• Bob Klapisch: "No drama in Subway Series"
• Michael Silverman: "Pied piper? If Damon goes, may take idiots with him"
• Jeff Zillgitt: "Making virtual reality a part of the real game"
• Mike Klis: "Bell right man for Royals"

Bob Klapisch: "No drama in Subway Series"

With eight-plus years of weariness on our shoulders, we slog to the doorstep of one more Subway Series. Haven't we been here, done that? Indeed -- 50 times since 1997, including the 2000 World Series. Yankees vs. Mets is old and tired, a plague upon any sane fan.

Deliverance is what we should be praying for. Let this be the last Subway Series until someday -- it won't be this year -- these teams legitimately confront each other in October.

Until then, we've suffered enough. Here's why the gimmickry must come to an end:

Because don't you just know ESPN will prattle on about the Mike Piazza-Roger Clemens blood feud (which has long since expired) one more time? It'll be used as state's evidence that this rivalry is alive and well. We know better.
-- Bergen Record

Michael Silverman: "Pied piper? If Damon goes, may take idiots with him"

Hanging around the clubhouse and the dugout in his bare feet, red sleeveless workout shirt and blue shorts, Johnny Damon looked as comfortable as could be before Wednesday's game. Wandering along, smiling slyly at anyone who caught his eye, looking a bit at a loss with what to do with himself since he was out of the starting lineup in Cleveland to rest his aching right shoulder, Damon stopped to talk, as he often does, about anything under the sun.

A one-time stutterer who emitted a squeaky-clean image, Damon has since evolved into an iconic figure in Red Sox lore, the long-haired, full-bearded, free-spirited author whose life has been an open book and someone who has an opinion on everything without sounding bombastic or grating when he expresses it.

More than Manny Ramirez, Jason Varitek or Curt Schilling, Damon, side by side with David Ortiz, has evolved into the face of the Red Sox franchise. But as his last guaranteed season with the Red Sox winds down, the questions about his future come at him with increasing frequency. While a midseason trade appears highly unlikely -- "I think it would raise more questions than answers if they did do that but what they do, so be it,'' said Damon. "I don't think it would be too smart. I would be shocked, I don't think they want to get me upset that way" -- his departure via free agency seems to be, at the very least, no better than a 50-50 proposition.

If he does go elsewhere, Damon does not expect to be the only ex-Red Sox on the market. If so, he hopes to stick as close as he can to his current mates.
-- Boston Herald

Jeff Zillgitt: "Making virtual reality a part of the real game"

Bill Veeck, if you could only see the stunts you hath wreaked.

Minor League baseball, an independent league in particular, has long been a place for unique promotional events. The Northern League's Kansas City T-Bones and Schaumburg Flyers are going where no teams have gone before -- virtual reality.

On July 16, the first two innings of the T-Bones-Flyers game will be played ...

On Xbox.

Using EA Sports' MVP Baseball 2005.

And the first two innings will count toward the outcome of the game.
-- USA Today

Mike Klis: "Bell right man for Royals"

After four hours, the first phase of the job interview for Kansas City Royals manager was completed. "And then when you come back," Baird said. "I want you to interview me."

Bell gave this some thought. He recalled his managerial terms with the Detroit Tigers and the Rockies. Each time, he quickly turned the franchise from laughingstock to competitive. And each time, the next step went backward.

He went back to the interview's second phase.

"He only had one question, and this really meant a lot to me," Baird said. "He said: 'Allard, if I were to be hired as manager, are we going to stick with the direction? Because if we're not, I'm the wrong manager. I don't need to do this.'

"I liked that. That meant you weren't hiring an independent contractor, you were hiring somebody who was buying into the organization."
-- Denver Post