Manny Ramirez’s 50-game suspension is coming to an end. On Friday, he will suit up for the Los Angeles Dodgers as they play the Padres in San Diego. It will be the first time he plays since May 6th.

Prior to being suspended due to testing positive for performance enhancing drugs, Ramirez was off to a fast start. In 27 games, Ramirez had six homers, 20 RBIs, 22 runs, nine doubles, a batting average of .348 and an on-base percentage of .492.

The 37-year-old outfielder will return to the team with the best record in all of baseball. At 50-29, the Dodgers already have a 7.5 game lead over the second place San Francisco Giants in the NL West.

Expect Ramirez to go right back into the middle of the Dodgers’ lineup. While they are good without him, Ramirez turns Los Angeles into a legit World Series championship contender.

And even though his first game back is technically a road game, expect many Dodgers fan to take the trip south to San Diego.

Manny Ramirez Returns to Action (Image: Zuma Press)

At the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Sidney Ponson currently of the Kansas City Royals tested positive for Phentermine, a stimulant that is on the banned substance list. As a result, Ponson won’t be able to play in international baseball competition for 24 months.

Ponson, who pitched for the Netherlands in the 2009 WBC, says that he was prescribed Phentermine to lose weight. Major League Baseball won’t suspend him.

On the season, Ponson has pitched like he needs performance enhancer. The 32-year-old from Aruba is 1-5 with a 7.27 ERA. Last year, while splitting time between the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees, Ponson was 8-5 with a 5.04 ERA.

Ponson isn’t the first big league player to have busted at the WBC. Recently, Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto tested positive for marijuana. Soto played in the WBC for Puerto Rico. Since the positive drug test, Soto has apologized. Like Ponson, Soto won’t be suspended by the MLB.

Sidney Ponson - WBC Netherlands (Image: Zuma Press)

Alex Rodriguez, the future Hall of Fame third baseman for the New York Yankees, will not play in the next two games. The Yankees have decided to bench their slugger due to fatigue.

It’s already been a very tumultuous year for Rodriguez. Earlier in the year, he admitted to past steroid use. Rodriguez also underwent offseason hip surgery that forced him to miss the beginning of the 2009 baseball campaign.

So far this season, A-Rod isn’t hitting as well as usual. His batting average sits at .212 and he has nine homers, 26 RBIs and 18 runs. The 33-year-old hasn’t hit under .285 since 1995.

The Yankees insist that Rodriguez is simply tired and that this isn’t related to his offseason hip surgery. Whatever the case, his recent numbers have been extremely sub par. In June, he’s hitting just .145 — and he doesn’t have a hit in his last 15 at-bats.

Alex Rodriguez isn't happy about the benching (Image: Zuma Press)

The blogosphere is getting some publicity thanks to some angry words coming out of Raul Ibanez’s mouth. The slugger on the Philadelphia Phillies become enraged when a blog post insinuated he may be using performance-enhancing drugs.

Raul Ibanez denies all steroids allegations (Image: Zuma Press)

One glance at his stats and there’s no wonder why the 37-year-old Ibanez is generating talk about his great season. He’s hitting .327 with 20 homers, 55 RBIs, 47 runs and 15 doubles. His OBP is .384 and his OPS is 1.066.

According to the blog post, these numbers may point to something shady:

Maybe the 37-year old Ibanez trained differently this offseason with the pressure of joining the Phillies’ great lineup and is in the best shape he’s ever been in.

And maybe that training included…

Well, you know where that one was going, but I’d prefer to leave it as unstated speculation.

Ibanez had a very strong reaction to that notion when he spoke with the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Said Ibanez: “You can have my urine, my hair, my blood, my stool — anything you can test.”

And if he tested positive?

“I’ll give you back every dime I’ve ever made,” answered Ibanez.

Ibanez also had some strong words aimed at bloggers in general.

“Make them accountable,” Ibanez told the Inquirer. “There should be more credibility than some 42-year-old blogger typing in his mother’s basement. It demeans everything you’ve done with one stroke of the pen.”

Personally, I’m not typing this in my mother’s basement, I don’t use a pen to type and I also don’t think Ibanez is on steroids. I think he’s a late bloomer who is feasting due to the fact that he has tons of protection around him in the middle of Philadelphia’s lineup. Plus, he won’t be able to keep up this pace.

As for the blogger, I don’t blame him for the speculation. Baseball has made their PED bed and now they have to lie in it.

Manny Ramirez, the superstar outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers who was suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball, apologized to his teammates on Friday. Gathered with his teammates and coaches at a hotel conference room in Miami, a reportedly anxious Ramirez went around and shook each of his teammates’ hand and told the group that he was sorry.

Manny Ramirez, Los Angeles Dodgers (Image: Newscom)

Ramirez’s manager Joe Torre said that Ramirez was uneasy prior to the meeting.

Said Torrie: “We spent some time together before we went into the meeting room and he was a little anxious. That’s the human side of this thing. He basically went around, shook everybody’s hand. I think guys were happy to see him. I think there was a little uneasiness on both sides.”

Most teammates who spoke to the media following the event said that they accepted Ramirez’s apology. Prior to his suspension, Ramirez was hitting .348 with six homers and 20 RBI.

The steroids controversy continues to haunt Major League Baseball. On Thursday, baseball suspended Manny Ramirez of the Los Angeles Dodgers for 50 games after he tested positive for a banned substance. Ramirez won’t be eligible to return to the baseball field until July.

Manny Ramirez Suspended 50 Games (Image: Newscom)

Due to his 50-game suspension, Ramirez will be forced to forfeit about one-third of his 2009 salary of $23.9M. On the season, he’s hitting .348 with six homers and 20 RBI. After winning on Thursday, the Dodgers have the best record in baseball at 21-9.

As could be expected, Ramirez denied that his positive steroid test was due to him trying to enhance his baseball performance. Here is the statement from Ramirez following the announcement of his suspension:

“Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I’ve taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons. I want to apologize to Mr. McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, Mr. Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I’m sorry about this whole situation.”

The Alex Rodriguez story has exploded across the headlines and the news has made the rounds throughout the world. The latest news is that Rodriguez has admitted to using steroids between 2001 and 2003 while with the Texas Rangers. Even President Barack Obama weighed in on the Alex Rodriguez mess, as you can see in the video at the end of this entry.

Rodriguez, who spoke with ESPN about his steroid use, says that he used steroids largely due to the pressure of signing his gargantuan contract. He also pointed to a culture in which many baseball players were using performance enhancing drugs as a reason for his decision. While some of his reasons may be understandable, the long-term negative affect on Rodriguez’s reputation will undoubtedly be substantial.

Here is the video of Barack Obama talking about Alex Rodriguez:

Suddenly, the Alex Rodriguez and Madonna sex tape isn’t the biggest controversy facing the New York Yankees slugger. According to multiple media reports, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003 while he was a member of the Texas Rangers.

This is a huge blow to Rodriguez’s reputation, which prior to this had been relatively clean. Now, following this news, will Rodriguez’s name be linked to others from the steroid era such as Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa?

In 2003, when Rodriguez tested positive, he was completing his third consecutive great season with the Rangers. In those three years, he never hit 156 homers while batting in nearly 400 runs.

The biggest stain to Rodriguez’s reputation will likely be felt as he chases the All-Time home run record that Barry Bonds currently holds. With 553 homers at the moment, the 33-year-old Rodriguez has a chance to shatter all the marks.

Despite the reported positive test, Rodriguez isn’t expected to face any penalty from Major League Baseball.

Since throwing his last pitch in the major leagues, Roger Clemens has had a lot of issues surface. He’s had a sex scandel with Mindy McCready. He has steroid rumors swirling around him. He even has been accused of abusing Viagra.

Now Clemens can add another strike to his resume. This time a hospital in Houston has decided to drop his name. The Roger Clemens Institute for Sports Medicine will now be known as the Memorial Hermann Sports Medicine Institute. While the hospital didn’t specifically point to any transgressions as a reason for the name change, it’s not exactly rocket science to figure out why the hospital had the change of heart.

In Clemens’ career, he had 354 wins, 4672 strikeouts and a lifetime ERA of 3.13. Although he’s eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2013, there is some question on when — or even if — he’ll get in. His inclusion in the Hall of Fame could very well rely on the fallout of all the allegations that have haunted Clemens as of late.

Trouble has found Roger Clemens time and time again in recent months. The latest bit of bad news comes via Kirk Radomski. According to sources, there are receipts that indicate Clemens purchased HGH from Radomski — who is an admitted drug supplier.

In recent months, Clemens has also been linked to . . .

. . . using Viagra to improve performance — on the baseball field.

. . . an open apology that didn’t make too much sense.

. . . a sex scandal with Mindy McCready.

And that’s not even discussing his congressional hearing and the other steroid allegations. Ironically, Clemens has been in the news more since he retired than his last few years in baseball.

I’m willing to bet Roger Clemens longs for the days when the biggest controversy surrounding him was related to throwing a jagged bat at Mike Piazza.

Photo: Newscom