This is about to get good… or bad

Posted by Ted McEnroe May 7, 2009 at 12:30 pm

How the mighty have fallen. The LA Times reports that the mayor of Los Angeles, Manny Ramirez, has been suspended by Major League Baseball for 50 games for using performance-enhancing drugs.

The news was apparently swirling around Dodger Stadium last night. Manager Joe Torre said he hadn’t heard anything, and Manny himself was nowhere to be found. We expect to hear more information later today about the specifics of the test, when it was taken, and so on – but Manny is expected to be out of the Dodget lineup beginning tonight.

And as with all Manny stories, this one is guaranteed to get weirder.

Just take a look inside the story.

“Ramirez is expected to attribute the test results to medication received from a doctor for a personal medical issue, according to a source familiar with matter but not authorized to speak publicly.”

So, it’s not just that another one of baseball’s biggest sluggers is tainted by the drug scandal, or that Manny will be out 50 games (and lose $7.7 million of the salary he worked so hard to get this winter), this one line sets the stage for a wacky tale the likes of which we may never hear again.

And it’s not all laugh city for Red Sox Nation. If this develops into significant allegations that Manny used illegal substances while in Boston – the chuckles here will turn sour in a hurry and those World Series trophies might tarnish a bit.

We’ll just have to wait and see… and listen. Pull up a chair and brace yourself. This is about to get really interesting – in a troubling sort of way.