Giants clearly being targeted

Things are tense around baseball these days, no?

You've got Manny Machado being a dick against the A's multiple times, the Red Sox and Rays having an "unwritten rule" pissing contest, and now, twice in a few games, two different teams have intentionally drilled two of the Giants' best hitters.

Things are different than they used to be, that's for sure.

In the old days.. like 10 years ago... you used to be able to hit their guy after they hit yours. Then both sides would get a warning, and that would be that. Now a guy could be tossed immediately for an HBP without obvious intent (Bud Norris) or inexplicably allowed to stay in the game after an obvious beanball (David Price). You never know how umpires will deal with things these days.

What should've happened on Sunday after Wheeler hit Pence for no reason, is we hit one of their guys. On Monday, some no-name nutsac Washington reliever hits Morse for no reason. We should've hit Werth or LaRoche, or whomever. That's the way this should work.

And FYI, I'm not tossing around hitting someone with a 90+ mph fastball lightly. The fact remains that they did it first, this isn't tiddlywinks or some sissy 12 year-olds' soccer league in Mill Valley. This is the big leagues.

If they want to take umbrage at being disciplined within the diamond and want to throw hands, let hands be thrown, and you sort it out later. Baseball is a man's game, and if you allow people to take an inch without consequence, they'll take a mile, and you'll still have bruised ribs.

Unfortunately, you never know how self-policing in baseball will go these days.

Now you've got veteran umpires parading around creating umpshows and young umpires trying to assert control by wildly tossing around warnings and ejecting everyone in sight for protecting teammates.

The Giants have never been much on brawling or retaliation, but they have also not been a team that instigates things. I honestly can't name any events off the top of my head when we've had a pitcher purposefully hit someone out of the blue. I also can't name too many egregious in-game celebrations, dickhead Puigesque bat flips, or violations of unwritten rules.

To me, the Giants play the game the right way, and have so for years. I'm biased yes, but we're the good guys.

In fact, we're very good. 20 games over .500 good.

And that my friends, is why there's a giant target on their backs.

They're winning too much, smiling too much, and having too much fun for Zack Wheeler and the loser Mets or Aaron Barrett and the Gnats to handle.

Wheeler I suppose I get. He was beaten by the team that traded him, and he didn't like it. Okay, well next time be better. Don't drill someone in the ribs. That's called being poor sport and an asshole. It's immature, and Hunter Pence and I won't forget it.

Judging by this story though, this wasn't the first, and won't be the last time Zack Wheeler is involved in some sort of brouhaha. He managed to stir up "ethnic tensions" in the minors by drilling his own teammate. Maybe I don't mind the Beltran/Wheeler swap so much after all.

As for the Nationals, I don't know what Barrett was doing, and neither does Morse. For a guy who openly recounted fond memories to the D.C. media yesterday about his time with the Nats, he sure as heck couldn't understand why he was hit. You could see him afterwards in the dugout talking to Posey, staring out at the field with his face scrunched up into confusion.

Well, I'll answer your question sir. They hit you because you're good.

What I do know, is that Barrett clearly acted on his own accord or on behalf of a teammate. There's zero chance manager Matt Williams would call for a beanball out of the blue. He's better than that, and we all know it.

With Madison Bumgarner the only guy on the roster (RIP Eli Whiteside) that openly shows some will and fire to confront the forces of evil, he will likely be the only one who will do anything about the open season that has been declared on Giants hitters.



Bumgarner fears no evil.

Bruce Bochy can talk about how he didn't like these HBPs and Krukow can promise retribution from the booth, but we all know nothing will happen, and the Giants will do nothing. They never really have.

What they will do though is keep winning, and likely take the high road-- something I would be unable to do. More power to them though.



Sabean cannot stand pat

I like the Beltran move, I really do. He's a real hitter, and he instantly made us better. I'm not going to buy a $35 #15 shirzey or anything, because it'll only get a few wears out of it before it's obsolete... I'm celebrating the move by praying for another.

Our catcher situation sucks, it really does... but there's not a lot that can be done. There's no significant upgrade available, and our pitching staff is doing well throwing to our no-hitting backup tandem of Whiteside and Stewart.

The glaring hole is at shortstop, where the sickening play continues.

The bluntly ugly truth of the matter is that Tejada sucks, Fontenot sucks, and Crawford can't hit.

Sorry. All good guys... maybe Crawford will be a serviceable starter someday, but if we're going to repeat as World Champs, this situation must be fixed.

Crawford must be sent back down. Sorry Stamos, you just haven't been able to adjust to big-league pitching as quickly as we'd all have liked. You'll get another shot in September, but if Burriss gets sent down, you need to too... neither of you are doing anything of note.


Secondly, if I see Mike Fontenot face just ONE MORE left-handed pitcher at ANY TIME, I am going to blow an effing head gasket on my truck and in my brain. In fact, as I'm writing this and looking up his splits, I don't want him facing righties either. How he looks so bad against southpaws on a regular basis (.256 avg) and somehow manages to hit .186 against righties as a full time lefty absolutely boggles my mind.

The man needs to be a pinch hitter and emergency infielder, and THAT's it.

Same with Tejada, the man is a backup at best, and I can't take it anymore.

I know our big deal was Beltran and that the Mets say that they're not looking to move Jose Reyes, but I believe now more than ever, that Sabean can't give up on getting him out of Queens forever.

If the Mets think they can keep him, they're mistaken. They're broke and in disarray. The Giants are one of the teams that can actually pay him long term if they so choose, especially with Rowand's disgraceful contract expiring after next season, Huff's contract expiring after next year, and Zito's albatross expiring after '13.

With all the success the Giants have had recently and the prime pitching staff they have assembled comes in gobs of money. They're not as rich as you think because of unfair revenue sharing and AT&T annual mortgage payments, but they're still doing as well as they ever have.

I know the urge is to keep the farm system intact and keep it rolling into the future, but the truth of the matter is that after Zack Wheeler, the desirable and/or blue chip prospect pool declined significantly.

There is no more Bumgarner or Posey, no Belt or Wheeler down there anymore.

There's speedy and impressive OF Gary Brown, a couple above-average hitting catchers, big hitting 27 year old 1B Brett Pill, a couple under-performing OFs named Neal and Kieschnick, and a surprising lefty starter named Eric Surkamp in AA-Richmond who has 140K's in 114 innings with an ERA around 2.00. And of course the typical list of middle infielders with good gloves and no bats (Adrianza, Culberson, Crawford, Noonan).

Honestly, that's about it right now. The minors ain't what they used to be because we've already harvested our crop down on the farm and sold off a lot of the rest of it.

This is why I say we go for it.

We're already better than we were at this time last season, and we somehow won it all. Filling the gaping hole at short with Reyes, and paying him long-term sounds crazy, but it is the best possible solution to our current problem of TeCrawfenot stinking it up at SS.


Check out Croix de Candlestick's workup on Eric Surkamp before this season started. He was ahead of the curve on the lefty.

There's enough to get a Reyes deal done but barely. They'll want Belt or Jonathan Sanchez, and surely that's in addition to Gary Brown and a lower level prospect like Crawford.

I say do it any way you can without giving up Belt. Do it and do it yesterday, because we have the unique opportunity to win it all again, something that hasn't happened in quite a while.

Lincecum and Cain won't be in their mid 20s forever. The time is now! It can be done without mortgaging the future, especially with an interesting crop of free agents available next offseason (Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, Reyes, Beltran).

Anyway, sorry about this rambling rant, but I can't rest knowing that Sabean didn't take his best shot at Reyes and a back to back championship.

Glad that one's over... On to Cincinnati

Despite the split in New York, it just didn't feel very satisfying. I suppose that's what splits will do to you...

A few observations on the Mets and Citi Field first though:

--The Mets are a team in shambles. Injuries have just racked this squad and you can tell its players are just barely hanging onto relevance. With David Wright now out for awhile, they simply have no one out there to lead the replacements. I've always loved Jeff Francoeur and Gary Sheffield, but neither are real leaders.

Then again, were Delgado, Jose Reyes, or Carlos Beltran?

Oh yeah, I forgot, this has been why they've collapsed year after year.

--I've always thought Mets manager Jerry Manuel to be somewhat of a dunce. He stabbed Willie Randolph in the back last year, and Manuel was dopey with the White Sox too. I never cared for him. But now... well now, I've really got a reason.

He also once said, "I don't like to rely on stats."

So flip a coin, Jerry.

Whether or not Manuel ordered the two retaliatory bean balls or whether the artist formerly known as Johan Santana did that on his own accord... pretty classless moves overall. That goes back to the culture and leadership of the Mets. That is on Jerry Manuel.

Matt Cain is not malicious, and he never would have hit anyone in the head on purpose, especially a class act like David Wright. To hit both Sandoval and Bengie was blatant and unacceptable-- not to mention totally unwarranted.

Absolutely moronic and classless.


--Citi Field looks, well... how do I put this?

Lame.

It looks like a futuristic version of old Shea Stadium. There are no background views, ridiculous wind tunnels, too much foul territory, and unhappy fans. There is zero about this stadium on television that makes it stand out. It's something like a bland version of Philadelphia and Washington. The best part about this stadium are the colorful ads. Seriously. The old school Pepsi sign is my favorite thing.


The trademarks of all new stadiums are the architectural styling, bold lines, and skyline backdrops. There are subtle and bold examples of this. Pittsburgh has a great view of the city, San Diego has the old brick building, Houston has the hill in center and the train tracks, Cincy has the riverboat smoke stacks, Milwaukee has the Bernie Brewer Slide. Hell, even the refurbished Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City looks better than Citi Field.

New York City has so many things to work with, and they just blew it. Like Nationals Park in D.C., there is nothing about this place that stands out. It honestly looks depressing in there. I see a nearly totally enclosed, cavernous, nearly Three Rivers Stadium-esque ballpark with bizarre dimensions.

Pathetic.

--As for the Giants, it was a so-so effort. Granted, the 10-1 win on Monday as well as the 10th inning win on Saturday felt good. It's just the other times when we can't put any offense together that just drag us down. Let's hope the awakening that occurred in the series finale can carry over into Cincinnata (that's how they say it).

-- Stay hot A.U. Velez! He's hitting .500 in the past two games with 2 runs and 2 RBI. He's now hitting .306 on the season.

I've been one of his harshest, most vulgar critics, but he's slowly but surely winning me over. He seems to be somehow getting how to hit. His plate discipline is greatly improved, and he's currently impersonating an offensive catalyst. Imagine that... a real leadoff hitter.

I would like to see him more active as a base stealer though. Despite his speed, he's only attempted to steal 3 times, being caught once.

--Bochy will have to make some decisions about the outfield. With A.U. and Nate The Great ripping the balls all over the place, how can they be kept out of the lineup? Randy Winn needs to sit. We are in a Wild Card race here, and despite his 4/9 stretch over the past two games, he should be the odd man out. All Schierholtz does is hit, and his arm is Francoeur-like. It's a sin not to start him every day.

-- Did you know, Randy Winn's real name is Dwight Randolph Winn?

-- Did you also know that D.R. Winn (Doctor Winn anyone?) is making $9.6 million dollars this season?

-- Did you know that Noah Lowry is being paid $4.5 million this season?

-- Did you know that when we released Dave Roberts earlier this year, we were required to continue paying him his $6.5 million dollar salary?

-- Aaron Rowand, Randy Winn, Noah Lowry, and Dave Roberts cost the Giants a total of $32.6 million this season alone. The stats we got from these four guys (obviously Rowand and Winn as of Sunday): .264 avg, 101 runs, 11 HR, 89 RBI, 14 SB.

That would be a really nice season for Matt Kemp or Bobby Abreu. Doesn't that just make your stomach churn?

-- Happy Lincecum day everyone! Homer Bailey is on the mound for the Reds on Tuesday. If you were ever going to bet on baseball... this would be the game.

--Breaking news as I'm writing this. Stephen Strasburg signs with the Nats for just under $16 million. Awesome. I'm so glad they didn't give him more. Eff you Scott Boras.

-- The Giants also signed the 6th overall pick, RHP Zack Wheeler. They gave him just under $3.3 million. Wheeler, out of HS in Georgia, had a 0.54 ERA in his senior season. He steps into the system void left by the trades of Scott Barnes and Timmy Alderson. Godspeed young Wheeler. Godspeed.