Uh oh. A pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves is in hot sweet tea for making anti-gay remarks AT&T Park last weekend. TMZ reports: "Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell has been accused of targeting a group of male fans last weekend at a Giants game in San Fran -- allegedly asking them, 'Are you a homo couple or a threesome?' " The announcement was made today by--who else?--the world's favorite buttinski, Gloria Allred.

According to Allred, a family at last week's game claims that they witnessed McDowell tell a group of male fans, "Are you three giving it to each other in the ass?"

The father of the family, who confronted McDowell upon hearing the disturbing remarks, says that the mean-spirited coach then told him "Kids don't fucking belong at the baseball park" ... and then approached him with a baseball bat, saying, "How much are your teeth worth?"

Charming. "This is the kind of thing that could and maybe should get McDowell fired," said NBC Sports' Craig Calcaterra.

For what it's worth, Roger McDowell admitted and apologized for this actions. He released a statement this afternoon, saying, “I am deeply sorry that I responded to the heckling fans in San Francisco on Saturday. I apologize to everyone for my actions."

[Hardball Talk]

-Bud and Donald went to Washington yesterday for the annual brow-beating on baseball by congress. Taking the most heat were the Giants, who were shame-shame-shamed (shame of fools) for not doing anything about Barry's posse. In the hearings, Selig said he was looking into doing something to the Giants as punishment for letting Barry's head grow and looking the other way. And yes, you can't say unfair without an f and u for dinging one team while the entire league was looking the other way too.

-The Santa Clara city council voted 6-1 to play "let's make a deal" with the 49ers about building a new stadium. Next step: working out a plan, stan, and then putting the measure up to a vote.

-In a continuing quest to trade everyone who currently plays on the A's, Billy Beane yesterday traded Mark Kotsay to the Braves for right-handed reliever Joey Devine (who'll be another in a long list of A's with mellifluous names) and some single A pitcher in the Braves farm system. So far, there is no truth to rumors that the A's are looking to trade Stomper to the Cardinals for two minor league mascots to be named later

-And speaking of the A's, in order to make up for all their player trading, the team announced that they will be opening up one of the sections in the upper levels to bring A's fans four of the most magical words in the English language: "All-You-Can-Eat." Yes, for the low, low price of $35, you can sit in the section and eat all the hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, and popcorn your little (and soon to be disease-ridden) heart can desire. Prices may vary too depending on what sort of ticket plan you want.

-- Verified Identity Pass. Scary. But kind of cool. [Chron]

-- Mark Leno, the scribe. [SFBG]

-- After yesterday's fire in the Castro -- or as the Examiner still calls it, "Eureka Valley" -- seven are hospitalized. [Examiner]

-- Our new vodka buddy/birthday mate, Beth Spotswood, calls Daly and Gonzalez bitches, annihilates your SF mayoral candidates. [Chron]

-- "Senior of the Year" Jose Morales wants to keep his rent-controlled Mission pad that he's had for 42 years. Jesus Christ. Wonder what he pays? [BeyondChron]

-- Braves beat Giants, 6-3. [Chron]

-- SF's most garish bathroom and bedroom decor. Ever. Well, created without the aid of meth, anyway. [Curbed SF]

-- Although not posted today, but always important: "Why I Hate The Simpsons" -- at last! [Techsploitation]

Giants 4 Braves 2- You know, the fun thing about this whole Barry chase is that ESPN and Fox are trying to show as many Giants games as possible because nobody knows when the Barry will break the record so as a result, every baseball fan trying to gawk at history are stuck watching a lot of games featuring one of the worst teams in baseball. That includes the press and sold out crowds. When he doesn't hit one or doesn't even play, it's like seeing one of those one-hit wonder bands not play their one-hit. Or it's like, well, we caught part of Phantom Menace on HBO last night and remember how hyped up that movie was? Remember how excited everyone was and how convinced we were that it would possibly be the greatest moment of all of our lives? And remember the crushing disappointment to realize that it was essentially a movie about a whiny child fighting cartoonish robot armies over a trade dispute? Well, that’s what this is all like. Anyways, the Enchanter was pretty darn enchanting with the exception of one gopher ball given up by Jeff Francouer. He's now 6-2 and got his ERA under 4.00 (3.90).

A's 6 M's 2- The A’s have now won four out of the three as they beat up the reeling Mariners. The big guy this time around was Nick Swish who hit two homeruns, including a three run homer in the ninth to put the game away. Dan Haren once again threw down but the crazy thing is that he’s been pitching so well that the two runs he gave up in seven innings actually raised his ERA from from 2.41 to 2.42. Over at Athletics Nation, they’re wondering what Beane is going to do with Mike Piazza as with the deadline fast approaching, Beane has to decide whether to go for this year or go for next year.

Braves 7 Giants 5- Man, can you believe it's the 20th Anniversary of Guns n' Roses' "Appetite for Destruction?" Twenty years. We can still remember when that album (yes, album) came out and being totally gobsmacked the first time we saw the video for "Sweet Child O' Mine" at like 2 in the morning on MTV. God, we're old. And speaking of old, the Giants celebrated the Barry's birthday by playing a long, 13 inning baseball game. You gotta hand it to the old men, despite being closer to 100 losses than 100 wins, they do still play hard. Case in point last night where they had a four run ninth inning to tie the game and send the game into extra innings. Of course, they still. We were so sure the Giants would eventually lose this game that we wrote this post a few innings before the game ended.

A's 4 Angels 3- Could this be start of the patented second half A's run? Or is this just a mere illusion of a blip on the way to the mirage? Regardless, the A's have now taken two from the division leading Halos as Lenny DiNardo did the pitching and Travis Buck did the hitting, to the tune of four hits in five at bats. Buck also had a big diving catch in the eighth with runners on to save the game. The A's are still 9 1/2 back and four games under .500.

And in other Bonds news, his alleged ex-mistress is doing her best to come off as a credible witness by taking it all off for Playboy.

A's 12 Angels 6- We have to admit that in light of this weekend's anemic effort, we didn't think the A's had much of a chance against the Los Angeles Angels of the 5 Freeway. So lookee what happened-- the offense went off. The long lost Mike Piazza hit a three run home run and Mark Ellis hit a pair of solo home runs to lead the mayhem. Long lost reliever Huston Street also made a return to the game, pitching an inning. In other A's news, they released Bobby Kielty to make room for Street.

-- Tegan & Sara: identical twins cum awesome rock songstresses with questionable haircuts play tonight in the Mission. Show starts at 8 p.m., Brava Theater, 2789 24th St.; tickets are $25.

-- Arj Barker & Friends: Local comedian and co-writer of the Marijuana-Logues, plus a slew of special guests, perform tonight. 8 p.m. at the Punchline, 444 Battery; admission is a mere $10.

-- Chromeo: Oh-so zany electrofunk duo break your illusions of nothing-to-do Monday nights with this special set. Guest DJs Flosstradamus, Codebreaker, Jefrodisiac, Ritchie Panic, and Chromeo go on at 9 p.m. at Mezzanine, 444 Jesse (at Sixth St.); admission is free, visit here for more info.

-- SF Giants vs. Atlanta Braves: Watch locals wring their hands over Barry Bonds approaching the record(s), Braves fans doing the tomahawk chop. Game starts at 7:15 p.m., AT&T Park, Third and King Streets; tickets go for $10-$90, and then some.

Image of Sara Quin courtesy of Rolling Stone

SFist Chris: The National League West?

Holy crap what a mess. There's only room for one Pacific Coast League fellas.

Of course it isn't that bad, but the NL West is pretty bad. By far the weakest division in baseball. Last year, the Padres posted a wobbly 82-80 record, and walked away with the division by five games, over the Diamondbacks, even. The next worse division winners in baseball were the Atlanta Braves, with 90 wins.

This year looks like more of the same.

We should have asked him what he did to attract performers from Mr. Show, The Kids in the Hall, Saturday Night Live, Stella, The State, The Daily Show, Arrested Development, and The Upright Citizens Brigade to the Fest, as well as ask him what local stars of the comedy stage Kasper Hauser, Ten West, and Prank the Dean are like.

But we didn't.

Introduce yourself in one sentence: Blissfully squandering potential since 1976.

Occupation: Actor, improviser, producer, writer...and retail manager. Shit.

Home Town: Okemos, Michigan. It's about 10 minutes away from East Lansing. The only celeb from there that I know of is Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz, but that's from an unreliable source. My mom got a job at UC Davis when I was 9, so I got paroled from hail and snow. And then it was off to San Francisco for college...

We've come to bury Ken Macha, not to praise him . . .

2005 was a down year for the A's, and they won 88 games. That's 3 fewer than they won in 2004--a year when they were expected to contend for the World Series.

Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder are starting in the playoffs for the Braves and Cardinals this week, and A's pitchers had the 6th-best staff ERA, and the lowest opponents' batting average, in major league baseball.

When the A's were busy going 7-20 in May, A's Brand Baseball expected neither that the green and gold would finish the season 14 games over .500 nor that we would find it a little disappointing when they did. After all, we've seen rebuilding teams in Oakland before--they don't usually find themselves tied for first place with two weeks left in the season. By any realistic measure, the 2005 campaign was a pleasant surprise and a wild success. Realism is for suckers, though, and anyway it doesn't fit with this space's purview, fanaticism. Our final narrative evaluations for the season, after the jump: