By C. Trent Rosecrans

BASEBALL TODAY: There may not be a more interesting division in baseball than the American League Central. While the surprising Indians lead the Tigers by a game, the White Sox and Twins linger. Can the Twins, now just 6 1/2 games out, continue to get themselves in contention? Will Jake Peavy be able to stay in the White Sox's rotation? NESN.com's Tony Lee joins our own Lauren Shehadi to discuss.

RULE CHANGE NEEDED?: And just yesterday, I was going to make a sarcastic joke that I was surprised I hadn't heard Giants fans complain about safety at first base after the Albert Pujols injury.

For weeks after Buster Posey's injury we heard long discussions about changing the rules for plays at the plate and how the catcher had to be protected. Scott Cousins was vilified and scapegoated. Well, Wilson Betemit was taken off the hook when Cardinals manager Tony La Russa put all the blame on the shoulders of rookie Pete Kozma, even though in both cases the injured player deserves much of the blame for being in a  poor position (and I'm not saying either deserved to be hurt, just that they put themselves in a bad spot and got hurt -- it happens).

Anyway, the New York Times is the first (and only that I've seen) to start up the change-the-rules-at-first-base bandwagon. My response? In a word: no.

LUDWICK ON THE MOVE?: Ryan Ludwick was moved last July from one contender to another -- from St. Louis to San Diego (in a three-team trade that brought Jake Westbrook to St. Louis); he could be on the move again.

The Phillies, Marlins and Reds have all reportedly asked about Ludwick's availability. Ludwick is hitting .255/.322/.393 with a team-high nine home runs this season, but is hitting .279/.324/.419 away from Petco Park.

The Padres could also move some of their relievers, with the Phillies and Cardinals having already checked in on the availability of Chad Qualls and Heath Bell.[FoxSports.com]

SHIPPING HANLEY?: Are the Marlins better off without Hanley Ramirez? Ramirez is in the third year of a six-year, $70 million contract that pays him $46.5 million over the next three years and does not include a no-trade clause. [Palm Beach Post]

MADDON APOLOGIZES: Joe Maddon didn't intentionally pull the wool over the eyes of umpires Monday by not having Sam Fuld face a batter after warming up in the eighth inning, it's just that Bob Davidson was behind the plate, and he didn't know the rule any better than Maddon did. Maddon apologized to the umpires and Brewers manager Ron Roenicke. [Tampa Tribune]

FAUSTO FLOUNDERING: One Ohio team has already demoted its opening-day starter to the minors, and the other team may soon be sending its opening-day starter to the bullpen if he doesn't get it together. Cleveland's Fausto Carmona is 4-9 with a 6.17 ERA in 16 starts this season and is 1-6 with a 9.73 ERA over his last seven starts. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]

ESCOBAR IMPROVING: Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar has seen his batting average rise nearly 50 points in the last two weeks, and his glove was already playing at a high level. Is the one big-league player the Royals got from the Zack Greinke trade beginning to show why the Royals thought he could be part of their next wave of talent? [Kansas City Star]

HEADED HOME?: The Hanshin Tigers are scouting Hideki Matsui and Kosuke Fukudome if either Japanese player decides to return to Japan after the season. Fukudome would be a better fit for the Tigers, who play in Japan's Central League. Like in MLB, NPB has one league with the DH (the Pacific League) and one without (the Central League). [YakyuBaka.com]

GREEN LIGHT: The Rangers' Craig Gentry is pretty fast. [Fort Worth Star-Telegram]

RESPECT: White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen sometimes goes out of his way to tweak the Cubs and Cubs fans, but not when he's talking about the other Chicago team's shortstop, Starlin Castro. Guillen calls Castro "amazing." Guillen gave some encouraging words to Castro after Monday's game, and that meant a lot to the young Cub. [Chicago Sun-Times]

TURNING 20: Nationals catcher Ivan Rodriguez celebrated the 20th anniversary of his big-league debut Monday. The 39-year-old Rodriguez has 13 Gold Gloves and an MVP since he came up as a 19-year-old with the Rangers. [MLB.com]

NICE PICK: With the Yankees in town, the Cincinnati Enquirer caught up with former Reds first-round pick Chad Mottola, who was taken with the pick before the Yankees took Derek Jeter. Mo Egger of ESPN 1530 in Cincinnati breaks down why Mottola wouldn't have played for the Reds even if they picked him. Hint, his name is Barry Larkin.

ARMS SALE: Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times looks at what the Mariners could get for Jason Vargas or Doug Fister, two guys who are having pretty decent years.

COMPELLING CAMPANA: A great story in The Tennessean about Cubs outfielder Tony Campana. As a kid in Franklin, Tenn., Campana battled Hodgkin's disease and couldn't play baseball, but was still in the dugout with his teammates, cheering them on. His coaches at the time didn't think he'd survive, much less be in the big leagues.

WORTHY CAUSE: There's a petition online to have Vin Scully call one more World Series. Scully hasn't called a World Series on TV since 1988 and is still one of the best. [Yahoo!'s Big League Stew]

CUTTER CUT: The Jays have told recently demoted Kyle Drabek to shelve his cutter for now. The team wanted him concentrating more on his fastball, but he kept going back to the cutter more than the team liked. The Jays hope he gains confidence in his fastball and lessens his reliance on the cutter. [National Post]

NO CHANGE IN POSTING: The posting system for Japanese players coming to the United States won't change, NPB Tracker passes along (since I can't read the original Sanspo report).

GOLDEN GROOMING: You may have missed the Golden Groomer Award, a monthly award given to the baseball player with the best facial hair. The last winner was Reds minor league catcher Corky Miller. [OMGReds.com]

LOGO FUN: Check out this really cool graphic of all the team's cap insignias since 1950 (including batting practice). Hat tip to the fine folks at the UniWatchBlog, which had a cool thing worth reading about spotting baseball fields from the sky.

For more baseball news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsmlb on Twitter or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Bad calls giveth and bad calls taketh away.

Certainly more than a couple of Braves fans are lamenting Bob Davidson's awful call and the chance for the Braves to add a game to their lead in the National League East, as Davidson gave the Phillies another chance -- and Carlos Ruiz capitalized.

Maybe it's just a case of things evening out for Atlanta. In June, the Braves were on the receiving end of a bad call. Remember Gary Cederstrom admitted he blew a call in a Braves-Tigers game?

With the Braves leading by a run with bases loaded, a full count and two outs in the top of the ninth, Johnny Damon watched what everyone in the park thought was a ball four and a tie game -- except Cederstrom, who called strike three and a Braves victory.

That game was in Atlanta, so there's no guarantee the Tigers win that game even if Damon walks -- but the call still decided the outcome.

Of course, the different between that and Bob Davidson's call was that Cederstrom took Joyce's example and admitted he blew the call, while Davidson continues to stand by his obviously incorrect call.

-- C. Trent Rosecrans

For more baseball news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsmlb on Twitter.

After the Marlins' bullpen blew a lead, third-base umpire Bob Davidson blew the game against the Phillies.

With a runner on second and one out, Sanchez hit a hard grounder down the third-base line. The ball bounced twice -- in fair territory -- before going over the bag and as it passed Davidson near the end of the infield dirt, Davidson threw his hands into the air and called a foul ball.

Just as he started to raise his hands, the ball bounced again -- six inches or so inside the line. Davidson was looking straight ahead and not at the ball as it bounced in fair territory. Rules state it doesn't matter where it lands, only where it crosses the bag, but it's kind of hard to believe the ball bounced twice in fair territory, went foul and curved back fair.

Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez came out to argue the call, but didn't get tossed.

Ryan Madson struck out Sanchez on the next pitch and after an intentional walk to Dan Uggla, Cody Ross struck out to send the game to extra innings.

Carlos Ruiz homered in the top of the 10th to give the Phillies a lead.

UPDATE: It's final, 5-4. The Phillies sweep the series, with a little help from Balking Bob.

UPDATE: From Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post : "#Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria on the blown call -- The ball never landed in foul territory. Dreadful"

And if anyone knows "dreadful" it would be the most dreadful owner in MLB.

UPDATE: Remember how Jim Joyce turned his negative into a positive by accepting responsibility and reminding us umpires are human, too? Well, Bob Davidson has the exact opposite and reminds us of the arrogance of some umpires -- from Capooz via Twitter : "Umpire Bob Davidson -- Im very confident i got it right... i understand that's the winning run but in my opinion it was foul"

UPDATE: So, Davidson's arrogance knows no bounds. He watched the replay and is unrepentant. Here's the transcript of Davidson's meeting with a pool reporter, courtesy of Capozzi :
“I was right on top of it and it was wide of the bag, that’s all. I had it foul.”

He said he watched replays and stands by his call.

“In my opinion, where it goes over the bag, you can’t tell,” he said. “After a bounce, it came an inch or two on the fair side, but … it was very close. But I’m right there. i know what I saw.

“I’m very confident I got it right. What the ball did when it went past me is irrelevant.”

“As I’m looking at the base, it was just to the right of it.”

“I understand that’s the winning run, but in my opinion it was foul and there’s no replay that you can really see what the ball does over the bag — and that’’s what’s important. But I know what I saw.”

Rodriguez brings up replay again, telling reporters: "I think that if a play is going to decide who wins or loses the game, i think they should check the play, any play."

The problem with that is who is to say what happens after the ball goes fair -- does the runner automatically get two bases? Is it treated like a ghost runner? Sure, in that situation, the runner would have scored easily, but what if the runner's on first? Does he score or just get rewarded two bases and put at third, as he would on a ground-rule double, even if he'd likely score on the play. There are so many what-ifs that brings in more judgement calls and chances for errors.

There's room for reasonable debate, but there's little room for debate that Davidson once again comes off as a pompous ass.

-- C. Trent Rosecrans

For more baseball news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsmlb on Twitter.