PASADENA, Calif. – For one blessed afternoon in the cool hush of a library auditorium, all things Barry Bonds gave way to charmingly offbeat tributes to a famed language-mangling catcher, an acclaimed author who mined his MLB career for material and, in the flesh, the revered godfather of statistical analysis and questioning front-office authority, none other than Bill James.

For the 200 or so in attendance, the proceedings led to a peculiar baseball nirvana, quirky yet purposeful, whimsical yet cerebral, aided by the trippy sitar noodling of a gray-haired hippie seated cross-legged on the stage. When he switched to a ukulele and performed the national anthem, everyone stood, and when he broke into "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," everyone sang.

Even Bill James. Or at least his lips moved.

Author Bill James said he was flattered by his "Shrine of the Eternals" induction. (Jeff Levie / Special to Yahoo! Sports)

By the time Yogi Berra, Jim Brosnan and James had been inducted into the

LOS ANGELES – No doubt about it. Stubborn ol' Brad Penny is back, brusque and obstinate as ever. Yet this time he's winning in spite of himself, and so far nobody's been embarrassed.

Penny was especially curt with the media after his two starts since the All-Star Game. But the Los Angeles Dodgers only care that he won both, including overcoming a shaky beginning in an 8-6 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday, to improve to 12-1.

He's the rock on a staff beset by injuries and mediocrity, so everyone has shrugged and left him alone, even when he kicked an object in the dugout after being lifted with two on and one out in the seventh inning. Moments later, Dodgers reliever Joe Beimel got pinch-hitter Paul Lo Duca to ground into a double play, ensuring a victory for Penny, who is off to a better start than Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Don Sutton or Orel Hershiser ever had. Reliever Phil Regan (1966) is the only other Dodger to begin a season 12-1 since the team moved to L.A.

The

SAN FRANCISCO – Remember the happy, playful Barry Bonds who welcomed one and all at the All-Star Game only five days ago?

He's buried under a 0 for 20 slump, including a humiliating series against the Los Angeles Dodgers that included three losses and a flurry of strikeouts, double-play ground balls and popups by the player Giants manager Bruce Bochy calls, "our go-to guy."

So Bonds ripped Bonds.

"It's an embarrassment to be wearing this (bleeping) uniform, the way I'm performing," he said after angrily telling television crews to turn off their cameras.

"Now get away."

The reporters standing at his locker lingered for one more question.

So Bonds cursed Bonds.

"I said it's an embarrassment to wear this (bleeping uniform), the way I'm playing," he repeated.

He waved his arm at the throng.

"Now, get out of here."

The reporters dispersed, and good thing. Anybody in Bonds way might have suffered the same fate as the laundry cart that blocked his way to the trainer's room. He knocked it

SAN FRANCISCO – Flustered, fat and flat on his back, Dmitri Young thought he was going to die.

Forget baseball. Young was clinging to his life from a Florida hospital bed, moments from slipping into a diabetic coma, one month removed from dying inside while his former Detroit Tigers team played in the World Series, two months removed from being unceremoniously drummed out of Comerica Park after getting caught sleeping in the clubhouse during a rain delay, five months removed from checking into rehab for alcohol and drug abuse.

"I felt like I could have gone at any moment," he said. "I thought there was a tombstone with my name on it."

Is it possible that anyone – let alone an overweight 34-year-old recovering alcoholic – could climb from those depths and surface, swinging and grinning, in the All-Star Game, representing the Washington Nationals?

"When you reach something like this, you can't help but look back to where you were a year ago," he said. "It's hard to explain. I didn't want

SAN FRANCISCO – Well, it was nine-ball of sorts. Nine men wearing different colored jerseys were spread around a lush green surface that from the top deck of AT&T Park could have passed as felt.

And when Ichiro Suzuki wielded his cue stick – er, bat – Earl Strickland would have been impressed.

There were three over-the-wall home runs Tuesday night in the American League's 5-4 victory over the National League, but none were as riveting as the in-house homer produced by Suzuki's lightning-quick stick in the fifth inning.

The Seattle Mariners outfielder earned Most Valuable Player honors by going 3-for-3 and hitting the first inside-the-park home run in All-Star Game history and the first of his two-country career. The drive caromed crazily off the right-center field wall like a kick shot with serious draw, rolling past a shocked Ken Griffey Jr. into right field.

Suzuki didn't pause to admire his stick work, dashing around the bases behind Brian Roberts and not even bothering to slide.

SAN FRANCISCO – Their dugouts are stocked with baseball's best players, yet All-Star Game managers Jim Leyland of the American League and Tony La Russa of the National League couldn't help but pine for a few players who aren't here.

"I gave a lot of thought to Frank Thomas and Craig Biggio deserving to be here, and I was going to push for it," Leyland said. "Then I remembered Sammy Sosa hitting his 600th, and I thought, 'Where do you draw the line?' "

In the days leading up to the All-Star break, Biggio bagged his 3,000th hit, Thomas hit his 500th home run and Sosa became the fifth player to reach 600.

All of which prompted La Russa to suggest that MLB should add to the 32-man rosters.

"Baseball could add a 'distinguished career' spot because that way no other deserving player would lose his spot," he said.

• Carlos Beltran, the NL's starting center fielder does not pretend to be a mathematician, but he is thoroughly engrossed by the numbers accumulated by the men who will flank him in

SAN FRANCISCO – Russell Martin has always had an eye for design. And crouched behind home plate, privileged with the best possible view of a baseball field, he appreciates the impeccable symmetry, faultless dimensions and clarity of color.

When Martin was four, he'd pick out clothes for his mom to wear. "I leaned toward drab, and he pushed me into vibrant," she says.

As a minor leaguer swiftly ascending the Los Angeles Dodgers' farm system, Martin spent an off-season living with the family of scouting director Logan White. It took only a few days before Martin was telling White how to rearrange his furniture, that the piano should go over here, the television there, the couch against that wall.

"It cost me $20,000 to get it the way he wanted," White says.

Martin, who will start behind the plate for the National League in Tuesday's All-Star Game, is unrepentant in foisting his opinions on those close to him. Nobody minds much because he is so pleasant about it. And he's usually right.