A-Rod got back into the Yankee lineup tonight (Friday, May 8), hit a 3-run HR in the first inning of a 4-0 win at Baltimore.

Why hasn't there been more flak from the report in Salena Roberts' book that he was tipping pitches to opposing batters in blowout games?

Telling a batter what pitch is coming ranks right up there with point shaving, throwing games and gambling. I think it's much worse than the steroid scandal that is grabbing all the headlines.

The source who told Roberts about the tipping of pitches was unnamed. Maybe it didn't happen. But if I'm the commissioner, I'd surely be aggressively looking into it.

Say you tip a pitch and the batter homers, or gets a hit that starts a big inning. That could devastate that pitcher's ERA and could lead to a demotion to the minor leagues. And A-Rod supposedly did this so he would benefit from tipping pitches himself, sort of a reciprocal type of deal.

You can't help the opponent, under any circumstances in professional sports.

If it happen and it's proven, I'd ban A-Rod permanently from the game. It's right up there with Pete Rose gambling on his own team when he was manager of the Reds (you don't think that could have had an impact on who he played and how he used his pitching staff?) and the "Eight Men Out" from the Chicago White Sox (known as the Black Sox) who threw the 1919 World Series.

Manny Ramirez, the man-child hero to so many Dodger fans, starts his 50-game suspension today after a blood test showed a banned substance.

Here's a prediction: When Manny plays his first game in Dodger Stadium after his 50-game suspension (on July 16, vs. Houston), the Dodger faithful will shower him with a standing ovation.

I've believed this from the start of baseball's steroids era: If the "offender" is on a team you hate, you want to ban him for life; if he's on a team you don't care about, ban him for life or give him a long suspension.

If he plays for YOUR team, it's OK, because HE'S HELPING US WIN.

The Giants fans were criticized for their love of Barry Bonds, and much of that criticism came from L.A. media and Dodger fans. But watch: the Dodger fans will do the same with Manny. Recently, Jason Giambi, now with Oakland, had a hero's welcome to new Yankee Stadium when the A's visited there.

A friend of mine who is a Yankee fan told me years ago that all drug test failures should lead to permanent bans from baseball. Giambi was then a Yankee having a poor year.

One year later, Giambi was on his way to a 30-plus home run season with New York. I asked that same fan about what should be done with Giambi. "He's having a pretty good year, isn't he?" was the response.

A longtime Cubs fan I knew thought that Bonds should have been banned for life. This was years ago, when Sammy Sosa was in the midst of three straight 60-plus home run seasons. "If Bonds goes, what about Sosa?" I asked.

"Oh, Sammy's clean," was the response. And he was serious.

I say again: If a failed drug test happens to a player on your team, the vast majority will look the other way.

Bank on it. And look for the reaction when Manny takes the field on July 16.

As we start the new year, the growing pains continue for CSUB's men's basketball team. The talent is fairly equal with most of the Big West Conference teams I've seen (CS Fullerton was the only one that appeared to have a significant talent advantage). Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount, picked to be at the bottom of the West Coast Conference, are teams that I see as having inferior talent to CSUB, even with LMU's 72-69 win over CSUB last weekend.

The biggest challenge -- I've heard this from others and I agree -- is CSUB learning how to win, learning how to hold onto leads late; learning how to put teams away. The team was 8-21 last season and is currently 4-12. I've seen some progress this year, most notably the improved play by juniors Trent Blakley and Santwon Latunde and sophomore Alex Johnson. They must continue to improve, and CSUB needs to get some stepped-up play by some others if they are going to reach double-digits in wins.

The Bakersfield College football season has ended, a 22-8 loss to College of the Canyons on Saturday (Nov. 15).

It was the best defensive effort of the season for the Renegades, who sacked Canyons quarterback Joey Frias eight times and limited Fred Winborn, one of the top rushers in the state, to 53 yards on 20 carries.

But it was also evident that the Renegades are going to need to revamp their offense if they hope to turn around things next season. BC finished 4-6, matching the 2002 season and only the second time since 1986 the Renegades had a losing season.

The Renegades will return running back Andre Smith next season, but they'll lose Bruce Frieson, who is the No. 3 all-time rusher in BC's history. That's a big hole to fill.

The passing game needs to be upgraded. In this modern era of high-octane offenses, the Renegades did not have the talent of recent seasons at quarterback and wide receiver. That meant basically a one-dimensional offense.

Running the ball has been a BC way of life like, forever, but nowadays you've got to have above-average passing if you're going to contend for a conference title with the likes of a team like Canyons, or if you want to have a chance at the state championship.

BC had strong all-around offensive attacks in recent seasons. With QBs like Thomas Peregrin, Cody Stone and Jacob Bower, and recent receivers like Brandon Banks, Taj Smith, T.J. Lee, Jonathan Nunez and Attrail Snipes, defenses are stretched which makes the running game more effective.

The receivers mentioned above had seasons with no fewer than 33 receptions. The BC leaders this season, Chika Madu and William Randle, wound up with 17 catches apiece. No BC quarterback had more than 600 passing yards.

I suspect coach Jeff Chudy and his staff will be focused on bringing in talented skill people. The one thing a 4-6 season does is make a coaching staff more motivated for the future. Especially when you're a BC team that's used to winning.

A three-game winning streak gave Bakersfield College momentum and a turnaround to its football season, but the 31-17 loss to Ventura Saturday night likely ended any chance of a bowl berth. It certainly killed any hope of a Southern California playoff spot.

Even coach Jeff Chudy acknowledged the playoff scenario. BC won't get a chance to match up with the state's best. The past two seasons, BC reached the Southern California title game, losing two close ones to narrowly miss out on a spot in the state title game.

With a 4-5 record and with 8-0 College of the Canyons set for the regular-season finale on Nov. 15, BC must win that game and hope Canyons also loses to Pasadena next Saturday (BC has a bye next week). That would mean a three-way tie for first place in the Northern National Conference. If Canyons beats Pasadena, Canyons clinches the outright conference championship and eliminates BC from sharing the title.

Southern California Football Association Commissioner Jim Sartoris told The Californian that bowl berths outside the four-team playoffs go to teams above .500 unless a team finishes at .500 and is a conference champion or co-champion.

Against Ventura, BC was plagued by the problems that were common during the Gades' 1-4 start: Failure to prevent third-down conversions by the opponent and inconsistent offense. Ventura quarterback Lee Mondol expertly found receivers open in the BC zone defense. The Gades had only two quarterback sacks, and simply failed to put enough pressure on Mondol to affect the plays. Mondol, to his credit, was not fazed the few times BC put on a big rush.

The Gades have two weeks to prepare for Canyons and get healthy. Should BC upset  Canyons, it would salvage a .500 season and end the year on a positive note, since this Canyons team is as good as any squad BC has faced in recent years.

Bakersfield College won its third straight football game Saturday, 45-21 over Glendale in a game that wasn't that close.

BC led 28-0 and 38-7 before a couple of third-quarter touchdowns by Glendale made the score a bit more respectable.

It's a shame it took the Renegades half the season to find themselves. Starting out 1-4 has not killed postseason or bowl hopes, but it certainly has put a challenge on earning a postseason berth.

Now 4-4, the Renegades must beat Ventura next Saturday in Ventura, and then use their bye week to prepare for the goliath of SoCal JC football, College of the Canyons. Canyons improved to 8-0 on Saturday with a 52-29 win over Ventura.

The way BC is playing these days, I feel they'd beat those four teams they lost to if then faced them now. But you can't replay history.

Bruce Frieson continues to amaze. Another 189 rushing yards on Saturday, giving him back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons (joining David Turner, 1974, 1975, as only the second BC player to accomplish that feat. And passing J.R. Rogers, who was a hell of a back here.

David Turner (3,026 yards), Michael Gray (2,670 in 1994-95) and George Jones (2,324 in 1993-94) are the only ones above Frieson (now with 2,190). That means Frieson needs 135 yards vs. Ventura next week to move into the No. 3 spot.

Now the Ventura game is crucial. For BC to have any chance of the postseason, it must win next week. An upset loss to Ventura and the Gades are guaranteed of a .500 regular season IF they beat Canyons and a 4-6 year if they don't.

A couple of injuries of note against Glendale: Center Oscar Cuevas was knocked out of hte game early, and linebacker Michael Smith went out later. But BC should get a lift by the anticipated return of defensive back Brandon Miller, who has been sidelined for several games. He could return for Ventura; if not, he's definitely expected back for Canyons.

It's down to the final two regular-season games. Let's see if BC is up to the challenge.

Bakersfield College coach Jeff Chudy said he thought the Renegades would be a pretty good team by the time the season ended.

And after winning two straight games impressively, it looks like he's right.

The 30-0 win over Moorpark on Saturday was BC's second straight solid effort, following up on the 34-17 win over Allan Hancock a week earlier. These have been BC's best two games of the season.

So why the turnaround? The biggest reason is reducing mistakes. BC has settled into running the ball about 80-90 percent of the time, and when the 'Gades are posting nearly 400 rushing yards a game (like they have the last two weeks), that's a good strategy.

What will happen when the running game is contained? Well, that's the question, isn't it? 

Quarterback Joe Maldonado, the former South High standout, had his first collegiate start against Moorpark and his only pass completion was a perfectly-thrown 42-yard bomb to William Randle to the goal line for a touchdown. He had one other long pass attempt to Randle, but it bounced off Randle's hands (also perfectly thrown) who was distracted by a tight-covering defensive back.

Maldonado is only listed at 5-10 and 180 pounds, but it seems like he's closer to 5-8 and 165. But he showed the quickness as a runner that he demonstrated at South several seasons ago and has that knack of making big plays when needed. Again, time will tell if he can do that against powerhouse teams (like College of the Canyons in BC's regular season finale in mid-November).

BC is 3-4 and now has to be considered the favorite in its next two games, the home contest next Saturday vs. Glendale and the road game at Ventura a week from Saturday.

To make the playoffs (which seemed so unlikely just two weeks ago), BC must finish no lower than second place in the National Northern Conference. Canyons remained unbeaten Saturday with its latest demolition of an opponent, 43-23 over Glendale.

BC got some help when Pasadena, which beat BC earlier this season and was undefeated in the conference, was beaten 45-42 by Hancock.

But now there's some optimism and momentum for BC heading into these next couple of games. BC also has a bye week after Ventura before powerful Canyons comes to town to close out the regular season. Canyons is still the biggest hurdle. You'd have to rank Canyons, Mount SAC and Saddleback as the top teams in the South, with El Camino probably behind those three but ahead of everyone else. All 4 are undefeated.

That's all for now.

Saturday night's 34-17 BC win over Hancock was the most impressive game of the season for the Renegades.

Sure, they beat Santa Monica 60-14 on Sept. 20, but Santa Monica is awful. Hancock is OK, not great, but a lot of little things made this BC's best game.

-- Only one fumble, and it was at the end of the game with the backups playing.

-- Sure-tackling from the get-go. Missed or failed tackles have plagued BC all season before the Hancock game.

-- Effective kicking game from the scoring perspective. Arturo Villa 2-for-2 on field goals and 4-for-4 on PATs. Numerous blocked kicks have been almost a weekly happening before Saturday, but Hancock never got close to Villa. BC still needs to improve its kickoff play, but that is mainly because the kickoffs aren't going deep enough.

-- Avoidance of those 12- or 10-men on the field situations. Didn't happen once on Saturday.

Some other highlights:

-- A great punt block by Yul Hawkins, a defensive back from Centennial. Hawkins later suffered an ankle injury and was on crutches at the end of the game. But he got the block in the first quarter, which gave BC possession on the Hancock 37, which set up an eventual field goal.

--Tyrone Crawford, a defensive lineman, seemed to be all over the field. He got the game's only sack and made numerous tackles, many for losses, that helped thwart Hancock's running game.

Next up is Moorpark, a road game in Simi Valley next Saturday. Moorpark got smoked by Canyons on Saturday, 48-3.

Canyons, which plays at BC to close the regular season in mid-November, looks like a contender for the state championship. El Camino, which beat BC in Week 3 and is undefeated, doesn't seem like as strong a team as what we've seen play BC the last couple of years. El Camino did beat Chaffey 30-15 on Saturday,

--30--

There's no sugar-coating it.

Bakersfield College's 31-28 loss to Pasadena City College Saturday night is a case of (choose one): been there, done that; or same-old, same-old.

Poor tackling. Defense unable to consistently stop drives. Offense that is pretty much one-dimensional. Those nagging, frustrating mistakes (poor kicking execution, whether it's having field goals or PATs blocked, which is becoming a weekly occurrence, or having short kickoff that are returned into BC territory; lack of focus--how else do you explain the weekly 2-3 times having 12 men on the field?)

BC coach Jeff Chudy challenged his team to win out; winning out is the only way to make the playoffs, he told the team and the media after Saturday's game.

But this team hasn't shown its capable of stringing wins together. The only victory thus far was a blowout of a very poor Santa Monica team. And no one on the BC schedule the rest of the season is as bad as Santa Monica. BC has played its two weakest teams, going 1-1 vs. Santa Monica and L.A. Valley.

In 1986, BC started 1-4, then improved somewhat in Western State Conference play to finish 4-6.

This new conference BC is in, the Northern National Conference, is much stronger than the  WSC of 1986. This new conference is made up of teams that have been successful in recent seasons. That's why those teams were lumped together. You won't see 0-10, 1-9 or 2-8 teams from the last couple of years in this conference. For a team struggling like BC, it makes running the table next to impossible.

At this point, pride's at stake for BC. The challenge is to get better and get a few wins, even if the playoffs are a longshot. The effort is there, but the execution hasn't been. That must improve, or a truly horrendous won-lost record (2-8? 3-7? lucky to go 4-6?) is likely.

Since the 1972 Renegades went 3-6, BC has had two losing seasons: 4-6 teams in 1986 and 2002.

Bakersfield College fell to 1-3 Saturday night (Sept. 27) when it lost 32-29 to undefeated El Camino College on a field goal with 10 seconds remaining.

Several thing jumped out at me as I watched the game:

-- El Camino, for an undefeated team that's ranked 4th in the state, made so many mistakes.

-- BC, which looked fairly adept at running the ball in the first half, was completely stopped in the second half.

--BC also made so many mistakes on a lot of little things, the type of things that have reared their head numerous times in the first four games.

Let's address each of those items.

El Camino: Three times in the second quarter, the Warriors were penalized for delay of game -- simply because they were slow getting their plays off.

Twice in the third quarter, El Camino had to call time out because it had only 10 men on the field. Twice El Camino was penalized for having 12 men on the field. One of those gave BC a first down on the Gades' only second-half touchdown drive as BC lined up to go for a first down on fourth-and-inches.

Then there were the physical mistakes by El Camino: fumbled snap from center to quarterback (at least twice); quarterback fumbling twice on decent (not great) snaps in shotgun formation. Two poor snaps on place-kicks (one PAT was blocked; one field goal was made despite a poor snap).

El Camino won this game because it had a dominant performance on the offensive and defensive lines. The best illustration of that: total yards in the 2nd half. BC had nine net rushing yards and 37 passing yards (46 total yards). El Camino in the 2nd half: 62 rushing yards and 142 passing yards (204 total yards). BC: 2 first downs in the 2nd half, El Camino 10.

BC: Bruce Frieson, who had three TD runs and a game-high 98 yards on 15 carries, had only five carries (for 11 yards with a lost fumble) in the second half. Frieson's lost fumble came on BC's first play from scrimmage in the third quarter and set up a field goal.

Andre Smith, probably BC's second-most dangerous player behind Frieson, touched the ball three times in the second half  (excluding kick returns) -- on three straight carries in the third quarter, gaining nine yards.

BC mistakes: The Renegades had to burn a timeout by having only 10 men on the field with El Camino closing in on a touchdown.

The BC kicking game again struggled. Arturo Villa had a PAT blocked and missed another one when El Camino had a hard rush from his left that he had to see out of the corner of his eyes. Punter Will Mahan had a great kicking game, but even he was pressured and El Camino came close to blocking a pair of punts.

And those third-down conversions, which were so costly to BC in its season-opening 31-25 loss to Fresno. BC was only 1-of-7 but El Camino was 11-of-16, and 6-of-6 in the second half.

As mentioned in the story that ran Sunday morning: All five of BC's scoring drives began inside El Camino territory. When BC started drives inside Renegade territory, the Gades never crossed midfield.

BC opens its conference play next Saturday at Pasadena. Pasadena beat RIverside City College 32-15 on Saturday.

Another score of note: Santa Monica, which BC routed 60-14 last week, beat L.A. Valley (which beat BC two weeks ago). That score was 38-24.