After Thursday’s revelations Manny Ramirez is charged with taking the banned substance Human chorionic gonadotrop (HCG) —- carefully described by Tim Marchman as “some kind of lady hormone that juiceheads use when they’re coming off a cycle”, the Boston Globe’s Tony Massarotti angrily demands the left-fielder “owes us all an explanation, and he owes us a heck of a lot more than a note effectively signed by Juan Epstein’s mother.”
Entering the 2007 season, Ramirez was a .314 career hitter with a .600 career slugging percentage. In 2007, he batted .296 and slugged a mere .493. Those numbers continued along the same path of decline through much of last season; at the time the Red Sox sent him to the Dodgers, Ramirez was batting .299 with a slugging percentage of .529.
What has happened since, of course, has been a resurgence of Ruthian proportion. In one-third of a season with the Dodgers, Ramirez slugged .743 and hit nearly as many home runs (17) as he did in his last four months with the Red Sox (20). His slugging percentage since joining the Dodgers today stands at a robust .710, precisely .202 greater than the .508 he posted for the Red Sox from Opening Day 2007 up to last year™s trading deadline.
Along the way, Manny just happened top be playing for a new contract.
Is it so outrageous to think he simply cycled up when he most needed it?
Now Ramirez is banned from baseball for the next 50 games, a particularly amusing development given the damage he might do to his team. The Dodgers currently possess the best record in baseball. Ramirez is more important than any hitter in their lineup. Ramirez™s statement effectively proclaimed his innocence as it pertained to the knowing, deliberate and malicious use of performance-enhancers, and yet the same statement was sufficiently vague to only fuel the questions about Ramirez and the role of performance enhancers on his career, in the short term or the long.
While I’d never call Massarotti a shill for the Olde Towne Team, there’s one glaring point he conveniently fails to make — perhaps he thought it too obvious. If Ramirez’ contract drive is tainted, how long before a report surfaces that challenges the integrity of Boston’s 2004 and 2007 titles? Just a short time ago, Alex Rodriguez insisted he’d not tried a PED before or after an immature stab at living up to his Texas Rangers contract. Where’s Manny’s Peter Gammons?
Speaking of integrity, Fenway Park must be the most ethical workplace in all of baseball. How else you can explain that with the exception of Manny Being Manny Alexander, no prominent member of the Red Sox has been charged with shaming the organization. Not until they’ve left town, anyway.
I’m no doctor, but … was Manny required to take drug tests while he was haggling with the Dodgers and officially not signed with an mlb team? He took forever to sign, waited until March to do it, and in the first week of May is busted taking the drug you use to cycle OFF steroids? I don’t know how long it takes to bulk up with steroids, or how long the effect lasts once you’re on, but if he didn’t have to test in the off-season it makes sense he’d wait so long to sign.
Also, his story about the doctor mistakenly prescribing the drug — if true, wouldn’t that doctor be on the hook for 7.1 million Manny is losing because of him?
Manny’s Peter Gammons will probably be Peter Gammons.
Maybe Manny’s a tranny. Did anyone ever think of that?
I don’t mean to sound like a total conspiracy theorist but the Boston sports team, in particular the Red Sox and Pats seem to have the commissioners office form select sports in the bag. Just ask Mike Fish.
Where is Manny’s Peter Gammons? How about Boston’s Selena Roberts.
If she could get out of ARod’s dumpster or stop wasting so much time hunting down cabbies he under tipped I might have a lead for her. How has Big Papi looked since “testing” has begun?
Glance at the Sports Putz’ column and you’ll see that he’s already thrown suspicious glances the way of the 2004 Sox – albeit with a clunky “three generations of Simmons’ at a baseball game in the future” scenario.
Somewhere, Gabe Kaplan fans are laughing themselves silly. All 4 or 5 of them.
MLB only tests players who are A) under contract, and B) during the season. So it stands to reason Banny, during his elongated pregnant pause, may have been workin’ the ol’ juice machine.
And Paul DePodesta is snortling himself halfway to unconsciousness in his mom’s basement.
I dunno, wasn’t Gammons pretty pissed off about Banny’s last days in Boston? For dogging games and whatnot? Too bad Costas painted himself into a morally outraged corner over Barry Bonds and steroids, because he’s the kind of suck-up needed for this job. He’d have to crucify any steroid user. Larry King?
Larry’s a pretty solid choice for such a role. But I’d propose an interviewer with a) considerable experience quizzing his peers and b) someone with firsthand knowledge of being judged harshly by the media. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxXgwJIEs4c