Most players stay plenty busy on the eve of the game

	MAILBAG Submit a comment or question for Arash. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:
	2007 All-Star Game DONOVAN: No script for this classic FREEDMAN: Relaxed Ichiro runs to MVP award LUFT: Handing out grades for managers, players AL holds on to extend dominance Say Hey: Mays honored before game GALLERY: Best shots from the AL's narrow win MARKAZI: Inside the All-Star party scene

SAN FRANCISCO -- Johan Santana looks like a natural as he effortlessly swings for the fences. His smile grows with every ball he hits out of the park. "This is the easiest thing to do," he says after blasting his ninth homer. "I don't know what the big deal is."

Santana can act blasé because he's not at AT&T Park but at Ruby Skye, a nightclub near San Francisco's Union Square, for the MLBPA All-Star Party. He's playing the hot new baseball video game The Bigs on the Nintendo Wii from a flat screen set up near the club's dance floor as Mets shortstop Jose Reyes watches him perfect his swing.

"I was looking for myself but they didn't have me," says Santana, who ends up playing as Ryan Howard in the game's Home Run Derby mode. "I guess they think that pitchers can't hit because we have no power."

While Santana, the Twins All-Star pitcher and two-time Cy Young winner, continues living his long ball fantasy, teammate and reigning American League MVP Justin Morneau is saddled up at the bar with Tigers no-hit hero Justin Verlander. They are wolfing down food they ordered from Max's next door soon after arriving to the party. "I'm starving," says Morneau as he cuts into his steak. "Everyone was at the park for the Home Run Derby and we're hungry."

Standing in the corner of the club, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith is taking in the scene, having tested out the Wii himself. While Smith is more comfortable slinging passes at Candlestick, he said he wouldn't mind trying his hand at AT&T Park. "That's a beautiful place," says Smith. "I wouldn't mind throwing a few pitches there."

• There's an old saying that a party isn't really a party until Rev. Jesse Jackson arrives. OK, maybe it's not an old saying, but if it were, Barry Bonds' party at Roe Restaurant got off to a fine start when Jackson and Wille Mays walked the red carpet and were greeted by the soothing sounds of Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin."

When I sat down with Jackson a day earlier, he told me getting to be around Mays and Bonds was an honor for him. "I was such a fan of Willie Mays and now I'm just as big a fan Barry Bonds," he said. "At 42, he's still being walked 2-3 times a game. If he wasn't playing in this refrigerator he would have hit 900 home runs by now. I'm a big Barry Bonds guy."

Bonds arrived at his party fashionably late with his wife and said he had been looking forward to the party since San Francisco was awarded the game. "I knew I had to throw a big party in my hometown," he said. "Even if I wasn't playing, I had to throw the biggest party."

In order to do that, Bonds teamed up with Jay-Z to turn Roe into the 40/40 Club west. They certainly succeeded despite the absence of Jay himself. After Bonds walked the red carpet, he went upstairs where he mingled with his friends David Ortiz and Derek Jeter. "It's good to have my friends come out and support me," said Bonds. "I'll remember this for a long time."

• While it's hard to top a Bonds-Jay-Z production, C.C. Sabathia did just that with the help of some furry friends at the Crown Royal Playboy Lounge party he co-hosted with Playboy's August cover model Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon.

The swanky shindig, which was thrown at the San Francisco Design Center, attracted many of the All-Stars who would be taking the field at AT&T Park, including David Wright. "There's a lot of perks to being a player," said Wright. "It's incredible. I got to eat dinner with the president last year. It's amazing what I've been able to do."

Another perk of being an All-Star is getting flanked by Playboy bunnies who present you with a birthday cake, as was the case with Sabathia, who celebrated his 27th birthday towards the end of the party.

As Santana took in the scene in the raised VIP area alongside the likes of Alyssa Milano, he was reminded why he loves taking part in All-Star week so much. "I always have a good time but I like coming out here and spending time with my friends and being around the best players in the game," he said. "It doesn't get better than this."