Manny Ramirez’s suspension

“Do they make dunce caps in Dodger blue?” asked Ken Rosenthal in Fox Sports. Los Angeles Dodgers star outfielder Manny Ramirez managed to test positive for drugs at a time when, as he well knew, baseball players were under greater scrutiny than ever. Baseball officials will point to Ramirez’s 50-game suspension as proof their crackdown is working, but all it really proves is that Ramirez is an idiot.

Ramirez apologized, but he insists he’s a victim here, said Ray Ratto in the San Francisco Chronicle. His excuse is that he didn’t take steroids, but some other drug prescribed by a physician. That should be easy to check out. But regardless of how this turns out for Ramirez, let’s hope that the suspension of a superstar makes all players think twice about what they put into their bodies.

Let this be a lesson to everyone, including fans and team owners, said Phil Wallace in LA Observed. We all told ourselves that Ramirez had just been on fire since he left the Boston Red Sox to play for L.A. last year, with his “super-human“ .396 batting average and 17 home runs over two months last season. But when someone’s performance appears “too good to be true,” it probably is.

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