What have we missed in the interim of this season?

Most excitingly, two no-hitters.



The first came in mid-April a no-hitter by the White Sox's Mark Buehrle. Buehrle threw the first no-hitter of his career, as well as the first by a Sox pitcher since Wilson Alvarez accomplished the feat on Aug. 11, 1991, as the South Siders beat Texas 6-0 in front of 25,390 at U.S. Cellular Field.

It was also the 16th no-hitter in franchise history, and the first one thrown at home since Joel Horlen did it Sept. 10, 1967, against Detroit.



Coincidentally, the second was tossed by Justin Verlander of the Tigers, the first no-hitter for the Tigers since Jack Morris in 1984 and was the first to do it in the Motor City in more than a half-century.

In between we have had a premature call of the demise of the Yankees who have now won five straight series' (compared to the Mets who started fast and have now lost five straight series'...)

We have had two steroid stars in the news over and over again.

1. Jason Giambi, the disgraced Yankee is now under pressure to spill the beans. Used car salesman and baseball czar Bud Selig said June 6 that he wanted Giambi to meet with "special investigator" George Mitchell within two weeks and to cooperate fully with the steroids investigation. Selig threatened to discipline the New York Yankees designated hitter following published remarks by Giambi that seemed to be an admission of steroids use. Selig said he would take Giambi's cooperation with Mitchell into account in determining discipline.

Selig's threats of course, are empty.

Nick Canepa, of the San Diego Tribune knows the scoop:

"Commish Bud will use his “best interests of baseball” powers to do this, but we know it won't end with the player going quietly. If a suspension comes, the union will fight it and an arbitrator eventually will decide it.

Selig wants Giambi so he can tell Congress: “See, I've caught one. We're doing something.” That much I can see. He wants the politicians off baseball's back, and I'm all for that. Lawmakers should worry about the business of America, not what ballplayers put into their bodies. Congressfolk should try cleaning up their own houses before going after someone else's."

2. And then on the other side of the coast there's the ho-hum historic chase of Hank Aaron's Homerun record.



He was most recently in Boston where Nick Cafardo had his say:

"Bonds's pursuit of Hank Aaron's home run record has often been joyless. He hit his 748th against Tim Wakefield in the sixth inning yesterday, his first at Fenway Park, and even though the Red Sox swept the weekend series, you could tell Bonds enjoyed his time here."

*****

Now we've had our first sacking of the season when the O's Sacked Sam Perlozzo.

Can you blame them, really?

Eight lossess in a row, including three at home to the rival Nationals and you can expect as much. Question is, with a 29-40 record in the impregnable AL East, what difference does it really make? Will anyone in particular make the O's more exciting if they aren't moving any higher than third and have no hope for the playoffs no matter how hot they get under new management?