I read somewhere that basically said, “If Manny is this good, why would he ever do steroids?” Is it too much to assume that either (a) the benefits he enjoyed from using PEDs are still lingering in his body to some degree, even after his 50-game ban, or (b) that he used his time off to find a way to inject himself without getting caught? Either way, this is a mighty pinch-hit grand slam from Manny in LA last night. It doesn’t look like anyone’s too concerned with getting Ramirez to pee in a cup after that blast. Watching that sort of thing is always kind of a buzzkill, or that’s what my mother-in-law always says. Hey, how was I supposed to know that bathroom door wouldn’t lock?
As Manny Ramirez finishes his 50-game suspension, the Dodgers are being warned to keep Ramirez out of the Dodgers clubhouse, so sayeth the LA Times. Ramirez spoke to media in the clubhouse on Tuesday, which is a violation of the 50-game ban he received for a positive drug test last month. But for those of you waiting for an explanation from Ramirez…don’t hold your breath:
“I didn’t kill nobody, I didn’t rape nobody, so that’s it,” Ramirez said. “I’m just going to come and play the game.”
He is eligible to rejoin the Dodgers July 3, and he can prepare for his return by playing up to 10 games in the minor leagues. He would have full use of the minor league clubhouse for those games.
Presumably, there isn’t much killing and raping going on in the minors. Not that it would be funny if there was. Unless it was one of Manny’s teammates, and then Manny came out of the closet immediately afterward. That would make at least one person happy.
On the heels of a report that Red Sox players were taught how to use steroids under the Duquette regime, beloved Sox DH David Ortiz (not pictured) is denying that any of Manny Ramirez’s alleged steroid use would have been connected with the team. From Y! Sports, via Rumors and Rants:
“This situation has shocked me. That’s not the guy that I know,” the Boston Red Sox designated hitter said before Tuesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Angels. “The only thing I know about him is that he’s a guy who works hard every day and gets prepared to play the game.”[...]
“I’m serious. Manny is on his own, always. When we were here playing together, it would have been, `OK, let’s meet around noon so we can have lunch and then go to the field.’ He’d say OK, and the next thing you know, you’d be calling his phone in the room and you wouldn’t reach him—and you just talked to him an hour ago. But that’s him.”
It’s also odd that Manny’s first spring training away from Boston is the first time he happens to flunk a steroid test. Also odd, when a woman’s clearly upset about something and you ask what it is and she says, “Nothing.” It’s not nothing. I know nothing. It’s what I do everyday. At least that’s what I tell my parole officer.
|img from AfroJacks|
As Manny Ramirez sits out his 50 games, ESPN broke down how MLB Manny Ramirez’s failed steroid test, as explained by the monolith. The testing in question came from a urine sample that Ramirez provided during spring training.
The test came back showing elevated levels of testosterone. Every individual naturally produces testosterone and a substance called epitestosterone, typically at a ratio of 1:1. In Major League Baseball, if the ratio comes in at 4:1 during testing, a player is flagged. In Ramirez’s case, his ratio was between 4:1 and 10:1, according to one source.
[P]er the drug-testing policy, MLB requested all of Ramirez’s medical records, including those from doctors he might have consulted outside of MLB.
From those records, MLB found that Ramirez had been prescribed human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), the fertility drug that’s been known to reboot the male body’s testosterone production. No, it isn’t a steroid, but it’s on MLB’s banned substances list. At that point, Ramirez was dead to rights.
The call has been put out by some to slap Ramirez with a lifetime ban, akin to Shoeless Joe Jackson or Pete Rose. Read the rest of this entry »
Amid all the speculation regarding the specifics of Manny Ramirez’s 50-game suspension–What was he taking? Did he do it with the Red Sox? Is he really that stupid?–no one is asking the question that could perhaps best illustrate baseball’s we’re-not-effing-around stance on so-called “performance enhancement.”
Where will Manny’s eight million dollars go?
Specifically, Manny will lose $7.7 million of the $25 million due to him for this year’s services. But what happens to it? Do the Dodgers keep it? A seven-figure check seems like an odd incentive for signing a player that was allegedly doping during his days with the Red Sox. Seems convenient, especially after the Dodgers and Ramirez haggled over the contract for so long in the offseason. Simply returning Manny’s salary to the Dodgers creates an odd incentive to expose marquee players with hefty contracts, making it appear that baseball is cracking down more than it actually is.
No, that money should go toward either the considerable expense of the testing or some kind of anti-steroid campaign that would satisfy the mothers of the world that insist that society should be raising their children. There’s no point in holding the players accountable if baseball isn’t doing the same with the teams that sign them. Do that and your precious little game will be de-’roided at a much healthier pace.
