I’m sitting in the press room at the US Open waiting for things to get heated up — Tiger tees off in 3 1/2 hours — and I want to chat about a few non-golf topics I haven’t had a chance to discuss.

MANNY RAMIREZ: You can’t blame the A’s for signing Ramirez to a minor-league deal. It was a low risk move and it might have amounted to something. It didn’t work out and both sides acknowledged that. So Manny is gone. In a way, I think that’s good. With him on the team the A’s would have turned into the Manny Show. The A’s are trying to be their own show.

GIANTS PITCHING: Bear with me on this. Right now the Giants have two Barry Zitos. They have the original Zito who stunk a long time but fooled us into thinking he was getting good. Now he’s reverted to just plain Barry and the Giants would be nuts to depend on him.

Tim Lincecum has devolved into Zito. It’s hard to choose between them. Lincecum may find himself tonight in Seattle. Until he finds himself he too is a drag on the team, really brings it down. The Giants will limp along with Zito I and Zito II. They need these guys to become un-Zitos, and fast.