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

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.

Bullpen issues plague the Giants

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!

So far, so weird...

I believe by definition, that the first 7 games of this season have been a mixed bag. We've been swept, we've been embarrassed, we've been disappointing.

But simultaneously, we've been exciting, we've been heroic, and we've been promising.

Only with the Giants could such contrasts hold so much value at the same time.

I mean, we've got Tim Lincecum on one hand-- "The Ace"-- with the worst ERA in all of baseball.

Then we've got Barry Zito, the "Useless Money Pit", with the best ERA in the league.

I can't explain any of it, and I don't believe anyone else can either, but things are looking up thanks to a suddenly viable offense and at least two of our starters settling down and nearly throwing no-hitters back to back.

Thoughts and musings:

-- It sure is nice to see Bumgarner and Cain settle down and dominate the way they should. Bum took a no-hitter into the 6th in Denver on Thursday, and Cain threw a one hit shutout in the home opener on Friday.

I wish I had a cool stat about those performances, but all I know is that Cain's one hitter was literally the best Opening Day pitching performance by a Giant ever.

-- Lincecum's struggles are serious, and they're not going away. This is reminiscent of a couple Augusts ago when he couldn't strike out his grandmother and effed up his mechanics. Krukow says his release point is off. I don't know. I'm not a pitching coach, but he is seriously off, and when he's off, he's the worst pitcher in baseball-- even worse than Zito. At least when Zito is awful and disgraceful, all he does is walk guys. Lincecum hangs balls up there like batting practice, which is much worse.

I have faith that he will find his groove again sometime this season, but it isn't just something that gets fixed overnight by finally sleeping in your own bed or lighting up a doobie.

-- This is why I'm comfortable giving Matt Cain $112.5MM and I'm becoming a little more skeptical of committing more to Lincecum.

-- Good Lord! Who are you people and what have you done with the Giants' anemic offense? As we speak, we're in the top two in the National League in runs per game. Isn't that incredible? So much of it is thanks to our new acquisition, Melky Cabrera, whom I thought wasn't very good.

Well! Thank you for proving me wrong and then making me eat dirt Melkman! You've really impressed all of us so far.

Dude. He's hitting .414.

-- The Brandon Belt thing is getting uglier. Re-enter stage right, Nate Schierholtz, who managed to hit two home runs in his only start of the season. How can you keep a guy like him buried on the bench now? How can you sit Huff, who now has a HR to go along with a .990 OPS?

Hell, how can you sit Pill (.333 avg, 2nd on team) or Hector Sanchez (.300, 3 RBI) in favor of Belt?

You can if, and only if, you are 100% committed to Belt being the 1B of the future, at the expense of current ballgames. Some argue that Bochy should be doing this, because he pretty much promised to do as much.

Well, I am of the opinion that Brandon Belt, as talented as he is, and as good a hitter as he was in Spring, needs to produce a little bit while he's in there to warrant more starts.

Every other guy I just mentioned has been as hot as Kate Upton at the plate to start the year, and Belt has looked like a newly-birthed baby giraffe. I think one day he'll be very good, and it might be this year at some point, but I cannot justify playing him over Huff, Pill, Hector Sanchez, OR Nate Schierholtz at this point.

Let's hope he gets his stroke and confidence back the next time he gets a start, because .091 with 5 strikeouts in 11 at bats is not going to cut it on a roster that is suddenly brimming with offensive ability.

-- Jeremy Affeldt is fired until further notice...

-- Speaking of terrible hitting, Angel Pagan seems to be exactly who I thought he was. Paging Gregor Blanco...

-- Let's give Zito some credit where it's due. The guy came out of the sewer to make one of the most impressive starts I've seen since Matt Cain just one upped him on Friday. How he did it? I have no idea, but he did. He showed that he's capable of goodness or perhaps really goodness, if he just has his shit together.

I won't hold my breath for a good season from him because he's teased us before in the first half of seasons, but IF he is able to string together a year with 14 wins and an ERA of 3.50, it will do wonders for our playoff chances and his own confidence... especially with Vogelsong returning on Sunday. It's possible that we could have 5 really good starters-- something we'd love to have.

-- Hector Sanchez seemed to have a lot to do with Zito's comfort level. I am absolutely thrilled by this development. It has a two-pronged effect. Sanchez can flat out rake, and is an ultra-dangerous weapon to have. Seriously? A 22 year old, switch-hitting catcher that makes Zito better? YES PLEASE!

I also like the idea of Sanchez being Zito's personal catcher. It means that there's a little more method to the starting lineup madness every week.



The season is young, and we've had our hiccups, but the ship has almost completely righted itself, and I for one am excited!

Now... let's get Timmy fixed...

Roster reactions & a look at 2012

I have to say that for all the complaints we Giants fans may have from time to time, I cannot say that management is incompetent. Cheap? Sometimes. Gunshy of big free agents? Yes. But inept? Absolutely not. With the group that reported to Scottsdale this spring, I really believe the best 24 came back to The City with the team.

"But Dodgerhater, isn't it a 25 man roster, not a 24 man one?"

Yes, but you forgot about Zito.

:'-(

Other than that waste of money, management did the best possible things to put the Giants in a position to win (with current talent) and to lock up the future (Cain).



I am a bit surprised that they designated Whiteside for assignment and traded Chris Stewart. Many believe that Hector Sanchez is too raw behind the plate to be counted on to play there 2-3 times a week as Buster does first base duty or gets a day off-- but here we are, for better or for worse.

Hey, I say it's for the better! Based on the way the kid is hitting and the way he skipped through the minors in a Sandovalesque fashion, why in the hell isn't it better? This offense has been too sickly and bitch for too many years. Finally Sabean and Bochy came to an agreement that they needed every single offensive weapon possible on the 25 man roster come Opening Day, and that's what happened.

Eli Whiteside, Mike Fontenot, and Chris Stewart-- you're all good guys and I wish you the best, but the guys that replaced you are just better with the lumber.

In regard to Whiteside, I will miss you the most, with your fitting white hair, your Mississippi Delta accent, and your Led Zeppelin entrance music. You were like a character out of a John Grisham/William Faulker book and I will miss you a little bit. Even if you never play another game in the big leagues, you helped us win a ring, and no one can take that away-- same with Fontenot.

The other surprises to me were that both Brandon Belt AND Brett Pill made the roster. The Giants are now loaded with first basemen, and I don't know how everyone will get ABs.

You'd think Huff is the primary, right? But is on a short leash, so if he sucks, he sucks, and that's the end of him. Grab a significant piece of pine, Meat.

Then there's Belt-- another lefty-- who seemingly has no place to play. Of course then there is Posey, the righty, who we have heard, nearly ad nauseum, will play there about twice a week, probably against lefties, while Belt sits.

But wait! There's more!

Nate Schierholtz can't hit!

That means what I just wrote got simpler and was completely pointless in writing and this article just took you 20 seconds longer to read than it should have!

It's looking like Nate Schierholtz and his cannon are now riding the pine, and HUFF is the one playing the OF. Whoa.

Look, it scares me too, but Huff will be playing LF-- not RF like he embarrassingly attempted to do early last season. He's not going to win any gold gloves out there, but at least against right handers, he adds some badly needed power (hopefully) to a lineup that desperately needs it.

There are three main lineups that Bochy will use:

Lineup #1: Right-handed starter

1) CF Pagan (S)/Blanco (L)
2) RF Melky Cabrera (S)
3) 3B Pablo Sandoval(S)
4) C Buster Posey (R)
5) LF Aubrey Huff (L)
6) 1B Brandon Belt (L)
7) SS Brandon Crawford (L)
8) 2B Emmanuel Burriss (S)

Note* - When Freddy Sanchez comes back, he hits 7th and Crawford hits 8th. I may be wrong and Crawford hits 8th from the get-go, but does it really matter?

Lineup #2: Left-handed starter w/Posey catching

1) CF Pagan (S)/Blanco (L)
2) RF Melky Cabrera (S)
3) 3B Pablo Sandoval (S)
4) C Buster Posey (R)
5) LF Aubrey Huff (L)
6) 1B Brett Pill (L)
7) SS Brandon Crawford (L)
8) 2B Emmanuel Burriss (S)

Lineup #3: Left-handed starter w/Posey playing 1B

1) CF Pagan (S)/Blanco (L)
2) RF Melky Cabrera (S)
3) 3B Pablo Sandoval (S)
4) 1B Buster Posey (R)
5) LF Aubrey Huff (L)
6) C Hector Sanchez (S)
7) SS Brandon Crawford (L)
8) 2B Emmanuel Burriss (S)

*Note - Depending how Crawford is hitting lefties (.133 against LHP in '11), don't be surprised to see Ryan Theriot (R) play 2B, and slide the switch-hitting Burriss over to short.

A few notes about all this...

-- Good God, do we have a lot of switch hitters! Five to be exact, but that is still crazy! (Pagan, Cabrera, Sandoval, H. Sanchez, Burriss).

-- Looks like the only time that Schierholtz will start will be to play RF against a righty when Huff is struggling or needs a day off, sliding Melky over to left.

-- Expect Bochy to play late-inning musical outfield every day with Schierholtz. We're used to it by now. The names have changed, the concept hasn't. Nate comes in for Huff, plays right field, and Cabrera moves to left. It will be a daily occurrence.

-- Can Melky play RF at AT&T as well as Nate? Well he's going to get a crash course in weirdness right away, and I hope to God that he's taking line drives off the archways as we speak so that he gets a feel for the caroms that the ball takes. As for the wind and the bullpen mound... well that comes only with trial and error, bud.

As for covering Triples Alley with Pagan or Blanco, yes, he is fast and covers a lot of ground. I don't think Melky will have any trouble chasing down fly balls to the deepest part of the yard.

-- Brandon Crawford is really important to the every day success of this team. We know the kid can field, but can he hit his weight? He's listed as 215 lbs.

Based on his stellar spring (18-54, .333/.410/.556, 3 HR, 17 RBI, 7 BB), I'd say he's capable of hitting at least .250. That seems to be everyone's wish. All I read about is "If Crawford can only hit .250, they'll be okay..."

Based on how awful he was at the dish last year, .250 would be awesome, but let's raise the bar a little bit higher than that.

I believe Crawford's contributions with that bat are the difference between making the playoffs and not. It's that important.

-- Who will replace Zito when he inevitably sucks?

Eventually it will be either Eric Surkamp or Yadsl;fknc,i Petit. Surkamp had his Spring cut short when he strained the flexor tendon in his elbow about a week ago. That sounds like he won't be ready for a minimum of 3 weeks-- probably around the time that Zito has fallen to 0-3 with a 9.00.

Right now, the guy that is first in line is the healthy Yusmeiro Petit. I rather enjoy hitting random keys after the capital 'Y' in his name, but I looked up how to spell it anyway.

Petit, a former Diamondback, last pitched in the bigs in '09 with Arizona, and wound up with a 5.82 ERA. He apparently blew out his shoulder, wound up in Oaxaca pitching in front of donkey carts, then ended up back in Venezuela pitching in front of Socialists and Giants hitting instructor Hensley Meulens. The rest is history. Check out the whole story from Baggs here.

The guy has pitched well in Spring, so bottom line, with Vogelsong on the DL for a few weeks, Surkamp out for a few weeks, and Zito sucking more than usual, Yadlfncamds;' Petit may be making a start for the Gyros sooner rather than later.

-- Also noted in that Andrew Baggarly article at CSNBayArea.com is that one of the guys that Petit pitched against in the Venezuelan Winter League was none other than Gregor Blanco, the speedy outfielding surprise that made the roster.

I don't know much about the left-handed Blanco other than the guy is major steal threat and plays a great OF. Also, apparently his nickname is "Tiburon Blanco". And for the 3 of you that are new to California, that means "White Shark".

Get it together people.

With Angel Pagan sucking big time thus far as a Giant, not getting on base, and making us miss Andres Torres and his Puerto Rican porno walkup music, there is a growing contingent of people that believe Angel Pagan will be overtaken by Blanco sooner rather than later as the starting CF.

The contingent begins with the all-important Me, and also includes KNBR's Larry Krueger and apparently (but subtly) CSN Bay Area's Andrew Baggarly.

Blanco's career stats aren't a lot to go by, but he holds a career .358 on base percentage and has safely stolen 26 out of 35 bases. In the OF, he has 12 outfield assists versus only 4 errors. Hey, I'll take it.

I have minimal rational reasons for why I think Blanco will usurp Pagan's spot. I basically think Pagan sucks and is a 4th OF at best. I also think that Pagan's name is obnoxious. It's like, okay, you're an angel AND a pagan? Pick one or the other dude...


Obviously we can speculate all day about what will happen and who will be awesome or who will suck. We don't have all day. We have TV to watch and work to go to and food to eat. With that said, Opening Day couldn't have come soon enough, and I'm looking forward to another maddeningly amazing year of Giants baseball.

A dark day for Giants fans

If you stayed up Wednesday night to watch the Giants' heroic comeback fall short in 12 innings, you saw it.

It was gut-wrenching. Enough to make a grown man sick and a grown woman cry.

Our boy... our GOLDEN BOY Buster Posey suffered an ugly injury at the hands of a desperate young player trying to score a winning run.

As much as I'd like to rip Cousins as being a complete dickhead, we all root for our players to run into home plate at the same brutal velocity. Anything for a run... especially a winning run in extra innings.

No, it's not Cousins' fault. It's not even baseball's fault for not treating catchers like they coddle Peyton Manning in the NFL.

What happened to Buster Posey is for lack of a better term... baseball.

That's baseball.

Early reports put Buster's prognosis as a broken ankle and a possibly damaged knee. As someone who's personally undergone two serious knee surgeries and a broken ankle surgery, I know that if both of those things are true, he's out for 3 months... MINIMUM.

A broken ankle, depending on the bone, calls for a 2 month recovery for normal people, probably about 6 weeks for athletes. If his knee is only an MCL strain, it's 3-6 weeks.

But if we're talking ACL damage, multiple ankle fractures... I mean worst case scenario. We'll see him next year... as sickening as that thought is.

There is a small, yet growing minority in the Bay Area sports community that has been questioning how long or how often Buster Posey should play catcher. After all, he's a pure hitter with a great arm, and can LITERALLY play every position on the field. Why not move him to 3B or 1B? Maybe give him a shot at SS?

Well, the answer is simple:

BECAUSE HE'S A CATCHER.


He's not JUST a catcher though. No, he's one of the best catchers in baseball. And this is his second season... and his first full one.

The list of elite catchers in this league is a short one. The first one is Joe Mauer, then it goes to Brian McCann.

Then it's probably Posey.

Sure, Yadi Molina is up there, but he's not on the same map offensively. Victor Martinez is there offensively, but nowhere close defensively.

Buster Posey is an elite player, and he's a CATCHER.

It's his best position, and he makes us better in all ways by playing such a difficult, demanding, and offensively talentless position. Unfortunately, the wear and tear of a position like this is going to make us all cringe.

I'm a proponent of day games off after night games, putting Buster at 1B on Sundays regularly, but that's about it. He belongs behind the dish.

That being said, Posey's depressing absence means Eli Whiteside will catch indefinitely. Not a very sexy option... unless of course you're writing a William Faulkner-esque novel about a guy from the Mississippi Delta ironically named Whiteside, who also has white hair before age 30.

The guy who really gets an opportunity to step up again is Brandon Belt. He's been recalled, and will probably see a lot of time out there.

I don't know what Bochy will do with this mess on our hands... whether Huff will see a couple more days off, whether Belt will see some time in the OF, or whether a better offensive solution than Whiteside is sought.

It's a mess.

It's not the end of the season. It's not the end of the world. It's just a mess.

There's very little positivity around this situation, but at least Whiteside is solid defensively and handles the pitching staff well. Plus, we're coming back and winning games even while Posey and Huff have been average.

He's a big bat, and a great player, but this is not the end of days. We get Pablo back fairly soon, and maybe Huff will get hot.

As we know from our magical 2010, you can never count out this team, and they come back from adversity all the time.

For now, we'll just hope Posey will be back by July, and keep our heads up. We have a great team, we're champions, and our group of goofballs will step up in a big way... they can't help it.

HurriCAIN Matt & Company 2 games away...

I cannot say enough about Matt Cain. He shut down a team, that on paper is totally "unshutdownable". Just look how they managed to make a game of it on Wednesday after they'd been left for dead.

Cain was a steady hand on the wheel, guiding the Giants to within two measly games of their first title in San Francisco.

He isn't flashy. His biggest quirks are his high socks, funny puffball of a haircut, and his subtle Southern drawl. He is a blue chip talent with a blue collar attitude and work ethic. That is a set of qualities to be desired in any setting.

Cain has been steady all season long, a guy we could rely on when Sanchez, Timmy and Zito had their ups and downs. Without him, we are definitely not standing where we are today... two games away.

Thoughts & Observations

-- CJ Wilson pitched pretty damn well. Other than that HR he allowed to Renteria, he basically shut us down. He didn't have his best stuff, but still made it work. Impressive start.

-- Edgar Renteria may have earned $6MM of his $8MM dollar salary in the past two games. Hell, maybe all $8MM. His defense has been flawless (save for a mishandled throw on a steal attempt by Andrus), and he was the catalyst for a blowout of a Game 2 win. It really proves that you can't teach "clutch", and playoff heroes like him are still capable of doing it late into their careers.

-- Ron Washington was badly outmanaged by Bruce Bochy tonight. I know, it doesn't sound like something anyone would say... but it's true. Bochy made all the right moves, and Washington, well... uh...

Washington made his biggest mistakes with his bullpen. With Cody Ross coaxing an impressive walk out of starter CJ Wilson, Washington went to his veteran lefty Darren Oliver to face Aubrey Huff. Sure I get it, lefty on lefty. Okay. Oliver got Huff to ground out.

With righty O'Day ready in the bullpen, Washington opted to keep Oliver in the game to face Juan Uribe. This was the first head scratcher of many. I get that O'Day allowed that HR to Uribe on Wednesday, but he's a better option than Oliver, who immediately gave up an RBI double to Uribe.

Fast forward an inning.

O'Day gets two quick outs and allowed a single to Buster Posey. With Schierholtz on deck, Washington, burned by not playing lefty/righty matchups in the previous inning, decided to go with 24 year-old Derek Holland to face Schierholtz.

Holland couldn't find the zone and walked 3 consecutive Giants, including Cody Ross, who hit directly after Nate. Where was Ogundo? Where was Mark Lowe then? I didn't get any of it, and neither did Krukow and Kuiper.

Holland may be rendered useless now after being hung out to dry like that. It was reminded me of Brooks Conrad in the NLDS.

And hell, Bruce Bochy burned Mike Fontenot as a pinch hitter in order to get Rowand in there for a better matchup against the new lefty. And look how that worked out. Rowand hit a triple. That sealed the game as a real laugher.

Ron Washington just seemed totally overwhelmed and it looked like he second-guessed himself throughout the entire game. He didn't have guys ready to go with the bullpen, and seemed totally rattled by previous backfires.

He will rebound by Game 3, but it might already be too late.

-- Javier Lopez is an absolute monster. I did not come up with this nickname, but "The Silent Assassin" fits him well. He's like a biological weapon-- mustard gas or something... or carbon monoxide. The enemy knows we have him, but they don't realize they're choking to death and dying until it's too late.

Boom. Sit down Josh Hamilton. Love Javier Lopez.

-- Some sweet stats here:

-- The Giants have now scored 50 runs, 30 of which have come with two outs
-- Of those 50 runs, 20 have been scored in the first two games of the World Series
-- The 4 consecutive walks by Holland and Mark Lowe set a World Series record
-- Matt Cain has now thrown 21.1 innings in the playoffs and has yet to allow a run
-- Opponents are hitting .171 off of Cain this post season

Game 3

-- Jonathan Sanchez and Colby Lewis go head to head in Game 3. This game has to favor Texas, because Lewis has been pitching very well, while Sanchez, has been... well... "Bad Sanchez". I expect him to be on a VERY short leash.

In addition to a rabid crowd, the Rangers have a serious home field advantage. They've got their short porches, and their DH, as well as their comfort zone. The sheer confidence boost the Rangers will get from being at home will be significant.

Look at Ian Kinsler. That ball he hit in Game 2 would've been a HR in Arlington. He got A&T'd, and it gets guys down in the dumps when they think no matter how hard they hit the ball, they have no chance at a round tripper.

As for the DH, I've already opined that it should be Sandoval. There simply is no way around it. Burrell doesn't like it, and he will be replaced defensively anyway. With righties Colby Lewis and Tommy Hunter going in Games 3 & 4, Panda looks like a good bet to me, unless Bochy gets a wild hair up his nose and DH's Aubrey Huff in favor of the defensive Ishikawa at first.

Also, Vladdy Guerrero gets a chance to redeem himself doing what he does best... hit.

-- So now we finally hear why there was no Jose Guillen on the playoff roster. Apparently, Guillen has been linked to some sort of HGH/Performance Enhancing Drug investigation and the Giants were ordered by the commissioner's office to exclude the right fielder.

Although Guillen and HGH go hand in hand, it is fairly shocking that MLB would basically find a way to suspend a guy before he's been formally charged. The Player's Union I'm sure will have something to say about that.

As it turned out, the Giants didn't need him at all, although he would make a swell DH in Arlington. Just imagine if Guillen WAS included on the roster. He'd possibly have stolen at bats from Cody "Boss" Ross. God only knows what would've happened.

Although he was a good late season addition and we only gave up Kevin Pucetas, I cannot say anyone misses him, and Cody Ross did more in his spot than anyone else could have.

Thoughts before Game 1

This is what we've all been waiting for... another chance to finally win a championship.

Not in a million years did anyone expect a Giants-Rangers World Series, and this series is as intriguing and unpredictable as the matchup itself. But, I will see what I can do...

-- Cliff Lee is the best pitcher in baseball right now. He's pitching better than Lincecum, Halladay, Cain, or anyone else that has participated in the playoffs. He is straight filth, and he is more likely to know the lyrics of a Justin Bieber song than he is to walk a guy. That means neither is likely.

Games 1 and 5 will be up to clutch late-inning hitting and Tim Lincecum. Lincecum cannot give up more than 3 runs in either start, because Lee will allow 2 or less. The way to beat Texas in games Lee starts is to A) Get lucky or B) wear him out, take pitches, and beat Texas's inferior bullpen.

-- Josh Hamilton will beat us at some point (or two). The key is to minimize the damage caused by their other two boppers, Nelson Cruz and Vlad Guerrero.

-- Keep the deer off the basepaths. If the speedy Elvis Andrus and the beastly Ian Kinsler draw walks, smack singles, and do their cute little antler thing, we've got problems.

-- Much has been made of Bengie Molina's presence in the Texas clubhouse. Sure he knows signs, tendencies, and our pitchers. It is an advantage for sure. But this is baseball, not the NFL. This isn't a Gruden with Tampa against the Raiders situation.

Molina knows Cain and Lincecum intimately but never really saw Timmy's slider. He doesn't know much about Madison Bumgarner, and was not on the team with Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez, Cody Ross, Mike Fontenot, and barely saw Buster Posey.

And another point that Chris Ray, the man Molina was traded for, is still on the team. He is not on the active roster, but that doesn't prevent him from sharing signs, tendencies, game plans, and tips on Josh Hamilton, Michael Young and company.

Another point is that everything is on HD video, and advanced scouting departments for each team do nothing but track tendencies.

The Giants will have changed their signs, and Bengie Molina's effect on the series will be minimal. He wont make Lincecum's changeup easier to hit or Brian Wilson's beard any less awesome.

-- Andres Torres and Freddy Sanchez need to do a better job of setting the table and Pat Burrell needs to heat up again. He is due.

-- Please God, stay hot Cody Ross...

-- Casilla, Romo, and Ramirez scare the hell out of me. Good thing Jeremy Affeldt appears to be back...

-- Jonathan Sanchez will once again pitch on the road. Homeboy needs to find his control. Another 3 inning meltdown will sink us.

-- The DH thing is a concern. While Vlad Guerrero will probably bumble around in the outfield during the first 2 games in San Francisco, the Gyros will have a dilemma on their hands in Arlington.

Cliff Lee and CJ Wilson are Texas's best pitchers, but both are lefties. Had Ron Washington opted to throw Colby Lewis in Game 2, the Giants would have had to really improvise with their DH situation.

With two righties in Lewis and Tommy Hunter going in Games 3 and 4, it creates an ideal situation for Pablo Sandoval to DH.

Yes, Sandoval is a full-blown retard, but hitting left-handed is his stronger side, and maybe the lack of stress of playing 3rd base will help him.

Pat Burrell makes sense as a DH (possibly in Game 5 against Lee) but the last time he tried that, he hit .211 with 2 HR and was fired by Tampa Bay. He hates it.

-- I know he wont read this, but I'd like to apologize to Bruce Bochy. At points this season, I declared him "unfit to lead". I even wanted him fired. I was wrong Boch.

I disagree and second guess more than half your lineups and in game moves, but you've gotten us to within 4 games of a championship. If you get this done, I will be forever in your debt...

Predictions: Giants will win in 6 games. The torture will continue, but so will the clutch performances at the plate and on the mound for San Francisco. The Rangers have the hottest pitcher on earth and a superior offense in every way. It only seems logical that they'd win.

Unfortunately for them, they've earned a chance to face the most illogical team ever assembled. The Giants aren't supposed to win, and that's precisely why they will.

PS: I dyed my beard jet black in honor of Brian Wilson. I am applying a second coat tomorrow before the game.

If you have not seen my "Giants Win the Pennant" video, you're missing out. In just over 48 hours, it's received nearly 1,200 hits. It's epic, and will get you fired up for the World Series even more than you already are!



The Giants Win the Pennant!
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ONE MORE GAME!

Are you kidding me? Who the hell are these guys? How do they keep doing this? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE???

It's not like I doubted the Giants could get to the playoffs and do some damage in the first round, but I don't think any of us could have expected to be in a situation like this.

About 5 minutes after the dust settled, I said out loud-- partly to my dad, and partly to no one-- "We're up 3-1. I can't believe it. We're up 3-1. This is really happening."

There is simply no apt way to describe the feeling most of us have right now. Over a lifetime as fans, we devote tens of thousands of hours, spend thousands of dollars, and invest immeasurable amounts of emotion in our teams. We do all this in hopes that when it's all said and done, someday we are in a position like we're in right now.

We are one game from the World Series.

I almost don't even want to say it. I feel like we're in the 7th inning of a perfect game... shhh! Don't say it!

With another dream Lincecum/Halladay matchup set to begin Thursday evening, we must remind ourselves that this series is not even close to being over. Halladay is capable of shutting us out, as is Roy Oswalt during a potential Game 6 in Philadelphia. With that said, here are my observations from Games 3 and 4.

Game 3

-- Matt Cain was an absolute monster. After a horrible performance in the regular season's final series against San Diego, I was worried about him a little bit. After a tough luck loss against Atlanta, I felt a little better. But after Tuesday's performance, I fully expect to win whenever he starts.

-- Cain and Buster Posey are what you call "old souls". With Cain, a longtime veteran at the age of 26 and Posey, a 23 year old rookie, there is a calming presence that the two of them bring to the table. I imagine that their quiet, confident demeanors, steady emotions, and workmanlike attitudes rub off on their teammates-- and I'm not talking about only the young ones.

They act as though they've been there a million times, although neither has. I tell you, if all hell broke loose, you'd want those two guys around... and not just because they're both country boys who could probably get a seized up motor running and tie a clean Carolina rig onto 10 lb. test mono-filament line. They basically set the example of what a big league ballplayer is supposed to be. Truly remarkable considering their ages.

-- Edgar Renteria on Cain's performance: “CAIN IS UNBELIEVABLE. WHEN I SAW HIM IN THE FIRST INNING, I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO BE A BIG GAME FOR US. JUST TRY TO SCORE ANY RUNS.”

-- And how good has Javier Lopez been? Silent Assasin? I like it.

Game 4

-- Madison Bumgarner again looked solid. His 6 strikeouts seemed to be par for his course lately. He battled, but didn't have his best stuff. Hey, he was better than Philly's 4th starter, Joe Blanton.

-- Santiago Casilla can be extremely erratic at times. He's been pretty solid up until this series. He worries me a bit. Some of these bullpen guys look like they're "leaking oil".

-- Cody Ross--- excuse me, Cody "Boss" had another huge hit. Remember when all you jerks were mad at him for that error he made in RF a month ago? I told you he was a good player. He is simply on a hot streak that not even he can comprehend. As good as our pitching has been, Mr. Rosstober has been equally important... and I don't see this stopping anytime soon.

-- Sandoval got a huge double. Nice to see. It gave us the lead, and it gave him a boost of confidence.

-- Sandoval immediately took this boost of confidence, and grounded into a double play with the bases loaded and one out. In case you were wondering, that was double play #26 on the season.

All Pablo needed to do was hit the ball into the outfield for a sac fly. He is a continuing liability at the plate, and I will continue to dislike him until he becomes a smarter baseball player.

And look how important that run was! WE NEEDED THAT RUN! Because...

-- Bochy doesn't get it. He still doesn't friggin get it. SERGIO ROMO CANNOT BE TRUSTED! I don't care that he rebounded after that run-scoring hit he allowed. This is the playoffs and he obviously is not pitching well enough. I know Bochy is a player's manager and he LOVES "sticking with his guys", but if there are two guys that cannot be trusted to get out of tight, inherited jams, it's Romo, and to a lesser extent, Casilla.

And back to that Sandoval GIDP... NOW DO YOU SEE, YOU MORON ZOO ANIMAL PANDA! GET THE RUN HOME!

-- Andres Torres has probably earned himself a start after showing signs of life in the past two games.

-- Nate Schierholtz is now an automatic out. He is officially approaching Rowand territory in hitting uselessness, and I honestly think he should start laying down a bunt up the 3rd base line ever time he hits until they start playing him in.

I met him once. He's a good guy, and I don't like disparaging good guys, but he is just not a good hitter, and is at a career crossroads. Right now, he's looking like a career 4th or 5th OF and defensive replacement. I know it's extremely difficult to produce without consistent at bats, but this is getting ridiculous.

Stretching back into the regular season, Schierholtz is 5-29, a .174 avg.

-- Ryan Howard and Chase Utley look lost for the most part.

-- Buster Posey was 4-4 after appearing tired and "slumpy" in the past couple games. I think the last time I said he was tired he hit a huge home run against San Diego.

And my God, what a play at home plate today. On a crazy/great throw by Rowand, Posey kept the game from getting out of hand with an amazing play at the plate. This guy is incredible.

-- Pat Burrell has a great eye. That is all.

-- Home Plate umpire Wally Bell was horribly inconsistent. This crew has been a disaster overall. Ted Barrett in Game 3 was the only guy worth his salt. Cousins, Iassogna and Bell were just not good. While Cousins and Iassogna don't know the difference between a ball and a strike, Bell just can't seem to remember whether he or not he's going to maintain a zone or just start anew each batter.

-- Charlie Manuel made a couple questionable decisions. Firstly, why leave a young Antonio "Diabeto" Bastardo to face Posey after he was brought in to face Huff, a lefty on lefty matchup? After all, Bastardo doesn't have much experience and righties like Posey hit .300 off of the bastard in '10. Why not bring in Madson right there?

-- The whole Oswalt thing was bizarre. I know he's awesome and everything, but why not bring in Lidge for the 9th? I know it wasn't a save situation, but if you're down to the bottom of the barrel, do you think it's wise to use a guy going on 2.5 days rest? And oh yeah, It was more like 4 hours rest, because Oswalt threw a scheduled side session before the game.

And this move came from the guy who didn't want to start Roy Halladay on three days rest, leaving Blanton available for long relief work. Philly fans want Manuel's head on a platter right now. And they may get it.

-- I just checked the comment feed on the Philly.com game story. HILARIOUS. I just wish I could get Sylvester Stallone to read them all in his Rocky voice. Here is my favorite:

"Can we keep the Phillies biggest annual October choker Rollins nailed to the bench. He got picked off in the 2nd. He ended both the 4th and 5th innings by striking out with runners on. In the 7th he booted a tailor made double play that could have lost the game. In the 8th he comes up with a runner on 2nd, no outs and pops up. The next time someone calls this career .224 October hitter a big game player, they should be put in jail."

Philly fans are so much more entertaining when they're losing... hahaha

-- How huge was Juan Uribe? He comes into the game cold, and immediately makes a helluva play to nail Ross Gload at first. Say what you will about his range, but he is an above average shortstop and I want him back in 2011.

-- Oh yeah, and he also hit a sac fly to win the game. See Pablo, that's how you do it. What an exhilarating moment for Giants fans. Juan Uribe became only the 4th player in Giants history to hit a walkoff RBI. Wild.

Did anyone have success with the radio delay?

Clutch plays and Conrad overcome impotence and Bochy

Speechless.

That's the only way I could describe my feelings after game 2. You know me well enough to know that I am rarely, RARELY speechless.

I second-guessed Bochy's move to bring in Romo over Casilla or Ramirez and expect Wilson to get another 2 inning save. I second guessed his borderline OCD tic of removing Pat Burrell in the 6th inning. I questioned the move of pinch hitting for Fontenot with Renteria. All of it. But let's not talk about that. Rick Ankiel and Alex Gonzalez and Big Head Bochy are sealed up into a nice forgettable little Game 2 package.

On Sunday, Game 3 happened.

It was an incredible performance by Jonathan Sanchez on the mound, another impotent day at the plate against an other-worldly Tim Hudson and nasty Atlanta bullpen, another head-shaking, profanity-inducing string of decisions by Bruce Bochy, and an improbable comeback by our boys in Orange & Black. Observations are as such:

-- Jonathan Sanchez may have finally turned the corner as a big league pitcher... and a big game pitcher. His 11 K performance was the most prolific strikeout total by a Giants left hander in postseason history, and only one other Giants lefty has ever had 10. The Giants organization has been around almost 140 years, and Sanchez was the guy to set the record.

Not only that, but he had a no-hitter going into the 6th inning that had to be broken up by Timmy Hudson himself!

Even more so than Dirrrty Sanchez's no-hitter last season, this performance perhaps announced the arrival of "good Sanchez" for, well, good. He appears to be a confident son of a bitch out there, delivering a stankeye to Rick Ankiel after striking him out in the 3rd, and then throwing one over his head in the 6th.

Consistency has never been Sanchez's middle name, but my Lord, when he is good, he is GOOD.

-- Mike Fontenot and his Jon Miller-described "Hugh Jackman Wolverine Beard" proved to be a good start, and thank God BHH (Big Head Bochy) figured that out. Pablo Sandoval is a liability. He is an idiot in the field (running into Posey in game 2 and throwing the ball all over creation), and an idiot at the plate (double play specialist, strike out artist). Sandoval is not "back", I never declared him "back", and he will never be "back". He had one flukey season as a rookie, the league adjusted to him, and he's too stupid to adjust back. For Giants fans that aren't 14 year old girls with Panda hats, he's testing our patience to the last rope. If he got traded for Alex Gordon or Chris Davis or Johnny Venters, I'd say. Okay. Sounds good. You can sell Panda hats in KC, Texas, and Atlanta. He's your problem now.

Back to Fontenot.

His triple led to our first run (barely), and I'm shocked by how close it came to a dinger. In addition, it also may have injured Jason Heyward, which is a blessing in a not-so-good disguise.

Fontenot also played a good 3B.

-- Bochy is a hard-headed fool. He's been doing these things all year. He's an old-school guy who makes old-man decisions. Nearly all the Giants fans I talk to on Twitter basically groaned in unison as Romo was carted out to face Eric Hinske.

In fact, here is a string of my Twitterings (left column down, then right column)



And right after "Come on Serge", Hinske crushed a terrible pitch up into RF.

Romo is no longer a viable 8th inning option, and let's be honest, that basically lost us the game. If it weren't for Bobby Cox and poor Brooks Conrad, the second loss in a row would've been on Romo and Bochy. Amazing how baseball works.

-- Burrell needs to play 8 innings. Again, we came up in the 9th inning, needing to score and Pat Burrell was no longer in the game with Nate Schierholtz in his place. No. Bochy. NO!

-- Cody Ross should not hit 8th, Uribe should, until further notice

-- Both Brian McCann and Jason Heyward got banged up on Sunday and may not play at 100% tomorrow. No Billy Wagner worked to our advantage today, and with these two guys banged up, I like our chances.

-- It is a amazing how Sanchez and Huff were struggling so badly, and yet, those two, plus the cold Ishikawa walking off the bench, again, along with Brooks Conrad managed to somehow, ridiculously pull off two runs in the 9th inning.

-- There were two outs, two strikes, and we were almost done. We were literally down to our last strike. Freddy Sanchez came through.

-- Brooks Conrad will be forced into therapy soon. Atlanta is a bad sports town with a lot of fairweather bandwagoners, but they get fired up about stuff that matters, like Braves playoff games and Georgia football. You can bet they won't forget Conrad's 4 NLDS errors (3 in Game 3).

Like Duane Kuiper said on KNBR right after Conrad committed the lead-taking error on Buster Posey's routine grounder,

"I'm gonna take the kid off the hook. He should not have been out there playing second base."

And he's right. It's rare to feel bad for an opposing player. Nick Anderson missing all those free throws back in '95 against Houston comes to mind, and to a lesser extent, Bill Buckner, but this one shouldn't be on Brooks Conrad. Here's why.

--He's not a second baseman by trade, he's a 3rd baseman. It is true that he has not been good at 3B this year, committing 7 errors in 2010, but why, oh why, would a bad performance at 3B translate into a better performance at 2B?

My question to Old Man Cox is, "Why, after the 2nd error or 3rd error in the series do you leave the guy out there?"

Not only that, but the guy was asked to sacrifice bunt, and popped it up foul to Mike Fontenot in foul territory before he committed the final two errors. His confidence was shot, and yet, Cox carted him out there.

The alternative is putting Troy Glaus, a career 3B at third with sub-par range, and Omar Infante, a career middle infielder at 2B. Boom. Problem solved.

Braves fans are putting this loss on Cox like we put Romo and Sandoval's mistakes on Bochy.

-- Wilson was nails out there in the 9th. And thank God, because we needed that from him, not only because of the obvious, but because he needed a good outing to get his "Awesomness" back in to full swing.

Romo should shave his beard though. He can start growing it back, but you need to shave it now.

-- Andres Torres and Juan Uribe are a concern. Their at bats do not look great. They are swinging and missing too much and reaching for pitches. The same can be said for Huff and Freddy Sanchez, but perhaps their 9th inning success got them some mojo back.

And like Jerry Springer, my final thought.

On Saturday morning, after one of the most deflating losses of my Giants fan career, I flipped on my DirecTV box and looked through my DVR for something to watch before the Georgia-Tennessee game. Sure enough, there was 30 for 30 from last week: "4 Days in October".

If you haven't seen it, ask around, and see how you can watch it. Either online, or on your friend's DVR. It's worth it.

I actually wouldn't mind having it on DVD for my own purposes, but that is irrelevant.

This particular 30 for 30 was about the 2004 Boston Red Sox who improbably came back from a 3-0 ALCS deficit to beat the Yankees, in New York, to go on to the World Series where they swept the Cardinals.

I'm not a Red Sox fan. I guess I like them more than the Yankees, but who doesn't? Regardless, it was the most incredible comebacks in all of sports history, and was done by a cast of characters and outcasts with beards who called themselves "The Idiots."

Those Red Sox had Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling. They also had Kevin Millar, who is strikingly similar to Aubrey Huff in many ways. Martinez, Schilling, and Lowe in their primes are pretty damn similar to Lincecum, Cain, and Sanchez, who are all entering their primes. The Sox had Johnny Damon, whose beard made him look like a caveman. We have Brian Wilson whose beard makes him look like a cross between Charlie Sheen in Major League and Billy Mays back from grave.

They are not the same team, and I know that the comparison is a reach. What I will say, is that those 2004 Red Sox were the underdogs who were loose and goofy in the clubhouse. They had weird hair and strange characters, and tortured their fans all year. And yeah. They still beat the Yankees after being down 0-3.

After watching that, I felt better about our 1-1 series. I felt better about the possibility that we could win 1 or 2 at Turner Field, no matter what the circumstances.

Although I was crushed by the Game 2 loss and Hinske's home run, part of me said, "It's not over. These guys have been coming back all year, and if the Red Sox could come back from an 0-3 ALCS deficit, we can beat these damn Braves."

And that, my friends, is why we watch; it's why we're fans.

Game 3 is Monday at 5:37 Pacific on TBS. And Madison Bumgarner is pitching against Derek Lowe.

PS: I couldn't take Dick Stockton, Bob Brenly and TBS any more. After saying they did an okay job in game 1, they, like many of you, made me sick. It's everything from Stockton's pronunciation of error as "errah", to the fact that he introduced the Giants lineup as the "New York Giants", to his spray-on hair.

Brenly, although a former Giant, is sounding more and more like Tim McCarver. In the 4th inning, I put KNBR on, and literally looked at the TV only for visual replays while Twittering. Unfortunately KNBR's feed was about 7 seconds ahead of my DirecTV TBS feed, which makes it impossible to listen and watch in sync. It would be nice for KNBR to give a damn about its listeners and sync up their feed to the TBS feed, but I guess it's not a perfect world.

The Lincecum situation has been mismanaged badly

I'm no pitching coach, everyone knows that. I'm not a psychotherapist or oracle. I, like you, am nothing more than an educated observer with a passion.

It doesn't take much observation or baseball know-how to determine that Tim Lincecum hasn't been the same pitcher in 2010 that he was in his Cy Young seasons of '08 and '09. That was evident early on this season. Increased walks, decreased velocity, and too many home runs allowed have told the tale so far.

As for Sunday's 8-2 debacle against San Diego in which Lincecum allowed 6 runs (5 earned), all I could think was, "I told you so."

And I may have advocated several days ago that this start against San Diego should've been skipped, and I was right. But the fact remains that everyone from Andy Baggarly and Mychael Urban to 22Gigantes and myself have advocated for Lincecum intervention... for weeks, if not a couple months.

Has it happened? No. Nothing.

Dave Righetti and Mark Gardner have next to no influence and power over Lincecum. Ditto for Bruce Bochy. They let Lincecum's quirky delivery and off-center habits run their course, because they were having a TON of success. Who were they to intervene? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's what I say... and that's what they said too.

Well, now it's broke and no one has any idea how to fix it...

...except for Tim's father Chris.

Everyone who knows anything about Lincecum knows the story. The over-extension, the picking the dollar bills up off the dirt on his follow through. Dave Righetti and Mark Gardner don't know squat about Lincecum's problems, and that's not neccessarily any surprise or total fault of their own. No one's seen anything like it before. All they have is a front row seat to the Freak Show, relying on past film and a steady diet of observations.

Much of the adversity faced by the Giants this season has stemmed from inactivity, complacency, and a slow-as-molasses-in-wintertime approach to making changes. This was the case with the Rowand-Torres mess early on as well as the mistake to call up Buster Posey about a month too late.

With the season and the playoffs on the line, it is now too late to skip one of Lincecum's starts. This was the time to do it, and they carted him out there anyway. The guy is changing his windup and mechanics on his own-- on a game to game basis! That right there should sound like tires screeching to Bruce Bochy and company. It's like, "HELLO! RED FLAG STARING YOU IN THE FACE!"

Chris Lincecum should've been called in as a paid consultant weeks ago, if not months. If both Timmy and Giants management are too proud to bring his broken down ass into Chris's repair shop of miracles, at bare minimum, Timmy should've had a start skipped while he tinkered with his motion so radically in the middle of the season.

The same argument could be made for Pablo Sandoval's struggles and how coaching this year seemed not to make a difference with the stubborn and hyper young Panda. There was no time off to work on problems-- no diciplinary or motivational tactics to get him into gear.

Sandoval, like Lincecum, is an extrodinarily unorthodox and unique player. He does very few things by the book and has a personality to match. Like Lincecum's mechanics, Pablo's personality is an obstacle that was not dealt with properly. Luckily for the Giants coaching staff, Pablo is perhaps exiting the filthy quagmire he called his 2010 sophomore campaign on his own.

The bottom line is that Tim needs to suck up his pride, which has to be quickly evaporating, the Giants coaching staff needs to intervene forcefully and immediately, and both sides need to admit that they have no clue how to fix our broken down superstar.

August 15th, in the midst of a tight playoff race is no time for foolish pride, or a general cluelessness as to how to fix our best player. If the status quo regarding Lincecum continues, you can count on watching 4 teams not from San Francisco representing the NL in the 2010 playoffs.

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Curbing Our Enthusiasm Sucks

"...adversity breeds character, and character wins ballgames in September and October."



I waited to write something this week. Mainly because it's been uncomfortable until now to sit at a desk. Sad I know. The other reason is simple... it's a lot easier to write stuff about a team on an absolute roll; a team that looked World Series-bound and like a team of destiny. I see people Twittering about "This reminds me of '93" or "This feels a little like 2000" or "Man, we have better pitching now than we did in '02".

It sure easy to gush like a schoolgirl when the team wins 20 of 25 games, and Buster Posey looks like the next coming of an blessed love child between Joe Mauer and Derek Jeter. It's easy to gush like a schoolgirl when Andy Torres is hitting 410 foot home runs every 3 days.

This is why you hold off. I learned my lesson about that. You can be excited all you want about what you see. You can text and Twitter all you want about how much ass we're kicking, but the season is too long, and this team is too imperfect to declare too many things before the 140 game mark.

Take this for example. I said this back on April 9th:

"Renteria really looks like a beast among boys out there right now and appears to be the same player who had a .330 season for the Braves in '07."

I also praised Aaron Rowand at the time, and said he looked like a .270 hitter... a compliment when it comes to him.

Why did I bring up these things that make me look stupid? Because things were going swimmingly back on April 9th, just like they were before we faced Yabalda Jimenez on our way to Atlanta.

And you know what? I'm glad we got our asses kicked in ATL. I'm also glad that it happened in 95 degree heat and 60% humidity. I'm glad we faced Atlanta's best pitchers, on the road, in as hostile and uncomfortable an environment as Atlanta's notoriously, horrendously lame fans could provide.

The simple reason is that adversity breeds character, and character wins ballgames in September and October.

No one can say that this team has lacked scrapiness or resolve-- especially compared to the disaster last season. Remember that? Remember when a 2-0 deficit in the 7th inning meant game over? We don't have that problem anymore.

Every team loses 2-0 to Timmy Hudson from time to time. Hell, the Yankees got shut out by James Shields on August 1st 3-0. The same James Shields that allowed 6 dongs to Toronto on Saturday. It happens. That's baseball.

What you need to be concerned about are patterns that seem to revolve like an a bad Cyndi Lauper cassette playing on an auto-reverse tape deck.

What really concerns me? Not the offense as a whole. It will slump from time to time. There are individual pieces that have to be worrisome:

1) Pablo Sandoval

Every time we think "The big bat we've been looking for" gets a hit, we think he may finally be snapping out of it. He isn't. He won't. I'm not being negative, I'm being realistic. Pablo Sandoval is a little kid that gets too excited at the plate to do anything productive. I've said it before and I will say it again... and I'm dead serious. He needs medication, and it's nothing to be ashamed of. There are a lot of things out there that will allow him to slow his mind down and become more cerebral, without taking away his goofy personality. I'm not as concerned about his weight as others are. "It's 80% mental and 40% physical." (Little Giants quote...)

2) Bruce Bochy

I've been on the "Fire Bochy" train for a couple months now, and I'm not getting off. The man is a bumbling fool and continues to both bewilder and enrage all fans that know their ass from a hole in the ground.

The newest twist to the Bochy saga is an unconscionable 13 man pitching staff, complete with Denny Bautista... who has been dispatched correctly...

Only...

...it was for TODD WELLEMEYER! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?

Who is calling the shots here? Anyone with a brain knows two things: 1) Wellemeyer sucks and 2) a 13 man pitching staff with a 4 man bench is asinine.

Even worse than having the likes of Bautista and Wellemeyer on our team is Bochy inexplicably giving up on games before they're over, conceding them, and bringing in Denny or Welley.

Case and point, Wednesday August 4th in Colorado, the Ubaldo gem.

After Madison Bumgarner gave up the 2-run HR to Carlos Gonzalez, Bochy brought in Bautista. The game was still within striking distance at 4-0. Bautista promptly hit Melvin Mora, threw a wild pitch, then hit Chris Iannetta before intentionally walking Barmes. He got lucky, and got out the inning.

Instead of removing the shaky/retarded Bautista for the 6th, Big Head left him in the game... a game that was now only a 4-1 deficit. And we all know how that ended... back to back dongs to CarGo and Tulo. Game over.

Example #2

Sunday in Atlanta with Derek Lowe on the mound. It was hot, Lowe's sinker was sinking, and with Sanchez on the mound, we were going to have to score runs to win.

As we had Bad Sanchez on the mound instead of Good Sanchez, a reliever was needed from our 8 man bullpen. And who trots out to the mound? Todd Freakin Wellemeyer.

We know how it went. 4 straight singles. Then Santiago Casilla and Aubrey Huff managed to combine for 3 solid outs to keep the game within striking distance.

Now that we've established the two recent bonehead moves by Bochy in regard to the bullpen, it doesn't hurt to mention that we basically have 3 guys on the bench on any given day. Oh, Renteria's banged up? Oh Uribe's hamstring is tender? Oh, so we really have 3 guys on the bench? Our two right-handed options off the bench are Whiteside and Rowand or Rowand and Renteria, and our only left hander is Schierholtz when Ishikawa plays?

I'm exasperated just talking about this. DFA Wellemyer immediately and eat the $400k he's due. You signed him to a low-risk high reward $1MM deal. It didn't work out. Dump his ass and bring up someone else. Rohlinger, Pill, Belt, Ford, I don't care. Bring up another body, and do it now. Morons.

3) Freddy Sanchez

Sanchy has struggled mightily for nearly 6 weeks now. He hasn't been Rowand bad, but he's been fairly worthless at the plate for awhile. Despite this fact, the Gyros were still able to score more runs than anyone in the Majors for July, an incredible feat for a team with a scuffling 2nd place hitter.

He's only had 3 doubles since June 18th, scored only 13 runs in July, and has seen his average drop from .279 to .258 since the all-star break. Freddy's .315 OBP% and .638 OPS are disturbing as well.

We know the guy can hit. He won a batting title, and we saw Sanchy have a stellar June. It's a deep slump, and I think he needs to sacrifice a chicken or an Aaron Rowand or something to bust out of it. The lineup is simply less effective when Freddy is not up at the top setting the table for Aubrey and Buster.

Other than those things, I would say that this team is pretty solid. And it's a fact that they own the Major's best record since July 5th (22-9). And hey, I make it sound a lot worse than it really is for a reason. These issues need to be resolved and addressed in order for this team to compete on all cylinders for a playoff spot.

Not only that, but it was great to see a potential playoff foe like Atlanta on top of their respective game. Now you know what you're up against in October boys. Go and get it.


And hey, Jonathan Sanchez is down. He is not only down, but he's throwing down guarantees.

"We're going to play San Diego, and we're going to beat them three times," Sanchez said. "If we get to first place, we're not going to look back. We are definitely going to make the playoffs."

I dig brother. I dig.

Get used to the name Brandon Belt

If you haven't heard the name Brandon Belt, you obviously aren't an obsessive compulsive, blog-reading, MiLB stat-tracking freak. Either that, or you have a job. Regardless of what your problem is, I'm here to introduce you to Mr. Belt, whose name inspires a myriad of undeniably catchy potential marketing gimmicks, SportsCenter highlight one-liners from Neil Everett, and possibly a cool nickname.

Indeed, this young man has been belting (pun forcefully intended) the ball left and right for both A San Jose and AA Richmond this season. In fact, he's been belting the ball in such a consistent and beastly manner that he has the ability to make us forget about our last future superstar first base prospect, who is awaiting murder charges in a god-forsaken country called the Dominican Republic.

Born in Nacagdoches and raised in Lufkin, TX, Belt played collegiately as a Texas Longhorn and led the them to the College World Series where they eventually fell to LSU. In addition, he was drafted twice by other teams.

He was drafted by the Red Sox in the 11th round out of high school, but chose to attend San Jacinto JC (TX). After hitting .441 at San Jacinto, Belt transferred to the big show in Austin, but not before passing on the Atlanta Braves, who also drafted him in the 11th round of the '07 draft.

Obviously this dude is a total gamer not willing to settle for 11th best. He raised his stock significantly at Texas where he hit .319 and drove in a team high 65 RBI in only 61 games. Not only that, but the guy came out of the bullpen for 17.2 innings where he struck out 16 jerks and posted a 4.03 ERA. Nasty lefty obviously.

With an impressive collegiate performance under his BELT, the Gyros saw fit to select him in the 5th round of 2009's draft and signed him for $200k.

It certainly is a cool story, and it shows what kind of commitment the guy is willing to make to better himself and improve his positioning to hit the majors while making a little money at the same time.

This season, he began in High A San Jose, where he proceeded to smack the absolute tar out of the baseball to the tune of a .383/.492/.628 line (avg./on base%/slg%) while also donging 10 and driving in 62 in 77 games. Those are crazy numbers. Like Buster Posey numbers. Like video game numbers. In fact, they are even better than Posey's were at the same level. Go figure.

After being promoted to the Richmond Flying Squirrels 13 games ago, Belt has... um, how can I put this in a funny way without saying "belted" again? I can't think of anything, so I'll say it again.

He has BELTED the ball at an even more extreme clip, rocking out in the free world with a .404 average, and 8 extra base hits in only 52 at bats. Oh yeah, and those extra base hits? 5 were home runs, and 1 was a triple.

Cue the Mike Krukow soundbyte:

He can hit.

Now we need to take a can of Coors Light out of the cooler and rub it on our collective face and neck for a second so we don't get too ahead of ourselves and we cool down.

It's only A and AA ball. It's only A and AA ball.

That may be, but this guy has performed exceptionally well at every single level that he's been promoted to. He has hit over .300 at every level. Yes, High School, Junior College, Real College, Class A, and Class AA-- all over .300. Not only that, but we're talking about significantly over .300.

If he keeps hitting like this, Belt-- cue Vince Vaughn in Old School (earmuffs) -- is going to get so much ass here, it's going to be sick. I'm talking like crazy boy band ass.


It's with that in mind that we cannot totally discount the possibility of Belt being promoted to AAA Fresno inside of this season. I mean, so far, his numbers are better than Pablo Sandoval's were when Kung Fu was promoted straight from Double A in 2008. For reference's sake, Sandoval hit .359 with 12 homers in San Jose, and went on to hit .339 with 8 HR in Double A (then) Connecticut. By comparison our golden boy Buster Posey only hit .326 in San Jose with 13 HR, while hitting .325 in Fresno in '09 and .349 there this season.

So, we can take what we will from these numbers and peer comparisons, but they cannot and should not be discounted or dismissed in any way. This 22 year old dude can frickin hit, and right now he looks like the 1B of the future-- the near future.

In a great piece from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, an assistant coach marveled aloud at the sweet sound coming from Belt's bat as he took swings in the cage. While hitting in the clean up spot, Belt has also been commended on his defensive abilities. This is nothing new, as he sported a .991 fielding percentage in Austin with the Longhorns.

As for a potential callup this season, and in what capacity it may be, theoretically there is room for him to play in a lineup that looks something like this:

Torres CF
Sanchez 2B
Posey C
Huff RF
Burrell LF
Uribe SS
Sandoval 3B
Belt 1B

Now, if you aren't tickled by that and don't feel a sense of excitement, you better check your damn pulse or pop a freakin' Cialis or something, because that is awesome looking. Unfortunately Old Man Bochy doesn't take too kindly to this kind of talk, so even if Belt does get the call in late August or September, Mr. Size 8 Head could ruin it all, just like he's ruined Nate Schierholtz's confidence and Bowker before him.

Regardless of whether Belt comes up this year or is a part of the squadron in 2011, I am fairly certain of a few things: he can hit, he has a cool Texas accent, he probably loves George Strait, and he will help the Giants in the near future in a big way. And that, my friends, is a bunch of really cool stuff.