A-Rod gets money, blame

• A World Series wish from the valley: The Detroit Tigers' Doug Fister (Merced) goes 8ª innings and hands the ball to closer Phil Coke (Sonora).

• At least that's a possibility unlike the Giants-Yankees World Series.

• The Bee's Joe Cortez will blame Jose Feliciano if the Giants don't reach The Big One.

• Feliciano sang the national anthem before Game 1 of the NLCS. The first time he sang his famous rendition was in 1968. That year, the Tigers met the Cardinals (Yikes!)

• The Giants must overcome everything, even Jose Feliciano juju.

• The Yankees getting swept by Detroit was one thing, but the Yankees not leading for four games ... ouch.

• The Giants seldom have enjoyed their stay on the Planet Zito ... until now.

• Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano, Eric Chavez and Curtis Granderson all whiffed through the playoffs, so why did the Yankees throw the book at Alex Rodriguez?

• I can hear you — he's owed $114 million over the next five years — but you can't earn your salary when you're spitting sunflower seeds in the dugout.

• Go figure: Nike eventually hung with Tiger Woods, Ben Roethlisberger, Michael Vick and Kobe Bryant but unloaded Lance Armstrong in about five seconds.

• Conclusion: Nike will work with flawed stars as long as they're not using PED's.

• It seems like even companies who did not sign with Armstrong are dumping him.

• Popped into my brain after watching more grunt work by the 49ers' Frank Gore: Garrison Hearst.

• The National Enquirer reported that O.J. Simpson, still in prison, wants to sell the "murder knife" for $5 million. He needs more money to track down the real killers.

• Gordy Soltau was inducted to the 49ers Hall of Fame. He did a lot of post-career TV work back in the day when the blitz was called the "red dog."

• The 49ers joined a growing list of NFL teams run ragged by the NFL schedule: Three games in 11 days.

• Becoming a stone-cold lock: Jim "What's your deal?" Harbaugh beating up on Pete Carroll.

• It could be worse, 49er Faithful: Stressing about Alex Smith after a 5-2 start.

• Running the game from behind the plate: All four managers in the LCS were former catchers.

• Another good look from the LCS: Timeless uniforms worn by the Tigers, Yankees, Cardinals and Giants.

• Cal's failure to score a touchdown against Stanford means more trouble for Jeff Tedford.

• My first reaction to The Play as I saw it unfold 30 years ago: No way this touchdown holds up.

• My lasting memory 30 years later: John Elway, standing outside the Stanford locker room, saying, "They ruined my last game," while the Stanford Band merrily plays on outside.

• The Play actually was overkill. The game already was a classic.

• And, on my way home that night, a thought: I'll never see anything like this again.

• That's still true.

• Unless Coke relieves Fister.