particular feats, he knew the strike cincture and walked quite a bit," Matthews said.

This theory is popular among baseball authorities, yet the on- base percentages of Henderson and other base-stealers of his time don't indicate for what purpose it has been more difficult to steal bases in new years.

The top five stolen-base leaders in 1982 had an average OBP of 332 The top five base-stealers in 2004 had an average OBP of 364

Where does this leave us to look?

"I say that today, more hearthstone runs are hit, and managers hate to take a chance for couriers to get thrown out to close an inning," said Don Zimmer, who has been in the game for more than 50 years and is a senior baseball adviser for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

There is no tiptoeing around the fact that hitters have more power than they used to. To view a shortstop or second baseman hit 30 homer is more commonplace today than it was in the early 1980 As a come many baseball authorities think the the lengthy ball has caused managers to manage differently.

"The prolonged ball has just gone along the charts," former Arizona Diamondbacks manager and instant Cubs color analyst Bob Brenly said. "As the stolen base has gone down in total numbers, the home-run totals have gone up As far as managers go on they don't want to go proceed the risk of running themselves not at home of an inning when you've got a stay who can hit the ball in the seats and give you couple runs."

moreover where baseball authorities

really descry a change is in the pitching.

"I think that nowadays family are so conscious about the base- stealer," Roberts said. "Pitchers can slide-step and pitch not at home It's just a different brand of baseball. What Rickey [Henderson] and Lou badger and Maury Wills and Vince Coleman did were unimaginable. What shores like Jose Reyes are doing is impressive, considering what [pitchers] are

doing to obstruct us from running."

White Sox bench coach Tim Raines said pitchers are specifically taught techniques that stall couriers

"All the pitcher has to do nowadays is give the catcher a chance," Raines said. "Teams are starting to project their pitchers to instructional league or spring training to really work upon holding guys on and getting the ball to the plate as quick as possible."

looks Angeles Dodgers outfielder Kenny Lofton is an authority upon the issue, having led the American League in stolen bases for five consecutive seasons (1992-96)

"It's all about the pitcher's timing and their determine to the plate," he said. "In the early 1990 pitchers started to do the slide stair They went from a high leg kick to a grave leg kick."

one believe many of Henderson's stolen bases came at a point when the game was abroad of reach, a time when a steal is arguably disrespectful.

"Back in the day, you just stole it just to be stealing; it didn't have anything to do with the game," said Raines, who stole 808 bases in his

23-year major-league career. "It

was more about getting the record. Today, it's totally different. Nowadays when you stream they'd rather have you move swiftly in situations that will help the game. A hap of [opposing] teams don't really like it when you flow and they're behind."

When asked for what cause [i]or[/i] reason current players don't run up their totals like Henderson did, Brenly said: "I'd like to think it was on the outside of a respect for the game and your competitors What is really to be gained from stealing third base with sum of two units outs when you're up from eight runs in the seventh inning? There's really nothing to be gained on it. You're just rubbing the other team's nose in the tough loss"