San Francisco Giants

The Cordish Cos., known for pairing urban-style entertainment districts with sports venues, will work with the San Francisco Giants to build a $1.6 billion waterfront development near the club's ballpark and is planning three more sports-anchored projects in Las Vegas, Portland, Ore., and St. Louis. The Baltimore-based developer of Power Plant Live at the Inner Harbor and the Maryland Live Casino at Arundel Mills mall is seeing a burst of activity in sports-themed mixed-use development.

Giants' Pierce to talk with investigators nfl Antonio Pierce and the doctor who treated his New York Giants teammate Plaxico Burress after he accidentally shot himself at a Manhattan nightclub will talk to investigators today. Pierce and Josyann Abisaab will be accompanied by their lawyers, NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Public Information Paul Browne said. It is unclear when and where the parties will meet. The authorities are especially interested in why neither Pierce, who drove Burress to the hospital, nor Abisaab called police to report the shooting early Saturday.

ATLANTA -- It was merely the biggest game in the history of the world.Or as close as any baseball game ever comes on Sept. 2, anyway.Had the Atlanta Braves lost on their home turf to the San Francisco Giants last night, it wouldn't have ended their season, and it wouldn't have ended their first-place dreams. But . . ."To win this game was huge," Braves pitcher Steve Avery said after his team came stampeding from behind to stun the first-place Giantsagain, 5-3. "If we lose, we're 5 1/2 behind -- six in the loss column.

ATLANTA - The situation unfolded as the Atlanta Braves envisioned when they got Gary Sheffield to help exorcise their demons of Octobers past. Everything except the ending. Sheffield hit a towering home run to energize the Braves' late-inning efforts, but failed with the spotlight on him again as the San Francisco Giants held on for an 8-5 victory yesterday in Game 1 of their National League Division Series at Turner Field. Representing the potential tying run in the ninth with fans chanting his name, Sheffield, one of baseball's top clutch hitters, grounded into a game-ending double play against closer Robb Nen, enabling the Giants to finally finish off the Braves before what remained of a crowd of 41,903.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - What's cuter than a Rally Monkey and much better luck for the San Francisco Giants? Little Darren, the world's smallest bat boy, that's what. The word from Edison International Field yesterday was that Little Darren will indeed be back in the Giants' dugout tonight for Game 6 of this World Series. The Giants' good-luck charm - and son of manager Dusty Baker - is allowed. There had been some question about that. "I did have a conversation with Dusty over the occurrence," Major League Baseball's vice president of baseball operations, Sandy Alderson, said yesterday.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- The San Francisco Giants apparently ran out of patience with power-hitting outfielder Kevin Mitchell, who was traded along with left-hander Mike Remlinger to the Seattle Mariners early yesterday for pitchers Bill Swift, Mike Jackson and Dave Burba.The morning deal was the first in a series of trades consummated on the final full day of baseball's winter meetings at the Fontainebleau Resort.Mitchell, 29, averaged 36 home runs the past three seasons and is considered one of the most dangerous hitters in the game, but his relationship with the Giants steadily deteriorated after he became an instant superstar with a major-league-leading 47 home runs in 1989.

When you think of San Francisco Giants all-time greats, the usual suspects come to mind: Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal. Rod Beck might not even make your A list. But for anyone who covered the Giants in the 1990s, Beck would be right near the top. An all-time, larger-than-life, heart-of-gold great. Beck was found dead in his Arizona home over the weekend. He was 38, far younger than many of the current Giants and much, much too young to die. It seems odd that he was still so young, because he was such a throwback.

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The San Francisco Giants must have gotten lost in the free-agent free-for-all. They've won more games than any other National League West team over the past two years, but seemed to fall off the face of the baseball world after the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks went spend-happy over the winter.They lost the National League wild-card berth in a playoff against the Chicago Cubs last year and have largely the same team back in 1999, but everyone is assuming that they'll finish well behind the Dodgers and D-backs, because each of those teams added a superstar pitcher to their starting rotations.

ST. LOUIS - The San Francisco Giants had to claw and scratch their way out of third place in the National League West to earn the wild-card berth that allowed them to keep playing this October. They had to go five games to outlast the 101-win Atlanta Braves in the first round of the playoffs to reach the National League Championship Series. Now, they're making it look too easy. Shortstop Rich Aurilia hit two home runs and right-hander Jason Schmidt dominated the potent St. Louis Cardinals' lineup for 7 2/3 innings as the Giants scored a 4-1 victory in Game 2 last night at Busch Stadium.

The Bay Area rivalry between the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants has gotten personal, and it bears a hint of the animosity that has developed in Washington over the Orioles' reluctance to endorse a second team in the region. The A's would like to have the option of building a new ballpark in the South Bay suburb of Santa Clara, but the Giants insist that they own territorial rights to the area and do not want any competition for the affluent fans that come into the city to attend games at SBC Park.