Friday, May 15, 2009

Manny the chemist? A grassy knoll appears on the MLB horizon this morning

OK, let me see if I have this right...

No, let's start over. This will be one of the strangest blogs you've read on this site. I'm wondering if someone spiked my Starbucks this morning.

I used to think I could read.

Buster Olney wrote a provocative little piece this morning about Manny's troubles. Buster Olney may be the best sportswriter in America. If you haven't read "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," you must.

But, I could not make heads nor tails of his column on ESPN.com this morning.

Fortunately, he sent me to the LA Times for the original reporting on the latest Manny development. Here it is. See if you can figure it out. I can't.

It made me even more dizzy.

I'd like to explain this supposedly explosive development to you, but I can't. It has something to do with the complicated interplay of drugs and MLB rules affecting this case. Apparently, this interplay argues strongly Manny is lying about what got him in trouble and what he's been doing.

If you can figure it out, let us know.

While you're puzzling, two disturbing things do seem clear:

1) Olney's conclusion appears sound. Manny juiced up for the big payday and the fans, the owner, the team, all the players who came before him and the record books, were cheated. Manny didn't cheat AT the sport, he cheated the sport.

2) It is a good guess Manny did not act alone. The grassy knoll just appeared on the horizon. Manny is a hitter and a character, Manny is Manny, but Manny is not a chemist. And, if it takes a chemist to unravel the scheme, Manny did not concoct the scheme.

Who did? Maybe I've watched one too many NCIS reruns, or I'm remembering Deepthroat's advise to The Boys, but the first question you have to ask is who stands to gain the most from a $45 million Manny Ramirez contract?

This is, I think, a question somebody in Bud Selig's office needs to be asking.

--Lofflin

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