Wow....

The title could be used to define a few things. 1) People's reactions when they see I finally wrote another blog, or 2) my reaction to learning that one of my ultimate baseball heroes has been implicated in the Performance Enhancing Drug Scandal engulfing the sport. For those of you who have not tuned in to any news entity today, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez' names have been linked to the supposed "secret list" of those who failed experimental drug testing in 2003. Wow...

As a baseball fan, and especially as a Red Sox fan, I was shocked but only for selfish reasons. I don't want to believe that this is true, hell I don't even want to believe that A-Rod took steroids, because all of these positive tests and subsequent denials or admissions are a black eye for the game that even still is my favorite of any on earth. That being said, was I surprised? Absolutely not. There have been TOO many positive tests, TOO many denials, TOO many admissions to be surprised at the point.

I wrote a blog on this very site in the days following the Manny Ramirez suspension about whether or not his positive test "tainted" the Red Sox' Championships in 2004 and 2007. I said no for a couple of reasons. One being there was no proof that he used while with the Red Sox, and two, even if he did use with the Red Sox there were numerous players on every other team that were using as well. (103 players divided by 30 teams means EVERY team had someone juicing). Just look at the 2003 and 2004 ALCS' between the Red Sox and Yankees. From what we know now, who wasn't juicing? I wouldn't say the Ortiz news taints the titles, because lets face it, as a Red Sox fan nothing will ever be better than the ride that was October 2004, but no longer can Red Sox fans walk around feeling invincible in this PED era. I think the words to describe today's revelations are dissapointing and sad, but no one can say it taints the titles.

We've reached a point where nothing should surprise us as baseball fans anymore, but at the same time if Albert Pujols' name was linked to PED's tomorrow there would be a sense of shock to the news. Nobody can say I was naive to think no Red Sox player ever used steroids. I posted on this blog before that I thought numerous players on the Sox have used, however I never thought Ortiz was one of them. Ortiz, while injury prone with Minnesota, showed he had a good power stroke before coming to the Red Sox, his physical appearance never changed like that of many other players linked to PED's, and he became a better overall hitter once he got the chance to play everyday. There was no reason in my mind to think he would be linked in anyway to this era. However the fact of the matter is, he is now apart of this "tainted" era of baseball, and it's a tough pill to swallow because this is the man who kept the word "believe" in Websters Dictionary's all over New England. The same man who made sure you NEVER left a Red Sox game early. The same man who for five years was the Gehrig to Manny's Ruth. The same man who during spring training said anyone caught with steroids should be out of the game. Wow....

Finishing thought, isn't it odd that the men who deny, deny, deny are the ones getting caught? As a Red Sox fan I guess its a good thing Pedro Martinez has for once has kept his mouth shut.