Major League Baseball announced Thursday that Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games for violating its drug policy. 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. Triple-A outfielder Xavier Paul has been told by the Dodgers that he will be promoted later today, according to The Times. Ramirez would be eligible to return to the Dodgers' lineup for their July 3 game against San Diego. In his first full season as a Dodger, Ramirez is batting .348 with six home runs and 20 RBIs. Los Angeles has bolted to a 21-8 record -- best in the majors -- and a 13-0 record at home that set the modern major league record for home winning streak to start a season.LINK
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Damn, unless it really was just a drug prescribed for a recent "medical condition," Manny was probably juicing during his Sox years. At least now he can blame shoving down a 60 year old Sox secretary on 'roid rage.
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Manny Ramirez statement on drug suspension
By The Associated Press – 21 minutes ago
Statement from Manny Ramirez on 50-game suspension for drug violation released by Major League Baseball Players Association on Thursday:
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Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I've taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons.
I want to apologize to Mr. McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, Mr. Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I'm sorry about this whole situation.
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he passed 15 tests over the past 5 seasons which encompasses the sox world series'. but i think it's pretty damn obvious by now, EVERYBODY is and has been juicing in one form or another.
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Just to be clear: I'm not advocating that steriods be legalized. In fact, I think that's probably a terrible idea. I'm simply puzzled. The professional sports establishment is in the midst of a major witchhunt against alleged users of performance enhancing drugs. But no one--so far as I can tell-- has articulated a coherent explanation for what should be banned and why.
"James," one of the commenters on the "Free Fernando Vina" post brought up the issue of Lasik eye surgery. That's a very good example. It is perfectly legal for an athlete to undergo "performance enhancing" eye surgery, that moves him from, say, the 50th to the 95th percentile in sight. It is not legal for that same athlete to take "performance enhancing" hormones that move his testosterone from the 50th to the 95th percentile--even thought the additional advantage of the eye surgery may be greater than the additional advantage conferred by the exogenous testosterone. Now, there may be a perfectly valid distinction between those two interventions. But what is it? Shouldn't it be spelled out before we drum Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds out of the Hall of Fame?
Similarly, it is perfectly legal for an athlete to get painkillers after an injury, so he can continue playing (and, I would point out, risk further injury.) It is not legal for that athlete to take Human Growth Hormone, in order to speed his recovery from that same injury. Again, why? What is the distinction? Why is it okay to play hurt but not okay to try and not play hurt? There may be a perfectly valid reason here as well. But don't we need to spell out what it is?
I realize that the people running major league baseball and the NFL are not philosophers. But the intellectual sloppiness with which this current crusade has been conducted is appalling."
From Malcolm Gladwell's blog...
There is defiantly some hypocrisy as to where they draw the line for "enhancing" drugs and procedures. The only argument I can recall as to why steroids shouldn't be allowed while things like Lasik can be is that unlike Lasik or painkillers, steroids are harmful for an individual's body, so leagues don't want to have role models using them and thus promoting them to highschoolers/the public. Not an inconsequential point, but I'm not sure if it really does it for me. I think part of they hype is due to the fact that steroids in general have a bad reputation, and the media loves a scandal when it can create one.
Good to hear that Manny was apparently clean during his Sox years, even if you think steroids should allowed, if some athletes don't use them because they're banned, those that do are still cheating.
Read this article by Simmons; http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090507&sportCat=mlb
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