The suspension is expected to be officially announced later today. Ramirez would not be eligible to return to the Dodgers until July 3.

Ramirez who is hitting .348 with six HR's and 20 RBI has helped the Dodgers get off to a 13-0 start at home, and the best record in the NL West.

So far there has been no comment by Scott Boras, Manny's agent.

The Dodgers informed AAA outfielder Xavier Paul Thursday morning that he was being promoted to the big-league club, according to the report.

Manny will will lose about one-third of his $25 million salary. Players are not paid while they serve suspensions related to baseball's performance-enhancing drug policy.

Ramirez attributed the violation to medication he had been prescribed by a doctor according to ESPN.com. Manny used HCG -- human chorionic gonadotropin -- a women's fertility drug typically used by steroid users to restart their body's natural testosterone production as they come off a steroid cycle. HCG is similar to Clomid, the drug Bonds, Giambi and others used as clients of BALCO.

"Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me," Ramirez said. "Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now.

"I do want to say one other thing; I've taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons. I want to apologize to [Dodgers owner Frank] McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, [manager Joe] Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I'm sorry about this whole situation."

Here is Manny's statement :

Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I've taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons. I want to apologize to Mr. McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, Mr. Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I'm sorry about this whole situation.

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written by wow power leveling, June 08, 2009

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Manny
written by Nomad, May 14, 2009

I've always thought of Manny as more dependent on talent than muscle, so this is a huge surprise to me

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I Knew it
written by JT, May 07, 2009

I guess Canseco was right after all!!!

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