It's been an eventful year for Bay Area baseball clubs in terms of suspensions. Giants outfield Melky Cabrera got hit first, earning a 50-game suspension for testing positive for testosterone and A's pitcher Bartolo Colon received the same suspension for the same drug just a few days later. Cabrera and Colon had both been in the midst of great seasons, buoying their respective teams in playoff contention.
With closer Jeremy Affeldt on paternity leave, Guillermo Mota fit nicely into the Giants bullpen for the 3-2 win over the Astros. Though he didn't play, Bruce Bochy has every intent of giving Mota another chance.
Mota, who was banned for 100 games at the beginning of the season for testing positive for PEDs, is a second-time offender, and would receive a lifetime ban with another positive test. Mota claims that his positive test was due to children's cough medicine.
With the bullpen struggling as of late, Mota is a solid addition to the team. In the previous 13 games before the win in Houston, the bullpen had posted a 5.91 ERA. However, the addition doesn't come without at least a bit of negativity.
The Bay Area has come under a lot of scrutiny for players testing positive for banned substances. Cabrera was having his best season as a pro, earning All-Star Game MVP honors and helping the NL win home-field advantage for the World Series. Colon, a former Cy Young winner, had stabilized the A's rotation and helped the upstart team into playoff contention.
However, Bochy has declared that Mota has served his suspension and sees no reason to keep him out any longer. Of course, the Giants need all the help they can get at this point, and it makes sense from a baseball perspective.
Connor Rose is a Chat Sports senior writer. E-mail him at: connorarose@gmail.com or Follow @connorarose
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