Blindsided.

That's the word David Ortiz, Terry Francona, and Theo Epstein all used in talking about the revelation Thursday that Big Papi — along with former Red Sox, and now Los Angeles Dodgers, outfielder Manuel Aristides Ramirez — were among the 100-plus players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003.

Blindsided.

That's what they said.

Really?

Because, unless you've turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to what went on in major league baseball during what has come to be disdainfully referred to as the "Steroid Era," the news that Ortiz was "dirty" hardly could have come as a shock.

Especially after what he had to say on the subject at the start of spring training in February.

It's understandable that Red Sox fans are disappointed that their secret — or, perhaps, not-so-secret — fears about Big Papi have proven to be true. But the idea that those same fans might be disillusioned is incomprehensible.

One would have to be delusional to think that, with more than 100 players on the list, none of them would be Red Sox.

Does the news that Manny and Big Papi were using performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 — and, in the case of Manny, who recently completed a 50-game suspension for testing positive, in the years after that, as well — "taint," as so many people like to say, the World Series titles Boston won in 2004 and 2007, ending a frustrating, multi-generational streak of 86 years between championships?

Yes. Of course.

But the whole era was tainted. Barry Bonds. Mark McGwire. Sammy Sosa. Rafael Palmeiro. Alex Rodriguez. Andy Pettite. Roger Clemens. Jason Giambi. Jason Grimsley. David Segui. Names all linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs, which was widespread. The Red Sox, we now know — and as we long suspected — were no different than the Yankees, the Cardinals, the Cubs, the Giants, or any other team in baseball.

It's not as if commissioner Bud Selig is going to take those titles away from the Sox, any more than he's going to nullify the home run crowns, or the Cy Young awards, won by players who were "juicing."

Because, shameful as it was for the players, their union, and the team owners, performance-enhancing drugs were neither banned, nor tested for, prior to the 2004 season. Since a competitive advantage could be gained — and, while unethical, wasn't illegal — there was little to stop a player from taking such drugs, particularly when they knew so many of their opponents were taking them.

Yet there was shock at Fenway yesterday.

"The news blindsided me," Ortiz said in a statement released after the game against the A's, which was decided by Big Papi's three-run homer in the seventh inning.

"We were all blindsided," Epstein, the general manager, said in an interview in the Red Sox clubhouse.

"This blindsided everybody," Francona said at his postgame press conference.

While nobody expected the bombshell about Big Papi to hit Thuesday, to think it might never drop was almost as naïve as thinking the Red Sox were the only "clean" team in the Steroid Era.

Ortiz didn't have much to say yesterday, although, to his credit, he did talk with the media in the clubhouse. Wearing sunglasses, by the way. Perhaps they help against being blindsided.

"All I have to say right now," he said, "is that I found out before the game about the situation. Right now, I have no information, no answers. I'm going to get to the bottom of this, and you will hear from me in the next few days."

Ortiz knows now that he tested positive, but says he isn't positive what for. He intends to find out, and then will explain.

"I think he's doing absolutely the right thing," Epstein said. "He's going to take a little bit of time to find out the facts, then he'll face them head on. He's going to get some answers, then he's going to answer every question.

"We admire his approach to this. He's not going to run. We've known him for a long time. We respect him and care about him."

Ortiz has been as beloved, as respected, by Boston fans as any Red Sox player in recent years. Even when he struggled through a horrendous slump the first couple of months of the season, the fans continued to cheer him when he stepped to the plate.

That support isn't likely to change.

Although Red Sox rooters reveled in ridiculing Giambi and A-Rod, among others, for their steroid use, they'll likely rally behind Big Papi, the same way Giants fans cheered Bonds, and Dodgers fans have remained true to Manny since his return to action.

Ortiz, who said he was "surprised to learn" he had tested positive, had been outspokenly critical at the start of spring training of players who used performance-enhancing drugs.

"This is a family game," he said. "We have a lot of families who bring their kids to watch this game. This game is being hurt a lot already. I don't think this game can take any more.

"I think you clean up this game by testing," he continued. "If I test you, and you test positive, you're going to be out – period. This is serious. I know that, if I test positive by using any kind of substance, I know I'm going to disrespect my family, the game, the fans, and everybody. I don't want to face that situation."

That is exactly the situation he's facing now.

Ortiz tested positive in 2003, the year he came to Boston from Minnesota. In his three previous seasons with the Twins, he never hit more than 20 home runs. In his first five seasons with the Sox, he averaged nearly 42 homers a year and never hit less than 31. From 2004 through 2006, he drove in, respectively, 139 runs, 148, and 137.

Coincidence?

In February, talking about A-Rod, Ortiz said: "Let's put it in the past and play the game. He's been playing clean (since admitting steroid use from 2001-03). Let's move on."

Big Papi sounded as if, like A-Rod, he might have done something foolish when he was younger, but had realized the error of his ways, was clean now, and wanted to make sure everybody else was, too.

If that's the approach he intends to take in confronting this embarrassing revelation, this devastating blow, not just to his stats, but, more importantly, to his image, then let's not have anyone say they were "blindsided."

jdonalds @projo.com