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    Posts Tagged with Alex Rodriguez

    Say it Ain’t Sosa: Sammy Tested Positive for PED’s in 2003

    Posted June 17, 2009 by darren
    Found in: Caught in the Act, Breaking News, MLB

                                                      

    When news about another steroid and PED user in baseball comes out I am no longer surprised.  How can I be now?  With name after name being associated with steroid and PED (Performance Enhancing Drug) use.  Another name can be added to the list as Sammy Sosa was apparently also on that same list of positive testers that Alex Rodriguez was on in 2003.  The list had all the players that tested positive in 2003 in the MLB, 104 players in all.  The list was supposed to never come out to the public.   Baseball just wanted to take an anonymous survey to see if they needed testing in baseball.  It was kept out of the public spotlight until earlier this year when A-Rod’s name was leaked as the big fish on the list. 

    Since then, there has been a debate on whether the rest of the names should be made public or not.  I personally am on the side of just getting all the names out in the public.  Just get it over with now as a big group so people can have their reactions and move on.  People will be angry and surprised for a while and then just deal with it.  Letting the names be leaked a little at a time just prolongs the story that baseball wants to get rid of.  People will always question and suspect anyone and everyone till all the names are out.  Though it wont solve all the questions about steroids and PED’s, it will be one less of a story.

    As more and more names of steroid and PED users come out, which seems like all the great players of that time, I think fans are starting to think that just about everyone was using them at that time.  You can’t really trust anyone these days.  Not the MLB, not the players.  All we get from them is denial after denial.  That is, until they get caught red handed.  Then, they try to come out and apologize to everyone like they are doing the honorable thing.  It’s not that honorable when all the evidence is out and there is no other option but to apologize for being caught.  I mean, Sammy Sosa, just a few weeks ago, stated when he announced his retirement, “I will calmly wait for my induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Don’t I have the numbers to be inducted?”  That was before anyone could directly link him steroids or PED’s and the only thing that people could pin on him was being caught with that corked bat in that same 2003.  But now that this is out, he can most likely just kiss that good bye.  I guess we’ll just have to see how the public and hall of fame voters react.  My advice to baseball is to just release all the names and get this thing over with.  I’ll be waiting for the next 102 till then.

    Image Source:  Reuters Pictures

    Fantasy Impact Player of the Week: David Wright

    Posted May 22, 2009 by david carrillo
    Found in: Fantasy Sports, MLB

    The flurry of steroids related drama surrounding Major League Baseball has been pretty high this season.

    First it was leaked that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for performance enhancing drugs while he played for the New York Rangers.  He was able to avoid a lengthy suspension because the test was given in anonymity before the current drug rules were instituted, but the hit to his character and the game of baseball were still large.

    Adding to the already dark cloud of A-Rod’s failed test is the fact that over 100 other MLB players tested positive during the same time period.  The tests are sealed so people are naturally starting to question a lot of players from the last 10-20 years.  Anyone who starts to slump, like Boston’s David Ortiz, makes baseball fans wonder if their former greatness can be attributed largely to the juice.

    Then there are cases like Manny Ramirez, where it has yet to be proven he took steroids but the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming.  All of these unpleasant stories make this weeks fantasy impact player even more impressive.  He has never been linked to any type of performance enhancing drug and is one of the brightest young stars in the game today.

                                                   

    This weeks fantasy impact player is New York Mets‘ third baseman David Wright, who started off the season a bit on the slow side but has turned it on in the past couple weeks.  Currently riding a respectable 11-game hit streak, Wright leads all third basemen in batting average with a monstrous .362, good for eighth overall among all players with at least 100 at bats.

    For the past seven days he is the second highest rated player on ESPN’s fantasy player rater and is first for third basemen.  During that same time span he is 14 for 22 at the plate for a whopping .636 batting average.  He also has 10 walks to only three strike outs, which explains his high on-base percentage (.750) and OPS (1.568).  It is true his power numbers are down, but considering he has hit at least 25 home runs in each of the last four years it is only a matter of time before his power catches up to the rest of his impressive numbers.

    Toss in the fact that he trails only Chone Figgins in steals among third basemen and you can see just how dominate Wright is in the world of fantasy.  It isn’t reasonable to expect him to continue hitting .362, but his final regular season stats could easily be a .315 batting average, 28 home runs, 115 RBI and 30 stolen bases.

    And what fantasy owner wouldn’t be ecstatic for those numbers?

    Image Source:Hawk Fantasy Sports

    Manny Being Manny or Manny Being Bonds?

    Posted May 8, 2009 by david carrillo
    Found in: Breaking News, MLB

    And so another one bites the dust.

    In case you have been living under a rock for the last 24 hours and/or haven’t had any human contact, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez has tested positive for human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, a female fertility drug and banned substance of Major League Baseball.

                                     

    Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games and will lose more than $7 million dollars in salary after deciding to drop his appeal of the ruling.

    Sadly, for those who root for the Dodgers, the savior of their team has joined the likes of other home run hitting heroes who have fallen under the dark cloud of the steroids era.  While Ramirez hasn’t tested positive for steroids — he said he has passed about 15 drug tests over the last five seasons — the tarnish to his image may be too much for even him to overcome.

    hCG is, after all, a drug commonly used by steroid users to get their bodies to naturally reproduce testosterone after a steroids cycle.  At best he is guilty of gross negligence when it comes to monitoring drugs he puts into his body.  At worst he is a cheater a la Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, etc., etc.

    We aren’t supposed to be surprised any more when a new name pops up on the list of substance (ab)users, but regardless of whether or not you are a fan of Ramirez it is likely you were at least a bit shocked when you heard the news.  Manny is a lot of things, but until yesterday a cheater wasn’t thought to be one of them.  Ugly exit from Boston aside, Ramirez has been the goofy, eccentric, fan-friendly player that Bonds never was.  For all his shortcomings, Ramirez was the carefree-to-a-fault, clean power hitter baseball desperately needed.

    Or so we all thought.

    Manny being Manny used to be a nice way of saying Ramirez is a bit of knucklehead.   Now it just feels like the butt of a bad late night joke, the easy way of saying Ramirez’s deception can only be described as Ramirez-like.

    McGwire taught us all that chicks dig the long ball, but nobody told him and the players that followed that drug induced potency didn’t count.  Now Ramirez has taught us all a lesson we hopefully won’t soon forget.

    Looks can be deceiving. Just because a player doesn’t show the typical signs of steroid use (Bond’s enormous head) doesn’t mean he is above suspicion.  Just because a player is engaging and charismatic doesn’t mean he is beyond doubt.  Just because a man can lift a city doesn’t mean he can evade punishment.

    And, apparently, just because you aren’t supposed to be surprised any more doesn’t mean you can’t be.

    Image Source: Wbz.com

    This Week in Sports Blogs

    Posted March 27, 2009 by nick
    Found in: This Week in Sports Blogs

     Ryan Moats

    This week in sports blogs and news:

     
    YouTube - Watch 

    This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered:

    “I dream of me…”

    Posted March 23, 2009 by nick
    Found in: Photos of the Week, MLB

    Tell us what you’d say

     Alex Rodriguez

    What would you say? Write us your caption and post them in our comments!

    Photo Source.

    New Sports Blog Round Up

    Posted December 5, 2008 by nick
    Found in: This Week in Sports Blogs

    This week in sports blogs and news:

    Pau Gasol

    This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered:

    Photo Source.

    New Sports Blog Round Up

    Posted October 31, 2008 by nick
    Found in: This Week in Sports Blogs

     John Daly arrested at Hooters

    This week in sports blogs and news:

    This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered:

    Guitar Hero Video: Kobe and A-Rod Star in Commercial

    Posted October 28, 2008 by nick
    Found in: Humor, Video Games, Videos

     Guitar Hero World Tour

    Guitar Hero World Tour  Alex Rodriguez Jerseys  Kobe Bryant Jerseys

    Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez, Tony Hawk and Michael Phelps.

    No, this isn’t the lineup for the new cover of a Wheaties box, but rather, these four are starring in a new commercial for Guitar Hero World Tour of all things. And to be honest, it’s not half bad. I’ll to the first to tell you, I even cracked a smile.

    Watching the four of them playing air band in tribute to Tom Cruise’s performance in Risky Business had me bust a gut. The only thing I squirmed at was Michael Phelps. He looked a bit awkward manning the guitar and, is it me, or is anyone else on Phelps overload?


    YouTube - Watch 

    Photo Source.

    New Sports Blog Round Up

    Posted September 19, 2008 by nick
    Found in: This Week in Sports Blogs

     San Diego Padres

    This week in sports blogs and news:

    This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered:

    New Sports Blog Round Up

    Posted September 12, 2008 by nick
    Found in: This Week in Sports Blogs

     T.O. - Terrell Owens

    This week in sports blogs and news:


    YouTube - Watch 

    This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered: