Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson is anticipating an award-nominating performance from Ryan Braun. Just not on the field.
With rumors swirling that the Milwaukee Brewers outfielder is about to go public with an apology and admission of guilt in using performance-enhancing drugs, Gibson says he believes the speech will all be an act, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.
"I got a question for him, right to his face. Is he about rehearsed by now?" Gibson said to a group of reporters Sunday before Arizona's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. "About ready to come out? He's probably been practicing at theater school somewhere."
The Journal-Sentinel reported that Braun's public mea culpa could come as soon as Monday. He reportedly has had phone conversations with Brewers manager Ron Roenicke and some of his teammates about what he might say.
Gibson told reporters that his wife brought up the Braun situation because of his performance in the 2011 National League Division Series for Milwaukee against Arizona. When a hobbled Gibson hit his famous pinch-hit home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers, his wife noted how that play changed his life.
She wondered how Braun's use of PEDs affected his 2011 playoff run.
Braun batted .500 (9-of-18) with four doubles, a home run, four runs batted in and five run scores as the Brewers won the series in five games to advance to the National League Championship Series.
After Game 1 of that series, Braun tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone. He appealed the test, and the decision was overturned on a technicality.
Major League Baseball later uncovered evidence of his PED use in its Biogenesis investigation and suspended him for the season's final 65 games.
"Her point was, she gets pissed off about the PED stuff and goes back to the playoffs and Braun," said Gibson. "Anyway, she was looking at how things like that can influence people's opportunities and the opportunity to do something like that."
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