Got to start thinking that Ramirez was doing something illegal..... Banjo to power to contract to banjo !

Do they test for PEDs before the playoffs?

Don't forget...the cheaters are always ahead of the enforcers.

Rusty:

I didn't want to throw that accusation out, but since you had the gonads to mention it I will back you up. I have been thinking the same thing for quite a while.

The Dominican Republic is infamous for having a bunch of it's players on PED's. You can buy them at the corner drug store there. There has been seasons where half the players in the league suspended for PED use has been from that little place.

Carlos Santana, who is from there, has been an outspoken critic of his countrymen's use of them.

Again, I don't want to throw out an accusation, but I too have absolutely been wondering about that. He got his extension, he got paid. Then quit using? May be..

Just looks odd right now.

rusty2 wrote:Got to start thinking that Ramirez was doing something illegal..... Banjo to power to contract to banjo !

I'll take a contrary point - he stopped hitting in August last year. Is it likely he would stop using part of the way through a season and for it then to immediately take effect?

Shoot, guys like Cano, Polanco (Twins) came back from a suspension and there was no drop off at all.

My personal guess is there is something going on in his personal life.

The dropoff is so dramatic that I'm surprised there hasn't been national press commentary and looking for explanations. I guess being stuck somewhere in Ohio keeps Jose from being a national figure. So why hasn't the local press been dwelling on this? Does suggest perhaps there is something personal no wants to speak about publicly

If I recall Travis Hafner was killing it, then got hit in the hand and was never the same. Can anyone track back to a point where the switch was flipped for Jose last year?

August 14 was the date, I know that from reviewing his game log, either of the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning.

What happened on August 14?

Is that when they moved him off 3rd base?

Here is Jose's game log from last year.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/gamelog/ ... /year/2018

He started dipping in mid August like Civ said. He was moved to 2nd base on September 11th against Tampa.

Lol, Manning is really getting fed up with this team.

Ragged on and on about their hitting. Then got all over Kipnis for the misplay in the 6th.

Later in the 6th Martin and Mercado collide and the ball goes away for an in the park homer! 3 run!

Mercado VERY shaken up/knee.

Just bad these days.

It wasn't as bad as the Larry Brown-Al Luplow collision, fortunately. But does seem to exemplify the performance of this club.

Turns out that Martin’s knee caught Mercado in the .... let us say, nether regions. And we all know it takes a few moments to recover from that. But the collision banged his hip a bit too.

Hillbilly wrote:Turns out that Martin’s knee caught Mercado in the .... let us say, nether regions. And we all know it takes a few moments to recover from that. But the collision banged his hip a bit too.

Yeah, you could tell because he went from totally disabled to quite ok after a while. Figured it must have been that.

This is turning into a circus. Inexperienced outfielders lead to this - and Manning was quick to point that out. Poor Rick is staring at a looong season that he hasn't had to endure in quite awhile.

I somewhat think the lack of REAL veterans at this point is contributing to a team-wide collapse of confidence. I don't count Kipnis as a veteran since his once solid value is shot at this point. It's really Santana, Lindor and prayers after that.

You guys know I tend to be optimistic, but this season is starting to look like a blowout basketball game that I turn the channel away from - only to peak back occasionally to make sure they haven't come back.

The more interesting part may be simply to see which kids end up being part of the next wave. This is a rebuild, make no mistake about it. Sped up by the starting pitcher injuries, JRams' meltdown and the Twins exploding.

Speaking of Jose turning into a banjo hitter. The pitcher, quite literally, just knocked the bat out of his hands. He swung and hit the ball. His bat went flying back out of his hands. Weak pop out to shallow RF.