Notes from a day in baseball:
• 1. Barry Vs. Albert, Round One. One day in the distant future, an old man will look back on this day and smile. "Yes," he will say, "I was just a boy when I went to AT&T Park that spring day in 2006, to watch two of the greatest sluggers of all time. And I was not disappointed." Of course, the old man will be talking about Jamey Wright and Omar Vizquel, causing him to be placed in an extended care facility. It's sad, really. But now, imagine the chagrin of these drunk losers dedicated Giants fans in McCovey Cove (pictured), who were hoping to snag Barry Bonds' No. 715 ... or at least a clout by this season's home run leader, Albert Pujols. Instead, they had to settle for a Vizquel homer; his first in 345 at-bats at AT&T, the longest such homerless stretch among the Giants. It was hardly even worth dropping your beer to retrieve (we imagine a lot of one-armed paddling).
• 2. Will The Indignities Never Cease?. First the Mets nearly swept them, and now a loss to the once-struggling Curt Schilling (7-2), who went eight innings in Boston's 9-5 win over the Yankees. It was Schilling's 199th career victory, but he did say this of the Yanks: "That's a distinctly different team. That's not a knock against any of the players they're running out there,* but you're talking about All-Star caliber players they're replacing."
• 3. Jake Peavy Will Now Go Home And Break Things. What exactly does it take to win a game in the NL West? Baseball's only division without a sub-.500 team is suddenly very perplexing, at least to Jake Peavy. The Padres' pitcher struck out 16 — a team record — over seven innings, but still lost to the Braves 3-1. Ryan Langerhans' two-run homer in the second helped John Smoltz (4-2) to the victory.
• 4. You Only Hurt The One You Love. Frank Thomas returned home and immediately began catapaulting pitches out of the yard, but it wasn't enough as the White Sox prevailed over the Athletics 5-4. Thomas hit two solo homers, but it was a ball hit about seven feet — a game-winning bunt single from Pablo Ozuna — that won it in the 10th for the Sox. Hurt did get a standing O from the sellout crowd a Cellular, however.
• 5. Dunn Deal. We officially think that Ken Griffey Jr. is going to lap Barry Bonds and get to 755 first. Junior had a three-run homer (his 541st) in the Reds' five-run first and your favorite pitcher, Bronson Arroyo (6-2), was the winner in a 15-5 stomping of the Brewers. Adam Dunn also homered. It's worth noting that Dunn has 174 homers over his first five seasons. Griffey, over his first five seasons, had 132. In fact, the only active player to have more homers than Dunn over his first five seasons in the league is Albert Pujols, with 201.
* = It's a knock.