Baseball: Down the line

Prudence amid the protests

Not long after Frank and Jamie McCourt filed for divorce, we asked Bud Selig what he would say to assure Dodgers fans concerned that the proceedings would result in turmoil and turnover in the clubhouse, front office and owner’s box.

“The Dodgers will be in Los Angeles for as long as we’re alive and for many generations to come,” Selig said.

We thought about that last week, as debate simmered over whether baseball should move next year’s All-Star game from Phoenix to protest Arizona’s controversial new immigration law. You don’t last long as commissioner without mastering the art of skirting a question, so it came as little surprise that Selig deflected the issue of the protest into a spirited defense of baseball’s minority hiring record.

We’re told that the owners — Selig’s bosses — spent hardly any time on the issue during their meetings this month. Arizona has been very good to baseball, building lavish spring homes for half the teams in the major leagues at virtually no cost to the clubs. Those costs were borne in significant measure by Arizona taxpayers, whom polls show supporting the new law.

If the law stands, perhaps baseball takes a stand. To do so now would be a no-win situation, with President Obama signaling that the Justice Department would file one of what figures to be a blizzard of court challenges to the new law. How silly would Selig look if he moves the All-Star game to Tampa Bay now and the Arizona law is overturned within the 14 months before the game?

It’s a big fish fry

Hanley Ramirez might be the best position player in the National League aside from Albert Pujols, but the Florida Marlins’ mercurial shortstop didn’t appreciate that Manager Fredi Gonzalez yanked him from a game last week for not hustling. He ripped his manager in interviews the next day, but not before answering the first question about Gonzalez this way: “Who’s that?”

It took a day or two, but Ramirez apologized, and the Marlins moved on. Ramirez has some history of indifference — second baseman Dan Uggla called him on it last season — but the Marlins aren’t about to move their franchise player before they move into their new ballpark in 2012.

Ramirez figures to last longer than Gonzalez in Miami. However, with a truce in effect, the Marlins should slip back into obscurity.

“We should be on national television,” owner Jeffrey Loria told reporters, “and not for minor personality situations.”

The Marlins’ record: 22-22.

For NL stars, the cold corner

David Wright was benched by the New York Mets this week, leading us to wonder just who might start at third base for the NL in the All-Star game at Angel Stadium.

It’s a popularity contest, of course, so Wright might win the fan vote anyway. Since 2000, four players have started at third base for the NL: Wright, Chipper Jones, Aramis Ramirez and Scott Rolen.

Wright is batting .261 with eight home runs. Jones is batting .237 with two home runs. Ramirez is batting .160, with four home runs.

Rolen is at .278 with eight home runs. But we’d love to see fans embrace Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals, who is batting .318 with eight home runs and a .975 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, best among NL third basemen.

— Bill Shaikin