4-for-4: Hall dress rehearsal

1. How did this week's Hall of Fame orientation prepare you for the big day?
Being there kind of gave me a reality check – that "Wow, this is really happening to me." And the induction date (July 31) is only three months away. I don't know why I never had been to the museum before. I recommend any baseball fan or baseball players to make the trip to Cooperstown, see the museum and get a feel of the game's history.

I was there on Monday and Tuesday to see the town, see the Hall and get a feel for everything, so when we go back in July we feel more comfortable about the induction ceremonies and we know what we're doing.

I was very impressed with the town of Cooperstown. It's very unique and it has great style, and it's just a perfect fit to have something like the Baseball Hall of Fame there. The whole time you're there, you have a feel of baseball's history. The whole town is all baseball.

2. Should the Red Sox be worried about the injuries to Curt Schilling and David Wells?
They're the horses of the Boston Red Sox's pitching staff. Losing these two pitchers would be a blow to any team. The Red Sox were just on the verge of getting back to last year's form as a team, with the offense starting to pick it up. They also have good team chemistry going, but these injuries will put more emphasis on their lineup knowing that Schilling and Wells won't be out there shutting down opposing offenses.

When injuries happen to key players, you just come together as a team and pick each other up. Sometimes, you'll get surprise performances from younger pitchers. That's how other pitchers sometimes get their chance. But most teams are not prepared to fill the shoes of players of that caliber. A lot of times, it's hard to overcome injuries to certain players, and of course, these are two of them for the Red Sox. I'm sure, at the start of the season, they would say these are probably two guys that we can't afford to lose at anytime.

It's definitely not time to panic in Boston. But the absences of Schilling and Wells open the door for the Baltimore Orioles, who are playing good baseball. It also will be good for the New York Yankees, who finally seem to have gotten things going. The Red Sox can't afford to fall too far behind in the AL East.

3. Was the Tigers' decision to give Magglio Ordonez a $75 million contract a wise move?
During free agency, teams were concerned about his knee surgery. The hernia problem was an unforeseen injury. He's having surgery this week and the Detroit Tigers are hoping he'll be back by mid-July. It's hard to criticize the Tigers because I think a lot of teams were interested in him. Back then, the only question was about his knee.

At some point, Ordonez will be back. He'll be healthy and he'll be the player that everybody saw a couple of years ago in Chicago.

4. What do you make of the steroid and gambling accusations toward Lenny Dykstra?
Lenny was a guy I enjoyed playing against because he played hard and he played aggressive. He was a hard-nosed gamer. I remember one play at Wrigley Field when he went back on a fly ball and ran into the bricks and suffered a broken collarbone. He was out for quite a while.

When I heard about the accusations, I thought about how he did go from a smaller little leadoff hitter to a guy who beefed up pretty good in one year. He just had a whole different look about him. I assumed that he hit the gym really hard like a lot of players were starting to do in the early '90s. I'm not here to accuse anybody of anything, but I guess he falls under the category of suspicion as do other players.

THE FINAL THOUGHT

Now that I'm a NASCAR fan, I'm pulling for Dale Earnhardt Jr. this week at Talladega. I think he's the driver to beat. Why have I become a fan? Because I'm going to be the race starter at the NASCAR race in Joliet, Ill., in July. So I've been keeping tabs on the sport. I've done a commercial and I've been following it the last three months pretty closely. It's a great sport with a huge fan following. These drivers are athletes and have great concentration. They're daring at times and aggressive, and the competition is top-notch.