Ryan Braun hears steroids chant, slams homer

PHOENIX – The voice of one fan pierced through the air at Maryvale Baseball Park while Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun stood at the plate.

“Ster-oids. Ster-oids. Ster-oids.”

A few fellow fans started booing, trying to silence him, with one yelling, “You trying to start something buddy?”

Braun took matters in his own hands.

He hit the next pitch over the center-field wall for a monstrous home run off Cincinnati Reds left-handed reliever Sean Marshall. It was not only Braun’s first homer of the spring, but his first hit.

The crowd at Maryvale Baseball Park erupted in cheers.

Braun, who won his appeal after testing positive for a banned substance in October, realizes he’ll be hearing a lot of chants when the Brewers hit the road. Yet, if he answers back like that often enough, he could be celebrating his second successive National League MVP award.

“I just said I would hit it into fair territory. I didn’t (predict) a hit or anything like that,” he said in the clubhouse after exiting.

“We’re making progress. Spring training is always a process, and for me, I’m just trying to keep the same approach that I’ve always had in getting myself prepared for the season.”

The timing couldn't have been better from Braun's perspective. No more than 30 seconds earlier, a lone Reds fan in the crowd began chanting "steroids" as he stood in the batter's box.

He took the high road when asked if he heard the heckler.

"I try not to pay attention to anything," he said. "Sometimes it's entertaining. Sometimes there's a little chuckle. But I try not to pay attention to it."
Braun has been starting every other day early on in Cactus League play, but said he’ll play Friday as well when the Brewers host the Cleveland Indians. Milwaukee has an off-day on Monday, and Braun doesn’t want to miss consecutive games.

“But typically for another week and a half or so, I’ll go every other day other than the off-day,” he said.


(tucsoncitizen.com)