Though tonight’s Danny Haren/Curt Schilling mound duel and battle of Division leaders should by all rights be the big-deal-to-focus on, I’ll instead direct your attention to the following words of wisdom from Boston RP Keith Foulke, as scribbled by the Hartford Courant’s David Heuschkel.

Keith Foulke thought commissioner Bud Selig was out of line to criticize Manny Ramirez for skipping Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.

“Being a guy who’s gone through the experience, the All-Star break is not a break,” Foulke said Friday. “Going through to the actual media stuff you have to do, the game, all the autograph stuff, the travel, I think it’s a lot. I believe that Bud Selig should not comment on what Manny thought, what the team thought. Bud Selig is not a player. He has never been through the process. He needs to not comment on something that he doesn’t know anything about.”

Foulke said he was happy that Ramirez used the three-day break to rest his right knee.

“If that’s what Manny and the Red Sox felt was best, then yes I am,” Foulke said. “Winning home-field advantage for [the World Series] is good. But you know what? It doesn’t do us a damn bit of good if we don’t get there.”

Foulke has a point, though if he wears a very large hat, we might not notice it. Indeed, what sort of spokesperson for the good of the game might Bud be if he’s never really been in the trenches himself?

If baseball’s owners are serious about the way the sport is perceived by the public, I join Foulke in urging them to appoint a figurehead who understands the day-to-day experience of the modern player.

And from what I understand, Bobby Bonilla might like a new job.