Then comes the word that all 76 of his bats are free of cork, that his five bats already lying around at the Hall of Fame are also cork-free, that it was all some big misunderstanding and that Sammy never uses corked bats -- no, not Sammy -- and we want to believe him. We really do.

Hmmmm. Let's seeeee. Error of the Week … What bone-headed mistake can we point out for this week's Pitch? What ridiculously lame move by a player who should know better? Whew, these are tough sometimes. So many to choose from. Hmmm. Wait! What about that Sosa guy? Picking the wrong bat out of the bat rack? Oh, man, what a tool! Javy Lopez, once thought washed up, is ripping the ball for the Atlanta Braves. He's had 10 homers in the past 10 games -- he had only 11 all of last season -- and had back-to-back two-homer games over the weekend. Thanks in large part to their catcher, the Braves now lead the majors in home runs, with 98. "This is one of those 'like no other place' places. The Stadium, Fenway and Wrigley ... the three shrines that are left." -- Yankees manager Joe Torre on Wrigley Field, in Newsday

Unless, somehow, someone climbed through the ceiling ducts and replaced Sammy's corked jobs with … Unless, somehow, Sammy shipped his "safe" bats to the Hall of Fame, keeping the souped up ones to himself. Unless baseball, which needs this controversy like it needs another Pete Rose, is covering something up. And, really, "I grabbed the wrong bat …" Man, that's lame.

Damn. There's always that doubt.

I suspect there's that kind of thinking because hitters, at least these days, have an advantage over pitchers anyway. You know. Juiced balls. Smaller ballparks. Lower mounds. Bigger players (by whatever methods). Even a shrinking strike zone. This is a golden age of offense. Hitters don't need any more help.

Some people, of course, hate spitballers and sandpaper-wielding pitchers as much as slugging corker-uppers. And they probably should. They're both cheating.

But, I'm telling you, if a piece of 180-grit paper spills out of Mike Mussina's glove tomorrow, there'll be a lot less agonizing. Of course, Mussina could just say he accidentally grabbed David Wells' mitt.

I call BS.

Do these guys remember the grief that McGwire took in 1998 over androstenedione? (Much deserved grief, I might add.) And, remember, that wasn't even clearly cheating at the time. Andro was not banned by baseball. Do Canseco and Martinez remember how McGwire was portrayed as the moody one in the Great Home Run Chase, while happy Sammy was the glorious underdog, the one actually helping McGwire to the title?

Look, Sosa was jumped on not because of his race or nationality but because he is Sammy Sosa.

He's arguably the most recognizable slugger in baseball. Maybe the most recognizable player, period. He works in a huge media center. People love him. He has a privileged place in the game.

Sosa hits home runs for a living -- he's headed to the Hall of Fame because of it -- and he did something illegal that would help him hit home runs. He betrayed the trust of millions of baseball fans by doing something against the rules, something that arguably would help him do the thing that he's best known for.

The reaction would have been the same if his name were Smith.

The Cubs start a 10-game road trip beginning in Baltimore on Tuesday, a trip that also winds through Toronto and Cincinnati. If there is no word on Sosa's appeal by Tuesday, he'll get to hear what some non-Cubs fans think of him Tuesday night at Camden Yards.

If word does come down on his appeal, and he starts serving the eight-game suspension (or, possibly, less) beginning Tuesday, he'll have to wait to find out about what other fans think until sometime during a four-game stop in the new Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, June 16-19.

Either way, it's probably safe to assume the fans outside of Wrigley Field won't be as friendly as they have been in the Friendly Confines.

Sosa vs. the Yankees: 4-for-11 (.364), two runs, two RBIs, three strikeouts. And, yeah. No homers.

 • The Los Angeles Dodgers have one thing going for them -- pitching -- and now they're getting thin on that. Darren Dreifort's out for the year with a bum knee. It's getting to be old, old news in L.A.

 • My head hurts from all those replays of the Hee Seop Choi collision on Saturday.

 •  The Mariners just finished an 11-1 road trip. Remember how they faded down the stretch last season? This team, 17-0 during the day, doesn't look like it's going anywhere but up.

 •  Is there a bigger disappointment this season than the Philadelphia Phillies? Blame the hitters. Going into Sunday, the Phils were 15th in the league in hitting (.247) and 12th in homers (52).

 •  As bad as the Mets are -- and they are "Hoo Boy!" bad -- you have to give credit to gimpy Cliff Floyd, who shouldn't be playing with a bad Achilles but is. And playing pretty well, too.

Wherein we pick the best of the e-mail litter from our savvy, and even some of our not-so savvy, readers. Questions, comments or obviously unfounded criticism for a future E-Bag? Click here. Remember, names and hometowns are always appreciated.

This week, comments on speeding up the game, interleague play, George Whinebrenner (I love that!) and more …

Why speed up baseball? What happened to the concept of a relaxing day at the ballpark? The game is getting screwed in the pursuit of MO MONEY. -- Matthew Ross

Let's face it, Matthew. Relaxing days at the park are long gone. Major League Baseball wants to get games down to an average of 2:45, and I think that's just about right. That gives you time to relax from the hassle of getting to the park, and rest for the hassle of getting home.

Televised games used to show the most of the field, which made it easy to explain and understand the game. Now, however, producers zoom in on player's faces to give us a perspective previously appreciated only by their intimate partners and dermatologists. After cutting back and forth between the pitcher's and the batter's face, producers show the pitch and then the head and shoulders of any relevant fielders, then back to the pitcher's face. For variety, we are sometimes shown the faces of the catcher, one or both of the managers, some other denizen of the dugout, or assorted fans in the stands. I'm exaggerating, of course, but the point is that this attempt to imbue the proceedings with human interest makes the game impossible to explain to a neophyte, and equally impossible for that neophyte to grasp. Because viewers rarely see more than a glimpse of the entire field, they must mentally fill in the connections between televised shots. No wonder kids are bored by the game. -- Steve Cooper, San Diego

Interesting take, Steve. You're right. It's hard to explain a fairly intricate game like baseball to a kid (or a neophyte). Doing it from TV is especially difficult. Guess the place to teach it is the local park.

[On getting kids to love baseball.] Start them young. Make them want to come back next practice and next year by teaching them something. You have to make them work -- hard. Run a lot. Practice baserunning. Baseball is not a wimpy sport. Teach them catching first. Start with easy ground balls. Teach them to throw. Teach them to catch in little soft tosses. As they get better they start liking it. Back up. Kids love to improve. They feel better quickly if they can do something. Make it fun -- but keep them busy, busy, busy. Once they learn to hit you have them hooked! Tell them it is the most important thing in baseball … Presto! A happy and busy boy playing a game he soon loves. -- Bill Maxwell, Honolulu

All right, Bill. Thanks for the advice. I'm putting my boy, Luke, through the paces starting tomorrow.

I sure don't know about many other 15-year-old baseball fans around the world, but I've been in love with the game of baseball ever since I first watched it. I guess a special love for the game is just there for some of us, and for others it's not. I don't think it's the time of the games, or even the lack of offense that bores young fans. Personally, I would blame it on the kids themselves. Like you said, most of them are more interested in computer games or playing with their GameBoys. I think if more kids understood baseball, the rules and goals, and learned that it was America's national pastime they would probably enjoy watching and playing it much more. I watch 4-7 full Major League Baseball games a week on TV, and it's probably because my fascination with fantasy baseball. But, hey, what do I know -- I'm only a 15-year-old kid. -- Dave Lane, South River, N.J.

Ah, a fantasy guy. You all may be the saving grace for baseball. I wonder, Dave, how much you'd be into the game if you didn't need to watch the games?

I don't ever recall playing "Bash The Ants," but I do remember my dad being my coach, year in and year out, and never forcing the game on me. Video games were never a choice due to the fact that my parents had outlawed such technology in our household. Baseball gradually became something I looked forward to. Every summer since second grade I played Little League with all the cool kids around town. It was more than a game to me, but a place to fit in as well. I do remember times when I was struggling, would come home crying from bad games, and talk to my dad about quitting. Again, he said it was up to me. I'm forever thankful that I stuck with the game and that my father instilled this passion that I have for our national pastime. -- Michael Schirmer, 19

I got lots of mail from guys like you, Michael, both young and old. A recurring theme: Dads who love the game passing on the love of it. Some day I'll recount the many days and nights when my dad and I watched the Orioles through the snowy picture on our creaky TV. Or, maybe I won't. But I remember.

Interleague play is just one in an ongoing series of moves to make baseball less of a game and more of a Broadway show. It detracts from every pennant race and leaves that much less room in every team's schedule to play the teams that are relevant. People stop and look at car wrecks, too, but that doesn't mean we have to have 200 car wrecks. -- Eddie K., Plainview, N.Y.

Car wrecks aren't fun. Interleague games can be, at least to some.

What a scalding you took in last week's e-mails! The only way you deserve it is if you cheer for the evil Yankees. -- Fuzz Feltman, Milwaukee

Considering the drugs, bias for all teams not playing on the East Coast, the Yanks contributing to your salary, the Mets bashing and special time outs to just look foolish, the fact that you even get out a column every week shows extraordinary strength of will. -- Joel Gerlach

I apologize for saying you were on drugs last week. After watching the Twins get swept by the Mariners this past weekend, I am the one who needs the drugs. -- Paul Lesnar

This is a good time to talk about the little give-and-take we have going here in the E-bag, folks. I get a fair share of idiots cursing me and all that, and those e-mails never make it down here. I don't get past a line or two in many of them before they hit the wastebasket. Still, I don't mind getting ripped -- I deserve it sometimes -- if you're clean about it and make some kind of sense. Paul was semi-clean. And the Yankees fans who hate me are semi-funny. You gotta be one or the other to make it in here.

Interleague play is a joke and ruins the game. Let's be honest and admit that the only thing it's good for is bringing the teams with larger national followings to the other league's markets. It's great for fans to see the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, Giants, Cubs and Cards but who wants to get stuck with the Pirates, Brewers, Pads, Tigers and the Marlin-Rays? Interleague play screws with competitive balance for both divisional titles and the wild card. -- Shane Owens, Berkeley, Calif.

I pointed this out last week, but I'll do it again. There are lots of lame games during the non-interleague part of the schedule, too. Yes, interleague does throw off an already unbalanced schedule. But, you know, it throws it off for everybody. I'm tired of people whining about it. And you know who I mean …

What is George Whinebrenner steining about? If I remember right, the Cubs lost 95 last year and the Reds weren't far behind at 84. Going into this year, the schedule didn't have him playing the two projected leaders of this division in Houston and St. Louis. Grow up, George. -- Duane Kolsrud

Yeah. George Whinebrenner. I may steal that some day.

You can call me a crotchety old baseball purist. But many of the points you make illustrate how interleague play is just a gimmick hauled out by MLB to mask its deeper problems. Once the Cubs and Yankees have played, you can no longer bill future games as "the first time in 65 years." And once the Pirates and Red Sox have played, are you going to wait to have them meet in interleague play again in 2103 so you can use that marketing gimmick? -- W. F. Pugh, Leesburg, Va.

It should work in 2103, don't you think?

During the stretches of interleague play each season, I refuse to watch any of the games or even look at highlights or boxscores. As far as I'm concerned, those games are not legitimate and should not count in the standings. It is inherently unfair and creates major quirks in the scheduling when paired with the unbalanced schedule (which I like). You say it's a good idea because the fans like it, but does that make it right? I'm sure that many fans would like to see half-naked dancing girls on the field between innings, but would you suggest that? I do agree with you on one thing: Interleague play will not go away. But, then again, neither will war, disease, death or taxes. -- Terry Mitchell

Terry, you're obviously serious about this, so I won't even make a crack about the half-naked dancing girls thing. I want to. Oh, boy, do I want to. But I won't.

God bless the interleague play! I'm going three times to watch the Yankees take on the Reds right here in Cincinnati … first time since 1976 when the Reds, one of the greatest teams of all-time, swept the Yanks for their second straight World Series! -- Sean Kelley, Cincinnati

And the Reds won two of three! Bring in the Yanks every year!

More than any other game, baseball depends on "what-ifs" for which there are no answers. "What-if" debates enliven the game far more than mind-numbing replays on SportsCenter ever will. Almost every change in baseball since 1969 has eliminated "what-ifs." Free agency, strikes, realignment, ill-considered expansion, a phony "commissioner," interleague play, the designated hitter, a postseason that usually eliminates one or both of the best teams and a diluted World Series that no one outside of the two cities involved cares about have eroded the fan base to near-historic lows. My 22-year-old son disagrees with me on many things, but baseball is the exception. Having studied the game since Little League days, he alleges that MLB is run by short-sighted fools who have no idea of what makes a fan a fan. -- Gregory Hayes, a 48-year-old curmudgeon from Nitro, W.V.

Gregory, a lot of what you say is true. Undeniably. But it makes me wonder if there's any sport out there nowadays that is as good as it was in 1969.

I'm with you on the interleague thing. Can't wait to see the Rangers in town this week. But whom do we have to bribe to get rid of this awful unbalanced schedule? How many series with the Marlins do we have to be subjected to? -- Merrie Davis, Atlanta

And the Braves swept the Rangers! A-Rod who?

So Curt Schilling and now the Braves are complaining about the QuesTec system. What a surprise that those who have most benefited from bad umpiring over the last several years (especially the Braves) are the first to complain about any attempt to have the strike zone enforced! I agree that if it to be used, it should be used in all ballparks. However, like most fans I have grown so tired of some umpires calling strikes on pitches six inches outside (especially for the "name" control pitchers like Schilling, Glavine and Maddux), while others only have a zone about six inches from top to bottom. I think that improving the calling of balls and strikes is long overdue. -- Doug Kennedy

You said it all, Doug, so I'm wrapping this up. Thanks for all the e-mail, folks.

John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.

Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.

 

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