Crosby has given himself a nickname: Bones.  Why? Because he thinks it's cool.

Gettin' ink: Outfielder Nick Swisher spent some time before batting practice giving a few teammates fake tattoos with a thick black marker in the clubhouse. His work on third baseman Eric Chavez's left biceps muscle looked like a fourth-grader's art project gone bad, but shortstop Bobby Crosby was most pleased with Swisher's work.

On Crosby's left arm, Swisher drew two crossbones with Crosby's self-appointed nickname, "Bones," over the top of them. Crosby said he gave himself the name last year while the team was in Washington after seeing the name of Bones Ely on a wall at RFK Stadium.

"I thought, 'That's the sweetest name I've ever heard,' and I was hurt at the time, so I thought it was fitting," Crosby explained with a laugh. "Everyone told me you can't give yourself your own nickname, but I stayed with it.

"I'd even go third-person on people, like, 'Bones can't do it today,' or, 'Bones doesn't like that.' And now that's what most of the guys call me, so I guess it worked."

<barf> Quick! Someone call Hatte to get Crosby a new nickname. One that is clever and cute.

Andre Ethier will make his major-league debut tonight.

In 24 games for the 51s, Ethier was hitting a cool .349 with a .444 on-base percentage and had 13 walks while striking out only 16 times.

All of which suggests Ethier, 24, might be just the balm this festering sore of a Dodgers lineup is looking for.

"We have a couple of guys in that (clubhouse) who are really struggling to get base hits at this time," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "They're not going to be hitting .190 or .200 all season long, I can promise you that. They know that, and we know that. We'll just be glad when they get started upward."

Robinson Tejeda will be called up to start for the Rangers today.

Cleveland activates C.C. Sabathia from the disabled list.

Remember when this used to be a "problem" for the A's? I miss that.