Barry Bonds keeps hitting home runs. The San Francisco Giant outfielder's number is now 666. I'm surprised I haven't come across a clever headline about Bonds and the Beast.

I'm not sure why it is the Beast has a number. Is having a number instead of a name beastly? Or is everyone numbered? Did John the Baptist have a number, for example, but no one ever bothered to write it down?

Does it help, knowing the Beast's number? Do we get to check for ID or something?

At least a lot of people have his number. When we got the propane tank filled in February the driver pulled the automatically generated bill out of the printer in the truck and shook his head. "Now this isn't a good number," he told me. "No matter how you look at it."

So I looked at it. The charge, with tax, came to precisely $666 and no cents.

I wasn't exactly rapturous about it.