5/6-5/11
How to talk about the Giants without mentioning You Know Who: 1) Focus on the team’s decent pitching staff, led by right-hander Jason Schmidt; 2) Observe that 38-year-old shortstop Omar Vizquel is stealing bases like there’s no tomorrow (which may be true); 3) Dismiss reliever Armando Benitez’ disturbing tendency to go on the DL; 4) Marvel at the way the Giants have kept out of the cellar without the services of outfielder Moises “I Didn’t Bring the Curse with Me from Wrigley Field” Alou; 5) How ’bout that Edgardo Alfonzo!; 6) How ’bout that Pedro Feliz!; 7) How ’bout that Mike Matheny! Baseball fans filling up the empty spaces in Seldom Been Champions Park will need the above conversational ploys this weekend and next week, as the Giants take on the surprising Washington Nationals (Fri-Sat-Sun) and the same old miserable Pittsburgh Pirates (Mon-Tue-Wed), onetime home of a guy who will probably never emerge from the clear. SanFrancisco.Giants.mlb.com – Kelly Vance
Credits: Al Cameron Cal baseball
SUN 5/8
Mom-O-Link
Taking her whacks
This Mother’s Day, surprise Mom by throwing her golf clubs and shoes into the trunk of the car, getting her to dress up like Annika Sorenstam, and driving her out to Metropolitan Golf Links for a few holes of Mother’s Day Golf. Moms play free all day, and she’ll enjoy chipping in a few with her Little Handicap. And you’ll enjoy showing her you recognize a good deal when you see one. Metro Links is at 10051 Doolittle Dr., next to Oakland International Airport, and a Metropolitan Ladies’ Golf Group is now forming. You can book a tee time online at PlayMetro.com, or call 510-569-5555 for more info. — Kelly Vance
5/6-5/8
Farm Team Visits Cal
Tired of whining, overpaid professional athletes and their ill-tempered tantrums masquerading as entertainment (see above)? This long weekend at UC Berkeley’s Evans Diamond, catch a glimpse of the last true amateurs, the Boys of Spring, the Cal baseball team. They’ll be heavily engrossed in one of the great rivalries of intercollegiate athletics as they play a final home series against the dreaded Stanford — Friday at 2:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 1. Stanford is nationally ranked, Cal is not, but as in football, anything can happen. Keep your eye on freshman first baseman Mike Van Winden, senior right-handed pitcher Eric Dworkis, and freshman shortstop Kyle Spraker. CalBears.com — Kelly Vance
