Results tagged ‘ Aaron Rowand ’
Loss Hurts in More Ways Than One and an Adieu to K-Fred
What a game to be the first of the year between the Dodgers and Giants.
I could go on ranting about Todd Wellemeyer and how he got blown up early and often. I could say I knew it wouldn’t go well with the very first inning, when Rowand and Renteria struck out and looked foolish against the so-called ace of the Dodgers’ staff, Vicente Padilla, who carried an ERA of about 12.00 from the first two games of the year into tonight.
But of course it’s gotta be about Rowand getting drilled in the head, which may land him on the DL with cheek fractures and a concussion.
The more I think about it and the fact that the Giants didn’t retaliate for it in a game in which they were down by seven runs most of the time, the more frustrated I get. But at the same time I realize that although Padilla has a reputation for headhunting, I do have to acknowledge that it’s possible that it wasn’t intentional.
I was listening to the KNBR broadcast of the game through the MLB app on my iPhone when it suddenly stopped working, so I had to switch over to the LA side. They made a point that Padilla was seen massaging the area above his elbow between innings before he came up and gave up two ground ball base hits to the bottom of the order before hitting Rowand in the head. So it’s possible that was a result of him just losing control and the pitch got away from him.
But that’s my logical side. My emotional side says screw Padilla regardless of whether it was intentional, and one of the Dodgers needs to get beaned in the back or the ribs tomorrow. Maybe not by Tim Lincecum, because I wouldn’t want him to risk getting suspended or hit. But someone on the pitching staff should stand up for Rowand tomorrow, because he’s one of the leaders of the clubhouse and should be backed up regardless of whether it was an intentional retaliation on Padilla’s part for the chin music against Kemp.
We have eighteen games left against the Dodgers this year, and already I’m getting fired up about the first one. I can’t wait to get out to the ballpark when LA comes to town in June.
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On a side note, I do have to quickly acknowledge the [overdue] departure of Fred Lewis, who got traded to the Toronto Blue Jays yesterday for PTBNL or cash (which, as Edgar Renteria said to Kevin Frandsen when he got traded to the BoSox for the same thing in return, “means you suck”).
I can’t say I have a lot of fond memories of Fred Lewis, as you can tell by looking at the subhead of this blog where I talk about complaining of when Fred Lewis strikes out again (looks like I’ll have to change that now…dang. Guess I’ll change it to “when the Giants hit into a double play again,” since that seems to be the theme of 2010 so far). He had some promise but he had big shoes to fill, taking over in left field when Bonds left after the 2007 season. I think we gave him too many chances and too much playing time long after it was obvious that he wasn’t going to be a legitimate Major Leaguer, and it was frustrating to see Bochy plug him into so many pinch-hit at bats in big situations because I always knew what would be coming next–a strikeout. I don’t have as much of a “don’t-let-the-doorknob-hit-you-in-the-back” attitude towards him leaving as I would some other players that bugged me, such as Armando Benitez or Tyler Walker. Lewis didn’t have an arrogant attitude like Benitez, and I know he really was trying; it wasn’t his fault he was being given too many looks by the Giants. And I guess I have a small soft spot in my heart for Fred, as when my mom and I met him at FanFest a couple years back he called my mom “sweet” when she thanked him for coming out to the ballpark that day.
So overall I guess I’d wish Lewis luck in Canada…similarly to what I said about Frandsen, I think he’s going to need it because I still don’t see him breaking out and doing anything more than bouncing between the minor league and the Majors for the rest of his career.
2010 Season Preview
“It’s one thing to follow the team from afar, running a finger down the television schedule, checking the score on the radio, setting timers and recordings, reading newspapers. But here beneath the red marquee, the huge expanse of Wrigley Field beating down on her, she’s reminded of what it is to miss something. She hadn’t realized how much a part of her this was: the bleacher seats and the press boxes, the men selling T-shirts and hot dogs and beer.”–from The Comeback Season by Jennifer E. Smith
You know that scene in Fever Pitch where Jimmy Fallon gets his Red Sox season tickets in the mail in March, when he hugs the UPS delivery man and runs inside to open them with his friends? When they breathe in the smell of the tickets and smile wanly at the thought of a new season, a clean slate, a redeemed sense of hope?
Well that’s pretty much how I feel right now. It seems like just last week when I was getting psyched about pitchers and catchers reporting to Scottsdale, and now they’re packing up and heading back to San Francisco for the start of the season.
There’s no way I can eloquently articulate how excited I am about the start of the season. I get this way every year, even if I don’t have high expectations for the Giants; it really is just great to have them back. It feels like a friend who moved away has come back to town for the summer and you get to see them again and reminisce about the old times and create some new memories. As corny as that sounds, that’s how Opening Day feels to me; it’s the return of an old friend whose presence you didn’t realize you took for granted until they were already gone.
But anyway, enough of my attempts to wax poetic. I love baseball, you love baseball. If you’re reading this blog, you may very well love the San Francisco Giants like I do (if not, that’s okay too; you’re welcome into the fold). So the following is going to be as much of an non-bias offseason-in-review/season preview of the Giants as I can muster. I’ll try not to ramble too much, but knowing me I probably will…anyway, let me know whatcha think of my musings!
OFFSEASON IN REVIEW
Key Additions: Mark DeRosa, Aubrey Huff, Bengie Molina, Juan Uribe, Todd Wellemeyer
Key Subtractions: Brad Penny (?) <–I’m really reaching on this one; can’t say there was really a key subtraction unless I’m totally forgetting someone
Best Move: Resigning Bengie Molina (1 yr, $4.25 million); avoiding arbitration with Tim Lincecum (2 yrs, $23 million)
Worst Move: Giving Freddy Sanchez a 2 yr, $12 million deal (although at this point it’s a little early to say if this was a bad move)
KEYS TO THE SEASON (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)
1. Can the starting pitching continue to be this stellar?
I know off the bat this probably sounds like a stupid question. I mean, it’s not like we’re the Los Angeles Dodgers whose best pitcher is, according to Joe Torre, Vicente Padilla. We’ve got two-time reigning Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum leading this staff, and he only makes up half of the one-two punch that is him and Matt Cain. Jonathan Sanchez and Barry Zito are a little iffier, but both left Giants fans feeling somewhat hopeful at the end of last season, and Todd Wellemeyer looked really good in spring training (which doesn’t necessarily count for anything, but it’s still something). But my point is that for the Giants to go anywhere this season, their pitching staff as a whole needs to pretty much do just as well as last year; we can’t afford for them not to uphold their dominance. The starting pitching carried this team last year, and even with some offensive upgrades and the resigning of Bengie Molina it’ll still be up to the five guys in the rotation to carry this team. That would mean Lincecum and Cain would have to have a great season again, Zito and Sanchez would need to step up and we’d need to get as much production as possible out of the fifth spot in the rotation. Do I think they can do it? Yes. But I don’t like having to put it all on them.
2. How much of a hinderance will the defense be?
A lot has been said this offseason and spring training about the Giants’ defense, or possible lack thereof this year. Let’s face it: Aubrey Huff is no J.T Snow at first base, and no one can live up to Omar Vizquel at shortstop (although Omar Vizquel is pretty much a magician as a shortstop, so it’s hard to compare anyone to him, really). Edgar Renteria doesn’t have much range anymore, Aubrey Huff has never been known for his glove and can’t DH anymore, so he’ll have to get better as a defensive first baseman or risk getting pulled in the middle of a game for Travis Ishikawa. Freddy Sanchez is hurt for the next month, so Uribe will be manning second and can do a decent job defensively there. The Panda’s got third covered pretty well, but then you’ve got Mark DeRosa in the outfield which he’s not used to. Really the best guy in the starting lineup defensively on the Giants is Nate Schierholz, and he might be replaced by John Bowker in right field for Opening Day. The defense could be some cause for concern, as the pitching staff needs to be able to rely on a good infield and outfield around them to turn those double plays quickly and make some tough catches in the San Francisco fog. Otherwise it could end up costing them runs, and with the offense still not entirely proven they can’t afford to give up many runs each game because of simple defensive miscues.
3. The great catcher debate
Giants fans seemed pretty split when news broke that Bengie Molina would be a Giant this year, after all; either they supported the return of Bengie to give Buster Posey more time to develop or they disliked it because they felt like Posey was ready to go. As I said during the offseason, I supported Bengie’s return because I don’t feel like Posey has really proven himself at the Major League level and could use some more mentoring instead of being given the starting job right away on Opening Day. Bengie has been the most valuable Giant for the past couple years both for his offensive power and the way he handles our pitching staff, and while I think Buster Posey could replace Molina offensively, I think he could use more time to get used to catching the various pitchers on this staff before being thrust into the starting role. That being said, I think Posey should be kept on the 40-man roster upon leaving Scottsdale because he has hit well in spring training and would be a good-back up both as catcher and at first base if need be. He could be catcher when Bengie needs a day off or come in as an in-game replacement or pinch hitter. If they decide to send Posey back to the minors for now, I wouldn’t gripe too much at the coaching staff for that decision; however I would hope that he’d be called back up soon.
It’ll be interesting to see how this catcher story plays out this season. Bengie Molina knows his replacement is already waiting in the wings and that he’ll be expected to mentor him, and if Posey shows he’s capable of being a starter at the pro level then it’ll definitely put pressure on the coaching staff and management to give him playing time, perhaps over Molina depending on how far we are through the season and how we’re doing.
4. Will the veterans step up to the plate?
One of the main complaints from Giants fans over the past few years is that Brian Sabean has signed too many veterans past their prime. He brought veterans onto the team to build around Barry Bonds, but that didn’t really work out and we were still stuck with some of them after he left. And although the team has definitely brought up some young players who have turned out to be good hitters (a la Pablo Sandoval), the offense is still pretty dependent upon the success of older players like Aaron Rowand, Edgar Renteria, Freddy Sanchez and Bengie Molina. Now Aubrey Huff and Mark DeRosa can be added to that list, and the pressure’s especially going to be on them to perform since they were signed this offseason to be offensive upgrades. There are reasons to be hesitant about how well all of these players will do; DeRosa is coming off wrist surgery, Huff is joining the National League for the first time and will be in a winning environment for the first time in his career and Edgar Renteria and Aaron Rowand did not meet expectations with the bat last season. There are some signs of hope, however; for example, Rowand hit well in spring and showed up to Scottsdale a lot slimmer and more fit. It looks like Bochy is going to plug him in at the leadoff spot for now, which is where he had a decent amount of success in ’09. Besides that Aubrey Huff has also been hitting well in spring training, and Renteria and DeRosa both have spring training averages hovering around .280. Again, I know you can’t take spring training into account too heavily, but it’s at least a good sign that some of the veterans look like they’ll be making offensive improvements on last season, as pretty much all of them (excluding Molina) need to have [much] better years in order for the Giants to have a somewhat threatening lineup.
5. Sanchez vs. Sanchez
I’ve heard some local media guys say that thiscoming season really depends on Freddy Sanchez and Jonathan Sanchez, and I think that’s definitely true. We gave up one of our top prospects to get Freddy Sanchez midway through last season, and he didn’t really have an impact last year due to injury. Now he’s banged up again (which the Giants organization kept hush-hush for about a month, possibly to get a better deal with Juan Uribe as Andrew Baggarly with the San Jose Mercury news implied) and will miss the first month of the season. Needless to say, he will need to bounce back and start helping the team with his bat pretty quickly upon coming off the DL.
When it comes to Jonathan Sanchez, he showed promise at several points during 2009, most memorably of course with his no-hitter in July. At the same time, however it still seems like whenever he gets into a difficult situation he can’t dig his way out of it; his first time through the lineup is great, but by the fifth or sixth inning he starts to come undone and then falls apart altogether. It’s time for Sanchez to become a more consistent pitcher and add to this starting rotation’s prowess, and if he can do that this year could be a breakout one for him.
OVER OR UNDER? LAST YEAR’S STATS VS. THE YEAR TO COME
1. Bengie Molina home run total in 2009: 20
This year: Under
Why: Bengie Molina isn’t getting any younger, and with a catcher waiting in the wings in Buster Posey, Molina may get more days off to rest his legs in favor of giving Posey a chance to start, especially if Buster does make the 40-man roster and his great spring training can carry over to San Francisco.
2. Tim Lincecum’s strikeout total in 2009: 261
This year: Under
Why: It’s hard to come up with an argument against Tim Lincecum being just as good as last year. And while I do think he’ll have fewer strikeouts than last season, I don’t think it’ll necessarily be significantly less. My reasoning for why take the under? Just that he has another season of wear on his arm and that his velocity was down in spring training, which may mean his stuff might not be as entirely dominant as 2009. I hope I’m wrong, of course; I didn’t think he could win another Cy Young last year and he did, so I definitely could be mistaken.
3. Fred Lewis’ strikeout total in 2009: 84 (in 295 AB’s)
This year: Under
Why: I only say under because a. I think he’ll get less playing time this year and b. I don’t think he’ll be a San Francisco Giant much longer, if he even is at all going into the start of the season. Time to bid farewell to the man KNBR’s Damon Bruce appropriately refers to as “K-Fred.”
4. Barry Zito’s win total in 2009: 10
This year: Over
Why: I’m not sure if this is based on a lot of concrete evidence; I think it’s more of a “gotta have faith” situation. But if you want some concrete stats, 2009 backs up my belief that this season could be the best one he’s had in a Giants uniform so far (which I know isn’t saying much, but still). If you compare 2009 to 2008, he cut his ERA down dramatically (from 5.15 to 4.03), his earned runs (103 to 86) and his opponents’ batting average (.270 to .250). So here’s hoping Zito can pitch better and have better run support behind him this year so he can get past the 10-win mark that he’s been stuck at the past two seasons.
5. Jonathan Sanchez’s win total in 2009: 8
This year: Over
Why: We all know that Jonathan Sanchez has good stuff and is capable of being a great pitcher. We’ve seen glimmers of it before with his improbable no-hitter last season as the primary example; his problem has just been a matter of keeping everything under control and not letting the game unravel if someone gets a hit or walk against him. I think this year will be the one where Sanchez really steps up, though. He’s appeared really confident in spring training, according to local media guys who’ve been in Scottsdale; he knows he has a good arm with some power that could wreak havoc on hitters. Now’s his time to put it all together and show that he can be a mainstay for this rotation for years to come, like Cain and Lincecum have proven.
6. Aaron Rowand’s batting average in 2009: .261
This year: Over
Why: I really hope I’m right on this one, because I’m putting a lot of stock into Rowand’s spring training and ignoring the fact that his stats have been trending downward for the past few years. He showed up to Scottsdale in great shape, dropping some pounds to try and become a better hitter and perhaps attempt to steal some bases. And if his spring training stats are any indication–he’s hitting .444 as opposed to .189 last year at this time, with 20 hits and 9 RBI’s in 16 games–he may be able to get back into the groove he was in as the leadoff hitter for a time with us last year, as it looks like that’s where Bochy is going to put him come Opening Day.
7. Giants’ win total in 2009: 88
This year: Over
Why: Las Vegas has the Giants’ over-under for wins in 2010 at 82.5, which to me shows one thing–numbers can lie. Like I said before, I’m trying to put aside my bias and look at this objectively, and in doing so I really, truly think the Giants will have a better season than last year. Hell, on paper they should; they didn’t have any significant losses in terms of losing players to free agency, and they only improved their offense with the additions of Mark DeRosa and Aubrey Huff. Bengie’s back, Uribe’s back and our starting rotation and bullpen look just as solid if not better than before. Theoretically if we were able to get almost ninety wins out of last year’s team and we went out and made improvements during the winter, then why shouldn’t we be able to win more games than 2009?
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…so there’s my big season preview. I just want to say in closing that I am really excited about what 2010 has in store for my Gigantes. Honestly I don’t want to get my hopes up, but after last year’s surprise push for the playoffs it’s hard not to be anticipating more of the same for this year. I’m not saying it’s time to start printing postseason tickets whatsoever, but I do think the Giants could be playing some interesting baseball come late September. For the sake of myself and all the other diehard Giants fans who haven’t sniffed the playoffs since 2003, let’s hope this is the case.
2009 Season In Review
I really don’t know where to begin, except to say what I end up saying at the end of every baseball season:
“When does spring training start?”
I think many Giants fans feel the same way, especially with how they capped off a surprisingly good season this year with a win on Sunday thanks to Pablo Sandoval’s tenth-inning blast at Petco Park.
While I definitely got frustrated with the Giants several times during the season (mainly for their lack of an established hitting lineup), in the end I am still pretty content with how the year went. No one (myself included) expected them to finish the year 88-74, fourteen games above .500 and third in the National League West with a chance for the Wild Card up until the last week of September. Could management have done things differently last offseason in terms of getting us a bat so maybe we could’ve made the playoffs this year? Sure. But I don’t think they anticipated how successful the Giants would be this year, either. Brian Sabean realized around June and July that this team could be going places now, and I have to give him credit for finally doing something at the trade deadline, even though our acquisitions of Ryan Garko and Freddy Sanchez aren’t looking too good at this point in time.
The bottom line I’m trying to express is this: Before the season even started it seemed like everyone was already scratching this year out and saying, “Wait til 2010 when Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner come up to the Majors,” and while people had good reason to say that, the Giants ended up proving all of us pessemists wrong. So while I may be disappointed about them not making the playoffs, it’s great that we could even talk about that as a legitimate possibility this year.
That being said, this offseason is absolutely critical for the Giants. GM Brian Sabean will still be working the phones for at least another year, and it’s essentially ‘put up or shut up’ time for him, to put it bluntly. The Giants’ weaknesses around their lineup are glaring, and they can’t just sit by idly about it again this offseason and put all the pressure on the pitching staff once again in 2010. After the team’s unexpected success this year, fans won’t accept anything less than a 90+ win season and a postseason appearance, and to have that we need to pick up a couple pieces (specifically an outfielder and a first baseman who can hit, the latter if Pablo will be moved back to third). For the first time in five years we tasted success, and now we’re all hungry for more. If Sabean wants to keep his job beyond 2010, he’ll have to prove that this team is serious about making the postseason with the moves he makes in the offseason.
So some possibilities for a bat…how about Nick Johnson or Adam Dunn for a first baseman? Dunn is definitely a power hitter, although I think he once said he hated hitting in AT&T Park (or did he rescind that statement?). Johnson definitely isn’t a home run guy; he had eight all year but did hit .291 with 62 RBI’s, which would be an improvement over Travis Ishikawa (although no offense to him, but what wouldn’t be an offensive upgrade with him at first?). In regards to left fielders, a lot of people are throwing around Jason Bay and Matt Holliday, but I don’t think those are realistic possibilities; Holliday won’t want to leave St. Louis and same goes for Bay in Boston. They’ll try to renegotiate with those teams first and foremost, I would think. Besides them it doesn’t look like there are a whole lot of sexy names who are free agent left fielders…there’s Carl Crawford, but he has a ten million dollar club option. But maybe the Giants will decide to plug Pablo in at first and look for a third baseman. If they do that, Adrian Beltre is available, but he didn’t have a good year (and he was injured, if I’m not mistaken). Or you can always bring back Pedro Feliz (kidding, but he is a free agent; has a club option with the Phillies, though).
Besides the quest for a bat I would say the other big question going into the offseason is whether or not Bengie Molina will be back next year. To me it’s a tough call and one can make a legitimate argument either way, but in the end I think the Giants should bring him back for one more year if they can work out a reasonably-priced deal. I know people didn’t like his attitude towards Buster Posey being brought up and how he recently took somewhat of a swipe at fans for not giving him a very warm reception during the last home games of the year, but putting all that aside I still think we need him back in 2010. For the past few years Molina has been the Giants’ rock, the MVP of the team for being our most dependable hitter and for the way he works with the pitching staff. Although Pablo Sandoval stepped up this year and became the team’s best hitter, Bengie was still one our best offensive players and hit 20 home runs for the first time in his career. The most significant factor to me in why Bengie should be resigned, however is that Buster Posey doesn’t look ready to be the 2010 starting catcher. I know that Posey wasn’t given a ton of opportunities to play this year, but when he did get a chance he didn’t prove himself offensively or defensively. I’m not ripping on Posey for that because he is still young and he didn’t get a significant amount of playing time, but I’m just not comfortable with plugging Posey into the starting catcher position off the bat. I think it would be logical to bring Bengie back on a one-year deal (with possibly a club option for a second) and have him around to be the primary catcher and mentor Posey until he’s ready to take Molina’s place.
On a side note, there’s another question that baseball fans in general have, and that is whether or not Tim Lincecum will repeat as the National League Cy Young. Unfortunately, I think the answer is no. I think voters will be enticed by Chris Carpenter’s win total (17), especially considering he missed the first month of the season. He also has a better ERA (2.24 versus Lincecum’s 2.48). I thought one of the biggest arguments you could make in support of Lincecum is that he had a lot less run support than Carpenter did, but in reality that’s not true. According to Jayson Stark’s year-end review for ESPN.com here’s a link, Lincecum and Carpenter had nearly identical run support at around 5.80. And hey, I could be wrong about this; Brandon Webb had 22 wins to Lincecum’s 18 last year and didn’t come close to winning the Cy Young Award. But unfortunately I think the only hope for Lincecum to repeat will be if the voters split between Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, which would take away from their first place votes and give Tim a better shot. As a Giants fan, I hope I’m wrong. But after comparing their stats, I wouldn’t blame the baseball writers for giving the award to Carpenter.
Speaking of Jayson Stark, his MLB year-end column inspired me to do something similar with the Giants. So here are some of my thoughts about my favorite team’s 2009 season, broken down into a list:
Most Valuable Pitcher: Jeremy Affeldt. As one of the best acquisitions of the 2008-09 offseason, Affeldt helped to shore up our bullpen and turn it into one of the best in all of Major League Baseball after being so poor the previous year. He quickly became the most dependable pitcher out of the bullpen and at one point had a scoreless inning streak that lasted 28 innings. For the year Affeldt’s ERA was 1.73 with 55 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.17.
Honorable Mentions: Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Brian Wilson
Most Valuable Player (Non-Pitcher): Juan Uribe. I know it’s hard to argue against Pablo Sandoval as the team MVP, but at the same time you certainly can’t argue against Uribe. He made the team on a one million dollar minor-league contract after spring training and became an essential player for the Giants with his ability to play several infield positions and be a timely hitter. He went from a .247 average with the Chicago White Sox last year to hitting .289 with 16 home runs and 55 RBI’s (not anything too eye-popping, but for a 30-year-old who barely made the team it was pretty good). Uribe became a favorite of fans and teammates with his infectious, humorous personality and reignited the “Uuuuu-ribe!” chant from when his cousin Jose was a Giant in the eighties, and on a personal level he capped off one of the best Giants games I’ve ever been to when he hit a walk-off home run against the Dodgers on August 12.
Honorable Mentions: Pablo Sandoval, Bengie Molina
Least Valuable Pitcher: Bob Howry. Thank God Sabean only signed him to a one-year contract. Howry gave me flashbacks to Tyler Walker this year by giving up crucial hits, often game-winning home runs for the opposition. I don’t think I need to provide statistical evidence here.
Dishonorable Mentions: Can’t think of too many for a pitcher…Merkin Valdez, maybe?
Least Valuable Player (Non-Pitcher): Aaron Rowand. He definitely didn’t live up to Giants fans’ expectations of him, with or without his contract factored in (but especially when you bring in the $12 million). He seemed to strike out as often as Fred Lewis in key situations (actually for the year he struck out a lot more than Fred: 125 vs. Lewis’ 84) and hit only .261 in 144 games.
Dishonorable Mentions: Edgar Renteria, Freddy Sanchez, Fred Lewis, Randy Winn
Best Game of the Year (That I Attended): Two words: Uuuuu-ribe! This Giants-Dodgers game on a warm weekday afternoon was the game that had it all–a great pitching performance (Tim Lincecum was one out away from a complete game shutout when Andre Eithier hit a game-tying RBI single), two managerial ejections after two botched calls by the first-base umpire (Giants third base coach Tim Flannery had to step in as manager from the ninth inning on), a bench-clearing semi-brawl after Pablo Sandoval threatened to charge a Dodgers reliever in the fifth after he came close to hitting him, and a walk-off home run by Juan Uribe in the tenth after he missed a pop-up in the same inning to cap it all off. It instantly vaulted up my list as one of the best games I’ve ever attended and left me with memories that will stay with me for a long time, like that of jumping up and down on the bleachers with my brother after Uribe’s walk-off and chanting “Beat LA!” out the Marina Gate.
Best Game of the Year (In General): August 30, 2009, less than a week after the Giants lost the most heartbreaking game since Steve Finley’s grand slam to end the 2004 season, Edgar Renteria comes up and hits a grand slam of his own, propelling the Giants to an unlikely come-from-behind victory and a series sweep of the Colorado Rockies that got us back in a tie for the Wild Card. This moment also produced one of the best calls I’ve ever heard when Duane Kuiper said, “Folks, do you believe?” It literally sent chills down my spine and convinced me that this team a. had nine lives and b. really could go somewhere this year. Unfortunately I was wrong on both counts, in the end.
Other High Points: Jonathan Sanchez’s unlikely no-hitter on July 10 with his father in the stands; Randy Johnson’s 300th victory in Washington (albeit it would’ve been nice if it had been at home in front of an actual crowd); the home sweep of the Texas Rangers in June; Lincecum’s 15-strikeout game at the end of July; Zito’s curtain call game.
Worst Game of the Year (That I Attended): I took home the Brian Wilson bobblehead as a bittersweet souvenir on July 12 after Zito had his worst game of the year against the San Diego Padres to close out the first half of the season…enough said.
Worst Game of the Year (In General): The Giants had plenty of frustrating, throw-the-remote-at-the-TV losses this season, like their two poor homestands in a row against Cincinnati and Los Angeles in August or their horrible San Diego-Seattle road trip in May. But nothing could compare to the 14-inning loss on a walk-off grand slam in Denver on August 24, a game which became the poster child for a heartbreaker to Giants fans. It left fans of the orange and black stunned and speechless, and all the Wild Cark talk became feeble mumblings that began to turn into, “Well, there’s always next year.” And you couldn’t blame us for saying that, for being hopeless. After the Giants came back and swept the Rockies at the end of that same week, Mike Krukow implicitly said KNBR host Damon Bruce was a “clown” for having said the season was over. Although I usually agree with Krukow’s commentary, I thought that was pretty tactless for him to say since Damon definitely wasn’t the only one saying the Giants’ playoff chances were slim to none now. But anyway, it ended up not being the end of the road for the Giants (although that unfortunately was still to come).
Other Low Points: The first road trip of the year where the Giants went 0-6; the road trip to San Diego and Seattle in May where the Giants did so horribly offensively; losing two out of three two the Padres and Dodgers back to back in September; the Cubs’ home run off Brian Wilson in the ninth on September 24 that essentially sealed the Giants’ fate.
…and finally, my playoff predictions:
NLDS:
Rockies vs. Phillies: Rockies. I know I’m going against the grain with this pick. I’m still not completely secure about it, but I’m going with the Rockies for a few reasons: a. They’re the hottest NL team going into the postseason, whereas the Phillies have been struggling lately. Momentum can play a big part–just ask the Rockies of ’07. b. Both teams have very good lineups, but Colorado has better pitching overall; all of their regular starters had at least ten wins this year. Plus Houston Street verus Brad Lidge this year is no contest. Look for Colorado to stun the defending world champions and ride their hot streak into the NLCS.
Dodgers vs. Cardinals: Cardinals. To me this is the easiest one to call, all anti-LA bias aside. St. Louis has a great lineup with Matt Holliday protecting Albert Pujols in the three-hole and a one-two punch of Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. What does LA have? Randy Wolf and a slumping Manny Ramirez. I know the Dodgers beat the Cubs in the NLDS last year when no one thought they would, but that was against the cursed Cubbies. The same fate will not await them this year, as they won’t be able to survive against a very good St. Louis team.
ALDS:
Angels vs. Red Sox: Red Sox. Again, no anti-LA bias here. In fact, a small part of me is rooting for the Angels because of Nick Adenhart. But their recent history against Boston in the postseason hasn’t been good; after their 2002 World Series victory, the Angels have been eliminated by Boston three out of three series’ and won only one out of ten games. Between the two teams it seems like, “Anything you can do I can do better.” The Angels have a better offense this year, but the Red Sox have Jason Bay and Victor Martinez. Anaheim has a decent pitching staff, but Boston has Jon Lester, Clay Bucholz and Josh Beckett. I don’t see the Angels having enough to beat the mighty Red Sox, as much as I’d like to not see another Yankees-Red Sox ALCS.
Twins vs. Yankees: Yankees. On a side note, I feel pretty sorry for the Detroit Tigers and their fans. Tonight they became the first team in MLB history to lose three out of their last four games and lose the division, and it couldn’t have happened to a worse town what with all their economic hardships. But the Twins did deserve it, as they went 17-4 down the stretch to claim the AL Central crown. Unfortunately, it won’t be enough against the Yankees because they’re…well, the Yankees. Yes, the Yankees’ starting pitching isn’t all that strong, but they compensate for that with their offense, bullpen and closer. Plus the Twins haven’t won a game in New York since July 2007. Although I want to see the Yankees go down, it won’t happen, at least not in the NLDS.
NLCS:
Rockies vs. Cardinals: Cardinals.
ALCS:
Red Sox vs. Yankees: Yankees.
World Series:
Cardinals vs. Yankees: Yankees (as much as I hate to say it, I believe it’ll happen, which means I’ll have to tune out ESPN for about a week).
~
That’s all for now from this Giants fan. I’ll try to continue blogging throughout the postseason even though my team isn’t in it, and I’ll write throughout the offseason from time to time. But I will close out this entry and the 2009 Giants season the same way they do for a home victory: I Left My Heart in San Francisco
A Frustrating .500 Road Trip
I know the title of this entry might sound oxymoronic since generally a 3-3 road trip is lauded as decent, especially for a Giants team that has been anything but road warriors this year.
But when your pitching staff gives up only nine runs in six games to two teams that can definitely hit for power and the offense can barely do anything to support them, it’s frustrating as hell.
The series in Philadelphia was an especially bitter pill to swallow. We lost the first game 1-0 as our offense was unable to get anything done against Cole Hamels, who has been shaky this year for Philly but looked like the World Series MVP that he was in ’08 against the soft-hitting Gigantes. The Giants’ pitching staff (well, Brad Penny and Jeremy Affeldt) then combined to shut out the powerful Phillies offense the next night in a 4-0 victory.
So then came the rubber match of the series, which was wholly set up in the Giants’ favor with Lincecum on the mound against three-time Cy Young winner Pedro Martinez.
But oh man. Talk about ‘Party Like It’s 1999′ for Martinez.
He made the Giants look ridiculous and gave baseball fans flashbacks to a much younger, more dominant Pedro…so of course the Giants got Lincecum zilch run support. Well okay, one run often can be enough for Timmy, but unfortunately it wasn’t that night. He only gave up two runs and had 11 strikeouts but still got tagged with the loss because–say it with me–the offense failed again.
Oh, and a side note on that game before I move on to Milwaukee–Bochy, stop using Fred Lewis as a pinch-hitter!!! Why do you continue looking to him as a reliable guy to come up in an important situation??? The only unpredictable thing he did in that at-bat with two on and two out in Philly was that he grounded out instead of striking out. I don’t care what the situation is; throw the traditional righty-lefty match-up stuff out the window when it comes to Lewis. Unless he’s the last guy left on the bench or he’s got (in the words of Mike Krukow) serious, serious ownage on the opposing pitcher, I don’t want to see him.
The bottom line with the Philly series: I give the Giants pitching staff a lot of credit for holding the best lineup in the National League to only three runs in two games. But when you do that and still manage to lose the series, it pretty much erases that accomplishment.
Moving on from cheesesteaks to cheeseheads, where it was unfortunately more of the same. Yes, the Giants took the series from the Brew-crew, but that was to be expected for a team trying to make the playoffs. They still barely eeked out the first two wins by 3-2 finals, and today they had a chance at a sweep with a recently much better Jonathan Sanchez on the mound. Sanchez pitched well again today but ended up with a no-decision since the Giants couldn’t do much against Braden Looper. Their best opportunity came in the sixth inning with two on, nobody out and Aaron Rowand at the plate, but then came the triple play that pretty much summed up the Giants’ offense this road trip and the year overall. But hey, I’ll give them credit for finding a new, more dramatic way of not getting the job done with runners in scoring position.
So the game inched on into extra innings and I just had that sinking feeling in my stomach that it wasn’t going to end well. It started when Bochy brought out Bob Howry, which signaled ‘walk-off home run’ alarm bells in my head, especially when Prince Fielder came up. Turns out I was right, but a bit premature as Howry struck out Fielder and barely managed to get out of the inning without giving up the game-winning hit. But then when Juan Uribe popped up a bunt which Brewers catcher Jason Kendall caught, the bad feeling intensified. Granted, Kendall made a great catch…but still, a pop-up bunt for an out? Bad, bad bad. I won’t get too annoyed with Uribe about it, though since he’s been one of the best, most surprising guys in our lineup this year…but still, the entire team needs a huge workshop on bunting.
So then came the 12th inning with Merkin Valdez pitching for the G-Men, the guy who gave up the infamous walk-off grand slam to the Rockies in what has been informally dubbed The Game Which Cannot Be Spoken Of. And here comes Prince Fielder. Sure enough…
…the Giants got bowled over by the Prince, thus sending them back to the city by the Bay with a not-so-great .500 road trip and a loss that sends them two games back of the Colorado Rockies.
Speaking of the Rockies…can they just lose already?! The New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks did us no favors this past week except when the Mets beat’em on the night where Lincecum took the hard-luck loss in Philly. Colorado’s schedule continues to look pretty soft for the remainder of the year; tomorrow they open a four-game series at home against the Cincinnati Reds before going on the road to play the Padres, us and the Diamondbacks. Besides the series against us, the only other time they’ll play a team above .500 the rest of the month is when they play the Cardinals at home; then in October they close out the regular season by going to LA. Meanwhile, the Giants have to face the Dodgers and Rockies back-to-back thiscoming homestand, then go on the road to Los Angeles and Arizona. They close out September at home against the Cubs and Diamondbacks (man, lots of Arizona in the span of a week), then end the regular season in San Diego.
So overall I think the Rockies have the softer schedule; however, San Francisco has a couple advantages in that a. they play three more games at home over the remainder of the season than the Rockies do and b. they have an easier last week on paper in that they play the Cubs, D-Backs and Padres while the Rockies play the Cardinals, Brewers and Dodgers. But I guess the question is whether or not the latter point will matter once we hit the end of the month. The Giants’ offense seriously needs to step up in order to stay in contention, and whether or not that happens will determine if they make the playoffs. It’s not about the starting pitching; they’ve shown time and time again that they can be relied upon. Does the realization that the Giants’ Wild Card hopes rest on this lineup make me queasy? Definitely. I think the keys to this offense stepping up rely on three components: veterans like Aaron Rowand and Bengie Molina, Pablo Sandoval getting hot again, and the return of Freddy Sanchez off his DL stint. If all these ingredients come together for the Giants in a positive way and the pitching staff does what they’ve done all year, then we’ve definitely got a shot.
On a side note, as I’ve been writing this entry and others I realize I may come off as really cynical, harsh and pessimistic about the Giants…and I guess the truth is I am. But it’s kind of like if you have a friend who you know is smart but constantly slacks off in school by cutting class often and not doing his homework: you get really angry with them and may come off as mean by doing so, but in the end it’s because you care about them and know they have a lot of potential. That’s how I am with this baseball team; I can love them one day and hate them the next, can praise a player one day and scream profanities at the TV when they strike out again the next day, but it’s not fickleness–it’s because I have my heart 100% invested in this team and want them to succeed. This is the team I started watching in the 2002 World Series and didn’t turn away from even after Game 6, that I’ve stuck by ever since the good times and the many bad ones from recent woeful years. I’m not one of the bandwagon fans who left with Barry Bonds and his home run chase after the 2007 season, and I’m not one of the bandwagon fans that will start showing up if (big if) the Giants make the playoffs. Even after the horrible loss in Colorado a couple weeks ago I didn’t start tuning out their games, even though I did feel like our playoff hopes had been dashed. So no matter how this season ends, I’ll still find myself quickly counting down the days til they return.
I’ll be out at the ballpark tomorrow and am looking forward to seeing Brad Penny’s AT&T Park debut as a Giant. No better way to spend a holiday afternoon than out at the yard, in my opinion.
In-Game Update: Giants vs. Rockies
Why does Bruce Bochy think it’s at all logical to use Fred Lewis as a pinch-hitter? This is the second time in a span of a few games that he’s done this, and–surprise, surprise–he struck out again with runners on. Reminds me of when Tim Flannery was filling in as the backup to the backup manager and brought in Aaron Rowand to pinch-hit with one out and a runner on and he hit into a double play like everyone figured he would. But Flannery is only the third base coach, not the manager, so he has an excuse there, I guess.
Makes me think more and more that Damon Bruce’s nickname of K-Fred is completely fitting.
Winn on third, two outs and Bengie up. Let’s go Big Money.
Reality Check and the Possibilities of Now
I haven’t been keeping up with my blog that well (i.e. at all) since I started it three weeks ago when I was flying high on my San Francisco Giants and the fact that they were playing the best baseball since I became a serious fan of the team.
Well, didn’t take long for that dream bubble to get popped.
Maybe that’s a little harsh. All hope is certainly not lost; there are more than two months left of the regular season. However, a dismal 1-5 start to the second half is definitely enough to have Giants fans like myself questioning the success of the first half and wondering if it was too good to be true.
Yes, it is a road trip and the Giants haven’t been a good road team in years, with this year being no exception as they are 19-29 away from home. But I don’t feel like that can be used as an excuse, especially with this road trip in particular. A team that considers themselves a contender should be able to win a series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, regardless of whether it’s at home or away and regardless of the fact that the team is just coming back from the All Star Break. The Atlanta Braves are a little tougher, but the Giants should have been able to at least split the four-game series; now they’re going into tomorrow counting on Barry Zito to bring out his better half and their offense to get at least a couple runs to support him to avoid the sweep.
The whole home-away record comparison reminds me of a good point I heard KNBR host Damon Bruce say tonight. He said something to the effect of, “A team playing at home is what they could be, but a team on the road is what they are” because all the positive variables encompassed in the ‘comforts of home’ are removed once they go on the road. I hope that the Giants team that has showed up the past several games isn’t their true identity; it definitely doesn’t help that several key players (such as Molina, Rowand and Sandoval) are slumping. We’ve been counting on Rowand to hit well in the lead-off spot for awhile and now he’s a little banged up and slumping besides. Bengie is starting to turn around a little; I think until the eighth inning tonight he had the Giants’ only two hits against Jurjins. Sandoval is 1-for-26 on this road trip, however, and as Duane Kuiper said, “So goes Pablo, so go the Giants.” He is the face of the 2009 Giants with his bright personality, youthfulness and sweet swing that developed faster than anyone anticipated, so I don’t think it’s any coincidence that his luck at the plate and that of the team as a whole go hand-in-hand.
What this ugly start of the second half has showcased is that while the Giants have been a lot better than anyone expected this year, that alone may not be enough to get them to the playoffs, let alone far in them. We can’t continue putting the weight of the world on Lincecum and Cain to give up zero runs and on Panda to hit any ball that gets thrown his way. Tonight showed that especially–Lincecum had an unusually imperfect night with his second shortest outing of the season and four earned runs, and he ended up with a loss even though four runs isn’t an insurmountable deficit for most teams to overcome. The fact that the Giants’ record is so poor when they are not leading from the onset is a huge indicator that they need another bat in this lineup.
No offense to Lincecum, but I felt like he was towing the company line when he said the team shouldn’t add anyone else for fear of disrupting chemistry; however, at the same time I realize it’s not like he could really say, “Yes, trade someone and get me more run support!” I don’t think it would hurt team chemistry if they made a trade; rather, if they added a bat to their lineup I believe it would take pressure off guys like Bengie and Pablo to rake it and off Cain and Lincecum for feeling like they have to be near-perfect in every single start if they want a chance to win. It would also reinforce the idea that the Giants are a contending team and have a chance to make it to the postseason, which one would think would boost team moral, not hurt it.
Now I realize the cautious approach the front office is taking in not wanting to trade high-end prospects like Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner. Although they are unproven at the Major League level, I think they should be almost completely untouchable unless the Giants get an insane offer (i.e. if the San Diego Padres called and dangled Adrien Gonzalez). But since that seems like a pretty unlikely scenario, I would argue against trading our golden prospects. However, at the same time Brian Sabean can’t hesitate to pull the trigger for an offer that involves any minor league player; as the saying goes, you have to give talent to get talent. Maybe if you trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates you can pull the wool over their eyes and not give away much (a la the Matt Morris-Rajai Davis swap that helped get his hefty contract off our books), but that probably isn’t going to work with other teams.
This road trip has been reminiscient of the last time the Giants played this poorly, which was in May when Brian Sabean acknowledged the team needed to obtain a bat after we got swept in San Diego and lost two out of three to the Mariners. We’re 1-5 on this road trip again, and even if we can avoid getting swept in Atlanta tomorrow it’s not over yet; rather it’s off to the Mile High City to face one of the hottest teams in all of baseball, the Colorado Rockies. So my point is this: if Sabean said we needed a bat in May after a poor road trip against mediocre teams, how about now when we just did the same thing two months later?
I think the vast majority of Giants fans realize we cannot just stand pat with this team at the trading deadline like we have in recent years. Giants fans haven’t been able to hope like this since 2004, when Steve Finley crushed our postseason chances with a grand slam on one of the last days of the regular season. Think about it–that’s half a decade of saying, “Well, maybe next year” before the year was even through. Before this season started everyone in the baseball world was already writing off this year for the Giants and circling 2010 on the calendar. But much to everyone’s surprise, next year has arrived early, and Giants fans shouldn’t be deprived of the chance to fully take advantage of the possibilities of now. If the Giants could add a solid bat and the Big Money-Little Money combo can get going again, they have a shot at contention. And if they could make it to the playoffs, they couldn’t be written off right away, not in a short series with the one-two punch of Lincecum and Cain.
It seems that every year in the Major League Baseball postseason there is always an improbable upset. In 2007 it was the Colorado Rockies winning 20 of their last 21 games and riding their hot streak all the way to the World Series. Last year it was the Dodgers beating the Cubs in the first round of the playoffs and making it all the way to the NLCS. I know I’m getting way ahead of myself, but what if the Giants could be that team? The bottom line is that we’ll never know unless the front office realizes the golden opportunity they have with this season and goes out and gets a legitimate hitter to boost this offense so we at least have a shot at duplicating the success of the first half.
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