AROD GOT HIT, BUT ORTIZ STILL FAILED A PEDs TEST

Alex Rodriguez got hit by a pitch tonight.  Um... OK.  So... am I missing something? Is this a big deal or something? It's baseball. Besides, we all predicted that.

I was curious to see who would report on it first.  Of course it was ESPN. Wally Matthews used phrases and words like "ongoing drama" and "booed vociferously" to describe the incident.  To make matters worse, the  ESPN commentators tonight spoke about the incident and went into in-depth scenarios for what I counted as almost 18 minutes after he was hit.  I mean, there are plenty of other things in the game to talk about and report about than a retaliation scenario.  Seriously.  Guess what? Batters get hit.  Sometimes intentional, sometimes by mistake.  That's baseball.  What in the world is ESPN doing writing about a beaming just minutes before after it happens? More importantly, who cares? I guess it's "Clicks", which translate to desperation in my opinion.

You know what would be a more comprehensive or even a smarter column after Alex got hit? How about analyzing why the Fenway crowd was chanting 'You're a cheater' to Alex.  Last time I checked, Alex Rodriguez wasn't the only cheater.  If I remember correctly, David Ortiz also failed a PEDs test back in 2003, read HERE.  Let's look at that piece from the Boston Globe. In fact, here's a quote from that paper from 2009:

"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... Ortiz declined to elaborate during a brief interview with reporters as the team prepared to depart for an eight-game road trip to Baltimore, Tampa, and New York. He faces no disciplinary action because there were no penalties in place at the time for steroid use in the major leagues."

So, there's more than 1 cheater and it's pathetic that ARod is getting a cheater chant in Fenway tonight.  Like I've stated before here at BYB, there is a double standard when it comes to guys like David Ortiz, baseball's darling.  Even Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tried to make a stupid argument to us back in July saying that he gives Ortiz a "pass" because Ortiz failed the test before the drug policy was implemented.

Re: Ortiz. Tested positive at time when there were no penalties for PEDs. Tests were supposed to be confidential. I view him less harshly.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 20, 2013

Guess what, so did ARod, but when I pressed him to clear the air, Rosenthal didn't and then, the next day, tried sweep it under the carpet:

Again, I respect everyone’s opinions. But there were issues with 2003 list that could not be explained in 140 characters. Story helps.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 21, 2013

Guess what, you're a sports writer Kenny, you don't only write on Twitter... so, explain it "thoroughly" in a column because we all want to know, and while you're at it, treat Alex equally.

So yeah, back to the real reason I posted tonight... ESPN does it again.  Disappointing in every way and clearly no longer the best in sports reporting.  That went away a long time ago.

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