Thursday, July 30, 2009

Manny, Ortiz Reportedly Had Positive Tests in 2003


Baseball is just stupid. Not the sport, the community. When Alex Rodriguez's name came out of the supposedly confidential list of players who tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, baseball should have seen that as a sign that the list will never be held under confidence.

I was on the bandwagon of just going out and releasing all the names on the report so we can digest it all at once and somewhat quickly move on. Instead, baseball decides to keep trying to keep this under wraps and risking the fact that every two months or so another name gets reported.

It happened with Sammy Sosa earlier this year. It has now happened with David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Both Ortiz and Ramirez are reportedly on that 2003 list. The New York Times is reporting that the two then-Red Sox tested positive for PEDs when the league had preliminary testing.

This isn't surprising. Manny just served a 50-game suspension for testing positive for a female fertility drug. There have been whispers about Ortiz that grew into roars as he struggled mightily at the beginning of this season. Not to mention that Ortiz basically wasn't very good in Minnesota ... who dumped him in 2002. Magically, Ortiz signed with the Red Sox and started putting up elite numbers. Plus, no one in their right mind cannot at least fathom that every slugger over the past 10-15 years has been juiced at some point. Even if they weren't, the perception is that they all were.

Also, Ortiz and Ramirez are both from the Dominican Republic. Just like reported PED user Miguel Tejada. Alex Rodriguez is of Dominican decent. The only country that has produced more positive users since 2005 has been the United States.

This is yet another huge blow to baseball ... if you pay attention. Barry Bonds single season home run record? He was juiced. Mark McGwire breaking Roger Maris' home run record before Bonds? He was rumored to be juiced. Bonds all-time home run record? He was juiced. A-Rod, McGwire, Raphael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa ... among the greatest HR hitters of all time ... all have been rumored or proven to have juiced. Go back and look at all the MVPs over the past 15 years and pick out all the ones who have been linked to PEDs.

Now that magical Red Sox run in 2004 looks like it was performance enchanced. The Red Sox amazing comeback against the Yankees in the ALCS and their winning their first World Series since 1918 has a little bit of taint on it.

So, we now wait another couple of months to see who's name comes off the list next.

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