In a washed-out-white press room in Yankee Stadium (Yes!), David Ortiz faced the media yesterday to say, well, not very much. Not because he was holding back, but because he simply doesn’t know.
But he did deny ever (at least knowingly) taking steroids. Nonetheless:
“I definitely was a little bit careless back in those days when I was buying supplements and vitamins over the counter. Legal supplements, legal vitamins over the counter. But I never buy steroids or use steroids.’’
Are we to believe him? Why believe him and not give the same benefit of the doubt to Alex Rodriguez? Well, A-Rod is just hard to like, isn’t he? And he also flat-out denied ever taking steroids, then (once he was fingered) said he had taken steroids.
Papi has denied before and after he was caught. I like the symmetry of that. And it appears that being on the list may not mean what we all thought it meant. Michael Weiner, general counsel for the MLB Players Association (sitting next to Ortiz yesterday), criticized the list leaks.
Weiner said that there were substantial scientific questions about the 2003 survey testing and that just because a player’s name is on the list doesn’t mean that player tested positive.
Let’s face it. It’s just much easier to like Papi than A-Rod. He’s not a lout, not a distraction, not locker room poison. So, maybe he took andro without knowing it. Maybe the Dominican Republic pharmaceutical industry is a bit questionable. Then again, maybe the process MLB used in 2003 was questionable. Certainly the way in which these names are coming out is (eventually, after the legal process has run its course, the list will be released in its entirety; but who knows when that’ll be).
The events of the last week are a distraction that appears to be harming the team, which is mired in a 5 game skid. For that distraction, Papi says he is truly sorry:
“This past week has been a really major distraction and I want to apologize to fans, my teammates, our team’s owners and everybody for that situation.”
The team will get past this. The game certainly will. And fans, judged by their response to Papi at Fenway, have already gotten over it.
But my sense is it will linger with Papi for a while. This has been a lousy season for him—then this.
Papi put it well yesterday:
“I’m a guy that people look at not only as the guy that hits the ball. I try to do things the right way. Your reputation, sometimes, when situations like this are going on, people get kind of confused.”
I think the most confused person is David Ortiz.
Not to sound alarmist, but last night’s loss may well be one of those turning points you see in the season re-cap videos. It could go either way.
Letters, we get letters
November 15th, 2009 by Mark · Comments
We’ve been quiet here at YOTS. I’m hoping next year it will be easier to post.
One of the most entertaining aspects of hosting a blog is reading the comments. We moderate comments here–and we’ve gotten some good ones since we started this site nearly a year ago. But it’s not the legitimate comments that are the most entertaining. The spam comments are sidesplitting.
topamax online wrote this: He looked directly at me for the first time and there should have been little splintering sounds as his lips moved slowly into an unaccustomed smile.
buy cialis medication wrote this gem: clients benign pipewala banilower nathan neatly leiby uttering symbolically entire underwritten maximized
hotyuew came up with this: Все бы было так хорошо, если бы не было так грустно, это так к слову… Эх, научил бы кто нить меня сайты делать – может тоже не хуже вашего бы получилось Отличный у вас проектик, не соскучишься, спасибо
And if you were tense about the world’s state, worry no more, according to generic aciphex, who assures us all: There’s nothing to worry about.
So, that sums it up: found poetry. See you next spring.
→ No CommentsTags: Comments·Red Sox