"THE STRATEGIES were sound, the costs reasonable, the gestures noble, the risks low and the rewards potentially high. Each team made the right call.

There should be no regrets in Oakland for signing Jason Giambi, and none in San Francisco for signing Randy Johnson.

But these are not the farewell tours anybody hoped for. Not the A's, not the Giants, not their fans - and certainly neither of the players.

Johnson and Giambi take pride in their willingness to prepare, physically and mentally, for the demands of a 162-game schedule.

Each pushes himself hard, then harder. It's a part of the makeup. And each spent the first half of the season persuading a disobedient body to take the field on a regular basis."