Things that don't suck: Mark Sweeney

Mark Sweeney's presence in the SF Giants lineup this year will keep them in the hunt for the NL West title. If you don't believe me, you can ask ESPN Baseball analyst Jayson Stark - he thinks so, too. From the San Francisco Gate:

...The Angels picked him in the ninth round of the 1991 draft. The Dodgers actually drafted him the year before, but he returned for his senior season at the University of Maine, where he batted .384 and completed a business degree.

He was a year behind J.T. Snow in the Angels' system and admired the way Snow handled being yo-yoed between the big club and Triple-A. In 1995, Sweeney was dealt to St. Louis, where he made his big-league debut, and he has been a classic journeyman since, with stops in San Diego, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, San Diego again, Colorado and San Diego for a third time.

Yes, he often is confused with Kansas City Royals first baseman Mike Sweeney and said, "I first met him in a spring training game. He was catching with the Royals. I stepped up to the plate and I said, 'Nice to meet you, and I'm tired of getting your mail.' He started laughing."

The Giants plucked Mark Sweeney off the free-agent market in December, signing him to a two-year, $1.8 million contract that ESPN baseball analyst Jayson Stark called one of the three best signings for under $2 million this offseason.

"Thank God I didn't see that," Sweeney joked. "That's really meaningless to me. I just want to come in here and help in my own way for a lot of different reasons. Obviously, my job is to come off the bench later in the games to make us a better ballclub. With guys like (Jose) Vizcaino here and some of the guys we have off the bench, that's going to be one of our strengths."