Peter Gammons

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Apolitical blues

By Peter Gammons
Special to ESPN.com

July 7

Amnesiac dollars
Based on active players going into the weekend, these are the payrolls for the contending teams:

American League
N.Y. Yankees, $95 million
Cleveland, $87 million
Seattle, $72 million
Boston, $65 million
Oakland, $32 million
Minnesota, $27million

National League
Los Angeles, $83 million
Atlanta, $79 million
Arizona, $62 million
San Francisco, $52 million
Philadelphia, $33 million
Florida, $26 million
N.Y. Mets?, $88 million

King of the mountain
Before Friday night's game in Los Angeles, one scout said, "tonight Mr. Ichiro gets welcomed to the real world. Kevin Brown is a unique experience."

Ichiro led off the game with a home run off the Dodgers ace.

I didn't see it coming
Here are two poll questions asked of players, scouts and executives:

What player has most surprised you in the first half?

The leaders
1. Bret Boone
2. Paul Lo Duca
3. John Burkett
4. Ichiro Suzuki
5. Albert Pujols
6. Doug Mientkiewicz
7. David Eckstein
8. Tim Wakefield
9. Kyle Farnsworth
10. Ryan Klesko

Most unusual vote: Craig Counsell

Which player who has struggled will take off and have a monster second half?

1. Jeff Bagwell
2. Tom Glavine
3. Ken Griffey Jr.
4. Bobby Abreu
5. Erubiel Durazo
6. Trot Nixon
7. Carlos Beltran
8. Derek Jeter
9. Al Leiter
10. Carlos Delgado

Most Unusual vote: Eric Gagne

The last laugh
For a while, it has been speculated how George Steinbrenner will pay off Chuck Knoblauch on the two-year, $18 million extension he reportedly has for the 2002 and 2003 seasons with Randy Hendricks of SFX. Like many of the Steinbrenner-Hendricks agreements, it will be taken care of, but we may never know how.

Says one SFX official, "in the office, it has been called 'The Loch Ness Monster.' "

Life in a glass house
L.A. Lakers star Kobe Bryant and former major-league pitcher and present Devil Rays scout Matt Keough are new neighbors.

The fall of the world's own optimist
Oakland's bullpen has blown eight leads for Cory Lidle.

Bells of Rhymney
Who are your favorite guitarists?

Billy Beane, GM Oakland Athletics
Johnny Marr (Smiths). Roger McGuinn (Byrds), Angus Young (AC-DC), Martin Barre (Jethro Tull), Johnny Ramone (could you expect that a Ramone wouldn't be on the list?).

Honorable mention: Pete Towsend, Mike Campbell (Tom Petty), Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Dick Dale (surf legend).

Michael Eisenstein, guitarist (Letters to Clio, other bands) and baseball fan
George Harrison -- from Help on, everything he played sounded so cool; Jimmy Page -- rock band as orchestra; Wes Montgomery -- jazz can sound great on the guitar; Eddie Van Halen -- the reason I play guitar; Joey Santiago (The Pixies) -- now that's alternative.

It pains me to leave off guys like Mike Campbell, The Edge, Neil Young, Keith Richards, et al.

Scott Hatteberg, Boston Red Sox catcher
Eric Clapton -- Done it all, blues, rock, reggae. His acoustic stuff may be my favorite. Mark Knopfler -- Has a great unique sound. Never seems to get old. Stevie Ray Vaughn -- This man was one of a kind. He wailed. The 1980 live album "In the Beginning" is all the proof you need. Dave Matthews -- I know you're saying I'm crazy, but this guy plays things on an acoustic guitar nobody else could pull off. He doesn't play lead, but he lays down rhythms that are unbelievable. The chords that go into his songs are all over the board. Great blend of funky jazzy rock. Jimi Hendrix -- Crazy talent, cutting edge creatively. Influenced the greats. Plus he was a lefty from Seattle.

Also a quick nod to the man who started it all -- Robert Johnson. He may have sold his soul to the devil, but he sure got something in return.

Jeff Horrigan, baseball writer extraordinaire, Boston Herald
The Edge (U2); Bruce Watson (Big Country); Mike Campbell (Tom Petty/Heartbreakers); Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits); Mike Eisenstein ... or J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.)

Pete McConville, ESPN Producer
Martin Belmont -- he made Graham Parker's backup band The Rumor and Nick Lowe's Cowboy Outfit simply amazing; Ricky Skaggs -- if you've never seen him you wouldn't understand; Chet Atkins-Skaggs credits him for teaching him the most about playing the guitar; Bill "The Diesel" Kirchen -- just go listen to "Hot Rod Lincoln" live and you'll understand; David Grissom -- session player from Austin who played with Joe Ely's band on a couple of albums ... listen to Joe's Live at Liberty Lunch and on a couple of tunes you'll swear there's more than one guitar playing.

Peter Gammons, Apolitical Blues
Jeff Beck; Jim Moginie (Midnight Oil); Jimi Hendrix; Richard Thompson; Mark Knopfler; Paul Barrere (Little Feat).

Honorable mention: Paul Cotton, Duane Allman, Johnny Lee Schell.

Down below the borderline
Julio Franco, 39, leads the Mexican League in batting (.423), hits, on-base percentage (.493) and slugging percentage (.655). Mark Whiten also leads in homers with 23, while one-time Red Sox phenom Rudy Pemberton -- the Izzy Alcantara of his time-- leads in RBI.
(Source: SportsTicker)

The Red Sox wives have put together a cook book titled "Crowding the Plate," with proceeds going to the AIDS center at the Boston Medical Center. It isn't unusual to see Stacey Beck or Bitsy Hatteberg hawking the cook book on the streets outside Fenway Park (it can be ordered c/o the Red Sox, 4 Yawkey Way, Boston, Mass. 02215)

Here are a few of the following items:

Hideo Nomo's least favorite food is "none."

Nomar Garciaparra's offseason hobby is "wine collecting and the beach" and his traditional holiday food is "tamales."

Manny Ramirez's favorite restraurant is Pizzeria Uno

Rich Garces' favorite food is "rice, black beans, plantains and carne."

Pedro Martinez's favorite traditional holiday meal is "anything but meatloaf."

Paint by numbers
Dante Bichette now has 41 four-hit games. Among active players, only Tony Gwynn has more, with 45.
(Source: Elias News Bureau)

Prodigal
Greg Maddux at 35 years, 8 months, is the youngest pitcher since World War II to win 250 games.
(Source: Lee Sinins, Baseball Immortals)

Broken butterflies
Livan Hernandez told Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti that he refuses to throw hard because when he's done so, he's been hit hard. By the way, Livan has two quality starts this season.

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	Apolitical blues: June 30