THROUGH THE PAIN

Moretti feared that a long layoff, coupled with feelings of helplessness and doubt, could prove disastrous for Ken and cause him to backslide on his sobriety. So he devised a three-pronged drug regimen to keep Ken on the field: testosterone to maintain muscle; nandrolone, also known as Deca-Durabolin, to help calm the joints and tendinitis issues (“WD40 for the joints,” Moretti calls it); and human growth hormone, or HGH, a hormone produced by the pituitary gland, to build strength around the damaged shoulder.

Moretti was familiar with the first two from his years of bodybuilding. He had firsthand knowledge of how well they worked. HGH, meanwhile, wasn’t cheap or readily available — a cycle came with a $7,500 price tag. Moretti obtained it through a doctor friend in northern California.

The drugs worked well enough to keep Caminiti in the lineup with his torn rotator cuff.

“That combination of things kept him strong enough, and kept the shoulder from not getting worse, and it actually started to regenerate tissues in there,” Moretti said.

With the new drug regimen,

Ken couldn’t hide his steroid use. HGH needs to be refrigerated after opening, so Ken was known to use a mini fridge on road trips. Anyone who peeked into his fridge would learn the truth.

***

And then there was that one game . . . .

Caminiti had given himself a shot in the leg following Moretti’s guidance, and the area where he administered the shot bruised. Moretti was watching the Padres on TV, and Ken was at second base rubbing his bruised leg.

“During the game, I called him. ‘Please call me when you get this message,’” Moretti said.

After the game, Ken called his friend back.

“You were just televising to the whole nation that you’re taking steroids,” Moretti told him. “What do you mean?” “You’re out at second base rubbing your leg!” “Well, it was bothering me.”

“Anyone who has taken a shot in the leg knows what you were doing. Do you realize that?”

“OK. Well, it bruised up on me.” Caminiti lied about the bruise to the team’s training staff, saying he was playing with his daughters and tripped and hit his leg on the corner of a coffee table.

Sure . . . .

Moretti considered pulling Ken off injectables and tried to make sense of what went wrong.

“Did you reuse a needle?” he asked. “I don’t think I did.”

“Are you making sure the old and new needles are separated?” “I don’t know I think it was when I was on the road.”

“OK, let’s go over this again.” Moretti walked his buddy through the steps one more time: Find your hip bone, walk your fingers down, find the area where you would hit the muscle properly without having issues.