Saturday, October 30, 2010

Sanchez Spits the Bit (again); Giants Fall

That foul stench arising from Arlington? It's Jonathan Sanchez.

The Giants' 4-2 loss in Game Three of the World Series highlighted the problem. There is no doubt that Sanchez is part of the reason the Giants are where they are. It's equally clear that, should they fail to capitalize, it's going to be on his head.

The mental midget returned. For the second time in three post-season starts, Sanchez was low-grade dog food. And while this wasn't the implosion he suffered against Philly, the result was more horiffic. With a chance to go up 3-0, the Giants got nothing going. They rerturned to their habit of making average pitcher look indestructable while Sanchez again proved that he's a lock to disappoint in a pressure situation.

I've lobbied for this for two years. If the Giants get an offer, trade the piece of excrement. He's not trustworthy. What good does it do you to get all dressed up for the prom if your date doesn't show? That's Sanchez.

At one point the Fox cameras had a close-up of the Giants' enigmatic lefty, and I saw "the look." I told those watching the game with me that he was screwed. I'd seen that look before, the "I don't want to be here" gaze. I heard the whole Crash Davis / Nuke Laloosh speech in my head as the young hurler heard from the crafty vet about his million dollar arm and five cent head. Offer five cents for Sanchez and you should expect change back.

And here's a thought that should scare the crap out of you. If it's needed, Sanchez is slated to pitch Game Seven.

This isn't a team built to come from behind, and when your starter is serving up gopher balls he makes it pretty tough on the rest of the squad. And what I found just as disgusting as the long ball to the nine hitter was the four pitch walk that preceded it.  You can't play giveaway at this level. Sanchez does it far too often.

If course, there were other Giants who contributed to the stench. Burrell fanned four times, and has whiffed on eight of nine ABs in the series. Sandoval fianlly got some work, and managed to account for four outs in just three ABs.

The Giants had one shot at the game. After homers from Ross and Torres got the G-men on the board, they managed to get the tying run to the plate with two down in the eighth. Posey, the rookie phenom, was at the dish. Grounder to second, threat over. The Giants barely managed a foul tip in the ninth.

So now it falls to Madison Bumgarner to stem the tide, to make sure this season that held such promise just a few hours ago doesn't take an ugly turn. Game Four is crucial. It's the difference between a virtual lock and a best of three series with Texas getting the tip-off at home.

Of the 51 teams that have taken a 2-0 lead in the series, only 11 have lost it. For the Giants to collapse now?

Torture doesn't come close to covering it.



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Friday, October 29, 2010

Panda Captures DH Job. Mistake?

One of the quirks of World Series play is the off-again, on-again relationship with the designated hitter. Being a postseason DH is kinda like being engaged to J-Lo: first you are, then you aren't then you are again.

Now personally, I don't like the DH. Baseball is nine guys. Ten is slowpitch softball. Unless they plan to put a keg behind second base, I ain't buying. But since Bud the Dud won't kick this loser to the curb, we're stuck with it during the stay in Arlington.

So for the offensively-challenged Giants (and that seems stupid to say after the last two games), that does means two things -- no potato hitting in the nine spot for our hurlers to toy with but an extra stick in the line-up on the attack side of the ledger.

The question: who should it be?

The baseball pundocrity is quoting sources saying Pablo Sandoval is going to be the guy. And while it may be the case that DHing is the best way to get his bat into the line-up for multiple swings, is this the right call?

I don't think so.

Bruce Bochy has pushed all the right buttons so far, but I think he's missing the boat here. My choice for DH is Pat Burrell.



Here's a rule regarding the DH that doesn't come up much in the AL (that league betwenn Triple A and the Majors). Hit for the DH, you lose him. That limits some of Bochy's manuverabilty. Make a move and the pitcher has to hit. End of advantage.

The glaring flaw in the Giants line-up is the need to pull Burrell for late defense. Wouldn't you rather get him the extra swings? I say keep the order intact and stick Aaron Rowand in the nine spot. Let Torres move to left and let Pat the Bat stay in the game. Rowand is still a better option that a pitcher, and with three legitimate center fielders to patrol the green, just about any ball hit in the air will have to get out or be caught.

Despite the Giants' offensive explosion, this is still a team that has to think first about pitching and defense. The Giants can't forget who they are.

So what about Panda? Considering his struggles this year, you gotta believe Bochy is hoping to catch the proverbial lightning in a bottle. If that's the case, do you want to lock him into the line-up or wouldn't you rather have that switch-hitting bat at your diposal at a time of your choosing?

There's no right or wrong, only opinion. But if Sandoval goes 0-for-4 and a ball to left gets down that a more fleet-footed outfielder would have gloved, I'll be back to say "I told you so."

Is This Heaven?

"There comes a time when all the cosmic tumblers have clicked into place and the universe opens itself up for a few seconds to show you what's possible." -- Ray Kinsella (Field of Dreams.)


Ian Kinsler, meet your fate.

All through the post season I've been waiting for that one moment that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck, something that would cause me to finally believe that this personal four-decade Bataan Death March of fandom was about to come to a glorious end. I wanted a sign from above, an indicator that the powers that be were finally, mercifully on our side.

In Game Two, I got it. I don't have much hair (at least not where I want it), but what I possess was at full attention.

In a scoreless game, Kinsler hit a rocket to lead of the Rangers fifth.. The center field wall at AT&T Park is 399 feet from home plate, and Kinsler's ball traveled EXACTLY 399 feet. Now I'm no geometry whiz but the force and trajectory required to get a baseball from Point A to Point B would seem to dictate that a said ball dropped directly on top of the fence should result in a home run. Replicate the feat 1,000 times and the ball goes out on 999 of them.

Kinsler's didn't. It caught the padding and backspun into play, Andres Torres played it off the wall, and Kinsler was limited to a lead-off double and he died right there -- the Rangers' chance to grab a lead spoiled. The rest is history. The Giants broke through in the bottom of the frame. Matt Cain threw a masterpiece. The Giants smashed open a tight game late for a 9-0 win over Texas. San Francisco has a two-games-to-none lead in the 106th World Series.

Just saying it produces that same hair-raising effect.

The San Francisco Chronicle asked the question this morning: "Reasonable people in an enlightened era do not believe in fate and destiny, do they?"

I'm not reasonable. I'm a Giants fan, and I'm hungry! There is no rational explanation for the way the first two games have played out, so I'm comfortable believing in lucky socks and pixie dust.

If someone had told you one of these teams would go off for 20 runs over the first two contests you'd have smiled and said that, yes, Texas has one heck of an offense. If you'd been told the offensive juggernaunt would be the Giants, you'd have summoned the guys in white coats and had that same someone submitted for immediate drug testing -- not that I speak from experience or anything.

We expected to get good pitching, even though the Lee-Lincecum duel never materialized. But the truth of the matter is that the Giants' best postseason pitcher hasn't been The Freak. October has been the coming out party for Matt Cain.

It's long been discussed. Cain, the longest-tenured Giant despite his youth, was projected as an ace. It never happened, and although he's been a solid starter throughout his brief career his star has been eclipsed by newer arrivals like Lincecum and Buster Posey.

Until now.

Matt Cain has arrived, and did he ever pick the right time to show up.

The numbers aren't staggering by themselves: two strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings. But make no mistake about it, Matt Cain dominated the Rangers. Oh, they had some threats, but when Cain got into trouble, he was at his best.

Pitching to contact, he didn't overpower the game so much as he got it to cooperate. The Rangers cash in oportunities. That's their game. Cain just shrugged and kept pounding the stirke zone, leaving the Rangers wanting like a homeless guy waving a tin cup outside the Embarcadero BART station.

Let's put it into context. Lincecum got press for his 14 strikeout performance, Jonathan Sanchez for his Jekyl & Hyde act, Madison Bumgarner for his age (or lack thereof). All Cain has done is go the entire postseason without surrendering an earned run. Nothing. Cliff Lee was supposed to be unbtouchble? Note to Faux Sports, ESPN and MLB Network: you picked the wrong guy for that graphic.

And to make the story even more appealing, to what did he credit his success? According to Cain, his catcher has "magic fingers." Seriously. It's that close to Cole Trickle being told he's driving on special tires. How can you not love this guy? Cain is the personification of this season of discovery, of rebirth, of exceeded expectations. Thee's no presentese. Al Davis would love this. Just win, Baby!

Which brings me to Edgar Renteria.

I'm getting sick of apologizing. I swear I'm only going to do it for two more wins. But darn it, Edgar, I'm sorry. You stunk all year. You spent more time gathering dust on the shelf than a Members Only jacket. And now, with your career likely down to its final days, it's you who really came though. Two hits: the tiebreaking home run in the fifth and a two-run single in the eighth that effectively ended the competitive phase of the ball game. Okay, you did drop a throw from Posey that cost the team an out, but given the end result we'll let that slide (don't ever do it again).

That's the way it's been: a different hero every night. Game One belonged to Freddy Sanchez and Juan Uribe, Game Two to Cain and Renteria. Javier Lopez is the secret weapon that everyone suddenly knows about. And in case you hadn't noticed (and ESPN clearly hasn't), Cody Ross and Aubrey Huff are also getting it done. Even Aaron Rowand contributed.

Think about this. If you counted Rowand's pinch hitting appearance in the ninth spot, the bottom third of the order went 4 for 8 eight in Game Two, driving in seven of the nine runs. What is the world coming to? I'm sure the Rangers had all sorts of designs on how to control Posey and Burrell. Nobody, especially the Rangers, expected Uribe, Renteria and Rowand to be Murderers' Row.

Ross was involved in a play that won't show up in the box score, but I gotta comment on it. Josh Hamilton's sinking liner with Young on first could have been a game changer. I've been there, and the "I've got it, no I don't" feeling is sickening. Look at the video of Ross's dive. He knew he couldn't catch the ball. That hands-down gesture was intended to smother it. Ross was going to take that hop in the teeth if he had to, but that ball was not skipping past him. If it does, there's a run home and a man on third. Instead the runners moved a scant 90 feet, and Cain diffused the rally.

That was a difference maker, one of many the Giants have pulled off. Baseball is a game of little things. I've been told size doesn't matter (a story for another time)  but sometimes the little things play big.

This shouldn't be happening. A team that couldn't hit all year just set a record for runs scored in the first two games of a World Series while an offensive powerhouse is struggling. The Rangers rolled out an untouchable ace - who promptly got bombed. A Texas bullpen that had been more than capable couldn't find the plate with a laser sight. The Rangers running game is stuck in neutral.  On the other side we see guys who haven't contributed a lick all season coming up big. Players pulled from the scrap heap are suddenly heroes.

These are not the Barry Bonds Giants anymore. No stars, no drama, no recliners in the clubhouse. Just 25 guys (and maybe "The Machine") pulling on the same end of the rope, and they're well on their way hanging Texas with it.

The AT&T Park sound system blared out Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" after the game. I can't be the only one who got the chills when the fans began singling along and drowned out the PA on the lyric "Ooh, we're halfway there."

But it is only halfway. I've been punched in the emotional chops too many times to start planning the parade. If the evil Jonathan Sanchez shows up on Saturday, we've got ourselves a fight. But if he's on his game, well, this could be a very memorable weekend.

"Can I ask you something? Is this heaven?"
"It's Iowa."
"I could have sworn it was heaven."
"Is there a heaven?"
"Oh, yeah. It's the place where dreams come true."


"Maybe this is heaven."






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Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Castoffs Strike First

If anyone was gonna take out Cliff Lee, it wasn't going to be these guys.


You know, you can predict just about anything. People make big bucks telling you who is going to win elections,which stocks will go up, and just how bad the weather is going to spoil the family picnic. But nobody can tell you with an certainty what will happen in a baseball game.

Cliff Lee is unbeatable in the postseason? He didn't get out of the fifth inning. The Giants don't have the offense to contend with Texas? An 11-run Game One begs to differ. And now the Giants have a leg up in the 2010 World Series.

It wasn't pretty, not close to it. A Lee-Lincecum pitching duel it wasn't. The teams combined to use 12 pitchers, they committeed six errors, and from an artisitc standpoint set baseball back about a century. And jeez was it fun to watch as the Rangers lirterally got knocked off their, uh, Cliff. Yeah, I couldn't resist.

Now admit it, the way that game started off you were proably having the same thoughts I did. A single, a walk and a full-blown brain fart had the Rangers up 1-zip before the first Cha Cha Bowl had been sold. Then Freddy Sanchez wasted the first of his four hits with a baserunning blunder the likes of which we had not seen since Ruben Rivera. When The Freak got tabbed for another run in the second, I started mentally composing one of those "well, it was a good season" kind of posts.

Then the Giants started squaring up Lee. These weren't dunkers. Lee got slapped around like Farrah Fawcett in the first half hour of "The Burning Bed." For a night Sanchez decided he was Honus Wagner, Aubrey Huff found some extra juice in the rally thong, and Juan Uribe.....

Juan, I apologize.

I didn't want this guy. I thought he was a wasted salary last year and bringing him back was a mistake. I bashed him all year as he fell into periodic funks. And as I lamented the fact that the Giants didn't have a guy who stepped up when it mattered, this is the guy who got it done.

A three-run blast was only part of it. The third-to-first twin killing that eneded the first inning stopped the bleeding. A great diving stop and throw added to the highlight reel. He had the game-winner in two of the four wins over Philly. Juan came to play.

While I'm doling out apologies, Edgar Renteria still shouldn't be allowed near the plate in a crucial situation but his stop up the middle was the moment I thought "we're gonna be okay." Now there were still plenty of defensive miscues, charged and uncharged, but you just had the feeling that the Giants were going to find their way out of the woods.

So I find myself struggling. I've become very accustomed to looking for the hidden land mines in paradise. Now I'm starting to think not "how are they gonna blow this?" but "who is going to make the play?" It's a different hero every night, and maybe that's appropriate from a bunch of guys nobody wanted.

Put this in your pipe and smoke it. There are, at the most, six games left in the campaign. The Giants play .500 ball and they're scrounging up floats for a parade down Market Street.

Not bad for a bunch of muts.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Reverse Kharma

From reader drbgiantsfan:

Maybe this blog has been reverse karma for the Giants this year? If so, keep up the great work! What you are missing about the talent level on this team (don't worry, almost everybody misses it) is the pitching. The '89 and '02 teams had much better hitting, but neither team had anything at all resembling the pitching this team has. Anything can happen in a 7 game series, but I like this team's chances because of the pitching. Pitching, pitching and more pitching!

Yeah, I'm a big fan of kharma, and no doubt I've been the biggest killjoy all year. Over 40 years of fandom I've had my heart broken repeatedly by this team, so it has become very hard to trust them. Whatever the roster permutation, the result has been the same: a season that ends in disappointment -- sometimes gut-wrenchingly so. Say "Game Six" in my presence at your own peril.

So, is this blog some kind of cosmic mirror that turned around the fates? The more I bash this group, the better they play?

If that's the case, I'm gonna really screw this up because I'm starting to believe.

The pundits are out there saying the Giants don't have enough offense to deal with the big bad scary Rangers. TYexas does too many things too well. They hit, they pitch, they run. The Giants don't have a chance.

Yeah, well, they didn't stand a chance against Atlanta either. Philly was supposed to be planning a parade right now. But a funny thing happened on the way to oblivion. The Giants never bought into it.

Let's be realistic. Is this the best team in baseball? From a talent standpoint, no way. They do two things well. One is pitch. The other is refuse to die.  The 2010 Giants are the Jason Vorhees of baseball.

I finally started to think this might be the year on Saturday, a day on which I ran the gamut of emotions. I was beyond ticked as Jonathan Sanchez melted down, both physically and mentally. "Here we go again," was my thought process. Come on, who didn't start to think about Solomon Torres in 1993, Felix Rodriguez in 2000 or Livan Hernandez in 2002? As the Phillies took a 2-0 lead didn't you start looking over your shoulder for Jose Oquendo, Neifi Perez or Scott Spezio?

I was spooked by the ghosts of failures past. The Giants? They whipped out a proton pack and summoned Jereny Affeldt (playing the role of Peter Venkman) to bust said ghosts. They weren't buying. Those teams that failed so spectacularly? Different Giants.

As formidable as the Braves and Phillies were, the Rangers are even scarier. They deserve to be where they are. This is a unit that took out the team with baseball's best record then dethroned defending world champs -- and did so with style. This just in, the Rangers are really good.

The Giants? They don't hit as well as Texas. They don't run as well as Texas (they don't run as well as the arthiritic ward at the old folks home). If you believe the talking heads, the Rangers also eat better food and their women are hotter.

To hear the so-called experts tell it, tonight's Game One is all about Cliff Lee. Okay, he's good. He's one of the best. But that Lincecum guy the Giants are throwing? Two Cy Young's and three straight strikeout titles say he's no slouch.

No, the Giants aren't an offensive jugggernaut. In the off-season they do need to find a way to get better with the sticks, but that doesn't mean Mr. Lee is gonna have a cake walk.

I know the numbers. ESPN has drilled them into my brain. He's 7-0 with a 1.26 ERA in eight career postseason starts. This postseason: 34 strikeouts, one walk. He's won all three of his career starts against the Giants. They've managed just three runs total in those outings.

So what? These are different Giants. Check out the credentials.


They beat Roy Oswalt on Opening Day. They took down Mat Latos in the fnale with the NL West on the line. In April they beat Adam Wainwright. Two days later they beat Roy Halladay, and Halladay was 5-0 at the time. That was a nice warm-up for Game One of the NLCS when Halladay was coming off a no-hitter but fell to The Freak and G-men (appearing nightly with Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen). Ubaldo Jimenez was 14-1 with a 1.83 ERA when the Giants thunmped him just before the All-Star break.
Rmember Oswalt? The Giants beat him three times during the season, and they got him twice in the playoffs. Cole Hammels made the list -- in fact the Giants beat each of the Philly's Big Three in the regular season and the postseason. They beat Derek Lowe twice during the NLDS.

It's not the kind of thing you write home about. Every game is a whole different Oprah, and nothing is ever easy. But, in case you missed it, their next win will be the 100th of the year. Something went right, so why can't that same thing go right four more times?

I started the season predicting gloom and doom. As it turned out, the team that took the field down the stretch was a very different unit. Buster Posey, Pat Burrell and Cody Ross came aboard. Javier Lopez filled out the pen. The current team is still flawed, still maddening at times, but it's a team that seems to have that unidentifiable factor that makes them dangerous.

So for once, I'll let reason go. I'll surrender to the moment, let my guard down and allow myself to hope.

I'll say it. They could win this thing.



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Saturday, October 23, 2010

The Neighborhood is Safe

In 2002, as David Bell skidded home to send San Francisco to the World Series, I heard a resounding "boom." What I initially thought was a fellow Giants fan setting off an impromptu celebration was, in fact, a home on the cul de sac behind my residence bursting into flame -- the victim of a bad fumigation effort.

On this night, no fireworks. The neighborhood survived. My wits, not so much.

Giants fans can describe a certain feeling in two words: "Game Six." It's a sense of impending doom, the knoweldge that the executioner has receieved his orders and we're hoping against hope for a call from the governor that we know will never come.

This time the phone rang. The Giants are World Series bound, winning a (what else?) torturous Game Six on enemy turf to set up a date with the Rangers and to send the Phillies off to make chalupa commericals with Girardi and Rivera.

It wasn't easy. It's never easy. A very flawed team displayed all of its weaknesses in Game Six. Jonathan Sanchez pulled another disappearing act. The Giants wasted baserunners - putting the leadoff man on in four of the first five innings but managing just one earned run. The heart of the order was non-existent. They ran themselves out of an inning. The bullpen tossed seven scoreless but had some high drama along the way, and Brian Wilson once again did his best to keep the final frame exciting.

The one thing they did right was refuse to quit.

No question this Giants team isn't as talented as the squad that came wihtin six outs of winning it all in 2002. I think the 1989 team had much more talent with Thompson, Clark, Mitchell and Williams. There are times the 2010 unit looked like it could fall short against a Junior Giants squad from Modesto.

They needed a hero. Tonight they got a couple.

Much will surely be said and written about Juan Uribe's opposite field shot, a ball that was but a hard breath from the fat guy in Row A away from staying in the park. Combine that shot with the Game Four winner and he's cemented cult hero status right next to Brian Johnson. But.....

My hero on this night is Jeremy Affeldt. I honestly believe he saved the Giants' season.

Sanchez was putrid, and his confrontation with Chase Utley told me all I needed to know. There was no call for his outburst. He simply lost his compusure. In crunch time, he folded. A great deal of what happens on the mound actually takes place between a guy's ears. Whatever that "it" factor is, he doesn't posess it.

Affledt had it last year, lost it, and found it just in time. Wading into Sanchez's mess, Affeldt restored order. Then Bochy, quite logically, kept his under-performing pen away from the game. Only Lopez was trusted, with Bochy instead turning to Bumgarner and Lincecum to get the game to his closer.

I know Wilson is weird. A mean, I see the guy on TV and I'm not certain if he's planning to pitch or to put a parrot on his shoulder and go out searching for buried treasure. But he did find one piece of pure gold, a backdoor cutter to Ryan Howard that no doubt sent people into histerics from the Haight to the Ferry Building.
The closest thing this team has to a star may be a rookie backstop and a 165-pound  pitcher who looks like a 12-year-old. Top to bottom, they don't do anything extremely well. If this were a prize fight, they'd be the guy throwing jabs and dashing from corner to corner while the big bad Phillies came in throwing haymakers.

What this team of unprovens, misfits, rejects and rodeo clowns reminded the baseball world is that you can win a fight on points. No gaping wounds were inflicted on the Phils. It was death by 1,000 paper cuts. But method matters not.

All that matters is this.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Mistake-prone Giants Surrender Momentum, Home Turf

About that "Kharama" chick.

In Game Four of the NLCS, she clearly smiled at the Giants and all was right with the world. In Game Five, the witch walked to the center of the diamond and purposefully gave all of us who bleed orange and black The Finger.

Tim Lincecum was masterful, the offense non existent, and the defense woeful. As a result, the Giants blew their one opportunity to clinch the series at home and now head back to Philly up three games to two but very much in a defensive crouch.

Giants fans have come to expect this. Heck, this week's Sports Illustrated has a feature article on the many ways the faithful have been tormented and tortured over the years. I've often lamented on the gut-wrenching way the Giants find ways to foul up. Game Four was case in point. It wasn't a setback, it was a meltdown.

Everything seemed set up for a celebration. An injured Roy Halladay was shaky, the Giants grabbed an early lead, and Tim Lincecum was on his game. Then came the third inning.

First of all, the plate umpire absolutely blew the call. Halladay's bunt attempt with two men on was so clearly foul that Halladay didn't even move from the batter's box. But the call of "fair" was made, and the Giants got jobbed. Still, they had an opportunity to turn it in their favor.

That old adage about looking a gift horse in the mouth? The Giants spit in its face. You don't do that and expect the baseball gods not to take vengenance.

Pablo Sandoval again proved that he's not ready to be a Major Leaguer. He may have had one great season at the plate in 2009, but 2010 has shown him to be ill-prepared. He didn't take care of himself physically, and mentally he's been on a six-month vacation. Last night it bit the Giants firmly on the backside.

One would think the one thing you could take for granted from a third baseman is that he would know where third base is. Yes, Sandoval was charging on the poor bunt. but he also gave up on the play. Raul Ibanez, running from second, didn't. Buster Posey, from his catcher's position, didn't. Posey acknowledged afterward what every player is taught from T-ball upward. Until the umpire makes a call, you play every ball like it's fair. He did. Ibanez did. Halladay didn't, and it presented an opportunity.

Weebles wobble, and sometimes they DO fall down.
Had Sandoval just gone back to the bag like they teach you, oh, I don't know, every day from the time you can pick up a glove, Ibanez is out. Halladay, still standing at the plate, is an easy double play victim. Instead Pablo jabs at the bag with his foot with less grace than Kenny Mayne's infamous appearance on Dancing With the Stars. The weeble did recover in time to get Halladay, but there's a huge difference between a runner at second with two down, and two runners in scoring position.

Think one play can't decide a series? I'll get Don Denkinger's phone number for you.

Both runers can score on anything hit safely to the outfield, even if the ball reaches ceneter field by clanging off the first-baseman's mitt. Aubrey Huff had made four errors all year. The last was in late May. This routine grounder eluded him. What should have been an easy put-out instead gets handballed into center field the Phillies have a lead they never relinquished.

Lincecum did allow three hits (and a hit batsman) in the frame -- the only hits he'd allow until a seventh-inning single. But you simply can't make your pitcher have to get five and six outs in an inning. It'll explode like Krakatoa. Lincecum should actually be credited for limiting the damage...for all the good it did him.

The bullpen was again shaky with Ramon Ramirez giving up an opposite-field blast, Sergio Romo walking one of the two hitters he faced and (ironically) falling on his ass on the one guy he did retire, and Jeremy Affeldt nearly blowing an 0-2 advantage before retiring the one man he battled. Only Javier Lopez was solid.
Romo goes slip-sliding away, just like the Giants' chances to clinch at home.
I have a gripe with the pen. I know they put up great numbers down the stretch, but I also contend that a lot of that had to do with the number of innings they pitched -- or didn't pitch. Starters went deep into games and not much was asked of the relief corps. These same hurlers who were mediocre for much of the season thrived under those conditions. Under the harsh glare of postseason lights they're reverted to their mid-season form, and it's not pretty. It's like hooking up with a Hollywood hottie then jumping back in time and waking up next to Sarah Rue before she discovered Jenny Craig.

Even that performance pales next to the outing by the offense. Things started out well, buit again it was the inability to get a hit when it mattered. For once the table setters did their jobs. Andres Torres and Freddy Snachez were a combined 4-for-7 with a walk. The 3-4-5 of Huff, Posey and Pat Burrell was a dismal 1-for-11. Huff stranded two runners in the fifth with a two-out, full-swinging bunt. He also stranded runners in the third and seventh, and failed to produce with runners at the corners and none out in the first, although the Giants did plate one run.

The Giants also ran themselves out of an inning when Cody Ross tried to take third on a fly ball to right, committing a cardinal sin of basball by making the third out at third base. Dude, you're already in scoring position. What was the friggin' point?

So the Giants find themsleves in an unenviable position. They still hold a 3-2 lead but they effectively burned their ace and now they go back east for a game the Phillies are thrilled to be in and the Giants never wanted to play. Baseball is a game of momentum, and right now the Phillies have it.

And now the Giants fans must once again hear the two most cursed words in the team's recent history: "Game Six." Oh God, not again.

I won't say the Giants are doomed, but I've seen this flic before. The only thing missing is Jose Oquendo.  Dropping three straight to lose the series would be an epic failure and leave a most bitter taste in the mouths of Giants fans who, quite frankly, are sick of watching others sip champagne from a victory cup while we chug vinegar. This wouldn't be a loss, it would be a full on choke job.

Momentum is supposed to be only as good as the next day's starting pitcher. The Giants have Sanchez and Cain. The Phillies have Oswalt, Hamels and the home turf. The Giants have history -- they've never lost when up 3-1. They'd also won five straight Game Fives when holding such a lead -- so much for history.

That gnawing in the back of my mind? That's Kharma, and she's in a bad mood.


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Thursday, October 21, 2010

Finally, A Chance to Phinish the Phillies

Kharma is a beautiful thing when it's on your side.

On two separate occasions it appeared fate and poor umpiring (not to mention Santiago Casilla) were conspiring to rob the Giants of a win in this most crucial of contests. Then kharma, the fickle and sometimes brutal muse that she is, looked upon the Orange and Black... and she smiled.

Game Four of the NLCS went into the plus column, and suddenly the G-men find themselves one win from the unthinkable -- a trip to the World Series.

Despite entering it leading the series two games to one, this was a contest the Giants absolutely had to have. A loss would have effectively turned the series into a best of three with Philadelphia holding home turf. Instead, it's the Giants with a chance to close it out at home, and it's Philly on the respirator. The Phils knew it, that's why Roy Oswalt pitched the ninth.

For the entire postseason,  the Giants have survived on pitching and luck. They got little of either in Game Four. This time they had something better.

Welcome back, Buster Posey. With all due respect to Messers Halladay and Oswalt, we have our our R.O.Y., and I like ours a lot better.


To be sure, Posey has been a big part of the team's success. He's largely the reason the Giants are where they are, and his deft handling of the pitching staff can't be ignored. But offensively he'd done nothing to help the team in games one through three. In fact, the middle of the line-up has been a huge black hole. Until this night.

Four hits (two doubles, two RBIs) and one of the biggest clutch at-bats of the year in that edge-of-your-seat ninth inning. Add in a defensive play that still has me scratching my head (catcher's gloves are not meant to snag short hops) and the kid had a heck of a night. And he had help. Aubrey Huff had three hits and scored the winning run. Panda smashed a crucial two-run double. Then a struggling and banged up Juan Uribe contributed a booming sac fly that sent the home faithful into pandemonium.

What made it so special was that this win didn't follow the script. A team that isn't built to come from behind, did exactly that. A team that has to win with pitching faltered on the mound. A team that needs to have the breaks go its way seemed to have the cosmos rallying against it. None of that mattered.

About those pitchers. Although tagged for three runs in 4 2/3 innings, Madison Bumgarner deserved better. Two of the runs scored after he departed as Casilla melted down for the second time in the series. True, MadBum set the table, but it was the pen that put the fork in his night. After the Giants rallied it was yet another bullpen failure, this one by Sergio Romo, which ratcheted up the pucker factor to an even more uncomfortable level.

Which brings me to this point. I hate sliders. Couldn't throw one as a pitcher, couldn't touch one as a hitter, and couldn't teach it worth a rip as a coach. It's a devestating pitch when it works, but it's also the easiest pitch to foul up. In Game Four, without fail, when the Giants gave up a crucial hit it was on a hanging slider. Casilla was overpowering Polanco with heaters, then hung a slider to cough up the lead. Romo served up a fat Frisbee to Werth to surrender yet another lead. It was the slider that deserted Bumgarner in the fifth. Get the wrong tilt or release and it spins up to the plate screaming "hit me" like it was Rihanna on a visit to Chris Brown's house.

You know what else hits hard? Fate. Yep, you knew I was gonna get back to this kharma thing, right?

Twice the Giants got screwed. Pablo Sandoval's much-replayed drive down the line was a fair ball, and I'm convinced Oswalt clipped Uribe with a pitch in the ninth. Those are usually the calls that leave you feeling like you got screwed with your pants on. No way Pablo bounces back with hit, and Uribe is doomed -- right?

Pablo lines a shot to the gap to plate two and give the Giants the lead. Uribe gets a chance to swing a delivers the game winner. Kharma? Gimme a big wet sloppy kiss, you beauty!


Fate even played a role in setting up the game-winner. If Ryan Howard isn't guarding the line, Huff's ground-ball single is a routine out. Posey's hit to advance him came on a cue shot down the line that might be caught in another ballpark, but at AT&T Werth had to guard triples alley. For both: right place, right time.

So, the Giants have one shot to close it out at home, and it's Timmy Franchise on the hill. Is there anyone else you'd want out there?

This is by no means over. The Phillies are two-time defending NL champs for a reason, and they're countering with their own ace in a rematch of Game One hurlers. The Giants need to show some killer instinct and finish them quickly.

Maybe, just maybe, it's fate.


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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Hurri-Cain Ross Blows Past Phillies

Up is down. Black is white. Republicans are, well, they're still lost. And the San Francisco Giants are two wins away from a trip the World Series.

Unbelieveable. I wrote earlier that the Giants would go only as far as pitching and luck would take them. Right now they're getting copious amounts of both. Aubrey Huff told Sports Illustrated that he had sense of calm during a critical AB in the NLDS was because he felt "the baseball gods owe me one."

I know the feeling.

Apparently in payment, said gods have offered up a plethora of pitchers and Cody Ross. Aside from some kind of devine intervention, how do you explain this team? Can they hit? Not really. Do they run? Nope. Do they look really good in their uniforms? Uh, anyone caught a glimpse of Pablo Sandoval lately? I don't even want to speculate on shoe-polish beards and rally thongs.

This may end up being one of those times where you just have to admit that something has no logical explanation. The stars align, fate smiles, and you find yourself at that perfect moment at the autumnal equinox when you supposedly can stand an egg on its end. Maybe there really is magic inside.


Matt Cain simply dealt. The pundits all said the same thing: the Phillies had too much offense. San Francisco coudn't hope to compete. But a team doesn't have to get many breaks when the opposition is sporting zeroes.

To be sure, it's not a fun way to win. Every at-bat is the baseball equivalent of teetering on cliff with one foot on a banana peel. A starter can be throwing the game of his life, yet the team is always one Eric Hinske long ball from disaster. But give that same pitcher some breathing room.....

Cain has had precious little of that in recent years. But spotted a 3-0 lead in Game Three, he exhibited the ace-like demeanor Giants fans have long awaited. Two hits over seven shut-out innings. He wasn't especally overpowering, but he was relentless. The Phillies had chances. But when push came to shove and Cain had to make a pitch, he made it. When he found himself in a jam, he escaped. And when he needed to get mean, he got down right nasty.

Cain may have a baby face, but on this day he showed he also has the heart of an assassin.

I'm a big an of the MLB Network, and the talking heads there had pondered how Cain would fare given his lack of career success aainst the Phils. Would be bring his A Game? They weren't the first group to question why Cain had never developed into the full-fledged ace the Giants predicited when he came up in 2005.

Maybe he just needed the right stage. On a day the Giants had to have Cain at his best, he delivered.

As did Cody Ross, who by the time this is over may be in line for a statue at AT&T (he can replace the seal at the Marina Gate. Sorry, Lou).
Postseason history seems to follow one of two paths. Either a dominant team steamrolls the opposition (or buys its crown, stupid Yankees) or you get the "Who are these guys?" squad who jumps up and steals a title like the guy trudging through Nordstrom in a too-long trench coat. The Giants appear much more like thieves than conquerors. But thieves like the '69 Mets or the '05 ChiSox still got their parades, still wear rings, and their fans certainly didn't find those title celebrations any less sweet.

More often that not, the story includes an unlikely hero. For every Reggie Jackson putting his stamp on October there's a Donn Clendenon or Bucky Dent.

Enter Cody Ross.

In all five Giants playoff wins, Ross drove in the first run of the game. The Giants have a team playoff batting average around the Mendoza line. Ross, is hitting .368. The Giants have three home runs in the NLCS. Ross has all three. Ross has 13 total bases through three games. The rest of the team, 16 combined. If there's an early favorite for series MVP, that's the guy.

Ross' heroics overshadow the fact that the Giants still aren't hitting. Much was made about Bruce Bochy shuffling the Game Three line-up, but the 3-4-5 guys in the order were still only 1 for 8. The Giants aren't going to overpower anyone. They are, however, getting the kinds of breaks that make you wonder if there isn't something beyond baseball at work here.

Come on, how many balls can one Brooks Conrad boot in one series? When did Chase Utley's glove turn into paper mache? Raul Ibanez can't hit the ball off a tee. Jeez, if Carlos Ruiz weren't leaning into pitches the Phillies would have no attack whatsover. Am I imagining things or was there a guy at the Lefty O'Doul Bridge selling Ryan Howard voodoo dolls?

Pitching? Sure. Kharma? I'll take some of that, too.

One complaint I've had all along has been that the Giants haven't been able to deliver a knock-out punch. Game Four is a grand opportunity to set up that hay maker. A three-games-to-one lead obviously wouldn't seal the deal, but needing just one win with Lincecum, Sanchez and Cain lined up would certainly raise the confidence factor.

Still, I don't want to think too far ahead. The Giants are that girl that you just know is about to break up with you. There's always this sense of dread; the thought that it's all about to go horribly wrong -- probably at your parents' house during a holiday a dinner right after grandma tells you this girlfriend is her favorite but before said girlfried reveals those "art" photos she posed for in college.

So we'll take it one day at a time and hope this is the magical year.

Pitching and luck. That's not the recipe you draw up when trying to build a winner, but it sure beats losing.


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Sunday, October 17, 2010

Errors: Yes. Comedy: Not So Much

What a difference 24 hours makes. A day ago I was flying high and so were the Giants. Now, pure disgust. If the Giants intend to advance any farther in the postseason derby, their effort on Game Two cannot be repeated.

If going into this series you had told me it would be 1-1 heading back to The Big Phone, I'd have taken it. But to have the opportunity to go up 2-0 and put a foot firmly on Philly's throat get away like this? That's beyond disheartening. If there was a way to screw up, the G-men found it.

It was the misfit Jonathan Sanchez that showed up early, aided by some shaky defense and a home plate umpire with his head parked firmly in his rectum. It was a complete and utter disintigration of the bullpen that turned a tight game into a frustrating evening. And it was, once again, an offense that couldn't score at the Moonlight Bunny Ranch with a fistfull of Fifties that made everything else academic.

Nobody expects the Giants to be perfect. Anyone even considerfing that thought is bound to be disappointed. As I've said repeatedly, this is a very flawed team. They'll go as far as pitching and luck will take them. Game Two featured far too little of both.

This one took a turn for the ugly very early. Three walks from Sanchez in the first inning (including one that wasn't) plus a Giants error gave Philly its first lead of the series. The Giatns aren't buit to come from behind. Heck, they're barely built to come from ahead. Gift runs aren't part of a winning equation.

An assist goes to home plate umpire Dan Iassonga (dissect his last name to get what he was on this night) who swallowed his toungue on, uh, ball four to Rollins. Again I voice my rage against the PitchTrax system. If it works, let it call balls and strikes. If it doesn't, get rid of it. The technology and the umpires rarely agree, and all it's doing now is pissing me off. When an obvious strike results in the go-ahead run, I don't care if it's the first inning of the fourteenth, it ain't right. Human element? Screw that. Let the game be decided by the players, not the opinion of some guy who's still belching that morning's 13th donut.

Another assist to Mike Fontenot, who pretty much played his way out of the line-up with a throwing error in the first and a brain fart in the fourth. Was he waiting for an invitation to catch the damn pop-up? Yes, Sanchez pitched out of the jam, but it added throws to a total that was already excessive.

And can someone besides Cody Ross get a friggin hit? He's homered three times in two games, for a total of three RBIs because nobody else can get on base. All of four hits in Game Two? The only other offense this consistently inept loses on a nightly basis to the Globetrotters.

The top of the line-up simply isn't producing, and the worst offenders are Torres and Huff. Torres is now a glorious 1 for 10 in the NLCS thanks to Game Two's four-strikeout performance. I never thought I'd say this, but it's time to give Rowand another shot. And Bochy might as well give Panda another chance at third for all the good Fontenot has done so far.

It's also clear that the late-season sucess of the bullpen may be been a mirage. We've seen Romo and Ramirez each fold twice and Affledt was ineffective. The Giants basically have Wilson's ulcer-inducing antics, Lopez for a hitter or two, and a lot of chuck and duck. That works against the Padres. This just in, the Phillies have an actual offense.

The Giants have managed to wrest homne-field away from Phildelphia. Now they have to keep it. Cain will take the hill on Tuesday, and there's no reason to think he won't pitch well. But if the Giants don't discover some offense and plug up a leaky defense soon, the arms aren't going to matter.

Pivotal game on Tuesday. I do not believe the Giants can lose it and go on to win the series.

Time to fish or cut bait, guys. Are you the real deal or just a sidebar story to the 2010 season?

We're about to find out.


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Saturday, October 16, 2010

Cody Ross: Superstar

Dear Santa,

Forget everything on my previous Christmas list. Please send me a defibrulator.

It was a battle of aces that didn't live up to the hype. Giants fans are just fine with it. Two long balls from an unlikely source, a nice night from the situational lefty, and a typical nail-biter from the closer has the Giants up 1-0 on Philly in the NLCS. Three wins separate the Giants from the World Series.



This was one of those games that everyone anticipated: Tim Lincecum versus Roy Halladay. The winner gets a leg up, the loser has fallen behind AND burned an outing from its ace. Throw in some drama from an umpire with a strike zone the size of a Republican's heart and it was high drama in the battery tossing capital of America.

Both starters were forced to earn everything they got in Game One. To say plate umpire Darrell Cousins had a tight zone is like saying Tiger Woods had a "disagreement" with Elin. Lincecum and Halladay depend on low strikes. They get pounded when they miss up. Accordingly, both were touched for long balls.

If you're a Philly fan, you expect Ruiz to step up in the playoffs and if told Jayson Werth would homer you'd say, "well, duh!" No once expected this from Cody Ross.

Truth be told, he's the guy who should be breaking out. He's spent his career in that division and had 18 career homers at Philly before this outing. Former Phillie Pat Burrell's RBI blast also should come as no surprise. And it shouldn't stun Giants fans that anyone on this team hit Halladay -- they've done it before. But the Ross story is the perfect metaphor for the 2010 Giants. He's an accident -- a waiver gamble that blew up in the Giants' face. They've picked up the dice, tossed again, and rolled a "7".

Credit to Timmy who didn't have his good stuff but got through seven frames and 113 pitches on guts as much as talent. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done.

This is the Giants, circa 2010. Nothing is easy. They're cardiac arrest personified.

The heart is still beating.

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Friday, October 15, 2010

Who Are These Guys?

It has been four days, four glorious days, since the Giants vanquished the Braves. And for four days I've been waiting for Ed Hochuli to emerge from under the hood and take it away. But, upon further review, the Giants are still in the National League Championship Series.

I still find it hard to believe. This team that can't find a cohesive offense, that doesn't have superstar to drive it, that really has no identity at all, is four wins away from the World Series.

Maybe that's the secret.

No Barry Bonds dominating the media. No Jeff Kent spinning yarns about his motorcycle. No "Humm Baby" or "You Gotta Like These Kids" or "Gamer" marketing garbage. These guys just play ball.

Not to say we couldn't use a star or two. A couple of bats in the middle of this line-up could turn this into a truly dominant team. I like the idea of a team as opposed to the proverbial 25 guys in 25 cabs. However, I still don't trust Giants management as far as I could throw the San Francisco Belle.

We had Bonds and Kent -- and nothing to go with them. Brian Sabean has also proven he's willing to go overboard the other way, as the doomed "15 Michael Tuckers instead of one Vlad Guerrero" debacle proved.

Giants baseball is like Steve Martin's comedy. It's not pretty. It's maddening at times. Every game is a life-and-death struggle to make a walk, two ground outs and a dropped pop-up stand for nine innings. Fans know it could easily come apart at any moment.

But there are just four teams left in the drive for the prize, and this bunch of misfits is one of them.

Is it just possible that this team is the equivalent of the 1988 Dodg....Doggies...uh, Dodgeball, ...the team from LA? Everyone remembers Kirk Gibson's Bambi-esque trip around the bases but forgets that that team couldn't hit a lick. Aside from Gibson, that squad's offensive heroes were Mike Davis and Mickey Hatcher.

Cody Ross, anyone?

What does this team really have? Well obviously it's strength is pitching, but take a look at this motley crew. The four horsemen they sent to the hill versus Atlanta were a stringy-haired kid with the body of a 12-year-old who likes to smoke a little herb, a southern boy who looks like Howdy Doody mated with a dump truck, the Puerto Rican Nuke Laloosh, and a mid-season arrival who is just this side of puberty.

That group is augmented by a baby-faced catcher who appears to know everything about baseball except the meaning of the word "fear", and a closer who is a certified ninja wacko. The leaders are two college teammates who nobody wanted. The key bat in the postseason belongs to a guy the Giants didn't want but got stuck with in a botched game of waiver chess.

We won't begin to talk about rally thongs, shag runs masquerading as facial hair, and $126 million dollar benchwarmers.

It works.

God, I hate to say this, but I like this team. They induce ulcers and angina, but they're rarely boring. I just hope the powers that be understand that, regardless of the outcome, there's still work to be done.

I like winning just fine. I like excitement. But next year?  Bore me. Bore me all the way to the title.

May it be a boring quest for two in a row.





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Thursday, October 14, 2010

Don't Stop Believin' by Ashkon: (Giants 2010 Anthem)



Now this guy is a fan, and a talented one at that.

Sit back, strap on your rally thong, light up a smoke with Timmy and enjoy!


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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Random Thoughts (and I do mean random): NLDS

Given a few hours to catch my breath and look at the Braves series via the rear view mirror, here are some random musings:

-- Eleven runs in four games. That should have been the kiss of death. I "scored" more in high school. Heck, the highest single-game total for the Giants was four, and that's the game they lost! The series was won by four guys, Messers Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez and Bumgarner. There were some timely hits, most notably from Cody Ross, but the starting pitchers were the stars. The offense handed the winners just seven runs total, but they surrendered only five.

-- Why wasn't TBS selling ad space to Pepto Bismol, Alka Seltzer, Paxil, Prozac and Jose Cuervo? Thanks to four one-run games, all were prominent in The Ranter's household  over the past week. Note to Madison Avenue: The Ranter is not a paid endorser of any of thse products...but could be.

-- Regardless of the final outcome, Job One in the offseason has to be to get a couple of solid middle-of-the-order bats. Put a decent offense with these guys (just 4-5 runs a game) and this pitching staff could log 110 wins.

-- I missed Kruk and Kuip. Hey, Dick Stockton has been around for a long time and Bob Brenly is an old Humm Baby, but that doesn't mean I enjoy listening to them. Now we get to endure that Fox-induced Hell of Buck and McCarver -- a tandem just this side of Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck on the annoyingly-moronic scale. I need a techno geek.  How hard is it to sync up a DVR with the KNBR audio?

-- Speaking of Dick Stockton, during Game Four the man authored what may be the single stupidest non-Jerry Coleman remark ever uttered during a sports broadcast. In discussing Juan Uribe's success at the plate with the bases juiced, Brenly recited the 2010 stats: four-for-seven with two home runs. Added Einstein Stockton, "and those two home runs were grand slams." Jeez, thanks for the news flash, Poindexter. I was wondering if those BASES LOADED round trippers were grand, or just above average. Stick to NFL games and sucking face with Leslie Visser. Save me, Kruk and Kuip!

-- Since we're on broadcasters, am I the only one who suddenly thought Comcast Bay Area's Amy G was really hot! I guess it's true, winning makes EVERYTHING better.

-- On more than one occasion I've (almost) joked that an umpire appeared to be flipping a coin on ball and strike calls. After seeing TBS's "PitchTrax" feature, I'm thinking the coin might be more accurate. Either the technology doesn't work and TBS's needs to ditch it, or MLB needs to turn the job over to the machines because the on-screen graphic made it abundantly clear that one or the other doesn't have the first darned clue. When you see the circle show up in the same place three times and the count is 2-1, there's a problem. The rule book defines the strie zone. Having umpires with their own definition may be traditional, but so was letting your kids ride in the back of a pick-up. Both are equally stupid.

-- Based on how the games went, I can't say there were any mistakes evident in the creation of the Giants 25-man roster -- unles you count Sergio Romo. Whether they keep the same group for the NLCS is a mystery -- some decisions were obviously made specifically with Billy Wagner in mind. But if the Giants do tweak it, I'd love to find a way to get Darren Ford on the slate. If the Giants lacked anything (besides offense) it was speed off the bench. He's a burner, and Herb Washington isn't available.

-- Brian Wilson may be the best interview in baseball. This is a guy who could leave Norm Crosby asking "What did he say?"  By the way, there's no way that beard color is real.

-- Speaking of interviews, someone please tell Aubrey Huff that the current location of the rally thong isn't always a matter that should be publicly discussed.

 -- I didn't know Tim Lincecum was so fluent in, uh, French -- or something that starts with "F". Yeah, that's what it was...French.

It is Saturday yet?




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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Let the Torture Continue!

The paramedics just left. I'm feeling much better now.

Another heart-stopping finish from the Giants bullpen was in store, but after two consecutive meltdowns the pen came through in its third bite at the apple, and the Atlanta Braves are no more. A nail-biting 3-2 final at Turner Field has put the Giants into the NLCS.

Torture. Sweet, beautiful torture. Thanks to the last few weeks my heart is in worse shape than Dick Cheney's (if he actually has one), and, quite frankly, I just don't give a rip. The Giants are still alive.

Eleven lousy runs in four games. Two bullpen meltdowns. Coaching blunders. Mental and physical mistakes. And yet, these guys are four wins away from the World Series and eight from the Promised Land.

This is a team that will absolutely wear out a fan. There never seems to be that streak where they steam roll the opposition, where every game is a laugher and you just sit back and enjoy the show. No, these Giants are the ultimate high wire act -- an eternal edge-of-your-seat cardiac arrest in orange and black where one's mere survival often requires a dose of nitrogycerin pills in one hand and a bottle of Jack Daniel's in the other.

Fear the Beard. Uh, yeah. I go totally Curt Schilling towel when the game is on the line. I'm Orange and Black until I die, but do they have to be the cause of death? How's that gonna look on a coroner's report. And you thought David Carradine's passing was embarrasing.

"Uh, it was like this. Brian Wilson walked the tying and go-ahead runners, and I heard this thud. The Ranter was found wearing a rally thong, a Buster Posey BP jersey and a Tim Lincecum wig, lying on the floor with a rubber chicken across his chest. I would have called 9-1-1 sooner, but there were still two outs to go."

A lot will be said as the Giants move on. It's a flawed team that by all rights shouldn't be where it is. They can't hit a lick. The defense comes and goes. The bullpen can prompt a case of the yips. They survive on the strength of starting pitching and sheer guts. And yet, there's something oddly appealing about a team that just won't quit.

The Giants are the baseball equivalent of the bend-but-don't-break defense. Their entire game plan consists of turning loose those arms and holding the opposition down until something they get a break or their foe finds a way to screw up.

An assist definitely goes to the Braves, who made seven errors in four games and, yet again, lost a game where the Giants managed just one untainted run. But that's how it's been with these guys -- hope to luck into a handful of runs and let the pitching make it stand up.

Speaking of pitching, how about Madison Bumgarner? He's just the latest in a string of Giants who have unleashed their inner Brian Doyle on the game's big stage. Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Ross and now Madbum are thumbing their nose at the conventional wisdom -- that experience wins games. It seems live arms are a much more valuable commodity.

This was a mindboggling stat: the Braves were 0-7 at Turner Field when facing elimination. Make that 0-8. Of course, they'd also never won a Game Five in a Five-Game series. All  can say is that I'm glad they didn't get a chance to test that streak.

Philly will be a tall order. In defeating the Braves the Giants pitched well, but they didn't play well. Bruce Bochy certainly didn't coach well. Can they overcome again?

I'm gonna get rapped for bagging on Bochy, but I thought he misfired multiple times in Game Four. Rowand as a pinch hitter in that situation was insane. If you intend to hit for Fontenot (and I wouldn't have), you don't go with a guy who swings at stuff in the dirt against a pitcher who likes to bounce sliders. The choice there should have been Edgar "Butterfingers" Renteria. I make the same defensive move (Renteria to short, Uribe to third) but you save a hitter.

A better use for Rowand would have been running for Burrell. Bochy was gonna lift him anyway. How much of a difference would that extra run have meant had Rowand been trying to score on Ross's single instead of old leadfoot? Same animal in the ninth. If Bochy hasn't wasted Rowand earlier, he's got options to run for Huff, who was going to come out for defense anyway. Botched from the word "go."

Thankfully, the Giants found a clutch hitter tonight, and surprisingly it was Cody Ross. I didn't want this guy. I thought he was a huge mistake.

"So, Mr. Ranter, how do you like your crow."

The G-men were being no-hit into the sixth, and it looked bleak. Then Ross smacked what was probably Derek Lowe's only mistake of the night for the homer to tie it. It was Ross again with the game-winner. Maybe he's no Brian Johnson, but he's a fan favorite right now.

And I'm glad to have someone else to like because it'll take my mind off hating Renteria. He entered the game for, uh, defense, and promptly geeked a soft liner that should have ended the eighth, slapping the ball to the ground like it was a live grenade. Had Alex Gonzalez actually been running on the play, it could have been a disaster. Perhaps it was some kind of shortstop courtesy pact that allowed Renteria to get one out on the play. Regardless, it gave the Braves an extra swing of the bat and put the trying run in scoring position. As good as the Giants hurlers have been, giving away outs ain't fair. Save the charity for the Goodwill clothing drive.

It's a truism of baseball: put someone into the game and the ball will immediately find him. We saw a lot of that in this series, even on balls not hit to Brooks Conrad. The teams combined for 11 errors in four games, and there were mental miscues all over the place. Artistic is wasn't.

But it sure was fun.

The Giants do have a chance to beat Philly, but it's that  "Rocky beats Apollo Creed" kind of chance. The starters, as good as they were against Atlanta, have to be even better in the NLCS. Funny thing is, there's nothing that says they can't do just that.

And they have to find some offense. Can you imagine how good this team would be with just a competent attack? Heck, they'd be, uh, the Phillies!

Timmy versus Halladay on Saturday night, both on full rest. Can an NLCS game end 0-0? Great. More torture.

Hurt me.



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Monday, October 11, 2010

NLDS: Presented by the United Way

There has been enough charity in this best-of-five between San Francisco and Atlanta to keep a PBS pledge drive happy for a millenium.

Let's face it, this National League Division Series hasn't been an artisitc masterpiece. The Giants have given away two games, and the only reason they find themselves up two games to one instead of down by that same count is because the Braves turned around and gave the second gift right back.

So with the Giants poised to advance to the NLCS for the first time in eight years, who's the MVP?

My vote goes to Brooks Conrad. I'm not saying he's having a bad series, but he got back to the clubhouse after Game Three only to receive a text message about available land in Montana from Bill Buckner.

I feel bad for the guy, but not nearly as bad as I felt for Jonathan Sanchez. As much as I've bagged on this guy all year, somewhere along the line he's found that elusive groove. Last year the guy "threw" a no-hitter. Right now he's "pitching". He still falls behind too many guys to suit me, but he has swing-through stuff. When his slider is on, he's deadly. As long as he holds it together mentally, he's as good as anyone in the NL.

He showed some attitude in Game Three. Did anyone catch the stare-down with Jason Heyward? The TBS announce team missed it, but Mike Krukow picked up on it immediately (another reason to turn down the sound and crank KNBR). In his first AB, Heyward gave Sanchez the evil eye. Sanchez returned the glare. As Krukow said, a good pitcher needs to have a bit of "screw you" in his demeanor. Heyward wanted the phsycological upper hand. Sanchez didn't budge. Eleven strikeouts later, you knew who was the better man.

Unfortunately, that's when Mighty Mouse failed to save the day. Sanchez went 7-plus and allowed just two hits. Sergio Romo needed just one batter to mess that up. After Friday's meltdown, he never should have been in the game. And Bruce Bochy should be ashamed.

With Eric Hinske summoned to pinch hit, that frisbee slider was a disaster waiting to happen. You simply can't throw that pitch to a lefty with power. If you do, you gotta miss off the plate...in. Something that tails back to hitter in the center of the plate is an invitation to go deep when a pitcher is throwing well, and right now Romo isn't. Forced to pitch because of the substition rules, Romo should have been relegated to fastballs off the plate away and sliders WAY in. But, like Ramon Ramirez on Friday, a Giants releiver put a ball belt high in the center of the plate, and it got launched.

Romo's second meltdown again overshadowed the incredible run the starters have put up. In three games they've allowed eactly one earned run, and the starter wasn't even in the game when that runner scored. Atlanta has done absolutely nothing against Liuncecum, Cain and Sanchez. So why is this series still underway?

Because the bullpen and offense have been nonexistent.

Five runners left on base in the first two innings in Game Three were a harbinger of doom. The Giants had every opportunity to put that game away, to push the score to a point where Hinske could have hit a ball to Florida and it would have been nothing but a brief clip on SportsCenter. But the Giants have failed to gerate any kind of timely offense.

Look at the numbers. Until his single in the ninth, Huff had contribnuted nothing. Uribe? Nothing. Sandoval? Less than nothing. Only Posey has decent numbers, and he's missed on a couple of golden RBI opportunities. As a team, the Giants have repeatedly come up short in that all-important "runner at third, less than two out" situation. They were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position in Game Three, and their best option for offense has been hititng the ball to second base. This needs to turn around quickly or they can start making vacation plans.

The Giants' offensive ineptitude made Game Three's ninth frame all that more improbable. It's funny to think that one of the biggest offensive moments may be been Travis Ishikawa's one-out walk (by the way, when he got to second base with two out was anyone besides me having flashbacks of JT Snow circa 2003?)

Freddy Sanchez's single was big, but I still wonder why he got a hanging breaker in that situation when he's looked awaful on high fastalls. Tell me the Braves didn't miss Billy Wagner. Then Huff parachuted the game-tying hit into right, Ishikawa beat a poor throw, and the stage was set for Conrad's, uh, heroics.

If you look at all of the elements that have conspired to get the Giants to this point, you gotta wonder when their luck is gonna run out. Chipper Jones and Martin Prado are out with injuries. Wagner departs after three pitches, headed for the DL. Heyward claims he was never right after crashing into the wall, and I believe that's why he got a horrid jump on Huff's doinker. Then add in Conrad's ongoing soap opera, and you start to wonder when other shoe's gonna drop.

Perhaps the baseball gods are finally making up for Scott Spezio and Jose Oquendo.

But, regardless of how they got there, the Giants are one win from the NLDS with Madison Bumgarner on the hill. There has been plenty said about bringing Lincecum back on short rest, but I like the move of going with the rookie. Worst case scenario, the Giants throw their ace in a fifth game -- pitcher's park, home crowd, full rest. If MadBum continues the trend and the Giants win in four, it's Lincecum versus Halladay to start the NLCS, and that's Must See TV.

In the meantime, we hope the starters can go until their arms fall off, the bullpen phone is disconnected, and the Giants find a way to sneak a corked bat or two into the game.

In Game Four, we hope for a perfect world. The Giants score early and often, and Bumgarner throws a four-hit shutout.

Conrad can have all four.


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Friday, October 8, 2010

Series Squared as Giants Gag on Opportunity

I've seen this movie before.

Set your wayback machine for 2003. The 100-win Giants took Game One of the NLDS from Florida behind a masterpeice from Jason Schmidt. Then a sloppy Game Two evened the series, the G-men flew to the East Coast, and when they next returned to San Francisco it was to clean out their lockers for the winter.

Same stuff, different year.

Handed a 4-1 lead and a clean inning, needing just six outs (there's those six friggin' outs again) to send the Giants to Atlanta up 2-0, the bullpen completely soiled the sheets in a 5-4 extra-inning loss to the Braves that, given the way the Tribe plays at home, may have just ended the Giants season.

Speaking of reruns, this had a real Game Six vibe to it. I walked out of Anaheim Stadium that night knowing that the Giants still had Game Seven, but the series was over. I feel the same right now. I know they had a chance to put a good team away and coughed it up. Those chances have to be seized -- you may not get another one.

What else could they ask for? A 4-1 lead. Chipper Jones and Martin Prado on the shelf. Billy Wagner goes out after throwing three pitches. This is like having the head cheerleader in the back seat of the car begging for attention, and you decide to go back to the condo early to finish your homework.

Make no mistake about it, this game was a gift. And if the Giants hope to advance beyond next Monday, they need to play a much better brand of baseball than we've seen the last two nights.

The flaws that have plagued them all year were in full view during Game Two: impatience at the plate, the inability to add on runs, the repeated stranding of runners who could be scored by a meaningful out, the defensive miscue at the worst possible time (and the inability to recover from same), and more of those goddam double plays. This was the kind of game that wrecks a season and leaves you crying for the GM, manager, first base coach, clubhouse guy, scoreboard operator and the guy who makes the garlic fries to be fired. It absolutely never should happen.

With all of the talk about their pitching, has anyone noticed the Giants, in effect got shut out in Game Two? The last nine at-bats yeilded not a thing. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. As usual, the Giants tried to sit on a lead, and this time it backfired.

There were plenty of culprits, but none more glaring than the Panda. So far in this series, Pablo Sandoval has been about as useful as a conscience at a GOP convention. The only thing he's hit hard in two games was Buster Posey. His error in the eighth turned out to be the differnece maker.

Two errors. Two unearned runs. This Giants team is not good enough to give runs away, and they literally gifted half of the Braves' total in regulation. Atlanta didn't do near as much to win this game as the Giants did to lose it.

Sandoval had help, however. I've stated before how distrustful I am of Sergio Romo. He is, for lack of a better description, a gimmick pitcher. He relies on deception, and he falls into funks where he simply can't fool anyone. His poor outing set the stage for Pablo's foul-up, and the rest is yet another a sad futility footnote in Giants history.

I'm also more than a bit gacked at Posey. With a chance to be hero (and Bob Brenly on TBS talking about his great clutch approach going to right ) he goes pure rookie and tries to pull two straight change-ups after Farnsworth had just walked the bases full. Farnsworth had about as much control as that idiot ski jumper at the start of Wild World of Sports, but Posey bailed him out and tried to pull an unpullable pitch -- ending the Giants best threat in three hours.

Then Ramon Ramirez, who had been outstanding in San Francisco after nearly being lynched in Boston, rolled back the calendar three months. Boston Ramon showed up, settting one on a tee for Rick Ankiel and putting the failed-pitcher-turned-slugger in the Giants Book of Woe right next to Steve Finley and Ryan Spilborghs.

Dammit. This is what they do. They get your hopes up, and they find a way to crush your soul in the most gut-wrenching fashion imaginable.

Sanchez on the hill Sunday. We better see a new Giants team (prefereably one without Sandoval in the line-up), or this postseason party is gonna be over before we ever find the punch bowl.

The Giants have to find a money player (or eight) who isn't part of the starting rotation.

They went looking for one tonight. They're still looking..



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Thursday, October 7, 2010

Big Time Timmy Jim Gets His Freak On

This just in: that Lincecum Kid may turn out to be halfway decent.

The 2010 season is being billed as The Year of the Pitcher. Roy Halladay had certainly served notice that the postseason should expect no different. But did anyone anticipate this?

How many pundits did I read over the past three days who were convinved that Tim Lincecum would wilt in the harsh glare of the postseason. He'd faltered in his Major League debut. He's gacked up in his first All-Star Game. I'm shocked no one mentioned the mess he'd made of his first diaper. Certainly the playoff  pressure would cause another meltdown.

Yeah, right. And Jose Guillen is a 100-meter runner (well he is, it's just that he cuts it up into 30-yard segments that take three weeks).

What can I say? Lincecum really is a freak. A complete game, two hits, no runs, a single-postseason-game franchise record of 14 whiffs. Yeah, he's about as afraid of the liimelight as Paris Hilton.

After givng up a double to start the game, Lincecum never allowed the Braves so much as a sniff. How good was he? He was so good that he took the mind of this perpetual worrier off the fact that, once again, the Giants offense stunk up the joint.

The only bright spot was young Buster Posey, who stepped to the plate swinging a bat with a lightning bolt and "Wonder Boy" carved into the barrell and launched a shot into the light tower that rained sparks on the....

Okay, it wasn't Roy Hobbs dramatic. But Posey had a double and single, a (ehem) stolen base and scored the only run of the game. Two of the Giants' five hits came from a guy Brian Satan (stop that) Sabean said wasn't ready to replace Bengie Molina in April.

These two are giving experience a bad name. Who needs it? The old pros did little in this game. The youngsters carried the day. Robert Plant would agree: the kids are all right.

Interesting note: Over the past six years the teams that grabbed Game One of the Division Series are 21-3, and over on the AL side the Yanks and the Rangers are well on their way to improving that mark. Of course, Giants fans remember Jason Schmidt's masterpiece to open the 2003 NLDS, which ended three games later with JT Snow running in slow motion and the comic book Marlins going on to their second title.

Not counting on anything yet. Kharma has a way of slapping you in the face when you do that, and I'm convinced most successes are a cosmic set up for an eventual "up yours" where the Giants are involved. But damn, tonight feels good.

Thanks Timmy. For one night, the universe is as it should be.
 

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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Let the Great 25-Man Debate Begin!

At 10am on Thursday, someone is gonna be very unhappy.

When you look back at the list of players the Giants used during the season, the roster is only slightly less lengthy than Wilt Chamberlain's slate of conquests. The challenge: to trim the menagerie down to The Chosen 25 for the NLDS.

Now keep in mind that this list isn't set in stone: the victors can make alterations after each series. But invariably there's a name or two that leaves fans scratching their heads. "How'd that guy get left off?" or "He made the team?" are often uttered. And sometimes that choice can be the difference between winning and losing.

Does anyone doubt the Angels benefitted in 2002 from the unlikely addition of K-Rod? How about the Giants leaving Eric Young off the roster in 2003, and because of it having no runner available for JT Snow at the end of Game Four?

In 2010, the speculation surrounding the Giants centers on two guys. Do Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand make the squad? And in a side-bar conversation, do the Giants have the nerve to tell the highest-paid players on the squad, "Grab some pine, Meat"?

There are some locks, and some perameters that fuel the specualtion.

It appears the Giants will go with 11 pitchers and 14 position players. I like the move. First, I'm still a bit twitchy from Felipe Alou's inexplicable decision to carry 13 pitchers in 2003 (see Snow reference above). Plus, with the Giants probable starting eight somewhat, uh, challenged defensively, one can expect a lot of mix and match as guys like Burrell or Guillen have to be removed for better gloves should the Giants need to protect a late lead.

But which 11 pitchers do you take? A three-man starting staff of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez has already been announced. Brian Wilson and Sergio Romo are obvious as the closer and set-up man. Bochy relies heavily on Santiago Casilla. Javier Lopez is the lefty specialist de jour. That leaves four spots.

Do you trust Jeremy Affeldt? Did Ramon Ramirez earn a spot? Has Chris Ray? Are Dan Runzler and Guillermo Mota healthy enough to trust in this situation? And in the biggie -- should you need a fourth starter do you go with Zito or rookie Madison Bumgarner? Ouch. Three of these guys ain't gonna be there come Thursday.

Runzler and Mota have health issues, but I'm splitting my call. Runzler goes, Mota stays. Coming off the knee injury, Runzler  has thrown just 2 2/3 innings since the All-Star Break - and he wasn't that dependeable before he got hurt. Love that lefty fastball -- hate the walk rate. Plus, the Giants aren't exactly short of southpaws. Keeping Mota is hard, but he looked great against San Diego. He's only thrown five innings since mid September (and three of that was last weekend), but he gets the nod over Chris Ray, who hasn't been an intergal part of the team.

So it comes down to this: Zito or Bumgarner? Experience or a live arm?

Bye-bye, Zeets.

There's no question that, today, Bumgarner is pitching much better (and in the playoffs you don't need five starters). Will he turn to tapioca in the spotlight? That's the question. Would the Giants be better off going with expereince in a big game?

Well, we saw Zito's performance Saturday, and games don't get much bigger than that. Experience wasn't worth a rip. Throwing strikes impresses me more, and Zito avoided the strike zone like he was lobbing gasoline-filled water balloons and the Padres were swinging torches. Plus, the bullpen really needs to look like a bullpen. It's been one of the more consisent elements of the team over the past two months (that and the lack of offense), so mucking it up by keeping Zito as the potential "long man" is inviting some really bad kharma. Unlike Zito's relief outing versus Cincy earlier this year,  Bumgarner at least has some bullpen experience that doesn't make me cringe.

Position players? Well, again there are locks. Aubrey Huff is the man at first base, Freddy Sanchez holds down second, Pablo Sandoval at third. Across the outfield expect Pat Burrell, Andres Torres and (shudder) Jose Guillen. With two DHs you need defensive outfielders in reserve, and it would be nice if they could hit a bit (that means not swinging a sliders in the dirt) so say hello to Cody Ross and Nate Schierholtz.

So with 14 spots to be awarded, 10 are gone (and we still don't have a shortstop). The remaining candidates: Manny Burris, Mike Fontenot, Darren Ford, Travis Ishikawa, Edgar Renteria, Ryan Rholinger, Aaron Rowand, Juan Uribe and Eugenio Velez. A few cuts are easy. Ford and Rholinger were just September roster filler, and Burriss not muich more than that. But then.....

Okay, let's solve the shortstop issue first. There's no disguising how I feel about Edgar Renteria. Yes, he's a former World Series hero. That was also 13 years ago. In my opinion, he contributes nothing to the team (unless you place a premium on trips to the disabled list). He can't be trusted as the everyday shortstop, so the job falls to Uribe (and his 24 home runs) by default. With Uribe in the line-up, we need a utility infielder, and Fontenot fits the bill. If nothing else, I at least trust him to go three consecutive series (?) without spiking himself.

Two spots left. Burris, Renteria, Ishikawa, Rowand, Velez. Do you want speed? Defense? A bat? Versitility? Tough choices.

I keep Ishikawa. Nothing against Huff. He's done yeoman's service at first base, but in the ninth inning of a critical game, he's the Giants' best defensive option. He's also a semi-competent lefthanded bat. That may not be as big a factor against Atlanta, who has a lefty closer, but who else do you keep? Leave off Ishikawa and your only other option at first is shifting Sandoval across the diamond and putting Fontenot and third -- which mans you're now forced to keep Renteria or Burris to have a reserve on that side. No thanks.

So the final spot comes down to this: Rowand or Velez. Insert your favorite expletive here. I ask the question: What Would Bochy Do?

I've often wondered how either of these guys still has a job. Velez's greatest contribution to the 2010 season was adding to the humor quotient by taking a line drive off his melon. Rowand's greatest contribution was losing his job to Torres. It would be a stuning indictment of the front office to leave three of the team's biggst contracts -- Zito, Renteria and Rowand -- off the postseason roster.

They won't do it. Rowand is number 25.

Hey, the guy is no longer an offensive threat, but as a righty he does give Bochy an option to counter Ishikawa from the port side. And despite his offensive shortcomings, he's still a good defender. Six outfielders is a reach, but not many outfields would include both Burrell and Guillen so perhaps that's a wash. For what it's worth, Rowand has a .478 average (11 for 23) against Game One starter Derek Lowe and a .381 average (8 for 21) against Game Two hurler Tommy Hudson. Hey, if he stinks it up and the Giants advance, they can always make a move.

Oh, wait a mininte. We need a catcher. I guess that kid, what's his name, Posey? Yeah, he'll do. And tell him he can bring that Whiteside guy in case someone needs to carry his jock.

So that's my team.

Rotation: Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Bumgarner (swing man).
Bullpen: Wilson, Romo, Affeldt, Casilla, Lopez, Mota, Ramirez.
Catcher: Posey, Whiteside.
Infielders: Huff, Sanchez, Uribe, Sandoval, Fontenot, Ishikawa.
Outfielders: Burrell, Torres, Guillen, Ross, Rowand, Schierholz.

No way do I excpect the Giants will follow my line of reasoning but I can't wait to see (a) how close I get, and (b) what their reasoning is for the spots where we disagree. Whatever choice is made, we'll have to live with the guys they keep.

Unless, of course, it's Renteria. Oye!


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