Pittsburg?

While Pittsburg gets its second All-Star Game in 12 years, San Francisco is still waiting. Apparantly, a lower capacity similar stadium in a town that previous hosted only a dozen years ago is a better fit than Pac Bell, er SBC Park.

At least ESPN lists PBP as a likely candidate for an All-Star game . . . even if Selig won't. Unfortunately, it looks like Bonds may not be a Giant by the time SF gets the honor.

"Gamers", Vengeance, and Thoughts

John Perricone over at OBM has his take on John Olerud vs. JT Snow. He also comments on "gamers" . . . which oddly enough Peter Gammons just headlined his latest column with.

Meanwhile, Bill Simmons (a.k.a. The Sports Guy) posted his Vengeance Scale . . . primarily influenced by the recent Shaq trade in the NBA. There's a few baseball references in there.

And now for some random thoughts, while not posting in months...

• With Bonds breaking the all-time walk record BEFORE THE ALL STAR BREAK, isn't this "Walk Barry" strategy going too far? It's not like the G-men have been in a free-fall with Bonds getting walked so much, so how is this still an acceptable strategy? I think this links in with John Perricone's "gamer" theory.


• Seeing Bonds go 0-2 in the All Star Game, I wondered if it would cause Managers to realize that they could get him out if they just TRIED. Time will tell, but I'm not holding my breath.


• Southpaw Jr. can roll over on his own already (shattering all published timetables). No solid indication of his "southpawness", however.


• I look at the Giants roster, and look at the standings . . . can anyone explain this to me? Can we stop the whole "Bonds doesn't make his teammates better" argument?


• If the A-Rod/Maggs deals had gone through for Boston, and they were still 7 games behind the "Empire" . . . would Boston turn on A-Rod like Nomar, or is it just Nomar?


• PREDICTION: Randy Johnson will not finish the season in the AL East (unless a third team gets involved)


• PREDICTION: Larry Walker, Kerry Wood, and Mark Prior will NOT be traded.


• PREDICTION: The Giants will win the NL West (barring a major trade by SD or LA). BOLD, I know.


• Question: Who told Carlos Delgado that it's NOT a good idea to be on a contender in a contract year? Toronto's NOT resigning him unless he's taking a 3/4 paycut, so it's not like he's doing this to finish his career in Canada. I just don't get it.