Why waste your time on bug-infested mlb.com when you can bask in the joy of these minor league sites. (You know the M's won anyway)

BEATING THE BUSHES
attheyard.com
Called Up: Dozens of player journals tell you how to survive the Road Trip From Hell. Site also sells caps for 160 minor league teams, featuring phat names like the Lancaster (Calif.) JetHawks.
Sent Down: We could have lived without the umpire's lecture on the difference between obstruction and interference.

CANDID CAMERA
twostepsaway.com
Called Up: Six professional photo galleries of life in the Double-A Eastern League. Where else can you see two men in fat-guy suits and call it culture?
Sent Down: Pitcher Mike Kusiewicz discovers the perils of sleeping on the floor of a moving bus: "You get stepped on often." Sounds like our office.

TRAVELING LIGHT
minorleagueroadtrip.com
Called Up: Foul Ball Bylaw No.3: After you snag a ball, give it to a nearby kid and "bask in the applause you get from the crowd for doing so. You're such a whore for attention anyway."
Sent Down: Site calls grimy Newark, N.J., "sparkling."

STARS IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE
home.lv.rmci.net/taengon/page1.html
Called Up: A terrific look at the little-known legends of minor league ball, from Ron Necciai's 27-K no-hitter to Joe Bauman's 72-homer season.
Sent Down: Only passing mentions of Ox Eckhardt and Arnold "Jigger" Statz.

This article appears in the July 9 issue of ESPN The Magazine.