The State of Stuff

Sorry for the delay in getting a post up guys. Every now and then it just seems like too much of a pain. I hope you suffered in the absence of my wisdom. That would make me feel pretty cool. Now, on to important things: The State of Stuff.

There is so much stuff to talk about, and so much has changed since my last post, that I feel like we're dealing with another season or something. I'm going to segment this up, so here we go:

Andres Torres

Finally, we can say that we have a legitimate leadoff man in a Giants uni. It has been a long time in coming, and I pray that Andy doesn't flame out or begin struggling any time soon. In many ways, Torres has been a gift from the baseball gods, and he's doing his damndest to take full advantage of his first exclusive starting gig in his long meandering career.

There is so much to like about him as a player, especially his speed. As they say, speed is something you can't teach. In addition to utilizing his blazing talents, the man is flat out hitting, and running the bases like a champ. I've even picked him up in a couple fantasy leagues, and he's currently starting over Carlos Lee in one of them. It's truly an amazing development.

In the last month, Torres is hitting .302 with an astoundingly high .922 OPS-- much of which is augmented by a great on base percentage. The man is simply a catalyst, and has been involved the "offensive resurgence" that we've seen over the past two weeks. The second man involved in the resurgence is...

Freddy Sanchez

Wow, a legitimate leadoff man AND a textbook #2 hitter? In a row? And Bochy figured this out on his own?

THAT'S A LOW PRICE! I KNOW!



Like Torres, Sanchez does everything you can ask of a second place hitter. He has excellent bat control, he goes the other way in a excellent manner, and he's smart in situational situations. Situational situations. You heard me.

Plus, he's on a 9 game hitting streak, where he's hitting .500 (16 for 32). You know what Krook would say...

"Stay hot Freddy Sanchez."

Huff & Uribe: The Dike Pluggers

Look, I know they're not exactly A-Rod/Teixeira or Braun/Fielder but...

...All of the sudden, I feel wave of something that almost feels like some strange combination of relief and confidence. I'm not used to this, so I don't know if I'm even describing it properly. I never was one for sharing feelings.

I can't say enough about Uribe and Huff. They are the definition of "Gamers"-- not Aaron Rowand or Bengie Molina. Gamers are the ones who play hurt, listen to coaches, and don't complain about playing multiple positions-- all while actually hitting the goddamn ball. Hitting the ball is something that supposed "gamers" Rowand and Molina are currently incapable of, and basically have been for awhile.

Huff & Uribe or "Hurrribe!" have basically kept this team afloat, and seem to be thriving as dike pluggers. Hey man, get your head out of the gutter. Dike plugging is a serious issue in Holland!

Buster & Burrell: Killer B's?

Buster Posey was called up too late. It is a fact. I understand the "Super 2" issue. I understand the idea that he needs reps behind the plate and at 1B in Fresno--- believe, me, I get all of that. However, it just shows that the front office really just doesn't know what it's doing half the time. What I've been saying, what you've been saying, what this guy, and that guy, and this other guy have been saying is:

CALL UP POSEY NOW. WE CANNOT HIT. HE CAN. WTF ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

I can't complain as much now that he's up, but it was obviously three weeks (or more) too late. As we've seen in his 30 or so AB's, is that not only can he play a decent 1B and learn on the fly, but that yes, he really can hit.

I doubt he will ever be a 30 HR hitter, and the power will come at some point, but he's just a flat out smart hitter. He takes pitches, he has a good eye, and he doesn't swing at garbage. He's the antithesis of the type of player who has embodied Giants baseball for the past two seasons.

As for Pat Burrell, I absolutely must praise the move. This is a guy who just two years ago hit 33 dongs in a Philadelphia uniform. I know that he's not that guy anymore, but hey, this worked with Aubrey Huff didn't it? Remember the season he had two years ago? Then he sucked? Now he's good again? Remember?

If nothing else, Pat the Bat is a solid right-handed bat off the bench that is a little scarier than Eli Whiteside or Matt Downs.

Honestly, based on the kind of shape he's in, and the handful of AB's he's had in the orange & black, I say give the guy an every day shot. Seriously. Rowand is simply horrendous in every way, and I will sacrifice a little D in order to have a functioning Pat Burrell in our lineup hitting 6th or 7th and playing LF.

I know many of you were down on the signing, citing his poor defense and steep offensive decline. The defense aside, some hitters just have an incredibly difficult time adjusting to another league (See: Holliday, Matt; 2009).

Burrell is not meant to be a life-saver or the "big bat" that we need, but he's a good player, he's cheap, and if he sucks, we're not hamstrung by the loss of top prospects or an extreme salary. Trust me, he will help us.

Pablo Sandoval

Let me preface this rant by saying that I love Pablo and I want nothing more for him than to succeed and be a perennial all-star. With that said, allow me to rip him mercilessly.

Pablo Sandoval is not smart. He has the mind of an 8 year-old child in a large man's body. He doesn't listen to coaches, he doesn't use his brain, and he hacks at slop nightly. If I were Larry Krueger, I'd have been fired for these comments.

In addition, Pablo has zero power, and is not a third place hitter. He is incapable of using his body to drive the ball, and hits off his front foot because he needs ritalin, and no one has taken the time to give him a psychological exam.

I'm serious. He has ADHD, and he needs medication. I'm not laughing. Anyone who is incapable of waiting .005 seconds more for a pitch to reach the plate has some sort of issue.

Now-- judging by his 2 hit day against the Pirates Sunday (a day after being demoted to the 8th slot by our resident genius Bruce Bochy), it's possible that he may begin to understand this whole "pitch-taking" and "pitch-waiting" thing-- much like an infant realizes that if they cry, their mother comes to hold them.

If he calms down at the plate at some point, it's possible that he could hit 25 HR a season. Until then, I'd much rather that his singles and doubles power be utilized in the 5th spot in the order, a spot where he has the potential to knock in a run or two. His penchant for grounding into double plays has killed 14 potential rallies already this season, and that enough is reason to move him the eff down in the order.

On that note, time for the...

Dream Lineup

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

Notice who's missing? (Other than the injured DeRosa)

Yeah, our resident "gamers" Rowand, Molina, and Renteria.

They simply don't belong in the starting lineup any more and this type of thing is exactly what drives us Giants fans absolutely crazy about Bochy. The past three weeks has really lead me to believe that his brain, much like Felipe Alou's did, has turned into Cream of Wheat.

Bochy's bizarre use of Buster Posey and Bengie Molina in the lineups, as well as the "Sandoval hitting 8th" thing leads me to believe that this man is no longer fit to lead. Take the pinch running incident that took place Sunday in Pittsburgh. You know the one. The one where Bochy pinch-runs for Posey, one of the guys who can hit, in the 7th inning of a tie game.

Memo to Bruce: Posey is not slow. Just because you and Bengie and Whiteside are slow, doesn't make Buster slow too. Leave him in the game. Aggghhhh! Exasperating.

And how about Bengie Molina hitting 4th and Posey hitting 7th? Huh? Are you high?

I'm sorry. I'm officially on the "Fire Bruce Bochy" bandwagon. He has to go. This is ridiculous. He's acting like Tom Cable taking orders from the ghost of Al Davis. Nothing makes sense.

This next thing makes even less sense...

Mark DeRosa

The DeRosa DeLemma is officially pissing me off.

What we need to do right now is forget about the wasted $6MM we paid this dude this year. I like DeRosa, and he's a very good complementary player when healthy.

Unfortunately, he was never healthy, and the Giants made a mistake. I won't say they made a mistake with Freddy Sanchez, because he's currently worth his weight in a metal worth less than gold, but more than silver. Maybe copper? Anyway...

DeRosa needs to stop trying to be a "gamer" and just get the goddamn tendon sheath repaired, and he needs to do it two weeks ago.

This is an injury, that as he knows, takes 3 months to recover from, and 5 months to be normal again. Every day that management has wasted by trying to save face by putting him in Fresno, is a day that he's unavailable for the stretch run.

This man should have been under the knife the day he was put on the DL and not a day later. With that timetable, he could've returned, potentially healthy by mid-September. Now? Maybe 2011.

Again, it's just incredibly frustrating that we, the fans, know better than management with lineups, DeRosa, Posey, Wellemeyer, etc.

Isn't that crazy?

Lincecum

Lincecum has a combination of issues going on. Firstly, he absolutely HAS a blister problem. Someone close to the situation told someone else, who told me. That's good enough for a fan blogger like me.

The reason that they've all downplayed it is because Timmy also has mechanical problems, mainly out of his windup. Something is amiss, and since his father is the only one who can fix it, we need to get Chris Lincecum to SF immediately, an idea that this dude had last week.

Lincey is walking too many dudes, his control has been off, and he's been average at best. Unfortunately teams have begun to adjust, and have been taking a ton of pitches, rather than be overly aggressive-- the previous approach to taking on the Timster.

My question is, why exactly, if Timmy has a blister problem, didn't he get one of his starts skipped? Food for thought.

The Wellemeyer Experiment is over

I won't get into any of the stats. We all know they're bad. Wellemeyer cannot be relied upon to be a 5th starter. He's okay at home, but basically throws like Chet Steadman in the last Rookie of the Year scene without the theatrical shoulder grabbing by Gary Busey.

The question is not whether Wellemeyer needs to leave the rotation, but whether we cut ties with him completely, put him in the bullpen, or send him down to Fresno. The secondary question is, who do we call up in his place?

Knowing the team we're dealing with, it's safe to say that Madison Bumgarner will not get the call. Although he's been dealing pretty solidly against PCL competition and hasn't allowed more than three earnies in his last 9 starts (and did that only once), I have a feeling the 'tards up in the front office will be too gun-shy to promote the 21 year-old after his ridiculously poor Spring Training.

My opinion? Bring the kid up. Seems like he's gotten it together.

The other options are Eric Hacker and Joe Martinez.

Unfortunately for Hacker, his window may have passed. Until his last three starts, he'd had an ERA under 3 and a K/9 of nearly 9. His last 3 starts have yielded 18 earned runs. Soooo.... yeah, he's out.

J-Mart is sporting a 3.32 ERA and threw a complete game 9 hitter against the Las Vegas Bastards a couple days ago (Dodgers AAA team), and looks like he's ready for the big club again.

Either of these dudes should get the call, if not both, should a bullpen injury occur.

Obviously, there are a million more things I could talk about, but that's about as many words as I can string together without losing all of you. I hope you enjoyed the State of Stuff and remember to follow on Twitter @TheDodgerhater.

It's time to freak out, Giants fans

It was a shocking weekend. Just shocking. It didn't help that the Sharks got swept either, but my God...

ONE RUN IN THREE GAMES.

ONE RUN!

Usually, I'm the one against freaking out, and keeping our composure, but this-- this is not gonna work anymore...

This display against the very beatable Athletics even drew the interest of the great ESPN for once (which might as well be an unholy marriage between NESN and YES at this point). I was delighted that they chose to throw a little "Did You Know?" stat about our futility out there. Yeah, the Giants hadn't scored so little in so many games since like '49. It's just totally unreal.

Now that the dust has settled a little bit on the season, we can say for sure that the Giants' quick, heavy-hitting start out of the gate was indeed a fraud. That was us at our absolute best. Renteria and Rowand were raking, Bengie was kicking ass... that was the best that this team could play. It's like a chick peaking at age 16. That's all gone. Now, we're most likely witnessing the worst they can play. Not cool Giants.

The bullpen is not holding leads (or keeping games close), and our poor starters, who are still going strong, are being left high and dry, which does God-knows-what to their mental state and confidence. It's just not going well at all.

You know I'm not usually like this. You know... the whole negativity thing. Unfortunately there is little to no silver lining to be discovered right now... and management seems to have zero clue as to how to fix the problem.

Even now, after managing one run in three games, Sabean and Co. refuse to consider calling up Posey. There is such an obvious disconnect between those in charge of the organization and reality, that I wonder if we're all actually living in some dreadful, non-linear drama on ABC like FlashForward or Lost.

I know I'll take a little heat for the Lost rip, but that's not the point. The point is that our beloved team has a problem-- an obvious problem-- and it is simply not being addressed. Not only is it not being addressed, but there has been almost no attempt at addressation (that's not a word, but I think it should be).

It's quite simple really. Let me break it down so that even a caveman could do it.

We cannot score runs.

Solution?

Add hitter, change lineup. Score runs.

I'm tired of the money excuse for Aaron Rowand and Bengie Molina. Yes, they are gamers, and I like their effort and veterany-ness, but they aren't playing well. Just because these guys (and Renteria) are making too much money, doesn't mean they get a free pass. If I'm in charge of the Giants, this is what I do until DeRosa gets back, and Posey at catcher full time be damned. Bengie is still a good bat. We're trying to win, remember? And I know this would never happen in a million years, but does it not make sense? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?




1) Andres Torres CF
2) Freddy Sanchez 2B
3) Pablo Sandoval 3B
4) Aubrey Huff LF
5) Buster Posey 1B
6) Juan Uribe SS
7) Bengie Molina C
8) Nate Schierholtz RF

Yeah, there could be a couple flip-flops in the order, but how on earth is that worse than the BS being run out there right now? I'm sorry, but the longer management waits on Posey, the further we will slip into mediocrity. Notice how good that lineup looks with no Aaron Rowand?

Hank Schulman of the Chronicle suggested today that "big changes" would be coming to the lineup. Oh yeah? If Bochy considers this "big changes", then I'm a monkey's uncle. From The Splash:

"This is how it might work until left fielder Mark DeRosa returns: Freddy Sanchez would move to third base, allowing Juan Uribe to play second now that shortstop Edgar Renteria is back. (Alternatively, Uribe could play third and Sanchez could stay at second.) Pablo Sandoval would shift from third base to first base, and Aubrey Huff would move to left field. Andres Torres will play right, leaving John Bowker and Nate Schierholtz on the bench."

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Basically, if I'm following this correctly, to solve the problem of not hitting, they've decided to move Huff from his best position to one of lesser skill, move Freddy Sanchez to a position of lesser skill, put our "mega-super-ultra" utilityman Uribe at Sanchez's position, and add Edgar Renteria to the lineup.

Excuse me while I scream into a pillow.

We all must admit to ourselves that Posey may not be the answer. It's possible that with the pressure and inexperience, he could crack. Remember, he only got two hits in 17 ABs and looked overmatched at the plate while briefly up last year. Obviously it's a small sample size, and he will rake at some point, but we can't just add Buster to the big league lineup and assume we'll start scoring like the Phillies.

And people, as tempting as "name-brand" veterans like Pat Burrell, Jermaine Dye, and Austin Kearns are, they are not the answer.

The answer, unfortunately lies in a trade, and the price will be steep. Someone near and dear to our hearts will have to be traded, and it will not be pretty at first, but it must be done. We will have to part with Madison Bumgarner and will have to include a Thomas Neal or a Brandon Crawford, or both. We have another 3-4 years to win with this group of pitchers, and we are well behind schedule in overall team development.

Also of utmost importance is to rid ourselves of Aaron Rowand. It is another article for another day, but if we were to eat $8MM of his deal for the remainder of his deal ($24MM), it would be better than having him on the roster, and crazily, it would save us $12MM total ($4MM/year). How sickening is that? But seriously. He's part of the problem, and is a big reason why we are financially constrained.

Anyway, let's all enjoy the day off from offensive mediocrity and pray that Bochy, Sabean, Neukom, and the rest of those bean counters stop acting like such a-holes and do what needs to be done.

Romo & Runzler... again

I remember the days of yesteryear... and by yesteryear, I mean like three weeks ago. Ah yes, three weeks ago, when our bullpen was still reliable, Mark DeRosa was just in a slump, and we had the great Freddy Sanchez's return to look forward to.

Now look at us. One night we give up 13 runs and score 1. The next, our ace gives up 5, is bailed out by a highly improbable offensive explosion, and our bullpen promptly gives it up again.

There were a handful of things that we as Giants fans could rely on: Solid to elite starting pitching from 4 out of 5 guys, a strong bullpen that wouldn't hurt us and certainly wouldn't lose games, and an predictably frustrating, yet scrappy offense.

It's true, we still don't score too many runs on a day to day basis, and it's an ongoing problem, but we used to be sure that if we were blessed with more runs than the other team in any given 7th inning, that we'd probably win that game. It was just that way.

Now. I don't know. I've quickly lost confidence in a once Ironman suit-solid bullpen. Every time a starter comes out of the game, and I see one of these guys coming trotting in from the outfield, I feel the same progressive emotions: distrust, disgust, anger, and nausea.

Sure it could be just a run of bad luck for these guys, but it seems to have been going on for a fair amount of time. Sergio Romo and Dan Runzler are especially upsetting. I'd generally keep Billy Mota's name out of it, because he only seems to give up runs when the other guys are giving up runs. Otherwise he doesn't, and he's been an incredible Sabean gem in general. Obviously he's easily influenced by the actions around him. Mix in Affeldt's string of bad performances (until a week ago), Brandon Medders's 7.20 ERA, and a few Brian Wilson "heart attack saves" and we've got a fine mess on our hands.

It certainly isn't as bad overall as I'm making it seem, as Billy Mota, Wilson, and Affeldt have been good, and I'm usually the biggest optimist out of the 13,319 Giants blogs on the internet, but in this case, I have to skewer Romo and Runzler for a little while. It's like therapy.

Runzler, perhaps due to a lack of minor league seasoning, does not do well in high leverage situations-- or seemingly any situations lately. His biggest issue is walking guys and an overall lack of command.

You need not look any further into stats than his WHIP, which is 1.59. Yes, for those of you not used to looking at WHIPs, that is waaaaay too high for either a fantasy pitcher or a real one. Yep, a 7.16 BB/9 rate will do that to you. Also interesting is that of the 288 pitches he's thrown this year, 122 were balls. Yeah, that's almost half. Not cool Runz.

The guy hasn't given up a ton of big hits, but his specialty seems to be adding guys to the basepaths and making a hasty exit. Still, his 4.96 ERA is not pretty.

Romo is the perfect complement to Runzler. I believe after the Mets series, I called these two the "anti-win squad". Runzler comes in, walks guys on base and Romo let's them score. It's sick. What is this? Co-Dependency? No? Well, it's gotta be something.

Romo's troubles stem from a flat breaking ball and a severe loss of all confidence. Many have speculated that his arm angle makes it easier for batters to see the ball coming out of his hand. I believe that his best pitch, his slider, just grooves in way too easily into a lefty's wheelhouse. It's really hard to say based on stats alone, because Romo's ineffectiveness cannot be found in his numbers.

This is the craziest set of stats I've ever seen... bear with me.

3.50 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 9.00 K/9, .194 batting avg. against

Wait, what? Are you kidding me? That can't be right.

But it is! It's insane! Here's a guy that I wanted to send to AAA last night, and look at those stats. They're... good.

You've got to dig a little deeper. He's got 3 blown saves, has allowed countless inherited runners to score, and has given up 3 huge dongs in only 18 innings. As I recall, each of those dongs were huge. These innuendos doing anything for you?

I'm trying to find some sort of statistical tidbit to explain why we've lost confidence in Romo and why we can't stand him, and I just can't. I mean, he walks lefties at a way higher rate, after 15 pitches his ERA skyrockets to 12.00 (meaning he's not working his way out of jams), and his road stats are markedly awful.

Romo's away numbers: 7.2 IP, 6 ER, 7.04 ERA, 1.57 WHIP

Look, that's all I've got. My advice to Bochy: Do not pitch Romo on the road against a lefty-heavy lineup with any inherited runners. Good? Good.

I keep harping on this article I wrote prior to the season about Romo & Runzler being keys to the bullpen's success. I do so because that gives me some sort of W-list Giants celebrity credit, but because these two guys are basically failing on a regular basis, and the entire team is suffering.

They are both talented dudes fully capable of great things. We've seen it, we know it's there. We just need to see it more often.

Go Sharks!

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.

The links edition... Get your click on!

I haven't done this in awhile, and I'm taking the defense that it's not the easy way out of a real post. Happy reading...

-- Remember '51 takes a look at the Giants 3 headed catching situation

-- Grant at McCovey Chronicles eyeballs potential replacement scenarios for Mark DeRosa in LF

-- Obsessive Giants Compulsive looks at the DeRosa situation from a "Risk Mitigation" field of thought

-- Giants farmhand Garrett Brohshius rips on Brian Sabean for dissing AAA-level baseball on his blog

-- Giants AAA pitcher Eric Hacker is 5-1 with a 2.25 ERA and 32 K's in 32 innings. Sabean obviously doesn't think much of him either, otherwise he'd get a shot.

-- Giants MLB.com beatwriter Chris Haft's write up on Mark DeRosa, who called his wrist surgery a "total failure".

-- The Merc's Andrew Baggarly takes a look at Zito's stint with the Giants, starting with his bizarre new delivery in his first season.

-- Padres pitcher Tim Stauffer self-diagnosed his appendicitis... with his iPhone.

-- The Rockies are accusing the Phils of stealing signs. Cool.

-- Drew Magary's bi-weekly "Funbag" from Deadspin. It's like Bill Simmons's mailbag only much more profane and much less about sports. It's just too good for this world.

-- Fred Lewis, now hitting up a storm in Toronto, rips the Giants on the way out.

-- Myke Urban of CSN's latest blog. I think he does a great job overall.

Things are pretty, kinda alright, and sorta good, but not really great, but much better than bad...

"Giants Baseball: Torture" -- Duane Kuiper

He's said it multiple times on the air, and usually, the description is plenty apt. This team isn't nearly as frustrating as version 20.09, in fact, not even close. The fact is, we're not going to win every game. The sign of a good team is that we are in every game, every night. The opportunity to win is half the battle, and the other half is doing a little bit better than a tie game.

Hey look, those two walkoff losses to the Mets were absolutely killer, and the one where Romo blew ANOTHER game on Sunday would've been a gut-wrencher after the previous two games. But look at the bright side. How about John Bowker coming up huge with a pinch hit dong off of one of the best closers in baseball?

I've said it before multiple times, and I will continue to say it:

"THIS TEAM NEVER GIVES UP, AND IT'S CAPABLE OF COMING BACK FROM ANYTHING."

I mean, last season we were giving up in the 6th inning with 4-1 deficits staring us in the collective face. This season? We're good to go. We can tie this thing up! We can win this thing! It's just sooooooo much better.

And how about some more positive stuff. Some guy named Aaron Rowand did as much for the success of this Florida/New York road trip as the starting pitching staff. He really did. He hit a huge homer in Florida, made multiple run-saving catches, and hit the biggest go-ahead roundtripper of the season on Sunday when the team needed it the most.

I know he's been only a first half player for us, but he's hitting .321 with 17 RBI. That's all we ever wanted for the $60MM, man...

Things are fairly solid around here. Not amazing, not terrible, but pretty, kinda, alright, and sorta good. As frustrating and torturous as Romo/Runzler have been at times, in conjunction with Wellemeyer, the "Other Jonathan Sanchez" in a couple starts, and Kung Fu's retarded slump, at the end of the day, you need to look at the big picture, and the manner in which that big picture is being filled in.

Anyway....

Notes/Musings:

Huffing & Puffing

Aubrey Huff is an absolute gamer. The guy has played a solid 1B. And for you Sabermetric jerks, you can even believe it, because he's sporting a 4.0 UZR/150 rating. See, I coulda told you he was playing a good first base by watching how he plays the game and the fact that he only has one error, but since I used an obscure statistical formulated index average thingy, now we can agree. End of side rant.

What I really love about Huff is that he is simply a ballplayer, a gamer, the type of guy who knows where to be, what to do, and you can tell that he is not the most gifted athlete in the land, but the guy who gets absolutely the most out of his abilities by giving his all. He's chasing after foul pop ups, covering second base when Uribe/Downs/Rowand can't make a catch. It's just good to see.

The most encouraging sign about Huff is that he's really driving the ball. Unfortunately, he's driving the ball to right-center most of the time in AT&T, Citi, and the Ghost of Joe Robbie Fields/Stadium. In all honesty, this guy has hit around 9 or 10 yahtzee shots thus far, but only a handful have made it out due to whatever cavernous outfield he happens to be swinging at.

Plus, whenever he has to run 180 feet at a time, it is absolutely hilarious. It's like he just ran a drunken marathon. All the Joe Eighteen Packs watching him can relate.

Romo has to go...

You ain't gotta go home, but you can't stay here bro. We all like you Serge, but you're losing games for us. If Row doesn't hit one out, you could've ruined another game Sunday in cahoots with your boy Runzler. Is this what we're doing now? You two are like the anti-win squad right now. Runzler sets the table with like 3 walks, then you serve up a hairy meatball for a dong?

It certainly seems that way lately, which is why I could've just KILLED Bochy when he brought you in on Sunday. I was like "Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!". Sure enough... well. You know what happened. This site isn't about recaps, remember?

There are rumblings that Romo may be sent to Fresno for a little while to regain his slider's snap, and maybe rest a little while. I find it hard to believe that the guy already has a tired arm, as we are what, like, 6 games into the season? However, he has been used a lot, and many times in high-pressure situations. As we know, this team doesn't do anything the easy way. He'll continue to be an important part of the team, but obviously his workload and stress level have to be reduced.

And as some of you will recall, I wrote an article earlier this season stating that indeed, the Romo/Runzler tandem was the key to the overall success and health of the bullpen. If they suck, we're screwed. Hell it made MLBTradeRumors. They know good stuff when they see it.

The Sanchez Sitch

I bet you haven't seen the word "Sitch" in print since the last TMZ article you read about Jersey Shore. Well. I'm bringing it back before Season 2 in a non-Mike Sorrentino sort of context.

This particular sitch involves a dude owed $12MM over this season and next, which is not looking like a very good scene right now. Honestly, we might as well be paying "The Situation" instead of Freddy Sanchez right now, because at least we'd get some entertainment value out of him. For all we know, Freddy Sanchez is going to the gym, tanning, and doing his laundry every day on Neukom's dime.

In all seriousness though, We've got an interesting couple of decisions to make once F-Sanch returns in a week or two. The common suggestion is that with our hundreds of mega-super-ultra utility men (sounds like a Japanese animation show that gives 8 year olds seizures), Bochy can just rotate guys in and out to give a guy a day off or play situational matchups.

More realistically, Matt Downs is actually hitting. Yeah. He's actually hitting to the tune of a .359 average and a .459 on base %. He's obviously not gonna win a batting title, and we don't know if the Tuscaloosa native will ever be a fulltime starter in this league, but my vote is for delaying Sanchez's arrival until Downs cools off at least.

But then what about when Renteria comes back? I'm still not ready to throw him away like gross 4 day old Chinese food. I still believe he's capable of being 70% of the Renteria of old. Groin pulls are nagging things.

The only thing about that is that now Uribe and Huff are in danger of losing AB's, while the .350+ hitting Downs is sent to Fresno or deep in "Bochy's Hole of No Return" like poor Johnny Bowker from next door.

It's quite the conundrum indeed. I expect to be frustrated by the outcome.

Panda & DeRosa... WTF?

DeRosa's struggles are frustrating. As we know, he's making good money, and all the Debbie Downer's out there who ripped the signing from the beginning are jumping around and clicking their heels like a prospector on angel dust. Well, forget you guys. The sample size is not nearly big enough to declare anything. It's just one of those deep funks... and not the good kind of funk like Earth Wind & Fire.

He's pressing, and that usually never works out. He had a multi-hit game in Florida, which was encouraging, but success overall has been eluding Marky Mark. I think perhaps he's the guy who could benefit from a couple days off and some hardcore video sessions.

Hey... that's not what I meant. I meant reviewing his at bats! Get your heads out of the gutter.

As for Kung Fu, well, he's a frustrating dude. It just looks like opposing pitchers are beginning to figure him out a bit. They're throwing high fastballs at him, and he's swinging at them (as usual). It's unfortunate that such a simple thing is having success with such a talented swinger. He's another guy who needs to ride the pine for a game or two, to get his head right.

But as Krook said, "He's a hack, and he's gotta hack his way out of this."

Pablo is 3 for his last 39 and is hitting only .231 from the right side. Cause for concern, yes. Freak out session? Not yet.

Knock knock joke!

Knock Knock.
Who's There?
Orange.
Orange Who?
Orange you glad we don't have Oliver Perez?

That guy sucks big time! One of the worst contracts in baseball history. 3 years, $36MM. You think Sabean is bad? How about Omar Minaya. Guy should be fired immediately.

And the NY Post is hilarious. "HOMEWRECKER". HAHA.

Reader Submission: Zito is back

This is a submission by Julian Perez, who is an avid Dodgerhater reader and commenter. As this blog is for fans, by a fan, I thought it fit to open up the floor from time to time to a reader with something to say. Anyone is welcome to submit something for consideration if they are interested in doing so. Email me here.

Barry's Back!

Well ladies and gentlemen, it may still be a little too early to say it but I am too excited to wait… Barry Zito is back! The former All-Star and Cy Young starter that was signed after the 2006 season to the largest pitching contract in Major League history (at the time) has been sub-par since signing with the Giants, to put it nicely. It is certainly a difficult thing to live down a record of 31-43 in your first 3 seasons when you are making $20+ million a season.

I will be the first to admit that I have taken plenty of shots at Zito throughout the last few years. Many will also argue that he had a good season last year and that many of his losses were due to lack of run support. The fact of the matter is that so did all of the starters in 2009, and yet Tim Lincecum won a Cy Young with only 15 wins while Matt Cain posted a 2.89 ERA and made the first All-Star game of his career. That being said, I think most fans are in agreement that Zito has sucked since crossing the Bay Bridge over to San Francisco.

Zito is a well-known head case and many thought that the transition of teams, cities, and leagues as well as the aforementioned contract would take its toll on Zito. Throw in the fact that Dave Righetti decided it would be better to change Zito’s windup, and it quickly seemed that the Giants had signed a guy who would soon be the most expensive #5 starter ever! To make matters worse, with a 7 year/$126 million contract and a no-trade clause he is basically impossible to trade.

This season, something has clicked though. His fastball has gained a few miles per hour and his curveball is looking the sharpest it has in his career. This is in addition to the fact that he is not walking guys while attacking the zone. This in turn is allowing him to go further into games. Zito is finally looking like the guy we stole away from the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox that fateful off-season a few years back. You can just see it in the guy's face when he is on the mound. He used to look stressed every time he went between the chalk lines, but this year he's having fun... and it shows. He took a page out of Lincecum’s book and is enjoying the fact that he is making more money then God to throw a baseball around.

He also has a swagger about him that any elite pitcher must have. This first became evident during spring training this year when the first pitch he threw to Milwaukee Brewers slugger Price Fielder was a fastball to the ribs as retaliation from last season. Last year I doubt Zito would have done that. If he had, he probably would have tipped his cap and apologized in hopes Fielder wouldn’t eat him. I don’t think I have seen Zito smile once this year.


If Zito can keep up this hot start he's thrown together in 2010, the Giants will have possibly one of the best starting rotations ever and will be a scary team to face in September. Also worth mentioning is that Zito has a postseason career record of 4-3 with an ERA of 3.25. Again, it is probably too early to talk about, but one can only drool over the possibility of Lincecum, Cain, and Zito as a 3 man playoff rotation with Jonathan Sanchez in the bullpen.

The Giants have finally unearthed the guy they expected to get 4 years ago. An All-Star "top of the rotation" guy who can lead his team deep into the playoffs.

I will state it once more for all of you non-believers… Barry’s back!!!

From Behind Enemy Lines, Part II

Just got back from SoCal on Sunday evening, and would like to share my experience of Dodger Stadium with you. If you're already following me on Twitter, you probably saw my in-game twittering about the disturbing things going on around me at the park. If you don't, I'll fill you in here.

I'll preface this report by saying that I hadn't been to Dodger Stadium (I'm pretty sure) since 1993. As I spent 4 years of my early childhood in Thousand Oaks and my father had company tickets, we went to games a few times a year there to take in baseball... mostly Giants games as I recall. I pride myself on my ability to remember crazy details about things from long ago, and this story is just as crazy.

The last game I went to at that stadium was the final game of 1993-- the Solomon Torres game.

Even at a young age, I knew what was at stake, and I remember going to the game with my dad and procuring tickets from sleazy scalpers. The game was so in demand, that we couldn't even find seats together. Although the end result was crushing, it was a vivid Giants-Dodgers memory from long ago. I remember the fans doing the wave and the beach balls, just as well as the fascist ushers who stabbed the balls immediately. To a little kid, it is amusing, but to a baseball fan, it's just disgusting. With that said, here's my little in game diary, beginning with my arrival to the park with my quoted twitterings from the game against the Pirates on Saturday.

WARNING: Giants fans will be sickened.

We arrived about 10 minutes before start time, and not only was the traffic on I-5 non-existant (in a bizarre scene), but Stadium Way was smooth sailing, and there weren't any sleazes in the parks on the way to the parking lot. The dudes I went to the game with had never seen it like that before, and I always remembered the drive in there as awful. They characterized it as "eerie". Obviously, fans couldn't be bothered to show up on a nice Saturday night.

We paid our $15 bucks to park in the lot and proceeded to park between two cars, about 300 yards from the exit. As I had previously read an article about the Dodgers cracking down on stadium violence and excessive drunkenness, I knew that we probably couldn't get out of the car and drink outdoors, as is the American custom.

What I didn't know, is that the Blue Bastards have morphed from a bad organization to something even more twisted and heinous--- a cross between the DMV, a 5'5 crooked CHP officer who got beat up in high school, and Robert Mugabe.

My buddy Sisto's friends who were with us warned me to keep our beers down as we hunkered down in the car... you know, just trying to drink a Coors Light tallboy before going in. There were jerkoffs in golf carts zipping around the massive parking lot, which was about two thirds full of cars, but totally devoid of any fans.

Just then, a dude comes up and knocks on my window as I hastily hide the beer in the cupholder under some sort of Google Maps printout that had been long ago designated useless.

Parking Lot Nazi: Hey, how you guys doing? Got any alcohol in here with you?

Us: No sir, just a couple of empties. We were just listening to some music.

Parking Lot Nazi: Yeah? Okay. (peering around, pressing his face up against the glass of the rear passenger glass). Well what about that one there in the cupholder? That's not an empty.

Us: Well, no, okay, you got me.

Parking Lot Nazi: Pour it out. All of it. Yeah, just throw it on the ground, scavengers will come and and get it.

The two parking lot nazis then wrote down all of our names, our places of residence, noted the year, make, model, and license plate of Sisto's car, while stating that we wouldn't be cited.

The nazi then said, "Okay. Go into the stadium now. You can't stay out here anymore--"

"But, we already poured out our beer, can we at least get some tunes going, and smoke a cigarette or get a lipper going?" I interjected.

"No." The nazi said flatly. "You have to go into the stadium now, or we'll have to ask you to leave."


IS THAT UNBELIEVABLE OR WHAT?????????? I obviously wore my Giants hat to the game, but it was on backwards at the time, so there was no way that he saw it. They're just jerks to everyone. $15 for parking, $30 tickets, and God knows how much on beer and dogs and whatever, and the Dodgers organization just gives its fans the finger. No wonder these people are so damned miserable. Sucks to be you!!!! Suckers...


Now for the twitterings and pictures of this vile place beginning with buying tallboys at Ralph's in Burbank:

@TheDodgerhater: Dude. There is an illegal underground car washing operation going on in the subterranean Ralph's parking lot in Burbank.

@TheDodgerhater:Parking lot nazis stole our beer within 5 minutes of our arrival and the usher pointed me the wrong way.

@TheDodgerhater:Just ordered a "Giants Dog" and paid with my BofA Giants debit card at Dodger stadium. Reed Johnson's entrance song is Cypress Hill.

@TheDodgerhater:Dodger fans have finally stopped filling the stands here in the bottom of the 4th and have begun the wave while their team hits.

@TheDodgerhater:Fans have moved on from the wave to watching a beach ball get hit around in the stands. Morons.

@TheDodgerhater:Dodger fans are now throwing napkins, bags, and other assorted garbage from the upper deck to the loge to see it float down.

@TheDodgerhater:A paper airplane thrown from the upper deck missed Hong Chih Kuo's head in the bullpen by 3 inches. Unbelievable.

@TheDodgerhater:The left field pavilion boos the rest of the fans lustily when they can't sustain the wave all the way around.

@TheDodgerhater:And in the top of the 8th with an apparently insurmountable 5-1 lead of the Pirates, the fans have begun streaming out.

@TheDodgerhater:Just knocked a beach ball over the railing and yelled GO GIANTS! I got booed by the whole section and part of the pavilion. Got 1 cup thrown at me.


I tell you folks, after witnessing this place again after so many years, I just thank my lucky stars I was born a Giants fan. We've got it so good. Not only do we live in God's country, but our stadium is soooo much better, our fans are decent human beings, and although the parking lots cost waaaaay too much, at least they leave you alone out there to booze and hang out, the way it was meant to be.

Expect some real team articles this week.

I invite you to share your own experiences from Chavez Latrine in the comment section.

From Behind Enemy Lines

I'm currently typing this from a Howard Johnson in a sleazy part of Buena Park, Orange County. I am here against my will, but while getting beer last night, I was reminded as to why I am so thoroughly disgusted by the Dodgers and SoCal in general.

Not only is my second favorite light beer brand tarnished forever, but the box is in Spanish. I'm sorry, I thought this was America. I don't have much time to write anything, but I'll be going to the Dodgers-Pirates game on Saturday and will be raising hell in my Giants hat and rooting for Pittsburgh. If I don't make it out alive, it's been real.

Behold, the object of my disgust from the Stater Brothers.

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.

Big Time Timmy Jim does SportsCenter

After another brutal SoCal loss, I thought you guys could use some cheering up. Here's Tim Lincecum's new SportsCenter commercial. He's made the big time now... Click here if you cannot see the video.

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!

Fred Lewis & stat nerds, a match made in hell

There have been a lot of players over the years that have stirred up debates among fans and educated baseball minds alike. One camp believes a guy is capable and isn't getting a fair shake, while their counterpart wants him gone at all costs. In the ongoing battle between good and evil, there surely had to be one Giant that became such a heatseeker for debate. That Giant was Fred Lewis.

I cannot remember there ever being a player with so little consequence on the field being fought over (mainly in blogs and in message board forums) so fervently and for so many months. To one side, he was an extremely talented guy who couldn't put it together at the plate, and on top of it, was among the worst left fielders in the game. To the second side, he was a misunderstood, successful left fielder/leadoff guy, who apparently is a very good outfielder who is equivalent to an above average leadoff hitter-- a legitimate starter.

Once again, the bitter struggle in the blogosphere between good and evil (baseball people versus stat people), has come to a bloody confrontation.

For those of you who aren't in to the whole Sabermetric thing-- they concoct extreme statistics based on Lord-knows-what that try to explain the entire game. Some things, I am a huge fan of, such as contact percentage, percentage of balls swung at outside the strike zone, etc. Others, I am more skeptical of. My argument is that it is still very possible to suck with a high OBP%. I will show you what an argument between a "Joe Six Pack" lifer baseball fan and a new-age stat snob would look like:

Baseball Guy: I'm sorry, Fred Lewis seems like a great person, and he's got some real talent, but he never put it together. To top it off, he takes terrible routes to balls, and is the worst left fielder I've seen since Manny Ramirez. Plus, he strikes out too much and only gets aggressive when he's down in the count, which happens constantly, because all he does it take first pitch strikes. Also, someone with his speed should have stolen more bases. Where was that? I will say that I loved his mirrored orange sunglasses though. Those things were sick.

Jack Moore, Fangraphs:

"Lewis is pretty clearly a Major League quality player. In 1,048 plate appearances in the major leagues since 2006, Lewis has recorded a .277/.355/.420 line, showcasing good plate discipline and slightly below average power. His 109 wRC+ suggests an above average player. 2009 was a down year for Lewis, however, as his ISO dropped from .158 to .132. As a result, his wOBA and wRC dropped to .327 and 98 respectively, the first year in which he has been below average in either statistic. The projection systems see him as slightly above average this year, and ZiPS in particular expects a return to 2008 levels.

Defensively, both UZR and +/- are fans of Lewis, despite his poor reputation among Giants fans in Tom Tango’s Fan Scouting Report. Both systems have Lewis between +9 and +11 over his 326 game career, which would still make him a below average position-neutral defender over 150 games.


Overall, not only does that make Lewis an MLBer, but it makes him nearly an average player. There is no way that Lewis is only the 6th best outfielder on the Giants roster. Aaron Rowand is projected to have a similar or worse year. Nate Schierholtz has similar projections. Andres Torres is 32 and projected to be well below average at the plate by both CHONE and ZiPS – Marcel’s projection is only operating on 181 ML plate appearances since 2007...


...Hitters with a .355 career OBP and a walk rate over 10% don’t just grow on trees, and especially not those still drawing a pre-arbitration salary. Somebody must have at least had a grade B prospect they would have been willing to part with for Lewis, and if not, then there’s no reason to get rid of him when Torres and Velez are still on the team.

...The Jays have acquired a player who could potentially become an asset and a contributor for essentially no cost. The risk is minimal, and a potential reward is there. For the Blue Jays, this is a no-brainer, and for the Giants, it’s a head scratcher."

See original Fangraphs article by Jack Moore here.

Baseball Guy: Yeah. No. I'm not gonna do that...

Look, I'm not entirely sure what you just said, but I think I just had an aneurysm trying to translate it. Anywaaaay..... that's all fine and good, but here's the reason Fred Lewis isn't on the Giants, and more reasons why he's not that good. I will even use relevant stats from Fangraphs, which I believe to be an excellent site when used responsibly.


In 2008 and 2009, which were Lewis's longest stints with the club (255 games), he presented some ugly patterns.

Firstly, the man struck out 26.5% and 28.5% of the time respectively. You remember 7th grade fractions, don't you? That means that if Fred played a regular game and received 4 at bats, he'd strike out once a game. That means Fred Lewis would strike out 162 times per year (since you enjoy projections so much).

Not only that, but the guy crumples under any kind of pressure. In 118 ABs in 2009, he hit .203 with runners on. The numbers only go down with the situation becoming more dire. With runners in scoring position? .186. With runners in scoring position and two outs? .156.

The only situation that Fred does do well in, is when the pressure is totally off and there's no one on base where he managed a .294 average and a .365 on base percentage.

"But Dan The Baseball Guy, isn't that what a leadoff hitter faces most of the time?"

Yes and no. In the NL in particular, he's going to see a lot more empty bases in front of him, but the guy just doesn't put enough balls in play. Even in his best situation with no pressure, his K% actually increases slightly to 30%. On top of it, for a guy who took an incredible amount of first pitch strikes, he does horrible work when he's in the hole. In '09, when he had an 0-2 count, he hit a whopping .000 with 16 strikeouts in 24 AB's.

His defense is just not good, and I don't care how you want to spin it. He was a clueless wonder in left field last season, and although his replacement, Mark DeRosa isn't going to win any gold gloves out there, he hasn't made any mistakes yet.

So look, that's the argument. I'm not going to say that the Sabermetricians are totally off base with everything they say. What I will say is that stats do not always tell the entire story. Everyone knows you can lie with statistics. Companies sell products and politicians win campaigns while distorting facts that are, for all intents and purposes, true.

When applied to baseball, there are so many things that go into what makes a good player. Fred Lewis certainly has all the tools to be a good one, but I believe his bad habits to outweigh his good ones, and he thinks way too much out there. I wish him nothing but the best in Toronto, but I cannot say I'll miss him in San Francisco.

If you have hate in your heart let it out!

Well boys and girls, it's finally Giants/Dodgers time. I for one cannot wait.


I watched a bit of the Dodgers home opener against the D-Bags the other day, and was throughly disgusted by what I saw. I've come to the realization that I am simply grossed out just by the sight of Dodger fans-- let alone 55,000 of them. It is truly a nauseating blue that they wear (when they choose to support their team), and they are all complete slobs.

I think that during a fly ball hit by Chris Young towards the end of the game, I actually saw the Latin Kings carry out a jump in of a new recruit! All the while, the valley trash around them were doing the wave and smacking around beach balls. Just an appalling scene.

And if we need to review why Los Angeles is a hellhole, maybe we should go through a few things.

-- LA has 20 Spanish Radio stations (13 FM, 7 AM). Look, if you speak Spanish, that's fine, but last time I checked, this was America. I feel like the Giants are playing another country in a soccer game. Disturbing.


-- It is covered in concrete, shrouded in smog, and infested with porno people and gangs

-- The traffic makes you want to commit a murder-murder-murder-suicide of Manny Ramirez, Russell Martin, and Matt Kemp

-- Everyone there thinks they're cool, when they are all total douches

-- Their fans suck

-- Both Paris and Perez Hilton live there.

-- Osama bin Laden is a Dodgers fan

Baseball-wise, there's no doubt in my mind that the Giants are a better team.

What this first series will illustrate is the dearth of quality pitching that the Dodgers have. It's almost pathetic. It's not quite Pittsburgh Pirates pathetic, but when you look at their staff, it makes you want to laugh out loud.

Rotation:

Vicente Padilla
Clayton Kershaw
Chad Billingsley
Hiroki Kurode
Charlie Haeger

Are you kidding me? You think you can win the NL West with that garbage? Vicente Padilla is probably the worst Opening Day starter I've ever seen, and he's pitched like it so far (11.32 ERA). Kershaw and Billingsley are decent young arms, but Billingsley has no control and Kershaw is also unpredictable. They are the equivalent of a homeless, retarded man's Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez. Unfortunately for them, if that's the best they've got, they're in for a world of disappointment come October. Plus, Lincecum is better than Kershaw and Billingsley with a Jim Beam hangover and a broken ring finger on his throwing hand.

The Dodgers' bullpen is even funnier:

Jeff Weaver - Headcase, washed-up bum

Ramon Troncoso - The foreign Brandon Medders

George Sherrill - One of the decent guys in the pen has a 15.00 ERA

Carlos Monasterios - Whoooooooooooooooo?

Ramon Ortiz - The guy couldn't hack it for the Giants in AAA Fresno. Seriously. He was released by the Giants because he sucks.

Russ Ortiz - Yes. Russ Ortiz, a guy we liked as a Giant, is a Dodger. A sad day.

Jonathan Broxton - The only decent pitcher in their pen. Looks like a sleaze.

So, there you have it. The achilles heel of the Dodgers is their pathetic pitching staff. Do they have an impressive outfield? Yeah. I'll give it to them. On paper, it is impressive. But look, it takes a lot more than that to make the playoffs, and it'll take a lot more to win a series from the Gyros. Remember, good pitching is always better than good hitting.

So let's all flip LA the bird and enjoy our upcoming sweep!

And I hope Russell Martin gets drilled in the ribs!

What's not to love?

I don't mean to keep gushing like a North Hollywood white trash school girl looking at a Justin Bieber Dodgers billboard, but I just can't help it. I just love this Giants team. Maybe sometime soon I'll write something about home runs or stankeyes or cool shirts emblazoned with Krukowisms, but right now I just can't. I'm too excited.

I'm too excited about Timmy and Kung Fu, and even too excited about Rowand and Renteria. I just love this Giants team.

Now, it probably goes without saying that most people reading this already root for the Gyros. Then it probably goes down to about 80% of readers who actually really love the Giants. There is a difference however between loving the team you root for, and actually loving the roster, and the way they get things done-- a big difference.

None of us really loved the 2009 Giants team. Sure it was gutsy, and did waaaay more than was expected of it, but Lord knows it was deeply flawed, and among the more frustrating things ever. Did we still love the Giants? Hell yeah we did. Just like we hated the Dodgers. That never changes.

The difference between 2009 and this 2010 season still in its early infancy, is that I think I may just love this roster and this team. Would I feel differently if we'd started 1-6? Probably. Who wouldn't? If we were to go 1-6 in our next 7 games, would I still love the roster? Yeah, I think I would, and here's my sick "under the influence of winning" rationalization.

There isn't a guy on this team that I hate. I mean, yeah, I really didn't like "The Retarded 'R' Brothers" of 2009 (Rowand & Renteria). Many of us used the words hate towards them. I was close. Hell, I think I even had a poll question up here last season asking if you "truly hated Edgar Renteria". Sick, I know, but look, could you blame us? Those two make way too much money and played horribly.

I don't think our "hatred" of those two guys was real. It was disgust and frustration, but I think when fans truly hate a ballplayer, they cannot be forgiven and cannot achieve new life with that fanbase. Think Milton Bradley being run out of Wrigley; now that's some serious hate right there. Think Stephen Jackson and how he left the Warriors.

Back to Rowand and Renteria's situation, which is very similar to another guy you know.

May I present to you Barry Zito as exhibit A. He's still borderline with some folk, but he's managed to somehow resurrect his Giant career for the most part in a matter of 25 or so starts. Plus, he plunked Prince Fielder and is now a supposed "leader in the clubhouse".

Remember how much we "hated" Zito?

We didn't care what happened to him. We wanted his contract bought out, we wanted him in the bullpen, we wanted him in Fresno... just anywhere but Mays Field. It was honestly the closest thing to hatred I've seen since "The Great Lunatic Fringe/Armando Benitez Revolt of Twenty-ot-Seven".

The point is, when players begin to perform at an acceptable level, they instantly become likeable, or at least tolerable. With Renteria opening the season at a .440 clip and hitting that dong the other day against Atlanta, I'm thiiiiiiiissssss close to already forgiving and forgetting. Same thing with Rowand. He still swings at a lot of crap, but dude, after his 0-10 start in Houston to open the season, guess what he's hitting. Seriously, guess.

Aaron Rowand is hitting .435 since those first two games. Not only that, but he's even knocked in a few runs.

What I'm trying to say here is that with Zeets, Row, and Edgar on their way to being embraced by Giants Nation, there's no one left to dislike, and by that logic, you like the rest of the roster. Right?

No one screams "Freakin Bum!" at you when you peruse the roster. Billy Mota? He's been pretty solid so far. A.U. Velez? Guy's funny looking and we don't know what we're getting from him, but hey he hit that double the other day! Bowker? Schierholtz? Whiteside? Huff? Wellemeyer? They're all okay. See what I mean?

It just struck me during the shellacking of the Buckos on Monday. These guys are just fun to root for and to watch play. Sandoval is just plain hilarious in every way, plus he's not off-balance anymore (which scared me the other day if you'll recall). Bengie is also amusing in his own way, and he's hitting like the pressure is off. Huff is like a walking comedy act, and I have a feeling he's going to be a KNBR staple at some point this season. And that's without even mentioning what a pleasure it is to watch this pitching staff go to work.

Anyway, I hope you'll forgive my gushing over this team. I can't help it. If you have a more cynical view of things and would rather focus on the past or on how many games we've played thus far, please, I encourage you to seek your fan-perspective blogging from another site.

Around here, I love this team, and I don't care who knows it.