NL Baseball

Walked into AT&T Park earlier this week, was making my way to the press box through the bowels of the waterfront park when a stand filled with colorful paper caught my eye.
Major League Baseball's 2009 official All-Star ballot.

Fans of the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's didn't complain that their teams, both in need of sock, didn't pursue the best free agent on the market over the winter.
Then again, who knew?
The only noise by fans anywhere came from Phillies' fans that loudly wondered why their team signed a guy who was so old and so expensive.

When I was a kid, many Americans still thought Abner Doubleday had invented baseball on a meadow in Cooperstown, N.Y., in 1839. (That's why the Baseball Hall of Fame is located there, alongside "Doubleday Field.")

San Francisco Giants veteran lefty Randy Johnson, through sheer perseverance on top of transcendent talent, will soon earn his 300th victory, joining one of baseball's most exclusive clubs.
It has 23 members, from Pud Galvin in 1888 to Tom Glavine in 2007, with the likes of Cy Young, Walter Johnson and Tom Seaver in between.

It's up to San Francisco's Giants to save the National League West from the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Manny Ramirez scandal and the depressing notion of a division won much too easily. Not that it seems very likely, but the Giants are the only team even remotely equipped for the task.

Through the beneficence of continually plummeting ratings, irrelevant pre-game shows and less resistance of local affiliates, Fox announced Monday that most ALCS and World Series games this year will start before 8 p.m. in the East.

The baseball community stands in awe of Albert Pujols. There's really no way to describe him, although Tony La Russa gave it a shot recently. The St. Lois Cardinals' manager called his slugger "the perfect player."

Whatever production the Los Angeles Dodgers lost in their Manny-less batting order cannot be pinned on his replacement, Juan Pierre, who is 9 for 16 in the four games since Ramirez was suspended.

First, don't strain anything while you're stretching to give Manny Ramirez the benefit of the doubt. It's simply not worth it.
He may not have tested positive for steroids, but the drug in question is reportedly a favorite of steroid-users trying to jump start their compromised testosterone engines, a common side effect of steroid cycling.

A hilarious bit of audio surfaced in cyberspace Friday, allowing an L.A. sports columnist to rant almost hysterically about the tragedy of Manny Ramirez. The essence: He has disgraced the Dodgers, their fans, and all of mankind. The indiscretion is unforgivable. Banish him from the organization -- now.