Ankiel says he met with MLB officials about HGH

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he met earlier this week with baseball officials to answer questions about human growth hormone.

Major League Baseball had requested a meeting after a New York Daily News report that Ankiel received eight shipments of HGH in 2004.

"I think it was a good thing to do, and I was happy to help," said Ankiel in Friday's edition, adding he met with representatives from the commissioner's office before Tuesday's game in Cincinnati. "I answered whatever questions they had. I was in full compliance with whatever they needed."

Ankiel has said that while he was recovering from elbow surgery he took what a doctor prescribed, but declined to discuss specific medications.

Under its current drug policy, baseball does not test for HGH, and the drug was not banned until 2005.

Ankiel, who turned to the outfield after wildness forced him to give up his pitching career, is mired in a 1-for-23 slump. Before Friday's game against NL Central-leading Chicago, the Cardinals had lost seven straight since the report came out.

-- AP