High & Inside: NL Notes

Fans at Wrigley Field let out loud boos when the BP Crosstown Cup was presented before the Cubs' game against the White Sox.

BP, which is under fire for its handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, is in its first year as title sponsor of the annual six-game series between the crosstown rivals. Both teams have said they will stick with BP. Some promotions were scaled back.

Barry Bonds won a big legal victory that could put his long-delayed perjury trial back on track. A divided three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that prosecutors may not present positive urine samples and other vital evidence that the government says show that the slugger knowingly used steroids.

The appeals court ruling upholds a lower-court decision made in February 2009 barring federal prosecutors from showing the jury any evidence collected by Bonds' personal trainer Greg Anderson. Bonds' perjury trial, which was scheduled to start in March 2009, has been delayed pending the outcome of this appeal. The government could ask the appeals court to reconsider its decision, ask an 11-judge panel of the court to rehear the case, or petition the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the issue. Prosecutors could accept the decision and go to trial without the evidence or drop the case.

Move over Oprah, there's a new show in the Windy City starring Cubs manager Lou Piniella and longtime Chicago baseball analyst Steve Stone. The man caught in the middle? Rookie outfielder Tyler Colvin.

Piniella took exception to comments Stone made to Comcast SportsNet that Colvin should be playing regularly.

Piniella fired back before Friday's game with the White Sox: "We've got a lot of people here that haven't managed and won any games in the big leagues that know everything. I think they should try to put the uniform on and try this job, and see how they like it when they get criticized unjustly. That's all I've got to say about that issue."

Not quite.

"What job has he had in baseball besides talking on television or radio?" Piniella asked. "What has he done? Why isn't he a farm director and bring some kids around? Why isn't he a general manager? Why hasn't he ever put the uniform on and been a pitching coach? Why hasn't he been a field manager? There's 30 teams out there that could use a guy's expertise like that, you know? I'm tired of some of these guys, I really am."

The outspoken Stone, in his third season as a White Sox broadcaster, is a former AL Cy Young Award winner.

"I think Lou conveniently forgets that I was one of the champions for him to get the job when a lot of people wanted Joe Girardi at that time," Stone said.

Oh, by the way, Colvin pinch-hit in the seventh Friday and smacked a double. The Cubbies lost.

Stay tuned.

Reds righthander Homer Bailey, trying to recover from shoulder inflammation, skipped his scheduled workout in the bullpen because of soreness in the right shoulder. The setback means Bailey won't be activated off the disabled list to start Sunday.