You would like to believe that one of these baseball sluggers really did clear all those fences the old-fashioned way, cleanly.

That somebody, anybody, hitting 500 home runs these days is doing it without trips to the medicine cabinet.

But much as we might like to accept that the suspension of the Dodgers' Manny Ramirez truly was the result of a "mistake" as he maintained yesterday, recent history makes suspicion as automatic as an 0-and-2 "waste" pitch.

You read the mea culpa of Manny, the latest to have his home run count besmirched by the cloud of drug allegations, and the hollow protestations of Barry "I thought it was flax seed" Bonds echo. You hear Manny's declaration that he has passed 15 drug tests and memories of Rafael Palmeiro jabbing his finger in the air and declaring to Congress that, "I have never used steroids. Period" leap to mind.

Someday soon Manny will no doubt sit down with Peter Gammons to clear the air. But we'll remember Alex Rodriguez telling Katie Couric he was clean, too.

That's the problem these days: We've heard it all and seen it all before, the denials, lies and obfuscations. Over and over.

Poor Manny. Well, not financially — since he will still clear something like $17 million this season even after the 50-game suspension — but in trying to find untrampled ground to stand on in an attempt to protect the last shred of credibility for his 533 home runs and Cooperstown hopes.

A-Rod has blamed a cousin. Roger Clemens gave us the terms "mis-remembered" and "mis-heard" while throwing friends and family under the bus. Jason Giambi apologized profusely but didn't exactly say for what. Mark McGwire conveniently forgot the past. And Sammy Sosa just skedaddled.

Meanwhile, we are left to wonder how many milestones and triumphs were earned cleanly. And not just their individual records but the accomplishments of the teams they played for. What, now, of the Red Sox' breakthrough 2004 World Championship? And the Dodgers' Major League record home winning streak?

With Ramirez, the most high profile player yet in baseball's drug net, comes renewal of the prevailing question of the "Steroid Era" — who's in the on-deck circle for baseball's expanding drug hall of shame?

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.