A 21-8 record, 13-0 at home, a 6 game lead in the NL West, and a team that was rolling and not showing any signs of slowing down.
And now this.
Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball for using performance-enhancing drugs. He won't be anywhere near a ballpark until he's eligible to come back July 3 in San Diego.
I was at work when I found at, and everything from my cell phone to my email to other teachers popping by with the "good" news seemed to hit me at once. Manny. Drug addict. Suspended. What was he thinking? What an idiot! All of those comments and everything in between is what I heard today.
To be completely technical about all of this, Manny was caught using human chorionic gonadatropin (HCG), which is a women's fertility drug. It's not to be confused with HGH, human growth hormone. HCG is typically used for steroid users who are off a cycle to restart their body's natural testosterone production. Seems like Manny used a bit too much, and a positive test was triggered.
In addition to getting a nearly 2-month vacation, he'll also forfeit about $7.7 million of his $25 million contract this year. I know most people will laugh at that because he's still a multi-millionaire, but that's still a pretty big chunk of change.
Of course this is all disappointing. How can I not be pissed off that the Dodgers' best player just did something really stupid to cost his team? But I guess the silver lining is that this season is only 29 games old. When he comes back, he'll still have half of his games left, which covers 3 months. So it's basically like getting a pretty bad injury, but not season-ending.
In today's baseball age, I can't say this is terribly surprising. Ever since the infamous home run chase during the summer of '98 by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa was pretty much proven to be a fraud, the general public has been conditioned to be let down. I was watching a Syracuse basketball game this winter when news of A Rod broke, and my surprise didn't last long, just like today. Makes me wonder who the hell isn't cheating anymore? Sad.
So yes, this will be a black cloud over the organization for the entire year. But to say that the Dodgers are automatically done is not doing their homework. They still have a solid club that is more than capable of winning in the weak NL West. Manny will come back in the #3 spot when the summer heats up, and the Dodgers will still be the favored team to win the division.
I can only hope that Manny does the smart thing and just lay low until he comes back. Then he really needs to pick up where he left off, because if he doesn't play well, his long season will get even longer.
1 comment:
Cheating has become a way of life in America. Twenty years ago, drivers stopped for a yellow light. Now, everyone, it seems, runs red lights to turn left--a sad parallel to our national political crime scene. I always thought Manny too good to be true, and rather out of shape as well. Oh well, color me Lost in America.
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