Steroid test has truly positive result

[SidDithers]

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/columns/story?columnist=rubin_adam&id=6240606

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The moment he entered Triple-A Buffalo trainer Brian Chicklo's office, a grave sense of impending bad news overcame Emmanuel Garcia.

"I was like, 'What? Am I getting released? Did one of my family members die?'" Garcia recalls in his French-Canadian accent. "I knew something was wrong right away."

Chicklo handed the New York Mets farmhand an official letter from Major League Baseball informing Garcia he tested positive for high levels of human chorionic gonadotropin, which is illicitly used after an anabolic steroid cycle to jump-start the body's production of testosterone.

The following day -- on June 3, 2010, when phenom Stephen Strasburg's final minor league start would draw 14,744 fans in Buffalo, and a day after a dirty takeout slide had ended Daniel Murphy's season with the Triple-A club -- Garcia's 50-game suspension would be announced unless he appealed. His presumed guilt would be displayed nationwide in newspaper transaction wires, staining his reputation forever.

Turns out Garcia had testicular cancer, and the tumor in his testicle was causing the elevated levels of the hormone. He had surgery 10 months ago, and is back, ready to go, at the Mets' camp this year.

Sid