FanHouse Mark Sweeney

The almost inevitable finally occurred, as the Giants and Dodgers found themselves to be trade partners for the first time since 1985. San Francisco dealt Mark Sweeney to LA for cash or a player to be named later. This is a significant deal, but not because of what Sweeney brings to the table. To me, it carries more significance because it shows that the bitter rivals are willing to work with each other, and more specifically, that the Giants are willing to help out the Dodgers in the midst of a playoff push. This was to be somewhat expected considering Dodgers GM Ned Colletti used to be the Giants assistant GM.

Some people will argue that Mark Sweeney will be a valuable player down the stretch for LA. With 155 career pinch-hits, he ranks 2nd all-time in the category to Lenny Harris. But I don't feel that Sweeney is a better bat off the bench for the Dodgers than say a Delwyn Young, Andre Ethier, or a few of the other players who may be on the bench in a key spot. In my eyes, this is not a significant move because of who it is, but rather, because of what it is.

File this one under "It seemed like a good idea at the time." Charlie Manuel had Antonio Alfonseca on the mound in the eighth inning with two outs and nobody on, when Manuel ordered a free pass to Barry Bonds.

Seemed like a good idea at the time, right?

Well, a flare hit to Mark Sweeney, a walk to Pedro Feliz, a bloop hit by Omar Vizquel, and a single by Ray Durham later, a manageable one run deficit became an impossible four run hole for Philadelphia. And it was all because of an intentional walk with nobody on base.

"We had two outs," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "Why take a chance on him hitting a home run when we could pitch to somebody else?"

And somebody else, and somebody else, and somebody else, and somebody else. Yeah, a three run rally is much better than a solo home run by Barry Bonds.

Alfonseca seemed somewhat perturbed by the decision to walk Bonds after he dispatched of Randy Winn and Rich Aurilia rather easily. (He barked a bit on the mound, and had some animated conversations in the dugout with some of the coaches, and my guess is that he was wondering about the decision as well.) After a 6-2 loss in San Francisco, I imagine that Phillies fans may be a little confused by Manuel's decision also.

Yes, coming from the irony of the century department, we have Barry Bonds' soul mate, Barry Zito, who apparently claims in the upcoming April edition of Esquire that he was put off by the egos in the Mets front office when he was debating with whom to sign as a free agent.

"There just wasn't a lot of ego there, which was huge for me," Zito told the magazine about the Giants. "There's a lot of ego in this game, particularly at the higher levels of management

Yes, in case you are keeping score at home, that's one implied charge of arrogance to the Mets, and none for the affably amiable Barry Bonds. The only possible explanation for this is nothing. Some things in life are best left alone. Without explanation. Because they make no earthly sense.

On the other hand, some of your comments pertaining to the Barry & Barry are homies piece from Monday were quite exceptional. For that reason they must be recognized:

David Rosenberg wondered: "Protect Barry from interviews? When did Barry give interviews?" Good question, I was asking the same thing.

RC was referring to the Mark Sweeney story: "You better be careful Zito, next time old Bonds gets caught with something he might say it was your locker he got it from." Indeed -- Zito better be on the lookout.

Keep 'em coming.