Tonight, the Great Home Run Chase of '06 continues, as Barry will start against the Chicago Cubs, one home run behind the Babe. Oh, and the Giants try and climb out of the last-place hole they've dug themselves into, but nevermind that. Barry put himself one away with a monstorous, humongous, epic shot last Sunday night in Philly that still has people buzzing. In typical Barry fashion, after launching the home run and actually talking to the press, he blew all of that good press by refusing to sign the home run ball a fan caught. He did, however, make the fan sign a release form so he could appear on Barry's reality show. ...

One of our favorite things about baseball is the 7th Inning Stretch. There's something about a stadium full of people standing up and singing a completely quaint, nearly 100 year-old-song in our jaded, post-post punk, post-post modern, post-post-ironic age that gives us the warm fuzzies. But at last Sunday's Giants game, the Giants continued on with a new tradition that is slowly and quickly ruining the 7th Inning Stretch-- the playing of "God Bless America" right before "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." And yes, we do hate America, why do you ask? ...

Starting this Saturday, the Oakland Museum of California is hosting an exhibition from the Baseball Hall of Fame, called Baseball As America, displaying the history of America's game. The show's been traveling across the country since 2002, and features, among other things: Shoeless Joe Jackson's shoes, a baseball from the first baseball game ever, Babe Ruth's bat, Jackie Robinson's 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers jersey, and a Bay Area-specific section chock full of Giants and A's goodness, curated by the Oakland Museum of California. Sure, you grumble, it's all about fetishing objects at the expense of the actual experience of playing some ball -- but dang, who doesn't want to see Shoeless Joe Jackson's shoes??? The show runs until January 22, 2006; get your tickets here. At a minimum, you should totally be able to buy all the birthday presents for your dad/brother/best man that you'll ever need at the exhibition store. Picture of PA world series scoreboard from the Baseball as America webpage, from the Field Museum...