"He said he likes this team, and we have a good shot to beat 'em." Tony's old-school, he wants this one bad, to end the embarrassing 10-year drought. If the Nationals lose, La Russa might go retro and flip the spread (postgame buffet).
3:42 -- Jesse Jackson breezes through the NL clubhouse. Rumor: He's here to broker a Giants-Bonds contract for next year. 3:57 -- A report circulates that Ichiro Suzuki is about to sign a long-term contract with the Mariners.
So scratch baseball's most amazing hitter off your Giants' wish list. 4:10 -- Even in BP, guys can't go cove. The Home Run Derby was horrible advertising for the Giants in their upcoming quest for free-agent home-run hitters.
Why would any lefty swinger subject himself to this kind of frustration? 4:15 -- Celebrity sighting: Pat Sajak, still glowing from his third-place finish in the Duane Kuiper lookalike contest. There are about three million guys in sports who are easier to dislike than Johnnie B.
5:05 -- Long lines at the souvenir stands as fans fight for $30 T-shirts. Welcome to San Francisco, fans, and don't even think of trying to leave town with that last fiver in your pocket. 5:23 -- Pregame intros, and a big hand for Bruce Bochy.
Can you imagine the greeting Felipe Alou would get if he was still manager and the team was stuck in dead last? How long will the Bochy honeymoon last? 5:26 -- Dmitri Young is introduced and actually doffs his cap.
Love the old-school civility. 6:03 -- Ichiro leads off the game with -- what else? -- a ground single to right.
This is the cleverest man with a stick since Minnesota Fats. Why no Ichiro Shift, with five infielders, and the two outfielders playing shallow in the gaps? Take away the holes, challenge him to go deep.
6:05 -- NL first baseman Prince Fielder lets an easy throw clang off his glove. If this guy can play first base, why can't Barry? 6:15 -- Drops of rain.
It's so chilly that A-Rod's wife Cynthia left her "Bleep You" tank top back at the hotel, opting for the "Up Yours, Pal" ski parka 6:39 -- Ichiro dinky-dunk slices a hit to short left. It wasn't a swing as much as it was a ping-pong slap. Forget a shift; Ichiro would pick it apart like Mick LaSalle reviewing Jim Carrey in a Shakespeare movie.
6:45 -- Jose Reyes' little two-hopper to third hits a pebble, veers sharply left, eludes Alex Rodriguez. Reyes sprints to second and takes a turn, opting not to try for history's shortest triple. Will A-Rod see this as a cosmic sign that he shouldn't sign with the Giants?
6:51 -- Bonds is taken out. Come on, Tony, one more at-bat. This is San Fran-damn-cisco.
6:58 -- A-Rod tries to score from second on a single to center, Ken Griffey Jr. guns him down, Rodriguez taking the tag standing up. Somewhere, Pete Rose hurls a beer can through his TV screen.
Somewhere, so does Ray Fosse. 7:15 -- Ichiro, good lord, how have pitchers held him to a .357 average?
He slams a long drive off the wall in right center, it takes a crazy carom and he legs out an easy -- easy! -- inside-the-park homer, the first in All-Star history. Coolest young player in the game.
Bottom ninth, Nationals rally on two-run homer by Alfonso Soriano, then load bases, but come up short. Can't wait to see what kind of wax job they put on my truck. E-mail Scott Ostler at sostler@sfchronicle.
com. This article appeared on page of the San Francisco Chronicle "He said he likes this team, and we have a good shot to beat 'em.
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