So now what?

There's not much else that could possibly go wrong with Major League Baseball, but Murphy's Law seems to have a headlock on America's pastime and Tuesday night's All-Star Game fiasco helped tighten the grip.

Anything that can go wrong will.

Needless to say, Major League Baseball is in trouble.

All-Star debacle

The star-studded All-Star lineups entertained fans and fanatics like me for 10 1/2 innings, right up until MLB Commissioner Bud Selig realized he did not have a contingency plan for All-Star teams using up their pitchers in the event of extra innings.

Selig held a meeting of the mindless, save for All-Star managers Joe Torre and Bob Brenly, and conceded that the NL's final at-bat would be the game's last -- win, lose or draw.

The decision was the right one, but Selig's timing could not have been worse. The problem would not have become a problem until after the inning was completed. Had the NL scored, the game would have been over and pitchers Freddy Garcia and Vicente Padilla would have thrown no more -- two innings -- than the rest of the All-Star hurlers.

Torre could not have possibly asked Seattle fireballer Freddy Garcia to pitch until the game was decided … imagine Mariners' manager Lou Pinella sitting at home watching the ace of his pitching staff throw long into the night of an exhibition game -- that's right, exhibition -- when all involved know Garcia's arm means more to his team's pennant race than anything else.

For love of the game

Fans had a right to be upset -- for $175 a ticket someone should win the game, but the All-Star gala is not what it used to be. Never again will we see Charlie Hustle barreling over a catcher to win the midsummer classic. Not to say Torii Hunter's catch was any less spectacular, but not every player is out there giving everything they have to win. They don't want to lose, but losing won't affect players' inflated paychecks if they do.

If big-market teams can afford to pay millions and billions of dollars in hopes of emulating the Florida Marlins' rent-a-championship season of 1997 and the New York Yankees' dynasty winning four of the last six World Series, who can blame the most talented players for taking all they can get?

The fans perhaps? Attendance is already down 12 percent since 1994 -- the last strike-shortened season -- and ticket prices will only rise as players' money demands continue to increase.

It makes you wonder what baseball has left to lose … if not everything. A work-stoppage appears to be the only way for MLB and the Players' Union to come to terms with everything that has helped dismantle a gentleman's game -- big-market baseball buying up the best players in the league, steroids, contraction, no salary cap … the grip tightens.

Recent MLB retirees Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco admitted using steroids, and Canseco suggested that 85 percent of the league is getting pumped up on the stuff. Baseball has never had a drug policy because until recently it seemed there was no need. But negotiations between baseball and its players resume today, and there might not be a quick fix.

Active home run leader Barry Bonds admitted to using creatine, a supplement deemed legal by those sports with drug policies already in place. Mark McGwire made androstenedione famous during his run at Roger Maris' single-season home run record, but now it's assumed even the smallest sluggers are on the juice.

My freshman year of college I was a walk-on outfielder that came in weighing 160-pounds, but I made the team and ended the season weighing 195 with 4 percent body-fat. Ironically I didn't start using creatine until I was a sophomore.

We can all point fingers at whichever Major Leaguer we like the least, but it's nothing but name-calling until drug testing can be initiated throughout the league. Twins fans can acknowledge that Marty Cordova's frail frame ballooned not long after he left Minnesota, but speculation that he was on steroids would only be a shot in the dark.

"We're not dumb in this room, common sense says something has happened here," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said, speaking generally on the topic of steroids, during a Minnesota Associated Press Sports Association meeting June 12 in Minneapolis. "If this is something that creates problems for a player after he retires or while he's playing, that's a problem.

"Baseball ought to really get after it. Something obviously needs to be done to protect the players."

Shot in the arm

Baseball has changed, much like the training regimen adopted by players around the league. Drinking and smoking, like heralded historical figures Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, has been replaced by natural supplements and personal trainers. Hitting home runs raises attendance figures, thus increases payroll, thus enhances paychecks, thus forcing smaller, less impactful players to become burly bombers targeting round-trippers.

"It's all out there for ya," Gardenhire said of supplements, legal or otherwise. "Everybody's always striving to be the best.

"I'm for protecting the players. If that's banning steroids, if that's testing, then I'm all for it."

That seems to be the only way feasible for baseball to spell the rumors that steroids play a major part in the game that itself could use a shot in the arm.

Major League Baseball gave itself a chance by reliving the greatest moments made by legend Ted Williams, who passed away at age 83 Friday, and renaming the All-Star Game's Most Valuable Player award after arguably the game's greatest hitter … but then neglected to give out the prestigious achievement after Tuesday's midsummer classic ended in a stalemate.

Save yourself, baseball. All we can do is watch, and even fewer of us are doing that.

Call Ross Thede at 434-2234 or e-mail him at sports@austindailyherald.com.