[smc]

I am just loving the latest news on the Mark McGwire front.

Ferguson Jenkins, the Hall-of-Fame pitcher, sent an open letter to the Associated Press in which he says McGwire owes an apology to all pitchers who gave up home runs to him. Here are some excerpts from the letter:

"You have not even begun to apologize to those you have harmed. ... You have yet to all the pitchers you faced while juiced. You altered pitchers' lives. You may have shortened pitchers careers because of the advantage you forced over them while juiced."

In a telephone interview yesterday with the Associated Press, Jenkins elaborated. "How many pitchers do you think he ended their careers by hitting numbers of home runs off them?" And he said he would have known how to handle the bulked-up McGwire at the plate.

"It's tough to hit a home run off your back. In my era, Seaver, Gibson, Drysdale, Carlton, there were so many guys that would have probably knocked him on his butt."

Go Fergie!!