Not a Good Time To Be a Boston Red Sox Fan: Steroids Stain the Game

The Red Sox are currently 3.5 games behind the New York Yankees for the AL East lead.

The Texas Rangers are only 1.5 games behind the Sox for the AL Wild Card spot. Since the All-Star break, the Sox have been playing terrible baseball.

Yet all this seems inconsequential in comparison to the news being reported by the New York Times and ESPN.

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are both alleged to be on the 2003 list of steroid users, the results of a survey conducted by MLB to decide whether mandatory steroid testing was necessary.

Earlier this season, Ramirez, who currently plays for the LA Dodgers, tested positive for hCG, a fertility drug that can be used to mask steroid use. A 50-game suspension was warranted.

So I suppose the news of Manny's now definite steroid use doesn't come to a shock to most baseball fans.

But as far as Ortiz goes, Red Sox fans are a little stunned.

Most will deny it, saying that since the steroid scandal each name that drops isn't really a surprise.

I guess in most ways it isn't, but Sox fans, whether they admit it or not, can't help feeling like they've taken a shot to the gut when they hear this news.

Baseball in Boston is sacred; it's a religion to most who grow up anywhere near the Greater Boston area.

Sox fans travel to opposing stadiums to create as much of a home atmosphere on the road as possible. They are unanimously hated by opposing teams because of this.

My point is, in Boston, baseball is a part of life, and we take it very seriously.

So it seems strange that in the beginning of June, a full two months into the season, Ortiz, who was batting a horrific .185 and had only one home run, was the most loved man in Boston by far.

Standing ovations preceded most Ortiz at-bats. If he even so much as hit a weak grounder through the lefty shift, Fenway fans would erupt as if he had just hit a walk-off.

It was almost poetic.

You see, Fenway fans were thanking Ortiz. Not for what he was doing, but for what he had done.

Since his breakout season in '03, Ortiz has been an integral part of the Red Sox offense, one that won two championships in '04 and '07.

With 16 walk-off hits—10 being home runs—Ortiz ranks among the most clutch players in Red Sox history.

This includes a walk-off, two-run home run to end the '04 ALDS against the Angels.

This also includes a walk-off home run in the 12th inning of Game Four of the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees, who held a commanding three-games-to-none lead over the Sox.

Less then 24 hours later, Ortiz delivered the game winning single in the 14th inning of Game Five.

The Sox then went on to win games six and seven, mounting the greatest comeback in American sports history, for it was, and still is, the only seven game series in any of the four major sports in which a team won after losing the first three games.

Ortiz, along with Ramirez, were an inseparable duo of offensive might.

Off the field their personalities were much larger then their home run totals, each captivating Boston fans with their lackadaisical attitudes and ear-to-ear grins.

Not to mention their handshakes, which were more complicated then advanced astrophysics.

They were among the core of the self-titled "idiots" of '04, a bunch of down-to-earth baseball players who did what they did exceptionally well.

Personally, I've spent money on their merchandise and own multiple T-shirts sporting their names.

It sounds stupid, but I couldn't even bring myself to drop Ortiz from my fantasy baseball team earlier this season, when he couldn't hit water even if he was standing on a boat.

Most Boston fans are similar to me; one time or another, they were completely in love with everything the duo did.

Of course most won't admit to it now.

Ortiz was once quoted by the Boston Globe in '05 in regards to steroid testing:

“They pick me [to be tested for steroids] every time. I don’t know why. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a big guy, or what, but all I know is all they are going to find is a lot of rice and beans.”

Well, it seems like they found a little more.

I can't say for sure whether or not Ortiz, or even Manny, has ever used steroids since '03.

I would like to believe that they haven't, but that perspective will be harder to take every day.

I come to you a loud, annoying Boston Red Sox fan, one that is a little bit saddened and broken.