Is it Just Me?!? 8/5/05

Is it just me, or:

• Does it seem like Mike Hargrove is asleep in the dugout before, during, and after all M's games? It's highly unlikely, of course, but still, I cannot shake that feeling, with all the lineup and pitching decisions he's made lately.
  
• Did the King's first appearance go nearly completely as expected? He struggled early, wriggled out of it with minimal damage (1 run), and dominated pretty much the rest of his outing. It so reminds me of guys like Clemens, RJ, Ryan and Pedro. You really have to get to guys like them early if you're to have any hope of winning at all. Give Felix a league-average to above-league-average offense that actually scores some runs, and his win-loss ratio will be staggering.
• Are you torn on how to feel about the Moyer 10-5 veto thing. On the one hand, Jamie's a cornerstone both to the community and to the team, and he's definitely earned the right to stay if he so chooses. On the other, the package of prospects (rumored to be Burke and/or Nieve, two of the Astros top 10 prospects according to Baseball America) would've made this trade perhaps only a notch below the trade we made with Houston exactly 7 years earlier. In all interviews I've heard and read with Bavasi discussing the trading deadline, he appears frustrated that this deal wasn't consummated, in spite of ultimately deflecting all the direct questions.
  
  Sure, the Ryan 'Roiding Flyball Franklin suspension and impending TJ surgery for Campillo exacerbate the need for Moyer to eat innings for the remainder of this futile mission, called the 2005 season. I'm sad that Jamie won't pitch in a World Series -- he's not a part of the M's long-term future, even if he does pitch into his 50's. He'd have to pitch into his 70's in order to see the playoffs with the M's. It would've been nice to have the package of prospects Houston was offering for Moyer and Winn or Villone. In that sense, then I'm a little bit frustrated with Moyer. However, I can't blame him for not wanting to go to another team, let alone a different league, when his home-road splits clearly show a huge gap.

Postscript added 4:00 p.m. Can anyone tell me if MLB can test and subsequently suspend a positively-tested player on the DL under the steroids testing policy? No matter what the answer, is it just me or is it fishy that Barry Bonds hasn't hastened his return to baseball?!? Sure his injury is quite serious, but is there any reason not suspect that he's taking an extra long hiatus to purge his body from certain substances?