Ryan Braun speaks with the media after winning his appeal of this 50 game suspension.
Ryan Braun speaks with the media after winning his appeal of this 50 game suspension. REUTERS

The Ryan Braun performance enhancing drug scandal got a bit more interesting on Tuesday when the sample collector, Dino Laurenzi Jr., spoke out via an email sent to various media outlets.

This situation has caused great emotional distress for me and my family. I have worked hard my entire life, have performed my job duties with integrity and professionalism, and have done so with respect to this matter and all other collections in which I have participated, the email said.

Laurenzi also asserted that he followed all procedures set by his employer Comprehensive Drug Testing, and disputes Braun's earlier claim that there were multiple Fed Ex locations open near Miller Park when the sample was taken at on October 1, 2010.

The reasons for the delay in the sample being sent are crucial to Braun's defense that the sample could have been tampered with during the time between when it was taken and the time when it was shipped.

Given the lateness of the hour that I completed my collections, there was no FedEx office located within 50 miles of Miller Park that would ship packages that day or Sunday. Therefore, the earliest that the specimens could be shipped was Monday, October 3, Laurenzi's email said.

In that circumstance, CDT has instructed collectors since I began in 2005 that they should safeguard the samples in their homes until FedEx is able to immediately ship the sample to the laboratory, rather than having the samples sit for one day or more at a local FedEx office.

He also said that this was not the first time he had stored samples in his home for periods of time, but that this was the first time it ever caused a problem.

I sealed the bottles containing Mr. Braun's A and B samples with specially numbered, tamper-resistant seals, and Mr. Braun signed a form certifying, among other things, that the specimens were capped and sealed in his presence and that the specimen identification numbers on the top of the form matched those on the seals, Laurenzi said in the email.

ESPN is quoting unnamed MLB officials as saying that they believe that the sample tested came from Braun and that the positive test was correct; adding that the sample that arrived at the lab in Montreal had three separate tamper proof seals and that all three were intact.

This revelation will not matter on the field as Braun's suspension has already been overturned, but this is yet another damning piece of evidence in the court of public opinion which has largely labeled Braun as a cheat. Even many other MLB players are incensed at the decision to overturn the suspension.