MAN-SHAM!

When they say that it is Just Manny Being Manny I don’t think this is what they had in mind.

In shocking news LA Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez has been suspended immediately for 50 games after testing positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance. Up until this point there was never a finger pointed toward Manny and his name was never in the forefront. Who would have thought that Manny would get suspended while ARod has not, despite much publicised reports of past use. Of all the players that could suffer the wrath of the performance-enhancing crackdown one would think that Manny and Albert Pujols would be the 2 biggest and most unlikely to become linked. There has not been much attention given to either of these two but at least in Manny’s case there is.

In the Steroid era I guess nothing should be surprising but I find this, for lack of a better term a little shocking just because Manny is such a pure hitter. I stress hitter, not power hitter. He has one of the best eyes in all of baseball, the most patients at the plate and probably the smoothest right handed swing of all time. Of all the superstars who may or may not be using one would have thought that Manny wouldn’t need it. I mean if he doesn’t have the same power numbers he is still going to be a dominant hitter. Why take the risk of killing your reputation. You are not going to make more money then you are already making. How big must your ego be to jeopardize your career and place as one of the games all time bests? Is it due to injury or rehab, perhaps but how could we ever know for sure.

You can be sure that Theo Epstein and the Boston Red Sox are glad to have Jason Bay in left and not Man-Ram. I don’t think he will be getting too much support in this matter from Beantown that’s for sure.

This only goes to prove that no one can be above suspicion and that the drug cloud is still looming over baseball.

I feel bad for those who actually do it right and do it clean...but I guess how do we know if there are any in the game that are, how can we not paint everyone with the same brush?