The Boston Rat Sox haven't scored a run in 24 innings, and I'm loving it. By the way, Alex Rodriguez went part of the way toward shaking off the "Choke-Rod" label by hitting a walk-off home run in the 15th inning yesterday. As I explained to John Sullivan via e-mail, he will shake off the label only when he does this sort of thing regularly in the playoffs.
Addendum: Here is a paragraph from the ESPN story:
[David] Ortiz went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts hours after he said he never knowingly used steroids and that over-the-counter supplements and vitamins likely caused him to land on a list of alleged drug users circulated by the federal government. He is batting just .171 (6 for 35) with two homers and six RBIs since the July 30 report that he was on the 2003 list.
How many of you are buying this? I'm not. Suppose, for the sake of argument, that Ortiz is telling the truth about not "knowingly" using steroids. He tested positive for them, and therefore, whether he knew they were in his body or not, they enhanced his performance. That sullies the game and calls the Rat Sox World Series victories of 2004 and 2007 into question. Why (other than public relations) should it matter whether Ortiz knew he was taking steroids? There needs to be a strict-liability policy about drugs. If you have them in your body, you're suspended. That puts the onus on players to monitor what goes in and onto their bodies.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 