Red Sox Officials Are Supportive of Selig

Countering criticism from players--including one inside their own clubhouse--Boston Red Sox officials voiced support for Commissioner Bud Selig on Wednesday and said he has the support of baseball’s owners in negotiations over a new labor contract.

“Bud’s being vilified, we think unfairly. It’s his platform that we all stand for,” Red Sox President Larry Lucchino said. “He is being criticized unfairly by the other side.

“There is a misperception that Bud Selig is a one-man band marching to his own drummer. He really is carrying the water for a unified set of clubs and pushing issues that are being thrust upon him by one of his constituencies,” the owners.

Perhaps the most focused comments came from right inside the building.

Boston pitcher John Burkett said last month that he would boycott the All-Star Game in Milwaukee because he wouldn’t want to benefit Selig, who owns the Brewers.

(Selig put the voting rights to his shares of the team in a blind trust when he became commissioner and the club is now run by daughter Wendy Selig-Prieb.)

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Boston reliever Ugueth Urbina was picked to replace teammate Pedro Martinez on the American League roster for next week’s All-Star Game. Urbina, 28, has 21 saves, and also has a 2.70 earned-run average and an 0-3 record.... The San Francisco Giants put outfielder Marvin Benard on the 15-day disabled list because of torn cartilage in his left knee. The move is retroactive to Tuesday.