They need a very good game tonight so they can get back to the business of GOOD baseball, or the last two months of this season could look a lot more like the first two than the past two.

The more disgusting thing is that all of this information came from leaked testimony.

Because of his early death (and illness that struck him at 31), it seems very unlikely that Gibson would have even hit 500 home runs in the majors. On top of that, he was a catcher who wouldn't have played a full schedule in the majors. He was a great, great player though and might have broken Ruth's 60 HR in a season record if he'd have played in the majors in his mid-20s.

I wouldn't call NPB a AAA league anymore.  It's better than AAA, not quite as good as the majors.  But still, in Oh's time, I think it is fair to call it a AAA league, or maybe even AA at the start of Oh's career.  And one thing we know about NPB is that they've got a lot of parks where it is easy to hit home runs.  If you look at the drop in Hideki Matsui's HR totals, he's gone from being a guy who hit between 40 and 50 homers a year to someone who hits between 25 and 35 in the majors.  That's a good approximation of the difference in the leagues (knock off 15-20 HRs a year), and it was even greater in Oh's time.

Perhaps distinct proof outside of "I thought it was flaxseed oil" will be revealed, there will irrefutable evidence of what he took, and then 'adjustments' can be made to the 'record.'

It's always possible, that in the future, more information comes to light. (If we believe Jose Canseco's allegations, half the players in MLB used...something. But -- they are allegations, and not proof.)

I'm not a fan of the guy by any stretch of the imagination. I care little about Barry Bonds. Giants fans are complete hypocrites when it comes to the guy. They feel he's done NOTHING wrong.

I say, probably SOMETHING is wrong, something went on during the 90's with many players, but it hasn't been proven beyond any shadow of doubt.

Physically, Bonds is 3x the man he once was. Was it all lifting? Probably not. I'll use Bret Boone as an example,  once again -- please, check his record. Suddenly, with his career in shambles in SD, he goes to Seattle and becomes a power-hitting infielder. His numbers were dimishing a little bit each year. Suddenly, he's in the slugger category with Sosa, Bonds, etc, etc. His great year leads to a tremendous contract. He has a few more great years, then his career -- literally -- returns to what it was in SD. He couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. He abruptly retires.

How did this happen? Suddenly, this 'banjo' hitter becomes a HR machine in a pitcher's park???Canseco made an allegation, regarding Boone, in his book.  But there's no proof. I think Boone was juiced....but there is no proof. Unless Boone admits it, we'll never know.

If look you at the curve of Boone's statistics, it's astonishing. He becomes a mini-Barry for 3 years or so, at the tail of his career. That's not how the career of an MLB player should pan out. Especially one who's career had only been good-to-average prior to that.

So, please read my post again. "Love for Bonds in San Diego" just proves you didn't actually read it, if that's what you think I said -- or, you didn't understand it.

But, I'm in the media, I know how this stuff works. To be honest, it's not that Costas has money -- he still wants people to watch his show. And, since it's on HBO, the numbers (ratings) will be smaller if it was on the big 4 nets, or basic cable nets such as ESPN.  

Shows like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under are programs that bring ratings -- but still, for all the hype -- the Big 4 Broadcast nets will beat HBO/Showtime, etc in head-to-head battles everytime.

And, I'll wager that HBO subscribers aren't really there for sports....so, if Bob Costas can bring some awareness to his show, he does it. That's how TV works. Bonds didn't need to answer. He just sounded stupid in his reply, and gave the show more attention.

Rome's another story. He's a master of self-promotion. He was doing his best to get attention even back when he was in Santa Barbara. When he worked at XTRA/San Diego, he was the hype monster. After every show, he'd fax to all the local media..

"....as heard today on the Jim Rome show..''

But, you need an edge, something to stand out, so he created this little universe on radio, which still exists, and appeals to a young demographic. He still belittles another fine sportscaster in the San Diego market, a man I know, and is one of the hardest working individuals I've ever met. But, he has a goofy, kind of outdated style. Rome never lets up on the guy. And, what is worse -- nobody outside of San Diego/LA has any clue what he's talking about. He goes into this character, on the self-indulgent, petulant rant -- just to make fun of the guy. That's just -- wrong.

He's an egotistical punk, he and Matt Vasgergian.
(He, of the "go back to the Ozarks" when referring to Cardinals fans.) I know a lot of people here will find that funny. Anything goes on a blog. But on TV? How unprofessional. There are sportscasters in Bakersfield and Peoria that would love to be in Matty V's shoes, and I have a feeling they would be way more professional than he is.

You meet the same people on the way down the ladder that you do on the way up....and just being a professional, apparently is very hard for these 2 Southern California broadcasters.

And, you may be exactly right -- if these ex-players succumb to an early passing -- that might, unfortunately give us the proof we need.

You can bet that the grapevine had it that Ohman had broadcast that he had made plans that were not inline with a player who should have been forcused on one thing, his job and winning ball games instead of family time. Regardless of the seemingly unempathetic connection to a family get together this is discipline.

Now for other marginal players where is the axe going to fall. Pagan has now become unproductive both defensively which is supposed to be his versatile strength and offensively. Are they going to move Jones to RF during Soriano's possible six week absence and move Floyd/Murton to LF and have Jones/DeRosa in RF and then have Pie in CF?

The other is the starting pitching, do they move Dempster to a starter's role now and move Marmol/Howry up to a closer's role with Wood seemingly showing some effectiveness? This would allow the Cubs to move Marquis or Marshall or Hill down or possibly spot them a bit of some rest through August along with Gallagher?

Lou is not going to sit pat and he is going to keep them focused, especially the role players.

Jones would have to be DFA, (possibly released) and the Cubs would be liable for the remaining year and a half on his contract. Even if they put him on waivers, to possibly be DFA'd -- if some team put in a claim on Jones, he'd be gone (of course, they could revoke the waiver on Jones, and keep him )-- but if they did nothing -- the Cubs would still be liable for his salary, and they'd get nothing in return.

Trades can be made using the waiver wire -- if you work out a deal with another team, he has to clear waivers, ie; no other team puts in a claim for Jones, let's say. Nobody puts in a claim, you can make the deal. Somebody else does -- probably the deal dies. The other team is trying to block the deal....

So complicated...

Their punishment was having to keep Wells.