The Yankees are playing like the Bad News Bears again as all of the Reds runs in the game are unearned. So far there have been two Soriano muffs that led to a run. There has been an overun of a base by Raul Mondesi that cost the Yankees a big inning. And just now, the Reds scored two runs and tied the game on two wild pitches and an error. Sheesh.

It is fun to watch the Reds though. The whole Cincinnati team seem like descendents of Goliath. Adam Dunn was on first next to Jason Giambi and Giambi isn't a small guy but he looked like a child next to Dunn. There is Dunn and Kearns and LaRue and Wily Mo Pena and on and on they come to the plate. It looks like an NFL softball team.

It is still easy to see how good Ken Griffey is. Remember when we played ball as kids and there was always one kid who stood out as being the best athlete. He walked different. He wasn't afraid of anything. He always seemed to be faster, hit the ball harder, throw the ball faster and do just about everything smoother and better than anyone else. It's clear that Griffey is the best player on the field. And right now, there seems to be no way to pitch to him. He hits the ball with authority wherever it's pitched.

Paul O'Neal, the former Yankee outfielder now lives in Cincinnati and was in the broadcast booth with the Yankee announcers. I was very surprised to hear how good he is at commentary and he seems to be a natural. As a player he always seemed to be so taciturn but in commentary he is loose and funny. The Yankees should sign him up!

I always check the Texas Rangers' boxscore now as they are such a fun team to follow. Juan Gonzalez hit his 18th homer and now has 40 RBI. Blalock is 1-3 and is still hitting in the .350's. Mark Teixeira is now up to .246 and tonight is 1-1 with two walks which means that he is very comfortable and knows what he is doing. He has 26 RBI. So much credit for how those two young players are doing has to go to their manager who has let them play despite the critics.

The big news of the night is that Sammy Sosa was thrown out of his game tonight for having a corked bat. This situation will get a lot of play and I'm sure Sosa will be suspended. Since Sosa is such an icon, his image will get tarnished a bit. But he is just another in a long line of players who have tried to get a little edge. There have been spit pitches and sandpaper on the pitching side and cork and other things on the hitting side. It wasn't long ago when Albert Belle (one of the best hitters of his time) was caught doing the same thing as Sammy. The difference is that Belle was already a hated player and considered a bad apple so this was one more nod of the head to his badness. But Sammy has been a symbol for what is right with the game and this will hurt him for sure.

I hope he learns from history and just admits what he's done and takes responsibility. How many times in our recent history have we been disappointed in the character of those we admired because they just couldn't admit they did something wrong. If Sosa does so and says that he just started doing so, perhaps most will just wink and give Sosa the pass. But if he's been doing this for a long time and if he gets defensive about what has happened, his good image is going to be tarnished for a long time and his records will be looked at with a blemished eye. Sad.