Los Angeles Dodgers

Most people know the courageous story of Jackie Robinson. Anyone who does not should read no farther and google the life of a real American hero.

For those who do know about Jackie's life, you probably also know about Harold "Pee Wee" Reese. Pee Wee was the Dodgers captain, 10-time All Star, and winner of seven league championships while the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn.

Despite his Hall of Fame achievements, his accolades on the field will forever pale in comparison to his contribution to our fragile nation in 1947.

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Manny Ramirez was recently suspended 50 games for testing positive for a banned drug known as "hCG" (human chorionic gonadotropin), a drug often used to soften the effects of ending a cycle of steroids. Ramirez said the drugs were prescribed by a physician for a "personal health issue." Should we buy Ramirez' explanation?

Doctor-prescribed? Personal health issue? Let me respond to those claims with a phrase that I'm sure Manny, and many other cheating baseball players, have uttered to direct a syringe full of steroids ... "my ass."

You would think that Manny Ramirez was caught fighting pit bulls alongside Martha Stewart.

ESPN's Bill Simmons says that he is "confronting my worst nightmare." Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports believes that it is time to talk about "lifetime bans." Boston Globe writer Tony Massarotti says "everyone is guilty until proven innocent."

The sports radio and comment boards have been cesspools of racism. It's always easy to hate, especially someone who plays a game for a living and makes millions of dollars.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are in first place in the NL West and enjoy the best record in baseball.  So all is well in L.A., right? 

Hardly! 

Like any major league team, the Dodgers have a list of issues, problems, and contingencies to fix and plan for.   The Dodgers look to Ned Colletti (general manager) and Joe Torre (manager) to keep a competitive team on the field and on top of the standings. 

In October of last year, the Phillies defeated the Dodgers to win their first National League title in 15 years. You know the rest of the story.

Tonight, the Dodgers will begin a three-game visit to Citizens Bank Park, their first trip to Philadelphia since last year's NLCS.

Obviously, it's not the playoffs, but for the Phillies, it might as well be. Los Angeles comes to Philadelphia sporting a 22-11 record, good enough for the best in baseball. Meanwhile, the Phillies are mired at a game over .500 with a 15-14 record.

<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 <![endif]-->

Manny Ramirez’ 50-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs came as a shock to many in the baseball world.

Manny was widely regarded as one of the best pure-hitters in the game, and his recent positive test for a substance that can be used to recover from a steroid cycle was another dark cloud hanging over the national pastime.

Look, it's one thing when you flip on the local coverage of a local ballclub.  In those situations, you can stomach the Hawk Harrelsons, Bob Brenlys, and the rest of the clowns who only have eyes for the home dugout.

Personally, I prefer my broadcast booth to play it closer to the middle—give me sound analysis of both uniforms, keep it entertaining, and mix in a subtle air of hometown loyalty.

It's not even because Manny Ramirez wears Los Angeles Dodger blue (OK, that's part of it).

In news I'm sure you'll hear from my fingers first, Ramirez has tested positive for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). 

Although his agent, that bastion of credibility and integrity Scott Boras, tried at first to spin it away with a story about a prescribed medication for a personal ailment, I'm beginning to think that might not be the case.

Right off the bat, hCG is a female fertility drug.

None of us speak Latin, but most of us have heard the term “caveat emptor”—defined by the dictionary that pops up when I hit the F12 button on my Mac keyboard as "the principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made."

And so it seems another baseball great has fallen. Fallen to the inevitable black hole in the baseball universe called steroids. 

Manny Ramirez is the latest player to fall to the allegations that he took steroids, and while I can go on and on about Mannywood or what the implications this has had on the game. I'm not going to, solely for the reason that this is an article about why this is an ample opportunity for the San Francisco Giants and the rest of the NL West to take advantage of a team blindsided by the recent controversial news.