Herges greeted by hugs from teammates

TUCSON, Ariz. -- There were hugs all around for Colorado Rockies reliever Matt Herges when the NL champions gathered for spring training Friday.

“We’ve got your back,” pitcher Aaron Cook assured the 37-year-old reliever, the only current Rockies player named in the Mitchell report on drugs in baseball.

Herges’ apology this week for using performance-enhancing drugs earned him support, but a penalty could await.

“I’m praying there’s no suspension,” Herges said. “But if there is, that’s the price I have to pay.”

For cheating -- and for coming clean.

“Some people told me not to admit anything or I’d be opening myself up to a suspension,” Herges said. “But I had to come out and tell people what I had done. It was a risk I was willing to take. I feel free now.”

On Wednesday, Herges issued an acknowledgment and an apology for using performance-enhancing drugs. He told The Associated Press he was actually thankful he had been named in the Mitchell Report because it led him to do some soul-searching that ultimately allowed him to clear his conscious.

“I’ve gotten hugs from everybody,” Herges said. “I don’t deserve it but I’m grateful for it.”

Herges said general manager Dan O’Dowd called him to say he was proud of how he had stood up and taken ownership of his mistakes.

“I can’t tell you how incredible that feels,” Herges said of O’Dowd’s call.

Herges confirmed that he was involved in steroid use in 1999 while in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm system and that he had used human growth hormone in 2004-05.

“I’m sure everyone has their own reason, but I think initially it was: This is what I’ve dreamed about being my whole life and what can I do to attain it?” Herges said. “Which is so wrong. And that’s the youth need to understand: Don’t be as insecure as I was to try to attain what you’ve always dreamed of doing. If I had never taken anything, I could still be a seven-year major league player.

“Even if this had never come out, what I was carrying around, it was eating away at me. That’s not a secret you want to hold, especially from your wife, from your family, from teammates, from the fans.”

Herges said he was clean last year, when he played a key role in the Rockies’ historic run to their first World Series. He went 5-1 with a 2.96 ERA in 35 games, which he parlayed into a one-year, $2.5 million contract.

He said friends and family have forgiven him, and he realized Friday that his teammates and coaches have, too.