Who is Tony Fiore? Is he a negotiator for the umpires' union? Did his father play major-league baseball? These are some of the answers I received recently from seemingly knowledgeable baseball people.

	Fiore

Tony Fiore is the poster child for fans who think some teams don't get enough publicity from the national media. Fiore is a relief pitcher for the Minnesota Twins; he has an 8-2 record and a 3.30 ERA. Fiore, 30, was originally signed and released by the Philadelphia Phillies and was signed by the Twins as a minor-league free agent. He then ended up with Tampa Bay and had a cup of coffee with the Devil Rays before returning to the Twins this year as a free agent.

Fiore is just one of several anonymous Twins players. Astute fans might be able to tell you who Bobby Kielty, J.C. Romero, Kyle Lohse, A.J. Pierzynski and Matthew LeCroy are. But just as many casual fans have no idea they play for a team that has a 14-game lead in the American League Central.

The Twins endured lots of growing pains in the 1990s, with eight consecutive losing seasons prior to 2001. But they've built their team the old-fashioned way -- through the farm system. The Twins can actually put an entire home-grown team on the field, an absolute rarity in today's game with so much player movement:

1B -- Doug Mientkiewicz
2B -- Luis Rivas
SS -- Denny Hocking
3B -- Corey Koskie
LF -- Jacque Jones
CF -- Torii Hunter
RF -- Bobby Kielty
C -- A.J. Pierzynski
DH -- Matthew LeCroy
Starter -- Brad Radke
Set-up -- J.C. Romero
Closer -- Eddie Guardado

Let's see another major-league team do that -- all eight defensive positions, a DH, a starting pitcher, a set-up man and a closer ... all home-grown. True, Cristian Guzman is the Twins' regular shortstop, but he was picked up from the Yankees (along with pitcher Eric Milton) for Chuck Knoblauch, Minnesota's home-grown second baseman.

Keep An Eye On ...
Tale of Two Teams
Since the All-Star break, the Montreal Expos and New York Mets have been a Tale of Two Teams. The Expos have gone 4-10 since the break, the Mets 9-5. The Mets are 13½ games behind the Braves, in second place in the NL East; the Expos are 15½ back after leading the division earlier this season.

	Floyd

This after the Expos made two trades -- for Bartolo Colon and Cliff Floyd -- that were intended to keep them in contention.

Meanwhile, the Mets haven't made any moves ... except for all the offseason moves that revamped their lineup. Finally, they appear to be paying off.

Starter Al Leiter's two-year contract extension, announced Wednesday, signals that the Mets aren't looking to trade away veteran players, because he was their most valuable commodity. Mike Piazza is swinging the bat well and is even throwing runners out (three in the recent series with Montreal). Jeff D'Amico had an encouraging outing Tuesday night, and offseason acquisitions Mo Vaughn and Roberto Alomar are turning things around after slow starts.

Last year, the Mets were 14 games under .500 in August and then went 25-6, getting within three games of the Braves in the last two weeks of the season. With that second-half track record, manager Bobby Valentine remained positive when the Mets struggled in the first half.

Will the Mets catch the Braves? Not likely. But they're just five games back in the NL wild-card race. Will Valentine be vindicated? Stay tuned.

Sensing Labor Optimism
For the first time in several months, I've actually felt a sense of optimism about a potential labor settlement.

Union chief Donald Fehr said Wednesday that he sees baseball's labor issues as "solvable." In talks Wednesday, revenue sharing was the main topic, with the players and owners agreeing that they're about $70 million apart annually.

To me, there's plenty of room for negotiation, which is the essence of reaching a settlement in any dispute. The players accepted the concept of revenue sharing in the previous work stoppage of 1994-95, so now it's just a matter of how much and by whom. The percentage for a luxury tax -- to be charged to teams whose payroll exceeds an undetermined amount -- also must be specified. So let's keep our fingers crossed.

The Week The Was
SOS From Boston's Bullpen
Without question, the Boston Red Sox need more depth in their bullpen.

Right now, it appears that manager Grady Little has no confidence in Rich Garces. Left-handed set-up man Alan Embree is on the disabled list. Dustin Hermanson just came back from injury, but he reportedly has an infection in his left (non-throwing) elbow -- which might be a staph infection -- so he could be out again.

Frank Castillo pitched Sunday in relief, and then he started Wednesday, giving up six runs in 1 2/3 innings. Tim Wakefield pitched in relief Saturday, and he pitched the first game of a doubleheader Tuesday. So the bullpen is definitely thin.

To compound matters, closer Ugueth Urbina hasn't been as sharp in recent weeks. He's tough mentally, but Tuesday night he blew his third save in his last five appearances. Still, he's not the problem -- the problem lies with the setup crew pitching before him.

Finley Boosts Cards' Chances
St. Louis' trade (with Cleveland) for veteran starter Chuck Finley is a good move for the Cardinals. The Cards needed to replace Darryl Kile, whose tragic death left a void -- both in the clubhouse and in the rotation.

	Finley

Finley brings great leadership skills to a ballclub. The one caveat is that it's tough to walk into a clubhouse in the middle of the season and assume a mantle of leadership. But he does have the reputation, both with the Angels and the Indians, of being an effective leader. I expect Finley's presence to be a plus for the young pitchers on the St. Louis staff.

With the addition of Finley, St. Louis can lay claim to having the fifth-best rotation in the National League (behind, in alphabetical order: Atlanta, Arizona, Los Angeles and San Francisco).

If I Were The Skipper ...
The Situation
Yankees-Red Sox. Bottom of the ninth inning last Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. New York has the winning run at third with no outs. Boston manager Grady Little decides to intentionally walk Robin Ventura and then Raul Mondesi to load the bases, setting up a force at any base. Closer Ugueth Urbina then walks Jorge Posada (unintentionally) and the Yanks win 9-8.

Campbell's Call
First, I liked the idea of employing five infielders on the play, trying to crowd Posada and get a ground ball -- he's an ideal double-play candidate. Some may wonder about walking Mondesi intentionally because he's such a free swinger. Jim Murray, the great Los Angeles Times sports columnist, once said of Mondesi, "He's harder to walk than a Saint Bernard."

But the flip side of that is this: If you pitch Mondesi down and away in an attempt to get him to chase a bad ball, you run the risk of a wild pitch. And, in an "unintentional-intentional walk" situation, you could tell your pitcher, "Don't give Mondesi anything good to hit." But he might hit a bad ball anyway and win the game.

When a runner is on third base with nobody out, he scores 89 percent of the time. So Little tried to give his team the best chance to get an out at home. Most managers will do the same thing, and I would have too. You'll get second-guessed when it doesn't work, but when it pays off you're a genius.

Ballpark Focus: The Ballpark in Arlington, Texas Rangers
The Ballpark in Arlington has been the best hitting park in the American League for the last four years (Texas' potent offense may be one reason for this). But the downside is that the Rangers have been last in the majors in ERA the past two years, and they're next-to-last this year (5.05, ahead of only Tampa Bay's 5.17).

One of the reasons the Ballpark in Arlington was so attractive to Alex Rodriguez is because it's so friendly to hitters. A jet stream flows out toward right-center field.

	A-Rod

It's a totally enclosed park, which makes it unique among the new wave of ballparks. Because that part of Texas is so flat and there's no vivid scenery around it, enclosing the park was a good decision. Officials also chose not to put a dome on the stadium, unlike the retractable roof and air conditioning at Minute Maid Park in Houston (formerly Enron Field). So it gets hot in the summer, but the Arlington area isn't as humid as Houston.

While it's a great hitter's park, the Rangers have learned that you can't win with hitting if you don't have pitching. A hitter's park will attract hitters, but it probably makes it tougher to attract the top pitchers. Meanwhile, Oakland A's starter Barry Zito will go for an AL-leading 15th win Sunday in Arlington in the finale of a three-game series. Zito could be an exception to the hitter-friendly Ballpark in Arlington.

Editor's Note: All statistics are through Wednesday's games. Dave Campbell, who was an infielder for eight seasons in the major leagues (1967-74), is an analyst for Baseball Tonight and ESPN Radio.