There once was a fictitious team created by novelist Philip Roth, the Ruppert Mundys, who played all their games on the road.

The rumors last night in Oakland were that the Expos may duplicate what the Mundys did, and play all their 2004 games away from Montreal. Some say the team will share home fields with San Juan, Charlotte, Portland, or any other locale with a stadium that is available during summer months.

Why are the owners slow in resolving this issue?

Probably because the franchise price tag is too high, the Baltimore ownership wants too much money to let them into the DC area, and that pesky lawsuit filed by the former minority share holders of the team is still unresolved.

Whatever the reason, it isn’t fair to the players involved to treat them in this fashion.

Ten hour plane flights from Puerto Rico to Seattle, three week road trips, and forcing the sale of key players is no way to run a major league franchise.

Through all of this manager Frank Robinson has his team leading the Wild Card chase in the National league. Nothing bothers this team, they swing the bat, rally when down in the game, bring new players up weekly, and have an amazing camaraderie.

They also have some of the best young talent in the league with Vlad Guerrero, Brad Wilkerson ( an A’s kind of player), Javier Vazquez, and Jose Vidro to name a few.

They also have a glazed look in their eyes as this incredible road trip continues today. Starting for the Expos Saturday “Johnny Wholestaff”, since they have run out of healthy starting pitchers, they are running the bullpen out to the mound (hey it worked for Houston the other night)

The A’s better win today because Vazquez goes Sunday and since the A’s couldn’t hit Shane Reynolds Thursday, they are in danger against this righthander.

Click below for more!Finally the Roger Clemens 300 victory wait is over. Clemens is one of the greatest of all time, but I’m waiting for Greg Maddux to win his 300th game, that will be something.

Maddux doesn’t have the stuff Clemens does, Maddux gets by with an incredible knowledge of the game, uses his fabulous guile to sink the ball to create darting movement for his 88 MPH fastballs.

Once Clemens established himself in the majors, it was a foregone conclusion that he would win many, many games. 300 is a fabulous achievement for any pitcher, but give me Maddux and what he is going to accomplish when he gets to 300, and I’ll give you an amazing baseball story.

Seattle has to be thrilled this morning with the game Freddy Garcia threw last night against Atlanta. I know the Braves really crush lefties more than righties, and that Rafael Furcal and Chipper Jones are hurting, but to go and dominate the Braves, like Tim Hudson did, is no small feat, and indicates major trouble for the teams chasing the Mariners.

Let’s see if Jamie Moyer can keep the Braves off balance enough to shut them down today. I have said that Moyer can beat the weaker teams with incredible consistency, this Braves team poses a different challenge for any lefthander.

Milwaukee’s pitcher/DH Brooks Kieschnick hit seventh last night for the Brewers, went 1-4 and his average dropped to .389. What a story, one day pitching, the next day hitting in the lineup. Who does he think he is Babe Ruth?

The Dodgers aren’t going away because their pitching staff is not only one of the best for the first six innings, but the bullpen is lights out from the seventh inning forward. Unfortunately, Shawn Green and Fred McGriff have 32 and 35 RBI’s respectively.

The Giants are keeping their fingers crossed that Kurt Ainsworth doesn’t have more of an injury than they think. With Damian Moss going through a terrible stretch, the club has to be concerned about their starting depth once the off days disappear. The Royals throw AJ Carrasco and whoever else is in the bullpen against SF today.

Can the Rockies win their first road series of the year? Seth Elarton against Mike Maroth in Detroit, if it doesn’t happen for Colorado this weekend, it may not happen all season. Shawn Chacon will be an NL all star this season, throw out his one bad start and this guy’s numbers are outstanding.

The Red Sox may have gotten lucky as Ryan Rupe came up last night and pitched six strong innings against Houston. The Astros must be tired from their ordeal in NY this week, because Rupe has never been that good. On the plus side, Rupe gave up eight hits but didn’t walk anyone in his six innings.

Wild Card

NL

Montreal …

LA 1/2

Houston 2

St. Louis 3

Cincy 4 1/2

Phillies 4 1/2

AL

Boston…

Toronto 1/2

A’s 1

Anaheim 3 1/2

Royals 4

Are the Phillies thinking of canning Larry Bowa? I don’t think so, he is a cult hero in Philadelphia, the new ballpark is coming, and the team’s woes aren’t his fault, they just don’t hit.

Plus, the wild card isn’t out of the question.

If the Blue Jays are serious about trading Kelvim Escobar, they may really cash in their chips because he may be the best pitcher out there when the July feeding frenzy starts.

Forget Urbina, the Giants can use this guy. If he didn’t cut it as a starter, he could move right into the bullpen to close.

Anybody miss Sammy Sosa lately?

Come out to Oakland today and see the real life Ruppert Mundys in action, it’s quite a story.