Friday, July 31, 2009

I Actually Feel Bad For This Guy

After reading this column by Dan Shaughnessy in the Boston Globe, I actually feel bad for this guy. It's a bit of an overreaction, but I can see why Shaughnessy is so crushed by the Ortiz revelation. He goes as far as to say that the 2004 and 2007 Boston championships are tainted, and that the Sox's cheaters were just better than the Yankees' cheaters.

I don't know if that is fair, but there is no question two "cheats" were on their championship teams and that they were the reason they did as well as they did. I will, however, hold off on fully judging Ortiz until I know what he took.

The funny thing is, I'm not sure Yankee fans feel the same way about their championships, where tainting is concerned. I mean, Pettitte used while in Houston (pronounced House-ton if you're from New York), Clemens never pitched particularly well in the post-season, and A-Rod never won one, so it's a moot point.

As Shaughnessy pointed out, Ortiz was nothing before he came to Boston, exploded, then started to suck again when testing was implemented. That's part of the problem for Sox fans right now. No way to get around the fact that their most dominant offensive player was almost certainly dominant because he cheated. Ouch.

5 comments:

Fernando Alejandro said...

Looks like Bronson Arroyo used too:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4368436

cheshirecat9 said...

I do confess to some schadenfreude, if only to shut up Boston fans who have said the Yankees run in the late 90's was due to cheating.

Fernando Alejandro said...

Yeah, this is shaping up to be quite the embarrasing era for baseball.

TribeGirl said...

Did you guys read where Nomar said some guys refused to take the test just so they would show up positive on purpose? He said the reasoning for this was because the WANTED the drug testing and so they wanted the percentage to hit the 5% mark, so by refusing the test - it would automatically register positive, thus skewing the results. If the list gets released, those guys will be on there to. He said that's what he did. I'm sure the list would reflect those who refused. I think he's covering his ass ahead of time - LOL!!! If that were the case, Jeter would have done that, because he's wanted testing and has said let's DO the blood tests! I don't understand why they don't. It's not like they can't afford it. And players can't use the excuse they have an aversion to needles, because they all need physicals every year, and I know when I get a physical, routine blood work is done. Gimmie a break!!!

TribeGirl said...

You guys are gonna kill me...but it was a "loosey-goosey" era. I was talking to someone about Paul O'Neil the other day. He came on my radar b/c he's up for the Hall of Fame this year and all these guys are hoping not to get caught until they are voted into the HOF. Well, Paul O'Neill's antics on the field and in the dugout just got me thinking...that's some roid rage from the roids of the 90s before these new kind came out - and he's so mild-mannered now. Don't anyone get mad at me - this is what this steroid era has done - makes you look at EVERYONE and just wonder...hmmmm....did he or didn't he?