For those of you somehow not tempted into becoming a part of Van Santian art -- or, you know, if you sport a vagina -- might we suggest catching round II of the Leno vs. Migden smackdown? Sponsored by the Harvey Milk Club, this meeting is sure to ruffle a few plumes and have local politicos affectedly scratching their chins for days to come.

That's right, kids, it's on. It is going to be on. And we won't be happy with anything less than a gruesome bloodbath.

What: Migden vs. Leno II: This Time It's Homosexual -- CA Senate Debate
When: Saturday, November 17, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Where: The State Building, Milton Marks Auditorium, 455 Golden Gate Avenue (between Larkin & Polk)
Who: Carole! Mark! And your moderator, Belva Davis! (Police Commissioner Joe Alioto Veronese will be there, too. He's also running. Isn't that adorable?)
Panelists: Cynthia Laird (Editor of the Bay Area Reporter), Kim Corsaro (Publisher/Editor of the Bay Times), Steven T. Jones (City Editor for the SF Bay Guardian)

Hey, don't forget to play our "Rename Dodger Stadium" contest-- there's only three days left to play! And don't forget to sign in under a name so we know who to give the prize too. Right now, some of our favorite entries are by "guest" and we don’t know who "guest" is.

Padres 5 Giants 4- Other than Barry's Big Bomb, it was a pretty bad weekend for the Black & Orange: they got swept, Matt Cain's horrible luck continued, Noah Lowry went out with an injury, and the bullpen blew more things than Paris Hilton. Actually, our highlight of the weekend was going to our favorite pop culture site, Oh No They Didn't on Live Journal to see that in between discussions of Britney's latest breakdown and all things Harry Potter, somebody posted a story about Bonds' tying the record. Even better, we got to see the occasional Giants icon, including this great one of Barry Zito. And in case anyone's wondering, our favorite Harry Potter movie is Order of the Phoenix.

Angels 4 A's 3- Milton Bradley went after Billy Beane this weekend for, well, being the Man who had him down. Bradley's main complaint, other than hinting that the A's have problems with black players, was that he was nothing more than a cog in the Moneyball machine. We've always wondered if that was a common complaint with the A's, that it often comes off like players are told what to do mainly because some computer spit out some stat that was interpreted by some math major from M.I.T. Apparently, there's also some grumbling about manager Bob Geren, mainly that he is too friendly with everyone and not being all manager-like, more Michael Scott than Tony LaRussa. You know, the A's do tend to hire extremely bland, non-descript guys (Howe, Macha, Geren) who's main attribute seems to be getting out of the way and patting everyone on the butt. Of course, all the griping could be because of all the losing and losing tends to make everyone pretty grumpy. Who knows?

Giants 3 Mets 0- They say that one of the most important things about being a baseball player is the ability to keep things in perspective and to, as they say, "take it one day at a time." And that's just what the Giants did. One day after a loss that had many Giants fans reacting as if they had just lost Game 7 of a playoff series, the Giants stepped up, kept their cool, and won they only way they know how-- have their starting pitcher throw shutout baseball and score just enough runs to win. All this courtesy of Barry Zito who pitched the way you'd expect a very high priced #1 ace to pitch-- an eight inning, six hit, 122 pitch, shutout. Benitez, didn’t get into the game because he apparently has a bad knee which he got from warming up yesterday and by "bad knee" we mean will not appear until everyone’s stomach doesn’t feel queasy anymore.

A's 6 Rangers 1- Dan Haren is the man, a man with an ERA of 1.64. Yesterday he pitched eight innings and gave up only four hits and one earned run. The big news, however, wasn't Haren's now standard great start, but the reappearance of an old friend, Milton Bradley who played in his first game and immediately started hitting. Bradley's reappearance, however, meant that the great Jack Cust era is probably over as he's come down to earth from his hot, hot start and is now showing signs of being who he really is-- a journeyman minor leaguer. We hope you enjoyed it.

Jazz 115 Warriors 101- Oh Noes. In what had to be considered a must-win game, the Dubs once again played a nip-and-tuck basketball game against the Jazz only to disappear in the final minutes. Was it another choke? Or was it what Barkley and a few others have been saying, that all that running and gunning wears down the team's legs? Frankly, it was amazing the Warriors were even in this game. The Jazz managed to keep the lid on the particular brand of Warriors craziness at least semi-closed and the Warriors got below average games from J-Rich (7 points) and the Beard (just 15 points and 7 assists). Next game is in Salt Lake City and this is not looking good. Not looking good at all.

A's 10 Indians 7- Let us all hail Jack Cust who came out of nowhere and has now hit six homers in seven games, including yesterday's ninth inning walk off homerun as the A's once again battled from nowhere to win the game. Who is Jack Cust? Well, Beane picked him up for, well, beans from the Padres on May 3rd (that gnashing sound is SFist Chris cursing his home team team for trading the guy) and he's 28 and has played for four organizations, including the A's way back in 2005. Anyways, back to the game-- the A's were down by two with two outs-- their favorite position-- when Chavez singled and Milton Bradley homered. Tie game. Then Dan Johnson singled, Bobby Crosby singled, and up came Cust. You know the rest.

Giants 15 Rockies 2- this being the 20th game of a twenty game swing without a break (all, it seems, played against the Rockies) and following a lifeless performance by the team on Saturday, Bochy decided to sit most of his regulars and start the kids. First thought: poor luckless Matt Cain, the starting pitcher. Second thought: considering the Giants track record in developing hitters in their farm system, a perfect game thrown against them wouldn't be that surprising. So what happened? Twenty-two hits, fifteen runs and Fred Lewis going for the cycle. Now how about that?

Now Friedman, who died last week, definitely has his intellectual cred. He's got a Nobel Prize fer crissakes. And he's definitely been a figure of major influence over the years. His economic viewpoints have been the basis of American fiscal policy for almost twenty years and third-world economic development for the past twenty or so. Which is also the main problem-- people here tend not to like either of those things. In fact, it was Friedman who gave us such wonderful things as Reagonomics and monetarism, two things that don't scream "San Francisco."

All of which is why the last thing we expect this city to do is mention the guy, Even if he did live in Russian Hill. Oh, maybe we could give a proclamation but oh that'll never fly either. We can just see the 'Bay Guardian" rumination against it. Leonard Peltier maybe, but Friedman no. Even if it were argued that he was the fun, libertarian, kind of conservative who hated the war on drugs and was somewhat an old-school San Francisco kind of cat. And renaming "Market Street" "Free Market Street" well, that's just plain funny. In fact, one could question what the hell the editor's were smoking when they wrote this (and that little crack about John Kerry-- nice touch). We mean, Friedman is more important to this city than Allen Ginsberg or Jack Kerouac? Sure, Friedman probably had more influence on the world, but people don't travel all the way from Japan to hang out in bars that Milton Friedman supposedly puked at now do they?

However, A's fans really shouldn’t be surprised by this move. Macha has historically bugged certain players to the point of inspiring mutiny. Terrance Long, a very likable outfielder of the Giambi-led crew, wanted to put Macha in a sleeper-hold he was so pissed at the manager’s lack of social grace and compassion. Plus, Macha was never really a Beane kind of guy to begin with as we witnessed with Beane’s reluctance to sign Macha last winter. After running Art Howe out of town, Beane saw Macha as merely industrial glue-- keeping watch over a young and maturing team still figuring out how to play with the big boys. What Beane wanted from Macha was continuity and a figure who understood the A's system. But with this, he didn’t much want to hear much from the manager. The Oakland A's are a result of Beane’s genetic tinkering, not the strategic yearnings of a Sparky Anderson wannabe. Thus, Macha never really fit into Beane’s grand scheme of things. The smoldering ruins of the ALCS debacle have finally been cleared away, and the franchise finds itself on the precipice of beginning a new era of Oakland A’s baseball. What will the present and future bring?

SFist Kevin, contributing

For A's fans, however, last night's game was not business as usual. Milton Bradley became a big league star last night with his prime time base knocks off Justin Verlander. If there is any consolation, Bradley showed that Verlander and Zumaya are mere mortals who can be slapped around with the right mental approach. Whether other A's players noticed is another matter. Big Hurt, are you listening? They should be emboldened by his fearlessness, as well as Mark Kotsay's gamesmanship. Is there hope for a turnaround this weekend? Probably not! But the real measure of a team is how they deal with adversity. And this weekend, we will all bear witness to how the Oakland A’s of 2006 conspire to tempt fate and redirect the flow of destiny.

SFist Kevin contributing

Beane, like Brian Sabean of SF Giants hype, makes his bones when it counts most-- during the trade deadline. This year, the flutter of butterfly wings could be heard from the A's camp. Nada. Zilch. Nothing. Barry Zito's name would pop occasionally, but without much merit or context. Beane shifted his strategy to last off-season instead, picking up perpetually cranky Milton Bradley and an aging agit-prop artist Frank Thomas to bolster the cheese-whiffing line-up. He added Esteban Loaiza (gulp!) to support the pitching staff. If anything, Beane has foresight. Odds are always in favor of Rich Harden straining an oblique muscle or a hammy or whatever muscle we’ve never heard of, and to miss significant time. The A's receive mega-bonus points when he returns. Moreover, the Kirk Saarloos-Brad Halsey conundrum, a project of deep curiosity to SFist, has actually worked for the better part of selected innings here and there.

Ultimately, Beane's genius for finding the right kind of 'mannish' man to slash the A's into the playoffs will be measured by Milton Bradley's fire. The otherwise light-hitting, vanilla line-up Beane assembles each year, typically has that one white-hot firebrand that carries them after the all-star break. In the past, it was Tejada, and to some extent, Giambi when he was focused on success and not his physique. Today, Bradley is their 4-tool horse who, despite his cantankerous nature, is their best player, and can carry a squad of grown men on his back. Just ask BJ Ryan of Toronto. On Sunday, Bradley took Ryan’s best body blows and wacked a 400-plus foot walk-off bomb over the centerfield fence. What every half-witted prognosticator ever predicted about Bradley’s talents will finally be proven correct this fall-- the dude rules! Plus, the A's own the month of August. After last nights lackluster showing, they are 103-40 during the month of August since 2001. What is that, a .725 winning percentage? Truly off the scale, and why they'll beat the great pretenders from the South.

SFist Kevin contributing

SFist Jackson: I'm predicting Oakland and New York in the ALCS this year, and am looking for the Phillies to take on the Cardinals in the NLCS. Oakland looks really strong this year, and you can't keep Steinbrenner down for long (the rat bastard). The Phils have been pouring money into their team for a few years now, and along with the Cards have the most pop in the National League.

The two teams I'll be watching closest both look to have a long season ahead of them, and for entirely different reasons. Ichiro proved he's still the most exciting player in baseball at the WBC, but with chumps like Raul Ibanez and Carl Everett clogging the lineup and mucking around the outfield, a once solid pitching-and-defense small ball team is now a schizophrenic mess. The Giants, on the other hand, are going to be the Barry Bonds show, and not at all in the good way. As one of my old teammates joked when the coach reminded us there's no 'I' in team: "But there is a 'me.'" Plus their pitching, save for Schmidt, blows and the heart of the lineup is once again brought to you by the AARP.

Seriously, I'm looking at the A's to dominate the AL West assuming they can get off to a good start, and have a feeling that Milton Bradley is going to have a career year with the likes of Frank Thomas in the clubhouse, who I imagine was eating a lot of humble pie in the dugout during the World Series. Plus their pitching is the class of the league again, assuming Barry Zito can keep his head straight (and his curveball down). The only negative I see would be that if they did get to the playoffs, I wouldn't have a lot of confidence in Ken Macha's ability as a field general

After an unproductive week at the MLB winter meetings, the A's heated up the winter stove again: they traded minor league OF Andre Ethier to the Dodgers for major league OF Milton "Insert Game-Based Nickname Here" Bradley and major league IF Antonio Perez. That is: they traded a bird in the bush for two in the hand. Ethier was the AA Texas League player of the year--Bradley, the prize for the A's in this deal is 27 years old, and he hit .290/.350/.484 for the Dodgers last season. As is often the case when the A's acquire a player, Billy Beane is rumored to have coveted him for quite some time.

Bradley is worth coveting: he's an excellent defensive outfielder (he'll play right field, Nick Swisher will play first, and Dan Johnson will DH ), and a switch-hitter who should add right-handed power to a lineup that's been sorely lacking in that area. He Almost exactly one year after the A's traded away half their pitching staff for prospects, they've moved a prospect for a major-league talent. And Antonio Perez.

Bradley, of course, arrives in Oakland with what he calls "baggage" and what we might less delicately call "a reputation for being a colossal dick." See Susan Slusser's article for an exhaustive list of his run-ins with teammates, fans, managers, umpires and the 5-0; we're satisfied to recall his being traded from the Indians to LA for what seemed like insubordination during spring training in 2004, his throwing a water bottle at a Dodger Stadium and then taking off his jersey and storming off the field later that season, and his accusation last year that then-teammate Jeff Kent didn't understand African Americans, and draw the general conclusion that Milton Bradley is an out-of-control a$$hole. He's our out-of-control a$$hole now, though. Plus, Bay Area baseball has had good experiences with outfielders who don't get along with Jeff Kent, and it's not like we've never thrown anything at a Dodger fan. Dodger fans are annoying.

The encouraging trend this suggests, after the jump . . .