Upstart Dodgers Lose Manny for 50 Games

After getting off to the game’s best start at 21-8 and setting a Major League record by starting off the season 13-0 at home, the Los Angeles Dodgers will have to see if they can continue their hot start without their best slugger for the next 50 games.

Manny Ramirez has been suspended by Major League Baseball after testing positive for a banned substance.

This will be the second positive test to rock the sport in the last three months, beginning with Alex Rodriguez’s spring training admission of steroid use during.

The suspension starts tonight and will leave the Dodgers without their premier slugger until July 3, when he will be active again to play against the San Diego Padres.

The suspension will cost Ramirez about a third of his $25 million salary this year.

In a statement released through baseball's players union, Ramirez said the positive test resulted from a medication prescribed by a doctor and not from a steroid. He waived his right to challenge the suspension.

Ramirez was traded to the Dodgers last season at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. At the time of the trade, the Dodgers were 54-55. 

He propelled the Dodgers to the playoffs last season, hitting .396 with 17 homers after the trade to help the team finish at 84-78 and win the NL West over the Diamondbacks.

This season, which would have been his first full year as a Dodger, Ramirez was hitting .348 with six homers and 20 RBI.

Ramirez is in the first year of a two-year contract worth $45 million dollars.