A friend here in L.A. went to a Dodgers-Giants game last weekend, on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. He reported that despite the team’s first-place standing and the rival Giants in town, the ballpark was half-empty.

(Mannywood ripped down, ticketholders ripped off)

One guess why that would be. (Make you wonder how many people ate their tickets instead of watching Juan Pierre hit into infield fly rules all weekend.)

Today, while the Dodgers were busy ripping down MannyWood billboards all over town, Manny Ramirez apologized to his teammates for getting caught by MLB using steroids. (Notice I didn’t say ‘allegedly’.) Yeah, his failed drug test didn’t reveal direct steroid usage, but the drug that was found to be using was the same prescription-only compound that Jose Canseco was caught trying to smuggle across the Mexican border a few months ago. Enough said.

So we now know that Ramirez has done steroids, along with MLBers Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. And more than 100 others according to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED.

So why is Ramirez apologizing? On the contrary, shouldn’t Bud Selig and MLB be apologizing to Dodger season ticket holders who shelled out thousands just to see Ramirez, only to have him miss a third of the season for doing something everyone else has and will continue to do?

Ramirez’s steroid use makes Selig’s claims that MLB has effectively gotten players off of serious PEDs is somehow more laughable than Clemens and Bonds’ steroid usage denials. It’s now clear that MLB has not stemmed the tide of players using banned substances, and that this will not be the last positive test by one of the league’s superstars. And if anyone knows that, it’s inside MLB officials.

Their present claim of cleaning up the game is fraudulent.

Ramirez shouldn’t be apologizing to his Dodger teammates. No, Selig should be apologizing to Dodger season ticket holders, and team Owner Frank McCourt should be refunding their money. Not to mention the bagholding saps who bought tickets to see Ramirez on the road this season, but are now stuck with a dumbass ducat to a meaningless Reds/Pirates/Rockies game later this summer.

Perhaps some of you may be saying, ‘but unprescribed steroids are now illegal, so MLB has to test for them‘.

And why would that be?

The only reason MLB is apparently testing players is to give the appearance that the league is doing all it can to prevent a competitive advantage for players who use PEDs. The problem with that is it clearly isn’t working. Not to mention there are most likely other illegal drugs that players are taking that aren’t included in MLB’s mandatory drug testing program.

I don’t want to come off sounding like a kook claiming conspiracy. For all I know, the incompetents at MLB are trying curb PED use. But they have failed miserably, while still claiming that the game is now cleaner. After the Ramirez positive, do you take their word for it?

You know that legal release on the back of every MLB ticket that says if you get hit by a foul ball inside the ballpark the league and teams aren’t liable - the part about “all risk and danger incidental to the sport of baseball“?

Well there needs to be another disclaimer, covering the “illegal narcotic use of MLB players that’s incidental to the sport of baseball.” So if you buy a ticket, you assume the risk of not seeing the real thing. Of course, YOU ALREADY DON’T, so it’s a little late.

But isn’t that the least MLB could do. Bud, Donald, anyone?