SFist As fans' loss is our personal gain, as SFist Jake's brief hiatus gives us leave to post on yesterday's sixth-inning infield brawl at Anaheim! We love a good baseball fight. That's because the very first baseball game we ever watched was the one where Nolan Ryan put that dude who rushed the mound in a headlock and pounded the crap out of him. Ah, memories. Anyways, we have no idea what's going on in the season or anything that happened in the game last night beyond what we saw on the news last night (Chavvy hit a homer, As won), but we can tellyou that in the sixth, As catcher Jason Kendall, up at bat, thought Angels pitcher John Lackey was taunting him about getting intentionally beaned for walks, and ran straight at him. Two Angels grabbed Kendall, who nevertheless managed to take Lackey down before both teams raced onto the field, for our slo-mo TiVo delight. Video here. This is the first bench-clearer for the As since 1993 in Milwaukee (while the Angels got in their last big fight in 2002 against San Diego, in spring training.) This is Kendall's second time charging the mound, too -- in 2004, Kendall went after (now-teammate -- awkward!) Joe Kennedy when Kennedy was at Colorado and Kendall was with Pittsburg. Did any of that even make sense? Don't worry, folks, SFist Jake will be back soon. ...

With the start of the World Baseball Classic upon us, we thought we'd let SFist Jon and SFist Jake duke it out over whether this thing will be any good. There wasn't much duking to be had, however, because both Jon and Jake pretty much agreed that this just might be the best thing ever. And despite all the naysayers, the cynics, and George Steinbrenner's whining, they're both excited as hell. In short, SFist's official stance is this: Play ball!...

As the holiday season approaches, our attention turns from the San Francisco public library and our pile of online reserves, and toward books we buy for other folks at one of our fine local independent bookstores. What are you hoping to get this year, and what are you giving? Let us know in the comments! SFist Jake, for once, is reading something for work that he thinks might be interesting to people who don't......

Covering your entertainment scene for the rest of the work week! Tonight, Go check out Neil Strauss reading from his new book on picking up women, "The Game," and learn how you too can have Courtney Love crash on your couch for an indefinite period of time! 7:30 p.m. at the Marina Books Inc. (of course). Thursday, it's tiki night at the Make-Out Room! Hula dancing, tiki carving, tiki movies, and tiki art for sale. Polynesian merriment will abound! and Friday: fans of contemporary opera can whet their Doctor Atomic appetite and check out the premiere of the Oakland Opera's performance of La Belle et la Bete by Philip Glass. The opera's based on the Cocteau film, and the Oakland Opera is staging it as a circus performance. Grab some chicken and waffles after the show! ...

This is gonna be a busy weekend... Skip the after-work bar and get some activist cred by heading down to the Powell Street cable car turnaround to rally in support of Cindy Sheehan. Or celebrate the twelfth anniversary of the zinesters at the Infoshop in Berkeley after Critical Mass. And the late-night progressive can get funky at HipHop4Change at Studio Z. SFist Jake and friends Izum do their World Beat thang tomorrow afternoon at......

Our concert picks for the week of 7/14 - 7/20. Sometimes people get an extra helping of the good stuff. Like Sufjan Stevens, for example. Not only is he a wildly talented musician and songwriter with an expansive artistic vision and respectable indie rock ethic, yeah, he's also easy on the eyes too. Well this week San Francisco concertgoers can get a little extra helping of their own, with several high profile artists playing multiple......

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly: The Infiltrator goes to the Writing Annex. Oh, Dog Bites -- kicking the Guardian when it's down about the Weekly getting the Warfield named after itself! The fake branded SFBGs are hilar (The "SFBG Hetch Hetchy" is pictured at right). The randy headlines about Badlines are an extra bonus! ("Can Gays Beat Off Bias Claim"'s the best one we can get away with posting.) Cover article: Why does ESPN's Joe Morgan hate the A's Moneyball? SFist Jake, your thoughts? OK Then loves Built to Spill. And Savage Love: pro-choicers dating pro-lifers. Next up, the Hetch Hetchy Bay Guardian! Why haven't the cops caught the people who killed the elderly man in the bathroom of Macy's? (Dude, they know who did it!) Techsploitation about data-hoarding and Grokster. The sex columnist is angry-angry-angry about the female ejaculation debate. Um.... whoa! Dan Leone writes about his 36-inch turd Before you ask: he had a cup of coffee and Indian food the night before. Mad props for the title ("The Longest Yard") and the food covered (pupusas). Cover articles: Bay Area hip-hop, Brazilian post-punk, Swedish psych-prog, and other adjective hyphen-hyphen musical phenomena. The EBX and the pick of the week, after the jump....

[Ed. Note: This, friends, would have been the 2,000th post on SFist, except our co-editor beat us to it. So it's the 2,001st! Thanks to the staff and readers for all the great writing, tips and comments over the past ten months!] Lots going on tonight, as you'd know if you read our music editor's column yesterday (SFist Jake is playing at Jupiter at 8pm!). Not into those bands? How about taking in Offenbach's......

Before a disappointingly small, but vocal and ultimately happy crowd at the Coliseum Wednesday night, the A's fought off a series sweep at the talons of the Toronto Blue Jays. Nick Swisher led the way with two hits, one of which was a monster home run to rightfield, and Jason Kendall, whose bat may have finally arrived from Pittsburgh, added two hits and two RBI of his own. Joe Blanton went six innings and......

Previously, on SFist: Giants fans got to attend a home opener. On Monday night in Oakland, it was Kirk Saarloos (1-1, 5.59 and still looking like a solid fifth starter) giving up six runs against the Toronto Blue Jays. Going into the game, the A's sat at three wins and three losses after series against Baltimore and Tampa Bay, and we'll take that. For now. The promising new and/or young players have so far......

Sunday night in the Bronx, the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-2. As everyone knows, that means the Yankees will win the 2005 World Series. Even so, the other teams in Major League baseball will play 162 games this year. That includes your Oakland Athletics, now Lewis Wolff's and Billy Beane's Oakland Athletics as well. (Try to share.) At 12:05 PM SFist Jake, contributing.......

Well, we'd been waiting for some actual baseball news to report, but in the meantime wacky San Jose mayor Ron Gonzalez is at it again.  This time, he went all the way to Phoenix, where he held a news conference outside Municipal Stadium and discussed his plan to bring a major league baseball team to San Jose.  Guess who plays Cactus League games at Phoenix Municipal?  The Bay Area, Mayor Gonzalez says, can't support......

Last week's winner, the East Bay Express. Dream cartoonist outdoes himself with a dream about fighting Lord Vader! Cover article: The Oakland band Heavenly States had a horrible trip to Libya. Hey, Jose Canseco's doing a book signing at the Jack London Barnes and Noble next Monday! SFist Jake, we hope you're there! Was Abbey Lincoln drunk or delusional at her upsetting Yoshi's show last week? And Savage Love: why can't we charge barebackers full cost for anti-viral drug therapies for their victims? The SF Weekly: Matt Smith, being contrarian and pro-business. We never really understand what he's so upset about, but we're sure he's right! Dog Bites: better California quarter designs. Backroom dealings about Indian casinos. Hey! There's an orchestra performance of the music from Final Fantasy (scroll down) next Monday! Cover article: cabaret singer Antony. OK Then had a nice time at the Saturday J. Newsom concert, and, biting the EBX's style from last week, the Weekly also runs an article about metal yoginis High On Fire. Hilarious undercover sting operations in the Guardian and the Weekly of the Week, after the jump. ...

If you long for boundary-crossing or brio or fun in country-western music, git along to San Francisco State University the next three Tuesdays (March first, eighth and fifteenth) to celebrate Bob Wills at 100. The inventor of “Western Swing,” Bob Wills combined country music with Nawlins jazz, blues, ragtime and traditional Mexican music....

SFist looks at the Giants as they start Spring training....