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Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
The AL Central could be tight all the way through September. Going into Tuesday's games, three teams were tied for first at two games over .500, and all three -- the White Sox, the Tigers and the Royals -- lost. So now four teams are within a 1/2 game, and last-place Cleveland, with four wins in its past six games, is 2 1/2 out.

That could come as news to some in Cleveland. Attendance Tuesday night at Progressive Field was 11,408 -- hurt by a simultaneous Cavaliers playoff game.

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Our MLB editor provides weekly dispatches from major league games in Notes From the Clubhouse.

Last week, the Orioles celebrated the 25th anniversary of their 1983 World Series title. That was the last time the once-proud franchise won a championship, in case you were wondering, and it's been a decade since they were relevant.

Eight days later GM Andy MacPhail did nothing at the trade deadline despite his club's grim chances in 2008. Closer George Sherrill is still an Oriole. So is second baseman Brian Roberts, first baseman Aubrey Huff, outfielder Jay Payton and starting pitcher Daniel Cabrera.

To an outsider it might look like the latest gaffe from a front office that has been as hapless as they come since the days of the Clinton administration. But spend a few days with the team at Camden Yards and you get an entirely different vibe.

MacPhail has overhauled the organization in such a way that there's very real hope for the very near future. In perfect concert, manager Dave Trembley has changed the clubhouse culture, stressing things like accountability, respect and appreciation. It's enough to make you see the light at the end of the tunnel, if nothing else.

From Bobby Ojeda trimming off the tip of his middle finger with hedge clippers to Glenallen Hill falling down a staircase because of a nightmare, there's a long history of odd off-field injuries in baseball. During games, though, the injuries are more run of the mill which made what happened to B.J. Upton this afternoon all the stranger.

Upton swung at a 1-1 offering from Brian Burres in the fifth inning and fouled it off, a routine occurrence. His reaction, flinging his bat away and clutching his left shoulder, was anything but normal. Trainers came out and Upton was removed from the game and replaced by Nathan Haynes. Jim Palmer, calling the game for the Orioles, was baffled saying that wrist injuries on swings were somewhat common but could only think of one other instance, involving Bob Bailor, with a shoulder injury from a swing.

He doesn't follow the Rays, obviously, because Upton's been down this road before.

"I feel good. It's happened five of the six seasons I have played, and once in high school. It's not a big deal. This is the best it's ever felt afterward. Should only be a day or two."

The only lasting damage, in fact, may have been to his batting average. Haynes looked at a called third strike and, based on the rules governing such a situation, it goes down as a strikeout for Upton.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are this Sunday in New York, and all the way in California the Giants will be hosting the Marlins in San Francisco. Should Barry Bonds sit out on Sunday so as to not risk overshadowing what's happening in Cooperstown? After all, wouldn't it be a disservice to Cal Ripken or Tony Gwynn to steal their thunder by tying or breaking the home run record?

That's the question posed today by the Washington Post, who asked several former players their thoughts:

"I think [Bonds] should play," said Frank Robinson, a Hall of Fame outfielder, induction class of 1982. "You don't step aside for an induction ceremony. [Ripken and Gwynn] are Hall of Famers because they went out and played. You owe it to your ballclub and to baseball itself." ...

"It's basically good versus evil," said former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer, a 1990 Hall of Fame inductee. "Here you have two guys who played the game the right way, who were marvelous people on and off the field, and another -- nothing against Barry -- who wasn't."

Nice disclaimer there at the end: nothing against you, Barry, but you're evil. Way to be polite and speak with conviction.

Personally, I'm shocked someone would even think of this question. Of course Bonds should play on Sunday. I thought it was ridiculous that some people think Bonds should sit out all road games, now people want him to play in only specific home games, too? Besides which, is that any way to treat the thousands of faithful fans at AT&T Park, the ones who keep the stadium sold out despite a team that's 15 games under .500? I don't see it happening.

Unless Bonds wants to have his shining moment in history to be breaking the record on the road and then having the field showed with debris from angry fans, he's not going to waste any opportunity he has to get this thing over and done with at home.

Maybe the Orioles should consider broadcasting their games on television sans the broadcast booth because it seems that all their current broadcasters do is cause trouble.

First there was the incident in which play-by-play man Gary Thorne said that Doug Mirabelli told him Curt Schilling's bloody sock was just red paint--and it's not like Curt Schilling would ever say anything untrue--and now Rick Dempsey is in trouble for cracking wise about domestic violence during the Orioles loss to the Indians on Tuesday.

Dempsey isn't normally in the booth, but I guess Jim Palmer had a couple of underwear ads to shoot so he filled in on Tuesday. In the third inning, Thorne and Dempsey were joined by Jay Gibbon's wife Laura Giuliani.

Laura was in the booth to promote some charity work she's doing to help fight domestic violence. Well, with Gibbons struggling through a season long slump, Dempsey thought he'd come up with a good way to get him out of it.

His wife should choke him.

"Laura, will this kind of help Jay in the domestic violence area? If he doesn't start getting a few more hits, you might grab him around the neck and rough him up a little bit," Dempsey said, according to The Baltimore Sun. "[Is] this money going to go to help him a little bit with maybe some of the hospital bills or something like that?"

To that, Giuliani replied, "I don't know, Rick. I don't think I'm encouraging that. I'm definitely not ..."

"Not going there?" Dempsey interjected.

"Not going there," Giuliani replied.

"All right, I'll domestically violate him if he doesn't start getting some more hits," Dempsey said, according to The Sun.

Video of the exchange can be seen at Can't Stop The Bleeding.