Serves Me Right
Posted on April 9th, 2011 in Uncategorized | 12 Comments »
The second I mock the Red Sox, they go and beat the Yankees….The Yankees are, and should be, worried about Phil Hughes.
But! (And this is a big but…)
In more important news, Manny Ramirez is retiring after testing positive for steroids for the 27th time.
Which means that the offensive heart of the 2004 Sox—Ramirez and David Ortiz—were totally juiced….Should their World Series victory from that year go into the history books with an asterisk?
12 Responses
4/9/2024 11:47 am
Three times, Richarde, not 27… thats the number of bedrooms in Derek Jeter’s Tampa home.
Steroids help hitting, I’m sure, but you still need the coordination, quick hands and other athletic skills to hit a baseball as well as Manny did. Who was better at that, really, in the last dozen years?
4/9/2024 4:28 pm
There is 0 evidence that either Manny or Ortiz used steroids in 2004.
4/9/2024 5:02 pm
Nope-because there was no meaningful testing program in 2004. But common sense is all you really need.
Or you could look at the statistical spike in their stats:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/ortizda01.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ramirma02.shtml
4/10/2024 9:35 am
I guess with this “logic” then the Yankees titles in 1996 and 1998 are suspect because of Andy Pettite (an admitted steroid user) and the titles in 1999 and 2000 are subject to the same treatment because of Pettite and Clemens.
Come on Rich, that was a dumb comment.
4/10/2024 4:20 pm
Oh, by the way, of what statistical spike do you speak?
Is it when Ortiz got a full time gig from the Sox in 2003 and he hit 31 HR in his age 27 year (a year most players start to come into their own) and then he continued to improve during the peak years of his career and then again when he hit 32 last year? Do you mean 2006 when he was 30 and hit 54?
Are you suggesting that players who hit more then 50 HRs when they are say 29 or 30 are on some banned substance? Do you mean to say Mickey Mantle when he was 29 and hit 54 was on some kind of illegal substance? Don’t just toss out a link to baseball reference and think we will all just nod our head in agreement. There is no spike here.
And Manny, where is his spike? Does it begin at his age 23 season? And does it continue for 13 years until he was 36? Were all those years of massive baseball production just a product of steroids? Is that your suggestion?
I don’t see any “stastical spike.” I just see a damn good ball player (an idiot but one of the greatest pure hitters of our time).
Get off you Yankee high horse and contemplate the fates of Pettite and Clemens. Those two are more troubling and I think the pitchers who used steriods were just as numerous, if not more so because the pitchers needed the recovery benefits of steroids more then batters did.
4/10/2024 4:33 pm
I’m not on any Yankee high horse. Clemens’ steroid use is really a shame; Pettitte’s was, apparently, extremely limited. Still crummy, though. I blame the former Red Sox for corrupting him.
Heck, you don’t have to take my word for it about Ortiz and Ramirez: How about the New York Times reporting that they were both doping in 2003?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/sports/baseball/31doping.html
And yes, I would be inclined to believe that a player who hit 50 home runs in a season within the last decade were on steroids.
As for Mickey Mantle, he probably would have hit more home runs if it weren’t for his substance abuse.
4/10/2024 4:34 pm
Sorry, “a player…was.”
4/10/2024 10:18 pm
Based on tonight, I don’t think the Yankees can count on Sabathia and Chamberlain to carry them to any championship. The Red Sox, on the other hand, seemed to be playing a game of “How many men can we get on base without scoring any runs?” Becket was awesome. But Crawford was 0 for 6 in the leadoff position and left 6 men on base, which is hard to do from leadoff. Sheesh.
4/11/2024 6:21 am
I didn’t see the game, but it does indeed sound like Beckett was awesome. No surprise there-he’s a great pitcher. And I’m not surprised that the Sox took 2 out of 3, either. You knew they weren’t going to go 0-162; they had to break out sometime.
Sabathia I’m not so worried about; Joba’s apparently had a great spring, for what that’s worth. It’s Phil Hughes that concerns me.
4/11/2024 12:45 pm
Rich:
I am not questioning the premise they may have taken steroids. I question why you want to tarnish the Sox World Series titles. The Yankees have similar issues but I don’t think either should be asterixed.
And, Pettite only did a little human growth? Are you serious? I have a bridge to sell you.
4/11/2024 2:37 pm
If you want to cite the Times as an authority on steroids see this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/sports/baseball/23chass.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Should raise questions about every World Series Title from th 90s on.
4/11/2024 3:02 pm
Chris—
Fine; I’ll trade you 2000 for 2004.
But I think your timing is off-base. (No pun intended.) Those Yankees were not filled with thick-necked, acne-covered, muscleheads.
(I mean, other than the former Red Sox Clemens, the two players involved in 2000 are Denny Neagle and Jason Grimsley. Oh…my…God! Not Denny Neagle and Jason Grimsley!)
In 1998, the most homers hit by a Yankee was 28, by left-handed hitter Tino Martinez. Whoo-hoo! 28 homers in Yankee Stadium.
Although actually, I’ve always wondered about Tino…He hit 44 in 1997, which is suspicious.
My point is not to say that we shouldn’t consider all these issues with lots of teams. But Ortiz and Ramirez-84 homers between ’em—were essential to that Sox Series victory. No other player on the team hit more than 20…in Fenway Park!
The Red Sox should probably just return that trophy.