"It's an embarrassment for me to be wearing this (f'ing)uniform 'cause of the way I'm playing," Bonds exclaimed. "There, that's it. Now go away."

From now on when Barry is being talked about, Bud shouldn't be to too far behind. They are in this together, forever. Bud looked away at what players in his league were taking and Barry unknowingly took. Bud and Barry. Barry and Bud. Bad altogether baseball.

Bud could've nipped all this bairoid talk in the bud before it started. When his people came to him and said, "Bud, we have a problem here..." -- the used car dealer looked at baseball's balance sheet. Times were good. Fans flooded the gates. No need to look at 10 years down the road .... until it is 10 years down the road as it is now.

Barry is a whole different story. We will never really know if he knowingly took steroids unless he tells us. He was a Hall Of Famer already, so that part of his legacy is intact. Best thing he can do is hit 800 dingers and say f'you to everybody as he has for the last 20 years.

I put most of this on Allan Selig. And when the day comes as Barry is rounding the bases after he hit his 756th, Bud better be at home plate extending his hand and looking Barry in the eye and offering his congratulations. Anything less would be cowardly intentions. Bud better not let Barry stand alone. They are in this together and should stand together and face up.

The Battle of Lake Erie

Detroit and Cleveland are separated by 170 miles, a large body of water, and 2 World Series Championships. The Tigers have won 4, last being in 1984. The Indians have won 2, last being in 1948. This summer is the first in a long, long time these two teams have been good at the same time. Both are relatively young, have powerful lineups, and are making a mockery of the rest of the division.

I am very interested to see how the second half turns out. The Tigers look as good as they have all year, and that's with a shaky at best bullpen. Right now I am not as convinced about the Indians. They do rank in the bottom half in the AL in pitching, but I think their record away from the bandbox they play in is even more telling.

Regardless of what the current trend looks like, if either team goes on a skid, the Mariners will be there. The Tigers go to Seattle for four right after the break. Lose that series, and not only does the race for the AL Central tighten, but playoff aspirations do as well.

This Is My Niece

Her name is Maggie and I am very proud.

Now on to the season. We're at the half way point and we still have a few weeks before the real season starts (August 1). And of course this is the critical time when teams decide if they are playoff contenders or not by July 31. My travels navigate me through the Chicago market and I get to tune in to the creative exploits of Chicagoland sports radio. The city is fortunate enough to have 2 big league teams and unfortunately my attention is drawn to the White Sox because they are two spots behind the Tigers in the AL Central. Much yak over the last week has been what to do with Mark Buehrle. The left -hander wants a no-trade clause added to a possible 4 year 56M contract. The Sox refuse to grant the clause because the GM believes he wouldn't be able to build a contending team to fill other areas. I disagree because Buehrle is a coveted asset in that he is a left handed starting pitcher who pitches 200 innings, wins 14 games, doesn't go on the DL, and is in his prime at 28. This is what you build around. Not settling a deal and trading him would start a fire sale and send the Sox back at least 5 years. As a Tiger fan, I would say to Buehrle don't let the door hit you on the way out of Chicago. As a fan of the game, I would say letting this pitcher go would be a drastically huge mistake. Give the guy the clause.

when is the last time Ice Cube did something even the least bit righteous? Does Friday even count?

Cube Still Manages to Offend

Jokes aside, my interest in the Dodgers doesn't nearly match that of Mike and Ben. That said, I'm still deeply offended at the above image. How could one of South-Central's finest allow himself to be seen in a Giants jersey? I don't give a damn what any triflin' director says: Cube shouldn't be in an S.F. jersey.

Not That Any Of You Asked Or Anything

Here are my picks for this year's baseball season. Let the derision begin!!!

AL EAST
Boston
NY Yankees
Toronto
Baltimore
Tampa

AL CENTRAL
Cleveland
Detroit - Wild Card
Minnesota
Chicago
Kansas City

AL WEST (Who cares?!?)
Los Angelheim
Tejas
Oakland
Seattle

NL EAST
Atlanta
NY Metropolitans - Wild Card
Philadelphia
Florida
Washington

NL CENTRAL
St. Louis (I hate to say it)
Milwaukee
Chicago
Houston
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh

NL WEST
San Diego
Arizona
Colorado
San Francisco
Los Angeles

World Series: New York Mets over Boston Red Sox

The 2007 Baseball Season Is Almost Upon Us . . .

. . . so let's get our 90% Mentality started with this totally apropos quote . . .

"There's one word that describes baseball: 'You never know.'"

-Joaquin Andujar, former major league pitcher

Nick Punto just crossed my mind for the first time since November.

Tell Your Statistics To Shut Up

My favorite part about the McGwire-in-the-hall debate is that few baseball writers are willing to do a little bit of statistical analysis -- or at least talk to someone who can do it for them. Check out McGwire's stats here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mcgwima01.shtml . Through age 30, he's most like ... Cecil Fielder. A wonderful competitor -- for a hot dog-eating contest, but certainly no baseball HOFer.

Through age 30 (1994 season), McGwire hit exactly 236 more HRs than I have. Nothing to sneeze at, to be sure, but then again I haven't taken a swing in an MLB game (I did hit two in high school, though).

In the first full season of the "juiced era" (thanks to Baseball Prospectus here http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4845), however, something magical happened. All over baseball homeruns began flying out of the park at the ridiculous clip of 30 percent more per game (25 % in the AL and 35 % in the NL see that same Baseball Prospectus article)!

Never before in baseball had that kind of jump occurred.

McGwire hit 345 HRs in his age 31 season through retirement. If we're fair about it, we should discount those HRs relative to the other eras in baseball by -- I'll even give you the conservative measure: 25 %. That's 86 (and some change) fewer HRs for Big Mac, leaving him with an "adjusted" total of 497 HRs.

Couple that stat with 1626 hits and a .263 lifetime average and who do you get? Somebody between Dave Kingman and Juan Gonzalez.

Would you put either of those guys in the Baseball HOF? I thought not.

(All these stats assume that the Baseball Prospectus is the unquestioned lord and master of baseball statistics.)

My Season of Discontent

Ridiculous.

I've upgraded my Indians season ticket package from 20 games (of which I actually saw 15) to 27 this year, splitting a full season three ways with a couple of friends.

Sure, we upgraded our seats -- we're sitting on the left field foul line in the angled-seat section.

Sure, we have more games.

Sure, the Tribe's got to better than last year (don't EVEN get me started).

But there is a distinct possibility that if the Indians make a run deep into the 2007 playoffs, I'll be sipping the High Life out in Kauai.

Yes. That's right. I'm going to Hawaii for two weeks in October. The very same two weeks the American League Championship Series and World Series take place.

Of course, if the Tribe makes it that far, I'll be more than happy to drink myself into a stupor at 3 in the afternoon on a beach somewhere on southern Kauai. But damnit! I missed the last two World Series because of stupid college. And if those jackasses decide to get their acts together this year, I could very well miss this one.

I hate the Indians.

Get To Know Your Newest Dodger

Sure, we think we know all about Jason Schmidt from watching him pitch for the Giants, but I think this penetrating cartoon provides a unique insight.

Cubs sign Soriano; a 'Nation' yawns

CHICAGO - You know a fan base is jaded when its team signs the top free agent on the market and people are angry. And I can see why. Soriano is a magnificent player when motivated, but he's 31 and the terms (8 years, a trillion dollars) make him virtually untradeable.

Health permitting, their lineup actually kind of borders on awesome. But until their pitching improves, I can't be bothered.

Tigers trade for Sheffield

My take: They get 5 percent better, 100 percent less likable. In the end they will regret this trade I feel. Although if anybody can tame Barry Bonds-lite, I suppose it's Leyland.

Umm are we going to hug this out. . . or just move on to hot stove league?

Flashback to Game 1: A PictoPhoto Tour

ROYAL OAK, Mich. -- Sure we're losing. Sure we look unprepared. Sure we're blowing it. But dammmmmm. We're having fun.

@ the airport.

With the Bro-in-law @ 10a @ the park

Down Brush Street toward RenCen

Pregame Skip

Game time from seat location #2
The town is smiling...smiling for the Magical Season to continue...