"Hey Papi, you wanna shove a needle in my ass after the game? Right here?"
The New York Times broke the not so shocking news today that in 2003 both Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz tested positive for steroids along with 102 other players. We all already know that Manny was juicing or at least pregnant, so as far as Manny is concerned, this is no big news, but some of you may be shocked that Ortiz is being fingered as a steroid user. I am not. It was obvious. The guy looks like a Dominican Shrek. The dude is seriously an ogre. Also, let us look at the facts. In 2003 Ortiz burst out on to the scene in Boston after basically being mediocre in Minnesota. 2003 was his first year with 30+ home runs. After that he was a home run hitting machine (he hit 41, 47, 54, and 35 homers in the next 4 years). Also, Ortiz seems to have had a rather large drop-off in productivity in the last two years. Could it be that he was scared off the juice by the recent steroid crackdown that included the Mitchell Report and the controversy surrounding Bonds, Clemens, and A-Rod? It is just speculation but it is not hard to infer that either this year (currently hitting .224 with 13 home runs) or last year (.264 with 23 home runs) is his first year off the stuff since 2003.
"PAPI SMASH!"
What this means is that the Red Sox Championship runs, spurred primarily by the fact that Ramirez and Ortiz basically could hit home runs at will, are in question. Normally I am of the thinking that steroid use does not make a huge difference in the outcome of most games or seasons. Hulk Hogan was and still is huge, but he can (probably) not hit home runs. It takes a lot of skill and a fair amount of strength to be a power hitter. But the 2003-2007 Red Sox were different. They would always outscore you because Manny and Ortiz seemed beyond human in their ability to hit late inning home runs, especially in the playoffs. It was a one-two punch that was impossible to deal with. Well, it turns out they both really were a little beyond human at the time. It seemed to me as a Yankee fan that the Red Sox had to have sold their souls to win four in a row against the Yankees after going down 0-3 in 2004, something that had never been done in baseball (or any major sport except for hockey) before. Now we know there was a reason why that has never happened before…because the 3 and 4 hitters weren’t ever artificially enhanced before. More than any other playoff outcome; you have to say that the Red Sox’s 2004 championship is severely tarnished by the revelation that what basically amounted to 70% of the team’s offense was due to players using steroids. Say that maybe half of the home runs or off the wall doubles hit by Ramirez and Ortiz in that series against the Yankees, fall short if they are clean. Do the Sox still win four straight and make it to The Series? I don’t think so.
Another reason why I’m going after Ortiz so hard is because he is a hypocrite. In the off-season he was quoted saying that anyone caught with banned substances should get a year long ban, an obvious dig at A-Rod and his steroid controversy. Really Papi? Maybe you should take your head and the needles out of your ass and shut your mouth.
More and more names are being revealed as steroid users and it is becoming less and less of a big deal in the public’s eyes because that means the playing field was relatively level. But this is an instance where you can honestly make a case that a team won the World Series purely because of steroids. Sure, the Yankee’s had A-rod, but he choked hard in the playoffs like he always does so his use was irrelevant. Clemens also was past his prime, mediocre, and only used once or twice in a series. They had Giambi at the time, but he was already off the juice and past his prime at that point. He also admitted his use first and apologized for it, the right thing to do. He paved the way for players like Manny to come back and be embraced after a steroid scandal. All you need to do is prove that you can do it without 'roids and not be a hypocrite about it and people won’t be so mad at you. Ortiz failed at doing both of these things. That’s why maybe we should listen to one of his better quotes from earlier this season, which he said to the press after he had a particularly bad game, “Just write, 'Papi stinks.’”
