"Precious, precious, precious!" Gollum cried. "My Precious! O my Precious!"

First off, remember that you can be in a baseball pool with me and other bloggers just by signing up from here or clicking the link on the right.

C.C. Sabathia, pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, has one home run to his credit in the major leagues. Yesterday on MLB.tv I got to see it, as my May 21, 2005 baseball watching run continues: the Reds-Indians game to be specific.

Today's game? I'm looking at maybe the August 18th tilt between the Dodgers and the Braves. Or the Dodgers versus the Cubbies on May 31st. Perhaps the Colorado Rockies taking on the Florida Marlins? Red Sox against the Jays on Dominion Day might be interesting as might the Orioles and the Twins on Wednesday July 20th 2005. In the end though, I'll watch none of them. Why? Because as I predicted, February 28th marked the end of my free ride on last year's MLB.tv subscription and now I have to spend another $100.

So what else is new in the world of hurling? Well lets see. No subject (lest perhaps women) has spilled more ink in human history than the relations between Father and Son. Another chapter of that tale was written on Monday when Roger Clemens' son, Koby, hit a home run on the first pitch his old man threw at him. Embarassing a little, perhaps? Clemens didn't pull punches though: at Koby's next at-bat, Clemens threw a fastball at his own son's head, requiring Koby to dodge to save his neck. The motto of this story? Don't mess with Texas (pitching).

In a local angle, Edmonton City Councillor Ron Hayter shared the stage with former Montreal Royals pitcher Tommy Lasorda as both were inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Larry Walker still has to sit this one out.

Manny just being Manny. He shows up at practise late, risks getting fined by MLB, refuses to join te World Baseball Classic, and still wants to be traded. Worst of all? You'd still give your right arm to have him on your fantasy team.

MLB went all soft now and let a woman into the Hall of Fame. Not sure why they did that, keeping her out would have been relatively easy...and I remain convinced that the talent in the Negro Leagues wasn't as rock-solid as the sensitive MLB spin-doctors wish it to be. I mean, its not the NFL or anything. And why is the news link from the Colorado Rockies website? No idea.

Barry Bonds dressed as Paula Abdul for Spring Training. I'm not linking to it. You don't want to see it. And if you do, I don't want you reading my blog.

Who in your team's locker room can bench press 85 pounds? If you answered "anybody, obviously" then you aren't a Seattle Mariner (which is a shame.. I'd want some of them reading my blog).

Brian Giles of the Padres, brother to Atlanata Brave Marcus Giles, hired a bunch of midgets to dress up like KISS. That just is wrong on so many levels.

Finally, The World Baseball Classic is coming up. Maybe its time to plunk down that $100...