Steroids, blogging, and baseball

For those of you who haven't heard, there's been a buzz around baseball media circles over the past week after Jerod Morris of Midwestsportsfans.com wrote the following article regarding the hot start of Raul Ibanez in Philadelphia.

"In fact, the 37-year old Ibanez has been so good that it has led to the inevitable speculation that his improvement may be attributable to factors other than his new lineup, playing in a better ballpark for hitters, or additional maturation as a hitter. In this day and age of suspicion at any significant jump in numbers, even over small sample sizes, it is what it is - and such speculation is to be expected."

And when such speculation was posed to Morris via his fantasy baseball league's message board, he set out to disprove with whatever statistical evidence he could muster that Raul Ibanez' hot start was artificial by nature.

Fireside Chats Breaking Report: Where we react to Manny’s suspension

When news breaks, you'll hear it here...a few hours later.

Paul and I react to the news of Manny Ramirez' positive test and 50 game suspension. What does this mean for the current Red Sox? Are 2004 and 2007 tainted in anyway? Has ESPN's "History Blown Away" headline taken it too far?

All that and more on a special edition of Fireside Chats on MVN!

Interested in voicing your reactions to Manny, his legacy in Boston, or the impact of this news on the organization past or present? Leave us a voice mail to be played on the air at 641-715-3900 ext. 57843 and we'll play it on next week's show.

And if anyone has a number for Jose Canseco, let him know we are interested in having him on the show.