Dodgers Have No Way Out of Manny Deal

(NEWSER) - Manny Ramirez met with his Dodgers teammates today to personally apologize for flunking a drug test and drawing a 50-game suspension, the Los Angeles Times reports. Team management had encouraged the outfielder to talk with the squad. “He knows he made a mistake. I forgive him,” third baseman Casey Blake said. “It's his business.” More»

Defending World Series champs now up 2-1 over Dodgers

(AP) - Cliff Lee dominated the Dodgers and Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth provided the big swings early as the Philadelphia Phillies cruised past Los Angeles 11-0 last night for a 2-1 lead in the NL championship series. Lee provided another brilliant playoff start, striking out 10 and allowing only three hits in eight innings. "Cliff Lee, what can I say about him? He was absolutely outstanding," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. More»

(NEWSER) - Insiders say both Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are on “the list” of baseball players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, the New York Times reports. Ramirez recently finished a 50-game suspension for taking a banned drug; it’s the first time Ortiz—Ramirez’s teammate on two World Series-winning Boston Red Sox squads—has been linked to such substances. More»

Ramirez heads to triple-A Isotopes

(NEWSER) - Manny Ramirez may play for the Albuquerque Isotopes tonight, and droves of locals are planning to be there, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Triple-A team sells 7,715 tickets for a typical game; tonight it expects up to 15,000. Fans aren’t much concerned about the slugger’s suspension for using a performance-enhancing drug. “He’s a cheater,” one told the AP, “but I want to see him play.” More»

(NEWSER) - Manny Ramirez has tested positive for a banned substance and will be suspended for 50 games beginning immediately, the Los Angeles Times reports. Reports have identified the substance as HCG, a drug commonly used to treat female infertility but also taken to raise testosterone levels at the end of steroid treatments. The substance is intended to boost sex drive and "is not a steroid and it is not human-growth hormone," a source told Yahoo Sports. The suspension runs through July 3 and will cost Ramirez nearly $8 million. More»