Enemy Lines

an opposing team's scout sizes up the Giants

"A lot of guys griped last year about Felipe Alou's not communicating. They were used to Dusty Baker, who was one of the boys. Alou is confident in his decisions and never lets a player influence him to change his mind. A lot of these guys need someone to pat them on their backs and tell them everything's going to be O.K....

A.J. Pierzynski is not great defensively and is known to be mouthy. It'll be interesting to see how he fits in....

With all the BALCO stuff Barry Bonds hasn't been a happy camper. He's going to pass Willie Mays in home runs and nobody's talking about it....

No one thought Marquis Grissom would have the year he had last year. Can he do it again?... Neifi Perez is a big defensive upgrade over Rich Aurilia at short, but he won't give you the same offensive production....

The bullpen should be strong. Felix Rodriguez is working on a changeup, though he doesn't seem to have confidence in it yet....

Kirk Rueter goes out and competes, but is he the guy you want out there in a best-of-five series? Not for me."