David Ortiz, the greatest single-season home run hitter in Red Sox history, yesterday acknowledged testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003 as he launched his golden era as one of the game’s premier power hitters.

Manny Ramírez, with whom Ortiz formed a fearsome 1-2 punch that helped catapult the Sox to world championships in 2004 and ’07, also tested positive for performance-enhancing substances in ’03, The New York Times reported.

Ortiz and Ramírez became the first Sox stars identified as purported drug cheats in a decades-long scandal that has sapped the integrity of the national pastime. Ortiz said he was unaware of the positive test until a reporter informed him an hour before yesterday’s game between the Sox and Oakland A’s at Fenway.

“The news blindsided me,’’ Ortiz said in a prepared statement after he hit a three-run home run to propel the Sox to an 8-5 victory.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Drugs/Drug Addiction • Sports • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

1. Larry Morse wrote: Blindsided me!! Blindsided me! The more I learn, the angrier I get. Just think, the Red Sox salaries would pay most of Maine’s entire state budget. I thought - stupid me - well, Big Papi won’t play those games. May those lying greedbags rot in hell. (I know elves, this is too much, but I used to love the Red Sox and these clowns - all of them, the whole lot -make me sick. Larry July 31, 11:42 am | [comment link]

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