Two former Red Sox flops back in the news

Two players who are among the most reviled Red Sox free agent signings in the 1990s have been in the news recently for slightly different reasons.

Jack Clark, who in retrospect is probably one of the last untainted sluggers, called out Mark McGwire and the rest of the roiders in a story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"A lot of them should be banned from baseball, including Mark McGwire," Clark said. "All those guys are cheaters —A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez). Fake, phony. Rafael Palmeiro. Fake, a phony.

"(Roger) Clemens, (Barry) Bonds. (Sammy) Sosa. Fakes. Phonies. They don't deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

"They should all be in the Hall of Shame. They can afford to build it. They've all got so much money. And they could all go there and talk about the next way to rub something on your skin. The whole thing is creepy. "They're all creeps. All these guys have been liars," Clark said.

Amen. Jack the Ripper, you might not have had the greatest career, but at least you're at peace knowing you did the best you could without cheating. He says it best:

"I'd rather take my 340 home runs (11 seasons of more than 20) legitimately instead of taking that stuff to be phony."

Meanwhile, Jose Offerman, who less than three years ago attacked former Phillie Matt Beech with a baseball bat, has punched an umpire in the winter league:

Offerman, manager of the Licey Tigers, appeared to hit first base umpire Daniel Rayburn in the face or neck with his fist during a heated discussion in a game against the Cibao Giants. Rayburn fell to the ground.

I have nothing to add. I just hope that Rayburn isn't hurt as badly by Offerman as John Nathans was.

J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets: I often acknowledge that I tend to be a fair-weather football fan. I may be biased, but I think it's OK to be fickle as long as you never pretend to be devoted to a team and acknowledge that you are fair-weathered. But I usually root against three teams - Cowboys, Jets and Eagles - so I can't believe I was getting sucked into the Jets last night, even though they cemented another woeful weekend of predictions: 1-3 this time.

Human interest stories

The effects of Jose Offerman's attack are still being felt by former independent leaguer John Nathans. He was the catcher Offerman hit with a bat while charging the mound against former Phillie Matt Beech. I didn't realize he was so severely injured until reading this account of how the incident has changed Nathans' life:

"He's still in the game, playing baseball. I have not been allowed to live my life the way it was intended. My life is changed forever."

Nathans probably wouldn't have made the majors even if this attack didn't occurred, but you get the sense he wouldn't have given up his dream and would still be playing ball somewhere, not rehabbing from the concussion.

He'd be a player like Matt Stairs, milking all that he could out of whatever natural ability he had. If you're saddened by Nathans' story, take heart in the story of the Wonder Hamster, a true player of the people:

"As a player, the biggest thing is don't give fans an excuse not to like you. That's the biggest thing. But it is nice when you hit that big home run and the fans say, 'Hey, he's just like us. He's not one of those guys who hits it and showboats. He's very humble about it.'"

Funny, this story, centered on the fact Stairs tries to hit only homers, comes a day after Christine remarked: "They should have a home run derby just with guys like Stairs who hit only home runs." I said, "Yeah, the type of guys who would never back out of a derby."

Tonight's games: The Red Sox are on the road against the Angels (after my bedtime). The Phillies beat the Dodgers 5-3. Chan Ho Park pitched a quality game, getting his first win of the season. Brad Lidge gave up a run, but managed the save.

The real story, of course, was Jayson Werth. He had four stolen bases, including one of home. I can't believe both of our teams have had steals of home this year. Werth's came when the catcher was tossing the ball back to the pitcher - I can't remember seeing one like that before.

I hate Bud Selig

I've tolerated Bud Selig doing nothing as the Yankees have freely spent small-market teams such as the Expos (and now the Nationals), Royals and Pirates into oblivion.

I've forgiven him for the strike and cancellation of the 1994 World Series.

I didn't even get that mad at him for making us sit through the really cold and rainy first half of last year's World Series Game 5.

But what he has now done is unforgivable: He has made me defend Alex Rodriguez.

After days of mulling the situation, Selig said Wednesday he was considering punishing A-Roid. I'm all for punishing the juicers, but you can't pick and choose your spots or make up rules and enforce them years after the transgression.

And as much as I wish it could be, Hank Aaron can no longer be the home run king. I think he has too much pride and integrity to allow that to happen.

I've been saying for years we should remove tainted World Series titles, but I now know that's impossible. Find me one team during the steroid era that wasn't touched at all by drugs. Even the last two SoxandPhils championships in the "clean" era had connections to steroids - J.C. Romero (technically on both teams) and Eric Gagne.

Selig could have done something about steroids when they were prevalent. He chose to do nothing. Baseball has been tarnished, and all we can do is sit back and watch as Slappy cheats Barry Bonds out of the record he cheated away from Hank Aaron.

Way to go Bud.

I'm so frustrated I want to hit him with a baseball bat. No, that's not funny. And it could get me sued like Jose Offerman.

And, it seems that Bud's advisers warned him what a PR nightmare it would be if I had to align myself with Slappy against him. He's not going to punish the roider nor tinker with the record book.