Melky Cabrera brings back memories of Barry Bonds

SAN FRANCISCO – Five years on, the specter of Barry Bonds lingers in this clubhouse. Performance-enhancing drugs were pervasive in baseball throughout the 1990s and early 2000s because the interminable Steroid Era started and ended with the hulking, prodigious Bonds. The Giants of Bonds were a grand success. They were also Team BALCO.

The ugliness of the era repackaged itself in the form of another Giants star left fielder, not nearly as hulking but guiltier in baseball's eyes than Bonds ever was. Melky Cabrera was suspended 50 games Wednesday for testing positive for testosterone. Cabrera, second in the National League with a .346 batting average and a pleasant surprise for a team starved for offense, is gone for the rest of the regular season.

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(Reuters) - The San Francisco Giants' postseason ambitions suffered a jolt on Wednesday when All-Star outfielder Melky Cabrera was suspended for 50 games for failing a doping test.

The 28-year-old from the Dominican Republic, the most valuable player in this year's All-Star game, had tested positive for testosterone and admitted to using a substance banned by Major League Baseball's drug prevention program.

"My positive test was the result of my use of a substance I should not have used," Cabrera, who will become a free agent after this season, said in a statement.

"I accept my suspension under the joint drug program and I will try to move on with my life.

"I am deeply sorry for my mistake and I apologize to my team mates, to the San Francisco Giants organization and to the fans for letting them down."

Cabrera's suspension was effective immediately, the baseball commissioner's office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The eight-year big-league veteran is batting .346 -- second in the National League -- with 11 home runs, 84 runs scored and 60 runs batted this season.