Pasadena, Calif. ? Describing himself as restless and disappointed, commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday he believed baseball could solve its steroids problem without help from Congress.

“I’ve often said I won’t rest until I rid the sport of steroids,” Selig said following the owners’ quarterly meeting held at a Pasadena hotel about 10 miles from Dodger Stadium. “If we can’t solve our problems, then I submit to you the government should do what it has to do.”

Several baseball players, past and present, appeared before Congress on March 17, with current standout Rafael Palmeiro testifying he had never used steroids. The 40-year-old Baltimore Orioles slugger, one of four players to reach 3,000 hits and 500 homers, was suspended for 10 days on Aug. 1 following a positive test for a performance-enhancing drug.

Selig later reiterated his desire for even more stringent testing and harsher penalties for steroid users, including a 50-game suspension for a first offense, 100 games for a second and a lifetime ban for a third.

Management and the union agreed to toughened rules last January that included 10-day suspensions for first-time offenders starting this year.

“There’s no question the (steroids) program is working,” Selig said. “I said March 17th and again in May, anyone who tests positive is gone. The process is long, it’s unwieldy, it is what it is. I’ve had a very restless four months. This is a collective bargaining issue.”

Selig repeated what chief operating officer Bob DuPuy said a day earlier – that the sale of the Washington Nationals was close to being completed. Eight groups are interested in purchasing the franchise from Major League Baseball, which bought the then-Montreal Expos for $120 million in 2002.