Jon Jay lauds suspension of friend, former Miami teammate Ryan Braun

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Jon Jay is a friend and former teammate of Ryan Braun's at the University of Miami.

The Milwaukee Brewers' Braun was suspended for 65 games Monday for violation of baseball's substance-abuse policy.

"I was just as shocked as everyone else," said Jay, the Cardinals' player representative. "I'm glad that he was finally able to come out and put this behind him and move forward. It just shows that Major League Baseball's doing the best job (it) can to clean the game up, and I'm proud to say that. I'm happy about that.

"I believe in doing what's right, and the right thing is if you've cheated or done something that you're not supposed to do, you should be punished for it. I'm all for that; I believe that. I'm glad everything got resolved. ... Everyone knows the truth now and we've got to move on."

Jay still considers Braun a friend.

"My thoughts aren't going to change on him," Jay said. "He's been there for me and (has) been a good friend. I've learned a lot from him over the years. I'll stand by that. But I'm happy the system is working. He admitted to cheating and I'm glad he's getting punished for it."

The Cardinals' Matt Holliday, Carlos Beltran and David Freese refused comment about Braun's suspension.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, who played with Mark McGwire in St. Louis and Barry Bonds in San Francisco, disdains PEDs.

"It's cheating the game," Matheny said. "It's no good for our kids that are watching, the next generation of fans. But the guys who are directly impacted are the other players who are clean. ... Their salaries are being measured against the guys who are cheating."

Matheny said playing in the PED era of the late 1990s and early 2000s was "a weird time."

"Many of us had suspicions because you heard the rumors," Matheny said. "But guys didn't go around talking about it. I always took the perspective that I had to take care of myself. I'm very proud to be able to have my career and know I did things the right way in my mind.

"But in the same breath, I don't know where other people are coming from, what made them make the decisions they made. It wasn't my job to judge them. I do know, for the good of the game, there needed to be a system in place to help be accountable."


(bnd.com)