The Door Opens A Bit UPDATED

Record-setting home run hitter Mark McGwire, he of the stone face, finally let the mask slip just a bit yesterday. (How's that for mixing metaphors?)

He finally got around to saying what most observers have suspected all along - that he used steroids at various times during his playing career.

We are still on the front end of this story, so what the fallout will be, time will tell. I think he's made a decent start.

UPDATE

Jayson Stark at ESPN asks what I was thinking,

"Does he really understand what he did to them?

I don't think he does. I don't think he gets it. He certainly gave us very little reason Monday to think he gets that part of this equation. Unfortunately for him, it's the most important part of all.

Can he really believe that the steroids he took had nothing to do with those 70 home run trots he made that summer? Wow."

McGwire's admissions were not terribly revealing and some think, like Stark, there are more questions to ask. Ken Rosenthal of Fox was even harder on him -

"To hear McGwire tell it, his evolution into the most prolific slugger in history was a perfect storm of natural forces. God-given ability. Hard work. The shortening of his swing. A greater understanding of hitting as he grew older.

Costas repeatedly gave McGwire the opportunity to concede that steroids helped him hit home runs faster and farther than any player in history. But McGwire never wavered, insisting “absolutely” that he could have been the same hitter without the drugs."

McGwire is Tony LaRussa's guy and one of these days, Tony's going to get chippy with people for asking all the questions.

And the Cardinals were trying to AVOID distractions.