Major League Baseball ToDay

There was a moment in the Blue Jays’ 8-3 win this weekend’s game when Toronto manager Cito Gaston paid a visit to the mound to talk to David Purcey.

The left-hander, who was making his third career Major League start, had already surrendered a two-run home run in the inning and subsequently allowed two more runners to reach base, before Gaston decided to speak to him.

Purcey was surprised when Gaston came to the mound and did not ask for the ball.

“That was a great moment because normally when I see a manager come out, it means that you’re done and they’re going to go to the bullpen,” explained Purcey with a smile.

He helped Toronto to a win, while in turn the offense was able to provide more than enough run support. The victory gave the Jays five straight wins, which ties a season high. Toronto fans surely got excited and started waving Toronto Blue Jays merchandise including signs as their team racked up runs.

Gaston viewed the decision to leave Purcey in the game during the sixth inning as important.

Purcey ended his outing having surrendered three runs on seven hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out four, needing 99 pitches.

Commissioner Bud Selig took Manhattan on Tuesday in the hours before the 79th All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.

He told two distinct audiences that instant replay is a possibility on a limited basis for Major League Baseball playoff games. He also said for the first time that it isn’t practical to place an asterisk next to the name of any player who set a record during Major League Baseball’s so-called steroid era.He said that changing the first-round playoff format has been considered, but won’t be altered at this point because of the season’s length.

And finally, Selig said he’s happy with the All-Star format, which was collectively bargained and is part of the current Basic Agreement, which is due to expire after the 2012 season.

Selig, though, was asked in both places about Barry Bonds, MLB’s all-time home run leader who is an unsigned free agent this season with criminal proceedings pending next year in a San Francisco federal court.

Do you really think people, especially those wearing San Francisco Giants merchandise, want to see Barry Bonds taint their franchise any more than what it already is? No, I didn’t think so.

About instant replay, last year the general managers voted 25-5 to institute replay on home run calls only — fair or foul or in and out of the park.

MLB is trying to determine whether an official in a central location will have access to the television broadcasts of every game and communicate with the umpire crew chief on location when a call is in question.

On an evening honoring the rich tapestry of Yankee Stadium’s history, the American League won again.

In the longest All-Star Game in history, Michael Young’s sacrifice fly delivered the final blow, allowing the AL to defeat the NL in 15 innings, 4-3, on Tuesday.

The final twist took hold with the Phillies’ Brad Lidge on to work the 15th. Justin Morneau slid home after Young’s fly ball to right, with Corey Hart’s throw home arriving just a little bit too late.

The thrilling conclusion couldn’t have come without the gifted right hand of Mariano Rivera — it was where the final All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium belonged, and almost as importantly, where the thousands filling the grandstands demanded it be.

He entered a tie game with one out in the ninth, satisfying the wishes of most of the crowd of 55,632, which many had on New York Yankees merchandise. Rivera’s work in the ninth was typically efficient, but he needed the help of his infield in the 10th, getting a double play on a Dan Uggla hit to preserve the tie.

It was a Midsummer Classic — in every sense of the phrase — taking place in a building best known for its immaculate stage.

It was the House that Ruth Built. It was where Don Larsen was perfect, where Roger Maris toppled the Babe and where Reggie Jackson forever acquired October with just three swings.

If recent rumors are true, the Brewers are working really hard toward a deal that would send Cleveland Indians pitcher C.C. Sabathia to Milwaukee in exchange for a few of the team’s prospects.The team is trying to close a deal that could send Matt LaPorta, Taylor Green and another Minor Leaguer in return for Sabathia.

Sabathia is the best starting pitcher available as the trade deadline approaches. If the Brewers get Sabathia, then Milwaukee Brewers merchandise sales will go through the roof because that will greatly affect their second half push to making the playoffs. A free agent after the season, Sabathia and the Indians made no progress on a long-term deal to keep the ace in Cleveland past 2008.

The Brewers would likely be willing to part with them if it meant adding a starter like Sabathia for a run that might include the team’s first playoff berth in 26 years.

The window of opportunity for this team to make the playoffs, as it’s assembled now, is a short one.

But for a team that has been absent from the postseason since 1982, taking a gamble that includes losing a couple of prized prospects now might be one the Brewers are willing to make.