Scott Cousins is fire, Brian Sabean is gasoline

I want this story to go away. I really do.

It's awful enough that our best position player is likely out for the year. It's pretty rotten that a USF grad and Bay Area guy trying to make it in the bigs injured him. Even worse, it's becoming a media circus and pecker measuring contest.

Am I mad that Scott Cousins took out Buster? Hell yeah I'm mad. He could have easily slid to the right, avoided the tag, and still scored the winning run. Shoulda, coulda, woulda.

It sucks. It all just sucks.

And it's going to get uglier before it gets better.

We have Brian Sabean basically vowing revenge against Cousins and the Marlins, rooting for the young Marlin to never play again. We have Buster refusing to take or return apology calls from his home plate assailant. We have the league office getting involved.

Now, we have one of my favorite young players, Logan Morrison, Cousins's teammate, firing back on satellite radio that Sabean, "...(is) ignorant... inappropriate, and he has no idea what the hell he’s talking about.”

As I said. It's getting ugly.

If you read my last story about Buster's injury, you'll know that I don't blame Cousins for his violent collision with our golden boy Posey. It's baseball, and I will stand by that. It sucks, it's sad, and we're all angry, but it's still baseball.

We would all be celebrating if Buster or Burrell had run over John Buck or Chris Iannetta to win the game, as Cousins's agent pointed out.

And it's true.

We all have a right to be pissed about it, and we are, but there really is no blame to be handed out. Should Hanley Ramirez or Mike Stanton be drilled in the ribs the next time we play them? Absolutely. Not only that, but we should drill them in their next at bat too.

Guess what. That's baseball too.

The biggest problem we all have in this is that there is no one to blame here. Cousins is the easy target. Some jerks up on their high horse-- the same pansies who don't like fighting in hockey or the tackling of quarterbacks-- want "more to be done" to protect catchers at home plate. Baloney. I don't want to hear it.

I also don't want to hear other people perched atop their tower of morality preaching down to Sabean about "losing his cool" and "not flying off the handle." Buster Posey is like a family member to a lot of people in the Giants organization, and just as if you felt like one of your own got cheapshotted, he called KNBR and vented on the air. He has the right, and if you people living in your glass houses can't take a little natural emotion from our General Manager, then maybe you'd be better off rooting for peewee soccer teams instead of Major League Baseball. I'm sorry, but I support Brian Sabean and everything he's said.

I don't necessarily agree with all of his statements, but I fully, 100% support him defending Posey, rallying the troops, and speaking from the heart. If you ask me, we need more of that in professional sports.

It was a freak thing, I don't condone it, but it's part of the game. The sooner we all accept that fact, and move on to watching our rapidly improving ballclub, the sooner we'll be able to concentrate our energy on praying for Buster's swift recovery and a repeat World Series championship.

Timmy, Burrell, Machine, & Buster Burrell

I haven't written a ton about actual baseball observations thus far in the young 2011 season, mainly because I've been waiting for stories to develop on their own. Here's what I'm thinking about:


Timmy's velocity is up!

We've all noticed some not-so-subtle changes in our ace, Timmy Lincecum. He's more confident and badass than he's ever been. With 2 Cy Youngs and a World Series ring, he could retire a happy man tomorrow. But he's getting better.

Last season, he really learned how to PITCH. And despite his scary-bad August, 2010 was the most important year to date for our boy. He learned how to work through mechanical problems, and how to pitch to contact instead of always trying to blow people away with swing and miss stuff.

With his fastball topping out pretty much at 93, he had to make his changeup filthier and his speeds change more drastically. Tim Lincecum has become a complete pitcher... which is crazy to say, because the automatic question is, "Well what the hell was he before?"


With a new dedication to working out his lower body and weight lifting throughout the winter, Timmy looks stronger, stouter, and he's got his 95 fastball back. Take a look at what Fangraphs put together --->

So far Timmy's categories are up across the board and his fastball's average velocity is up 1.5 mph.I know it's early, but everything from K/9 (10.24) to his BB/9 rate (1.86) have improved, and although it's only 3 starts, I attribute his improvements to his maturation as a pitcher and newfound dedication to strength-training his lower body.

I mean, the guy just looks stronger. Plus he's got the high socks. That helps aerodynamically or something...



Pat the Bat's scary start

I love Pat Burrell. Sorry. He's my boy.

That being said, his start to this season is really freaking me out. I like the 4 homers. Those are really cool, but he's been all or nothing early, and he seems to be a bit bewildered as to what is going on... simply by looking at his body language and reactions to his many swings and misses thus far.

Take this Fangraphs nerdery for what it is...

Burrell's career stats have him striking out about 25-30% of the time, depending on the year. As for other career percentages, since 2006, The Machine has averaged basically an 80% contact percentage. Meaning when he swings, 8 out of 10 times he makes contact. That's pretty damn good.

Early on this year, Burrell's contact percentage is sitting at 69%, down a full 10% from last season. In the same vein, Burrell has struck out in 42% of his 2011 at bats, a full 14% increase over his average 2010.

So yeah, look, Pat's a great dude and a good sleaze. I love rooting for him, he was a great guy when I met him, but I'm concerned about these trends. He's K'd 15 times in 44 plate appearances, and hasn't exactly been great in LF.

Hey people start slow, I get that, but these trends and percentages are scary.



The Real Machine

I know this is an epic failure on my part, but I just saw the Nic Cage movie 8MM a couple weeks ago. Now I heard something about Pat Burrell's leather-clad sex pervert costume and Brian Wilson's schtick being derived from 8MM. Never saw it, didn't investigate.

After seeing the movie, I'm a little less apt to think it's so hilarious. Sleazy? Yes. Amusing? Yes.

But the movie, if you haven't seen it is about Nic Cage being hired to see whether this lady's late husband really owned a real snuff film. And if you don't know what a snuff film is, well here is the Urban Dictionary definition.


Basically, some sickos make a snuff film for some sick rich guy, and the tape turns out to be real. The character that did the "snuffing" in the 8MM film was known only as "Machine" and basically wore the same costume that Burrell parades around in the infamous Brian Wilson/Chris Rose interview.

So look, take all that for what it's worth, but I think if half the people who laughed and joked about the whole Machine thing knew what the reference was from, they might think twice about who they talk about it with, you know?

I think it's entertaining and amusing, but you know... pretty borderline stuff, and I should've been all over it, but hey, it happens.



Former Giant Buster Burrell...

Yep. Buster Burrell was a real guy, and he was a former Giant. Not only that, but he was a catcher!

What are the chances that one team has had two Busters that played catcher... let alone that the guy's name was BUSTER BURRELL! AHAHAHA!

Poor Buster's career was a short one, but he got his first taste of the majors in 1891 with the New York Giants. In his one season with the G-Men, Buster Burrell had 5 hits in 57 plate appearances with 1 run, 1 RBI, and 2 SB. He also committed 14 errors in 15 games behind the plate.

Granted, baseball was barely a sport in 1891, but this guy wasn't very good, even for 1890s standards.

He has his own Wikipedia page and his description is as follows:

Frank Andrew Burrell (December 22, 1866 in Weymouth, MA - May 8, 1962), is a former professional baseball player who played catcher from 1891-1897 for the New York Giants and Brooklyn Grooms/Bridegrooms.

AND LISTEN TO THIS. THE BROOKLYN BRIDEGROOMS BECAME THE DODGERS! AHAHAHAHAHA!

BRIDEGROOMS!

We have to spread the word about this historical fact!

And I may begin referring to the Dodgers as the Brides from time to time.

Belt stays in the bigs, but for how long?

Firstly, I'm sorry for being a slacker. I haven't written much all winter. Truthfully, up until now, I haven't really found anything worth writing about. We basically had the same team coming back after we won it all. I was just basking in our championship's glow, wishing the offseason would never end.

The big news heading into Thursday's opener in Chavez Latrine is that our newest golden goose Brandon Belt has made the roster, leaving Travis Ishikawa the odd man out and his future as a Giant in limbo.

Ishi is a solid backup player, so if he doesn't wind up in Fresno, either by his own doing or otherwise, he will probably find himself backing up a defensive liability somewhere in the majors.

As for Belt, I can't say I'm surprised that he made it. The injury to RF Cody Ross to begin the year basically opened up a spot for Belt to show he belongs. Our newest lanky Texan first baseman (Huff being the other) did everything right in Arizona. His .282/.338/.479 line was excellent, as were his 3 dongs and 13 ribeye steaks, which were good for 2nd on the team-- both categories tied with Pablo Sandoval (another good sign).

The real question remains... is Belt here for good? When Ross Returns, does Huff move back to 1B? Then what? Does Belt get sent to Fresno to play every day?

The Giants have never wavered with their blue chippers recently. When Bumgarner and Posey were called up, even two years ago in September, they stayed on the roster. Sending young guys up and down is not ideal, but then again, it's less than ideal to have Belt spending time riding pine when he could be playing every day as a member of the Grizzlies.

As I see it, there are three scenarios:

1) Belt beasts around and makes himself indispensable, giving Bochy yet another good problem to have.

2) Pat Burrell struggles to find his stroke early on, Ross comes back, and Huff moves to LF, leaving Belt at 1B, at bare minimum against right-handers.

3) An unfortunate injury occurs to one of our OFs, leaving Belt in the same scenario he's in now.

If I had to wager an educated guess, and that's what I'm not paid to do on this site, I'd say that Belt meets and/or exceeds all of our expectations. This guy has done nothing but crush pitching at every level since entering the minor leagues. This meteoric rise is no fluke, and he's shown repeatedly that he belongs at the highest level. And there's no level higher than starting first baseman for the WORLD EFFING CHAMPIONS.

Godspeed Belt. Godspeed.

Pat Burrell is the Machine?

Thanks to my Twitter bro, and Phillies fan @Utley4God for the tip here. This may be a day late, but I don't think many of us have heard or seen this:

From TheFightins.com (Phillies Blog):

"...After narrowing down the suspects, (Deadspin.com) decided that the culprit was more than likely Pat Burrell, former left-fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies and Wilson’s current teammate. Now that’s some mighty fine investigative work by the Deadspin boys, because for the last couple of years, I have been sitting on a picture of Pat Burrell in all his gimp-outiftted glory, but never ran it because the guy who gave me the picture didn’t want to get caught.

...

I don’t really want to go into detail about how I acquired this picture, but it was taken at Pat Burrell’s house in Arizona during a Christmas party in (I believe) December of ’04 (possibly ’05). According to my picture-taking accomplice, every year during his Christmas party — which is attended by a veritable who’s who of baseballers who spend their winters out in AZ — Pat wanders upstairs and slips into his assless-chapped gimp outfit to entertain his party guests while making them feel extremely uncomfortable all at the same time."

And without further weirdness, the visual evidence:



Again, thank you to The Fightins for the amazing work!

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.

Clutch plays and Conrad overcome impotence and Bochy

Speechless.

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

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

On Sunday, Game 3 happened.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back to Fontenot.

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

Fontenot also played a good 3B.

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And like Jerry Springer, my final thought.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time to raise a glass to Brian Sabean

Let's tip our hats, and raise our glasses of cold, cold beer. They say we're fading, but we're still waving that flag around here...

I had to paraphrase a little Eric Church there to help express how we should be feeling both about the Giants and the job Brian Sabean has done to improve this roster.

It was not long ago that Sabes could do no right in the eyes of many-- seen as a has been, a hack, or a never was.

I'll say this. The man has swung and missed on a number of big contracts over the years. Edgardo Alfonzo, Armando Benitez, Barry Zito, Aaron Rowand, Mark DeRosa, and possibly Jeremy Affeldt's 2010 off-season extension. Although these type of contracts have hamstrung the payroll, it's the little pieces that seem to even things out.

Despite Sabean's high-dollar mistakes, he has managed to outsmart and out-gamble the entire league in respect to shrewd pickups and "Aw, what the hell? Why not?" moves. What I am most impressed by, especially this season, has been the organizational ability to resurrect careers and launch others simply by giving guys a shot.

In the fluidity of the interminably long baseball season, we forget the changes that have taken place, and just accept them as normal... as if they'd been there all along. It's difficult not to. For God's sake, April was what? Five months ago? Just to refresh our collective memory, let's look at the 2010 San Francisco Giants Opening Day Roster (*Renel voice*)!


Position Players:

Aubrey Huff, Travis Ishikawa, Edgar Renteria, Pablo Sandoval, Juan Uribe, John Bowker, Mark DeRosa, Aaron Rowand, Nate Schierholtz, Eugenio Velez, Andres Torres, Bengie Molina, Eli Whiteside

Disabled List:

Freddy Sanchez, Fred Lewis, Manny Burriss

Bullpen:

Jeremy Affeldt, Waldis Joaquin, Brandon Medders, Sergio Romo, Guillermo Mota, Dan Runzler, Brian Wilson

Starting Rotation:

Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Todd Wellemeyer

By my count, that is 4 guys either with another organization or out of baseball, 1 guy on the DL for the season, and 4 guys in the minors with no reason to be brought back up.

Then of course there was Denny Bautista, a righty out of the pen trying to make it back, whose stint with the Giants was highlighted by an asinine performance in Colorado, and a next day release.

And, look! How gross was this opening day lineup?

CF Rowand
SS Renteria
3B Sandoval
1B Huff
LF DeRosa
C Molina
RF Bowker
SS Uribe

The mere sight of Aaron Rowand makes us sick these days, and Renteria isn't far behind. With these two at the top of the lineup, we were guaranteed a championship! Man...

So many things have happened since then! Bear with me! It's worth it!

-- Fred Lewis was traded to the Blue Jays
-- 2B Freddy Sanchez returns from injury
-- DeRosa underwent surgery, out for season
-- Bowker never got to play, even though he won the job
-- Bowker sent down to Fresno
-- Andres Torres steals starts in CF from Rowand
-- Todd Wellemeyer draws the ire of Giants fans
-- Wellemeyer begins receiving threats
-- Torres takes over full time for Rowand in CF and leading off
-- Guillermo Mota, signed for nearly nothing, becomes important bullpen arm
-- Juan Uribe and Aubrey Huff carry the team
-- Santiago Casilla, who signed for nothing, is called up
-- Wellemeyer is injured in Cincinnati
-- Joe Martinez, not Madison Bumgarner is brought up to start
-- Posey is called up after feasting in Fresno
-- Joe Martinez is not very good
-- Pat Burrell is signed for the veteran's minimum after being released
-- Madison Bumgarner is called up
-- Wellemeyer is released
-- Bengie Molina is traded to Texas for Chris Ray
-- Pat Burrell becomes full-time LF
-- Denny Bautista is brought up to the bullpen
-- Bautista sucked
-- Bautista is released
-- Dontrelle Willis picked up off scrap heap and assigned to minors
-- Brian Wilson debuts his orange shoes

-- Posey is an absolute monster
-- Torres rules
-- Burrell is a beast
-- Runzler and Affeldt get hurt
-- Bowker and Martinez traded for Javier Lopez
-- Daniel Turpen traded to Red Sox for Ramon Ramirez
-- Evan Crawford traded to Cubs for Mike Fontenot
-- Jose Guillen acquired from Kansas City
-- Guillen trade finalized. Giants get slab of ribs. Royals get a fungo bat.
-- Cody Ross acquired

Pretty incredible transformation, I would say... and for what? Next to nothing!



Not only that, but geez, look at our bench now! (excluding Sept. callups)

Schierholtz, Rowand, Ishikawa, Renteria, Ross, Fontenot, Whiteside

Is it perfect? No. But it's as deep and defensive as anyone else's. Guys like Cody Ross and Mike Fontenot are luxury items off the bench... while Rowand is more of a $60MM lemon whose warranty just expired.

I don't want to ramble here, but we need to give credit where it's due. Sabean acquired/signed Santiago Casilla, Guillermo Mota, Pat Burrell, Chris Ray, Jose Guillen, Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez, Mike Fontenot, and Cody Ross for nearly nothing, and he deserves some plaudits.

Throw in the callups of Posey and Bumgarner, and that's like an entirely new team, all within the framework of 3 months.

Despite Sabean's shortcomings in doling out big contracts to old losers, I don't know too many GM's that can remake nearly half a roster in 3 months for next to nothing in blood and treasure, and get that new team into first place by September 21st. Not only that, but Sabean also managed to somehow IMPROVE clubhouse chemistry. It truly is unbelievable.

So cheers to Brian Sabean. You did good buddy. You did real good.

The good and the downright scary

Nothing like playing a going-nowhere team without its manager, best hitter, two traded-away middle infielders, and horrendous bullpen to really make you examine the state of your team.

I can't remember a Giants team changing its problems and strengths so frequently, and so unexpectedly. It's just so damned weird. We go to Atlanta, pitch pretty damn well, and can't hit a lick. We come home, pitch at an average to below average level, and smack the tar out of the ball like it's going out of style.

All the while, we managed to take 3 of 4 from a collective walking disaster called the Chicago Cubs. In all seriousness, this should have been a relatively easy sweep. On the other hand you've got to give Chicago a little credit for sacking up, having a little pride and playing their tails off. They know they suck, but their young players really stepped it up.

With this ESSENTIAL three game series against San Diago looming, we've gotta examine the good and the downright scary.

The Good: Pat Burrell & Pablo Sandoval

Doesn't it get your goat even more that Bochy was benching Burrell after his initial tear as a Giant? So dumb. The guy can flat out hit, and he's truly in a groove. Honestly, we haven't had 2 hitters like Huff and Burrell since the days of Bonds and Kent. Granted the Burrell/Huff combo of power hitters is a poor man's version of Barry and Jeff, but still. I just can't say enough about what Burrell has added to this team after his midseason acquisition.

Even Huff, who himself is a clubhouse sparkplug, seems re-energized by Burrell. My favorite part of the veteran Burrell is his even-keel approach to hitting. As Krook has pointed out, the guy's demeanor is dialed in, unfazeable, and simply professional-- for lack of a better term.

Take the grand slam he hit in the final game of the Chicago series. He calmly stood in the box. There was no fidgeting, no long walks outside the box, no batting glove readjustments. He stoically took two fairly close pitches. Boom. 2-0. Hitters count.

He knew he had to get something good to hit, or else he'd let it go. Hence the hitters count-- the pitcher either comes in to steal a strike, or risks running up a 3-0 count with the sacks full of Gyros.

We all know how that ended. Yup. Great scene.

Here I am, gushing like a schoolgirl again. OMG! OMG! Pat Burrell!

Perhaps Burrell's patient success has something to do with Panda's recent resurgence.

Now look. I'm going to be EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS about Pandoval and his recent play. The man tripled and donged one into McCovey Cove on Thursday. He drove the ball on Wednesday. He is 13 for his last 35 at Mays Field (.371 avg). In fact, his pattern of non-awfulness stems back to the Mets series about a month ago. From that time through the Cubs series, Pablo is hitting .284 with 11 extra base hits. Most importantly, he tripled and homered on Thursday, finally... FINALLY driving the ball like a man!

Again, I'm going to be cautiously optimistic about him. I was seriously on the verge of writing an article advocating that the Giants send him to Fresno for a week to send a message. Honestly. I was like 5 or 6 more groundouts away from doing it. Instead, he somehow managed to stop swinging at crap 100% of the time and actually waited for the ball to reach the plate before swinging.

Honestly, the difference between Panda's swings on those two hits versus the Cubs was night and frickin day to the garbage he's been pulling the whole season. He was relaxed, waited on the pitches, and transferred his power from the back leg to his front leg, and effing turned on those pitches... LIKE A REAL HITTER!

It was so beautiful, I nearly teared up watching the replays. That's the swing. That's was it. Now quick, do it again.

That's my main concern with Panda. I've seriously advocated for a medical evaluation of him for a couple months. As 22Gigantes pointed out a few days ago, ritalin is the main reason for Andres Torres's development as a baseball player. Before the pill popping, Torres was a distracted career minor leaguer. With hard work and the help of the medication, he's now a top line leadoff hitter and gold glove candidate in CF.

This relates to Panda because he has an uncanny ability to totally forget about his past successes and failures as fast as I change GAC when a Rascal Flatts music video comes on. I just worry that as soon as he's found his stroke, it'll disappear again into a grey washout of dribblers and 6-3 putouts. Let's hope I'm wrong, and that Panda really is back.

The Downright Scary: Tim Lincecum

I don't even know what to say. The other 3,447 Giants blogs out there have talked about it ad nauseum, so I'm not going to go through stuff you already know. That's why you read this one and not that other regurgitated crap on the internet.

There are a number of theories as to what exactly is wrong with Timmy. Some just say he needs to start smoking dope again. Some think he doesn't take his workouts and mechanics seriously enough. Some say he's been overworked and that he has a tired arm. People think his velocity is down because he can't control a 95 mph fastball anymore. The likely theory that's been floated is that he simply has lost his fine-tuned mechanics and hasn't been able to find them on his own.

Coming off two Cy Young seasons, this is just not the type of article I ever expected to have to write.

Carl Steward of the Merc really made a good point filling in for Baggs the other day, and it's an idea that the blogging public has floated as well (including myself). The guy needs his dad to put in for some vacation days up at Boeing and fly his ass down here to work with Timmy.

This is something that Dave Righetti can't fix. Why Tim has always been so amazing is his crazy windup and his crazy torso torquing and over-extension. The analogy is that he's a finely-tuned sports car, and you don't bring that into the Speedee Oil Change & Tuneup for service.

The interesting aspect of this story is that it seems like Timmy and his dad Chris aren't getting along these days for whatever reason. A lot of it has to do with the fact that fathers and sons have been pains in each other's asses for thousands of years. Timmy just wants to fix it himself, but unfortunately Chris knows best, and is the only one who can fix him and his complicated ass.

I would even go so far as to suggest that Lincecum should skip the start against San Diego on Sunday. I know you may think I'm nuts, but he's not right, and he didn't last 4 innings against the Cubs. If Zito can go Sunday on 3 days rest, and a day off Monday, this would give Timmy time to rest, and hopefully work out his kinks.

The reason I say this is because, yeah, I don't know if you've looked at our upcoming schedule, but, what can I say, it's a bear.

Following San Diego, we have 3 in Philadelphia and St. Louis. Both are playoff-bound teams in hot weather cities. Then we have the potentially playoff-bound Cincinnata Reds in San Francisco for 3. Those are 3 powerful teams all fighting for playoff position, and a bad Lincecum would not help our cause... at all.

Look, I know it's a radical suggestion, but it's just one skipped start...

Think about it?

These guys don't give up...

This is a quick late night post-- something I never do.

But this is not a recap, this is just an exuberant exaltation of a Giants fan that had to consume a couple rally cocktails to push his team over the top for the victory.


In typical Giants style, this opening match against the dysfunctional Cubs was neither enjoyable or smooth for most of the game. It began with all kinds of weirdness and ended with weirdness.

Firstly there was the unknown factor of "Jerry Garcia Night", obviously a first in the history of mankind-- let alone professional baseball. Perhaps all the burned out communists in the stands got just high enough on dope to convey just enough good vibes onto the field for the win.

To add even more weirdness to the start of the game, there was Carlos Zambrano, the human powder keg. A guy who doesn't need drugs to act like a raving psycho. It was his first start since his historically bizarre and verbally violent dugout eruption in June.

And surprisingly, he pitched fairly well. To be fair, the Gyros haven't swung the bats well since their 10-0 dismantling of Colorado last week. That's neither here nor there though. We expected the same old mantra to ring true: Giants Baseball... TORTURE!

And speaking of torture, Duane Kuiper was mysteriously absent for the entire top of the 1st inning, and part of the bottom of the inning as well (if my memory serves me right at this late hour). So instead of an emergency deployment of Dave Flemming over to the Comcast side, Mike Krukow, who we all love as a color guy, was left by himself to cover the play by play while Kuip was either puking hardcore or hitting the dumper down the hall. Crude but true, and later on, Krook so tactfully put it:

"Kuip is suffering from a little bit of the 'Southern Crud'."

The awkwardness of Krukow alone in the booth was just the beginning of a night that transitioned into a familiarly frustrating game of groundouts and Twitter outbursts by yours truly about Pablo Sandoval being a retard.

We all know how the game ended, and what happened in order for us to win... that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to accentuate the the manner in which we won.

This is a team that has fought back all year, overcoming late inning deficits in a way we're simply not used to. This team is prone to slumps and groundouts, as we all know. Interestingly enough though, they are also prone to magical comebacks complete with a seemingly new hero each time.

As they say: It's magic inside.

As I wrote in my last article, "Adversity breeds character, and character wins games in September and October."

Now I'm no Vince Lombardi or Al Michaels or anything, and I'm not much for cheesy motivational quotes, but I have to hand it to myself on that one. It's pretty damn good.

Look at what these guys did. They got their asses handed to them in Atlanta in 3 out of 4 games, then got on a 5.5 hour plane ride from Hartsfield-Jackson airport on Sunday night, only to show up huge in the 11th inning. If you don't think those guys were dog tired and came out flat because of that brutal scheduling, you're kidding yourselves.

The character that these Giants continue to show me is impressive. It was impressive when they beat Billy Wagner and the Braves the other day, and it was impressive last night when they overcame the bizarre dysfunction of the Northside Baby Bears, in addition to a foolish wave-in of Travis Ishikawa by 3rd base coach Tim Flannery.

It's as if this team is training like Rocky Balboa for a bout with Ivan Drago. They may not have a cool gym or a bunch of high tech equipment or shiny names on their roster, but they've got the will. This part of the season is like the part of the training montage in Rocky IV when they're working out in the barn and running up the snow hill in Russia.



Yes. I love Rocky IV, and will refer to it any chance I get.

Also. Do you see how much these guys like each other? Do you see the chemistry? Guys like Andy Torres, Aubrey Huff, and Pat Burrell are flat out gamers, and each has their own interesting storyline.

I swore last article that I wouldn't gush like a schoolgirl... but ah, screw it, I'm doing it anyway. What a cool win for a great group of guys. It's exciting boys and girls. Get used to it.

Thoughts on DeJesus, Bautista & Hart

First, let me begin by saying that The Dodgerhater is going on the DL. I suffered a similar injury to Dan Runzler-- a dislocated kneecap, and I'll be going under the knife on Friday. How did I do it? Um... well... I did it breaking up a fight after my cousin's wedding in Milwaukee. Yeah... it's true. Some people can handle 7 hour open bars and some can't. I'm as shocked as anyone that I wasn't the one in the fight. I know, right? Anyway, I'm not sure how much writing I'll be doing for the next week or so while I'm high on hardcore street narcotics and Gatorade Frost. I'd advise giving up your aversion to Twitter and get involved. It's hella entertaining, Facebook is boring in comparison. Give it a shot and follow me @TheDodgerhater.

Now, onto more pressing matters:


As we move into the key stretch of the 2010 season, it is obvious to me that the Giants are fairly close to being contenders-- not only for the NL West crown or Wild Card, but potentially further.

For that to happen, a lot has to go well concurrently for an extended period of time. What we've seen from this team in 2010 has been flashes of greatness, periods of lethargy and ineffectiveness, and scrappy stick-to-it-iveness.

It is the opinion of many that the team is "one big bat away" from becoming a serious threat to the National League. I agree with that, but very cautiously.

As I pointed out a couple columns ago, this team may have its big bat already on the roster in Pablo Sandoval-- who as a veritable nonentity for a majority of 2010, appears to be hacking his way out of his season long slump.

If indeed Sabean believes that the correct move is to garner another source of offense in one of the three players mentioned in the title, I would say "okay", but I have some thoughts on the matter.

David DeJesus, OF, Kansas City

Firstly, David DeJesus is a decent player, who has developed steadily on a Kansas City team forever entrenched in extreme mediocrity. He is neither a necessity nor does his qualify as a big bat. However, he could serve well as an excellent and versatile defender, above-average speed threat, and a solid threat to reach base.

DeJesus is having a good season in West Mizzourah hitting .320, with an OBP% around .390 and a solid slugging percentage of .436 (.831 OPS). He is not a home run threat, but is definitely a doubles threat. His 23 doubles would instantly tie him for 2nd on the Giants and his 46 runs scored would put him 3rd. One could argue that the lefty-hitting DeJesus, who can hit to all fields, would be an ideal fit for the spacious gaps of Mirabelli Alley both defensively and at the dish.

He is, unfortunately, one of the most polished Royals, and very well-liked by the abused, but loyal fanbase in KC. Translation: He will cost players in return. Although his contract has a club option for 2011, it doesn't come cheap at $6MM.

The downside about DeJesus is that he will be 31 in December, and it is difficult to make an argument that he would be a significant upgrade over either Pat Burrell or Nate Schierholtz, or even a currently hot-hitting Travis Ishikawa. An acquisition of DeJesus would likely result in an ideal lineup of the following:

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

Now, obviously, there would be some flip-flopping and whatnot, but that would be our best 8 players. Because DeJesus is such a good defender, the Schierholtz argument is not a great one. It is interesting certainly, but I feel DeJesus to be an unnecessary addition.

Jose Bautista, IF/OF, Toronto Blue Jays

Jose Bautista has nowhere to go but down. I said it. His season in Toronto has been a ridiculous show of league-leading home run power, of which he has never shown. Has he been a guy with pop and positional versatility? Yes, he has. Unfortunately, this is a textbook "sell-high" move by the shrewd Blue Jays, who know that this guy is a product of a career year in a Canadian launching pad. I think the air is thinner in Canada or something. Maybe it's like in Avatar where we have to use those breathing mask things. Who the hell knows. All I know is that while Bautista has 26 dongs to lead all of MLB, he also has a .238 batting average.

In addition, the 30 year-old Dominican has never hit more than 15 dingers in a season, leading me to believe that something crazy has happened. It is truly rare that a player suddenly "gets it" at age 30, but it seems to be the case with Bautista.

With a low average, a bunch of power, and 55 walks, Bautista fits the mold of many middle of the road hacks out there-- somewhere down the line in a list that begins with Adam Dunn and ends with Jack Cust. Also in that list is Pat Burrell, a guy we already have, and has proven to me at least that he's still capable of driving the ball.

Defensively, Bautista is comparable to Mark DeRosa (remember him?). He plays 3 or 4 positions ably, but none great. He is primarily a 3B and corner OF, and is not spectacular, but decent.

Although Toronto has requested "elite prospects" in return for Bautista, that's just nothing but posturing. They know damn well that they're selling high-- hell half the men in this country have tried to unload him from their fantasy roster for a a couple of decent players, probably unsuccessfully too. The request of MIF's Ehire Adrianza and/or Manny Burriss isn't too much to pay for Bautista-- that's not the point.

The point is that this guy is simply not the right fit for the Giants either positionally or stylistically. We already have Burrell and Sandoval, who basically play the same positions-- not to mention that Burrell is nearly an identical type of hitter.

The Dodgerhater has put his foot down. Not only that, but he's talking in the third person. Just say no to Jose Bautista.

Corey Hart, RF, Milwaukee Brewers

Corey Hart is a solid player. I like him, and have for some time. He looks like a sleaze-- a cross between Johnny Damon and the big guy from "My Name is Earl". I bet he would be a perfect pal for Aubrey Huff. They could pound beers in the corner and rock out to Pearl Jam and Whitesnake together.

Hart can certainly drive the ball, and he plays a solid right field. Of the three guys mentioned in this piece, Hart fits the Giants best. He would be an ideal 5th place slugger for the Gyros, and is under control for 2011 via arbitration.

As good a season as Hart has put together (.290/.347/.561, 22 HR, 70 RBI), he will not come cheaply-- and it has nothing to do with money. Like Toronto, the Brewers are pulling a sell-high with Mr. Hart, who literally had to fight for a spot in the starting lineup in Spring Training. He was left off the all-star ballot, but surprised the world with a spectacular resurgence. This resurgence, coupled with Milwaukee's desperate pitching situation and the lack of quality options on the market, has driven the 28 year-old Hart's price sky-effing-high.

The Brew Crew doesn't need to trade Hart. They could keep him if they wanted. That probably wouldn't be the best baseball decision for them, but there's no sense in selling off a popular player for pennies on the dollar, simply because no one is willing to pay a steep, yet reasonable cost.

The bottom line is this, The Brewers want Jonathan Sanchez or Madison Bumgarner. It makes me sick just thinking about it. However, if there is any Giant that should get traded, it should be Sanchy, but even so... I just can't endorse that wholeheartedly.

If we just had one more pitcher in AAA that looked like a semi-guaranteed stud, perhaps we could make do without Sanchez this season... but that just isn't the case.

Trading Sanchez would leave a massive hole in the rotation that would be undoubtedly filled with the likes of Joe Martinez or... gulp... Todd Wellemeyer. Certainly in a playoff series, we'd be fine. Unfortunately, we need Sanchez to make the playoffs.

It's a real catch .22 for Sabean in this case, and I'm just glad for once that I'm not in his position. A Hart for Sanchez swap is a scary proposition, but don't be surprised if it happens. It might look like this...

CF Torres (S)
2B Sanchez (R)
C Posey (R)
1B Huff (L)
RF Hart (R)
3B Sandoval(S)
LF Burrell (R)
SS Uribe (R)

I can't say I didn't get a little excited just now. Uribe is now our 8th place hitter? Are you kidding me? That's pretty damn cool. It's some food for thought, and if this move goes down, we have a right to be cautiously excited. You have to give up something to get something. Of course, I wish that something were Adam Dunn for Sanchez, but this isn't a perfect world.

What do you guys think?

Slowly but surely, Bochy is figuring it out...

It's not perfect-- nothing is of course with our Giants and the backward state of the roster. Bochy at the helm has driven us all to drink, yell, spit, and burn up various internet posting outlets at one time or another. Indeed, he is slow, deliberate and frustrating in many ways.

Bochy is slow to make pitching changes, slow to walk to the mound, it even appears as though he would eat dinner slowly.

The slowest part of his behavior has been the excruciatingly slow, soccer-like execution of assembling the ideal lineup.

Interesting about this suddenly decent offense is that it is made up of modestly and/or appropriately paid players that were not expected to make up the everyday lineup card.

We all know the bummers that have befallen the Giants payroll. Renteria makes $8MM, and has been a combination of hurt and ineffective. Rowand makes $12.5MM, and is both ineffective and horrendous-- now he rides pine. DeRosa has been injured for nearly a month after hovering slightly above the Mendoza line for the first 7 weeks of the year. His $6MM salary is on the shelf, along with his wonky wrist, which for some unacceptable reason, has not been repaired yet.

Then of course there's Bengie Molina, who has been another disappointment, making around $4MM.

Let's add it up. For those of you keeping score at home (by the way, who the hell would actually do that?), that's right around $30 meeelion dollars (**Dr. Evil pinky finger thing**) of nearly dead weight in 2010.

Now, I'm not exactly sure if I'm going anywhere with the Dr. Evil reference. Maybe Brian Sabean is Dr. Evil, maybe it's Bochy. I'm not sure.

With the bizarre Frankenstein lineup that we've ended up with, we can't be upset. The additions of Pat Burrell and Buster Posey are about as cost-efficient as it gets, and the trio of Huff/Uribe/Sanchez are now looking like complete bargains and two of them are worthy of all-star consideration.

All the Sabean haters ripped on each one of these signings with the exception of Posey and Uribe, but look, somehow, things are working.

What we cannot stand as fans is the fact that money is being wasted on players either too ineffective or too injured to contribute at all. It's like, why cant any of these big salary guys work out, while the cheap guys like Huff, Santiago Casilla, Andy Torres, and Billy Mota are? I don't get it. It's the same GM making these moves, and yet there are wildly varying degrees of success involved. Back to Bochy though...

Bochy is a slow old catcher, who likes slow old vets. He can't help himself because it's who he is. Rowand is "one of our guys", Renteria "has been around for a long time", and Bengie "handles the pitching staff well". It's almost as if it causes Boch physical pain to remove former "gamers" like Rowand from the lineup, and to move the slow-learning, ADHD-riddled Pablo Sandoval down in the lineup.

It really angers knowledgeable fans like myself, and many that I talk to on Facebook/Twitter or in real life, that we've been saying things like "Call up Posey" and "drop Sandoval down in the order" and "play Nate Schierholtz" and "how do you expect John Bowker to ever hit lefties if he never faces one?"-- and being correct about them while Sloth Bochy and Sabean sit on their hands for WEEKS at a time over these decisions.

While Schierholtz is still not playing in favor of Bengie Molina, many of the things that we fans have harped on are finally being done. Posey was called up. Andy Torres leads off daily while Rowand sits. Pablo Sandoval has been yelled at and demoted in the order for being a retard, and the best players are now playing on an every day basis regardless of salary.

However, the true test of whether or not Bochy has rid himself of his foolish ways and habits will come within the next week. Yes, Gamer Renteria (I think Gamer is a biblical name), is coming off the DL, and I for one am scared as hell that he will ruin everything.

Today, everyone from Baggarly and Schulman to Amy G and Lou Seal relayed the information via Twitter that Juan Uribe would continue to start and that Renteria would not reclaim his starting spot. I'll believe it when I see it.

I can't even imagine who would sit in favor of Renteria. If it happens, it would be the most egregious injustice committed in sports since soccer was invented by fruitcakes on another continent who thought ties were an okay way to end a sporting event.

(See how I ripped on the World Cup there while remaining relevant? Damn I'm good.)

The whole point is that Bochy, after weeks of torturous lineup cards, has finally figured it out. Step two is playing Posey at catcher, putting Huff at first, Nate in right, and banishing Renteria, Rowand, and Molina to the pine, where they belong.

Things are looking up.

PS: Pat Burrell could be the "big bat" we were looking for. Imagine that. Who advocated his acquisition months ago? Yeah, it was me.

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.

Don't worry DeRosa, they don't hate you, they just hate everything else

The ever more upsetting and frustrating Bay Area sports landscape has managed to finally disgruntle most of Giants Nation...

...or at least that's what it seems like to me.

Most of us are just disgusted with all the losing associated with being a fan in this area. Lord knows fans in other cities like Cleveland have suffered much more than us-- but at least they have LeBron (for the time being).

Who do we have here? We've got Patrick Willis, Monta Ellis, Lincecum, and I guess Nnamdi Asomughua (if you want to count the Raiders as a professional team). Of course we have an all-star hockey roster toiling in relative anonymity in San Jose, but even the Sharks continually rip my heart out every postseason.

It's just a tough place to be a fan right now. Even with the surprising season from our Gyros in '09, it ended in a bitter fashion. With this distaste on our palettes (I'm thinking gross-ass Indian food the day after not brushing your teeth), we shifted our focus to the NFL season at hand. For those of us upstanding Giants/49ers fans, it was hope and elation, leading up to a fateful afternoon in Minneapolis when Brett Favre threw a spiraling pigskin ball that burst our exuberant bubble on its way into Greg Lewis's hands.

The bright spots have been few and far between. Other than the steady Willis and Gore, a few bright spots like Vernon Davis, Michael Crabtree, and Dashon Goldson come to mind; glowing embers amongst a darkened abyss of abject failure and missed opportunities.

Living amongst the tall grasses surrounding Bay Area wetlands lives an extremely rare creature. This creature is confused, unhappy, and lives a solitary nocturnal life. This bizarre species is known as the Giants/Raiders fan. There are less than 2,000 of these oddball hybrids left, as 50 have died from self-inflicted injuries brought on by the sight of JaMarcus Russell attempting to play football and the thought of Darrius Heyward-Bey being picked ahead of Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin.

And don't even get me started on the Warriors. I don't have words for it anymore. I really don't. It's indescribable.

Not that you didn't know any of these things already. We've been in collective pain for years. Other than Lincecum and the time the Warriors made the playoffs that one time, there's been nothing to cheer about. Everything North of HP Pavilion is a wasteland-- something like Central Nevada or Afghanistan.

With the Giants, the frustration is possibly at its highest levels since Armando Benitez had a job. It's frustration with ownership, frustration with Sabean, frustration with the system.

It's a helpless feeling most of us have. We look at our improbable attempt at a Wild Card berth last year in what was, without a doubt, the most atrocious offense the Giants have ever had. Basic problem solving: identify the problem. Step two is solving the problem in the best possible way.

Problem: No hitting, no power

Ideal Solution: Matt Holliday or Jason Bay

The realistic solution is what has driven 70% of Giants fans into a state of anger and delirium. It's not so much Mark DeRosa that is upsetting these people. What's really upsetting them is the seemingly never-ending cycle of replacing inadequate or used-up parts with slightly used or slightly more adequate ones.

This process is something akin to trading in a 1990 Plymouth Voyager for a 1995 Dodge Grand Caravan. What's next? A 2000 Chrysler Town & Country?

More succinctly, management has continued to add, as Raising Matt Cain would say, "One-Aaron-Rowand-at-a-time". Meaning, a vicious cycle of adding average, complementary veterans every year-- veterans that would be absolutely killer in a lineup where they are the 4th or 5th best hitter.

We all understand this. I know. I know.

In spite of the apparent mediocrity, the DeRosa signing is a step in the right direction. No, he isn't Bay or Holliday. But God dammit you guys, how many times do Brian Sabean and I need to tell you this... WE CANNOT SIGN THOSE GUYS/WE ARE NOT INTERESTED!

Sorry, I'm not rubbing it in, and its basis may be on a scale somewhere between "It sucks to be us" and "That's BS!", but it's the way it is.

Just like we were spoiled by the 49ers' dominance through the '80s and '90s, we were spoiled by Barry Bonds. Sabean made a brilliant buy low trade that turned into Jeff Kent (so don't say Sabes never takes you anywhere!). From there, a carousel of complementary veterans and mid-priced guys drove us to the brink of a World Series victory.

As we all know, Barry was a once in a lifetime player, and anchored this team for years. In addition to that note is that Jeff Kent was a once in a lifetime trade acquisition. Not very often do GM's pull off things like that. Perhaps not since the great Bartolo Colon for Grady Sizemore/Cliff Lee/Brandon Phillips heist of '99 has such a thing happened.

The point of bringing up history is that there is no quick fix out there. There is no Barry Bonds or Alex Rodriguez on the market; no one that would drive ownership to the brink of financial peril at the thought of adding such a talent.

We all know that Bay and Holliday would help. But these are not the types of players that lead you to the promised land. These are not the guys that you say, "This is it. This is our one guy. He will be the solution to all our problems for the next 5 or 6 years."

Trust me, in two or three years when Bay's defense is so bad that the Mets are forced to try him at 1st base, or in two years when the Cardinals cannot afford to match the Red Sox's offer to Albert Pujols because they signed Matt Holliday to a $90MM deal, you will understand. Then St. Louis will see what a mistake they made by stretching their payroll beyond its abilities and boundaries.

Such behavior with the Giants could cause us to lose our own future hall of famer in Timmy Lincecum. That's not something anyone could live with. The thought of it makes me sick.

As for DeRosa, look, baseball-wise, he's a perfect fit on any team. He may not do anything at an elite level, but the man is the essence of a baseball player and human glue. And yes, I know you jaded fans will remind me that "essence of baseball player" is the same cologne we slapped on when we signed Aaron Rowand. Trust me, I know.

And yes, we all scoff at the idea of M.D. (Can we call him "The Doctor" or "Dr. DeRosa"?) playing 3B when left is occupied by an unholy platoon of A.U. and Torres. Unfortunately, Bruce Bochy is a stubborn son of a bitch and is extremely deliberate. His lineups can be maddening; at times unconscionable. With that in mind, it may take a month of two for DeRosa to fully usurp the left field position-- but rest assured that it WILL happen at some point.

My last two points begin with this: The offseason is not over yet, and we don't know what is yet to come. It most certainly will not include Matt Holliday, so just please, knock it off for your own mental health. It is possible that a player like Adam LaRoche could come in to play first and a guy like Miguel Olivo could come in to play catcher.

It is also highly conceivable that the Gyros acquire Pat Burrell from Tampa Bay in a prospect-light salary dump. Burrell is due $9MM this year (FA in '11), and a mid-level prospect would go Tampa's way, while Burrell and $4MM would come this way. Say what you want about Pat the Bat, but he's a Bay Area Native, and in 2008, he slugged his way to a .250/.367/.507 line. Granted he was sandwiched into an absurd lineup, but the man could always hit at a decent clip. Certainly a better clip than anyone not named Panda, Kung Fu.

His season in Tampa last year was a relative disaster, but he was playing DH in the American League, so I believe he was never fully comfortable.

This isn't just something out of left field (although Burrell plays left ironically). The Rays need to dump his salary to keep in line with their own budget constraints in their quest to re-sign Carl Crawford. He was linked to the Cubs' effort to rid themselves of Malignant Bradley before Chicago agreed to take the corpse of Carlos Silva instead.

This scenario is something that crossed my mind earlier this offseason, but the Uggla rumors took over. This discussion on MLBTR jogged my interest in a Burrell deal.

Look, Burrell is not a great fielder, and I will not post his UZR ratings, because they are fugly. Let's say that he's got a great arm, and made only 2 errors in 2008. Okay? What the hell is UZR anyway?

Point two is as simple as this-- are we currently better or worse than last year? With Uribe inevitably coming back, and the addition of DeRosa, you honestly cannot say we're worse.

Maybe Uribe hits a few less dongs. But, maybe a healthy Renteria his a few more. Maybe Aaron Rowand gets on HGH or Ishikawa learns how to hit on the road. Maybe Nate Schierholtz or John Bowker figure it out. Maybe Buster Posey is ready to play.

Yes, it's a lot of ifs, but dude, how could Renteria/Rowand/Schierholtz/Bowker/Ishikawa be that much worse than last year? It's just unlikely.

And just think about how friggin close we were to the playoffs last year. Maybe DeRosa's 15-20 dingers could be the difference. Think of all the goddamn 1 and 2 run losses we had.

The bottom line is yes, we are all frustrated, and not just because of the Giants. These are indeed frustrating times across the board. What we need to do is look at the positives in this situation.

The '10 Giants are already better than the '09 version. My advice? Stop complaining and start looking forward to April.