If Manny Took Steroids, Can Anybody Seriously Claim They Had Any Effect on Him?
Look at how he's been hitting since he's come back. Certainly, he can't be performance enhancing at the moment because he's at too great a risk of be...
Look at how he's been hitting since he's come back. Certainly, he can't be performance enhancing at the moment because he's at too great a risk of being caught again. Yet, despite playing at San Diego and New York (2 of the hardest places to homer in the majors), Manny has 3 homers in 7 games and has hit 7-for-22 over those games. He is playing at this level despite not being able to stay on the field for a full game (he has been pulled mid-game repeatedly).
Assuming that Manny took steroids (there is no evidence for this, as he was not caught taking steroids; he was caught taking a woman's fertility drug that is used by steroid users that are cycling off, but that does not necessarily mean he was a steroid user) and that steroids improve performance, you would expect Manny's performance to have fallen below the dominant level that he has hit at ever since his trade to the Dodgers and back toward his level with Boston. The fact that it didn't implies that his improvement in performance is because of motivation, not drugs.
The claim that steroids make baseball players into power hitters is further contradicted by the list of players suspended for steroid use. Most of these players are not even remotely power hitters (if you doubt this, look at the list @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_players_suspended_for_performance-enhancing_drugs ). A more typical example of a steroid user is Neifi Perez, a weak-hitting shortstop with 64 career home runs or a middle reliever.
Considering the lack of evidence for the hypothesis that steroids make baseball players hit home runs (not to mention substantial evidence to the contrary), shouldn't people who hold that mistaken belief abandon it?