Cheating doesn't matter ... if player is on your team

First of all, Steve McNair did not deserve to be murdered.

Nobody deserves such a fate from his girlfriend while lying on the couch.

The sad reality of McNair’s death concerns the circumstances surrounding it.

Now we find out that McNair had perhaps as many as three girlfriends; the one who killed him thought he was breaking off their relationship because of another one.

And as we all know, McNair was married with four kids.

It appears a majority of people in Tennessee could care less about McNair’s lifestyle because he was a great football player.

If you succeed on the field, local fans turn a blind eye to what you do off the field.

No wonder San Francisco Giants fans supported (suspected) steroids user Barry Bonds. No wonder Los Angeles Dodgers fans are backing Manny Ramirez after a 50-game, drug-related suspension.

Cheating – whether it’s with drugs or infidelity with women – doesn’t seem to matter if you are a sports hero.

Take former NFL running back Travis Henry. He has nine kids with nine different women (married to none) and has now been sentenced to three years in prison for financing a drug trafficking operation that moved cocaine between Colorado and Montana.

Recently, we learned from former North County Times sportswriter Mike Sullivan that Antonio Cromartie of the San Diego Chargers has seven kids (all under age 5) by five different women. He’s not married or engaged to any.

Cromartie was a hero in 2007; a bust in 2008 because of a hip injury. With his off the field activities, he’s obviously distracted in more ways than one.

Like all others, Cromartie puts on his pants one leg at a time. From now on, hopefully he’ll keep his pants on … both on the field and off!

San Diego Padres should give Drew Macias a shot

Did you know that the San Diego Padres have a player with a .667 slugging percentage and an on base percentage of .435?

No, it’s not Adrian Gonzalez, Tony Gwynn or anybody else on the current major-league roster.

The man with the big stats and big bat is outfielder Drew Macias, who’s currently playing for the Triple-A Portland Beavers.

So, why, might you ask, would the Padres have a player with such potential in the minor leagues?

That’s a good question … without a good answer.

Sure, the left-handed hitting Macias has a very small sample this year with 18 official MLB at bats and five walks (not a bad percentage, walking more than 20 percent of the time.)

What’s really of note is that Macias has four doubles and one home run in those 18 at bats; meaning he has gotten an extra base hit in nearly 30 percent of his at bats.

OK, these aren’t nearly enough at bats to judge Macias; so why not give him a try to find out for sure if he’s for real?

The Padres currently have youngsters Will Venable and Kyle Blanks playing in the outfield … at least part-time. Neither has exactly set the work on fire, fitting in with the rest of the downtrodden team.

Macias did set the world on fire earlier this season. So why not see if he can do it again on what has turned into MLB’s worst hitting team?

Los Angeles Dodgers are MLB's best team

How about those Dodgers?

Not only do the Los Angeles Dodgers have MLB’s best record (56-32) at the All-Star break; second-place San Francisco in the NL West leads the wild card chase by two games.

Translated: The Dodgers are nine games in front of the competition for a berth in the 2009 playoffs.

This is a team that can be truly characterized as a “team,” since more than one individual is leading the way.

After all, the Dodgers went 29-21 when Manny Ramirez was on his 50-game drug suspension.

Can you imagine the St. Louis Cardinals going 29-21 without Albert Pujols?

Perhaps the best indication of the Dodgers’ depth is that Juan Pierre – Ramirez’s replacement during his suspension – is the team’s No. 4 outfielder. On any other team in the NL West, Pierre would probably be playing everyday and batting leadoff.

If the Dodgers have a weakness, it is their starting rotation’s inability to go deep into the game (they are second in the league in bullpen innings pitched.)

Chad Billingsley has emerged as the ace and proven to be capable of going 7-8 innings. After him, you rarely get more than 5-6 innings out of Hiroki Kuroda, Randy Wolf or Clayton Kershaw.

The Dodgers would love to get American League All-Star starter Roy Halladay as their ace, but the asking price of Billingsley or Kershaw is too high.

So, General Manager Ned Colletti will likely fill the void by adding a relief pitcher.

How does Manager Joe Torre grade his team at this point?

“Incomplete,” he told the Associated Press after Sunday’s 7-4 win vs. the Milwaukee Brewers. “That's the only thing I can give it at this point because the back half, just like in golf the back nine, is the toughest one to play. We're going to have to go out there and continue to live up to ourselves.”

Don’t be surprised if the Dodgers have a Tiger Woods-like back nine.

San Francisco Giants: Comeback team of the year?

There’s no doubt that Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants should start for the National League in the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday in St. Louis.

Not only is Lincecum the reigning NL Cy Young award winner, he also:

Leads the league in winning percentage (.833)
Is tied for the lead in wins (10)
Ranks second in ERA (2.33)

Lincecum and All-Star teammate Main Cain certainly form the league’s best 1-2 duo.

Don’t be surprised if they lead the Giants to the wild card berth (finishing behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.)

After them, San Francisco’s starting rotation isn’t that shabby.

Despite currently being on the DL, Randy Johnson has shown he still has something left at the age of 45.

Barry Zito isn’t worth anything near his $18 million annual contract for each of seven seasons, but he is pitching well enough to be a factor in the Giants’ success again.

These four could provide the Giants with a formidable rotation if/when they make the playoffs.

Considering San Francisco hasn’t finished better over the past four seasons than 75-87 in 2005, it could be called the “comeback team of the year.”

San Diego Padres hurting on, off the field

Pity the poor San Diego Padres.

Not only will they probably have MLB’s worst record over the second half of the season; they also have more than half of their payroll on the disabled list.

And that’s not good for an organizational that cut its payroll to $45 million this year (second lowest in the majors.)

The Padres have $25.475 million sitting on the DL in:

Pitcher Jake Peavy, $11 million
Outfielder Brian Giles, $9 million
Pitcher Chris Young $4.625 million, and
Second baseman David Eckstein, $850,000

And that’s not to mention three others who have been out all (or virtually all) season costing another $1.679 million:

Outfielder Cliff Floyd, $750,000
Pitcher Shawn Hill, $500,000, and
Pitcher Cha Seung Baek, $429,000

All told, these seven veterans are costing the Padres about 60 percent of their payroll for not even playing.

The Padres also traded away their second-best hitter in Scott Hairston ($1.25 million) this week in a further salary dump.

Sadly, this is a team whose only direction seems down … on and off the field.

Pitching is best in NL West

You may not have noticed because of the East Coast media bias, but …

Did you see where seven of the 13 National League All-Star pitchers are from the NL West?

Without a doubt, the best overall pitching in MLB resides in the NL West.

For proof, check out the All-Star pitchers from the division:

Heath Bell, San Diego Padres: Leads the NL with 23 saves. Anybody in San Diego still think he can’t replace Trevor Hoffman?

Chad Billingsley, Los Angeles Dodgers: Among four pitchers tied for second in the league with nine wins.

Jonathan Broxton, Dodgers: Leads all MLB relievers with 65 strikeouts, averaging near 15 strikeouts per nine innings.

Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants: Tied with teammate Tim Lincecum for the NL’s best winning percentage (.818) with a 9-2 record and third in the league in ERA (2.48)

Dan Haren, Arizona Diamondbacks: His 2.16 ERA leads the league; and he’s even 8-5 with an Arizona team that is 25-44 when he doesn’t figure in the decision.

Tim Lincecum, Giants: The 2008 NL Cy Young winner is tied with teammate Cain for best NL winning percentage and is second in ERA (2.23).

Jason Marquis, Colorado Rockies: OK, how many of you actually know that Marquis is tied for the major-league lead with 10 wins?

There’s no question that pitching is best in the NL West.

Fourth of July: Celebrate Independence!

Go ahead and celebrate.

You deserve it!

Independence Day is a time to remember the fact that our nation has been under its own rule for more than 230 years.

So take in the baseball games on the Fourth of July weekend. Enjoy the fireworks! And remember the Declaration of Independence. Here’s how it begins:

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Let’s just hope our government always remembers that it is working for the advancement of people … and not vice versa!