Are You Really That Surprised?

I woke up this morning to the news that Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez had been suspended for 50 games for testing positive for Performance Enhancing Drugs.

There is no other story in the world of sports right now. Everyone is talking Manny.

My question is why?

Why does this come as such a surprise and earth-shattering revelation? As sad as this is to say, Jose Canseco told us months ago that he was pretty positive ManRam was a PEDs user and the guy hasn't really been wrong when it comes to the whole steroids issue.

My position of surprise and outrage changed when Alex Rodriguez was outed as having used steroids. As much as I dislike the guy, I thought he cared about the game more than most and getting proven wrong led me to my new line of thinking.

Never again will I be surprised by the announcement that a MLB player used PEDs of some kind. While I still think there are a few guys out there who are doing it on talent and talent only (Albert Pujols, Ken Griffey Jr.), nothing would surprise me anymore.

Including Manny.

The bigger story for me in this is the Dodgers themselves. This is a team who has come out of the gates to post the best record in baseball and earn a Major League record 13 straight home wins to open the year. What does this do to them?

Fortunately for Dodgers fans, not as much as you would think. Juan Pierre can slide into left and there is enough hitting throughout the rest of the lineup to shoulder the load left by Ramirez' absence. Not that any one person can make up for no Manny, but collectively there are enough bats to keep the Dodgers afloat in the awful NL West.

Part of my normal daily routine is to watch Around the Horn and PTI, but I think I'm going to skip them both today.

I've already had enough Manny for one day.

No need for any more.