February 2004 Archives

I realize most of my posts have been reactive in the past few weeks--a link here, an excerpt there, a snide remark or two. Not much fresh or original to say while we wait for practice games to start, more...
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And here's a deliciously bad one from the Chronicle's Scott Ostler: Randall Simon re-signed with Pittsburgh. That's good news for the Pirates, but a spokesperson for the American Snack Meat Mascots Assn. calls it a "wurst-case scenario."...
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from ESPN's Jayson Stark, who by the way has shaved his moustache: How close did the Cubs come to not signing Greg Maddux? Maybe closer than anyone suspects. A week before he became a Cub, Maddux phoned his old friend,...
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from ESPN.com's latest "writers bloc" column: There's an exploding epidemic in baseball, and, yes, it's 'roids-related: "Have you ever used steroids?" has quickly become the sports reporters' version of When did you stop beating your wife? Player denials are manipulated...
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Congratulations to Lon Simmons, one of the greatest voices ever in baseball....
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On the same day that Clear Channel announces it's knocking Howard Stern from the air in six of its markets, Barry Bonds gives an interview laced with profanity. In some reports, it was snipped to please the community standards of...
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Of all the reasons to miss Dusty Baker, his candor and independent thinking are perhaps the tops. See what he has to say about the parallels between the steroid crisis and McCarthyism....
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For about a week now, I can't access any part of ESPN.com's MLB site. Not the front page, not the individual stories. It doesn't matter how I try: type the URL directly, click on the MLB link from the main...
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Not much happening this week. A few arbitration cases, a swirl of speculation about BALCO, the sound of equipment bags being loaded onto planes headed for Florida and Arizona. With all the talk about steroids, I loved the following quote...
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Looks like the Giants' new catcher A.J. Pierzynski will make $3.5 million this year after beating the Giants in arbitration. Story of this off-season: Even when the Giants make a good trade they lose....
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* A few different reactions to the A-Rod deal. The first one is unprintable on a family blog. The second is more along the lines of this article by CNN's Sports-Biz guy Chris Isidore, that although the Yanks have compiled...
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I took to task a few days ago a story on Bonds and steroid use that ran in the Washington Post. For a broader look at the problem of bandwagoneque sportswriters, John Perricone of Only Baseball Matters has a nice...
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Well, whad'ya know? ("Not much, how about you?" is the proper response.) As of today, the Giants are on the short list of suitors for Greg Maddux, the mad dog disguised as a librarian. My first thought was, "Uh oh,...
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Here are two quotes in an excerpt from the Washington Post's piece on the BALCO indictments, which include Barry Bonds' childhood friend and personal trainer Greg Anderson: "Common sense tells you that if they've got Bonds' personal trainer," one baseball...
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I just got back from L.A., where my Grandma Ida celebrated her 90th birthday. She drives a red Grand Am named Sophie, loves to roast chickens and plays bingo as much as possible. Life is good. A native L.A. girl,...
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Thanks to Fogball, my new favorite Giants blog, for a great roundup of sale items at last year's Giants' Wives Auction. To follow up the auction, the wives are now selling a cookbook of Giants Appetizers. I laughed hardest when...
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Felipe Alou said at a meet-n-greet luncheon yesterday that he would bat Barry Bonds third this year, a slot he hasn't occupied since Dusty Baker flip-flopped him and Jeff Kent in mid-2002. According to the Merc and the Chron, Alou...
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A couple blog shout-outs: * I just got my first taste of Fogball, a Giants-biased site that goes into excruciating (and I mean that in the best possible way, baby) detail on Neifi Perez's defensive value. Others have raised the...
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Yikes, I just read that Robb Nen's contract is uninsured. So forget what I wrote a few days back about how it might not be such a bad thing for him to miss the season. That was predicated on insurance...
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Thoughts from around the majors this morning... * The Rockies say they're now pursuing players with talent and character because overpaying for character-less players was a disaster. "I know people don't want to hear this," general manager Dan O'Dowd said,...
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