Manny Ramirez suspended 50 games for performance enhancing drugs!

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

How will Red Sox fans react if it turns out Manny wasn't even clean in 2004?

Of course we would be upset about it. But there has been speculation about Curt Schilling using, and I still think with the drop off in Ortiz stats, he might have been using as well. This does not change the fact that we won it all. No one took the world series ring away from the A's when they had McGwire AND ADMITTED user Canseco on their team. So it won't take the ring away, nor diminish the feat in my mind. Keep in mind the Sox came back on the A-Rods Yanks.
Also, keep in mind, testing wasn't done until the 2005 season, so we have NO CLUE who was on it before then...i'm betting it was massive widespread use! This isn't to say it's ok, this is to point out that seriously every team has this issue since I do beleive canseco when he says 80% of players are using. I would be more upset if that figure came out in football. I LOVE football and would hate for it to be tainted like steroids have tainted baseball. Baseball already is tainted...the history of the game, and the integrity of the game is shot. The steroids problem is more than just a black eye, for years to come everyone will ignore the stats put up in this era, and justifiably so.

Oh, and another interesting thought, when I think of the 2004 series, I think of Schillings bloody sock, Damon's heroics, Big Papi's heroics, Roberts stealing second...Martinez pitching back to form, Lowe pitching lights out etc. No memory of Ramirez. Sure he was big for us, but for some reason he doesn't stick out in that win like the others.