Suspended Byrd’s PED use impacted a lot more than just his numbers

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Only Marlon Byrd knows for sure when he has played clean and when he has tried to cheat against his union brethren in a career now marked by two suspensions over a four-year span, and it may well be that some of the damage he has done has been against opponents also on steroids or human growth hormone.

But when a player on PEDs beats a peer who has chosen to honor the rules put in place by MLB and the union, it’s like someone pulling from the bottom of the pile in a game of cards with co-workers. The cheater chooses to benefit, at the expense of some other member of the same union, and while the stacked deck doesn’t guarantee success and isn’t always the reason for failure, it sure as hell doesn’t hurt, which is why some players take PEDs in the first place.

On April 14, Byrd mashed a two-run homer off Tampa Bay Rays starter Chris Archer in the sixth inning, turning a 1-0 lead for his Cleveland Indians into a 3-0 advantage. For Archer, it turned what had been a good outing into something much less than that.

On April 19, Wade Miley took the mound for the Mariners in the fourth inning down 1-0, and Miley got the first out in the inning, striking out Yan Gomes. Then Byrd singled, and with Miley working from the stretch, he lost home plate, walking the next three hitters and forcing in a run. The Indians would push the lead to 3-0 that inning, completing their scoring for the day; they won 3-2.

Three days later, the Indians faced Justin Verlander, who had been digging his way out of a slow start, and through six innings, he had a strong outing. But in the seventh, Byrd slugged a tie-breaking home run to beat the former Cy Young Award winner.

On May 13, after Byrd knew he had tested positive, he and the Indians faced the Minnesota Twins, who were in the midst of a seven-game losing streak but finally had a lead in the late innings. But in the eighth, Byrd slammed a two-run double off Trevor May and the Twins lost again.

On May 16, Byrd and the Indians faced the Reds, and the 38-year-old Byrd faced right-handed pitcher Layne Somsen in Somsen’s second appearance in the majors — and hit a homer. Somsen was sent back to the minors, his ERA close to 20.

There have been many other dominoes like this over recent decades, so many that the notion of deeming one thread of numbers out as illegitimate is untenable. Somsen probably was headed back to the minors anyway, and who can say for sure if Verlander would’ve …

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