Alex Rodriguez can breath a sigh of relief.

The new face of banned substances in Major League Baseball is Manny Ramirez.

The Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder was suspended 50 games on Thursday after testing positive for a banned substance.

No, this isn’t Manny just being Manny.

This is Manny being a bad teammate after his Dodgers got off to a 21-8 start including a 13-0 record at home.

Ramirez claims the following:

“Recently, I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me,” Ramirez said in a statement issued by the players’ union.

“Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I’ve taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons.”

When will players just confess to their sins and take responsibility for their actions instead of throwing others under the bus?

See ya July 3, Manny.

Boston Red Sox fans waking up this morning are probably still hung over from the fact that Manny Ramirez, the face of the franchise for the last eight years, was traded away.

In a three-way deal, Ramirez was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers with the Red Sox landing outfielder Jason Bay from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Read the rest of this entry »