Half of fans cheer against Bonds

According to an AP-AOL Sports poll released Thursday, half of baseball fans are rooting against Barry Bonds in his bid to break Hank Aaron’s career home run record.

The poll also showed that only one-third of Americans call themselves fans of professional baseball – about the level of support for the last decade, but lower than 1990.

Among all Americans, 28 percent said salaries were the top problem in baseball, 21 percent said it was the high cost of attending games and 19 percent said it was players using steroids and performance-enhancing drugs.

M’s hire new bench coach

The Seattle Mariners hired John McLaren as their bench coach, four years after he left the same job to go to Tampa Bay with Lou Piniella.

McLaren spent last season scouting for Tampa Bay.

Chronicle won’t budge

The San Francisco Chronicle agreed to be held in contempt of court and pay perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for refusing to assist a federal grand jury investigating who leaked its reporters the secret testimony of Barry Bonds and other athletes, according to a court filing.

Giambi has wrist surgery

New York Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi underwent surgery to repair a torn tendon in his left wrist and is expected to be ready for the start of spring training.