There’s two factors here, though, that don’t support Manny’s innocent claim. The first is that HCG is a masking agent, the same agent Jose Canseco was stopped for at the Mexican border for trying to bring into the US. The second is that Manny made no attempt to clear any of this with MLB before he took it. The substance was obviously on the banned list. Even Manny can’t claim ignorance to that. If he truly needed it for medical reasons, it would only be logical to approach MLB about, but he didn’t. Those are the actions of a person hiding something.

MLB followed up on him when his testosterone levels were abnormally high and discovered that he had taken HCG. Why were his levels so high? Why wasn’t any of this done through the team? It is possible Manny was just being stupid, but you would think any reputable doctor who would be dealing with him on these “issues” would be aware of the consequences of taking HCG. Something there doesn’t add up.

So let’s assume for a moment that Manny was masking a steroid. He’ll be 37 years old this month. Baseball has had pretty strict testing for a good four years now. If a player, at 37, is willing to take that risk with this testing program in place, is it reasonable to think that the same player at age 31 or 32 would be willing to take steroids with no threat of suspension? Why now and not then?

This is all speculation but I also think they’re pretty fair questions.

Regarding the Yankees, it’s pretty simple: pitching. The rotation and the pen just aren’t getting it done. Period. They’re fifth in the AL in runs scored, first in runs allowed and walks allowed.

It would have been really pleasant indeed to have this happen while he was still there but it did not. I think we should focus our attention towards figuring out why the heck the Yankees have played so bad against them this year. I know that it’s still early in the season but…C’mon!! let’s get going already!!

At the same time, it’s just a reminder to Red Sox fans of how they reacted after the Mitchell Report came out. Maybe not you in particular, but there certainly was a “holier than thou” attitude that really doesn’t hold water in light of the Manny news.

Go get ‘em NEXT year, bub.