Manny Not On HCG?; 16 Days Left

Manny Ramirez's system found no trace of the medicine HCG at the time of his drug test, three sources with specific knowledge of the results have told the LA Times. It was a prescription for the drug HCG (which is a non-steroid but banned by Major League Baseball) that led to Manny's 50-game suspension for violating the major league's drug policy.

One of the sources with knowledge of the test results confirmed that the outfielder's urine sample was flagged for having an unusually elevated synthetic testosterone level, more than four times that of the average male. The sources also said that MLB's decision to suspend Manny would have happened only if the report showed a banned substance. Anti-doping experts said the absence of HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), coupled with the league's suspension, indicates that Manny used steroids and not HCG like he claimed.

Manny was suspended for "just cause" based on "non-analytical evidence" and for which a "therapeutic use" exemption was available but was never requested. Once Major League Baseball had the prescription, Manny dropped his appeal and was suspended. When his suspension was announced, Manny said in a statement that his doctor, "gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me." Ramirez has not publicly commented since but on Friday, Manny apologized to his teammates for his 50-game suspension. It marked the first time he had addressed his teammates since receiving the suspension for violating baseball's anti-drug policy last week. "He knows he made a mistake. I forgive him," Casey Blake said. "It's his business." The meeting only lasted a few minutes, according to the LA Times.

This a serious thing for Manny and the MLB but Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O'Neal poked fun at the so-called steroid era in sports during an interview with 790 The Zone earlier this week.

"Like me, like I've told the world before, only thing I had was Frosted Flakes: Super Enhancement Cereal. That's the only thing I've put in my body," Shaq said. "Frosted Flakes Athletic Performance Enhancement Cereal. They ain't even out yet... For all the little kids, the Performance Enhancement Cereal is you take the Frosted Flakes, and you take the Froot Loops, and you mix them together, and then you get some of them sliced bananas and you put them on that thing, and then you get a big old bowl.

"The kind of bowl if you pull out out your mother say, 'Boy, you better put that bowl back!' And, then you pour that milk... 'You better get a job eating all that milk.' Mama, we ain't got no milk. 'You better put some water on that boy!"

Reading Shaq's comments, if the roles were reversed and Shaq was the one doping these are the kind of comments we would expect Manny to have made about the situation but sadly that's not the case. However Manny has one thing in his favour that A-Rod (who admitted to using PED's) doesn't and that's the fact that people like Manny as a person so it's easier to forgive him but that doesn't mean people won't forget.

Peace and Much Love To Ya