Yesterday, a story in The San Francisco Chronicle claimed that six baseball players–Marvin Bernard, Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Benito Santiago, Gary Sheffield and Randy Velarde–received steriods from Barry Bonds’ trainer, Greg Anderson. The source was not named, and none of the men have been accused of using steroids. Regardless, the ramifications of the story were felt around baseball on Tuesday, notably in Yankeeland. John Harper has a measured take on how both Jason Giambi–shook–and Gary Sheffield–defiant–handled the latest allegations. Murray Chass has an even-handed column in the Times.

In all, it’s not a cheery morning in baseball. (Oh, by the way, the Yankees had their first intrasquad game yesterday too.) Somehow it is fitting that ol’ Marge Schott–one of the game’s great comic villains–passed away yesterday just to put the icing on the gravy on a black day for the sport. But as Will Carroll cautions, we should resist the urge to be shrill here:

Letís not jump to uneducated conclusions. Letís take our time and cover this correctly.

Amen to that.