This is slightly off topic, but perhaps still interesting in a ham fighting sort of way.  Former Texas Ranger and current Japanese Leaguer Jason Botts evidently has quite a following in the land of the rising sun, as evidenced by this YouTube video. 

Not your everyday Shinjo Sixpack

Botts was your typical AAAA player whom I think everyone knew would thrive over in Japan.  Whether he's a Cecil and makes it back to MLB or he's Tuffy Rhodes and carves out a career in Japan, I think it's cool that they've embraced him.  J.R. Phillips, this could have been you.

No time for a front-page post today, so I present the prose stylings of Biff Pocoroba. Actually he doesn't write that much. He's even less interesting in person, too.  Still, we can turn this into an open  OMG-the-Giants-are-as-good-without-Bonds-see-see-see thread.

When I want an in-depth analysis of the San Francisco Giants, I, like you, go to The Wall Street Journal and their "All The Sabermetrics That's Fit To Print".  Well the Journal doesn't disappoint on Monday morning with their front-page story on the Gigantes.  That's right.  This story on how the Giants have fared without the likes of Bonds appears on the front page:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120933917167348283.html?mod=hpp_us_pageone

Curiously, there's about as much on the state of local kayaking as there is baseball in the article, but the chance to see a pointillized Barry Lamar and his mid-90's porn stache is worth clicking to see.

Is there any money better spent than the $15 to receive streaming mlb games?  I'm sitting in the office on a Wednesday morning, listening to Friel striking out over Gameday Audio.  It's not Opening Day, but this is huge.

According to ESPN, Edgardo Alfonso has been signed to a Minor League contract by the Texas Rangers.  

The Worldwide Leader In Sports

He apparently was able to escape the notice of George Mitchell, but no one can escape the wild spending ways of Rangers' owner Tom Hicks.

Just when it looks like some of the dust has settled on the Bonds/ steroids front, a whole new wave of charges are levied against the Giants' slugger.  Follow the link:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0816071riches1.html

Item 4 seems particularly damning.

I don't want to come off sounding like a prude, but is there any chance we can clean up these gameday threads?  Now, I realize that tempers have been flaring these past two games, what with the 847 hit batters in this series, but it's getting tiresome reading what at times is just a series of F-bombs.  

Taken in conjuction with the seemingly daily posting of teen actress pics, the site can sometimes come off as juvenile.  I think that we should really try to clean it up.

This could be even bigger than the Jason Grimsley story.  And from a reputable news source of The Onion, no less.  Former Giant farmhand Mackey Sasser makes the difficult decision to come clean about his own past drug use.  

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/49529

According to ESPN, the BoSox have picked up Hee-Seop Choi off of waivers from the Dodgers.  The story here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2382860

Does this spell the end of JT's short run in Boston?  It really doesn't look like a good mix of bench players for the Sox, were they to keep both Snow and Choi.  The article suggests a move of Kevin Youkilis to third, considering Mike Lowell's uncertain future, but I just don't see that.

This can't be good for JT.

McCovey Chronicles sister site www.redreporter has a 2005 Sports Blog Awards - MLB poll going right now.  For whatever reson, Waiting for Boof and its 47.3 mentions of "Neifi" per post was left off the list, so I had to go with Grant's newer, fancy schmancy effort.

But head on over, check out this scientific study of sports blogs, and rip the angel wings right off of it.