Chicago Sun-Times: As usual, baseball rises above the muck

DETROIT -- Mark Buehrle threw his 0-2 pitch, Derrek Lee experienced the rare gloom of swinging and missing, and suddenly, on a pleasant Tuesday night in a maligned town, after all the dirty syringes and cameraman assaults and general Bud Lite follies, a sport never seemed happier or healthier.

The scab always heals, doesn't it?

Somehow, baseball inevitably finds a way to rise above the mopes who try to muck it up. It has outlasted Pete Rose's betting sheets, the '80s drug trials, the Bud-and-Jerry-flavored lockout of '94 and now, in the shock of shocks, the steroids scandal that spilled onto Capitol Hill and made us look like monkeys on crack for genuflecting over body-bloated home runs. Having been victimized by a form of consumer fraud, the American masses could have been disgusted enough to repel permanently.

Instead, they have moved on and embraced what they still love about baseball. And there is much to love, in case you've forgotten: tradition, passion in big cities, thinking-man's strategy, ballparks as destinations and the comforting concept that players like Lee, Albert Pujols and Miguel Tejada apparently don't need human growth hormone to play statistical roulette with history. The All-Star Game served as a symbol of this new and improved era, with the one flaw on another American League-dominant evening coming when AL manager Terry Francona blew a chance to make a statement about civility and professionalism.

Rather than let Kenny The Mauler" Rogers rot in the bullpen, Francona summoned him in the seventh inning with the AL leading 7-0 and no reason to interrupt a National League deep sleep. The fans booed in Comerica Park, then booed louder when he allowed a two-run homer to Andruw Jones. A weak outing contributed to a closer finish than necessary in what ended as a 7-5 victory. And it prompted Francona, who was Michael Jordan's minor-league manager and knows how to deal with chaotic media circumstances, to lash out when someone opened the postgame news conference with a Rogers question.

Is that really the first question after a night like this? No, it's not my job to judge Kenny," Francona snarled. Kenny made a mistake that we saw. He's going to pay a price that Major League Baseball says he should. My job is to put us in the best position to win the All-Star Game. Doing something different wouldn't be fair to the American League. I'm not here to sit in judgment."

A great night for baseball

Otherwise, it was a night to watch a ballgame and appreciate baseball. To the chagrin of Ozzie Guillen, Buehrle pitched two innings, not one, and needed Tejada to bail him out of early trouble with a terrific backhanded stop of a hot smash that launched a double play. It was one of several reasons, including an early solo homer, why Tejada was named MVP. When Buehrle pitches, you've got to be ready because he pitches so quickly," he said. I'm happy to play behind him, and that's why I was ready."

Buehrle, the winning pitcher, was most thrilled about whiffing Lee, he of the Triple Crown flirtation. He [has] owned me. I think it was the first time I ever got him out," he said.

Such was Chicago baseball's biggest contribution. Just know that if the White Sox win the AL pennant, they'll host Game 1 of the W-W- W-World Series on Oct. 22, a Saturday night on the South Side. While it's absurd the result of an exhibition game determines the home- field Series edge -- I propose a more complex formula involving the dozens of interleague games -- it's nice to know baseball is crisis- free for a change.

Your commissioner, Bud Selig, still sounds like an over-the-top car salesman in any public-relations setting. But for once, he has a right to boast about the popularity of a game that seemed dead 10 years ago. While the NFL remains king with its filthy-rich TV contracts, largely because Sundays and Mondays are immersed in gambling, baseball has returned as something of a religious experience. You didn't think Selig would let the All-Star festivities pass without reminding us of that, right?

We are having baseball's greatest season. We are going to draw between 75 and 78 million people," he said. I don't think people realize the magnitude of how far we've come and the resilience of this game."

Of course, he has been a big part of the problem, acting like Mr. Magoo and claiming the game had no steroids issues when the shooting galleries were filled with abusers. We may never know if Selig and the owners were conveniently playing dumb while power hitters were filling seats and grabbing headlines, but belatedly, he has come around to realize his game never looked more soiled than it did on March 17. I'm going to be very blunt. Watching the anguish on the faces of those players is something I'll never forget," Selig said. I vowed that night on the plane to Milwaukee to rid the game of steroids." That's what inspired his proposal to players association chief Donald Fehr: a 50-game ban for first-time steroids offenders, a 100-game penalty for second offenders and a lifetime ban for strike three. We thank Congress for rescuing the commissioner from his own gutter.

Rogers should have stayed home

Too bad the government intervention couldn't have stopped Rogers from pitching. The fans also booed Rogers during introductions, and as he stood there on the baseline with a stiff-jawed glare, he clearly didn't belong. I could make a perfectly sound case that Rogers belongs in jail, having mauled the TV photographer in a way that would land a commoner a month or two.

After the game, Rogers sounded more contrite than he has to date. I tried to stay focused on what I was doing. I was trying to enjoy what I was doing, difficult as it may have been," he said. You deal with situations accordingly."

And the boos? I tried not to think about it. It's a negative reaction, and this is not easy," he said. Coming here is something I felt compelled to do. I handled things the way you should. Everyone knows how much I regret it, but I can't take it back. I hope people realize I have no problem with criticism or facing things head-on. I knew it was the right thing to do. If people have reactions, I understand them. Hopefully, it will change with time. I'll do the right thing from here on."

Rogers could have made it easier on everyone, including himself, if he had elected not to come. In every way, Rogers vs. the Media Guy was bad for the game, for America and for humanity. But by Thursday, when the second half begins, the incident we'll be defused and we'll be watching games again.

Baseball is resilient that way.

Jay Mariotti is a regular on "Around the Horn" at 4 p.m. on ESPN. Send e-mail to inbox@suntimes.com with name, hometown and daytime phone number (letters run Sunday).