In your face, Red Sox dopers!

What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the two sluggers who anchored the Boston Red Sox lineup on its way to World Series in 2004 and 2007, have been tagged for using steroids.

Ramirez and Ortiz were both named in the 2003 report that implicated Alex Rodriguez and a total of 100 MLB players.

I am almost speechless, unable to make the thousands of points cramming into my head, at this news. Euphoric? Yes. Trying to say something that involves the word "tainted"? Also yes. Pleased that the Curse of the Bambino could only be broken with juice? Yes, yes, yes.

An A-Bomb! For A-Rod!

I'd like to think it was my words spurring the Yankees to action today, but perhaps it was just some good, old-fashioned baseball juice from the game's biggest performance enhancer, Alex Rodriguez.

A-Rod's smooth swing sent the first pitch he faced into the left field seats (that's not the gimme section of the new park, folks) to drive in three runs, get him some slaps on the butt and land the Yankees with a 4-0 victory.

And this man is infectious, at least enough to have CC Sabathia pitch his best game of the year and to keep the bullpen from blowing the win. The rest of the team was still sputtering, but one run wins a game, and A-Rod is always a contender to get that one run with one swing. The win broke a five-game losing streak for New York.

By the way, I read part of Selena Robert's book on Rodriguez tonight. I find it intriguing but will not give my full synopsis on the situation until I've read the text. But I'm a supporter of paying attention to what's happening today; I wasn't pining for A-Rod to come back, and if he goes lame tomorrow, I won't cry (you have to win with what you have). And as much as I wish the Yankees could play without him, apparently he was the boost they needed for tonight. So let's ride him for a while and not think about other things.

A final word about the Manny situation: I say kudos to Manny for 'fessing up and taking the sentence like a man. Whether he did it knowingly or not, whether he's trying to get back quicker for the season or not, whether he's smart or not, whatever. I like to see a guy admit it, take the pay cut, sit it out and come back for another day.

Manny being ... banned

Manny Ramirez has been banned from baseball for 50 games for violating league anti-doping rules. His side of the story is that he took medication without checking what it was, and he adds that he's been tested 15 times over five years and hasn't flunked once.

My side is that I was never very interested in the finger-pointing, back-and-forth and complete silence of the steroid situation, so I'm just going to point at the irony.

Ramirez came pretty closing to coming down to the wire with his salary negotiations this year, and in the end, he notched a nice $25 million contract. Now, he has to give back a little over $7 million of that and not play for 50 games.

The poor Los Angeles Dodgers, who not only gave him that contract (knowing that he's no Cal Ripken) but also renamed part of their seats after him ("Mannywood"...and yes, he's been there less than a full season), have seen ticket sales jump with Ramirez in town. Only time will tell, of course, how much a part of the increase in profits for the team he has been, but the more worrisome point for the Dodgers is what they have to deal with right away: keep winning.

Los Angeles just broke the modern record for games won in a row at home, pulling out their 13th in a 10-3 drubbing of the Washington Nationals.

Unlucky number, unlucky player...if the Dodgers make it through this hiccup and are still alive in July when Ramirez comes back, pick them to go all the way.