The Dodgerhater: A San Francisco Giants Blog

Vogelsong is scaring people

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Fri, 10 May 2013 20:18:00 +0000

Welp. Ryan Vogelsong still isn't right.

It was another one of those starts on Thursday against Atlanta. You know, the one where he seems kinda okay through a few innings and then Bochy leaves him in 3 hitters too long and by that time he's given up 5 or 6 runs, and then he gets chainsaw angry, but it's too late, and we can't come back that one night?

*Big inhale after run-on sentence*

Yeah, it was another one of those starts for Vogey, who is beginning to scare people.

Forget Cain scaring people, and Lincecum doesn't surprise anyone anymore with whatever he does that day. Vogey is a huge part of this rotation, and it's hard to say whether he'll be able to recover.

I don't know whether to blame this on arm fatigue, pitching too many innings in the World Baseball Classic instead of easing into Spring Training, or whether he's just 35 years old and is having trouble locating his pitches. What I know, is that he's floating meatballs up there, and the carnivores in the batter's box are having their way with him.

He's now given up 9 dingers, has the worst ERA of all starting pitchers, and Hank Schulman offered another ugly stat as well:

"For the season, opponents are hitting .500 against him without a single strikeout in the fifth. He has allowed 16 of his 36 runs in that inning."

Sometimes players just get off to slow starts, and it happens to the best of them sometimes. However, Vogey's troubles at the end of last season were forgotten after he managed to get himself together for a nearly perfect postseason. Sad to say, but it's been a downward trend.

We can discount this as a slow start, or we can say, "Hey, something's not right here."

Something is certainly not right, and if I were to guess, it would be some sort of arm trouble-- perhaps arm fatigue due to age and miles, or perhaps something more sinister and latent like an injury of some sort. But that's just speculation by an idiot blogger.

Vogey is the type of competitor that would rather die than admit that something is wrong, and we all know he'll fight to the end, like the dogged gladiator he is. His story of perseverance is part of the reason he's so endeared himself to the Giants faithful.

Don't look at this table if you don't want to puke/cry. (Click to enlarge)

But alas, we're in this to win games and win championships, and despite the fact Lincecum and Cain have been inconsistent thus far, Vogelsong remains the number one concern of the rotation. His 70 baserunners in 39.1 innings and only 1 quality start out of 7 outings stick out like two sore thumbs. It's also scary that opponents are hitting nearly .370 on balls hit in play.

That .370 number is so high, that it suggests some degree of bad luck at play, but when you actually watch the hits being allowed, most are no doubters. It's very disheartening.

Should he have a start skipped? Probably.

But if we know Bruce Bochy (and we do), he's going to give his veterans enough rope to hang themselves (Lincecum anyone?), with enough left over to take the remaining rope and wrap it around their entire bodies so they can keep warm.

We'll see how it all shakes out, but with few (if any) rotational options in Fresno or in the bullpen, Vogelsong will need to dig himself out of this hole as soon as possible and begin to locate his pitches. If he can't, more drastic moves may need to be taken, and none of us want it to come to that.

Get well soon, Vogelstrong.

Time for Giants to talk contract with Hunter Pence

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Wed, 08 May 2013 23:47:00 +0000

Hunter Belushi

You hear it all the time. You'll never see a guy do things quite like Hunter Pence. Hell, even Hunter himself said as much after being traded to the Giants at the deadline last season.

“I have to be honest. Every now and then, I do things that you don’t see very often.”

Everything from his lumber-chopping practice swings, to his fidgety wiggling in the batter's box, to his crazy eyes and spirit-inspiring speeches; Hunter Pence is one of a kind.

Like Pence, the Giants themselves are one of a kind. Their maddening style of play and uniqueness is a reflection of the city they play in-- a place I'd certainly call maddening and unique in its own right.

Nothing against Houston and Philadelphia, but Hunter Pence belongs here.

He belongs here because of his crazy ways and his crazy eyes. The fact that he rides a go-ped to the ballpark just seals the deal. Oh yeah, and he's a good baseball player.

"He's all out, and he's contagious." as Bruce Bochy put it after Wednesday's walkoff win against Philly in which Pence clubbed his 7th HR.

Last season after being traded, Pence struggled with his stroke a bit, but made up for it in a myriad of ways-- the aforementioned inspirational speeches and timeless weirdness like that triple hit broken bat Texas leaguer against St. Louis.

This year is another story. He's been arguably the team's best hitter this year, if not a close second to the .320 hitting Pablo Sandoval.

There's something very timely about Pence's hitting this year. It's not always situational success or crazy clutch, but if no one else is doing much of
anything, he seems to be the guy to rely on.

Obviously, it's early May, so there's no guarantees, but you have to be thrilled with Pence's 7 HRs and 22 RBIs to go along with an average hovering around .290 and an OPS around .825. Not just that, but he has increased his percentage of line drives by 5%, he's playing a righteous right field and is 5 for 5 in stolen base attempts (which equals his 2012 total).

The man once heckled by a Giants fan as "Bird Legs" as a member of the opposition, Pence's defense has perhaps entertained and impressed me most. As with everything else we see from Pence, his throwing motion is a bizarre, side-winding body heave that people just don't run on. He covers a ton of ground for a guy his size, and has learned to properly play balls off the right field archways and how to safely pursue foul balls near the bullpen mounds.

For you Saberjerks out there that need some sort of bizarre, contrived formula to satisfy your question about Pence's defense other than his 1 error or .988 fielding %, he's got a career high +3.7 UZR going. OKAY? 3.7!

To me, it's safe to give "Ol' Bird Legs" the ultra rare label of Five Tool Player.

Long story short is that Hunter Pence needs to remain a Giant for the foreseeable future. Not just for his personality, well-documented and impressive work ethic, and hot start. It's a significant factor in this situation that he genuinely loves it here. He feels like he can be himself, he loves the fans, and for God's sake, he hits well at AT&T Park. He's hitting a full 60 points higher in San Francisco (.318 vs.258 ) with 4 dongs (vs. 3) in San Francisco this season.

As for money, you have to expect that he's not going to be taking any paycuts-- as he shouldn't. The notion of a "hometown discount" won't exist here, but since the guy wants to stay here and buy some real estate, I don't think an in-season contract extension is out of the question.

It seems to be the new trend that guys don't want to "negotiate in season" to "avoid distraction". That to me is BS, and it's a politically correct excuse to be wined & dined following the year to get the biggest offer from the other 29 teams. That's fine, but for guys like Pence, that's not going to be an issue.

Just so we know where we are with Pence, the talks probably have to start at 4yr/$60MM and could go up a bit from there. If you look at the deal Pagan got (4yr/$40MM), you'd have to say Hunter is worth more than that. Keep in mind as well that he's making $13.8MM this year in the final year of arbitration.

As far as potential OF competition for Pence in free agency next year, the crop is deeper than usual.The likes of Nelson Cruz, Curtis Granderson, Jason Kubel, Shin-Soo Choo, and Carlos Beltran are all expected to be available. This will likely play in the Giants' favor, and if the conversation begins at that 4yr/$60MM figure, Pence would be remiss if he didn't try to get a deal done.

Let's hope we see UnderPence's googly eyes under that black Giants hat for years to come. Godspeed Sabean.

Demoting Hector Sanchez clearly the right move for Giants

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:06:00 +0000

I really need to start writing these posts when the ideas pop into my head. If I had, maybe I'd have beaten the Giants to the punch when they sent Hector Sanchez down to Fresno. Luckily, I use Twitter as an extension of my brain's thoughts. Unlike my brain, Twitter comes with a time and date stamp:

I wonder sometimes if Hector Sanchez should go back to Fresno to get regular ABs. He's just not realizing his potential.
— Dan Pera (@TheDodgerhater) May 2, 2013

But in all seriousness, "Hacktor" as he was beginning to be called, had to go.

You don't ask for a ton out of your backup catchers, you really don't. You're expected to catch once a week, hit .225, and play good defense. Sometimes, give the team a good AB in a pinch hit role. The Giants just weren't getting that out of Sanchy, and this team needed more than they were getting.

Sanchez started 48 games behind the dish in 2012-- primarily serving as Tim Lincecum's battered battery mate. He served a purpose, spelling Buster from the abuse once a week. But there was something about Sanchez's general lame performance in particular that seemed to go unnoticed by most fans-- including your's truly.

How his lack of production, and shaky defense managed to stay out from under the microscope as much as it did is just beyond me.But it did.

I guess you see the numbers and just don't think much of them, because "Oh he's a backup" and "Oh he'll get it going eventually". But... he never has.

Wanna hear my theory? I think Sanchez escaped the scrutiny that so many other Giants' players receive because he DID catch Lincecum in nearly every start. If Lincecum is starting, no one is paying attention to the guy in the mask trying to block balls in the dirt. Furthermore, when Lincecum, the spectacle that he is, started to give up his inevitable runs as he did in 2012, that was the story-- not your young backup catcher taking bad situational at bats. Nice distraction huh?

This isn't meant to be a piece tearing down a young player or ripping a guy beyond recognition, it's simply a long overdue acknowledgement of poor performance.

Look, Hector Sanchez has talent. He's only 23 years old, he's a switch hitter, and he does have some potential with the bat. We've seen small, random flashes of it from him, but they were just too few and far between.

It's unfortunate for Sanchy, because he was probably promoted too soon in retrospect. He clearly needs to play every day and get regular at bats, and it just isn't going to happen with the Giants... period. His best hope in all honesty is to take this kick in the ass of a demotion, work hard in AAA and become a desirable trade piece for the Giants in July for a team looking for young catching capable of playing for cheap in the majors.

He has his work cut out for him, because everything but his batting average was just plain mediocre. Somehow he managed to carve out a .280 average last year, which is clearly good, but sometimes average doesn't tell the story.

In 227 plate appearances last year, Hacktor managed only 18 extra base hits (3 HR, 15 2B), and struck out a crazy 52 times compared to only 5 walks. Yes, 52:5 ratio. It all adds up to a .685 OPS, which is just plain lame for anyone, let alone a guy somehow pumped up to be more. His slow start this year was just kind of the last straw.

With the emergence of Guillermo Quiroz, whom I lovingly refer to as "Quiznos", Sanchez has become expendable in more ways than one.

And how can you not love Quiznos? That walkoff HR against LA was just amazing, and his interview with Amy G afterward was just beyond endearing (I know, I know, I'm getting soft). But seriously...

Your browser does not support iframes.

"I get here early every day... I work hard. I do my weights. I my hitting... just ready for that opportunity, and try to take advantage of it any way I can. I feel humble to be here." -- Quiznos

Now THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is a class act, and a guy I want on my team.

He's obviously well-liked, and he obviously cares more than a lot of the guys in the league that have infinitely more ability. It's a good story, and it will buy him a lot of good will from Giants fans-- even if he only hits that .225 and plays once a week expected a backup catcher.

Hey, in the end Quiznos is better than Subway anyway...

Giants dying to put it together

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:43:00 +0000

It's pretty clear to this guy that the 2013 Giants are another crazy squad full of comebacks and torture. There's just something in the water over at the Cove that makes this team simultaneously maddening and magical.

We're still in April, so that's why no one should be freaking out. We've seen this team go through pretty bad stretches of baseball en route to World Series Championships, and this is certainly close to being one of them.

Is it a frustrating stretch? Oh yeah. Blowing leads, coming back, and blowing them again really grinds everyones' gears. WTF is up with the bullpen? The Giants could and should be another 4 or 5 games up in the win column by my count, but you just have to remember that they have another 5 months to make the playoffs and get their shit together.

What I've learned after years of baseball is that you want your team to peak at the right time, because it means everything. I look at a team like the Atlanta Braves right now, who look pretty good... but it's April 29th, and we've won two championships peaking in late October. That's what it's about.

Cainer and Vogey. What's up?

Bafflingly bad performances by guys like Cain and Vogelsong are starting to concern a lot of people. I don't think it's time to freak out on Cain... I'm resisting the urge.

He's got an ERA damn near 7.00, but a truly respectable WHIP at 1.26, he's striking out guys at a higher rate than ever, and he's got the lowest BB/9 rate going of his career in the early going. So what's the problem?

Well, you know already... it's the longball.

Cain has already given up 6 HR this season (Vogelsong 7), and you've gotta hope that this trend slows down, or it's going to be a tough season.

While Vogelsong looks like he's in deeper mechanical trouble than Cain, he only gave up 17 roundtrippers in 2012, while Cain gave up 21. Disturbing about that 21 is that it was an increase of 12 (!!!) over 2011 when Cain only allowed 9 longballs.

Cain's fastball velocity isn't down, and the only real variance between '13 and '12 is that he's relying on his fastball a little bit more than his change and curve.

The big numbers that jump out at you are Cain's HR/flyball ratio, which is double the 2012 value at 16.2%. It's a scary number, but it's probably something that he can correct as the season moves along. His velocity and overall pitching approach haven't changed, he's just thrown some lousy pitches up there that have gotten crushed. Correct that somehow, and he's back to the good Cain. Easier said that done.

Vogey on the other hand, is a bit more concerning. He'll look great for stretches of games, and then he just gets bombed a couple times. Unlike Cain, Vogey has seen an average drop of about one mile/hr on his fastball and slider.

His K/9 BB/9 and K/BB ratios are all in line with his career averages, but just like Cainer, that HR/Flyball ratio is absolutely brutal at 19.4% (+11% over '12).

Gentlemen? Keep the ball down.

Crawdaddy the All-Star?

It could happen.

Remember the crazy all-star balloting last year when Giants fans went nuts (within the rules!) and nearly voted in the entire starting lineup? Well as I recall, Brandon Crawford came in 2nd or 3rd in the balloting. Obviously nuts, and anyone that considers themselves a true baseball fan shouldn't have voted for him once last season. He should've gotten 2 votes: one from his mother, and one from his wife. His own dad probably wouldn't have voted for him.

This year however, he's absolutely tearing it up.

Along with gold glove caliber defense, we're getting an unreal slash line of .291/.361/.547 (OPS .907). Just so you can see how awesome that is, let me show you some other guys' OPS numbers:

Miguel Cabrera .992
Paul Goldschmidt .922
Brandon Crawford .907
Matt Kemp .668 (ahahahhahahahahah)

So look, he's not just off to a good start, he's off to an amazing start. For a guy we begged to hit better than his weight for an average (.215+), he's showing us all that he is capable of great things.

Will he continue this tear? Unlikely. But he is clearly developing the elusive power stroke that we've seen random flashes of. He's maturing and becoming more disciplined. He's walking more, swinging at balls outside the strike zone less, and when he does swing at strikes, he's crushing them.

He has basically been the 2nd/3rd best NL shortstop thus far (behind Tulowitzki and Jean Segura... matter of opinion), and if he keeps this up, our crazy fan voters won't be wrong if he wins.

Marco! Marco??? Hey, why isn't he saying Scutaro???

Some people just get off to lousy starts, and I'm inclined to believe that this is the case with ol' Scoots. He's too good a hitter to scrap for that much longer.

You had to know you weren't getting the .362 hitter we saw last year after the trade. You tell yourself that and try not to get excited, but hey, we expected .300 or something, right?

There's rumblings that his back is bothering him, but we haven't really gotten a good answer. He's been a little dinged up since Spring, but we were led to believe he's healthy.

Whether he's in a funk or he's hurt, it's time for him to A) Get days off and let Nick Noonan play or B) Switch with Brandon Crawford in the order, so we can have a productive bat hitting in the no. 2 hole. This whole hitting .215 thing isn't going to fly.

Drawn out ceremonies, Timmy & Hector, St. Louis, & other early observations

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 01:05:00 +0000

Well, it's been a few games now, and we've gotten to know our 2013 Giants a little better. Sure, they're almost the same team as last year, but every year is different. Guys get better, guys regress, and you just never know how things will shake out. Here's what I've seen so far:

-- Starting pitching has been a little up and down. Cain had one great start against LA, then gave up a historic 9 ER against St. Louis. Timmy won a game while walking 7. Bumgarner was a monster against the Dodgers and was a little shaky against Colorado. Vogelsong got lit up pretty badly.

The only guy with an unblemished statline thus far is Barry Zito, who apparently now owns the Cardinals. Let's hope this dominant Zito sticks around all year.

...Speaking of the Cardinals and our home opening series...

-- They got a little revenge for last season's NLCS. Believe me, these fans and that team are still bitter at their collapse, and they immediately got subjected to a three game, pre-game lovefest the likes unseen by Major League Baseball.

There's been some talk about the three ceremonies and how they were a little much. I agree.

Three days of flag raising, Buster, and an extended ring ceremony is deserved, but a little much when they last 20-30 minutes apiece and delay the beginning of the game. Again, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy every second of it and that I didn't tear up when they raised that championship flag, but I wouldn't want the Giants to get stuck with another team's home opening series and 3 extravagant ceremonies in a row.

I feel like the flag-raising and the ring ceremony could've all been on the same day (Friday) and that Buster's MVP ceremony could've been pushed back to the Rockies series or on Sunday. Just my opinion.

-- Interesting factoid: The Cardinals also were at AT&T Park in 2011 for the Giants home opening series in which they watched the Giants ring ceremony. And then won the WS themselves in '11.

-- The Dodgers still suck. They've got all kinds of fancy toys that will cost them an arm and a leg for years, and the only one worth a damn is Clayton Kershaw, who they haven't even paid yet. Pathetic.

-- I like Chad Gaudin. He's looked good thus far. Andres Torres on the other hand...

-- There's still a "thing" between Timmy and Buster, whether anyone in the Giants' clubhouse wants to admit it or not. Sanchez caught Lincecum in his 1st two starts, and this brilliant Baseball Prospectus article (which you need to read) basically breaks down how and why Hector Sanchez is an unacceptable catcher thus far in his young career, especially for Lincecum. A lot of it has to do with framing, but the thing that gets me is that Buster has to sit or displace Belty in order for this to happen.

All this why there's a 3rd catcher named Quiznos sitting on the bench, useless.to the world and to himself. He should be getting reps in the minors.

Whether Bochy just wants to avoid Buster getting beaten up by crazy breaking pitches in the dirt, or whether Lincecum just can't handle being told what to do, this thing is detrimental to both the Giants' offense and defense.

I think a lot of us have this feeling that Hector Sanchez can hit, and he's still just a baby, but the fact remains that he hit .280 last year, but had a .685 OPS to go along with it. That's like backup middle infielder territory...

-- Brian Wilson didn't respond to the Giants' invitation to be included in the ring ceremony. That was the final nail in the coffin to his career in with the Orange & Black. It was immature and unacceptable. We loved that weirdo and he'll never be as happy with anyone else as he was here. If he wasn't so obsessed with himself, he'd have signed a minor league deal with the Giants and pitched his way back into a setup role. Instead, he made it about him, and still thinks that despite the fact he isn't capable of pitching, that he should be offered guaranteed millions. Good luck Wilson. I won't even call you Weez anymore.

It was nice while it lasted... all two years of it.

-- Speaking of which, where was Barry Bonds on Buster's MVP Day? For as much controversy as his name conjures up, he should've still been there. Jeff Kent, might have been a great Giant,but he also played for the effing Dodgers willingly-- Bonds never did that. Who better to give a keynote MVP speech to Buster than a guy who won 7 of them and lost an 8th to Jeff Kent.

I know he's a salty bastard and he has outstanding legal issues, but the Giants give rings to Kruk and Kuip and bring back Gaylord Perry all the time. Bonds deserves to be there. He built that ballpark and paved the way for these two Championships.

-- The Giants need to start their own division of eBay for highly sought-after giveaways like the Buster bobblehead. Nevermind the fact that they were giving away 40k of them, there will still morons lined up for LITERALLY a mile down the Embarcadero before the gates were opened. All for a bobblehead.

Crazier still was that there were sleaze merchants with garbage bags waiting inside the gates offering everyone $15-$20 for their bobbleheads. Last time I checked, they were going for $40-$50 on eBay. Just crazy.

Buster is protecting my flavored booze section now.

-- Stay hot Hunter Pence, catch fire Marco Scutaro... pretty self-explanatory, Pence has been a monst, and Scoots doesn't look comfortable at all. Also, Pagan is off to a hot start, giving me plenty of opportunities to use my #PaganWorship hashtag on Twitter.

Remember to read this Baseball Prospectus article about Timmy and Hector.

Lincecum... oh Lincecum, what do we do with you?

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 17:17:00 +0000

If there's one thing I love about our fans is that they're loyal. Case and point, our undying love for Barry Bonds amid a sea of hatred by the rest of America.

We love our role players, our bullpen guys, and everyone in between (unless they're terrible of course).

Even me, The Dodgerhater, the mean guy that I am, feel pangs of sadness to see guys like Eli Whiteside leave our organization and bounce around.

If I feel that way about a light-hitting backup catcher whose highlights were his HR off Roy Halladay off the foul pole that one time, his eagerness to fight the Dodgers, his gray hair, and his Led Zeppelin entrance song, imagine how hard it is for me to watch our former ace, Tim Lincecum struggle so badly.

The tide is beginning to shift a bit when it comes to Timmeh.

More and more fans are losing confidence in our once unstoppable whirling dervish-- despite his past success and his forever-cemented place in our hearts.

The truth of the matter is that he was the worst starting pitcher in baseball in 2012. Barry Zito was better... and that is crazy.

Believe me, I remember his incredible performance out of the 'pen in the 2012 Playoffs en route to our second title in three years. It's hard to forget.

But the fact remains that he is not the same pitcher he was pre 2012, and I don't think he ever will be.

You can talk about the lost velocity, you can talk about dope smoking, his small frame, and everything in between. The fact remains that he has just not adjusted adequately to his diminished abilities and learned how to pitch. Sounds crazy, but he could learn a lot from Zito.

He still has swing and miss breaking stuff, and that really hasn't dissipated. It's the fact that now his fastball and changeup are too similar in velocity and that he hasn't learned yet how to pitch to contact and to keep the ball down.

The percentage of line drives allowed in 2012 was the 7th highest in the league last year, almost 24% of all contact, and of that contact, hitters were taking home a robust .309 average.

That sort of thing is going to get runs scored against you more times than not.

I can't help but be overly concerned about Timmy because of all this, especially because he's had an awful spring-- just as he did last spring. He's just not showing me many signs of improvement, and it scares me.

With all that said, I truly hope as a fan of the Giants and of Timmy, that he figures out how to locate and to pitch to "good" contact. If he doesn't, I fear that we can expect more of the same from Timmy in 2013, and that the talk radio circuit will have plenty to discuss.

We managed to win another title in spite of Timmy's regular season performance last year, but with his bullpen performance in the playoffs. If he struggles badly this year well into May and June, it's absolutely time to put him back in the bullpen and find a body to plug into the rotation. There's also the remote possibility that he could be dealt at the trade deadline. His contract is up, and he's pitching for his livelihood. If there's one year people have career years, it's usually in a walk year.

All this crap is purely speculation on my part, but we'd all be remiss if we didn't consider these outcomes. Unfortunately, all signs point to another poor season. Let's hope I'm wrong, because I'd love to see The Freak back to good form, just like you do.

Posey's new deal a bargain

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 02:04:00 +0000

A day later, it's sinking in. I almost feel relieved and at peace, as if the news of Buster's new megadeal somehow alleviated some of life's other stresses.

It also renews the faith that I have in the Giants organization. They're clearly committed to winning, have drafted and developed quality players with quality character, and those players want to continue winning in front of the best fans in baseball (sorry Cardinals fans...).

Yeah, it's a lot of money, but it won't hamstring the Giants into the future. Cain and Bumgarner are locked up for years and years, and while all three of our core Southerners are going to be accounting for a large chunk of cash moving forward, the dead/half-dead money of Lincecum and Zito respectively will be coming off the books after this year.

There's that, and the fact that we've won 2 in 3, in addition to AT&T Park being paid off soon. The Giants are making money hand over fist, and there's nothing to worry about.

Things are good in Giantland, that's for sure.

If you look at the next 9 years, Buster will be making an average of $18.55MM a year. A lot of money for any position player, but as we know, this isn't just any position player. If you're reading this, I don't need to sell you on Buster Posey and what he means to this lineup, this pitching staff, and this city.

The closest example to what I just mentioned is Joe Mauer, who signed his own megadeal a few years ago. Just to compare:

Mauer: 8 years, $184MM ($23MM/yr)
Posey: 9 years, $167MM ($18.5MM/yr)

I love Joe Mauer, who was also an MVP in his own right, but he's not worth close to what he's making. To be fair, the Twins locked up their St. Paul hometown hero with the Yankees and Red Sox lurking in impending free agency, so that upped the ante a bit. Still, Mauer may never have another 20 HR season again, and I'm pretty sure we can consider 20-30 dingers for Buster a lock.

As for the issue that seems to constantly come up: how long until Buster isn't a catcher anymore?

I honestly don't understand why this is constantly coming up. He's 26, not 34. He wasn't a catcher until like 5 years ago, so despite his injury a couple years ago, he's still built to last.

Couple that with the fact that he only started 111 games at catcher in 2012 (29 at 1B, the rest at DH), I feel like the Giants are taking care of their golden goose pretty well.

Now, with the potential emergence of Brandon Belt, there may not be as many opportunities to play 1B as there were in 2012 for Buster to "take days off". That may be an issue. However, the sprinkling in of AL roadtrips throughout the season allows for Buster to take some DH days to stay fresh at seemingly random times.

I think at some point, the Giants should look into making Buster into a 3B, but let's wait on it people. We're not talking about someone who's breaking down or has 10 years of catching on his knee odometer. This isn't frickin Albert Pujols. He's still a spring chicken, and we need not worry about such things right now.

Just relax and enjoy another season with one of the game's best talents-- another season of many to come.

Writers or moral authorities? The 2013 Hall of Fame vote

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 02:36:00 +0000

We all expected this to happen; it was a foregone conclusion.

So why are many of us so upset?

With Wednesday's Hall of Fame vote, both baseball fans and players alike have been done a great disservice and have had our opinions insulted-- cast aside like the rights of criminals.

As a society, more and more it seems as though the will of the people is discounted and disregarded. You see it in our Federal and State governments. You see it through lockouts in our major sports leagues. It makes you wonder exactly who these people are that are making decisions for us.

Who exactly has been put in charge of deciding what constitutes a hall of fame baseball player, and why do they have so much power?

The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) chooses Cy Youngs, MVPs, ROYs, Managers of the Year, and elects players into the Hall of Fame. Although its constitution is long and written in semi-legalese, it basically says that any legitimate publication that covers 75% of a team's games (or nationally) can have a whole bunch of guys eligible to vote. For instance:

"(A) paper shall be entitled to membership in the Association for one sports editor, all full-time general sports columnists who regularly cover baseball, and as many reporters as are primarily assigned to cover baseball."

In addition, statisticians who supply newspapers with baseball stats and foreign language reporters (like Japanese journalists) are eligible for membership. Furthermore, "honorary members" are eligible to vote if they've put in 10 years of membership, even if they're retired or cover tiddlywinks tournaments in the Anchorage Unified School District for a living these days.

There are all walks of life included in this voting process-- from Peter Gammons to Yasushi Kikuchi of the Kyodo News (who voted for Bernie Williams), to some guy named Ken Lechtanski from the Brockton Enterprise

That's right. THE KYODO NEWS AND BROCKTON ENTERPRISE.

The long and short of it is that there are far too many individuals voting on these prestigious awards, and the system is deeply flawed.

I am not an advocate of letting every decent baseball player into the Hall-- be certain of that. However, I am a proponent of reflecting the overall impact and completeness of a player's career in the HOF vote.

There is too much subjectivity involved in this vote for it to be considered legitimate.

Legitimacy is a Pandora's Box-like concept, especially when considering this year's crop of former stars is tainted-- either rightly or wrongly.

The biggest problem I have with this current system, is that too many of these writers have decided to play baseball god. People like Jon Heyman, who I greatly respect as a writer and newsbreaker, have decided to braise in their own self-righteousness and self-appointed moral authority.

If Jon Heyman and Ken Rosenthal choose not to vote for two media abusers like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, I would like to know the reason. Surely it couldn't have been the 7 MVPs and 7 Cy Youngs.

To me, assumed steroid use that was never proven in a court of law, or by the Commissioner of Baseball is not good enough a reason. It's just not.

Bonds and Clemens aside, how do you not vote for Craig Biggio? Mike Piazza?

As a Giants fan, you know I hated the Pizza Man. He's a dirty Dodger and a gross Met and will always be that to me. But as a baseball fan? He and Biggio are two first ballot HOF'ers.

Were they as good as Babe Ruth or Willie Mays? No. Few were.

Riddle me this. Is a guy that primarily played the game's most difficult position and smacked 427 homers along with a career .308 average not valid enough to be considered one of the greatest players ever? If Piazza's numbers and lack of ties to steroid controversy preclude him from being voted for on a ballot full of surly polarizers, then it's time to eliminate some of the subjectivity from this voting process.

The same argument can be made for guys like Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, and Curt Schilling.

It's simply ludicrous to me that the best players of the '90s and 2000s are being railroaded by a bunch of grandstanding writers, whose admission into the BBWAA may or may not be deserved. To this lover of baseball, it is simply appalling.

The most upsetting part about this farcical voting process, is that the aforementioned group of god-playing scribes has basically told you, and has told me, that our opinions don't matter.

It doesn't matter that Astros fans would love to see their two beloved Killer B's in Cooperstown. It doesn't matter how much joy Bonds brought to the fans of San Francisco or how much he dominated the sport. It doesn't matter that suffering Red Sox fans got to enjoy the taste of victory in the form of Curt Schilling's bloody sock.

We were told today by the vast majority of baseball writers that our beloved sport's superstars of yesteryear were of too ill repute to be enshrined alongside spitballers like Gaylord Perry, spikes-up racists like Ty Cobb, and all the guys who dropped a few amphetamine pills into their clubhouse coffee pot between games of an August doubleheader.

We were told that guys like Bonds created an uneven playing field by allegedly using PEDs-- something that wasn't even illegal in MLB until 3 years ago. What about when Bonds faced Kevin Brown or Jason Grimsley? Was that uneven?

What has happened to baseball in this respect is sad. Bud Selig failed to do his job by wearing blinders and pleaded ignorance when it all came to a head. He is the one who presided over this "tainted" era, from 1992 until now, and his failures have led us to this upsetting moment in 2013.

At some point, this vote needs to be returned to some semblance of objectivity, and a new voting system must be implemented-- something similar to MVP or Cy Young voting.

The rank-choice system of voting that chooses annual award winners, should be used for HOF votes, and whomever is on the ballot should receive a point-valued ranking that will be tallied at the end.

I also believe that BBWAA voters should be instructed to vote solely on career statistics and general impact on the game. Personal vendettas and biases need to be checked at the door. It was a fair playing field because too many in the game were all doing the same thing in an attempt to gain an edge.

I believe that as fans, we feel cast aside by this vote, and that some of the best players in the history of the game have been railroaded. Many of these players didn't help their cases by making poor choices and defiantly denying them publicly. It is time to just accept what happened in the "Steroid Era" and chalk it up to a learning experience.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

To see the ballots of those BBWAA members that made their votes public, click here

If you're wondering how Bay Area writers treated Bonds in this election (not all writers disclosed)...

FOR BONDS.

Ray Ratto, CSN Bay Area, KNBR
Andy Baggarly, CSN Bay Area
Hank Schulman, San Francisco Chronicle
Carl Steward, San Jose Mercury News
Marcos Breton, Sacramento Bee
Mike Lefkow, Contra Costa Times
Tim Kawakami, San Jose Mercury News

AGAINST BONDS:

Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle
Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle
Chris Haft, MLB.com (Giants)
Paul Gutierrez, Honorary (CSN Bay Area)
Mark Purdy, San Jose Mercury News

Pagan receives money, will continue working for Giants

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 02:06:00 +0000

You already know about this, because you're a normal person in 2012. I just thought I should reiterate, because I'm a blogger and it is my self-appointed job to regurgitate news that you already know and pretend like you need to hear it from me to make myself feel important.

We all wanted to continue the Pagan worship that we enjoyed last season-- but at a reasonable cost.

Ostensibly, Pagan is going to make $10MM a year. Pretty damn steep if you ask me. Last year I didn't expect him to be better than a fringe starter. Now all of the sudden, he's a $10MM a year man. Hard to figure, but he had a career year and he fits perfectly into the Giants' style of play and ballpark.

You also have to consider the pathetic FA market this off season and the fact that BJ Upton, who although younger and more gifted, plays the game half as hard as Pagan and he got 5/$75MM from Atlanta.

If that no-effort nutsac with a sub .800 OPS gets $15MM a year, then Pagan is certainly worth his deal. Supply and demand...

Assuming he has 4 similar seasons to 2012, I have no problem with this seemingly bloated contract. He plays plus defense and gets on base. He had 15 triples last year and is a good base runner.

He might be overpaid now, but he's a good guy and a good player. Plus, after winning "two in three", I really don't give a rat's ass about the Giants' revenue stream or finances anymore.

They've somehow managed to do what they've done by making tons of head scratching moves, and although we can't stop analyzing or questioning things, I feel like there has to be a higher level of trust between us fans and the front office at this juncture.

On that note, I do trust in their ability to re-sign Marco AND Brian Wilson.

I know people are turned off by Wilson's supposed interest in the Blue Bastards, but that is just a negotiating tactic and apparently they aren't interested in him anyway. He wants as much guaranteed money as possible and that's the way pro sports works at this point.

Even if Romo is the closer now, I'd like to see Wilson back, at least for one year in some capacity. I know it's just sentimental, but I don't care.

We'll see what happens.

On the verge of the incredible

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 17:29:00 +0000

Well, here we are. We’re on the verge.

We’re on the verge of something incredible—something inconceivable and crazy and something that I thought I might never see in my lifetime.

We’re on the verge of a second World Series victory in three years.

It’s completely surreal. Just unbelievable.

I still can’t fathom what’s going on and how this all happened, but it’s happening, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

There have been times in my relatively young life when I was almost resigned to the fact that we may never win a World Series. I just figured that since it didn’t happen with Bonds and Kent, that it just wasn’t possible-- as if we were forced to put on a brave face go to the prom alone every year like the Cubs. Or that we’d go to the dance with our cousin and lose in the playoffs every year like the Braves.

Regardless, I still loved my team and stuck with them the whole time—still watching every game I possibly could and listening to most of the rest. Even the most pointless of games like interleague trips to the SkyDome or playing a lousy Astros team in early August had my attention.

That’s what makes all of this so goddamned rewarding.

I’m 27 years old and was raised as a Giants fan from birth. I knew some lean times, but most of my life, I at least had Barry Bonds. I loved Will Clark and Matt Williams and Rod Beck. Sure the gameday experience is nothing like it is now, and they didn’t win all that much in the grand scheme of things, but the lean times I know are nothing compared to stuff before my time.

There were Crazy Crabs and empty seats, horrendous polyester uniforms, threats of moves and dismal prospects. Meanwhile the A’s thrived across the bay, winning titles, packing the Coliseum, and growing epic mustaches.

Those lean times are what make this fanbase so thankful and so fired up about this seemingly impending second World Series title.

Since this team moved to San Francisco, and from 1955-2009, everyone that lived and died with this franchise was disappointed. That’s pretty much my dad and his friends’ entire lives (born in ’56).

Sure they knew incredible players that I never got to see play like Mays, McCovey and the gang, but that is a REALLY long time to wait for this ultimate success.

People like me obviously love what’s happening and are thoroughly enjoying this with all of our being. But it’s the people who endured the 55 years of real torture that really appreciate this. I am truly happy for these people-- who have stuck with it through thick and thin and been rewarded for their dedication.

For the “new” fans that just want to fit in and wear the Orange & Black (and there are a lot of them), you can be happy, and you can celebrate, but you will never know what true baseball happiness is. Your parents failed to instill in you the gift of Giants fanhood, and that isn’t necessarily your fault. You are welcome to enjoy these good times with the rest of us, but just know that for most of us, this is more than just a potential parade or street party; more than dance along to Gangnam Style, sing along to Journey’s “Lights” or a new champions T-Shirt.

Just like with anything in life, to truly appreciate the highs of success, you must experience the despair of failure.

All I’m saying is let’s see where all these people with the new hats are if we experience another 55 year drought.

But for everyone else, we’re one game away from the ultimate achievement, and I was way too excited to sleep last night, so I had to take a pill. As I said before, we’re on the verge of the unthinkable, and I still can’t believe it.

Revel in the moment Giants fans, because you never know if you’ll experience this ever again.

Go Giants!

Coaching staff the real MVPs

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 20:02:00 +0000

Forget your Poseys, Pandas, and Scutaros for a second.

I know it's hard, but just try not to think of individual performances for a second and transport yourself back to the beginning of the season.

Think about what you wanted this team's goals to be-- both for each player and collectively.

All we wanted was Pagan and Cabrera (sorry) to be better than 4th outfielders. We wanted Brandon Crawford to play good defense, and if he hit his weight, we'd be thrilled.

We wanted Brandon Belt to get playing time and to learn how to hit with any kind of consistency. We fought amongst each other all season as to whether he should be sent down-- whether he had the mental makeup to deal with his situation.

We didn't think Hector Sanchez was ready to catch a big league pitching staff coming out of Spring Training. He was too raw, we were told. Joaquin Arias was a random infielder who we knew very little about. He impressed in Spring, and with the injury to Freddy Sanchez, he made the team and never looked back. He made the final play of Matt Cain's perfect game and has racked up clutch hits.

With Brian Wilson shelved very early on, Santiago Casilla stepped up until the all-star break, closing out games with authority. Now that's Sergio Romo's job-- something he's never done before.

We PRAYED that Buster Posey would be able to play 100 games and thought 15 HR and 70 RBI with a .280 avg. would've been a great comeback story. We all know how that turned out.

Look at our starting pitchers. We expected ZERO from Barry Zito. Many of us, including me, just said eat the guy's contract and get someone-- ANYONE in here other than him to be the 5th starter.

When it became apparent that there was something dreadfully wrong with Tim Lincecum, the staff never gave up on him or his season. They continued to cart him out there, always treating him with the respect and waaayyyyy-tooooo-long rope earned by being a two-time Cy Young winner.

They worked with him, watched tape, talked to his dad-- anything that would get their ace back to some semblance of respectability. He seems to have found that respectability as a reliever of all things.

Vogelsong and Bumgarner had incredible first halves, but tailed off badly after the all-star break.

Now look at them. Shutdown baseball in the playoffs-- seemingly out of nowhere.

Pablo Sandoval, still not up to required fitness standards, struggled at times this season-- frustrating all involved. Instead of rehabbing his hamate bone, he was out until all hours in a Santa Cruz resort getting into trouble. He fell in and out of his old ways at the plate; impressing sometimes, maddening us in others.

Now look at him.

We don't see what goes on behind the scenes or on the practice field, but it's clear that this coaching staff constantly spins thread into gold on their baseball loom. It's unbelievable.

Remember when we led the league in errors in the early season? Remember that game in Houston when we had all absolutely HAD it with Crawford and his errors? Seems like a long time ago.

Now? His coaches and his hard work have molded him into a Gold Glove candidate who hit .248-- higher than the .235 we were praying for.

He hit .204 last year.

So much tangible improvement by so many players during the season didn't happen by accident. So many in-game moves and questionable lineup moves by Bochy have turned to gold seemingly every time.

When we all scorned George Kontos for constantly allowing his inherited runners to score, and demanded to know why Bochy continued to cart him out there during similar situations, we got our answer when he came into huge situations in the NLDS, and up until his last two outings, has shut it down.

Gardy the bullpen guru.

The entire coaching staff has left an indelible mark on this 2012 season, something that I can only compare to 2010's magic or perhaps even the turnaround by the 49ers from 2010 to 2011.

Mark Gardner in the bullpen has overcome the loss of our closer and the entrance of new players like Jose Mijares and the aforementioned Kontos. He got Casilla back on track after he'd seemingly lost everything in July. He has managed to keep this bullpen together when it seemingly was running out of steam during the dog days.

Dave Righetti is a magician. Overseeing the entire pitching staff while it regressed and befuddled all, Rags managed to keep it between the lines. Look at the job he's done with Barry Zito! Absolutely incredible.

Rags, the miracle worker.

Look what he's done with Vogelsong and Bumgarner for God's sake! Vogey is our #1 and Bumgarner just threw 7 scoreless in the World Series after being left for dead. He turned a guy struggling to keep his 2012 postseason ERA under 15.00 into a World Series hero in a matter of a week.

As for Bochy? What more can I say. He's just unbelievable.

I've likened him to a big oil tanker at sea. It takes him forever to get moving, and even longer to change course. Sometimes that's a good thing though.

If he made every little knee-jerk decision we demanded of him on Twitter, Crawford, Belt, and Kontos would probably be in AAA, and God knows what would be happening with Lincecum and Zito.

I know I'm gushing like a schoolgirl here, but this staff needed this kind of recognition. Ron Wotus, Tim Flannery, and Shawon Dunston invisibly tutoring the infielders, Will Clark handing out pointers during BP, Billy Hayes down there in the bullpen teaching Hector Sanchez how to catch Tim Lincecum-- it just goes on and on...

Bam Bam and Belty.

Bam Bam Meulens? Another miracle worker.

We couldn't hit last year worth a damn, and newly acquired players like Pagan, Scutaro, Pence, and a healthy Posey have definitely helped that tremendously. BUT, one cannot discount the work put in with young guys like Crawford and Belt-- seemingly lost at the plate. You have Pagan beasting around since early August and Posey contending for the MVP while we annihilate the Cardinals and Tigers in back to back games.

Kudos Bam Bam. Seriously.

I know I've rambled here. I can't help it. Every time I thought of one example of great coaching, another jumped out at me. If the Giants do indeed win two more games this season and manage to accomplish this crazy feat of winning it all twice in three years, it will be due in great part to the magnificence of this group of men assembled as the Giants' coaching staff.

Expecting the unexpected

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 22:25:00 +0000

Completely unbelievable.

It's not torture, and it's not surprise. It's just completely unbelievable.

I warned you to expect the unexpected. The unexpected is now an understatement.

What we all witnessed in Game 1 was the same thing we all witnessed in Game 7-- complete and utter domination of a team that was expected to take care of the Giants like a garden hose rinsing dirt off a walkway.

You know it's a good thing when 22 of 27 ESPN "experts" pick the Tigers to romp all over the Orange & Black. It's also a great thing when the best pitcher in the game is tagged for 5 ER and is reduced to an ungracious little jerk who all but blamed a mound visit by pitching coach Todd Jones for Pablo Sandoval's second HR.

That's what this team does to people.

They take reigning World Champs, defending AL Cy Young/MVPs, and every expert's darlings, and completely take them by storm.

You could clearly see the shock of the faces of the Tigers both during and after the game. It was a collective, "What the F--- just happened?"

Not only were they handled by a suddenly dominant Barry Zito (crazy right?), but they were demoralized by Panda's historic 3 HRs, and countless dinks and drives by Scutaro, Pagan, and even Zeets himself. Then you have a wicked Freak Lincecum roaring out of the bullpen and throwing a flawless two and a third. I'm a Giants fan who's seen or heard almost every game this year, and even I last night was saying, "WTF just happened?"

I don't know how they're doing this, but they are.

It's a long series, and Detroit will win a game or two before it's all said and done, but it's extremely difficult not to get ahead of ourselves here. I don't see the resilience or heart in the Tigers that I see in our guys, but they're certainly capable of taking the lumber to us at some point and shutting us down with Anibal Sanchez.

What we all saw last night was an incredible show of Ruthian (or Sandovalian) proportions with a side of epic #RallyZito action. Simply inexplicable, but fact.

In Game 2, the Giants send to the mound Madison Bumgarner, who has been more bum than MadBum in the playoffs. If Bochy and Rags say they've fixed his mechanical issue, who am I to judge? These two, along with the rest of the coaching staff have combined to create nothing but magic. Let's just hope Bumgarner is fixed better than Jose Valverde was fixed.

Game 2 starter Doug Fister is from Merced and grew up a Gyros fan. He's going to be fired up and hasn't pitched in nearly two weeks. People can debate the layoff factor all they want, but it's going to hurt the sinkerballer tonight. Like Verlander before him, the Fistmeister is going to be overamped and rusty.

He's likely not going to give up any HRs, but I'll bet you anything the Giants tee off on him, executing a veritable laser show that would make Pink Floyd jealous.

I have to say, I am enjoying this World Series so much more than 2010. Even though we killed the Rangers and it was incomparably exciting, it was still nerve-wracking and completely emotionally exhausting. I feel like this time around, we're all able to take it all in better. Especially after our Game 1 romp, I think I'm able to look around (so to speak) and really revel in the moment without the neurosis and paranoia that came along with the Torture.

Regardless, we don't know what tomorrow holds, so enjoy this Giants fans! You never know if you'll be back!

That old familiar feeling

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 06:41:00 +0000

This feels weird. Don't you think?

It feels right, but it feels weird.

How the hell did we get here? This wasn't supposed to happen, but it has. It's feels familiar, but it's just plain crazy. I don't know how to describe it, but the way I'm feeling is almost like I'm jetlagged or stoned off of prescription pills like after one of my knee surgeries.

Truthfully, I can't believe we're here, and it seems like the Giants have somehow managed to capture lightning in a bottle twice in three years. It's a phenomenon like fog or sourdough bread-- something virtually unique to this place and this team. It's something truly that lacks logic; of course logic and the lack thereof being the ongoing theme of this team in this postseason.

The Game 7 show we all witnessed was completely unexpected, but embraced by all, as if that 9th inning downpour was made of nothing but condensed water vapor and destiny itself.

Perhaps rather than logic or non-logic, the theme of this postseason should be to expect the unexpected.

The previous two opponents the Giants faced were capable and talented. One outperformed us all season, and the other was the reigning champs-- seemingly peaking in the same manner in which they did last year. I knew (and predicted) that each series would go the distance. Of course I had no idea why or how they'd go to 5 and 7 games respectively, but I just had that feeling.

To me, this upcoming series with the Tigers has a different feel. They are certainly more offensively talented. They have two guys in Fielder and Cabrera that scare the living hell out of me. They have an ace (with a capital 'A') in Justin Verlander, that could potentially pitch 3 games.

Justin Verlander is capable of shutting us out 3 times and then leaving the clubhouse with Kate Upton on his arm. That's how good he is.

Right now, we have 3 reliable starting pitchers and one of them is Game 1 starter Barry Zito.

The Tigers have a spontaneously combusted Jose Valverde removed from the closer's role and defensive liabilities.

You can break down this matchup however you want, but all you'll get is right back to where you started.

I can't put my finger on it, but I feel like the stars are aligning for us once again. Naturally I could be wrong, but just like 2010, there's just an 'it' factor about this team that cannot be ignored.

Just like 2010, the Rangers were better than us on paper-- laden with sluggers and Cliff Lee. I see almost a mirror image of Texas in the 2012 Detroit Tigers.

I'm no expert, and I watched less than 10 Tiger games all season, but that's basically what I've gathered.

All I'm saying is it's happened once under similar circumstances, with a similar hodgepodge of players-- a veritable David/Goliath story. Why couldn't it happen again?

Prediction: Giants in 6

Forget logic, this is Game 7

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 19:22:00 +0000

From the moment we discover sports as children, we dream of this kind of situation. I remember the night before little league games, not being able to sleep as I fantasized about hitting game winning HRs and being mobbed by teammates. I remember shooting hoops in the driveway before dinner, narrating a farcical playoff moment out loud as a attempted a turnaround jumper.

I usually missed the shot, lol.

At some point, we've probably all imagined a Game 7 winner take all contest-- either as a player or as a fan. There is nothing like it. The urgency is off the charts and the emotions are immeasurable. The rollercoaster effect of depression and elation is incomparable for those of us invested in our team, like we are.

For both the Giants and Cardinals, there were times this season when it was hard to imagine them managing to get to this point. Just 4 days ago, as the Giants lost another demoralizing game to go down 3-1 with one left to play on the road, I couldn't envision them doing what they've managed to do (AGAIN). I wanted it to happen of course, but the logical part of my brain prepared me for the ultimate disappointment of not making a comeback.

I HATE that logical part of my brain. It sucks.

It mostly sucks because we had just seen our boys make a valiant comeback against the Reds on the road-- winning 3 tough games against a good team to advance.

And of course, back from the dead, they do it AGAIN.

This team has taken that little logical part of brain matter that we all have, surgically extracted it, and thrown it into a giant slurry grinder that makes wet cat food in cans.

"You won't be needing that anymore, will YOU??"

I guess not.

The logical thing to think was that Tim Lincecum, relegated to the bullpen and seemingly thriving, would go all "vintage freak" on their asses and save us all. Unfortunately, he failed to pitch well in a game that was beyond important for both his career and the team. He wasn't good, and we've seen him be well... not good... most of the year. At the time, it seemed logical. Timmy was a big game pitcher, he'd build on his bullpen success and whip us all into a frenzy and make us think twice about supporting the expiration of his contract in 2013! Not so.

With our backs against the wall and a seemingly impossible scenario staring us in the face, we all turned to Barry Zito.

As I sprawled in my bed after that Game 4 loss, depressed and half-heartedly listening to the KNBR postgame show, I began to see my Twitter timeline filled with funny pictures of Zeets. A #RallyZito movement was underway. What had started as a funny and good-natured way to keep each other off the ledge, transformed into something bigger than the game itself.

That #RallyZito movement was something that I'll forever remember, because of the baggage attached to that Game 5 start. We all know the Zito story, and we even know how lame he was in his start against the Reds the series before. What transpired on that chilly St. Louis night by the most maligned Giant since Armando Benitez, was nothing short of heroic... and illogical.

It was probably the most incredible and gutty performance I've seen because of the demons he exorcised on the mound and the context that he accomplished it within. You could almost see pale spirits exiting Zito's body on the mound, as the weight began subsiding from his shoulders.

It was a moment that made me proud to be a Giants fan and it really made me happy for Zito himself. For all the work he puts in and all the hell that he's been through trying to live up to an impossible contract, that HAD to feel amazing for him. Sometimes confidence cures what ills you.

After a beastly, strikeout filled romp by a suddenly impenetrable VogelStrong in Game 6, he we are.

We have our horse, Matt Cain on the mound. We have our crowd with its orange rally rags, and there is seemingly nothing that we would change about the scenario.

Of course, I wish that we were facing an emergency starter or something, but we aren't.

Kyle Lohse has had an inconsistent career, but he has had an incredible season, and has only given up 4 ER in 18 innings this postseason. He's from Chico, and the story would be just as great for the Cards, if they manage to win.

It's a matchup for the ages, and both teams will be up to the task. If we happen to lose, obviously I will be crushed.

The way in which this team has rallied and banded together however, has made me proud regardless of the outcome. The ultimate goal is always to win the World Series, but win or lose, this team has had a successful season.

I don't think that'll happen though.

I feel like once again, this is some sort of crazy team of destiny that extends beyond the NLCS. All I know, is that tonight, throw logic out the window, because you aren't going to need it.

Go Giants!.

Lincecum pitching for more than a Game 4 victory

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 06:09:00 +0000

Allow me to quote the great Marty Lurie in the form of a screenshot from Twitter:

Indeed Marty, indeed.

I feel like we've begun to see prolonged glimpses of the "Old Lincecum" and "Good Lincecum"-- the guy that carried us to victory so many times in so many pressure-packed situations. We knew that guy was inside #55 somewhere, we just hadn't seen him in 2012 until now.

If I were to wager a guess right now, I'd say there's a 60-40 chance that Timmy will depart after 2013. With the type of season he had with the Giants in '12, there's not a lot of confidence by the Giants' front office for the future. Would you commit big money to him? Those who think with their hearts say, 'YES! YES! A MILLION TIMES YES!' and those who look at declining stats and a literally shrinking body say, 'The Giants dodged a bullet when Lincecum refused to sign long term'.

Regardless of which school of thought you come from, you're still a Giants fan, and you still get a thrill from watching The Freak wildly strike out a flailing batter with a wicked fork/changeup thing or diving curve. We fell in love with this guy for a reason and being able to see vintage Freak in the playoffs gets everybody's blood pumping.

Game 4 at Busch will be a matchup of two guys trying to regain their former dominance. On one side is Adam Wainwright (who many Cardinals fans to this day vehemently insist should've won the Cy Young the second time Timmy won it). On the other side, is Lincecum.

Their stories are different, but they're both after the same goal.

"Waino", as he's affectionately known in St. Louis, is coming off Tommy John surgery, and has been up and down. At times, he's struggled to locate the ball, and his kill pitch-- his wickedly hooking 12-6 curveball-- has been absent at times.

As seen in Game 5 of the NLDS versus the ~~Nats~~ Gnats, Wainwright was lit into pretty badly. It shows that a year after TJ, he's still not completely back. But hey, at least he's out there, putting his ass on the line for his team, an opportunity Stephen Strasburg was never afforded by the pathetic organization they call the Washington Nationals.

But I digress.

With the weight of a city and a franchise on his shoulders, and the rabid, towel-waving sea of red that awaits him, Lincecum needs to be THE MAN.

The consequences are dire. Failure could lead to a 3-1 deficit with one left to play in STL-- a nightmare scenare.

With success, the Giants even up the NLCS (in the short term). They regain a trustworthy ace, and new life is injected into every aspect of the franchise-- from the dugout, to the hundreds of thousands yelling at their TVs and drinking rally cocktails.

In the long term, Lincecum shows the world that he can once again be a cyclonic, dynamic force in Major League Baseball. He once again commands respect, confidence, and dollars.

I've learned from this team that it ain't over until it's frickin over. With a badass performance against all odds, Timmy can breathe new life into this team and into his uncertain career.

Sounds like a plan.

A little too much leash

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:47:00 +0000

Loyalty and trust are two of the greatest things in the world. You trust your gut, you're behind your guys and you believe in them. I get it.

It's a long series and Sunday's loss in Game 1 doesn't kill us. Far from it.

I have to say though, this first loss against the Cardinals lies squarely on Bruce Bochy's shoulders. Obviously Bumgarner gave up the six earnies and two back-breaking home runs, but he shouldn't have been in the position to let Carlos Beltran go yard.

Am I an armchair quarterback? Yes. Absolutely. I'm not on the team. I'm just like you. This is what I was saying during Bumgarner's disastrous inning chronologically (bottom to top):

Not trying to toot my own horn, but you know, I'm just saying. I couldn't have possibly been the only one thinking these things? Right?

So many times we second guess our managers and coaches during games. We don't have anywhere near the experience or knowledge as these leaders, but it's still easy to see when a guy just doesn't have it that night.

I think of all of Bochy's flaws as a manager-- as minor as many of them are in the grand scheme of things-- his loyalty to his starting pitchers is simultaneously the most positive and detrimental.

Hell, he's an old catcher and he fights for his starters the same way he did back when his knees allowed him to squat and catch nine innings. I think it's admirable, I really do. All season, he allowed Lincecum to hang himself with the extra leash-- same with Vogelsong and Bumgarner in the second half.

As admirable as that quality is in a manager, it seems like probably 6 or 7 times out of 10 letting a guy work out his problems on the mound ends in failure. There of course are times when a guy will have a lousy couple innings and then right his ship, but this is the playoffs. Time is of the essence.

That's all I'll say about Boch. I don't want to rag on the guy, because he's gotten it done before and he's gotten us to this point. He's a great manager, he really is. He doesn't trust youngsters and he likes his pitchers and catchers, and that goes hand in hand with being an old-school backstop.

Random thoughts

Daniel Descalso and Pete Kozma are not going away. They were clutch against the Nats, they contributed down the stretch, and they are going to be pesky little weirdos the rest of this series
I found out that the Peninsula's own Descalso grew up an A's fan. Not cool bro...
I know a guy named Danny Descalso. No relation.
Lance Lynn is probably better suited coming out of the 'pen and the Giants took advantage of him. No Jaime Garcia will do that to you. Too bad a certain someone was left in the game too long and gave up six runs.
Chris Carpenter won't give up more than 3 runs. Bank it.
If there's one weak spot in the Cards' pitching staff, it is poor situational pitching and mismanagement by Mike Matheny. At some point this series, Mike will put the wrong guy in at the wrong time and we will benefit.
Is Jason Motte the best closer ever to only have one pitch at one speed? He's obviously better than Jose Valverde.
Seriously, he has a 98 mph fastball, and that's IT.
Beltran has now taken Zack Wheeler AND Game 1 of the NLCS from us. Time to give something back dude. How about a costly error?
Tony Bennett is a beast.
Can you remember a more disappointing sports day? Niners getting embarrassed by a new arch-enemy during the afternoon and the Giants losing a playoff game at night? BRUTAL.
I blame Joe Buck, who called the 49ers debacle at Candlestick, then proceeded to ruin our day further by taking a "trolley" to AT&T and imposing his lousy announcing, stupid face, and Cardinals cheerleading on us.

Video: Joe Buck's busy day

It was pretty obvious that a lot of people were coming from the Niner game based on the early inning empty seats. Lucky bastards.
Bumgarner didn't get any better after his awful outing against Cincy. He now has a postseason ERA of 11.25. That is the ERA of a guy who just doesn't have it. AT ALL. He belongs in the bullpen until further notice. I love you Madison, I do, but we both know you're lost.

Let's get Game 2!

The NLCS: Fighting magic with magic

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 19:34:00 +0000

"Amazing that we've gotten to this point," say...

...both the Giants and Cardinals.

"There were a couple times that we looked dead in the water," say...

...both the Giants and Cardinals.

"But we love the makeup of this team, and we've done it before," say...

...both the Giants and Cardinals.

It's true. I can't think of two teams whose recent postseason exploits more closely resemble one another. One team was down 2-0 with the task of winning 3 in a row on the road, the other was down by 2 and down to its last strike on the road. Both teams pulled it out and now the battle of postseason magic will play out in the 2012 NLCS.

No offense to the American League and its fancy Prince Fielders and Bronx Bombers, but this NLCS is the hands down must watch series and WILL go down as one of the greatest playoff series of all time. You thought the Giants' NLDS series was torture? Wait'll you get a load of this one.

How improbable is it that the last two World Series champs will face off in this series? Most Cardinals fans had given up long ago this season. Trust me-- I know (my girlfriend is a Cards fan, more on that next post).

I've watched more Cardinal games than you, and heard waaaaayyyy more about them than I care to. That benefits me now as I size up our opponent heading into Sunday.

This is a very evenly matched pair of teams and both have the "it" factor I talk about. There's magic in both of them and both teams are laden with postseason heroes up and down the roster.

They've got the bigger sluggers, we have the better bullpen. We perhaps have the edge in the starting rotation now that Lincecum seems to be progressing up to the mean, but other than that, these teams match up very well.

The one thing that Cards fans will tell you is that they don't win many close games. They blow teams out early and hold on. Despite their recent postseason performances (and 2011's for that matter), they've struggled to reach their potential all season, despite a deadly lineup.

Conversely, you could say our lineup has overachieved and that our pitching has failed to live up to its ability. We've gotten the clutch hits we've needed and have overcome horrendous performances from Timmy all season to run away with the West.

You can certainly say that the NL Central was much tougher than the NL West-- a valid point. How then do you explain how the Cardinals struggled to land a secondary Wild Card berth when their only competition was the useless losing Dodgers and a surging Brewers team that had come back from like 233 games back?

Not to take anything away from what St. Louis has done in the playoffs this season, but they had a pretty disappointing season-- while I can say that in general, the Giants have had a successful 2012.

Granted, the Cards were without Chris Carpenter most of the season (until now) and are now without both Rafael Furcal and Lance Berkman. We'll see your injuries with the losses of Brian Wilson and Melky Cabrera.

Speaking of Carpenter-- what an absolute gamer. He had a rib removed to alleviate pressure on a nerve that affected his pitching arm. Once declared out for the season and potentially headed for retirement, he pulled something resembling a Ronnie Lott to get back on the field. Commendable.

FYI, that rib is now in a jar in his daughter's room.

The point of all this is that we're in an up and down series that will likely go the full seven games. In order for the Giants to win, they need to keep STL's sluggers in check early and prevent late inning magic by the likes of Allen Craig and David Freese (or Kozma... or Descalso... as the Nats found out).

If the Giants hit anywhere close to what they did in Games 4 and 5 in Cincinnatti, they win the series, no doubt. We all know we can't expect that to happen. We need all hands on deck to win this series, but we can take care of it.

Cain and Bumgarner need to get it together and Affeldt needs to be healthy. Other than that, I'm confident that we can take care of business. Never give up!

With my intimate knowledge of both teams, here's how I stack them up with letter grades below:

Prediction: Giants in 7

Overall Offense

Giants: B-
Cards: A

Offensive Power

Giants: C-
Cards: A-

Overall Defense

Giants: A-
Cards: B

Starting Pitching

Giants: A-
Cards: B+

Bullpen

Giants: B+
Cards: C+

Closer

Giants: B
Cards: A-

Bench

Giants: B
Cards: B-

Manager:

Giants: B+
Cards: C

Come-from-behind-ability

Giants: A-
Cards: B+

Bonus Category: Team Broadcasters

Giants: A+
Cards: D+

On the verge of the unthinkable...

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Don't lie to me.

Let's see a show of hands of who thought we'd win this series after being demoralized in Game 2.

*crickets*

Look, we're all great fans. We've stuck with this team through thick and thin, but this... the way we were manhandled in our own yard was enough to make anyone give up.

I was one of them.

I tried so hard to find a silver lining or a reason not to hang my head in defeat, and I couldn't. That being said, this team has proven most of us wrong.

Obviously, I wanted so badly for them to make an epic comeback in Cincinnati, but just didn't see it happening. Well... seeing is believing, and I'm back on board with everything I have.

Just like I said in my previous post, we've been with this team all year, and we know what they're capable of. They've been capable of this comeback all along, but we just weren't seeing it.

It's that "it" factor I've been talking about. It's something you can't explain and it makes no sense sometimes, but it's the reason we keep watching.

A potential win on Thursday proves that the impossible can be accomplished. We're playing a team with a stronger lineup, in a ballpark that favors them, and all in front of THEIR fans. Yet, we're now the favorites. If you haven't heard this before, we're on the verge of doing something that just hasn't been done before.

1) The Reds haven't been swept at home all season

2) The Reds haven't lost three games in a row all season

3) No team has ever come back to win a 5 game series on the road after losing both of the first two games at home

Simply historic stuff is what we're talking about, and it's all going to come down to Matt vs. Mat.

I hate Mat Latos and so do you. He's an insufferable little prick that I dislike as much as any Dodger. He is disrespectful, surly, and I wish nothing but the worst for him on the baseball field.

He broke Dave Flemming's sunroof, he's insulted us, and he's frustrated us with his excellent performances. For this, he will have to pay the ultimate price-- a playoff failure.

There are few people in the game of baseball that I'd like to beat more than Latos, and with a newly-inspired team full of Hunter Pence's disciples, I believe we will all have a great day.

I will leave you with this inspiring quote from Hunter Pence, as he fired up his teammates prior to the Game 3 win:

"Get in here, everyone get in here ... look into each other eyes..now! Look into each others eyes. I want one more day with you. It's the most fun, the best team I have ever been on, and no matter what happens we must not give in, we owe it to each other. Play for each other, I need one more day with you guys, I need to see what Theriot will wear tomorrow, I want to play defense behind Vogelsong because he's never been to the playoffs. Play for each other, not yourself. Win each moment, win each inning, it's all we have left."

Why we watch...

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 08:48:00 +0000

It may be 1:30 am, but I'm too excited to sleep.

It's partially because I just caught a 10:40 pm show of Taken 2. If Liam Neeson killing Albanians with his bare hands doesn't fire you up, then you don't have a pulse. Furthermore, if thinking about the Giants in the playoffs doesn't get your heart racing a little, then get the hell out of here, because you're not welcome.

It's the most wonderful time of the year, and I for one cannot wait.

Am I apprehensive? Of course. A little scared? Maybe. But that's what makes it so goddamned incredible. The playoffs are an emotional rollercoaster-- a gut-wrenching endeavor. It's a feeling nearly impossible to duplicate and I wouldn't trade my fanhood for anything. Just as we learned in 2010, it'll all be worth it someday.

I'm not going to break down the Giants-Reds series. There's no point and this isn't that kind of blog.

If you're reading this, you know our strengths and weaknesses. You've read articles already about the Reds. We've all studied our opponent, and they're going to be tough.

We likely won't sweep Cincinnati, and it likely won't be a smooth ride, but dammit, we are going to win this series. Our team is battle-hardened and hungry.

I can't think of a single player who will take this lightly-- everyone from Ryan Theriot to George Kontos. This is why they play the game, and I feel like this squad has the makeup of potential champions.

Don't compare this to 2010, because it's not all that similar. There wasn't the same expectation of winning two years ago. We didn't clinch the West until the last game. We didn't have a batting champion or a steroid suspension. There is no Brian Wilson or red thong.

This is a different team and it has a different feeling. Like 2010, our guys have heart and character, but there seems to be an aura of workmanship and a businesslike tendency that was missing from the happy-go-lucky misfits from back then.

They've been there. Those that weren't have learned from the rest.

Our pitching is no longer bulletproof. We can't rely on Lincecum anymore and that's depressing. Is that same guy in there somewhere? Absolutely. Whether or not we'll see him on any given day is about as sure a thing as putting everything you have on red while watching that little ball spin around the roulette wheel.

You hold your breath, say a silent prayer... and wait.

There are guys who have been quiet with the bats who have the capability to lift this team to an entirely different level of success (Pence, Panda, Belt, I'm looking at you), but we can't count on them to get the big hit.

What if Posey has a rough series or Scutaro doesn't get those seemingly inevitable clutch hits? What if Pagan gets shut down and doesn't get on base the way he has in the second half?

There is no sure thing in this series or with this team-- on either side-- and that is what makes it an intriguing matchup.

In fact, if you were to look at stats on paper, the Reds are the clear-cut favorites.

That's why we watch though. We've watched paper champions like the Dodgers, Red Sox, and Rangers fail to make it to the dance, while young ragtag nobodies like Oakland and Baltimore perform like well-oiled machines.

Baseball doesn't make sense sometimes, and that's why we love it.

I will leave you with these thoughts:

We've lived and died with this team all season. Throughout it all, we've been both disgusted and elated, confident and deflated. I don't expect that to change come Saturday at 6:37 pm.

This is our team and we know what we're in for. We can't fully explain how they've managed to get to this point, but does it really matter? How these men overcame a worst-case scenario season by an ace and the loss of our closer, the demise of the rally thong, and the crumbling of a testosterone-aided idol, I'll never be able to explain.

What I can identify in this 2012 team, is that they have "it".

It's the same "it" factor that we had in 2010 and that the Cardinals had in 2011. It's that very same "it" factor that I see in Oakland, Baltimore, and St. Louis this season. After all my years of watching sports, championships more often than not are won, not bought. For every bought and paid for New York Yankees ring in the last 20 years, there seems to be an equally improbable "it" champion-- teams that no one gave a chance.

Let's hope that the gift of "it" blesses us with another long run into the playoffs.

Prediction: Giants over Reds in 5

Other AL/NLDS predictions:

Cardinals over Nats in 4
Orioles over Yankees in 5
A's over Tigers in 5

Bullpen issues plague the Giants

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 05:21:00 +0000

Scutaro completes yet another comeback.

We know how to come back from behind, that's for sure. This team, like 2010, seems to never say die, and always seems to get it done in the late innings. Lord, do we appreciate that, but how about sometimes we just don't fall behind to begin with?

Our pitching ain't what it was, that's for damn sure. We got spoiled with our superior rotation and superior bullpen and superior closer. The honest to God truth is that we have a slightly above average bullpen, and a strong rotation. Sorry. No superiority here.

Vogelsong has had a few rough starts, Lincecum is about as steady as a heroin addict trying to detox on ice skates, and Zito is just a wild card.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that Bruce Bochy, as solid as he is in so many decisions, continually sticks with the wrong guys until it's too late.

You see what he does with Zito and Lincecum now. They're on a short-ass leash. He's starting to view them like the rest of us. He can tell when they don't have it and knows when things are inevitably going to spiral out of control.

He yanks them.

Well it's time for Bruce to start being more careful with this bullpen.

I get it. He's a player's manager. He's loyal, he's understanding, and he's even-keeled. He doesn't make knee-jerk reactions like the rest of us. Bruce Bochy is like one of those big ass fuel tankers out in the ocean. It takes forever for him to stop and change direction, but when he does, his new course is usually the correct one. You can see a demonstration of this when he walks to the mound to make a pitching change. You can almost hear his old catcher's knees creaking like a haunted house's unoiled hinges and loose floorboards.

If I have one request of the skipper these days, it is the following:

It's time to relegate George Kontos to a smaller role, and Shane Loux is to be removed from the discussion entirely.

It's like, "Dude. Do you not understand that George Kontos lets two thirds of his inherited runners to score?"

For Christ's sake Bruce, he does it almost EVERY TIME.

This is the #1 Google Image result for George Kontos.

Technically as of this page's updating, he's allowed 10 of 21 inherited runners to score, 12 of 23 if it hadn't been updated since Sunday.

The point is that Kontos cannot deal with the pressure of coming into a sticky situation.

As bad as Casilla has been at times this season, he's still only allowed 7 of 25 inherited runners to score. Why not bring him in during a jam in the 6th? He's not the closer anymore, does it really matter when he comes in?

I know my ranting isn't the best writing job, but this can't be something all of you are not already upset about.

And Shane Loux? Dude, I'm sorry this whole baseball thing hasn't worked out. You stuck with it, but you're like 31, and it ain't happening. Hopefully you can find success in another field. Maybe coaching or something.

All I know is that if Bochy carts him out there again, I'm going to pull my hair out. He was sent to Fresno for a reason earlier this season-- just like Steve Edlefsen-- and he has no business pitching in a pennant race. I'm sorry, but it's true.

Now this Jean Machi character may have something to contribute. He's 30, and you just saw his solid outing against Arizona as his first major league appearance. He looked good. Let's give him a shot.

It's all just very unsettled and scary to me other than Romo and Lopez.

I have a feeling that Bochy is just trying to rest some of the important arms by giving some September callups an inning or two, I get that. But, some of these guys just aren't able to contribute in all situations.

If there's just one point to this badly structured rant of a blog post, it's that Kontos needs to start innings, not finish them. We see it, why has it taken so long for Bochy to see it?

Anyway, that's what I've got right now. Nothing profound was said here, but I'm just thinking out loud and trying to make sense of some of these moves.

Let's just keep winning!

The day the West got weird

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 20:45:00 +0000

Laughter and giddiness, excitement and joy.

Those are typical behaviors of a fan whose team just swung the biggest deal of their lifetime.

The only thing is, that was MY reaction when I heard the Blue Bastards were on the verge of landing one star player and two former star players.

I wasn't the only one overjoyed.

Giants fans all over the place were rejoicing over the possibility of the Dodgers adding Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, and Nick Punto. It seemed on paper to be the exact opposite reaction of what one would expect, but hey-- most of the time your first reaction is the correct one.

Did the Bums get better in the short term? Sure. Adrian Gonzalez is a stud. He's thrilled to be back in SoCal, and he'll piss us off for years to come. That sucks for us and I'll admit it. I was fired up to see him leave the Madres after his contract expired, and I'm not happy to see him back in our division.

Beckett? I'm fired up about him. When he's focused and healthy, there are few pitchers whose clutch ability and past performance can match that of Beckett's. The past two years however, have been nothing but a black stain on Beckett's permanent record. Instead of rehabbing, he plays golf. Instead of watching the game, he eats KFC and plays NCAA football in the clubhouse. He's one of the top 10 most destructive clubhouse presences in this league when he's unmotivated and unhappy-- on the very same list as new teammate Hanjob Ramirez.

Carl Crawford? Awesome player... 3 years ago with Tampa Bay. Now, he's a shell of himself-- a guy who just underwent Tommy John surgery and put up a paltry sub .300 on base % in two injury-riddled seasons in Beantown.

I stole this from ESPN.

Now comes the really juicy part.

Guess how much money these guys make. Seriously. Guess how much money the Dodgers just took on in order to land Adrian Gonzalez.

Two hundred sixty-two million dollars.

$262MM. Simply incredible.

Obviously money is no object to the new idiots in charge of the Dodgers. That's fine. Money was no object to the Red Sox either, and look what happened to them.They're languishing around the bottom of their division, still saddled with John Lackey's corpse and alienating their obnoxiously devoted fans on a daily basis.

I know it's not the same situation or the same team, but I think history needs to be learned from, and the Dodgers are a little too eager and foolhardy to make the same mistakes Boston has made in the past 5 years.

Fine with me.

SB Nation estimates that the Bums will be right at or slightly above the luxury tax level of $178MM next year, and that their actual payroll will be around $160MM. The reasoning for this is that the CBA takes into account the average annual payout of players' contracts rather than the actual number per year.

All these reasons are why we're so excited as Giants fans. They have more money than God, but so do the Yankees. And you don't see the Yankees just doing whatever they want to excess. They didn't sign Prince Fielder to play alongside Mark Teixeira. There are limits, and it comes down to profitability.

The capitalists that bought the team only care about money. They'd sell their own mother to make a buck, and will run the team that way. They have a plan-- and that plan is to buy high profile assets (they see players as things, not people), raise their profile on ESPN, and attempt to rejuvenate a fanbase whose primary objective is to drink a 12 pack of Corona on the way to the game and not get arrested.

It's about money, and once these contracts begin to balloon and become dead payouts (Crawford, Kemp, Gonzalez annual contracts all balloon to more than $20MM later in contracts and Kershaw will have a similar number with a new contract), they'll be sorry they did this.

The still have inferior pitching to the Giants, and will continue to suffer the results. It's a joyous day for Giants fans, because we know that they've irreparably saddled themselves with dead money and poor clubhouse attitudes for years ahead.

We all know it'll come back to bite them sooner rather than later, and that, folks, is something to be excited about.

Non-stars the key to success down the stretch

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 07:49:00 +0000

There are no two ways about it, the remainder of the regular season is going to be difficult.

Sure there are nine games remaining against the Dodgers and six against Arizona remaining. There's that four game series against Atlanta at AT&T.

All tough.

The biggest enemies of success for the Giants however, are the Giants themselves.

Let's hope Scutaro stays red hot.

None of us should have concerns about the Poseys and Pences of the world. They're good hitters. Pablo is still not 100%, but he should be okay and should find his stride soon.

The real keys to success are the complementary parts of this roster-- the Brandons, Scutaro, Blanco, Pagan, Scutaro, etc. Them, and oh yeah, our suddenly dysfunctional bullpen.

Brandon Belt for instance, has enjoyed a massive resurgence in the last month or so. Since July 25, he's gone 28 for 74-- good for a .378 average. Even better, he's hitting an incredible .412 in the month of August with an OBP% over .400 and an OPS over 1.000. Pretty sweet for a dude who looked deader than a doornail during the span of June 24th to July 24th. For God's sake, he had only 13 hits in the entire month of July, the same number of hits he had during the past three series.

The other Brandon, Mr. Crawford, had a career-high 9 game hitting streak snapped on Friday. During that streak, he raked in a serious way-- to the tune of a .464 average. There's no coincidence that the Giants averaged nearly 7 runs a game during that streak.

Marco Scutaro has hit .333 with 18 RBIs since he joined the Giants. Angel Pagan has chipped in with a .323 average in his last 8 games.

With everything this team has gone through in the last week, it's truly important that these guys keep it going. They need to get on base for the Killer Ps (Panda, Posey, Pence), and Belt needs to keep collecting clutch hits hitting behind them.

Prior to this season, we could depend on pitching and pray for one more run than our opponents. Now? Not so much.

Vogelsong is struggling over his past two outings. Lincecum and Zito have become totally unreliable. The closer situation is a mess. It's a fact of life right now for this team unfortunately. It's also exactly why all this team's moving parts need to operate in unison heading down the stretch. It's time to come together and step it up in the absence of their former #3 hitter.

They'll get their first real test Monday at Chavez Latrine. Beat LA.

Cabrera disaster gets worse...

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 03:06:00 +0000

For those of you who haven't heard the latest disturbing details on how Melky Cabrera tried to cover up his testosterone use, the New York Daily News dropped a massive bombshell with this article.

"In a bizarre attempt to avoid a 50-game drug suspension, San Francisco Giants star Melky Cabrera created a fictitious website and a nonexistent product designed to prove he inadvertently took the banned substance that caused a positive test under Major League Baseball’s drug program.

But instead of exonerating Cabrera of steroid use, the Internet stunt trapped him in a web of lies. Amid the information-gathering phase of his doping case last month, his cover story unraveled quickly, and what might have been a simple suspension has attracted further attention from federal investigators and MLB, the Daily News has learned."

(Full Story Here)

I've already had enough of this story. I just want him gone and this over with, but the black mark on our season isn't seeming to go away.

It's one thing to do anything to improve your baseball ability, but to be so calculating about his drug use is beyond comprehension. This was a plan that he and his handlers hashed out and attempted to implement. Simply unbelievable.

Anyway, on to the Dodgers series. BEAT LA!

How could you, Melky?

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 04:21:00 +0000

Earlier today-- Betrayal Wednesday-- I was speaking to a co-worker about the Giants' win the night before.

We spoke about Belt smashing the ball and hot-dogging like a dope, we touched on Posey's great slugging percentage, and how sweet of a pickup Scutaro is turning out to be. Despite Monday's demolition at the hands of Washington fresh in our minds, our conversation was purely positive.

How could you, Melky?

Then he paused and said, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think for the first time since maybe Bonds and Kent were around, we actually have a pretty respectable lineup."

After one game-- one game-- of our Cabrera-Posey-Sandoval-Pence heart of the order, we were beginning to feel confident.

Less than two hours later, my phone began buzzing in my pocket.

Boom. ESPN text. CSN Bay Area text. Tweets in my inbox.

I had to read them twice for my brain to process what I was seeing. What was I seeing?

I was seeing the collective heart of Giants fans being broken and our guts punched in. I was seeing words that made no sense-- but yet they were real.

We are a unique fanbase in more ways than one. People make fun of us for voting 225 times apiece for the all-star game and for all the animal hats (and deservedly so), and all the other weird little quirks that have come to define us as a group.

But we LOVE our team, and we stand behind our players once they have proven themselves. You get big hits and throw shutdown ball in tough games and we'll support you to the best of our abilities. Look at the love Bonds got and still gets. Look at the support Lincecum gets even during an abominable season.

The point is, we stick with our players-- almost to a fault once they've shown us something.

Even when a player hasn't shown anything but intermittent glimpses of productivity like a Belt or a Schierholtz, there are still gobs of fans out there defending them to the death-- cursing Bochy for not playing them every day.

The point is, we are forgiving and loving as a fanbase.

But this...

...this may be unforgivable.

For Melky to do this-- to do something so dumb is simply incomprehensible. Everyone wants an edge out there, but how foolish can you be? Were you not paying attention earlier this year when your own teammate, Guillermo Mota, got suspended for 100 games? Did you not see the controversy over Ryan Braun's MVP award last season? What the hell, man?

How could you risk everything you've accomplished in this town? There are people wearing delivery uniforms and stupid hats with bowties in the stands rooting for you. There are sleazeballs selling self-printed "Melkman" shirts on the Embarcadero. We voted you into the all-star game. We gave you a new home.

WE LOVED YOU.

And in the end, it was nothing but a lie. Whether that testosterone helped you get all those league-leading hits or won you that Camaro in Kansas City during the Mid-Summer Classic, we'll never know. What we do know is that you let us down. We believed in you, and you let us down.

Not only that, but this team is in a pennant race and an NL West fight against our hated rivals, and you'll be nowhere to be found. You'll be off in some faraway land with another betrayer named Angel Villalona.

Part of me wants you to just stay in the Dominican and never come back. The other part of me thinks that now you'll be more affordable to sign next season-- but then do we want you back at all?

I don't know what to think right now. I really don't.

What I do know is that you chose to let everyone down when we needed you most, and that may just be unforgivable.

O'Donnell was right after all, Pence to Giants

noreply@blogger.com (DP) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 19:29:00 +0000

A couple nights ago, Dennis O'Donnell of KPIX twittered about that the Giants "have acquired Hunter Pence".

It started a wildfire of retweets (re-posts for you old people not on Twitter), by everyone and their mother, including Andy Baggarly of CSN.

With fans going nuts over this apparent news, KPIX ran the story even after Baggarly had confirmed with Bobby Evans of the Giants' front office that a deal was not in fact completed. They even did some quick photoshop work.

Well, I think we all owe old Denny O'D an apology for skewering him. He was right after all. But with the way Twitter works these days, any member of the media that says anything-- even personal speculation-- about a trade or acquisition, needs to be very careful. It spreads like a diseased game of telephone and all bets are off. People gain and lose credibility constantly.

Regardless, Giants fans have the impact hitter they've been clamoring for. He should at least counter the Handjob Ramirez move by the Blue Bastards, and will instantly make the lineup more formidable.

He's not a prototypical 3 or 4 hitter, and is not type of guy to build an offense around, but he has real pop, and has an above average arm in right field. He is an upgrade over Schierholtz/Blanco in most ways, and plays the game hard.

Furthermore, his 17 dongs with Philadelphia this season are instantly the most on the team, something that is no surprise to a fanbase starved for the longball.

As you know, the Giants paid a fairly high price for the intense right-hander. Going to Philly are Schierholtz, Double A catching prospect Tommy Joseph and Single A pitcher Seth Rosin.

Most shocking to me is the sudden about face by Giants management. They've taken on the remainder of Pence's $10.4MM arbitration deal from this season-- somewhere around $4.5MM-- something that they said they wouldn't be "able" to do.

If anything, the Dodgers did us a major favor by reaming us for three games and acquiring half of baseball in the process (Handjob, Victorino, League).

It really showed ownership that to keep up, they needed to act immediately and that they needed to spend a few more million.

It is not a cheap acquisition monetarily as Pence is under Giants control next season, but will be due an arbitration raise in the $12-15MM range. If they like what they see, they also have the option to lock him up beyond arbitration years like they did with Bumgarner.

With so little available next offseason in terms of free agents, this type of move has to be a no brainer, despite the committed money they've taken on.

Pence is a career .290 hitter who since breaking onto the scene with Houston in 2007, has averaged 23 HR and 82 RBI-- something that we can't say we've had very much of lately.

He doesn't walk at a rapid pace, but his 37 BBs this year puts him right up with Giants leaders Belt/Blanco (38), and Posey (36). He also strikes out a fair amount (19% K Percentage, 0.44 K:BB ratio).

The only other concern I'd have is how quickly he'll pick up the complicated RF at AT&T Park. Schierholtz played it with a grace and skill that is not easily duplicated. Pence has a plus arm and is a decent defender, but the unpredictable archways and bullpen mounds out there can make you look stupid sometimes. Let's hope he picks that up quickly.

By all accounts, Pence is a great teammate, and he plays hard. For you nerds out there, he also loves computer games like World of Warcraft and has been known to have a big computer on his kitchen table. He also has been known to never blink and wears one batting glove-- sometimes none. Call him the most interesting acquisition in the world.

Hey it's a good move and is Dodgerhater approved, but Sabean cannot stop here. Romo and Casilla are hurting right now, and they need a big time late innings bullpen guy to settle things down.

Thank you ownership for committing to improvement. We all appreciate it.