So the odd year begins, may it be weirder than ever

Sometimes you just run out of things to say.


What can you say that hasn't already been written or said about the Giants and these last 5 years? It's simply mind-boggling what they've accomplished, and I'm still pinching myself from 2010, let alone the other two.


As this team heads into another odd year with yet another unexpected ring in tow, they have the unique distinction of having more questions than answers, and having two teams in their division significantly favored over them, fair or not.


I say "unique" only because, you know, it's the Giants.


What other team could win 3 in 5 and be considered a 3rd place team before the season starts with so few changes?


The lost Pablo. Okay. Sort of a big deal.


Sometimes Pablo was great, but let's be honest, he was good for about 3-5 streaks a year and a great postseason performance (after he got his life together post-2010). They'll miss 3 HRs against the Tigers and all those singles from 2014.


The honest to God truth of the matter is though, that he was just a little bit better than average. Larger than life, and a marketing department's dream, yes. A regular season superstar however, he never was.


Look at 2014's regular season. .279 with 16 HRs and above average defense. That's a solid player, that's a  a good player, but that's not a great player.


I am not downplaying his contributions to this team, especially in the postseason. I am not downplaying his impact on the fanbase or on the bottom line. He was a great Giant overall, but a great player, he was not. He was the 11th most valuable 3B last year according to WAR, and he had a lower batting average, on base percentage, and only scored 8 more runs than his cheap and scrappy replacement, Casey McGehee.


Again. Not saying we're not going to miss him at all, I'm just saying that he wasn't truly great, and all that shit he said on the way out left a sour taste in everyone's mouth. Adios Pablo, and good luck with Boston being sympathetic to your cold streaks and new lobstah roll addiction.


Other thoughts

-- Tell him goodbye. Rest in peace Lon Simmons. Although your heyday was well before my time, there's no question you were an absolute legend. What I wouldn't give to sit down with our Giants broadcasting team with a couple other legends and hear the stories they'd tell. Hell, invite Vin Scully while we're at it. Maybe this can be arranged once we're all dead because of ISIS or Al-Shabab and we'll all meet up in heaven. It's a plan.


-- Get well Hunter Pence. This team's OF will probably account for 35 HRs combined WITH Pence. Without him, as I read somewhere, "this OF has so little power, it's comical". Where have we heard that one before? Oh yeah, like almost every year.


-- OH YEAH! Duffman returns. Get your Duff and Duff Light ready, because Matt Duffy made the roster with a .361 Spring over the perpetually lame Ehire Adrianza. I will be glad to see Adrianza finally off the roster, as he is out of options and will probably be grabbed by some desperate team of jerks. Adrianza was a poor man's Manny Burriss. I'm glad to see Duffy rewarded for his play, and I'm also looking forward to him playing all over the diamond to get into the lineup. Then he will take advantage of a random injury, gain 5 position fantasy eligibility and will become the new Ben Zobrist.


I guy can dream, right?


-- If Gary Brown gets cut and claimed by the Cardinals and assigned to AAA Memphis and no one cares, does he make a sound? The answer is no, because that happened, and no one talked about it once. I wish him well, but it's safe to say, he was a complete waste of a 1st round pick.


-- The rotation possibilities are endless, because we don't know who's good and who sucks. Who will join Bum, Peavy, Cain, and Hudson in the rotation for the long haul? Or will it be a constant revolving door of maybes, has beens, and spot starts between Lincecum, Petit, and Vogelsong? Spring training numbers told us they all looked pretty bad, with Peavy having a near 10.00 ERA. If I had to wager a guess, they'll trot out Lincecum until we've all had it with him, then Vogelsong will end up in there with Petit mopping up innings and spot starting due to injury.


Then there's the what ifs related to injury. Will Matt Cain regain his form or will he be a gopherballer with diminished velocity? Is Hudson done? Is Peavy done? Is Lincecum done? Is Vogelsong done?


Hahaha. Patterns and speculation are fun!


-- The Padres have a lot of good players


-- The Dodgers have a lot of good players


-- I think we're still good, but I'm not sure


-- Tell me the last time a paper champion won a World Series. 2009 Yankees? 2007 Red Sox? The point is, it doesn't happen very often. Good luck trying to buck that trend, Doyers and Madres.


-- I predict that Belt, Posey, Pence, Panik, Crawford, McGehee, Aoki, and Pagan will hit a combined 100 HR. We'll get another 20 from randoms, and that puts us at 120. That is 12 down from last year's total of 132, which would have put us at 25th in the league. No Morse, no Panda, makes a little too much sense, right?


Don't feel too bad about our return to the bottom of the power rankings though. Kansas City hit 95 HR last year-- which was worst in baseball. So, we can still make it to the World Series and lose, right? Pretty good for an odd year.


-- Bochy and Sabean are locked up until they're really old. Good for them, they've earned it. I have no issue with that. Also good to see Bobby Evans named General Manager. He's been the guy behind the contracts and scouting for a very long time. Sabean made the decisions, but Evans was the one talking to the agents, drawing up the contracts, and doing the research. He was the man behind the man, and now he is the man. Truly proving that in the right situation, hard work pays off. Plus, he's a very candid interview to listen to. Wonder who he got that from...


Once Pagan and Belt go down with their annual injuries, can we find a way to trade for Allen Craig please? Boston is literally not using him this year. Maybe being close to his old stomping grounds at Cal will help him find his mojo. Just a thought.


Speaking of Belt, how many more years of snakebitten disappointment are we going to sign up for before it's time to cut bait? It's the same thing every year. Freak injuries or lack of confidence do him in one way or another. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a goddamn 150 game, 30 HR breakout season. He's well overdue and I'm tired of waiting.



I'M EXCITED.

LET'S PLAY SOME BASEBALL!

Tejada to the Giants: Let's get weird...

This is completely unexpected. Miguel Tejada will be a San Francisco Giant... perhaps coming full circle across the bay from where he began his impressive career.

I didn't see this one coming. I said it yesterday. I thought Bartlett was the guy, especially with Ryan Theriot being dealt to the Cards and taking them out of the running. What does this mean?

Well, it's another $6.5MM alotted to another old guy with limited range to play SS. It really shows how desperate the SS market is when Tejada is being penciled in to play out there. That's $17.5 committed to Huff & Tejada thus far (for 2011) this offseason, with questions remaining about Panda, left field, and raises due via arbitration to Jon Sanchez, Cody Ross, Mike Fontenot, and Andres Torres.

We'll get into that later. Let's talk Tejada.

Assuming he will play the majority of his games at short, which he did last year after being traded to San Diego, we could certainly do worse. However, the man is damn near 40 and if the hot corner is manned by the Tai Chi Sloth (formerly Kung Fu Panda) or Mark DeRosa, I could see a lot of balls hit to the left side of the infield escaping into left.

Certainly Tejada can play 3rd, and has done so recently, but that would likely mean Tai Chi Sloth's days as a Giant would be numbered. Obviously then, a Jason Bartlett would still be necessary. Let's assume that doesn't happen.

It's a short-term fix for the SS position, and also a motivational tool in management's ongoing effort to get Sandoval's ass into gear. DeRosa's return to the active roster means theoretically, we wouldn't need Sandoval... something that better get his juices going-- hopefully not too much fruit juice though because of all the high fructose corn syrup added to them.

All accounts have Tejada as the Giants new SS, a role he played better than 3B last year interestingly... Here's how Tejada & Uribe compared in 2010.



It's really not a huge dropoff, save for HRs and 3B defense... but as I've pointed out, 3B really doesn't matter too much.

I'm not crazy about Tejada as our starting SS, but with limited options available, the move at least keeps us around the same level of production out of the position as 2010.

Annnnddddd... our dream of a "big bat" is one more veteran contract further away.

They aren't misfits, they fit perfectly

Andy Baggarly was right when he said, "Isn't this whole torture thing a little played out?"

I for one, am a little sick of it myself. I cannot deny that these Giants have given me more mini heart attacks than any other team I've rooted for, but I'm fed up with the whole mantra. They play close games, that's their style. Do we really need to keep saying "torture" ad nauseum?

I feel the same way about the rest of these terms the Giants are being branded with.

"Misfits", "Bad News Bears", "Dirty Dozen", "Scrap Heap", "Lost & Found", "Motley Crew", bla, bla, frickin, bla.

Enough already.

As the National sports media discovers the World Series-bound 2010 San Francisco Giants for the first time this week, do not expect the tidal wave of ridiculous and unfair monikers to subside.

Yes, as Mat Latos pointed out, this team has gone through a lot of changes. And yes, Brian Sabean has acquired a ton of new players that were unwanted by their previous teams.

Players are always unwanted by their previous teams! This is the age of free agency, waiver wires, and "What have you done for me lately?"

I cannot deny that guys like Pat Burrell and Cody Ross were picked up for nothing, and have been huge this season. But isn't that what being a good GM and a good team is all about?

Why, when a player is bought at an all time low does that then make him a "misfit" or "castoff" or "salvaged"?

In addition, with those noted exceptions above, there is blue chip talent on this team. Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, and Madison Bumgarner are all high 1st round draft picks.

Brian Wilson and Serge Romo are also products of our farm system. Are they misfits because of their beards?

Freddy Sanchez is a former all-star and batting champion. Is he a castoff?

Because Andres Torres was a late bloomer and an undrafted free agent, does that somehow make his story infinitely less intriguing than Josh Hamilton's?

Juan Uribe has hit 20+ home runs in a season four times and has a World Series ring from his days with the White Sox. Because he's funny and pudgy, does that make him somehow less of a player than Texas SS Elvis Andrus, whom I expect to be drooled over by the media?

Because 29 other general managers were too stupid to give Aubrey Huff a chance and a contract, does that make him any less worthy than Michael Young to win a World Series?

The answer to all these unasked questions is a resounding "no" from where I'm sitting.

These Giants have exceeded all possible expectations, broken through all barriers, and doggedly persevered all season to get to this moment-- in the face of certain adversity. Padres, Braves, and Phillies fans alike have yet to concede that they could have possibly been beaten by a better team... calling the Giants "lucky".


Well I'll tell you something. You don't get to the World Series on luck. No one does.

This team has played the same style of baseball all season: great pitching, a door-slamming bullpen, scratched out runs, and timely big flies. It's not luck. It's a formula; and it works.

This is a classic example of a team's individual parts coming together to create something too special and valuable to deny.

This may not be the best team to ever put on a Giants uniform, it is definitely not the smoothest, or the prettiest, but each and every one of these guys deserves to be there, and when they hoist that trophy, no one will call them castoffs or misfits ever again.

They will simply be known as World Series Champions.

New Video! Baywatch: Giants Clinch NL West

I've been really getting into these videos! Getting better each time. Here is the latest one. If you are reading on Facebook or an email newsfeed, click here to watch the video.


SF Giants Shutout Padres to Claim NL West
Uploaded by TheDodgerhater. - More professional, college and classic sports videos.

And here is the first video I made last week. It is a 2010 Highlight video. Click here if you cannot see it.


Baywatch: The 2010 San Francisco Giants
Uploaded by TheDodgerhater. - Check out more sports and extreme sports videos.

Win and we're in!

Well, well, well. What do we have here? I'll tell you what.

Our beloved San Francisco Giants are on the verge of the playoffs! It's been waaaay too long since we've been relevant in October, and I think I can speak for everyone reading this when I say: I AM FIRED UP.

As I write this, the "Magic Number" is at one. That's it. Win and we're in. Go big or go home. Do or die, win-- or cry.

Although we are technically not in until we win that last game against the pathetic Madres, I can't even fathom a situation where we're not in the playoffs.

Cue the Gavin Newsom soundbyte. It's gonna happen!

(Click here to see the video)

Hilarious. I never thought I'd ever find a use for one of my sworn enemy's videos, haha.

Anyway, this team is special, and I've said it from the get go this season. Despite the fact that this team, as the incorrigible Mat Latos pointed out, has gone through significant changes this season, they've been the "comeback kids" the whole time.

For all those stretches where we couldn't score runs, there were always comebacks and walkoffs mixed in.

There have been a lot of special moments this year, and a lot of special players have really come into their own or rekindled what they once had.

Anyway, once this whole thing becomes official, we can hash out details like playoff rosters, 3 man rotations, and who's ass we're going to kick to get to the NLCS. Until then, enjoy clinch day, watch my 2010 highlight video, and enjoy the last 4 homers hit by our boys in orange and black. Burrell through Posey. If you cannot see the video below, please click here.

The SD Invasion

I have been meaning to write this post for about a week. Basically, I just wanted to say how proud I am of Giants fans that invaded Petco park for that pivotal series two weekends ago. It truly shows that our fanbase is the strongest in the National League West, and that we travel well. Not only that, but Giants fans managed to nearly outnumber Padres fans in their own park! During a pennant race!


Mychael Urban on CSNBayArea.com probably said it best on his blog:

"Good Lord, did the Orange and Black Faithful come strong. So one-sided was the crowd noise in San Francisco’s favor that you had to wonder if (a) there are a lot more Bay Area transplants down here than you can possibly imagine, or (b) Giants fans travel as well as the football fans at Wisconsin, University of Texas and Penn State combined.

There were indications even before the game that the Giants were going to enjoy a neutral-site vibe at worst."

Obviously San Diego is a smaller market, and it probably has a larger percentage of transplants that don't care about the Padres or Chargers, but good Lord, the way we dominated the crowd was unbelievable.

All the chants were Giants chants. Over half the crowd was decked out in orange, and I assume the Gas Lamp was also mostly orange those nights.

This SD Invasion also got to Padres closer Heath Bell, who Twittered:


That's right Heath. Those were Giants fans. I also have an account that at the airpot on Sunday night, a Southwest flight from San Diego to the Bay Area was roughly 75% Giants fans decked out in our colors... Anyway, here are some pictures from fans I know that made the trek down to San Diago. Thanks to Pete and Andrea...




And you can believe the Giants appreciated it. They all heard you guys and it fired them up... especially Krukow and Huff.

Lincecum's consecutive quality starts are encouraging

I am encouraged by most things Giants these days. San Diego is floundering while the Giants are surging. Huff may be awakening, Burrell the water buffalo and Jose Guillen the wounded Wildebeest are showing me good things as well.

Most of all, I am encouraged by Timmy Lincecum.

I'm not a 14 year old girl, so I cannot declare him "back" by any means. Two consecutive quality starts does not a man back make. His velocity is still a big red flag for me, but the return of Timmy's mental state, some run support, and all his pitches at the same time puts a a crooked grin on my face... not gonna lie.

Hypothetically, let's say he'll never throw 95-96 ever again. Let's say he'll top out at 93 for the rest of his career. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Sure it's not sexy, but it's possible to make things work.

Prior to this year, Lincecum was able to work off his fastball. It was always there, and it in effect made his offspeed pitches filthier. Now, it is up to him to re-learn pitching sequences, strategy, and gain some cunning, rather than just go balls-to-the-wall like a drunken college football player at a sorority house.

The more he figures that out, the more confident he will become. He is not remaking himself totally, but is still working out the kinks of a new approach-- in effect adjusting to the hitters who have adjusted to him. Hey, 11 K on Tuesday was proof of that.

He is the key to how deep we go into the playoffs, and I am encouraged by the effort in Arizona even more so than his 8 inning performance last week because he was able to do it back to back.

As I said before, enjoy the ride.

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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I don't like the Padres (or the Giants) right now

In our lives, we've all come to know just how a nemesis works. A nemesis, a thorn in the side, a pain in the ass, a bully, an a-hole, someone that always beats you in whatever you do-- this is what we're looking at with the San Diego Padres.

The Padres are two the Giants what Newman was to Jerry.

Sometimes it goes deeper than a jerk pantsing you every chance he gets (like Randy Fulcher did to Peter Griffin). The hold that the Padres have over the Giants has now entered mythical proportions. I really wish I was joking about all this, but we've seen it. We're now 0-7 against San Diego, which you know, but it really seems like they've cast some sort of spell on us. It's as if a bunch of wickens or dungeons and dragons nerds got together behind the Captain Video, pooled all their nerdy power together, burned some magic cards, some pokemons, some old lady's heart medication, and prayed to the baseball gods and Joe Biden that the Giants would never beat the Padres again.

Maybe it's Santeria or Voodoo. Maybe Sammy Gervacio and Sarah Jessica Parker are involved. I just don't know.

Inevitably, some interesting facts arise when one team owns another team.

- Pablo Sandoval and Aubrey Huff are both hitting .290+ against the Madres in '10

- The Giants are 21-16. That means that if you take away the 7 losses to San Dimas (I call SD San Dimas sometimes. It amuses me), we'd have a 21-9 record. As Hank Schulman Twittered yesterday, we'd be on pace for 110 wins. So basically, that means that the Gyros play .700 ball against everyone else, a group that includes Philly, LA, and Atlanta, and we play .000 ball against the frickin Padres.

- In 5.1 innings, Dan Runzler has allowed 4 earned runs and 4 walks to the Padres

- The Giants have scored 9 runs in 7 games versus San Diego

- During that time, we have been shut out twice, and only allowed 21 runs. We've basically lost 7 games by the score of 3-1.

It just goes beyond all logic and reason that the Giants, a team that even with the 7 games against San Dimas factored in, still have an offense ranked sixth in the NL in batting average, second to last in strikeouts, and uh, well everything else isn't great, but dammit, we're getting some hits sometimes!

And this whole drumbeat for Buster Posey just doesn't make any sense to me. Would I love to see him up here raking in the cleanup spot? Yes. I would like that very much. But where does he play?

So we're going to call him up to take at bats away from Molina, who is hitting .330 with a .407 on base percentage? Is he going to take away AB's from Huff, who's hitting .280 with an .800 OPS and 18 RBI?

Look, it just doesn't make sense. None of it does. That's what makes this so damn frustrating.

The Giants performance against the Madres has been horrific, but we don't play them every day, and we're still 5 games above .500. We've already banged out a good portion of our games against these scrappy base thieves, and the rest of our season can play out normally... at a .700 clip.

The point is, just because this one team is killing us with the help of some evil Star Wars character or Ozzy Osbourne biting the head off a Pablo Sandoval bobblehead doll, doesn't mean it's time to freak the eff out and start blowing up the team.

We just need to take a deep breath, step away from the ledge, and realize that we are 21-16, we sweep people all the time, and that as long as we're not playing San Diego, we find a way to win more often than not.

Anyone feel any better? No? Sorry guys, I tried. Go Sharks.

More questions than answers

How quickly a week changes things, huh?

This is just a perfect example of why you just can't react to every little thing during your team's 162 game season. Where were we last Thursday? We were five losses lighter, that's where we were.


Look, it's just a matter of peaks and valleys, and this team doesn't appear to be one of those smooth sailers. I mentioned in my last post on Monday, that it was gut-check time, and that this Padres series would be a solid indication of where this team really is.

With the smooth sailing of the few series in the review mirror, it was time for the Gyros to step up-- on the road, without Rowand and a healthy DeRosa, and after a devastating loss to their arch rivals. A couple guys showed up in the San Diego series, namely Cain, Sanchez, and to a lesser extent, Uribe, but it just wasn't enough. This of course is saying something, because the Giants were swept by a final score of 9-4. No, that wasn't the final score of Wednesday's game, those were all the runs scored the entire series.

I believe this 2010 team to be different from last year's model, because up until this grisly San Diago disaster, I saw a vastly improved team. Hell, even in the Eckstein game, Juan Uribe donged one off of one of the best closers in the game in Heath Bell to tie up the game. That was huge, and it just wasn't something we saw last year.

Let's talk Wellemeyer for a minute.

Todd Wellemeyer is not the good version from two seasons ago. This is a "Spring Training Superstar" who's lost his marbles and his command. This quote from Baggarly via Twitter doesn't make me feel good:

"I didn't think Todd Wellemeyer could punt his rotation spot on the basis of three starts. This first inning is making me think otherwise."

You know when a non-knee jerk baseball authority is freaked out, it's time to really freak the eff out.

You don't need to see any stats to know that the dude is off his rocker, and is walking waaaaay too many dudes. But hey, people like stats, so let's look at how gross they really are. The guy is averaging almost 7 walks per 9 innings, an obscene 8.16 ERA, and a a WHIP just below 2. It's just fugly...

It's not like the guy is just giving up Texas Leaguers, seeing-eye grounders and running into bad luck. He's allowing more baserunners than should be legal, and is paying dearly for it.

Let's assume worst case scenario here for a minute, and that the guy needs to be replaced. There are a few options: Kevin Pucetas (AAA), Joe Martinez (AAA), Pedro Martinez (Free Agent), Jarrod Washburn (Free Agent).

None of them are particularly attractive to me, but hey, we're talking 5th starter here. We need a guy who won't pitch us out of ballgames. While the Pedro/Washburn route is certainly intriguing, it's unlikely. Pucetas is likely the guy, since he did indeed have solid spring.

However, Pucetas has given up 17 hits and 8 walks in 16 innings (3.94 ERA) so far in Fresno, which is certainly not something that makes me feel a whole lot better. After all, T-Dub's problem is baserunners, and that's the last thing we need while the offense struggles.

Joe Martinez, on the other hand is 1-0 with a 0.90 ERA in 10 innings thus far.

To be mentioned also is that there's some dude named Eric Hacker in AAA that is absolutely beasting around. Truth be told, I've never heard of the guy before, but he's 3-0 with a 1.10 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 16 K in only 16.1 innings. So for what it's worth, we've got this 27 year-old unknown down there mowing down the PCL.

Whatever the decision is, it probably needs to be made quickly, because we've got the Cards, Phils, and the damned dirty Rockies coming into town beginning on Friday.

Other random thoughts:

-- Is it possible that the Padres are a better team than they appear to be?

-- I bet the Gyros don't get swept by the Madres if Zito plunked a Dodger, resulting in a bench clearing confrontation

-- Velez is not a good outfielder

-- If Bruce Bochy refuses to play Bowker every day, how will we ever know if the guy can play every day? How do we know he really can't hit lefties? He's only gotten 3 ABs against them this year. Yes, he's gone 0-3 in those AB's, but it's like come on dude. If he was like 0-20, against lefties, then I'd say, "Okay, I understand."

This is the same confidence-shattering crap that we see time and time again from this organization. Stick his ass out there, and let him effing play. If he sucks after 150 ABs, then fine, do something else. God, I'm so sick of this.

-- My buddy proposed a hypothetical trade today. Assuming Madison Bumgarner stops sucking so bad and regains trade value... would you trade him for Carl Crawford, assuming we could sign Crawf longterm? He's eligible to be a free agent next season. Food for thought. That would be a lottaaaaa triples.

-- If you're like, "We'll sign a big bat this coming offseason." Let me tell you now, that you're dreaming. Here's the list of 2011 free agents. There's Carl Crawford and a whole lotta nothing.

Anything we get to improve this offense in the long term will have to come via trade, at a steep price. This is why there is such a high premium on great young hitters.

-- I hate the Dodgers all over again...

-- Is it possible that we suck on the road? Yeah we swept a terrible Houston team in Texas, but, yeah... we haven't done well since then outside SF...

-- If you're not on Twitter, I think you should, especially if you like venting frustrations during games. It's almost like a Giants chat room at times. I like to talk Giants a lot, so obviously it works for me.

-- Here's a great example of Twitter can be cool. I had this "conversation" with Nick Mangold, starting center for the New York Jets:

The Dodgerhater: PETA freaks protesting outside the KFC in San Rafael. This may be a perfect time to try that new Double Down. Haha! @NickMangold is down.

Nick Mangold: @TheDodgerhater where do I sign up?

The Dodgerhater: We could organize an eat in. Gotta check to see where the PETA jerks are going, then march an army of dudes into the KFC.

Nick Mangold: I like it dude

Shut up! How many starting NFL players did you talk about KFC and PETA with on Twitter? Hmm? Oh zero, that's what I thought!

-- Go Giants, Go Sharks.

Gut check time: the first of many

Wow, Sunday really sucked. I mean, really, really sucked.

There we were, just cruising along, thoroughly enjoying another gem by Zeets, shutting out the Blue Bastards on the field and shutting up the criminals in the stands at the same time. Then, just like that, we were punched in the gut. It wasn't even a normal punch in the gut, it was a sucker punch, totally out of nowhere. Just like that, the game was over. We were still left breathless and confused, just like at the end of the Sharks game last night. It's like, are you effing kidding me? A bottom of the 8th pinch hit dong by The One Who Shall Not Be Named, followed by a hockey playoff game where we outshoot the opposition 50-16, and end up scoring the only goal of the game on ourselves in overtime?

Sunday, April 18th, was one of the worst Bay Area sports days in recent memory.

As for the Giants, this first Padres game represents the first true challenge of the year. Until the Dodger series, where we easily could've swept, there has been little to no adversity in this young 2010 season. As the video below (at 1:08) will reinforce, the Giants were indeed "Drivin' along, drivin' along", until we hit a truck tire in the middle of the road." Let's just hope we bought our brake pads from Callahan Auto instead of the other guys.



As we know, how a team rebounds from sucker punches, and the fashion in which they respond to injuries dictates how far they go. Mental toughness, resolve, and a short memory are all huge parts of a successful baseball team, especially because it is one long-ass haul.

With Rowand on the DL with those pesky facial fractures, DeRosa's tender hammy, and Romo's confidence shaken, the San Diego series will be huge.

It's not so much what we've lost in Rowand, but how we'll replace him, and how we're able to keep chugging along. Monday in San Diego, it will be the Geno Velez show, and I assume Schierholtz and Torres as well against the lefty Clayton Richard.

Velez has been a huge surprise with his hitting thus far. The guy affectionately known as A.U., Geno, The Somali Pirate, and the Pharaoh has 4 extra base hits, 7 RBI, and hitting .350. Not only that, but the guy has taken a few walks, and is sporting a stat nerd-arousing .435 on base percentage. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm comfortable with A.U. playing every day until Rowand returns.

Back to the Dodgers series for a minute.

The fact that no Dodger was drilled is totally unacceptable. Whether that waste of life known as Vicente Padilla intentionally drilled Rowand in the head is beside the point. It's baseball etiquette. You hit one of our guys, we hit one of yours. Hell, even throw it totally behind them, and if it's a close game, hit them the next day. I was wholly shocked that Zito, who plunked Prince Fielder in spring, didn't nail Matt Kemp or that jerkoff Casey Blake during Sunday's game.

If the plunked Dodger became enraged, began gesturing wildly towards the mound while spewing expletives and the benches cleared, that's what I refer to as a team-building exercise. Even without a brawl, any "Us Versus Them" activity breeds unity, and it no longer becomes about retaliation, but about trust in one another and the bigger purpose of survival as one unit.

Try finding a stat for that.

Despite technically dropping two of three from the Doyers, I still saw a ton of character from these guys in each game. As I said before, there's something different about this team, and I no longer believe we're ever out of a game-- not like last year.

Let's plow through San Diago and get back on track!

Quick note: BOCHY! FREE JOHN BOWKER! LET THE GUY PLAY! HOW WILL HE EVER HIT LEFTIES IF YOU NEVER LET HIM TRY! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASSSSEEEE!

Another one run loss, Bumgarner looks solid

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I swear... this act is getting really, REALLY old.

I've just never seen anything like this in all my days. We are, in effect living and dying with a team that literally loses by one run nearly every time. It is just the most frustrating damn thing on earth, it really is. Being positive is becoming harder and harder... pretty soon we're all going to start having a recurring nightmare where we're standing up at the altar, and the Giants don't show up for the wedding-- I mean playoffs.

We have now lost our past 4 games by a total of, yes you guessed it, FOUR RUNS. I'm becoming enraged as we speak.

Serenity now, Mr. Costanza. Serenity now. Deep breaths.

You probably saw the game, so I'll try not to dwell on details. After all, you don't read this for recaps. Let's talk about Madison Bumgarner. Come on, you perked up a little bit just now, didn't you?

To be honest, I thought I knew more about the kid than I did. For some reason, I thought he threw harder... like 94-96. Heh. I kinda felt like a scout or a pitcher on his day off, charting Mad-Bum's pitches in my notebook.


True fans chart pitches!

Anyway. He threw 76 pitches (I missed 1 or 2 due to CSN) in 5.1 innings with 2 earnies and 4 K's. Certainly a very respectable outing for a 20 year old Double A callup who didn't even expect to start.

I got a pretty good idea of his three pitches tonight-- especially once he settled down. His three quarter release from the left side is certainly part of why he is going to be an effective pitcher. It's a deceptive and almost a total cross-body pitching motion. Coupled with pretty damn good control, he's certainly got the tools.

It's difficult to truly gauge what a pitchers strengths and weaknesses are going to be from just one sample size, but here are my observations:

-- I charted 43 fastballs, most of which fell between 88-92 mph.

-- He threw 15 circle changeups which fell between 81-86 mph. He got a couple of big swings and misses on them early in the game. If he can improve this pitch, he could be a seriously good pitcher. This appears to be his weakest pitch.

-- His slider is his most deceptive, and in my opinion, best pitch. It appears really slurvy and flat, but it takes hitters by surprise, and is especially filthy to lefties. He got Adrian Gonzalez to look foolish on a couple of these. He threw this pitch 16 times and it nearly always landed on 78 mph. Bumgarner seemed extremely comfortable with his breaking ball.

-- He needs to work on keeping the ball down. Too many of his fastballs were up, and the two dingers he gave up-- one to Chase Headley, and one to Will Venable-- were both fastballs, one was 90 mph and one was 92 respectively.

-- He simply doesn't throw hard enough to get away with fastballs up at the waist. Once he learns how to pitch, he'll be able to mix speeds even more effectively than he already does. I'm no pitching guru, but I'm thinking that if he is able to improve his changeup, he could really be something. Establishing his offspeed stuff first, then "blowing" them away with a 92 mph fastball could be filthy.

-- Bumster has incredible poise out there. He shows very little emotion, and seemed truly unrattled out there. He just strikes me as a confident, quiet Carolina kid that doesn't say too much and carries a big stick.

-- I really think we need to come up with a better nickname than "Mad-Bum". It's a cop out. My vote right now is "The Carolina Kid". I'm going to refer to him as that until someone comes up with something better. (This is what the comment section is for).


Game Notes & Quirky Observations

-- Hey Will Venable! Can you, like, not hit home runs against your hometown team? I'm happy to see a fellow San Rafael native do well in the majors, but dude! No more dingers for you!

-- Will's younger brother Winston is the starting safety for Boise State and his dad Max played for the Giants. San Rafael rules, but San Rafael High School sucks!

-- Jeremy Affeldt could be unraveling a bit. I really wouldn't be surprised. He's been incredible all year, but he's gotta be totally exhausted at this point. He's already appeared in 64 games, and is on pace to pitch in 75. Not a record, but still.

-- What a great play by Freddy Sanchez (I believe in the 7th). He saved the game from being a "three run blowout". A huge sno-cone job against Nick Hundley with the bases juiced.

-- Everything about David Eckstein bothers me.

-- Everything.

-- Krukow's first observation of The Carolina Kid (see, told you I was starting it) was that "...he's a walker." As in, he walks out to the mound. Guy never ceases to crack me up on the simplest, stupidest things.

-- The effing Colorado Rockies won a-goddamn-gain. Can we get a little help here Cincy? Please?

-- I'm burying the fact that we're now three games back in the wild card all the way down here, as to prevent our anger from boiling over.

-- It's not working.

-- Pablo Sandoval has the highest single season batting average for a switch hitter in Gyros history. Currently at .326.

-- Chili Davis had the previous record at .315

-- An amazing thing has happened. Juan Uribe is so awesome, that the AT&T faithful have brought back the "OOOOOOOOOOOOOO! REEEEEEEE-BAAAY!" chant back. It's effing awesome. It was originally Candlestick chant for the late, great Jose Uribe, Juan's second cousin.

-- Why do these worthless old Balldudes get to have a #1 on their uni's? Screw that. The only #1 on the Giants is Big Money Molina. Give those guys double zero. Disrespectful oversight. I'm gonna talk to some people... straighten this out.

-- On that note, we absolutely need to bring back the black alternate uni's for next year. They were awesome. Seriously, just wear them on Friday nights at home, like we did back in the day. They were slick, sharp, and they've got some great mojo in them. The hats were sick too.

-- No effing way. Aaron Rowand hit a home run at AT&T. He now has 14. He makes $12 million dollars

-- Juan Uribe has 12 dongs and makes one twelfth of what Rowand does.

-- Congrats to Randy Winn and Dave Flemming who just had a couple little bundles of loud, crying joy delivered by their wives in the last few days.

-- Merkin Valdez is not to be trusted anymore.

-- The only thing I'll say about the Milwaukee series is the following:

Prince Fielder, you better be able to run, because you are getting drilled in the ribcage with a 95 mph widowmaker the next time we meet. You sons of bitches will not get away with that grotesque, choreographed monstrosity of a celebration. That kind of crap belongs off the field. You're not LeBron James, and you can't do that crap during a game.

Completely unacceptable. The entire Brewers organization should be fined for that garbage. Eff you guys. If you Giants fans aren't outraged by this, you don't care enough.

Okay Zito. We need a shutout I guess. Work your magic!

We're still in this!