First posted on Tuesday, Aug. 23

Chicago has been a great story all year, only the season isn't over yet and the White Sox better start picking it up a notch or they might get caught from behind.

Who will catch them you ask? The Cleveland Indians, that's who. Since the All-Star break, the Indians have made up a lot of ground, going 22-15, but in August are 14-5 and are only eight games back with 37 to play. Included in this final stretch are six more with the Sox and the last three games of the season in Cleveland.

Yes, the White Sox have been great, but not since the break - they are only 18-17 and just 7-11 in August. And the Big 2 - Jon Garland and Mark Buehrle - are both 3-3 since the break and the 25-year-old Garland has been hit hard in August, going 1-3 with a 5.26 ERA while having the league hit .330 off of him.

Yes, it's a stretch to think that Indians can catch the White Sox, but when you look at an offense that has nine players in double figures in home runs, a starting rotation that has been awesome in August - C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee are a combined 6-0 - it's not out of the question.

When you start to break down the two bullpens, Cleveland's may be better, I know their numbers are - so make sure you finish what you start. The race is only three-quarters of the way over, so don't get caught looking over your shoulder.

This is going to be an amazing finish in the AL Central. Oh, and don't forget the Twins; they are 12-8 in August and always finish strong.

First posted on Thursday, Aug. 11

When Congress wanted to hold hearings on steroids I was amazed. Don't we have bigger problems in this country?

I had just been to Iraq six months earlier and found out there is a giant war going on. And when I was a player with the Cincinnati Reds, my teammates and I helped raise money for the homeless.

Just examples of the far more pressing questions in this country than why does Rafael Palmeiro use steroids, or why did any of the eight out of the 1,200 major-league roster players get caught using a banned substance?

Let me get this straight, one more time, baseball is the root of all the problems in America?

If I take 1,200 policemen, 1,200 firemen, 1,200 doctors, 1,200 politicians and 1,200 airline pilots, how many of them do you think would test positive for a banned substance? Yeah you got it, more then baseball. So why is it when baseball has a problem it's more important to clean it up than the rest of the country? I can't figure that one out either.

I was driving into work today and heard this bleeding-heart writer on a radio show. He said, "If I ever have children, and maybe one is a boy, and 20 years from now, if we are at a ballgame, and someone hits a pitch out of the ballpark and he asks me who hit the most home runs ever? Well, if it's a steroid user, or a rumored user, how will I explain to him what has happened to our game? The cheaters have taken that away from us."

Are you freaking kidding me? I almost crashed my truck.

I am a father of two children and I do get asked way tougher questions everyday. Like "Dad, why is that man living on the street? Dad, why are all those men and woman dying in Iraq?"

I'm sorry I got political on you, but let's get serious. Baseball is a game, it's not a social issue. I played it, I should know. AIDS, cancer, war ... these are social issues, and of far greater importance than Major League Baseball.

Can we all just wake up, and stop crying about baseball and stop trying to fix the world through baseball? Enjoy the game, it's a distraction, it's entertainment. But I don't think it will cure cancer; I should know, my father died from cancer.

To me it's simple, let baseball clean up its own act or else. And let the government clean up the country.

First posted on Friday, Aug. 5

Now that Baseball has finally caught their "Big Fish" and other baseball players of the Steroid Era have admitted to using steroids, whether it be injecting it into their asses, or in their stomach, or rubbing it on injuries, thinking it was flaxseed oil and not the clear and the cream, the Hall of Fame voters should rethink their position on how players get into the Hall of Fame.

Forget the numbers, forget the 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. Forget the players who may have some kind of cloud of suspicion hanging over their heads. It's time to put worthy candidates into the Hall - players like Dale Murphy and Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven and Jim Rice. Players like Gil Hodges and Ron Santo, who may have not have reached the 500 or 3000 mark, or set a record for something at their position.

The hall and baseball need to lower the bar so to speak and raise the level of excellence for players entering the Hall of Fame in the future. If MLB and the Players Union can't return the game to it's rightful place maybe the Hall can.

Somewhere along the road we lost our way, somewhere players thought they had to use other means as a way to be the best. Players should be put back on the right path. The path that was paved by hard work and dedication, not injection or swallowing a magic pill.

The game is bigger then a few bad apples, and should be a place of honor and sportsmanship, not deception and greed. If it takes setting a new standard for reaching the game's most hallowed place, so be it. Baseball should be looked up to, as a great game, not a job or a paycheck. We need to EVEN the playing field. Now! Before it's too late.

First posted on Monday, Aug. 1

First, I'm physically sick and disgusted that this has happened. I've defended the players from Day One, and I feel embarrassed and cheated that Rafael Palmeiro has gotten caught using a banned substance.

The fact that he was so adamant in front of Congress that he never used steroids makes it even worse. Now he has the nerve to say he wasn't careful enough and didn't intentionally take them. Why do you need to be careful if you've never taken anything illegal?

I am sick that ANY player needs to cheat to play the game of baseball. Now the rest of the players and former players have to try and defend the sport because someone is so selfish and greedy.

I have a lot more feeling on this subject because anytime Palmeiro's name came up I was one of his biggest backers. I was always telling people, 'Look at this guy, he's got these great numbers and he's not as big as some of the other players, he's not a hulking guy.' What is really perplexing is that the players who have the most to lose and the least to gain should be the most careful.

If you really want forgiveness, don't stand behind the players' union - come out and be a man the way you were back in March.

One last thing: When Jose Canseco's book came out, Rafael Palmeiro was one of the only players who was going to sue Canseco over what was in the book. Now we know why he never did.

I and many other baseball fans feel very foolish today. To not be fighting mad that you came up positive... if it were my name, no union or lawyer could make me keep quiet about it.

First posted on Tuesday, July 26

With most teams having played around 100 games on their 162 game schedule, we still have about 16 or 17 teams that have a shot at the last two playoff spots. To me, That's AWESOME.

My last full season in the Majors was 1995, and I was more worried about what I was going to do at 32 then Commissioner Bud Selig's plan to bring back the fans and give hope to Major League teams that were out of the playoff race by August.

Now some 10 years later, I see that this may be the best thing Bud has ever done for the game. First, I think it makes teams like the Oakland Athletics and the Houston Astros play hard every game because even with their bad starts, they knew they were never really out of the playoff race.

How bad were their starts? Lets see ... The A's got off to a smoking 17-32 start, then found out the season had started without them and they have gone 37-13 since. Good enough to be leading the wild card race and only 5 games back of the division leading Angels in the AL West.

Now that's some great baseball. And how about those pesky Astros. Lets just say, injuries and a playoff hangover stood in their way, they started 19-32 and were thinking of trading Roger Clemens.

No, they wouldn't give up that easily, not the way they won the wild card in 2004. They have put up a 33-15 spot since the end of May and are three games back in the Wildcard race. But like I said, 16, maybe 17 or even a few more teams if they finish strong are still in the hunt for postseason play

What a game. Now I hope we never get to be like other sports where you have 16 teams in the playoffs, but what comissioner Bud Selig has done, has made the greatest game even better, and has made the longest professional season more competitive from start to finish.

Now, if we could only get rid of those interleague games and raise the mound back up to 15 inches. Ok, lets not get crazy ...