Off Day Wrap Up

Old favorite Placido Polanco is one of many stars leading the Detroit Tigers into Citizens Bank Park for one of the marquee match-ups of interleague play this season. The Tigers boast great pitching, great hitting and great leadership in the dugout. In the Phillies they face the National League's hottest team since April. More than 125,000 fans should be on hand for the series.

* * * * * * * *

What gives with Bud Selig? Is he really so ill-informed if not intentioned that he is going to carry through on his strong arm tactics with Jason Giambi? How, exactly, do you punish a player for alleged infractions that took place prior to the agreement between players and owners that implemented the rules? You don't, pure and simple, unless you are Selig and you want a show "trial" of sorts. There isn't any good solution to past ills other than in the court of public opinion and everyone on the planet except Selig seems to realize this. The only course of action for baseball is to rigorously apply and indeed tighten the new standards going forward. As for all the suspected abusers in the past, suggestions that there be a general amnesty that would provide the cleansing needed to move on might work but only if the Commissioner's office were less vindictive.

* * * * * * * *

Pity the poor Baltimore Orioles, the team of my youth. They were just swept by geographically natural rival Washington, no mean feat, and have fallen into last place in the AL East. Notoriously meddlesome owner Peter Angelos must surely be getting ready to fire someone at this point and manager Sam Perlozzo is the most likely candidate.

Meanwhile, former Orioles great Eddie Murray was fired as hitting coach by the LA Dodgers yesterday. I always wondered how the publicly taciturn Murray could coach anyone, but former teammates always said he was great in the clubhouse just not in front of microphones. Will Angelos bring him back to Baltimore in some capacity for the third time if for no other reason than to try and capture some of the magic from a former era? Angelos has tried that maneuver before and it has always failed. Whatever happens, Murray is not managerial material. He'd last about one half of one post-game press conference before clamming up for good.