Raffy walks again

Much to his relief, former Ranger and Oriole Rafael Palmeiro's next uniform won't be the pen-stripes of the Fort Leavenworth team. Raffy was cleared after an investigation concluded that it couldn't be proven that he had lied to a federal grand jury.

Rafael's long-awaited "explanation" of why he tested positive for anabolic steroids turned out to be a half-baked one. A faulty B-12 shot?

It could happen. But the committee's report noted that Orioles teammates who took the same B-12 shots did not test positive for stanozolol, as Raffy did.

Questions linger. Stanozolol is hard to mask and tends to remain in an athlete's system for weeks.

Yet, six weeks after Palmeiro appeared before Congress and made his dramatic, finger-pointing, "I did not take steroids" claim, he failed a drug test. Was Raffy arrogant, stupid or careless?

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that he mostly was careless, that he took something without totally checking its contents, or that he took something and failed to follow its illegally-prescribed regimen. In either case, he was responsible and he stands guilty.

Raffy probably has played his final baseball game, and that's unfortunate. But he can salvage some of his reputation, I believe, by taking an active role in baseball's fight against steroids. There's still time for him to tell his whole story. The truth can be a powerful message.