RealClearSports: Zito Loses Command - and 1st Game

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- The money was the problem. It was what everyone thought about every time Barry Zito pitched. It was what Barry Zito thought about.

A man gets paid $126 million to pitch a baseball, and he has to pay for unmet expectations.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Bad news Bay Area at it again

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — It was another of those should have, could have days for the Bay Area, the ones overloaded with bad memories and worse possibilities.

There was Manny Ramirez standing at the plate for the Dodgers, two outs in the eighth and you knew what was going to happen.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Giants off to hot start, but true test comes in LA

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — And now the Dodgers, the hailed Dodgers, the despised Dodgers, the “Beat L.A.” Dodgers. And now we find out if these 2010 Giants, who have started so well, who have begun so encouragingly, are able to do what Giants teams of late have been unable to do, beat the Dodgers.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Don't judge Lincecum just yet

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — It is a baseball axiom not to get worked up about what happens individually in March, or if a team is out of a pennant race in September. So we exhale after reviewing Tim Lincecum’s spring.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: The Book on Willie Mays

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- He sits in the clubhouse of the San Francisco Giants' spring headquarters, spectacles pushed atop his head, sometimes playing cards, frequently playing with our memories.

Willie Mays seems his age now, 78, hearing reduced, eyesight inhibited. Yet in the mind's eye he remains forever young.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010