BASEBALL Owners place focus on Montreal's future

BOSTON (AP) -- Two months to go in the season and baseball owners still don't know what to do with the Montreal Expos.
At their meeting Wednesday, owners remained hopeful that they can make progress on the Expos by Labor Day.
"The longer we go, the harder it becomes," said Bob DuPuy, baseball's president and chief operating officer said after the first of two days of meetings. "But we have not given up the idea of a permanent solution for next year."
After the meetings were done for the day, DuPuy stumbled on the stairs at the Ritz Carlton Hotel and wrenched his right knee. He stayed on the stairs for several minutes, grimacing in pain, before he was taken by ambulance to St. Elizabeth's Hospital.
DuPuy did not address the Pete Rose situation. A day earlier, DuPuy strongly denied an Internet report that an agreement had been reached to let Rose back into baseball.
Home away from home
The Expos were purchased by the other 29 teams as they struggle to stay afloat in Montreal. They played 22 games in Puerto Rico this year, and San Juan has offered to host all of the team's 81 home games next year. A group in Monterrey, Mexico, also put in a bid to hold the games.
The Expos are also being sought by groups in Northern Virginia; Portland, Ore.; and Washington, D.C.
"There was no discussion of it today, and I don't expect any discussion of it tomorrow," DuPuy said. "I continue to hope that we can at least move the process along by Labor Day. ... I do not think that's too late.
"There are a number of temporary solutions that are still available, but our No. 1 priority is to get a permanent solution."
Also Wednesday, DuPuy said baseball is still waiting for details of a discussed sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers to Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer and his sons.