The Truth Shall Set You Free.

The day that was Saturday was not a particularly favorable one for this blogger. For those of you who don't know I am expecting my second child, a little girl. The mother of my children was feeling some discomfort so we took her to the hospital. Once at the hospital they said we have a problem and we need to rush her to a hospital that has a NICU. If you don't have children you don't want to know how horrible it feels to be so helpess when all you want to do is grab the bull by the horns and save your children. Once at the new hospital everything was calmed down and the crisis was averted, but not before many tears and fears from both prospective parents. I'm not a religious man but maybe Josh Hamilton was onto something with that revelation.

What a great segway!

On the morn after two admissions/apologies from David Ortiz and Josh Hamilton there are conflicting emotions running through my body in both cases. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that everyone and their second cousin twice removed has heard of the PED scandal with David Ortiz, but for those who haven't heard about the former number 1 pick here's the low down.

This past January, Hamilton went out to a bar in Arizona (without his wife) and there were some shall we say provocative photos taken. Clearly alcohol was involved and for a man on the path to sobriety that isn't a good combination.

Hamilton did something far more noble AND honorable than hitting a game winning homerun (which are few and far between this year but that's not the point of this post.) The day after his binge he called his wife, teammates, and Rangers' ownership to let them know about the slip off the wagon. He not only informed but apologized for the distraction it could present. Since the pictures flared recently he said he would issue a private statement to his teammates to clear the air for the stretch run in their pennant race. Admirable and in my eyes, Forgiven.

Now, to a topic a little bit more controversial, David Americo Ortiz. With the infamous 104 player list looming over his head he took the stand (as he said he would) and fielded questions with a beleaguered stature and what seemed to be an honest plight. Not just looking at his batting average over the last 10 days but you can tell that this situation was physically and emotionally draining our DH.

He said that he has "never bought or used steroids." Is this the truth? He certainly has plausible deniability in this situation. Donald Fehr's heir, Michael Weiner, certainly did his job very well saying that there are some people on the test that didn't necessarily test positive in '03. Here's the 100,000 dollar question though: Do we believe him because he's David Ortiz and he would never do Red Sox Nation wrong or is it because the facts say that he's innocent?

I would have been inclined to believe both until Sean McAdam, nationally renowned writer for The Herald, asked him point blank if he had ever taken androstenedione. (The drug Mark McGwire took while it was legal during his record breaking season.) He said, "I can't really say." That, like this entire era, is speculative at best and it does implicate him to taking something to get an "edge."

I'm not sure how to feel about the "clutchest" hitter in BoSox history, but this interview was a lot more reminiscent of Andy Pettite's rather than Alex Rodriguez. And there's a lot to be said about that. When you think steroids or PED's do you think Andy Pettite? I don't, and going forward in the years to come hopefully Ortiz' name will be obsolved as well.