Debbie Clemens strikes again!
‘Confused and frustrated’
Papi’s words sum up Red Sox fans’ feelings in New York
By Peter Gelzinis | Sunday, August 9, 2009 | bostonherald.com | Columnists
Photo by AP
You just knew it was going to play out like this: The nonconfession confession of David Ortiz [stats] would take place in New York, halfway through a miserable four-game siege into the Evil Empire.
True to his word, Big Papi faced the press in the merciless heart of Gotham yesterday. In English and Spanish, he claimed he was “confused and frustrated” over being outed as one of baseball’s 100 or so possible juicers more than a week ago.
When the brief inquisition was over, Ortiz seemed just as confused . . . and the rest of Red Sox [team stats] Nation was just as frustrated.
“I’m a guy since the (baseball) drug policy came out,” Big Papi said toward to the end of the event, “I’ve been eating better and working harder.”
Presumably that meant he scaled back on all those unnamed vitamins (or “bitamins,” as our beloved DH called them) and supplements he purchased “over the counter” both here and in the Dominican Republic.
Ortiz admitted to being “a little bit careless” when it came to buying all those vitamins and supplements, or knowing exactly what the so-called “stuff” was that companies were always sending to him.
But like Papi said: That was before he “got educated,” before fellow sluggers started turning up to answer questions on Capitol Hill.
And it was certainly before Major League Baseball decided to ban androstenedione, or “andro,” which had been Mark McGwire’s breakfast of champions.
Having Michael Weiner, general counsel to the players union, sitting beside him like a ball boy only seemed to confuse the issue even more.
Yes, Weiner could validate Ortiz’s claim that he was never told he tested positive for steroids - only that his name appeared on an infamous 2003 list of 104 players.
On the other hand, this lawyer could not - and would not - say if our Papi was among the 83 positive results. Because that’s all part of a federal court case spread out over three states.
Yeah, A-Rod was on the same fabled list. But the only reason we know he was a juicer is that he came clean . . . after lying to Katie Couric.
Meanwhile, our hero continues to say he’s looking for more “information,” looking to see whether or not the “stuff” that placed him on the list was technically illegal at the time he tinkled into a cup.
Is that slim qualification enough to make Red Sox Nation feel a whole lot better? Who knows.
The answer may ultimately depend on whether the Sox make it out of New York alive this weekend.
Something about this August breakdown in the Bronx seems uglier, more sinister than those of past years. As if we could forget it was The New York Times [NYT] that drove a stake through Big Papi’s heart on the eve of this crucial swing into the Big Apple.
Still, our eyes have been ripped opened much wider than we ever wanted. Our hero slugger isn’t taking Flintstones, and our two World Series trophies remain stuck under a juicer’s cloud.
David Ortiz did say he’s been tested some 15 times since that fabled list and has come up clean every time. But in today’s world of masking agents, just how clean is clean?
Article URL: bostonherald.com |
