“There is a standard of behavior that is expected of our players, which was breached in this case. The arbitrator’s decision diminishes that standard and is contrary to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. In my opinion, the decision is seriously ill-conceived.”

With this bit of bloviating, Selig demonstrated that he would be a natural if he ever chose to run for Congress, where blaming the appeals courts for following the law is the solution to darned near every problem. Unfortunately, Selig seems determined to continue to bumble along in his current post.

We wouldn’t be having these embarrassing situations on what seems a weekly basis if Selig would only get someone on staff with even a half ration of common sense. He made a mess of suspending a star for steroid use because he had no sense of either planning or timing, allowing Palmer to go ahead and get his 3,000^th hit before announcing the positive drug test and automatic suspension. Even when the league office announced the suspension, it took Selig most of a week to issue one of his infamous prepared statements in which he argued that the suspension was good news, because it showed the new testing policy is working.

Now we have him neglecting to consult a lawyer before taking over someone else’s job and issuing a sentence that was almost guaranteed to be reduced on appeal. And when the damage is done, here comes another press release expressing his outrage and blaming the courts.

Slide show: The Week in Sports Pictures   Oct. 3 - 9 Images from the baseball playoffs, NFL, college football, and more.

Baseball fans aren’t fooled. They know why this went bad, and it wasn’t because of the arbitrator. It was because of Selig’s clumsy handling of the affair. They know it because they’ve seen it too many times before.

And so it’s another day of one step forward, one step back, with baseball trying to move forward but succeeding only in tramping a hole that will continue to get deeper until either someone comes along with some sense or it swallows Selig and his game altogether.