Yesterday Josh Alper told you about Brandon Backe being arrested at a wedding over the weekend. According to the police report, Brandon resisted arrest and confronted the officers and had to be subdued, along with quite a few other people in attendance at the wedding. Well, it's starting to look like the Galveston police department may have gone a little too far.

According to witness testimony, it was the police who were acting out of line, and now the Galveston police department is launching it's own internal investigation into the incident.

Witnesses said Monday that police needlessly beat, Tasered and pepper-sprayed wedding guests who were trying to comply with police commands during an incident in which officers arrested 10 people, including Backe, at an outdoor bar at the San Luis Hotel on Seawall Boulevard.

Daniel Cole O'Balle, 19, was injured during the incident and flown by helicopter to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. Backe was charged with three counts of assault on a public servant and two counts of retaliation. He was released on $115,000 bond.

Galveston police spokesman Cpt. Walter Braun said the department's office of professional conduct was conducting an internal investigation, although no formal complaints of officer misconduct had been received. "This administration is taking a proactive step," Braun said.

Brandon Backe spent most of the season getting tuned up on a regular basis. Opposing teams racked up 202 hits against him during the 2008 campaign which contributed to 14 losses, a 6.08 ERA and a lot of pent-up aggression. Unfortunately Backe chose the wrong outlet for his angst and spent a little time in the hoosegow as a result.

Backe was at a wedding in Galveston over the weekend and after the nuptials, he retired to a hotel bar with some friends. A member of the party was told by police that he couldn't go outside with his beverage and that's when, according to the Houston Chronicle, a "riot" broke out.

During the brawl, Backe was told by police to back away. He refused, and police attempted to handcuff him, the report said.

Backe struggled with officers. One officer stated in the report that he hit Backe twice in the face before handcuffing him. The officer also reported that Backe smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes.

The Galveston police have more in common with the National League than previously thought. They all hit Backe and hit Backe hard.

The pitcher may have gotten off easy, actually. Unlike others in the party and Al Reyes, for that matter, he avoided the unique thrill of being tased. Backe was released on $1,500 bond and, presumably, is searching for a place where he can avoid getting hit for a little while.

There is one simple rule that every chief executive in history, be it a student council president, the President of the United States, or the commissioner of baseball, needs to follow. You cannot make everyone happy. There are some decisions that need to be made that are not easy and will make some people upset. This is part of the job. Somehow, Bud Selig missed that part of training. After taking a ton of flak from Astros fans and players alike for moving two home games to Milwaukee in Hurricane Ike's wake, Bud apologized today in the Houston Chronicle.

"I recognized the advantage the Cubs would have in playing in such close proximity to Chicago, and had there been a better option, I would have taken it," Selig wrote in the ad on page C16 of the Sports section.

"All of us involved in the decision regret the frustration the Astros and their fans felt about playing two games in Milwaukee."

There wasn't really a choice Selig could've made that would've made everyone happy. Owner Drayton McLane was slow to postpone the games in Houston for fear of losing the gate, while other, closer big league parks were already occupied on the Sunday and Monday the games needed to be played. Playing in Milwaukee wasn't the best option, but it wasn't the worst either. That would've been squeezing three games into two days after the season ended while the Astros fought for a playoff spot against the Iowa Cubs. The Astros had a right to be mad, but they need to move past this. Selig made a decision and needs to stand by it. His pandering to Houston fans with a weak non-apology is only making things worse.

Since the Astros road trip to play Milwaukee in the wake of Hurricane Ike, they're 0-5. That puts them five games out of the wild card, which might as well be 100 games out at this late point in the season. They're upset with Bud Selig, but until now they've done a good job keeping mostly silent. Now, though, the Houston Chronicle has spotted players wearing protest t-shirts.

"We survived Ike," the back of the shirt read in red lettering atop a drawing of the radar impression of the eye of the storm.

On the front, it read: "Bud killed us," over a red drawing of the commissioner's bust.

It's impossible to know what would've happened if the Cubs/Astros series had been moved somewhere closer to Houston or postponed until later in the year, but it's certainly understandable for the 'Stros' players to be upset. The storm was vicious, there are stil stories like this one coming out of the Houston area, and the league did very little to accomodate the Astros. I realize that there's not much the league can do, but it seems like they didn't even do that.

The Astros, on the other hand, are doing their best to help out even in the face of the collapse of their playoff hopes. FanHouser and Houstonian Stephanie Stradley just e-mailed me today to tell me that the Astros have donated $1 miillion to the Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund (a cause that could certainly use as much help as possible ... just sayin'). Because really, missing the playoffs isn't the end of the world and if anyone knows it, it's the Astros.

With Reliant Stadium losing five roof tiles in Hurricane Ike and the Texans not being completely sure when the roof will be ready for play, they've gotten an interesting offer for a temporary home - Minute Maid Park, crosstown home of the Astros. I don't know if there have been any serious discussions about this, but Astros' owner Drayton McLane told the Houston Chronicle today that he'd be willing to lend Minute Maid Park to the Texans until Reliant Stadium is ready to go.

This probably isn't going to be necessary since Texans owner Bob McNair sounds confident that Reliant will be ready by October 5th and is considering playing at Rice's stadium if it's not. There's also the issue of whether or not a football field, complete with sidelines, end zones, and goal posts could even fit into the unique dimensions of Minute Maid. I don't think fantasy owners would be happy to see Andre Johnson go down with a twisted ankle on that goofy hill they have in center field.

Of course, the damage to the stadiums and where the Texans play isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things. As Stephanie Stradley has noted, many of the players saw damage to their houses during Ike and there are still a lot of people without power and water in and around Houston. It would be great for the Texans to play that October 5th game against the Colts at home, but it's understandable if fixing Reliant is low on the "things to do" list in Houston, especially with other viable nearby locations for the game.

It goes without saying that the tired Astros, who managed one hit in two home games that happened to be played in Milwaukee after Hurricane Ike are probably a little frustrated with the world right now. That tends to happen when you have to leave your family to clean up in the wake of a hurricane while you're forced to play home games in front of screaming Cubs' fans. Cecil Cooper took those complaints to Bud Selig:

"He and I are good friends," Cooper said. "We talked about it. He vented. I vented. We're done with it. He did what he thought was the best thing to do. I disagreed. That's where it lies."

Say that he "vented" is probably putting things nicely. With a 2 1/2 game wild-card deficit and only 13 games left, the players are probably doing more than "venting" at the moment, as every advantage is huge.

For his part, Bud Selig seems to believe he made the best possible decision here. I assume that a lot of people differ on that opinion and watching the listless Astros play the last two days, it's hard to disagree with them. Still, there's not much else the Astros can do at this point. The games are in the books, they lost, but they're still in the playoff race. Dwelling on things won't get you anywhere. Ask Ned Yost how dwelling on CC Sabathia's one-hitter worked out for him.

With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in Eye Toward October.

- Concern for Kazmir: At the worst possible moment, Scott Kazmir turned in his worst start of the season for the Rays, surrendering nine earned runs as the Red Sox pulled even with Tampa Bay in the AL East. Practically, though, the division doesn't really matter to either club because both are virtually certain to qualify for the postseason.

What is worrisome is Kazmir's outing. The Rays ace hadn't allowed more than five earned runs in a start this year, and had only allowed more than three earned runs twice before Monday night. But he crumpled dramatically in a big spot. He struggled with his control, throwing only 39 of 72 pitches for strikes and opening the game with nine straight balls. And he allowed a player (David Ortiz) and a team (the Red Sox) that he traditionally dominates to victimize him.

There are three possible explanations for Kazmir's struggles: He simply had a bad start, he choked on the big stage or, worst of all, he's hurt. Painting Kazmir as a choker seems unfair, especially considering how well he pitched last week with just as much on the line at hostile Fenway Park. I'm most inclined to believe he simply had a bad start -- after all it's too easy to make a mountain out of a single-game mole hill this time of year.

On the other hand, you can't help but wonder if he could be hurt. Kazmir spent the first month of 2008 on the disabled list and he's had a myriad of minor injury problems over the course of his career. Watching him battle just to throw strikes set off alarm bells. I'll be watching just as closely Saturday against the Twins to see how Kazmir bounces back.

With no outs in the seventh inning, Mark Loretta came through with a base hit to right-center field in Miller Park. Yes, Ted Lilly followed up Carlos Zambrano's no-no with six no-hit innings of his own. You have to give credit to the Cubs duo on the hill for their work, but must be equally harsh with the Houston Astros.

Maybe if they spent more time in the batting cage instead of whining about the venue situation they could have gotten a hit before the 16th inning of the series.

A notable defensive play for the Cubs was a completely stretched out diving catch by Jim Edmonds.

A very amusing moment occurred the batter before Loretta. Reggie Abercrombie hit a laser right at Aramis Ramirez, who promptly booted the ball. The entire crowd gasped, and immediately started chanting, "E." About a minute later, the official scorer finally placed an ERROR on the scoreboard, and the crowd erupted. I've never seen anything like it.

All in all, a weird series ... quite fun for Cubs fans, though.

It was pretty obvious that the Astros were not happy to be playing a home game against the Cubs in Milwaukee last night. They wore their road grays and looked rather listless in getting no-hit by Carlos Zambrano in front of a crowd of mostly Cubs' fans. Many have wondered why the games weren't rescheduled for closer to Houston. Owner Drayton McLane gave a bit of an explanation after the game:

"There was just no other choice," McLane said. "We wanted Phoenix, Tampa Bay, Arlington, Atlanta, you name it. There was nothing else."

He said the games couldn't be played after the season because there wasn't enough time to play all three and still start the playoffs in time to satisfy Fox television.

I have this theory that the root of all evil in baseball can be traced back to Fox. I understand the desire to make these games up as quickly as possible, but to make the Astros play two road games in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane while they're locked in a pennant race is pretty unfair.

One NLDS matchup starts on Wednesday, October 1st while the second starts on Thursday the second. The season ends on Sunday, September 28th. Three games could be played as necessary Monday and Tuesday and the Cubs could draw the series that starts on Thursday the second. It's certainly possible that all three games won't even be needed. The Cubs might not be happy, but they'd probably get over it.

And of course I know this isn't Joe Buck's fault, but can't we blame him for it anyways?