Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND (April 29) – Barry Bonds has more money, fame, and home runs than any of us can even dream of. He is a baseball legend who owns seven MVP awards. He is feared as a slugger like no other, and included by most observers among the top five players of all time.

Yet, he is apparently hated as a person.

By the same fans and experts that acknowledges his greatness as a player.

Why? Because he used steroids? Because he lied to a grand jury? Because he is surly and uncommunicative? Because he is on the verge of shattering sacred home run run records with the help of performance-enhancing substances?

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One of the youngest and most talented players to leave Cuba recently is playing great shortstop for the Seattle Mariners on a regular basis. He will be
very well known by the time this season ends by
everybody in the American (and some in the National League) who sees this young man play.

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]

Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND (April 26) – I can almost hear Roy Steele on the PA at the Coliseum, “. . . and batting fourth for the Athletics, Larry Davis.”

Davis, the A’s trainer, may be the most important man in the dugout right now. More than anything else, injuries at this early juncture of the 2006 season are having a huge impact on Oakland’s success.

Already Bobby Crosby, reminding us of his 2005 routine, in which he suffered a broken rib on opening night and a broken ankle on August 28 (effectively ending the A’s season) In 2006, he already has been out of the line-up a total of five games following two separate mishaps, and hampered, even while playing, to one degree or another during the remainder of the contests.

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Marty: It was the intention today to write about the past three weeks of play, citing the encouraging developments the Giants could point to, as well as mentioning problems which may or may not have been anticipated. This morning’s headlines, which announced that Greg Anderson, Bonds longtime friend and trainer, had been subpoenaed, overshadowed that intention.

The Giants’ baseball fortunes need to relinquish the spotlight for the moment. It may not be an overstatement to say that there is a personal tragedy pending, the indictment by the grand jury of Barry Bonds for lying under oath when he advised another grand jury that he had never knowingly used steroids.

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Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND (April 22) – I recently had the opportunity, during the break between the end of the World Baseball Classic and Opening Day of the regular season, to travel to the lovely Finger Lakes region of New York State and the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Expecting a quiet retreat filled with ritual reflection over revered artifacts such as Honus Wagner’s tattered spikes and Babe Ruth’s 54 oz. lumber, I was met instead by the buzz of commotion in this otherwise sleepy village over plans for a controversial new museum – devoted to an honest view of the seamier side of the history of our National Pastime – being planned for a lot adjacent to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

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by Glenn Dickey
Apr 19, 2006

BEFORE THE start of this baseball season, many sportswriters who have anointed themselves as guardians of the game’s traditions, proclaimed that this would be the start of a new era in baseball. Supposedly, fans could believe the power numbers because players would be mostly off steroids. It would be a natural, more athletic group of players on display.

Now, they’re doing verbal gymnastics to try to explain why the power numbers are up so far this season, at a time when bad weather usually has a negative effect on hitters.

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Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND (April 18) – First, it was the radar gun that was spooking Esteban Loaiza. Now, according to Ken Macha, it was actually the WBC that has caused the hurler’s weak debut.

The things that $21M will make people say. Goodness!

Next, the story will be that Loaiza lost his fastball when he accidentally flushed it down the toilet.

And with an 11.42 ERA and 17 hits thus far in 8 2/3 innings, maybe some people will believe him.

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To John Shea:
SF Chronicle baseball writer

Your article about the power surge is a joke. Last year you guys were remarking that when homers dropped a bit it was because of the new awareness and increased testing for performance-enhancing substances, implying that it was due in part to you crusading humanists at the Chronicle who are the true guardians of “Truth, Justice, the American Way” and “Cherished and hallowed baseball records.”

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The way the media has covered Barry Bonds this season, even with his own “reality”show on television nobody has mentioned what life would be after Barry retires for everybody involved.

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]

Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND – The A’s have lost four in a row. And things haven’t looked this good since 1992.

In recent seasons, it’s been the same old story in Oakland. Come out of the gate slow, get lost in pack, coast along until the All-Star break, then get sizzling hot and make a short-lived run at the post-season.

But no matter how well the Old Big Three was throwing in August and September, the A’s were always in too many close games. They lacked the speed and situational hitting to generate offense when their power wasn’t enough to put teams away. And their management and fans dreaded handing games over to a bullpen that melted down quicker than a stick of butter on a hot stove.

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