Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News is a little delusional.

Either that, or my man has been getting high on peyote, because in one of his recent articles he actually suggested that the Giants have to trade Barry Zito.

And the Giants have to very seriously consider trying to trade Zito to any suitable team that will take some of his money (Zito has a no-trade clause); or they have to think about releasing him in the off-season.

Of course, at the end of this season, Zito will still be owed a guaranteed $83 million. Which is a lot.

Releasing him in the offseason might be a viable (expensive, but viable) option with Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson tearing up the minor leagues and possibly being ready to join the big league club next year. But what team would be stupid enough to trade for Zito and take on some of his contract as Kawakami is suggesting? Even the win-at-all-cost, spend-at-all-cost Yankees wouldn’t touch Zito, especially with Roy Halladay on the market.

Truth be told, Zito hasn’t looked as bad this year as he has the previous two seasons. When he’s supplying souvenirs to the fans sitting in the left field bleachers, he can be serviceable as a fourth or fifth starter. Of course, he’ll still be the highest paid fourth or fifth starter in baseball history, but at least the Giants will be getting something back on their brutal investment.

Either way, nothing is going to happen this year. No team is going to trade for him and with Randy Johnson on the DL the Giants aren’t going to release Zito during the season, no matter how bad he pitches the rest of the way. They could potentially move him to the bullpen (which they tried to do for about a millisecond last year), but don’t forget that he’s typically a good second half pitcher and with the Giants in contention, they’d be better off rolling the dice and leaving him in the rotation.

Better yet while the Big Unit is on the DL, the Giants could pit Zito against Jonathan Sanchez and Ryan Sadowski for the last two spots in the rotation. Loser either goes to the bullpen (Zito/Sanchez) or Triple-A (Sadowski).

If you were to have gotten Giants general manager Brian Sabean all liquored up in a private setting (I know you’re probably weirded out by the start of this sentence, but stay with me here) and asked him which players he wouldn’t mind giving up in a trade to acquire a bat, he almost certainly would have uttered this name: Jonathan Sanchez.

Hell, there’s a great chance he would have uttered that name first. But that was before Sanchez’s no-hitter against the Padres on Friday night, when he struck out 11 batters and was a Juan Uribe-error away from throwing a perfect game.

The Giants had been waiting for that kind of performance all season out of Sanchez. Granted, they weren’t expecting that good of a performance, but they did have high expectations for him coming into the 2009 season.

He did show flashes of brilliance earlier this season, most notably in a two-hit, 2-0 win over the Diamondbacks on April 17. But ’09 has mostly been a season of massive frustration for not only Sanchez, but also a Giants organization that had hoped the 26-year-old lefty would be the third leg of a tripod that also featured pitching sensations Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain.

Sanchez has always been a strikeout pitcher, but for much of this season he struggled mightily with his control and he seemed to be racking up K’s only because he was wildly effective. And when he would start to struggle during games, he appeared to be a mental midget on the mound and could never recover.

At the end of June, Sanchez was demoted to the bullpen and the only reason he got the opportunity to start on Friday night against San Diego was because Randy Johnson suffered a shoulder injury swinging a bat in his last outing. But as Sanchez noted after his no-hitter, the move to the pen allowed pitching coach Dave Righetti to work with him on his lower half, getting the lefty to slow down and cock his leg back more upon his delivery. This also slowed his arm action down and it allotted Sanchez more control of all his pitches.

And he was certainly in control last night, striking out 11 batters with a barrage of fastballs, sliders and breaking balls that befuddled a weak San Diego lineup. His performance wasn’t a fluke; Sanchez was just that good last night and maybe the young man is finally turning the corner.

That said, the Giants need to hang onto Sanchez now. Even for as bad as he’s looked this year, maybe Friday’s performance will serve as a steppingstone for Sanchez to become the pitcher San Fran had always envisioned him becoming. With Johnson expected to miss at least another week or so, Sanchez will get another start or two and if he’s lights out again, Sabean can’t trade this kid with the Giants leading the Wild Card race.

San Fran’s offense is bad, but it might not be as bad as everyone initially thought. “Kung Fu Panda” Pablo Sandoval has ignited this team with his bat, Aaron Rowand has been revived in the leadoff spot and even young players like Nate Schierholtz and Travis Ishikawa are starting to come around. If role players like Uribe, Randy Winn and Edgar Renteria can help fill in the gaps, the Giants might not have to part with an arm like Sanchez in order to get a bat on the trade market.

Plus, with Lincecum and Cain, the Giants already had one of the best pitching rotations in the NL – if not the best. If Sanchez has finally turned the corner, the Giants could potentially have the best starting rotation in the entire league (don’t forget about Johnson and Barry Zito, the latter of which has pitched well this season). San Fran would be incredibly tough to beat in the postseason with that rotation, even with a weak lineup.

Now, I know what some are thinking: Sanchez has had more bad outings this season than good and one no-hitter doesn’t mean he’s Cy Young-bound now. But Sanchez isn’t some journeyman that came out of nowhere; the Giants loved his potential coming into the season. And if he has finally turned the corner, SF should reap the benefits of developing his talent.

Plus, with minor leaguers Buster Posey and Angel Villalona on there way to the big leagues soon, maybe the offense is on its way and the Giants don’t have to go outside of the organization in order to acquire bats.

Maybe Sabean is thinking he can turn Sanchez’s no-hitter into trade gold. Maybe Sabean can now get the bat the Giants have needed all season long. Or maybe Sabean keeps Sanchez and builds a starting rotation that resembles the Braves of the mid-90s or the A’s of earlier this decade. After all Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez look like one hell of a trio right now and the sick part is, the Giants still have two more studs in the waiting in minor league arms Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson.

Sabean might be sitting on a pitching gold mind here. Now isn’t the time to trade one of those pieces.

A San Francisco Giants’ starter has thrown a no-hitter.

It must have been Tim Lincecum right?

Nope.

Matt Cain?

Nope.

Randy Johnson?!

Nope.

It wasn’t Barry Zito was it?

Absolutely not.

One night after Lincecum flirted with a similar feat, 26-year-old Jonathan Sanchez, coming off a recent demotion to the bullpen, threw a no-hitter against the Padres on Friday night as the Giants beat San Diego 8-0 at AT&T Park in San Francisco. It was the first no-hitter of the 2009 Major League season and the first Giants’ no-hitter since John Montefusco threw one in 1976.

In his nine innings of domination, Sanchez struck out 11 batters in obviously his most dominant performance of his career. He did allow a base runner, but it was due to a Juan Uribe fielding error in the eighth inning. Had Uribe not booted the play (he misplayed a bad in-between hop), Sanchez could have had a perfect game.

Speaking of fielding, Sanchez got an amazing gift from centerfielder Aaron Rowand in the ninth as he went back on a ball that was crushed by Edgar Gonzalez, leaped against the wall and made a terrific catch. Shortstop Edgar Renteria also made a fine play in the hole the play earlier.

What’s amazing is that Sanchez wasn’t even supposed to pitch tonight (relatively speaking, that is). He was taken out of the starting rotation at the end of June and replaced by Ryan Sadowski after he started the season 2-8 with a 5.54 ERA. But an injury to Johnson gave Sanchez a start tonight and he obviously took full advantage of it.

This was supposed to be Sanchez’s breakout season, but instead he struggled considerably with his control and would often get flustered after bad innings. His strikeout numbers have been consistently good, but he has been more wildly effective than anything. His name has even come up in numerous trade rumors, although considering Johnson’s injury and the fact that the Giants are in the thick of the NL Wild Card chase, they might hang onto Sanchez for the second half.

No matter what Sanchez’s future holds, this was an amazing accomplishment. The Padres don’t exactly have the most potent offense, but Sanchez isn’t exactly Cy Young either. He was absolutely phenomenal and for a young man who has had so many struggles this season, he deserved this tonight and maybe he’ll use this performance as a stepping-stone to turn things around and have a great career.

On a personal note, I was fortunate enough to watch every pitch of this game and it was absolutely thrilling as a baseball fan. They said on the broadcast that Sanchez’s dad, who had never seen his son pitch in the majors before tonight, flew to San Francisco yesterday to watch the game and was able to celebrate with Jonathan in the dugout afterward. It was a great scene.

Congratulations to Jonathan Sanchez.

SI.com compiled a ranking of the 50 highest-earning American athletes and discovered that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are at the top of the list.

1. Tiger Woods
Pro Golf
Last Year’s Rank: 1
Salary/Winnings: $7,737,626
Endorsements: $92,000,000
Total: $99,737,626

Tiger sacrificed millions in appearance fees during his year off to recover from knee surgery, but replaced his lucrative Buick deal — voided by mutual consent — with a new one from AT&T.

2. Phil Mickelson
Pro Golf
Last Year’s Rank: 2
Salary/Winnings: $6,350,356
Endorsements: $46,600,000
Total: $52,950,356

Like Tiger, Phil no longer counts on a car-maker in his endorsement portfolio. (Ford chose not to re-sign him.) He still has lucrative deals with Rolex, Callaway, Exxon, Barclay’s and KPMG.

3. LeBron James
Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA)
Last Year’s Rank: 3
Salary/Winnings: $14,410,581
Endorsements: $28,000,000
Total: $42,410,581

LeBron has one more season left under his deal before he can opt out. If Cleveland doesn’t show it’s Finals-worthy by next spring, expect the Knicks to come in with a huge offer.

4. Alex Rodriguez
New York Yankees (MLB)
Last Year’s Rank: 6 (tie)
Salary/Winnings: $33,000,000
Endorsements: $6,000,000
Total: $39,000,000

We’re in the middle of A-Rod’s peak earning power in his middle-loaded, 10-year megadeal: He’ll make another $33 million in 2010 and then gradually decrease to a “normal” $20 million by ‘17.

No. 5 Shaquille O’Neal
Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA)
Last Year’s Rank: 6 (tie)
Salary/Winnings: $20,000,000
Endorsements: $15,000,000
Total: $35,000,000

The Big Bargaining Chip? Regardless of his trade to Cleveland, Shaq is in the final year of the five-year, $100 million deal he signed while with Miami. It’s the largest expiring deal in the NBA.

No. 10 Peyton Manning
Indianapolis Colts (NFL)
Last Year’s Rank: 9
Salary/Winnings: $14,500,000
Endorsements: $13,000,000
Total: $27,000,000

NFL’s top endorser has distributed $500,000 in grants in ‘09 through his PayBack Foundation to charities in Indianapolis, near his alma mater (Tennessee) and his hometown, New Orleans.

It’s amazing that the highest paid NFL player (Peyton Manning) barely cracked the top 10. Granted, the NFL only has a 17-game regular season, but you’d think that for what football players put their bodies through every season that they would make more than baseball players, golfers and basketball players.

Although he is pitching well this season despite his overall numbers, seeing Zito’s name on this list at No. 26 makes me shudder. He’s the third best pitcher (maybe fourth depending on how high you value Randy Johnson) on his own club, yet he’s the 26th highest-earning American athlete. Still, it should be noted that Zito donates $400 for every strikeout that he throws to the Strikeouts for Troops charity that he created to help hospitals treat soldiers that are wounded in military operations. In fact, as the article notes, a lot of the guys on this list give thousands of dollars to charities every year and that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Most of the baseball world is chirping about the Yankees’ nine-game winning streak, the return of Dice-K in Boston and the possible landing spots for Jake Peavy now that he’s rejected a trade to the White Sox, but I’m feeling a little more pessimistic myself. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of three of the most frustrating, punch-a-hole-through-your-wall teams to watch so far in baseball this season.

(This list is in no particular order – they’re all frustrating to watch.)

1. New York Mets
I’ve never seen a team squander so much natural talent than the Mets do on a near nightly basis. I know they’re battling some injuries right now, but there’s no excuse for a lineup so chockfull of talent should be giving games away because of stupidity in the field and on the base paths. Johan Santana and the rest of the pitching staff must close their eyes and start praying every time a batter puts the ball in play because there’s a good chance that circus the Mets call a defense will blow the play somehow. And blind elephants (they exist – I looked it up) would be better on the base paths right now than most of New York’s runners.

2. Washington Nationals
Forget for a moment that this club has lost 28 of its first 40 games – the most frustrating thing about the Nationals is that they’d easily be a .500 team if they had anything resembling a pitching staff. Don’t believe me? Washington has scored the third most runs in the National League and the 11th most in all of baseball, but the pitching staff is giving up over a touchdown a game in runs. Even if the pitchers could hold opponents to five runs a game (which is certainly not unreasonable) the Nats would win most nights. Watching this team is like getting two robots for Christmas. One of the robots (let’s call him Ryan Zimmerman) functions great and does everything you want it to do, like build things. The other robot (let’s call him Scott Olsen) barely starts, you constantly have to change its batteries and even the times it does work, it only works long enough to ruin what Ryan Zimmerman Robot built.

3. San Francisco Giants
The Giants have the opposite problem of the Nationals – their pitching staff is solid, but their offense couldn’t score runs if every batter started with a 3-1 count. In Jonathan Sanchez’s last start, he gave up two hits and lost. Barry Zito has gotten a whopping 2.5 runs a game when he pitches. Not even NL Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum can cure what ails the Giants’ offense this season. San Fran is also the only team in baseball that doesn’t have a home run yet from its first base position. When any combination of Rich Aurilia, Eugenio Velez and Emmanuel Burriss is due up in the ninth inning, Giants fans might as well just turn the channel because a rally isn’t coming. Manager Bruce Bochy should start forfeiting games as soon as the Giants get down 2-0, because there’s no conceivable way that they’re going to come back from that insurmountable deficit and he might as well save his pitching staff. Watching the Giants try to hit is the equivalent to taking a nail gun and shooting it through your eyelids.

I’m sure Astros, Pirates and Rockies fans will have something to say about this, which I welcome in the comments section. Come on – get out your frustrations!

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Offseason Movement: The G-Men added a solid piece to their starting rotation in former Cy Young-winner Randy Johnson. The club also signed free agent Edgar Renteria to play shortstop, and added Jeremy Affeldt and Bob Howry in hopes to strengthen their bullpen. Rich Aurilia and Josh Phelps were given minor league contracts, although Phelps was already reassigned to minor league camp.

Top Prospect: Madison Bumgarner, LHP
Who would have thought that the farm system that produced Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Brian Wilson and Jonathan Sanchez would have a pitcher as its top prospect? While catcher Buster Posey, corner infielder Angel Villalona and starter Tim Alderson deserve mention here, Bumgarner earns the Giants’ top prospect tag for his “ace” potential. While he isn’t expected to take Lincecum’s No. 1 spot any time soon, Bumgarner could turn out to be a San Fran’s No. 2 in the next couple seasons. He dominated his first full year in the minors after being selected in the first round out of high school, posting a 1.46 ERA in A-ball. He has a fastball that reaches 97 mph and once he develops his secondary pitches, Bumgarner should make his first big league appearance in no time.

The Big Question: Will this team score any runs?
Out of all the teams in baseball last year, only the Padres (637) scored fewer runs than the Giants (640). And all San Fran did to reshape their roster was give youngsters Pablo Sandoval and Travis Ishikawa full-time roles. While Sandoval has a ton of potential, he is largely unproven and along with Bengie Molina and Fred Lewis, he comprises one of the weakest 3-4-5 middle-of-the-orders in baseball. From top to bottom, the Giants once again have one of the worst offenses in the league and unless they can add a big bat at the trade deadline, they’ll likely play in a ton of low scoring ballgames this year.

Outlook: This team actually has scattered potential, but they’re just not there yet. 2008 Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum is already one of the most dominating pitchers in baseball and it seems like his popularity has grown overnight. Randy Johnson, Matt Cain, Barry Zito and Jonathan Sanchez join Lincecum to form one of the better young rotations in the National League. Unfortunately, they’ll once again have little to no run support because GM Brian Sabean has ignored drafting top position players for years. Instead, he has chosen to overpay for guys like Aaron Rowand, and therefore must hope that youngsters Pablo Sandoval, Fred Lewis, Travis Ishikawa and Kevin Frandsen have breakout years. Randy Winn, Edgar Renteria and Bengie Molina are fine role players, but they’re being counted on as the core of the Giants’ lineup, which limits this club’s potential. The starting pitching will once again be solid and the bullpen actually looks decent with closer Brian Wilson leading the way, followed by free agent addition Jeremy Afeldt and promising youngsters Alex Hinshaw and Sergio Romo. But the lineup will once again hold the Giants back this year and unless Sabean has a trick up his sleeve at the trade deadline, San Fran will have to wait another year or two before they’re competitive again.

Projection: 3rd NL West

Tony LaRussa is much more than a World Series-winning manager and current skipper of the St. Louis Cardinals. Along with his wife Elaine, Tony is also is the founder of a foundation that reaches out to animals that are very much in need.

Tony and Elaine started Animal Rescue Foundation (or ARF) in 1991. The goal of ARF is to find families for adoptable animals before they become euthanized and according to the foundation’s website, the foundation now has a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator, which is America’s largest charity evaluator. Considering only 25 percent of charities reach a 4-star rating, it’s quite an achievement.

This Sunday, January 18, Tony will host “Stars to the Rescue”, which is an event that benefits ARF and other St. Louis area animal non-profits. “Stars to the Rescue” will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Chaifetz Arena on the campus of St. Louis University and will feature music and entertainment such as country music star Vince Gill, rockers Huey Lewis and The News, Kevin Cronin and Dave Amato from REO Speedwagon, as well as comedians Lewis Black and Kathleen Madigan, and 2008 CMA Horizon Award winner Lady Antebellum. For tickets and general information, please call Metrotix at 314-534-1111, or visit the foundation’s website at www.arf.net.

Tony was gracious enough to sit down with us recently to talk about “Stars to the Rescue”, ARF, and whether or not he would ever consider concentrating solely on his charitable work in the wake of Tony Dungy retiring from coaching to work more on his off-field contributions.

We also had the opportunity to ask him some baseball questions, including what it meant to add shortstop Khalil Greene this offseason, how the Cards look heading into the new season and what the health status was of Albert Pujols.

Tony LaRussa: Hey, this is Tony.

The Scores Report: Hey, Tony this is Anthony – thanks for sitting down with us, we really appreciate it!

TL: Not a problem – looking forward to it.

TSR: For those who aren’t familiar with Animal Rescue Foundation or “Stars to the Rescue”, can you explain what you guys do?

TL: We try to save animals that are adoptable, but ones that if they don’t find homes with families they get euthanized. That’s the traditional approach – that’s how we first got started. In St. Louis, we do a show where we partner with about a dozen other local rescue groups. Through sponsorships like AT&T and Purina, we’re able to give blocks of tickets to these rescue groups and whatever they sell they get to keep 100% for their programs. So it’s about animal rescue and at the same time, what ARF has become to be known for is we also use these animals as the rescuers of people with much different needs — whether it’s kids, seniors (who need) companionship, someone that has been hospitalized or other special needs (such as) victims of violence, (these animals become rescuers themselves). So that’s really our mission.

TSR: And what motivated you to start a foundation like ARF?

TL: Well, I grew up always wanting a pet in the house and then when I got married with Elaine, she had a dog and a cat and I realized that having a couple of companions be a part of your family was as special as it comes. So, as you learn more about them you realize just how many – like in the millions – adoptable animals there are. There’s an overpopulation and they’re not adopted enough so they’re being euthanized, and that’s part of the issue. So one of the ways, besides the public effort, is to form a non-profit (organization) to complement the public effort and that’s why we started ARF.

TSR: Do you work with any other athletes, managers, or coaches who specifically target animals in their charitable efforts?

TL: Well, we’ve been really fortunate (because) we’ve gotten a lot of help from different athletes and coaches in all sports. But recently a good example (of athletes getting involved) just happened last week. We had CC Sabathia, Jake Peavy, Barry Zito and Nick Swisher come together and make a donation for something we call Camp ARF at our facility in Walnut Creek, California. It’s a Monday through Friday program where kids spend the day learning, meeting and interacting with the animals. It’s become really popular – so much so that we have a waiting list – but it’s also one of the few things ARF does where we earn a fee. There are some kids that are kind of stretched for income or (for whatever reason can’t) be a part of the program, so these four baseball players are going to fund scholarships for a bunch of these students.

TSR: That’s absolutely outstanding and I’m sure a lot of people appreciate what those four athletes, as well as other athletes, do for the community. I’ll tell you what, that wouldn’t be a bad starting pitching rotation for the Cardinals either.

TL: Yeah, those are some stalwarts there.

TSR: (laughs) Absolutely! Do you feel that more athletes will get involved in ARF or charitable foundations like this?

TL: You know, the way I usually answer that question is – just get involved in something. Make it a cause that you have a passion for, (whether) it’s something in your family or somebody that has had an issue or a problem…get involved somehow. So yeah, if you wanted to make animal rescue or specifically get involved in ARF, we have a website at www.arf.net. We would love to have you with us, but the key is to get involved in something and don’t just be involved in taking from the community – give something back.

TSR: And that was going to be my next question. You see so many young athletes come into sports and they’re fortunate enough to make a lot of money – how important is it in your mind that athletes get involved in something and give back to the community?

TL: Well I think it’s absolutely critical. I learned that from people like Jerry Reinsdorf (who was) our owner in Chicago and Walter Hobbs in Oakland.

TSR: Right.

TL: You’re in a very special position as an athlete. Number one, you’re usually in the public eye so people are aware of you. You can lead by example so people can see your involvement and that’ll lead to more people being interested and getting involved. At the same time, just your personal (contributions)…you know, it doesn’t have to be money. It can be money, but you can always give your time, your energy, your connections – all of those things really add up. So, I think the worse thing you can do is not be involved and you don’t want to help anybody but yourself.

TSR: Absolutely. I wanted to ask you about Tony Dungy, who recently retired as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts so that he could spend more time on his off-field foundations and charitable events. Is ARF something that you can focus on while managing or could you see yourself eventually going the route Dungy did and retiring to focus solely on your foundation?

TL: That’s a good question, really, because we’ve wrestled with that as an organization, whether it’s our staff volunteers or especially our board of directors. When you’re actively working like in baseball – we have such a long season, we play so many games – there are 162 games where before and after I talk to the press. So I have opportunities to not only be known, but also spread a certain message. And there’s always media looking for some notes rather than just the pure game story. So, if you don’t have that kind of platform, you wonder about the effectiveness (the foundation can have). But if you had more time, maybe you can take some of your personal contacts and develop them better. I just keep it simple – right now I’m managing and I do have an opportunity to develop a lot of relationships and spread the word, and quite a few are joining up and helping.

TSR: It must be great to not only do something you love like be around baseball, but also give back to a foundation you truly care about. I think Tony Dungy is one of the best stories in sports and I always enjoy reading news about guys like you and him, as well as other athletes and coaches who reach out to the community and find a cause to get involved in.

TL: Well I appreciate it and if you grow up in team sports…I’m not a golfer or tennis player…but I’ve always been involved in team sports, so what you have away from the playing field, it often becomes a team (in itself). You know, we now have about 60 staff (members) and about 600 volunteers but we’re still all very personable, very connected to what we’re trying to do. And it’s been interesting because from day one – we’re 18 years old now –we’ve always tried to be innovative. We’ve always tried to find a different way and a new way, so it’s been a neat place to be around because there’s a lot of creativity.

TSR: If you could talk a little about “Stars to the Rescue”…which once again is this Sunday January 18 in St. Louis…there will be a lot of different stars there from Vince Gill to Huey Lewis and the News to Lewis Black the comedian. Who are you looking forward to working with the most?

TL: That’s like asking which one of your kids you like better.

TSR: (laughs)

TL: They’re all wonderful. “Stars to the Rescue” is set up like an all-star baseball game – you don’t ask anyone to do their full game or full show. Just like an all-star pitcher will only (be asked to pitch) a few innings; we’ll get each (musical performer) to do about 30 minute sets and then the comedians – Lewis (Black) and Kathleen (Madigan) – will (do their sets) for about 15 or 20 minutes in between. We’ve (used this format) for years in California and we’ve done four of them in St. Louis. It really works for the audience because they get a nice section of entertainment – you know, Vince (Gill) will do his country and Huey Lewis and the News will do rock and we also have Kevin and Dave from REO Speedwagon, so they’ll do a nice healthy segment. And then we’re really lucky because we got Lady Antebellum, who won the Horizon Award (this year), which is just like the Rookie of the Year Award. So it’s a terrific show and we’re pricing it right – there’s nothing elitist about it. The tickets are $55, $40 and $25 and it’s (held at the) Chaifetz Arena, which is a brand new arena on the campus of St. Louis University. So there are a lot of things that make it a very special night and the sponsorships (as well as the) money (from the event) will go right to the (animal) programs. It’s also the weekend of our “Winter Warmup”, which is like our fanfest, so we’ll have a lot of Cardinals players that are in town for their warmup. They’ll come to the show and our fans will enjoy seeing them (at the event) as opposed to being at the ballpark.

TSR: Do you know right now what specific players will be there?

TL: Well, yeah, you can go up and down the list. Our starting pitchers – whether it’s Chris Carpenter, Kyle Lohse or Adam Wainwright – they’ll be there. A lot of our relievers will be there – Jason Motte, Kyle McClellan, Ryan Franklin and Chris Perez. I’m not sure if Yadier (Molina) will be there because he’ll be in Puerto Rico, but Albert (Pujols) will be there and our new shortstop Khalil Greene…Troy Glaus I’m hoping will be there…a lot of great outfielders will be there. We should get a good turnout. Some of our Hall of Famers will be around, so it should be a real nice night.

TSR: How important is it to you for your players to show up to an event that you’re hosting like “Stars to the Rescue?”

TL: It’s kind of heart-warming, really. (The Cardinals) have a history of being a very family oriented team. It’s a family, besides our family, you know? We spend a lot of time together and you have your real family, and then your team family. Guys do a terrific job of supporting each other. A lot of the guys have causes or foundations and if they have an event, (their teammates) will all show up. So, they help me as well and I’d do anything for them.

TSR: My girlfriend lives in St. Louis and has always been a Cardinal fan – her favorite player is Ozzie Smith – so I’ve got to ask how the ’09 Cards will look this year.

TL: Well, we have a good nucleus. We’ve been trying hard to add a good piece or two because every time you do that you get better. We ended up being very competitive last year (even though) we were a little young. Now guys are a year older and they’re more experienced, plus we’re starting from a healthy place. Adding a piece or two has been tough because (the league) is very competitive, but we did acquire Khalil Greene from San Diego so we got a young, powerful shortstop.

TSR: How big is it to add a little pop to the shortstop position?

TL: Well, if he’s got power it helps. But if he hits 15 home runs and .220 he really doesn’t help as much as if he hits .300 because base hits get rallies going. I think the key thing for a guy like Khalil…when he hits it he’s got extra-base carry, but he has to first make sure he gets enough contact to where he’s putting the ball in play.

TSR: I know you haven’t seen him in any workouts yet, but how is the health of Albert Pujols?

TL: Well, we keep tabs. He really works hard at it and he’s feeling great, so if we can keep him healthy – knock on wood – he’ll have another great year. He really does everything possible to stay (in shape).

TSR: That always seems to be the challenge for every team entering the season – keeping their guys healthy for 162-plus games a year.

TL: Yeah, part of it is health (and the physical part of the game) and some of it is mental. (The season) is such a grind, so we really try to do things to keep guys fresh mentally and hopefully they don’t get into a rut. There are some things that you do – not gimmicks, not tricks – but strategies that we use to keep them mentally, as well as physically strong and ready to go.

TSR: Well Tony I really appreciate your taking the time to talk with me and I encourage everyone to go and check out “Stars to the Rescue” this Sunday. Is there anything else that you wanted to add about the event this weekend or any other general information about ARF?

TL: Only that you can get tickets at 314-534-1111 – that’s Metrotix. It’s a Sunday night on Martin Luther King weekend; it’s a very quiet weekend in St. Louis but the fans are in town, the players are in town and it’ll be a great show. It’ll be a very, very personable show. If you know Huey (Lewis) and Vince (Gill) and the REO guys – they really connect with the audience.

TSR: What seems great about the event is that there are so many athletes and entertainers that you really have something there for everyone and people can go out, have a good time and get involved in a great cause.

TL: I agree and the next thing to do is to get the word out and that’s why I appreciate today and your helping me do that.

TSR: It’s our pleasure and I’ll make sure to get the word out the best we can and help you draw people to the event. Again, we really appreciate your taking the time to chat with us.

TL: Thank you and take care, Anthony.

TSR: Thank you, Tony.

For tickets and general information, please call Metrotix at 314-534-1111, or visit the foundation’s website at www.arf.net.