Oh, How the Mighty Have Fallen

100 unnamed dirty players remain on the list of 104 that tested positive for performance enhancing drugs during the "anonymous" drug testing of players in 2003. I would love to feign shock, dismay, surprise and utter disbelief as Big Sloppy David Ortiz's and Manny Injecting Manny Ramirez' names were released today by Michael B. Schmidt of NY Times, as one of the Dirty 104. Ortiz and Ramirez join ARod and Sosa on the exposed list this year.

I've been calling Big Sloppy a fraud for years, wondering how he was cut loose by a Minnesota Twins team, the same Twins team that has kept the talentless wonder, Nick Punto, in baseball for the past 6 years. His homeruns jumped from 10 to 54 in a span of 6 years, playing in the friendly confines of Fenway Park. I'm sorry, but no park is that friendly!

Ortiz thinks he's a crafty, though. He's made ambiguous comments in the past, particularly when a lot of Latin American players were testing positive after 2004, saying for all he knows, he may have taken steroids. In 2007, he referenced shakes he would drink in the Dominican Republic, but after realizing he wasn't sure what was in those shakes, he stopped and began buying products at GNC. Oh, Big Sloppy, how naive - naive to think that us fans would swallow that crap.

We didn't buy ARod's 6 versions of how and when he took his steroids. We didn't buy the fact that Barry Bonds thought the cream was flaxseed oil for his aching muscles and the clear a multi-vitamin. We're didn't buy Sammy Sosa suddenly losing his grasp on the English language or Mark McGwire's embarrassing appearance during the Senate hearings. We don't buy Roger Clemens story. Now you say you're "going to get to the bottom of this." I think the only bottom involved is your ass taking a needle.

Then there's the sad case of Manny Injecting Manny. Originally, before Manny was caught this year, I thought the guy was too stupid to know what steroids were or did. I guess I'm the stupid one for ever thinking that. Ol' Manny fittingly got fingered on the same day as his ol' chum and teammate, Ortiz. This is another blow to Manny's image after taking a hit earlier this year for testing positive for a "masking agent" in spring training. Will this cost him a shot at the Hall of Fame?

Where was George Mitchell during his steroid investigation? Apparently, he wasn't looking too hard on the team where he sits as one of their chairman board members. There are numerous of other players during the turn of this century that reek of suspicion. Look at Trot Nixon and Bill Mueller, both players who had 3 year period of career numbers before their careers were ravaged by injuries. Nomar Garciaparra also fits that profile.

No longer can Sawx fans crow like roosters chanting ARoid when ARod strolls to the plate at Fenway. These taunts will sound hollow and they may want to take a hard look at their own "heroes" and their tainted championships.