NL Baseball

NEW YORK - Pat Gillick stood in the Philadelphia Phillies dugout here Thursday night and drew a blank.

Chase Utley? Incomparable.

Not a left-handed Paul Molitor, because Molitor had what Gillick called a "no-load" swing. Bat steady. No movement.

Mark McGwire might have taken a baby step toward the Hall of Fame by returning to the public eye as the St. Louis Cardinals' hitting coach. He might take a bigger step if he acknowledges he used performance-enhancing drugs (beyond androstenedione) to further his career and break Roger Maris' record.

With all due respect to Quarterback Roulette here in the Bay Area, the stealth big story of the day is a report that Mark McGwire is ready to become a public figure again.

PHILADELPHIA - One guy doesn't lose a series, and one guy doesn't win one, either. But one guy can certainly set a tone.

And for all of the differences between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers that were on display this week -- tough-mindedness, a relentless offensive approach, and the experience of being winners -- one in particular stood out.

PHILADELPHIA - If it were you, or me, or most other people enduring the deja vu of Monday night, we'd run screaming from any further mention of Game 4, or the Philadelphia Phillies, or Matt Stairs.

Jonathan Broxton is not you or me, and one of the absolute requirements of his job is a short memory. That is about to be tested, severely.

It has been 20 years since the major earthquake that hit San Francisco shut down the third game of the 1989 World Series and provided me with a harrowing and yet ultimately very rewarding experience.

San Francisco Giant Juan Uribe's salary is $1 million. Shortstop Edgar Renteria averages $9.25 million.

Imagine Uribe's surprise one recent payday when by mistake he was handed Renteria's bimonthly check.

Uribe held up the check and whooped, "America is a great country!"

If baseball's old-school grads really want the Milwaukee Brewers to pay for their vaudevillian inclinations, they should encourage repeat performances of the home run celebration from Sunday's 2-1, 12-inning win over the San Francisco Giants.

It's not true that there were only Chicago baseball fans left at the end of another depressing day at PNC Park Monday, although the "Let's Go Cubs!" chant that fairly rocked the yard in the ninth inning surely made it seem that way.

This is a column in praise of the gritty, plucky, smoke-and-mirrors San Francisco Giants, who have made the experts look silly. To emphasize that point, this particular expert is wearing a propeller beanie right now. I pegged this team for .500, tops.

So, praise! But first, a brief side trip to tackle a few random questions.

-- Where has Buster Posey been all our lives?