Francisco Liriano was sent back down to the minors following both Tommy John surgery and an 11.32 ERA start.  "He could be there for awhile."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/18220564.html

All of a sudden I'm feeling like the worst trade ever could turn out to be simply a normal just bad one.  Nathan and Bonser for Pierzynski doesn't look that horrid given their performances since the trade.

The parts that make it bad are that AJP didn't play that way for *us* and that Nathan's success as a closer had a lot of uncertainty considering he wasn't even tried that way before.

We've all read about how A-Rod's now the favorite to get Barry's career HR record.  But in addition to the fact that he'll have to age as "well" as Barry did, I just looked up this interesting fact:

Over the last three seasons, A-Rod got 27 intentional walks.  From 2002-2004 Barry got 249. I still think A-Rod can't get the career HR title without some serious longevity, durability, and more cooperation from the opposing pitchers than Barry got.

I just got back from the celebration down at Justin Herman.  Very nice day, and a good party.

First:  Opening band - Whitebread 5 or something like that.  Did decent cover tunes ("Don't Stop Believin', Disco Inferno") to get the crowd warmed up.

Second:  Replay of all the video tributes from sports notables to Barry.  Not sure if they all aired before... Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, Lou Brock, Ernie Banks, Willie Mays, someone I didn't recognize, and Hank, of course.

Third:  Introductions by hostess Renel... Kruk and Flem, Barbieri, Willie Brown, Gavin Newsom, Bochy, Magowan and Baer, Omar and Richie, a whole passel of other politicians, Mays and McCovey, Barry and his family including his mom.

Fourth:  Speakers

Kruk - "I might be nervous because I played at Candlestick and we're not used to big crowds."

Ralph Barbieri - "Barry's good with kids.  When he first met my boy, he grabbed him from my arms and said, 'Give him to me, I know how to handle kids.'"

Flem - Glad to witness all the history.

Magowan - Pander pander pander, pat self on back.
Baer/Bochy/Sabean - Present Barry with home plate from 8/7.

Omar - "He's fun to talk to in the dugout about cartoons and whatever.  He's just a regular guy.  How many guys can say he took a shower with Barry Bonds?"

Richie - Usual "great to be on the field for 73 and 756."

Gavin - As always, the best speaker of the lot.  "I can't get that image of Omar and Barry in the shower out of my head.  Omar, if you want to say anything, now's the time.  Hey, it's San Francisco.  It's all good."  "Barry, here's the key to the city."

Barry - "All San Franciscans have always had the key."  Thanked everybody in sight.

Yowza yowza yowza!  Well it was fun to be rallied.  I took some cell phone pictures but I can't get 'em off the phone.

I was asked this question on a Dodger forum, and wanted to share my answer here.

----
How do I think Bonds will be remembered?  I think better than most people are saying now.  It also depends on whether or not he gets passed by A-Rod or anyone else any time soon.

The main reason is that the big number (career homers) is the most memorable number in sports.  It's a number so important, that it wrongly transcends time... everyone who's been in MLB gets measured against that number regardless of the homer-friendliness of the era.  (I should admit that I have predicted before that fans will start to gravitate towards era-adjusted numbers, which is kind of an argument against what I'm saying here.)  If Barry's still #1 in 20 years, I expect that the natural inclinations of fans will return, which is number first, circumstances second.

In the long run, I don't see any reason why the steroid era will be viewed any differently than the dead ball era, or a live ball era, or any other pocket.  Barry will always be a part of that, maybe even the first example, but he'll be tied to the era, not set apart the way it's happening now.  People forget to hate assholes... look at how Ted Williams is revered today.  (Ty Cobb is an exception because racism was a big part of it, and that's still a sensitive issue for the world, unfortunately.)  

In fact, if the steroid era is viewed differently, I predict it will be even less anomalous.  That is, it's entirely possible that performance enhancers are here to stay... that technology will always be one step ahead of Johnny Law, and in fact Bonds' transgressions will stand out even less, being reduced to an early adopter of a permanent change, rather than the King of a limited aberration.

I don't think this is a Giants fan talking, I think this is rational.  How does it sound to you guys?

If you had to guess who had the best OPS in all of baseball at the All-Star break (i.e. right now), who would you guess?

Answer here.

Well I usually steer clear when major sporting events come to where I live, but this time I'm dipping my toes in.  I just scored a $15 seat to the Futures game off CraigsList and will be sitting on top of the RF wall.  The schedules were just released for FanFest, which looks only half-entertaining to me, but I am intrigued by the autograph opportunities:

Friday, July 6
Vida Blue, Bob Feller, Rollie Fingers, Bill Laskey, Jeffery Leonard, and Gaylord Perry

Saturday, July 7
Will Clark, Darrell Evans, Rollie Fingers, Dave Kingman, Fred Lynn, Rob Nenn, and Earl Weaver.

Sunday, July 8
Luis Aparicio, Darrell Evans, Bob Feller, Fergie Jenkins, Harmon Killebrew, Dave Kingman, Jeffrey Leonard, Jack McDowell, John Montefusco, Robin Roberts, Earl Weaver

Monday, July 9
Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Rollie Fingers, Tony Gwynn, Monte Irvin, Harmon Killebrew, Fred Lynn, Juan Marichal, Kevin Mitchell, Robby Thompson, Matt Williams

Tuesday, July 10
Luis Aparicio, Goose Gossage, Monte Irvin, Fergie Jenkins, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Matt Williams

Monday looks great to me.  Maybe worth taking the day off work.

Full schedule here:
http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/fan_forum/asg/fanfest_schedule.jsp

I'm interested in knowing how the autograph scene works at this thing.  I think it's free.  I wonder if these guys come out on a schedule, randomly, or all at once.  Also, I understand that FanFest tickets are for timed entry - do they kick you out at some point?

If anyone goes, please post about it here!  Diary can also be used for any participant (OK, live spectator) reports from All-Star weekend.

Looks like they gave up on Mark Redman and released him.  Now the Braves are looking for a 5th starter, and you have to wonder if they'd trade for Russ Ortiz.

All the Braves young hitters I know about are not changing uni's for Russ Ortiz, so I don't know what's realistic.  But maybe something is.

I have requested that the Chronicle make prints available of that fantastic Kat Wade full frame shot of the Baron Davis dunk.  I could tell from the front page version that the sharpness is all there.  I can tell from the full frame online that the whole image is there.  They have complied!  

If you want a true photo copy unblemished by the quality killers inherent in newsprint or the web, here's the link:
http://tinyurl.com/yulz5h

I'm curious who else will want one, so please post here if you order.

So last night, I happened to be coming back from the Oakland Airport on BART at the same time the late-leavers from the Warriors game were doing the same.  I ended up sitting next to Larry Baer and his family.

Aside from a "Hey Larry" and a nod, I opted out of badgering him with a bunch of Giants questions.  After all, my wife was with me and she was barely tolerating me carrying on with drunken Warrior fans.

If I had decided to talk, I might have asked what the plans were for Barry next year.  Or why can't they get another slugger to fill the Kent/Alou/Burks void.  Or if he agrees with Sabean's "Dump the #1 draft picks" strategy.

In the end, I decided he wasn't going to say anything worthy of annoying the wife.  

What would you have liked to ask?

Magowan/Sabean et al have clearly realized that they've lost the undying support of all things Bonds that they once had.  While everyone who has wavered has their own reasons, this is my primary line of thought:

"If you're gonna play poker with the guy ("Go ahead, shop around.  See who wants you.") then you have to take the chips after you win.  How the Hell can you give him $16-20 MM after that?  Anything over $10 MM is money better spent elsewhere."

Now if they've been hearing this from a lot of fans, then the Barry Zito signing makes even more sense.  They wanted to take away the argument that the Bonds signing ruled out spending significant cash on anyone else.  I can't really gripe about that any more.

On the other hand, I'm left with this residual resentment against Bonds for a guy always getting his way.  For some reason, the entourage thing didn't really bother me... neither did the Barcalounger, or the grand jury shenanigans.  The possibility that he threw Sweeney under the bus bothers me, but there's enough cover thrown up by him and Sweeney that I'll withhold judgment.  But overall, I have a new kind of feeling that the Giants don't need to bend over for him any more.

Maybe management is hearing some of this, and they are trying to wiggle out of the contract.  Maybe I would feel better if somehow they got it down to a $10 MM contract anyway.  But I am thinking that they're hearing stuff like this and trying to respond to it... too bad they've painted themselves into a corner.