Tougher Steriod Testing Exposing "Stars"

Even with the terrible year he is having, David Ortiz had a historically bad outing for the Red Sox yesterday.

Ortiz went 0 for 7 and stranded 12 runners—tying Trot Nixon’s team record — as his average plummeted to .208. The five-time All-Star dressed slowly while facing his corner locker, then turned around and saw a swarm of reporters surrounding him before saying: “Sorry, guys. I don’t feel like talking today. Just put down, `Papi stinks.”’

Ortiz has gone 144 at-bats since his last home run on Sept. 22 against Cleveland’s Zach Jackson at Fenway Park. He is one at-bat from equaling his longest dry spell in the majors.

Hmmmm. Now, what on earth could be the problem Papi?

Breaking: Manny Ramirez Suspended 50 Games for Testing Positive to a Banned Substance!

Wow! ESPN

The commissioner's office didn't announce the specific violation by Ramirez, who will lose about one-third of his $25 million salary.

Ramirez's test result was first reported by The Los Angeles Times.

Scott Boras, Ramirez's agent, told ESPN's Peter Gammons that his client did not test positive for steroids, but for a drug that was prescribed by a doctor for a medical condition.

(...)

The report of a Ramirez positive test is the second to rock the sport in three months. In February, New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez admitted that he used steroids from 2001-2003 while with the Texas Rangers.

A-Rod and Manny were supposed to be the two "natural" talents that weren't juicing. Baseball gets another black eye. All the major stars of the era are frauds.

UPDATE: I've been waiting all day for Red Sox fan and Manny defender Bill Simmons to comment, and he didn't disappoint with this column on ESPN:

We look at the 2004 banner again. I always thought that, for the rest of my life, I would look at that banner and think only good thoughts. Now, there's a mental asterisk that won't go away. I wish I could take a pill to shake it from my brain. I see 2004 and 2007, and think of Manny and Papi first and foremost. The modern-day Ruth and Gehrig. One of the great one-two punches in sports history. Were they cheating the whole time? Was Pedro cheating, too? That 2004 banner makes me think of these things now. I wish it didn't, but it does. This makes me sad. This makes me profoundly sad.

My son can read it in my face. I am sad. He can see it.

"That's OK, Dad," he says, rubbing my shoulder. "Everyone cheated back then."

Beeston Disingenuous

Former Blue Jays president is "shocked' at allegations that Roger Clemens took steroids when he was with the team. New dirt being dished on Clemens

Blue Jays interim CEO Paul Beeston, who was president of the club at the time, remembers Clemens only as "a tremendous person" and says he had no inkling of possible steroid use.

Asked yesterday if he was shocked, Beeston replied, "Yeah, to be honest with you."

The guy was 10-13 in 1996, his last year in Boston. He was washed up. (His last three seasons for the Sox were sluggish with a 39-40 record.) I remember thinking the Jays got suckered for signing him, based on his past glories. He suddenly turns it around. At 34 and 35 wins two consecutive Cy Young awards. (Overall record 41-13) And Beeston is shocked that he was taking performance enhancing drugs. Please.

Pete Rose Comments on A-Roid

My boyhood hero, Pete Rose, brings up some good points about Alex Rodriguez in the New York Post:

Rodriguez told ESPN Peter Gammons he stopped taking whatever it was he was taking that year, something else Rose finds hard to believe.

"I guess the drug test will prove me wrong on this, but if you're Alex Rodriguez and you're using from 2001 to 2003 and you hit 52 home runs a year, aren't you thinking about using it in 2004?" Rose told the radio station. "With that kind of success, are you just going to say 'I don't need this anymore?' You see, I don't know how it works. I don't know the mindset of a guy that does that."

Rose also doubted Rodriguez's claim that he didn't know what he was taking.

"I just wonder if a guy making $250 million is going to go into the commode at the ballpark and put a blindfold on and say, 'Go ahead hit me in the ass, with whatever you want to hit me in the ass with,'" Rose said.

LOL! Takes a fraud to know one I suppose.

On that note, can you imagine A-Rod's first appearance at Fenway this season? The Boston fans are going to go nuts. There's going to be some very creative heckling.

A-Roid Signals More Trouble for Baseball

Alex Rodriquez admit to ESPN that he did do steroids for three years while playing for the Texas Rangers:

"Back then, [baseball] was a different culture," Rodriguez said. "It was very loose. I was young, I was stupid, I was naïve. I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time.

"I did take a banned substance. For that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful."

Major League Baseball handled this so poorly. The NFL was plagued by steroids in the 80's, but they acted quickly with mandatory testing. Baseball waited until 2003. All those sacred records, particularly the home run records are now garbage. A-Rod was supposed to be the cure for this, but he'll have an asterisk as well, if he ever breaks the record.

You can't entirely blame baseball. The fans were collusive. Did anybody doubt Sosa and McGwire were juiced during that home run love fest season? Clemens and Bonds playing their best ball at 40?

Baseball as we know it is doomed for several reasons:

1. In the age of 200+ cable channels and the internet, it is simply too slow of a game to hold the attention of fans. Think of all the things we used to watch as kids, when we had no choice. World Cup skiing, the Olympics, tennis, etc. Add baseball to the list of yesterday's events.

2. There are at least a dozen small market franchises that will be hit even harder by the recession. Bring your family to the ballpark for $130 to watch the Pittsburgh Pirates?

3. The steroid scandal chases off diehards, who appreciate the history of the game. Look at the all-time home run leader list. Rafael Palmeiro has more homers than Mike Schmidt? Jim f*cking Thome has more than Mickey Mantle? Carlos Delgado has more than Carl Yastrzimski? Disgraceful... Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?