Talk about setting yourself up for a fall.

"More than any player in franchise history, David Ortiz taught even the most cynical Red Sox fans that refusing to give up sometimes results in the sweetest rewards.

So the inclination is to resist giving up on him. The man deserves that much, at least under normal circumstances."

David Ortiz taught you that?

Did you have parents?

"Why is this happening now? What caused it? And is there any hope of recovering from this?"

Answers, in order: He stopped taking steroids; He stopped taking steroids; He can start taking steroids again.

"I do not believe that David Ortiz's wonderful legacy in Boston was built fraudulently. I do not believe he used performance-enhancing drugs. I believe he was a natural power hitter who was miscast, undervalued and injury prone in Minnesota, where he put up decent power numbers despite Tom Kelly's bizarre intention to turn him into Rich Becker."

It's good to believe in something.

I believe I'll have another beer.

"When he joined the Red Sox in 2003, they were the right team at the right time, though it took Grady Little an entire spring to realize as much. It did not, however, take Ortiz long to become a folk hero, and he thrived here two full seasons before steroid testing was implemented in March 2005. Ortiz has hit 158 regular-season home runs since then. If his strength and success was the result of some PED cocktail, he did a fine job of hiding it the last four seasons."

Yes, he has done a fine job of hiding it so far.

Like just about every other professional athlete.