Former Giants All Star first baseman J.T. Snow — seen at left during 2005, his last season with the Giants — has signed a one-day contract with the team so he can retire as a Giant.

Most recently, Snow has been a part-time broadcaster, part-time coach for the Giants, for whom he played from 1997 to 2005. A free agent in 2006, he signed with the Boston Red Sox but played little and announced his retirement during the 2006 winter meetings.

Rumors that the Giants’ “major announcement regarding J.T. Snow” meant him being named as team manager, or anything else, proved false.

Courtesy the Extra Baggs blog by San Jose Mercury News sportswriter Andrew Baggerly comes this news: Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel — known, among other things, as a musician, snazzy dresser, and above all, a miracle-worker at shortstop — is also an accomplished painter, with a show opening tomorrow at the Caldwell Snyder Gallery, 341 Sutter St.

Click the thumbnail image to go to a page where you can see Vizquel’s paintings, which show an impressive touch.

Fans of Vizquel’s work in a baseball uniform may have only a few days left to see him exhibit his skills on the field. Though he has the most hits (2369 at this writing) of any active player, he’s been hitting under .200 all season long, and many are saying his playing days are numbered. But the 11-time Gold Glove winner still makes amazing plays at shortstop, exhibiting the unearthly grace and composure of a great dancer.

That’s the Giants’ Nate Schierholz — born in Reno but schooled in baseball at San Ramon Valley High and at Chabot College in Hayward — kicking the ass of China’s catcher Yang Yang in yesterday’s Olympics win by the US team over China. Schierholtz has labored all year in the minor leagues — though he’s likely to be called up at the end of the month when rosters expand — but today baseball fans all over the country know he plays hard.

The hard play at the plate came in a game when China pitchers hit three US batters, including Schierholtz.

In a town that loves people named Barry, the First Asian President visited San Francisco, cashing in to the tune of $7.8 million. Said Barack Obama to a heavily ethnic crowd: Ich bin ein desi.

The Giants’ Tim Lincecum struck out 10 over 7 2/3 innings, leading the Giants to a win over Atlanta, meaning that Georgia was having a bad day all over. Georgia does, however, have two golds and a bronze, one of the gold medals coming in women’s shooting. Maybe if that gold medal shooter were back at home, they wouldn’t have already lost the war.

One of the Dhaliwal brothers injured in the tiger attack is going to prison on a parole violation in a case that had nothing to do with the fatal mauling of his friend at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day.

With Independence Day on a Friday but gas prices bumping five dollars a gallon, we’re celebrating the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth close to home.

An amazing day at the park last week, been offline for a few days, otherwise I would have had this up sooner. Nice to see the Giants on a tear for a change. In this shot Aaron Rowand is attempting to pwn John Maine. Enjoy!

In November, Barry Bonds was indicted for lying to a grand jury; in February, a judge sent prosecutors back to try again, saying the original indictment was too vague or something. Today, the feds took their second at-bat, unveiling a new indictment charging the former player with 15 felony counts including obstruction of justice.

Meanwhile, the team is six or seven games under .500, but the atmosphere at the ballpark is curiously relieved, and balls hit to left field, which speedy Fred Lewis patrols nowadays, no longer drop unmolested.

This time last year, all eyes were on Barry Bonds as the Giants tried for months to get him to sign a one-year contract that wouldn’t make them look like they were bending over backwards… or maybe just bending over. In this, they failed.

This year, Barry is gone from the team and under indictment, and the winter has seen few deals. They re-signed reliever Brad Hennesey ten days ago. And today they officially lost Pedro Feliz, who signed a two-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Feliz, never a fan favorite, spent his entire eight-year career with the Giants, providing a solid but rarely brilliant third base defense, and power from time to time.
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While most of the Bay Area was masturbating over MacWorld product announcements, baseball commissioner Bud Selig was getting french-fried by Rep. Henry Waxman (D. - Calif) over the Mitchell Report’s revelations that the management of the San Franicisco Giants knew about Barry Bonds’ steroids use and did nothing.

Waxman’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held hearings today on the Mitchell Report’s findings. His opening statement called out Giants management by name — after the jump.
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Some of this may not be new to anyone who reads this blog, but here is a list assembled from the Mitchell Report released today. And did you know that a dentist can prescribe HgH? This quote pulled from page 304 of the report:

“According to the article, Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center records show that on
March 9, 2002, Williams ordered $5,693 of testosterone cypionate, human growth hormone, clomiphene, Novarel, and syringes, and on May 8, 2002, Williams ordered $6,000 worth of testosterone cypionate, nandrolone, clomiphene, Novarel, and syringes. The orders reportedly were sent to Williams at a business address in Scottsdale, Arizona. The article reported that “Williams’ prescriptions were written by the same dentist who prescribed [human] growth hormone for [Paul] Byrd and [Jose] Guillen.”

A Dentist? that’s got to be a strike at plausible deniability.
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