Difficult to Believe Ortiz Sob Story

So now, nine full days after his name was leaked as the latest villain of the Steroids Era, David Ortiz says he "never'' used or bought steroids. So now, after weeks and months and years of ugly revelations dripping into the public consciousness like poison from a syringe, Major League Baseball is asking media and fans to use "caution'' when judging certain players and whether they used steroids.

And we're supposed to absorb all of this and say, yeah, sure, absolutely, whatever you want, fellas?

"I definitely was a little bit careless back in those days when I was buying supplements and vitamins over the counter -- legal supplements, legal vitamins over the counter. But I never buy steroids or use steroids," Ortiz said Saturday at a news conference. "I never thought that by buying supplements and vitamins, it was going to hurt anybody's feelings."

"There are more names on the government list [104] than the maximum number of positives that were recorded under the 2003 program [96]," MLB said in a statement. "And, as the Mitchell report made clear, some of the 96 positives were contested by the union. Given the uncertainties inherent in the list, we urge the press and the public to use caution in reaching conclusions based on leaks of names, particularly from sources whose identities are not revealed."

Make me laugh. That lying little puppet, Pinocchio, has more credibility than MLB, the players union and the stars of the Steroids Era. How appalling that they take more than a week to make sure their stories are straight, then try to sugarcoat what continues to fester as the longest-running and most damaging scandal in American sports history. What we needed from Ortiz and the union were real answers. Instead, they gave us more spin and b.s. I'd like to believe the lovable, popular Big Papi when he says it's all about vitamins and supplements, when he points out that he has tested negative 15 times the last five years, when he sits before reporters with that kind, sincere voice and doesn't read from a prepared sheet of paper. But sorry, I simply can't believe him or anybody else from the era, not when the vast majority of steroids-related smoke has erupted into raging fires.

Even when the union takes a rare crack at transparency under boss-in-waiting Michael Weiner, who replaces the dark and secretive Donald Fehr, new details are revealed that make us more suspicious. Weiner said the 2003 survey tests involved two collections of samples, the first of which was random and unannounced and the second of which was taken seven days later -- with a heads-up alert to players to "cease taking supplements during the interim.'' This isn't the first time we've heard of such advance warnings, suggesting again that MLB was complicit in the process and more interested in protecting its image than policing the sport.

"Under the 2003 program, a test could be initially reported as 'positive,' but not treated as such by the bargaining parties on account of the second test," Weiner said.

And why wait until now, months after it was revealed that a 2003 list included 96 allegedly dirty names, to say that some players on the list never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs? And that 13 of the 96 positive tests are being disputed? Isn't this something -- assuming it's true -- that should have been said immediately?

It's easy for Ortiz to claim he's clean when the list is sealed by a court order. The union told him in 2004 that his name was on the list but that he didn't necessarily test positive. He still has no access to the list, so it's a matter of whether to take him at his word. "Accordingly, the presence of a player's name on any such list does not necessarily mean that the player used a prohibited substance or that the player tested positive under our collectively bargained program," Weiner said. The key word, of course, is necessarily. It also isn't necessarily true that Ortiz didn't test positive for steroids. So what was this dog-and-pony exercise about, anyway?

To save face? Mission unaccomplished.

"I'm not here to make excuses or anything," Ortiz said. "I want to apologize to the fans for the distraction, my teammates, my manager. We go into a situation now, it was a nightmare to me. I'm one of the guys, I think about the fans, it wouldn't be as good as it is without the fans. People look at me as a guy who hit the ball, but I try to do things the right way."

Not surprisingly, the Boston Red Sox fell right in line in defending their Big Papi. It's management's way of trying to scrub the idea that their 2004 and 2007 World Series championships have been tainted by the steroids grime of Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. "There are substantial uncertainties and ambiguity surrounding the list of 104 names," the team said in a statement. "David Ortiz is a team leader, and his contributions on the field and in the community have earned him respect and a special place in the hearts of Red Sox Nation." Shame on the Red Sox for using the "ambiguity'' to their benefit. Until we know definitively that Ortiz didn't test positive for steroids, we'd be naive to think otherwise. Don't let a staged stab at public relations make you stupid, much as Weiner tries to sway minds.

"A player [on the list] finds himself in an extremely unfair position,'' he said. "His reputation has been threatened by a violation of the court's orders, but respect for those orders now leaves him without access to the information that might permit him to restore his good name."

Might.

Consider it one more reason why the entire list should be released for public consumption. Baseball can't move on from the Steroids Era until the guilty are separated from the innocent, because, right now, the public thinks everyone is guilty. If the names keep leaking every few weeks for a couple of years, the game will be stuck in performance-enhancing hell. That's why Henry Aaron, the true and authentic all-time home run leader, is right when he says the names should be outed. "I wish for once and forever that we could come out and say we have 100 and some names, name them all and get it over and let baseball go on," Aaron told the Associated Press last week. "I don't know how they keep leaking out. I just wish that they would name them all and get it over with."

The release of all the names might require Supreme Court intervention. The union wants no part of such a public airing, which only hurts the players and the game's attempts to move past steroids. "Sure, there are some people who say 'Why don't we just get this story over with and get the list out?' '' Weiner said. "I think to do that would one, be illegal, and two, be wrong. It's illegal because it's covered by court order, and it would be wrong because a promise was made by the commissioner's office and the union to every player who was tested in 2003 that the results would be anonymous."

Ortiz agrees, which is odd. If he's innocent of using steroids, wouldn't he want that known? "I don't think that I would really like to see another player going through what I've been through this past week," he explained.

The ordeal has placed a dark cloud over Fenway Park, one of baseball's happier places. You can feel hearts breaking throughout New England as Ortiz struggles mightily in a 1-for-25 slump, which not coincidentally comes amid the Red Sox's worst stretch of the season. He was called out on strikes for the final out Saturday in a 5-0 loss to the Yankees, which followed a 15-inning, 2-0 loss Friday night. The Red Sox are in grave danger of falling out of the postseason race, unable to score runs and mired in the daily Ortiz soap opera. How embarrassing to call a Big Papi press conference in Yankee Stadium, home of the hated rivals? The Yankees are jelling at the right time, getting excellent pitching and looking like the American League's best team. The Sox are back in baseball-tragedy mode.

"This past week, I've been really confused and frustrated," said Ortiz, now hitting .219 for the season. "I started looking for answers, and nobody gives me an answer."

The answer is honesty. If he thinks he's telling the truth, so be it, but the only marquee player who has stepped forward and genuinely spilled the facts -- or at least some of them -- has been Alex Rodriguez. The fans love him again in New York, predictably, after his dramatic home run ended the marathon classic late Friday. Buoyed by that love, he opened up Saturday about Ortiz, baseball and life.

"David's a good friend," Rodriguez said. "I've been there, done that and lived it. Whatever he did, I hope he feels better about it, because I certainly did once I had my press conference. I'm so proud of the way things came out. I took a lot of things off my chest, and since that press conference, I feel like a new man. I feel like I've been embraced by not only the city of New York, but my teammates, my coaches and my manager. I feel liberated by the way I came out and did things.

"I think I'm able to play better in key situations because I'm at peace with myself and I'm freer. I'm enjoying the game at a level that I really haven't enjoyed it before, because it's simply 100 percent about my team and winning games. In the past, I was so consumed with trying to do special things, but now I'm only worried about one thing and that's winning. That's helped me go out and be an integral part of this team, make noise with big hits that I get and just helping the team win. Our team is playing well, there's music and there's apple pies, so the energy has changed on this team, too.''

There is no energy in Boston, just pain and suffering. Nothing that was said Saturday will change reality for David Ortiz. His is just another sob story that probably would flunk a lie-detector test.