Manny Happy Returns (in 50 games)

So Manny Ramirez has tested positive for a banned substance, and Major League Baseball has suspended him for 50 games.

He stated that the drug was presribed for a medical condition. Unofficial reports are saying that the drug was Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG).

Wikipedia has this to say about HCG:

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a glycoprotein hormone produced in pregnancy that is made by the developing embryo soon after conception and later by the syncytiotrophoblast (part of the placenta). Its role is to prevent the disintegration of the corpus luteum of the ovary and thereby maintain progesterone production that is critical for a pregnancy in humans. hCG may have additional functions; for instance, it is thought that hCG affects the immune tolerance of the pregnancy.

Assuming Manny isn't pregnant, then why would he take HCG, a female hormone?

I knew someone many years ago who had to take HCG. His testacles didn't descend, and he had to receive HCG injections, I believe, to stimulate the production of testosterone.

And there lies a possible clue. Steroid users apparently take HCG after going through the steroid cycle to restimulate the production of testosterone which is apparently suppressed by steroid usage.

There are people who have stated that HCG can have a performance-enhancing affect as it does increase testosterone production. But I have to wonder if Ramirez took steroids some time in 2008, for his numbers shot into the stratosphere during the second half of the season after being sent to the Dodgers.

I don't know that there is much anecdotal evidence for steroid usage beyond that and the HCG. However, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Manny thought he could get away with using steroids in this day and age.

There seems to be a serious disconnect between common sense and Manny Ramirez.

ManRam vs. JayBay

The last second trade which sent Manny Ramirez to Los Angeles and delivered Jason Bay to Boston will go down in Sox history as one of the biggest. Certainly one of the top ten. Ramirez was an iconic figure in Boston, albeit a rather self-absorbed, self-centered, selfish and wacky one. Sort of like Tom Cruise with a bat.

It's already been touted as a top niner by the Boston Herald, so I must be right.

Anyway, the sweet irony to the whole situation is this:

In their respective debuts, Jason Bay scored both runs for the Red Sox which gave them a 2-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics and Manny Ramirez grounded into a double play in the bottom of the ninth to set the stage for Los Angeles' 2-1 loss to the Diamondbacks.

2-1.

On one team, the new guy was the difference-maker. On the other team, the new guy was the yawn-maker.

Manny had two hits in four at bats - neither of them productive.
Jason had one hit in five at bats, two walks and was hit by a pitch. His one hit was a triple, and he brought home the winning run on a Jed Lowrie infield single.

This isn't to infer that the debuts are some sort of harbinger of things to come. (Or are they?)

But look at it from this point of view. Manny bats clean up for the Dodgers, drives in no runs, gets no runs. Jason Bay bats fifth for the Sox, gets on with a walk in his first at bat, goes to third on a JD Drew double and comes home on a sac fly by Lowrie in the second inning. Then in the 12th, he hits a triple and is brought home, once again, by Lowrie, winning the game.

Teamwork. Pure and simple. Setting up scenarios to provide the opportunity for the team to score.

We will miss the Ramirez home run explosions - no doubt about that. But Jason Bay has returned a vital element to the Red Sox, the sense of team.

And it could make all the difference in the world.