Raising Matt Cain

Riot Breaks Out Over Relief

2012-01-27T17:03:00.000-08:00

I stole this headline from a British newspaper about David Cameron's proposed cuts to the welfare system. Wait, what? It's not "a riot," it's "The riot"? Theriot? I remember back about December 9, at 9:28 am, some idiot said, " They also said that they were trying to 'fill the hole at shortstop.' Then, it became 'Crawford's our starter' followed by 'Crawford has yet to demonstrate the ability to hit left handed pitching at any level' followed by, 'We're set at shortstop.'" I guess he was wrong on that, too. Oh well, good thing Bruce Bochy tends to favor up-and-coming young men.

PS. Clay Hensley

Tim and Matt

2012-01-25T07:32:00.000-08:00

I'm surprised, but happy the Giants avoided arbitration with Tim Lincecum. I kept thinking they would make a one-year deal, or even go to arb, and then work on a contract in the next off-season. The Giants do not seem to like the arb process and I can't say I blame them. Far better to negotiate directly than talk a guy down in front of a disinterested party. Tim is going to cost about $25M/year in free agency, but that is now two full seasons away. In 2014 the Giants can buy out Barry Zito for a $7M pittance and that might free them up to be players in the Freak-stakes. Now the Giants and Lincecum can drop the contract talks for the season and bring up the idea of an extension in the 2012-2013 off-season. That's the ideal scenario. If Tim declares free agency after the 2013 season then all bets are off. In a year I'll expect some serious talk about an extension for The Franchise. (Let's hope his agent's words are sincere.) I'm happy to shelve that topic and focus on Timmeh taking the ball every fifth day!

Matt Cain is now on the front burner. This is the negotiating window as his contract expires and he becomes a free agent this fall. There seems to be a sentiment that Cain will sign a "team-friendly" deal (think Jered Weaver, 5/85), but that's just buzz. I have yet to hear anything solid. I get the feeling MC wants to stay in San Francisco, but that's, once again, just speculation. I never blame a player for taking the money. This is their livelihood, they should do what is best for them. I would be devastated if no. 18 left for "greener" pastures--he's my favorite player, not to mention the namesake of the blog. But business is business and I have no beef with that. The Giants supposedly offered Tim a 5-year, $100M deal. I wonder if they'll dangle something similar in front of Matt. I keep thinking that a 5-year, $90M offer would get it done. That's a raise over his 2012 salary ($15.3M) and in line with similar pitchers (Cole Hamels is "only" getting $15M). How about $16/17/18/19/20M for 2013-2017? Would that work?

My enthusiasm for the 2012 Giants is predicated on an extension for Cain. I've believed all along that both sides are committed to getting it done. Now is the time!

--M.C.

Matt and Tim

2012-01-22T10:37:00.000-08:00

Q. What pitchers do you enjoy watching?

A. Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain with San Francisco. Once a year I take my whole wine team down to see the Giants and we meet the players. I’ve never seen anyone pitch like Lincecum that can throw the ball and get through the front leg. He has that stiff front leg. In essence, his throwing arm does not bull whip or backlash. So he doesn’t put all the secondary energy into his shoulder and his elbow. He’s got a chance to pitch for a long time. I don’t like the mechanics from the standpoint of what they do. But he’s learned to compensate and finish with the correct motion.

Q. Is there a pitcher who reminds you of yourself?

A. Cain is very similar mechanically to the way I threw. Very similar.

You can read more of this interview with Tom Seaver here. (Hat tip, Baseball Musings.)

--M.C.

Arb-athon

2012-01-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

The Giants appear to have cleared the arb calendar a bit. Santiago Casilla joins the FNGs (Angel Pagan and Melky Cabrera) as the latest to sign. Nate Schierholtz, Pablo Sandoval, Sergio Romo, and Tim Lincecum remain on the list.

An enjoyable interview with long-time baseball writer Robert Creamer is here. Check it out. Nice to know an old guy is still smart, relevant, and learning new things. Should be an example for us all.

--M.C.

Epiphany

2012-01-06T07:18:00.000-08:00

I remember reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in Mr. Adamo's Senior English class in high school and one of the vocabulary words we had to know was "epiphany." Of course I was familiar with the proper noun being a Catholic school boy, but the word--by itself--was new to me. Ecclesiastically speaking it means "manifestation of a god." But Joyce used it to mean a "leap of understanding, an insight or revelation." I have epiphanies all the goddamn time. Not that they are especially deep or original, but nobody said they had to be. Call 'em what you want: "aha!" moments, brain farts, putting two and two together, etc. I get 'em regularly. I love words that are both sacred and profane, sublime and ridiculous, living in the ethereal plane as happily as the quotidian. Sort of like baseball. It's a kids' game, played on dirt and grass. Yet it is beautiful, and gives me something akin to spiritual satisfaction. It's simple--hit, run, throw, catch. But what makes a team great, or a player achieve, is a mystery. No one has any fucking idea why a guy who hits only three homers in 72 games turns around and hits two homers in six games in the World Series. Winning baseball, despite the best efforts of a lot a bright folks, is not all that amenable to analysis. Ain't that just grand? As the old man used to say, "opinions are like assholes, everybody has one." He sure knew a lot about being an asshole, but that's not the point. The point is, I love the internet. Everybody gets to have their own asshole. I mean opinion! Everyone gets to have their own opinion. Hell, they get to have their own goddamn blog. Look at me! I AM BLOGGER. I HAVE OPINION. Like I said, ain't it grand? Anyway, this is Raising Matt Cain, and we got some bloody serious opinions around here.

Spending The Twelve Days of Christmas opining about the 2012 Giants was a lot of fun. I had a lot of insights, er, epiphanies. Or was it just one? Epiphany, that is. The question I have is "is it still an epiphany if it just reinforces what you already thought?" I mean, I thought the 2012 Giants were going to be a good team. Then I did the posts, and I kept having these deep revelations like "yeah, dude, right on, they are gonna be fuckin' killer." I had one every day. It's not like I sat down at the keyboard thinking "this team sucks they shoulda done this and that" and then Bog And All His Holy Angels And Saints would manifest themselves with heavenly choruses and seraphim and cherubim and whatnot and change my mind. Nor did I leap out of bed "oh boy oh boy oh boy this team is gonna be so fuckin' good I gotta tell the whole world" and start pounding away like a coke fiend who found his misplaced bindle.

I'd say it was Gradualism as opposed to Catastrophism. I set myself to this task (Twelve for 2012) because I love the Giants and wanted to enjoy the interesting team the Brian Trust has assembled. I've had a good feeling about this club since the season was over, but had not really wrapped my mind around it. The more time I spent looking at this roster, the happier I've become. I really like this collection of ballplayers. I think it is a team suited not only to the park but to the times. I like the speed and versatility in the outfield. I like the emerging superstars in the infield. I like holding three aces. I like a deep 'pen. I like the strong core of homegrown talent (of the thirteen I profiled, all were Giants draft picks and/or farm products except the FNGs). I like the mix of VSC and youth. I like the competition at key spots. I like the question marks. I suppose my epiphany is that I like it all--even the flaws in the team. I've always managed to work myself up into the usual "we're gonna win it all" state at some point before Opening Day. I'm a fan, after all, which is shorthand for fanatic. (Or fantasy.) That means I'm a dreamer--I'm always imagining the game-winning hit in the Series and all of us jumping up and down and going crazy. This off-season, though, I find myself at peace. I'm not anxious. I'm not frustrated. I'm relaxed. I'm confident. I feel good. I think it is going to be a fun ride. I can't remember ever having this pax anima. Perhaps I'm just deluded and the team needed Carlos Beltran after all. But it's my delusion and I'm sticking with it!

Thanks for sticking with me and RMC, friend readers. Hope your Twenty-Twelve is all you want it to be.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Twelve for 2012: Melky Cabrera

2012-01-05T10:55:00.000-08:00

I saved the other FNG for last because Melky is short for Melchior**, and legend has it that one of the Magi was named Melchior. Since this is the Twelfth Night--the Eve of the Epiphany--it seemed best to save Melky Cabrera for the end. Most folks did not have poor Melky in mind when the Giants floated the idea of trading Jonathan Sanchez. I think the expectation was that they'd get prospects in return. But with Pat Burrell, Aaron Rowand, and Cody Ross all leaving the club it should not have surprised us that they would want immediate help in the outfield. One thing about Melky I think they liked was "706" as in 706 PA last season. That's a lot of playing time--1339-2/3 innings, in fact. The 2011 Giants used the DL twenty-five times, the most in the majors. You have to figure they were looking for a guy they could plug in every day.

So which Melky are the Giants going to get? The "breakout" Melky from 2011 (.305/.339/.470, 4.2 WAR), the out-of-shape 2010 Melky (.255/.317/.354, -1.0 WAR), or the 2009 World Series champion Yankee Melky (.274/.336/.416, 1.6 WAR)? Cabrera is 27, the age where we always used to talk about a player coming into his prime. The Milk Man rolled out a .769 OPS in his minor-league career, and last year (.809) was the first time he exceeded that in six full seasons in the majors. His career mark is .729 (93 OPS+). Bill James projects .279/.332/.413 (.745) for our FNG which I think undersells him a bit, and ZiPS says .284/.330/.435 (.765) for a 106 OPS+ and 2.7 WAR. Hey, I'll take it!

The trade for Jonathan Sanchez (and, lest we forget, Ryan Verdugo) has been hashed out ad nauseum, I won't dive into that again. There's plenty of digital ink out there for those of you who need more analysis. At this point what's done is done and I'm on board with it--he's our lad now. I'm ready to chant "Le-che, Le-che, Le-che" in the left field bleachers, how about you?

--M.C.

**Or Melquiades (I haven't found a source that lists him other than "Melky") which I'm guessing is the Spanish version of the name, or at least an homage to one of los Reyes. The festival is called El Día de los Reyes in Spanish-speaking countries. The "Three Wise Men" are often called "The Three Kings" although magus (the Latin magi is plural) is probably better translated as "shaman" or perhaps "astrologer" or "alchemist." Obviously it's the source of the English word "magic." Let's hope we get some Melky-magic in 2012!

Twelve for 2012: Ryan Vogelsong

2012-01-04T06:39:00.000-08:00

Ryan Vogelsong was selected by the Giants in the 5th round of the June 1998 draft. He was the 158th player chosen. Aubrey Huff was the 162nd. Andres Torres and Javier Lopez were both taken in the 4th round. Isn't it funny where guys come from and where they wind up? It was not a good time for Giants draft fortunes--Tony Torcato was the team's first pick (#19). The Indians followed with C.C. Sabathia. The 25th pick was also San Francisco's and they selected Nate Bump. Brian Sabean traded him (along with Jason Grilli, also a 1st-rounder, #4 overall in 1997) a year later for Livan Hernandez. That worked out well for the Giants and has to be entered in the ledger as a plus for Sabes. He made another great trade in 2000, sending Vogelsong and Armando Rios to Pittsburgh for Jason Schmidt.

Vogelsong was my favorite story of 2011. He really came out of nowhere and then kicked ass all season long. The standard line is that he can't possibly be that good in 2012. Obsessive Giants Compulsive has the best answer to that--he doesn't have to be. He's our fourth starter, or possibly fifth, depending on Barry Zito. He only has to be better than an average fourth or fifth starter. That I think he will do, and do easily. Fourth and fifth starters aren't very good, and with three aces to start things off I think Vogie can hold his own just fine. Bill James projects him to make 29 starts with a 7.39 K/9 and a 4.01 FIP. That would be sweet! I think it is better than even money that he will have an ERA+ over 100 (it was 132 in 2011, and is 86 for his 500 IP career). FanGraphs lists 50 NL pitchers who qualified for the ERA title (min. 162 IP) last season, and Vogie ranks 27th with 2.4 WAR. Here are some guys who did worse (below 2.0 WAR) than that: Chris Capuano, Wandy Rodriguez, Mike Leake, Brett Myers, Randy Wolf, Ted Lilly, Jake Westbrook, Jason Hammel, Joe Saunders, Tim Stauffer, Aaron Harang, and Bronson Arroyo.

Yeah, I'm glad the Giants are taking their chances with Vogie.

--M.C.

Twelve for 2012: Matt Cain

2012-01-03T11:43:00.000-08:00

Matt Cain got it all started in 2002 when he was the team's number one pick (25th overall). Zack Greinke, Cole Hamels, Nick Swisher, Prince Fielder, Jeremy Guthrie, B.J. Upton, and Scott Kazmir were all in the same draft class. If you sort B-R's 1st round page by WAR, Cain is at the top with 24.7, followed by the rest of the guys in the order above. If I'd asked you before that fact if you'd rather have one of those guys instead of Matt you would likely have said "no way" and you'd be right. FanGraphs says Greinke (28.4) heads the list, followed by Cain (24.2), Fielder (23.4), and Hamels (23.0), but the point stands. Matt is a very valuable guy and matches up with some of the biggest stars in the game. Fielder is going to sign a mega-contract this off-season and Hamels goes to arbitration since his $20.5M three-year deal is up. Cain is looking at $15M for 2012, you can bet Hamels will expect at least that much and that Fielder will command $20M+ per year. The Giants better be looking long and hard at an extension for their big right-hander. He could ask for a $100M deal and not be at all out of line. (MLBTR discusses extensions for both Cain and Hamels. Good stuff.)

Back to our namesake here at RMC. Such an interesting character for such a soft-spoken guy. When they stick the mike in his face he is generally dull and relies on the usual ballplayer platitudes ("Eli called a great game and the guys made some great plays.") At the same time, he's the player rep. He must be reasonably smart and articulate to fulfill that role. Being the longest-tenured Giant I imagine gives him some gravitas and trustworthiness beyond his age (a mere 27). Alabama-born and Tennessee-bred Cain makes his home and is raising his family in San Francisco. How many Giants can say that? Matt lent his voice to the "It Gets Better" campaign (Bravo, Giants). He makes little or no off-season noise, generates no controversy, and always seems to be there when the Giants do some community thing. I think I remember him getting ticked off at one of the Hairston brothers in a ball game, but that's about it. Maybe there was a Dodger game or two where he showed some emotion, I forget. The point is that this guy is so stoic and self-contained as to be almost boring. And he's so consistent and steady when he performs that you don't really appreciate how good he is until the season is over and he's racked up another 200+ innings of first-rate pitching. He has to be taken as a whole. Tim Lincecum is exciting just to watch--the freaky delivery, the chance of a dozen strikeouts, and that ridiculous pitch they flail at every week. Pablo Sandoval is so weird and full of quirks, has outsized emotions, and hits doubles off his shoe tops. Buster Posey makes it looks so easy and was born to speak to a room full of reporters. It isn't hard to imagine him as a manager some day. Brandon Belt looks like he's still a kid and sometimes plays like one. Not Matt. He's been the same from the day he debuted and spent every season getting a little better at doing the same thing over and over again, namely throwing strikes and getting outs. You hear ballplayers talk about "keeping it simple." Look no further than no. 18! I expect more of the same for 2012.

--M.C.

p.s. I was curious about Matt's minor-league teammates and I came up with current Giants Brian Wilson at Fresno in 2005 and Nate Schierholtz at San Jose in 2004. Otherwise he's been around too long. Travis Ishikawa played with Cain in the AZL in 2002, Hagerstown in 2003, and San Jose in 2004.

Twelve for 2012: Pablo Sandoval

2012-01-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

Pablo Sandoval signed a contract with the Giants when he was a mere lad of sixteen. You can do that when you are a foreigner and not part of the MLB amateur draft. I understand the new CBA is supposed to do something about drafting international players, but I've made no effort to understand it. Seems like the draft is a bit of an anachronism in this age of free agency. Ballplayers ought to able to sign with any team they would like. If it's a competitive balance thing, then regulate signing bonuses so not everyone will get bought by the Yankees, and/or limit the number of free agents that can be signed in any one season by any individual team. But that's one of those discussions that needs some research and this is my goddamn holiday. And the amateur draft has worked out well for the local lads lately, wouldn't you say? Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, Tim Lincecum, Sergio Romo, Brian Wilson, Nate Schierholtz, and of course Matt Cain, whose turn is tomorrow. But the Round Mound of Pound, the Kung-Fu Panda himself, was an amateur free agent. Being from Venezuela, he had to be scouted and signed down there. Venezuela, of course, has a rich history of ML players, especially shortstops. Luis Aparicio, Chico Carrasquel, Dave Concepcion, Ozzie Guillen, and Omar Vizquel all manned the six-spot. Cesar Izturis, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Alcides Escobar are continuing that tradition. B-R says that there are 270 guys born in Venezuela who've seen time in The Show.

Pablo, we may have forgotten, signed as a catcher, and donned the tools of ignorance a dozen times in his debut season. (Catching prospect Hector Sanchez is also from Venezuela.) When he found his spot on the diamond--the hot corner--things began to fall into place for him. His 2009 season put him on the NL map and made him one of the most popular players ever in San Francisco. 318 TB and a .330 BA will do that. Being only 23 and suddenly famous, Pablo struggled mightily in 2010 despite the Giants winning the World Series. Note that Juan Uribe got the bulk of the time at 3B in the post-season. We need to be reminded sometimes that ballplayers are people, too. Sandoval clearly had personal issues and lacked a bit of maturity in his second full season. He seemed to put that behind him in 2011 and demonstrated a new level of fitness and commitment to his craft that certainly paid off. Injuries (a familiar refrain) limited him to only 117 games and 466 plate appearances, but The Panda still racked up a .909 OPS (153 OPS+) that rated a .379 wOBA and 5.5 WAR. Sorting FanGraphs for 450+ PA, he places 14th in wOBA and 11th in WAR (sandwiched between Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols).

We've been hearing a lot of hollering from the faithful about the need for a real bat in the Giants lineup. I submit to you one 25-year old from Puerto Cabello, Carabobo. This lad is a real hitter. And he can pick it at third, that we also saw last season. In short, we have a superstar on our hands. I'm expecting very, very, big things from the Panda in 2012. Good thing the Giants saved some money because I expect he'll get a raise in arbitration. He's eligible for free agency in 2015.

--M.C.

Twelve for 2012: Nate Schierholtz

2012-01-01T14:04:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Today we talk about one of my favorite guys--Nate Schierholtz. The Olympian One was plucked out of Chabot College in Hayward in 2003 when he was a 19-year old and swung his way to San Jose by 2005 and on to Fresno in 2008 where he posted a .925 OPS. He got 24 starts for the Giants in RF in 2007 and another 18 in 2008. Things picked up in 2009 with 86 games and 61 starts followed by 109 games and 41 starts in 2010. Last season Nate had the most starts of his career (77) with 70 in RF and 7 in LF. He had the most PA as well with 362. He would have had more but for a season-ending injury in August. Nate's .278/.326/.430 line rates a 112 OPS+ with B-R and a 107 wRC+ with FanGraphs. Would it surprise you that he's about 10% better than the average hitter? I sorted NL hitters with 350+ PA by OPS and discovered that Nate's .756 is 53rd of the 117 listed, sandwiched between Alfonso Soriano and James Loney. Pablo Sandoval was 10th at .909, just behind Carlos Beltran (.910). The rest of the lineup was terrible: Cody Ross 66th (.730), Jeff Keppinger 97th (.677), Aubrey Huff 98th (.676), Andres Torres 111th (.643), and Aaron Rowand 115th (.621). Nate, when given the everyday job, delivered the goods. He wasn't a superstar, but he wasn't asked to be one, either. More important than that, he didn't stink. I know, I know, damning with faint praise. But he didn't. The other guys did stink, and that matters. Note that four of those names are no longer on the team.

I have good feelings about Schierholtz and 2012. He's under team control (arb-eligible this year, FA in 2015), he's not quite 28 (February), and his game is still improving. We've seen his tremendous glove and the value it delivers to the team, now we hope to see his bat show more polish and consistency. He has over 200 more games played in the minors than majors (and over twice as many PA) so he is still developing. I think we saw a lot of positives before the injury and I'm expecting more of the same. If I've learned anything over the years, it is to appreciate what a player can do rather than what he cannot. And that a player who has never had a full season has not had a real chance to reach his full potential. Nate can give the Giants solid production, speed on the bases, and range and athleticism in the field with a deadly goddamn cannon to boot. He needs to stay healthy, be steady, and play his game. If he can do that the 2012 Giants will be much improved over the 2011 version.

May your 2012 be much improved over your 2011!

--M.C.

Twelve for 2012: Brian Wilson

2011-12-31T13:51:00.000-08:00

The Giants landed Jonathan Sanchez in the 2004 June draft. He was the next-to-last (29th) pick of the 27th round, making him the 820th player chosen. Only four other players of the forty-nine chosen that year by the Giants have played in the majors: John Bowker, Clay Timpner, Geno Espineli, and Kevin Frandsen. The highest pick (#70, round 2) was Eddy Martinez-Esteve. The Giants forfeited their first-round pick in compensation for Michael Tucker. Justin Verlander and Jered Weaver were first-rounders that year and Dustin Pedroia and Hunter Pence second-rounders. In 2003, the Giants had a compensation pick in the first round from the loss of Jeff Kent. They selected David Aardsma (#22) out of Rice University, two spots ahead of a high-schooler, also from Texas, named Chad Billingsley. The Giants later bundled Aardsma with Jerome Williams for LaTroy Hawkins. So much for the budding aces! Aardsma seemed like a smart choice at the time--his Owls had just won the CWS with him earning two wins and two saves. That's the way the ball bounces, eh? Nate Schierholtz showed up on the Giants radar in the 2nd round (#63), and picked after Billy Sadler, Pat Misch, and Ryan Sadowski in the 24th round (#723) was The Bearded One himself, Brian Wilson. Notables from the 2003 draft class include Rickie Weeks, John Danks, Nick Markakis, and Aaron Hill.

Bruce Bochy calls him "Willie" and he debuted in 2006 and was given the closer's job in 2008. He started to shine in 2009, cutting down the hits, homers, and walks, and in 2010 he put it all together, whiffing 93 of 311 batters and nailing down 48 saves (leading the NL). In 11-2/3 innings in the post-season he allowed five hits, four walks, one run, and struck out 16, garnering a win and six saves. FanGraphs called it a 2.6 WAR season. 2011 was not so kind to Willie, with an oblique injury derailing his spring. His walks and hits went up and his strikeouts went down. He made 57 appearances, fewest since 2007, finishing 45 games with 36 saves. FanGraphs said it was worth only 0.6 WAR. His two-year $15M deal pays him $8.5M for 2012. His fourth and final arb year is 2013 and he's a free agent in 2014. Tim Lincecum and Santiago Casilla are in the same boat.

You have to figure the organization is going to expect a lot more than 0.6 WAR from Willie and His Beard this coming season. It was clear he was not up to snuff this past season. Wilson is almost two years younger (he turns 30 in March) than Jonathan Papelbon, who was chosen in the 2003 draft as well (4th round), and the new Phillie sets the standard for closers not named Mariano Rivera. Craig Kimbrel, the Braves 23-year old rookie, was the best in the NL in 2011, with guys like John Axford (29 in April) and J.J. Putz (35 in June) a tad lower in the rankings but playing big roles on playoff teams nonetheless. The Giants need Willie to recapture that 2010 magic and be one of the elites again. I'm thinking that a nice, long off-season with lots of healing will be just the ticket.

Fear the Beard!

--M.C.

Twelve for 2012: Sergio Romo

2011-12-30T11:10:00.000-08:00

Sergio Romo was the only bright spot of the 2005 June draft. The Giants had forfeited the first three rounds in free agent compensation (Armando Benitez, Mike Matheny, and Omar Vizquel) and didn't get a shot until they selected Ben Copeland with the 132nd pick. The laundry list of nobodies that followed is impressive: Dan Griffin, Brad Cuthbertson, Joseph Dyche, Scotty Bridges, and so on. The 372nd pick netted Joe Martinez and the 462nd pick Alex Hinshaw. But the gem came in the 28th round, the 852nd pick from the Mesa State College Mavericks, Sergio Romo. Just for fun, check out the first-rounders from 2005: Justin Upton, Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki, Andrew McCutchen, Jacoby Ellsbury, and the like. Wow.

Speaking of wow, that's what I like about Romo--the "wow" factor. He throws that goddamn impossible pitch I call a "fascist groove thang." I get some funny looks when I yell "throw that fascist groove thang, Sergio!" It looks like a fat one right over the middle until it gets some legs a hairsbreadth in front of the strike zone and whoosh it dives outside by a foot and a half and the poor sucker in the box looks like he's trying to take a shit and coax a butterfly to land on the end of the bat at the same time. (Think Aaron Rowand.) Man, this guy is a beast. In the minors he was 17-3 as a starter before becoming a full-time reliever at San Jose in 2007. He struck out 106 of the 247 batters he faced that season and hasn't slowed down since he debuted in the bigs in 2008. Last year was beyond ridiculous as he whiffed 70 of the 175 guys he faced and only allowed 6 walks and 29 hits. His K/9 rate in the minors was 10.1 and it is 10.8 in The Show. He'll be 29 in March and is arb-eligible for the first time. He's a free agent in 2015. The Giants have closer talent in the setup role--how many teams can say that?

--M.C.

p.s. Take a look. The Angels had the foresight to draft a very promising youngster from Lee County HS in Leesburg, Georgia in the final (50th) round with the 1496th pick. Fortunately the lad--a certain Buster Posey--chose college instead. You see? More proof that kids should go to college.

Twelve for 2012: The Freak

2011-12-29T13:13:00.000-08:00

Tim Lincecum was the tenth player taken in the 2006 June amateur draft and took the hill for the Giants in 2007 after only 13 minor-league starts. Since he'd struck out 104 of the 236 batters he'd faced and allowed only 26 hits in the 62-2/3 IP, it seemed like a wise move. FanGraphs says that Evan Longoria (the #3 pick) has racked up a career total of 26.9 WAR for the Rays since his debut in 2008. The only other player from that draft class remotely close is Clayton Kershaw (#7) with 17.1 WAR. He also made The Show in 2008. Tim comes in at 27.9 WAR. Baseball-Reference has its own Wins Above Replacement metric, and it rates Longoria a hair ahead of Tim (24.1 to 22.5), with Kershaw third (16.7), but that's a quibble. He's a great player on a team that's seen three post-seasons in the last four years so I don't begrudge the rankings. Three superstars from the Top 10, with a few other good ballplayers like Drew Stubbs (#8) and Brandon Morrow (#5) to round things out, you'd have to say it was quite a group. Toss in Max Scherzer (#11), Ian Kennedy (#21), Daniel Bard (#28), Joba Chamberlain (#41), and Chris Perez (#42) you've got some serious talent. Oh, and don't forget Emmanuel Burriss (#33)! He was a supplemental pick for the loss of Scott Eyre, another of Sabes' beloved LOOGYs. You have to pity the poor Orioles who took Billy Rowell, a high school third baseman, with the ninth pick. He's one of only two in the first 21 picks who has yet to see ML time.

When I'm on holiday I spend way too much time looking at B-R pages. Sorry about that. The point is that Tim is an über-stud and picking him was the best move the Brian Trust ever made. There was hand-wringing aplenty last season with Tim's drop in strikeouts and increase in walks, but I don't fret about that sort of thing too much. The lack of run support was appalling, something he had never really experienced (unlike Matt Cain!), and overall the team's fielders performed worse than in 2010. Things took their toll. The rest of baseball was gunning for the champs--as they should--and the barrage of injuries was a death blow to the title defense. Still, Tim finished sixth in the Cy Young vote despite a sub-.500 record. He was a beast, just not the best. When you are at the top and slip a little, it seems like a much greater fall. Unfair, sure, but reality. Guys like Tim are used to slugging it out for the big prizes, and I don't see how that's going to be different in 2012. I fully expect him to be at or near the top of the leaderboards once again.

The $100M question, of course, is what will happen with the contract talks. Rumor has it that Tim's agent was looking for an eight-year deal, and I would imagine he was thinking CC Sabathia money (7/161 in 2009, now 5/122), somewhere in the ballpark of $25M per season. The Giants will probably have to pay close to that in arbitration in one of these next two years, and I'm sure would love to settle on a four-year deal of about $100M that would buy out the two remaining arb years and the first two (2014-15) free agent years. But I get the feeling that's it's an "all-or-nothing" gambit on the Lincecum side: if he is indeed The Franchise, he ought to be treated like one. Aaron Rowand's salary comes off the books in 2013, and Barry Zito can be bought out in 2014. I think the Giants would rather go to arb again this season than commit to a "franchise" type deal yet. And who knows? They may never again after Zito. But some money will be freed up in case they decide to go that way. One thing is for sure, they won't want a bidding war like the recent situation with Albert Pujols. Those don't end well. If they are going to keep him around, they'll have one more chance--next off-season--to make that happen. The Cain situation is actually more urgent, and will tell us a lot about the restructured ownership group and The Reign of Larry Baer. I still think he looks a little too much like Maximilien Robespierre.

--M.C.

Twelve for 2012: MadBum

2011-12-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

Clayton Kershaw was the King of the Southpaws in the NL West this past season, and one of the best in baseball. But I think the Giants have a young lefty that's equally as talented who will seize the throne next year and serve notice to the rest of baseball. You win a World Series game on Halloween and you'd think you'd get some bounce, but Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum cast big shadows. That's all about to change. Madison Bumgarner has yet to show us how good he can really be. The 22-year old from North Carolina was 34-6 in 63 games in the minors (355-2/3 IP), 62 of them starts. Those are ridiculous numbers at any level. He struck out 164 guys in his first year in A-ball (141-2/3 IP) when he was 18 years old. He was the 10th selection--straight out of high school--in the 2007 June draft, behind #1 David Price (Vanderbilt) and #5 Matt Wieters (Georgia Tech). Last season FanGraphs rated MadBum 11th in WAR among all pitchers (5.5), just ahead of Cain (5.2). Lincecum was 22nd (4.4), just behind the aforementioned Price (4.7). Speaking of aforementioneds, Kershaw was 4th (6.8), trailing Justin Verlander (7.0), CC Sabathia (7.1) and Roy Halladay (8.2). If you sort the same list by FIP, MadBum is 4th (2.67), Cain 7th (2.91), and Lincecum 18th (3.17). The top thee spots are no surprise: Halladay (2.20), Kershaw (2.47), and Cliff Lee (2.60).

I told myself I wasn't going to go all number-y, and here I am a-numbering. Besides, who can trust metrics that dis on The Franchise? The Freak walked a few more guys than usual, but he was still better than a dozen guys ahead of him on both those lists. But that's another post. This one is about the kid who struck out 191 and walked only 56 in 204-2/3 IP. Whoops, there I go again. It's hard to stop. MadBum won the clincher in Atlanta in the 2010 LDS in his maiden post-season start. When he got his cup of coffee in 2009 he was the youngest player in the NL. (Cain earned the same distinction in 2005.) He's still the youngest guy on the staff, even younger than Eric Surkamp. The sky is the limit on this guy. He is one of the main reasons I'm so excited about next season--I really believe he is only beginning to develop his game. We got a taste this past season of what a three-headed beast the rotation can be when Tim, Matt, and MadBum all threw 33 starts and 200+ innings. I expect no less this coming season.

--M.C.

p.s. Tim Alderson was also a 1st round pick (#22, a compensation pick from the Dodgers for Jason Schmidt). Like MadBum he came straight from HS, but has yet to see ML time. The Giants lost him in the Freddy Sanchez trade. The only other notables from that draft were Dan Runzler (9th round, #284), and Joe Paterson (10th round, #314) who the Diamondbacks obtained via Rule V. He pitched 1/3 of an inning in the NLDS against Milwaukee (strikeout). Steve Edlefsen was the 494th pick (16th round). Farmhands Wendell Fairley, Nick Noonan, Jackson Williams, and Charlie Culberson were also taken in the same draft in the first round. Fairley (#29) and Noonan (#32) were compensation for Moises Alou, and Williams (#43) was part of the Schmidt deal. Culberson (#51) was, believe it or not, from the loss of Mike Stanton. He was a Giant in 2006 (Sabes loves a LOOGY) after signing a free agent deal with Washington and then being traded for Shairon Martis. Help me, I'm stuck in a B-R trivia quagmire!

Twelve for 2012: Buster

2011-12-27T07:44:00.000-08:00

We talked about the draft class of 2008 and the jewel of that group: the one and only Buster Posey. He's a guy that doesn't need a last name. "Buster" is enough. He came to the Giants fully formed: ready to play, ready to win, ready to have microphone in his face. I'm still in awe of his sangfroid during the 2010 stretch run and post-season. He was so collected and self-contained and always managed to find the right words and the perfect tone in those endless stupid TV interviews. I imagine he'll be a Senator one day, an unfortunate waste of his talent, but a perfect capstone to his All-American Boy career. It doesn't take much of a stretch to say that he was the difference-maker. The 2009 team and the 2011 team did not get to have their full allotment of Posey and both teams fell short of the NL West title. Once he was ensconced as the everyday catcher the 2010 team was complete and they ran the table and grabbed the ring. If there was ever a player that should be called Team Captain and have a goddamn 'C' stitched on his uniform, it's Gerald Demp. I can't wait to see him back on the field every day next season. The baseball brass really ought to change that stupid rule about home-plate collisions. Hell, they did for second baseman! But I don't expect that to happen. Can't let people think the game is for sissies, can we?

Buster will be 25 in March. Four players were selected ahead of him in the June draft: Tim Beckham, Pedro Alvarez, Eric Hosmer, and Brian Matusz. Hosmer is only 21 and was drafted out of high school. Jonathan Sanchez will be his teammate this season. Beckham, also 21 and a HS pick, has not seen ML time. Alvarez is from Vanderbilt, Matusz from the University of San Diego, and Buster from Florida State.

Hope you are all enjoying the Twelve Days of Christmas. GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Twelve for 2012: The Brandons

2011-12-26T12:12:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm cheating. There will be thirteen Giants on my 2012 radar. It's a devil's dozen--perfect for Christmas. Besides I'm a 13 kind of guy, being born on Friday the 13th and all. Brandon Crawford gets the first nod as he was drafted in 2008, a year before Brandon Belt. The most famous and accomplished of the 2008 class is Buster Posey, the 5th pick that year. Crawford was a 4th-rounder, #117 overall, behind Conor Gillaspie (#37, 1st-suppplemental) and Roger Kieschnick (#82, 3rd round). Edwin Quirarte came in the 5th round (#147) and Eric Surkamp in the 6th (#177). The Giants selected 50 players in that draft.

Crawford comes to the Giants from UCLA (my brother's alma mater), the same school that produced the likes of Chase Utley, Eric Byrnes, Troy Glaus, Dave Roberts, and Eric Karros. He sports a .266/.331/.403 line in 1107 minor league plate appearances and a .204/.288/.296 line for The Show (220 PA). The Giants say they are going to start the kid at shortstop in 2012. It is a bold move. Or, it is a crazy, desperation move for a team that wouldn't spend an extra nickel in the off-season and gave Orlando "44 OPS+" Cabrera 39 games and 133 PA in 2011. Which one do you like? I like the ballsy, savvy, counter-intuitive, anti-B&S-veteran-fixation kinda thing. He certainly has a big-league glove, better than any Giants infielder since Omar Vizquel, and better than any Giants-bred SS since Chris Speier. FanGraphs gives him a positive WAR (0.5), pretty tough to do with a 66 OPS+, so they think he's got some serious game on the defensive side as well. Mark Belanger had a career 68 OPS+ over 18 seasons. There was a time when shortstops weren't expected to hit, especially on a pitching-dependent team. I wonder if you can still play that kind of ball in the NL today! Crawford will be 25 on January 21st.

Speaking of hitting, Brandon Belt is the best minor league hitter the Giants have produced in a long time, even topping Buster's numbers. Belt--he with the perfect name for a slugger--has a ridiculous .343/.457/.596 track record and 399 total bases in 189 games for San Jose, Richmond, and Fresno. The dude can rake. We all know about the yo-yo treatment he got last season, and we are all expecting some of the same this season, what with Ten Million Dollar Man Aubrey Huff getting all the VSC love from Big Head. Belt will likely see some time in the outfield, too, this despite the fact that both FNGs are OFs and Nate Schierholtz is still around. Alas, the youngster is going to have to impress the brass--again. There were times last year when he looked absolutely lost at the plate, yet he still managed to post a league-average 101 OPS+ (.225/.306/.412) which was better than many sporting the orange-and-black did in 2011 (including Huff). Belt is clearly the first baseman of the future. Even if Huff repeats his stellar 2010 I think it is safe to assume they'll send the 35-year old on his way (the 2013 club option has a $2M buyout). Belt will be the Man with the Mitt for the next several seasons, and that's pretty damn exciting. Young, talented, and cost-controlled, the three best things a player can be in the modern game. I'm supposed to talk about 2012, though, and it is hard to figure what will happen. Bill James projects him as a full-time starter with an eye-popping .266/.358/.482 and 25 HR. Hey, I'll take it. I think it is more likely he'll be platooning as I imagine his struggles last season were more about maturity than skill. I'm actually not worried about Belt. He'll get his chances and I think we'll get to see some great stuff. He'll be 24 on April 20th.

Happy St. Stephen's Day!

--M.C.

p.s. Belt was a 5th-rounder in 2009, the 147th pick overall, from the University of Texas. That was Zack Wheeler's class (he was #6 overall). Tommy Joseph (2nd, #55), Chris Dominguez (3rd, #86), and Jason Stoffel (4th, #117) filled out the rest of the top five of the fifty players chosen. Much-hyped Stephen Strasburg was number one that year, and Dustin Ackley number two. Giants fans may remember Mike Minor (#7, Braves) and Mike Leake (#8, Reds) throwing zeros and picking up wins against the 2011 team.

Twelve for 2012: Ángel Pagán

2011-12-25T12:02:00.000-08:00

The FNGs may not be sexy, but they are important. And who can have Christmas without an angel? Or a pagan, for that matter. All that tree stuff, gifts, holly, mistletoe, yule logs, and egg nogs are thoroughly pre-Christian. Like you think they had fecking snow in Bethlehem? But we'll let other folks fight the Xmas Wars. Over here at RMC we like parties and happy times and could give a farthing's heap o'gobshite which godly or godless time you prefer. Speaking of happy times, I think 2012 will be some happy times for Giants fans. I think the team is loaded with talent. Angel Pagan, like the man he's replacing, was a part time player until 2010. Andres Torres (I'll miss you, lad) won everyone's hearts, and deservedly so. Here's a career snapshot:

Year    Age   Tm   G   PA   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS  BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS OPS+  TB
2009     31  SFG  75  170  30  41  6  8  6  23  6  1  16  45 .270 .343 .533 .876  126  81
2010     32  SFG 139  570  84 136 43  8 16  63 26  7  56 128 .268 .343 .479 .823  122 243
2011     33  SFG 112  398  50  77 24  1  4  19 19  6  42  95 .221 .312 .330 .643   82 115
7 Seasons        415 1423 197 308 79 21 27 118 60 21 131 325 .244 .318 .403 .721   97 510
162 Game Avg.    162  555  77 120 31  8 11  46 23  8  51 127 .244 .318 .403 .721   97 199

And now the FNG:

Year    Age   Tm   G   PA   R   H  2B 3B HR RBI SB CS  BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS OPS+  TB
2009     27  NYM  88  376  54 105  22 11  6  32 14  7  25  56 .306 .350 .487 .837  122 167
2010     28  NYM 151  633  80 168  31  7 11  69 37  9  44  97 .290 .340 .425 .765  108 246
2011     29  NYM 123  532  68 125  24  4  7  56 32  7  44  62 .262 .322 .372 .694   93 178
6 Seasons        541 1994 263 504 100 27 33 209 95 26 149 293 .279 .331 .418 .750  101 757
162 Game Avg.    162  597  79 151  30  8 10  63 28  8  45  88 .279 .331 .418 .750  101 227

Both men have played all three OF positions in the last three years, but it is the 8-spot that matters. B-R keeps track of games played, starts, and complete games per position. Torres has a 227/163/144 total (1584 innings) for CF while Pagan's line is 276/266/249 (2343-2/3 innings). Torres was the best I've ever seen out there, with the possible exception of Darren Lewis. DLew won a Gold Glove in 1994, not bad for a guy sporting an 87 OPS+. Pagan will probably be a drop-off from Torres, but not enough for concern. He'll be a solid presence with speed and good range. He's younger, too. He doesn't have to be a star, just a steady contributor. He'll probably walk a little less than Torres, but hit a little better and not strike out as much. He won't have Andres' pop, but he'll be a better base runner. The Giants are gambling that Andres' best days are behind him and that Angel has some more left in the tank. I putting my money with the shooter on this roll.

Eleven more to go!

--M.C.

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/25/2011.
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/25/2011.

Happy Christmas, mates

2011-12-24T15:05:00.000-08:00

So you've picked up the story by now about Bud & His Billionaires giving the nod to the Athletics moving from Oakland to San Jose. I'm sure LarryB & The Consortium will fargle something about "territorial rights" and demand deceased presidents by the pallet-full, but I've no sense about money-making or corporate voodoo. If I did I'd be in The Marketplace making markets or something, fingering my filthy lucre. But you don't come to Raising Matt Cain for sober analysis. I assume Lewie & The Wolffs will have to make some kind of payoff, maybe they'll bungle it and scandals will ensue. That might make the thing exciting. I think the Giants should move their San Jose farm club to Oakland--that'll show 'em!

But it's Christmas Eve and all, don't want no Grinchitude spoiling things. I'll be posting a series over the next two weeks I'll call "Twelve for 2012." I'll look at twelve 2012 Giants and get excited about watching them play this upcoming season. It's the Twelve Days of Christmas, after all.

We'll have an epiphany at the end.

--M.C.

Guys Who Were Giants Sign

2011-12-22T10:53:00.000-08:00

With other teams. See this. Oh, and this guy apparently signed with St. Louis.

Eli Whiteside ... Really?

2011-12-19T07:13:00.000-08:00

I assume that the collective lack of activity on the blog during the last few days is because we have all been reeling from the stunning news that the Giants have signed Eli Whiteside to a major league contract. Not a minor league contract, like the Marlins gave Aaron Rowand, but a major league, occupy a 40-man roster spot & block a perhaps legit player, contract. Let's mull this one over:

- Eli Whiteside's biggest claim to fame is his silly hairdo.
- In 2010, Eli Whiteside was the ultimate in 'right place at the right time'. He earned a lot of money, a trip to White House, & multiple valuable prizes for not playing a single inning of the NLDS, NLCS, & WS.
- In 2011, in a career high 236 AB's, he hit .197.
- In 2011, he was the worst hitter in baseball from July onward (when the Giants really needed him).
- His career OBP is .274.
- Hitting is his strong suit.

To put it plainly, if Buster Posey were to have some sort of setback (or merely needed a few days off), is Eli Whiteside a person you would want in-the-mix to pick up the pieces?

Having said that, here is my take on the catching situation:

Chris Stewart

- As I've mentioned, ever since the days of Tim McCarver & Steve Carlton, I've detested the notion of a 'personal Catcher'. Therefore, I detest the notion that Chris Stewart is Tim Lincecum's personal Catcher. The Manager has to put the best lineup on the field every day, & it is his decision based upon lots of factors. It should not the Pitcher's decision, & every Pitcher should be ready to pitch to every Catcher.
- Chris Stewart is almost as anemic a hitter as Eli Whiteside.
- Chris Stewart has a reputation as a great defensive Catcher, but that reputation seems to be based upon a handful of flashy throws. I remember an equal number of disastrously wild & ill-timed throws. I don't buy that Chris Stewart is a great Catcher.
- Chris Stewart is not the answer.

Hector Sanchez

- Hector Sanchez appears to be able to hit, so that offers hope.
- Hector Sanchez apparently is an OK Catcher, but nothing great.

There are no compelling reasons to keep either Whiteside or Stewart. If I were calling the shots, I would be finding a reliable veteran backup, plus sticking with Sanchez. If we go with 3 Catchers, Sanchez stays up. If we don't, Sanchez goes to Fresno.

Of course, now we have committed $600,000/$175,000 &, more importantly, a 40-man roster spot, to Whiteside, so, once again, we have tied up some resources on a player with little to offer.

(Affeldt $ + Fontenot $ + Mota $ + Whiteside $ almost gets you a Beltran ... would you rather have Beltran/Runzler/Burriss/Hembree on the ML Roster or Whiteside/Affeldt/Fontenot/Mota? This is a question in all seriousness, because we are already going to be paying Runzler, Burriss, & Hembree anyway. In my opinion, that trio is almost as good as Affeldt, Fontenot, & Mota, while Beltran obviously represents a significant upgrade over Whiteside.)

Proud Sponsor!

2011-12-12T18:48:00.000-08:00

Raising Matt Cain is now the proud sponsor of Conor Gillaspie! At least his page on Baseball-Reference. I used to sponsor Matt Cain, but he got a little expensive. Conor Michael Gillaspie was a bit more in my price range. (That means I'm cheap.) So, check out Conor Gillaspie.

Gillaspie was a first-round pick the same year as Buster Posey (Gerald was fifth overall). CMG was a "supplemental pick," compensation for Pedro Feliz, and was the 37th man chosen. I have a soft spot for the lad and hope he becomes Freddy Sanchez' backup. I mean the guy they use other than Mike Fontenot (I prefer him over Jeff Keppinger) and (gulp) Emmanuel Burriss. Not to dog on Manny, but I think they are dreaming. Of course, he was a first-rounder (no. 33), the same year (2006) Tim Lincecum was picked tenth.

You want a Youth Movement? We got a Youth Movement. Go, C.M.!

--M.C.

Ángel in the outfield

2011-12-07T07:11:00.000-08:00

The Giants just don't like guys from Puerto Rico. That's got to be it. No Jonathan Sanchez, no Andrés Torres, and probably no Carlos Beltrán. Maybe if the island became the 51st state things might change. But for now I see a clear institutional bias, and I think an exposé will launch my investigative reporting career. But that's for later. Right now I have to say "adios" to a truly beloved Giant, Andrés Torres. He was the best CF in baseball in 2010 and a huge part of the championship team. Even as a mere 5th OF he won the hearts of fans with acrobatic catches, timely bombs, and pesky steals. We loved his athleticism, enthusiasm, and humility. I cried when he was given his richly-deserved Willie Mac Award. His long career, bouncing around the minors and majors before finally finding success in San Francisco, is storybook stuff. Losing JSanchez was definitely an "ouch" moment. He was a true Giant, and part of the Youth Corps that led us all to the land of milk and honey. But losing Torres is a gut punch. I loved that guy. It was impossible not to! When Aaron Rowand would stink, I'd grumble and moan and holler "get rid of the bum!" When Torres struggled I winced in silent pain and prayed that he'd look better the next time he was up. So long, Andrés, I wish you well. (You know he will go 11-17 with 2 HR, 4 SB, and 3 impossible catches when the Mets come to town next season. You just know he will.)

The Giants also gave up Ramón Ramírez in the trade. He pitched in 66 games last year and is a pretty solid guy to have in the bullpen. In 2010 he allowed only TWO earned runs in 27 IP during the stretch run after some rather rocky times in Boston (21 ER in 42 IP). That World Series roster is getting whittled down: JSanchez, Torres, Ramirez, Burrell, Ishikawa, Rowand, Uribe, and Rentería are all gone. There's a good chance that Mike Fontenot and Cody Ross will not return in 2012. Guillermo Mota is also on the bubble, maybe he'll be back with the open spot in the 'pen.

Ángel Pagán projects to be the Opening Day CF and that will likely move newcomer Melky Cabrera to LF. The UZR crowd will be happy (how can anyone trust a metric that rates Nate Schierholtz as a poor defender?). He looks like a good acquisition. We'll lose a little on defense (nobody fields the 8-spot like Torres) but probably gain a bit on offense. He turned 30 in July. A quick check of his B-R page shows he's from--wait for it--Puerto Rico!! So much for my thesis.

--M.C.

Isn't One of the Benefits of Winning Supposed to the Ability to Sustain Winning?

2011-12-06T07:26:00.001-08:00

The Giants' behavior this off-season continues to mostly depress me, with occasional rays of hope quickly dashed by official or unofficial statements. We are a cash-rich team, fresh off the paraphanelia-sellling, 81-game consecutive sellout aftermath of our first Championship in the SF era. This Championship was primarily built upon a fantastic young Starting Pitching staff & Closer, all of whom were paid much less than their true value, due to their relative youth. Unlike some other recent winning teams (e.g. both of the Florida Marlin winners), they were not a group of mercenaries, quickly assembled for instant glory, off to better pastures in the free agent market. When a Team is already pretty wealthy & is blessed with this type of good fortune, there should be solid motivation to do whatever it takes to keep winning, including investing some of the windfall into the sustained winning. The word ‘dynasty’ rightfully crops up.

Instead, we are treated to occasional news about contact between the Team & Agents for Lincecum & Cain & lukewarm crap about maybe trying to re-sign Carlos Beltran, along with endless links between the Giants & a cavalcade of marginal second or third-tier players. We don't deserve this. We have been long-suffering, but loyal, for years. We got the Championship, & we deserve a sustained effort to continue competing for the Championship. Yet, the Team has retreated back into poor-boy incrementalism. The Giants can afford much, much more.

The level to which this has degenerated was illustrated by how excited I got yesterday morning to hear that the Giants were going in for a Japanese SS who was a complete mystery to me. At least it was someone out-of-the-box, a SS with a bit of pop who could platoon with Crawford. Mostly, it was because it wasn’t some 38-year old guy with a lifetime OBP of less than .300. If a success at the ML level, maybe Nakajima could slide over to take over from F. Sanchez at some point in the future. The Crawford/Nakajima double-play combo was going to be an anchor of the franchise … my mind was racing. That hope was dashed in about 5 seconds, when I immediately read that it had been reported that the Giants had denied the report. Later in the day, just to squash my hopes entirely, a credible source confirmed that the Giants had denied the report.

The Pujols/Fielder thing should have never been 'out of the question', but I will accept that it is. One has to draw the line somewhere, I suppose.

The Reyes/Rollins thing should have never been 'out of the question', & I am quite peeved that the Team won't go there. Reyes signed a contract that was in the realm of possibility for the Giants, meaning that Rollins will sign a contract that is definitely something that the Giants could afford.

The re-sign Beltran thing is a 100% no-brainer - we should be in that one with both feet. As I've said before, I can't think of a hitter whose swing is more perfectly tailored to our ballpark. The kind of money being talked about for Beltran is well within our capability to pay & much less disruptive to our salary structure than a Pujols / Fielder / Reyes / Rollins move. He instantly makes our lineup legitimate, & that should be our goal - a legitimate lineup to go with our superior pitching.

The long-term deals with Cain & Lincecum will probably happen, although I'm a bit worried about Lincecum's desire for an 8-year deal. Having gone through the Zito episode, the Giants are going to be hesitant to go there. Still, somewhere in my heart, I have to believe that the Giants know that they must secure Cain, Lincecum, &, eventually, Bumgarner for the long haul. Sandoval is a probable future long-term deal that must be made, although I am looking for confirmation that he is serious about year-to-year conditioning & that his right-handed swing has returned to normal.

I live in Portland, Oregon. Giants’ gear is all around me, easily surpassing any other Team’s gear, including the ‘local’ Mariners. I root for one of the richest, most recognizable Teams in MLB. The Giants need to sign Beltran to a nice 3-year deal, while continuing to push for the Cain & Lincecum deals. That is my agenda. That should be the Team’s agenda. I will not listen to any economic reasons not to do that. They owe us this. They owe us a legitimate lineup.

Bochy, Sabean, and news

2011-11-30T08:43:00.000-08:00

The 2.5-headed duo of Bruce Bochy and Brian Sabean have had their contracts extended through 2013 with an option for 2014!!! OK, anyone surprised by that statement isn't going to be surprised by me printing it here. After all, it's late November. Only baseball nerds would read this site at this time of year, and baseball nerds already know this.

This morning, however, I read that the newly fiscally-secure Brian Sabean wants to trade Ramon Ramirez or Jeremy Affeldt. Didn't we just sign half of those guys? Actually, the idea makes sense. Sabean signed these guys because there is a dearth of lefty relievers around (Ramirez is a righty). Because of that, lefty releivers are valuable commodities to many teams, inlcuding the Giants. In addition to Affeldt, we have Dan Runzler and Javier Lopez to fill that role. If Barry Zito starts, Eric Surkamp may be another. Oh, and don't forget our stengths of Sergio Romo, and Santiago Casilla from the right, in addition to Ramirez. I'm just saying that if you want a good player in a trade, you have to have something good to give. And lefty relievers may be just that valuable of a trade bait so that Mr. Sabean can fish up something worthwhile in return. Names anyone?

Name dropping

2011-11-28T16:11:00.000-08:00

I've been wondering why there has been so little interest in the big-name free agents this off-season. After all, there are some seriously big names in the pool. Albert Pujols is arguably the greatest right-handed hitter of all time, and he's hardly managed a sniff. Prince Fielder, all of 27, is every bit as good as fellow first basemen Ryan Howard, Mark Teixeira and Adrián González, all who have signed mega-deals in the last few years. I suppose that might just be the problem. The big spenders have already got their 3-position locked up. The Phils have Howard until at least 2016 ($25M/yr), same for the Yanks and Teixeira ($22.5M/yr), and the Sawx have González until 2018 ($21.5M/yr). The three clubs who toss around the most money are not interested. I imagine Pujols will wind up back in St. Louis. The Dodgers were supposedly interested in Fielder, but that organization is in a mess and it seems unlikely they can think about another long-term deal until the ownership question is settled. Jimmy Rollins and José Reyes are some other big names who can't seem to generate excitement. I wonder if the poor market will continue. The new CBA is in place, and the Winter Meetings are just around the corner, so perhaps things will pick up. If not, a guy like Carlos Beltrán could be had for much less (money and years) than most expected at the end of the season. That might make the Giants pursue him a little more seriously. I get the feeling--and I certainly hope--that they are lukewarm on him until the Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum negotiations are completed. The Freak may not bother and simply let the arbitration process decide things, but I expect Cain and the Giants will work something out. In the meantime, I'm content to watch. And I'm happy that we know we will have five more years of uninterrupted baseball.

--M.C.

The price of success

2011-11-18T07:36:00.000-08:00

Only Baseball Matters has a post that echoes what we've talked about here, namely that Clayton Kershaw ought to thank the Giants for his newly-minted CYA. He had a sensational season, and was a deserving winner, but if I were a Phillies fan I'd feel like Roy Halladay was robbed. After all, Halladay led all pitchers with 8.2 WAR (Kershaw was 2nd in the NL with 6.8 but 4th overall behind C.C. Sabathia and Justin Verlander) and with a 2.20 FIP, and lead the NL with a 164 ERA+. He completed 8 of his 32 starts and only walked 35 guys and gave up 10 HR in 233-2/3 IP. However you slice it, the guy was a beast, and pitched in a little tougher park to boot. But I don't get too excited about the BBWAA these days. I don't really care who gets what trophy. The only one that matters is the shiny one with all the flags on it. What I find interesting is that young Mr. Kershaw (he'll be 24 in March) is still under the Dodgers control. He goes to arbitration for the first time this off-season and won't be a free agent until 2015. Mr. Halladay makes $20M/year. That brings me to the Giants "co-aces." Matt Cain needs an extension (FA 2013) and would not be unreasonable asking for more than the $15M he'll make this season. Four years, $70M? Tim Lincecum is looking at two more seasons of arbitration (FA 2014) and will no doubt get a raise ($14M in 2011). Could they get him to sign for four years and $85M? The Giants still have the cost-controlled studliness of Madison Bumgarner, Pablo Sandoval, and Buster Posey, a nice little core of young talent any team would envy. The Dodgers just pulled a stunner, locking up superstar Matt Kemp for EIGHT years (reputedly worth $160M). He'll be in Dodger blue until he is 34! I don't see the Giants doing that after the Barry Zito fiasco. Barry Bonds signed a 7-year deal in 1993, but that was so long ago no one remembers. Bob Quinn was the GM at the time in case you forgot. Speaking of team leadership, Larry Baer is the New Sheriff in Town, having just gotten the nod from the Owner's Cabal to be the team's vote-caster. It is hard to say what that means. I expect things won't change a whole lot, but there is a sort of Robespierre-like mien to him, wouldn't you say? As long as his Reign of Terror nets more shiny trophies, I'll look the other way when the guillotine falls.

--M.C.

Oh Boy ... More Inter-League Play!

2011-11-14T14:34:00.000-08:00

Here's some fun news ... apparently, the Astros are moving to the AL in 2013. As part of the proposed new MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement, there will now be six 5-team divisions, with an even number of teams in each league. That means that every single day of every single season, someone will be playing an inter-league game. In fact, according to the story I just read, there will be 'considerably more inter-league play'. Somehow, I have a feeling that this means that we'll end up playing the A's more than anyone else. Overall, it sounds like a scheduling debacle. Let's enjoy our final season of even numbers of teams in each league, the way that God intended it to be.

Oh ... and sign C-L-B (Cain, Lincecum, & Beltran)!

And, Ryan Doumit is a decent player, but wants a lot of money to be a back-up Catcher. Is Hector Sanchez not the answer? Well, no, he may not be, but I don't know about that kind of money for Doumit. He is a switch-hitter & plays 1B & OF, too, so those are plusses.

You Get to Do the Lightning-in-a-Bottle Thing Once

2011-11-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

You get to do the Lightning-in-a-Bottle thing once. Our time was 2010. I am very happy about that & don't expect it to happen again. The odds are worse than 1 in 30. Probably, 3 years out of 4, a really good team wins it all. The other year is the lightning-in-a-bottle year. Therefore, the odds of lightning-in-a-bottle are about 1 in 120.

You build consistent success by investing in sizable improvements. When you have the resources to do so, there is no excuse for not doing so. Otherwise, you will sink back into the mediocre mire.

The 2011 Texas Rangers provide a great example of how to run an MLB Team. As Mark pointed out a couple of weeks ago, reaching the World Series in consecutive seasons is an amazing feat. As happy as I am that the Cardinals won, I still give the Rangers credit for getting there again, & getting there in the way that they did.

Between the 2010 & 2011 seasons, Texas acquired Adrian Beltre to, effectively, replace an aging Vlad Guerrero. And, in one of the less-noticed, but substantial moves of the off-season, they acquired Mike Napoli to replace the retiring & chronically ineffective Bengie Molina. This transformed their lineup from powerful to over-the-top powerful. That 3 through 7 of Hamilton, Young, Beltre, Cruz, & Napoli was a core 5 right up there with any team in recent memory. They also found some fine pitching, both in-house & via the trade market. Picking up Mike Adams was the best move that they made in mid-season. They knew that Cliff Lee was going to be gone, but they knew that they had the arms to replace him (besides, he lost both games in the World Series!).

Meanwhile, after a cruddy 2011 season (although not cruddy at the box office or in sales of merchandise), we are tossing around lightweight moves (e.g. Bloomquist, Carroll, now Barmes). Our team should be thinking much bigger than that, or we will be back in the mediocre mire.

I am only OK with turing SS over to Crawford, if we sign Beltran. Otherwise, Crawford needs to go to Fresno. Signing a Rollins for 2 years (first year as a starter, second year as a part-time starter & mentor) makes sense to me. Getting a real 5th starter (Mark Buehrle is my latest favorite, but others would work out well), so that we are not trotting Barry Zito out there & praying, should be on our list.

We need to decide whether we are going for consistent success, or just waiting for our next turn at lightning-in-a-bottle, which may take 30 to 120 years. I'm for trying to guarantee continued success.

Youth, the final frontier

2011-11-10T07:17:00.000-08:00

John Shea recently made the point that the Giants are getting younger. Jonathan Sanchez (Nov '82) was the oldest member of the vaunted Youth Starting Corps that led the club to the title in 2010. Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and the barely-legal Madison Bumgarner are all younger than JS. The rest of the ro' is filled out with old guys Ryan Vogelsong and Barry Zito, but Eric Surkamp, all of 23, is knocking on the door. It is a different story in the 'pen, filled with the likes of Jeremy Affeldt, Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez, Guillermo Mota, and Santiago Casilla, but no one is complaining about gray hair in that bunch, and we may have seen the last of WillyMo, The Great Old One. Sergio Romo, Dan Runzler, Steve Edlefsen, and Waldis Joaquin are all younger than JS, with Brian Wilson (Mar '82) just ahead. Like I said, no one is complaining about the bullpen, and we all know how much Boch-n-Rags value experience. What's interesting to me is what the lineup will look like next season. Other than oldsters Freddy Sanchez and Aubrey Huff on the right side of the infield, the rest of the club is 28 years old or younger. Not-quite-a-rookie-anymore Brandon Crawford looks like he'll get the nod at short. Pablo Sandoval is still absurdly young, as is Buster Posey. Nate Schierholtz (Feb '84) is the senior member of the outfield, edging newcomer Melky Cabrera (Aug '84) and lapping Baby Giraffe Brandon Belt (Apr '88). WHEN'S THE LAST TIME THE GIANTS FIELDED A TEAM LIKE THIS ONE?

I'm ready to take my chances with this bunch of kids. We know the pitching is there. We know the offense is a question mark. But all I see is upside. LOTS of upside. Who is ready to embrace The Youth Movement with me?

--M.C.

Sanchez Out / Melky In

2011-11-07T12:47:00.000-08:00

So SF Giants.com just reported the trade of Jonathan Sanchez for Melky Cabrera. All my hard work in the previous posts went for naught. The Giants also threw in minor league pitcher Ryan Verdugo.

Melky "Leche" Cabrera is 27 years old. That's a good thing. You can view his stats here. This is what this tells me:

1) The Giants have given up on Andres Torres and are do not intend to make more than a cursory pass at Carlos Beltran. Probably not even that.
2) The Giants have given up on Jonathan Sanchez. Too bad, for those of you who might mention that we would not have to see him (as a Giant) in the post season again, I would remind you that the Giants would not have been in the 2010 postseason without his efforts.
3) Maybe that means they will explore a shortstop, ignoring the excellent glove work of Brandon Crawford. Mabye not.
4) Ladies and Gentlemen, your starting pitcher, Barry Zito.

Last year Leche hit .305, which is significantly better than his 2010 season with Atlanta, in which he hit .255 (a post-rookie season low). His OBP is not too impressive, .331 lifetime and .339 last year. He also can steal bases, 20 last year, although he was caught stealing 10 times. Last year he also had career highs in doubles and home runs. Lets hope he is maturing with some power. He will undoubtedly be playing center field and batting lead off.

The first time he does something good, the headlines will be "Dulce de Leche." I should have been in advertising.

On Whether the Giants Can Afford Carlos Beltran

2011-11-05T11:35:00.000-07:00

OK, that is probably not the best title for this post. “Afford” implies that I have some knowledge of the Giants finances, and I don’t. Perhaps a better title would be “On Whether the Giants Are Likely to be Able to Produce a Successful Bid for Free Agent Carlos Beltran. The answer to that question is, in my view, “Yes.”

The conventional wisdom says the Carlos Beltran will demand (and receive) a fiver year contract. The conventional wisdom also asserts that the Giants will be able to be outbid by other teams that either have deeper financial resources or that have fewer sunk costs, meaning existing salary commitments. But let's examine how valuable Carlos Beltran would be and who would be the likely bidders for him.

I have observed is that there are two levels of superstars. The upper level tends to get a lot of money. Their contracts, even in today’s recession-limited market, are stratospheric (and remember, from the Giants’ attendance figures in 2011, their market is decidedly not recession-limited). But then you see a drop off, and superstar free agents who are not the very cream of a given year’s crop tend not to have the high profile interest that the tippy-top guys get. Carlos Beltran is not the premier free agent on the market. That would be Albert Pujols, followed closely by Prince Fielder. Elias Sports Bureau has a ranking system of the most desirable free agents and you can find a copy of it on MLB Trade Rumors, here. Carlos Beltran ranks #7. MLB Trade Rumors also has a list of the top 50 free agents, here, and which team they guess each one is likely to sign with. With the addition of Yu Darvish, Carlos Beltran is addressed in the #9 position. There are several free agents that are pitchers, including starters CJ Wilson, Yu Darvish, Edwin Jackson, Roy Oswalt, Mark Buehrle and relievers Heath Bell, Jonathan Papelbon (he wouldn’t really pull a Damon, would he?), and Ryan Madson.

In any year, the tippy-top only goes so deep. There are always a couple of high profile signings, and then a lot that make you wonder if the high profile guys are really worth their money compared to the rest. I just don't think Carlos Beltran will be one of the top top guys. Age is one reason. Here are some pretty good hitters that may be higher on wish lists than Carlos Beltran: Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, Jose Reyes, Jimmy Rollins, Aramis Ramire z. Carlos Beltran will be 35 when the 2012 season starts. Albert Pujols will be 32; Fielder, 27; Reyes, 28; and Rollins and Ramirez, 33. So I don't think five years is a given for Carlos, considering that their are a number of other, younger players out there to soak up the highest offers.

The Yankees need pitching, pitching and more pitching. They have enough hitting. The Red Sox need to replace Big Papi, and need to replace or re-sign Papelbon, although they may be interested in Carlos, they have other priorities. The Phillies need to replace or re-sign Madson and Rollins, the Mets already did Beltran, and the Cardinals need to re-sign the big A at all costs, and then shop for relief, although it held up well enough in the playoffs. Texas needs to re-sign or replace Wilson. The Cubs with their new GM might be a likely bidder, so might Washington. There is always a surprise team, of course, but the Giants have the advantage of being a team that is known to contend, and that carries weight with players who are looking to get into the post-season. Always remember, that Brian Sabean, for all the ire that he has engendered in the lunatic fringes, somehow managed to wind up with a stable of pitching that is unmatched and few needs except to upgrade the offense.

So I believe the Giants are in the driver's seat to sign Carlos if they want to, and I also think it will not take five years nor Albert Pujols money to do so. What is more, I think they should. Carlos left/right, Nate center/right, Brandon Belt left/first, and Andres as the fourth outfielder at center works for me.

Oh. Apparently, the Giants may be open to trading Jonathan Sanchez.

Buster's Mosaic

2011-11-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

Art by Betty Rosen Ziff.

Thanks, B!

--M.C.

On What the Giants Need for 2012

2011-11-01T15:13:00.001-07:00

What seems to make sense to me, rather than flying off the handle about what the Giants may or may not do, is to first look at what the Giants need. In that way, we can have a firm basis from which to fly off the handle. So let me start this conversation by saying that the Giants do not need anything in the way of fielders. We hear a lot about how the Giants need a center fielder or a shortstop. That is, in both cases, demonstrably untrue. We have a very talented young shortstop in Brandon Crawford, and several players that can play center field, Cody Ross, Nathan Schierholtz, and Andres Torres, two of whom are arbitration-eligible, and one of whom is a free agent. The reason that this is untrue is because a "shortstop" and a "center fielder" are descriptions of defensive positions. The Giants have adequate players at every defensive position. What the Giants need to upgrade is their offensive positions, which is why I choose to look at the types players that are necessary to compliment the offense, which, as has often been chronicled, was sorely lacking in 2011.

Mostly, the Giants lack an adequate lead-off batter, and lack the big bat that puts fear into opponents' hearts. As much as I relished the days when Barry Bonds would make a nation hold their collective breath during his at bats, I believe that what the Giants most lack is a lead-off batter. It would indeed be nice to have another powerful bat in the line-up. Pablo Sandoval may be a fearsome bat sometimes, and Buster Posey may become one, but neither are quite the kind of batter that opponents really shape their game around. The Giants have no one like an Albert Pujols or a Prince Fielder - guys that can absolutely change a game with one swing of the bat. And therein lies the argument for re-signing Carlos Beltran.

But with Posey, and Sandoval, and a hopefully rejuvenated Aubrey Huff, and some real contributions from Brandon Belt, I believe that the bigger need is a player to bat in the lead-off position that has some potential to get on base a lot. I'm not sure what the on base percentage from the lead-off spot was for the 2011 Giants, but I know that Rowand was less than .300, and Torres was only .312. That's not good enough. It would be great to have someone get on base a fair amount of time. Jose Reyes seems to do this fairly well, with a .341 lifetime obp and a .384 obp for 2011. Jimmy Rollins also has the perception of being valuable in this regard. His obp is not quite as good, .329 lifetime and .338 for 2011. Let's consider those numbers for a moment. In 600 at bats, a healthy Andres Torres would be expected to get on base 187 times in a season and Jose Reyes would get on base between 204 and 230 times. Mr. Rollins would be expected to get on base between 197 and 203 times. So, averaging the two and averaging their lifetime and 2011 totals, 208 times reaching base. That is 21 times more than Andres Torres, or once more every 7.7 games. Is that enough to make a difference? It is at this point where I wish I had enough access to existing baseball statistics and statistical accumen to be able to figure if it indeed would be a meaningful difference or not. It sure doesn't sound like much.

Which brings us back around to the main question. Based on your perception or on a numerical analysis, what do the Giants most need, a fearsome bat, or a dependable lead-off batter?

If it's not too dear . . .

2011-10-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

So the Giants threw money at Jeremy Affeldt and Javier Lopez. Like that worries you? The Giants may be the worst team in the league at allocating costs for all we know. And you know what it means? Nothing. The Giants believe in left-handed pitching. Hell,they believe in all pitching. Old pitching, young pitching, homegrown pitching, free-agent pitching, used-to-be-a-shortstop pitching, you know, pitching. So the Giants spent money on pitching, so get used to it. You want to know the Giants offensive plans for next year? Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey, and you pick 'em. I pick Brandon Belt. That's it. So get used to lots of pitching.

Speaking of the whole world getting waaaaayyy too expensive, it will now cost me $210 to sponsor Matt Cain's Baseball-Reference page! Yikes. It used to be something like $20. Oh, what to do?

--M.C.

The Fat Lady is done singing

2011-10-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

After the sixth game of this lively but bizarre Series, I thought a lot about our own Game Six. I couldn't sleep for several weeks after that debacle, and spent most of the off-season trying to come up with a newer, wiser, more mature relationship with the Giants and baseball in general. I failed. When the team was in first place for all of 2003 and yet again failed in the playoffs, I once again wallowed in despair. I won't enumerate the ups and downs of the following seasons, we know them all too well. Then 2010 happened. Then I gained that newer, wiser, and more mature relationship with baseball and the Giants. I know, it's damn shallow of me to only grow up after I get what I want. But it's the truth. And as desperately as I want the Giants to win another one, I think I can handle it if they don't. Think about it--you only have a 1-in-30 chance every season of getting the Big Prize. You should be happy if your team wins a title once every three decades. Even if you believe that only, say, half of the MLB teams in any season have a legitimate shot at glory, that still means a mere 1-in-15 chance. That's one World Series title every 15 years. I'll be 65 in the 2025 season. The St. Louis Cardinals have been to the Fall Classic THREE TIMES in the last EIGHT SEASONS. They've got two wins (2006 and 2011) and one loss (2004). That's a hell of a run. They lost the Series when they won 105 games and won the Series when they won 83 games and won again when they were the Wild Card. Go figure. They are the the best franchise in National League history with 18 flags and 11 rings since 1900. Frankly, I'd rather see someone else. Enough of them already. It's not that they didn't deserve it--last time I checked if you win 11 post-season games they declare you the champs. And they did that. Fair and square. So "Congrats" to the Redbirds. But at this point I'd like to see every other club who has never won, even if I dislike them, to win a title. The feeling that we all shared last season was so marvelous that I genuinely wished it upon all baseball fans. So forgive me if I feel bad for the Rangers. They had a great shot at glory and pissed it away. They spat in the eye of the baseball gods and paid the price. A younger, crasser version of me would have gone "HA-Haw!" like Nelson on the Simpsons. But I'm not like that any more. Older and wiser? I'm not so sure. Older and tired-er, maybe!

Baseball is the only sport that has ever caused me to be philosophical. I used to watch lots of other games and I used to get passionate about the outcomes. Now I don't care. I enjoy following crazy shit like rugby and cricket and whatnot, but my involvement is purely recreational. Baseball is different. My devotion to the game and in particular to the fate of the Giants is quite unlike any other hobby, avocation, or passion that I pursue. It is close to a religious experience for me, a distinctly un-religious person. That is, I enmesh myself in ritual and have strict codes of conduct. I interpret the events on a non-local level. I embrace mystery and random fluctuation. I view "reality" as 162 stops on a rosary that I finger day and night. I pray for deliverance--to what I don't know, and for what reason I can't be sure. And now it is over. The Fat Lady has sung.

I can't wait for Spring Training.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Meanwhile, In the Central Time Zone...

2011-10-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

They say there's a World Series going on somewhere in the middle of America. One of the two teams will win four games and thus will become the new world champions of major league baseball. And the San Francisco Giants will no longer be regarded as such and will henceforth be referred to as "former world champions."

Any questions? Comments?

Here's some news

2011-10-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Buster Posey is catching again. While I enjoy watching the Tigers, Rangers, Cardinals, and Brewers fight it out in the post-season, all I really care about is the Giants. The Henry Schulman Sporting Green story about our wunderkind donning the tools of ignorance and catching live pitching in Arizona made my morning. Can't wait to see him behind the plate in 2012.

--M.C.

Game of My Life

2011-10-09T11:39:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the nice folks at Skyhorse Publishing** I was treated to a review copy Matt Johanson's Game of My Life: San Francisco Giants. Originally published in 2007, the new edition now includes vignettes from the 2010 championship season. Each chapter focuses on a particular player and their most memorable game in orange-and-black. It starts with Orlando Cepeda's debut in 1958--which was also the first Giants game in San Francisco--and ends with Brian Wilson's save in Game Five of the 2010 World Series. Along the way the reader is treated to terrific stories from the likes of "Dirty Al" Gallagher, Tito Fuentes (a childhood favorite of mine), Dan Gladden, Robby Thompson, Darren Lewis, Kirk Rueter, Rich Aurilia, and many other fan favorites and interesting characters. I particularly enjoyed reliving Bob Brenly's "greatest Humm-Baby performance of all time" game (9/14/86) since I was in attendance with much of my regular Candlestick posse (you know who you are). Frank Gunther, one of the crew, actually caught Brenly's game-winning homer when it bounced up to our seats in Section 30 in the LF bleachers. I will also never forget Mike Krukow's complete game victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game Four of the 1987 NLCS. We were lucky enough to have scored tickets in Section 2, right behind home plate. After Jeffrey Leonard's improbable, wind-aided home run that gave the Giants the lead my buddy Ron (yes, that Ron) was so excited he started beating on me and I collapsed to the concrete in a fetal position. Never was getting the wind knocked out of me so worth it! Giants fans will recognize many of the great moments: Will Clark's big hit off Mitch Williams to win the pennant in 1989, Brian Johnson's homer in extras to beat the Dodgers in 1997 (and Rod Beck's miraculous pitching in the same game), Kenny Lofton's hit in 2002 to send the team to the Series, and Jonathan Sanchez' no-hitter against the Padres in 2009. Players from the obscure Brian Dallimore to all-time great Willie Mays share their anecdotes, making Game of My Life a must-read for Giants fans. Mr. Johanson has done an excellent job assembling all the stories and adding his own take on the colorful history of the many who've worn the Giants uniform. He's also--like me--a California public high school teacher! That's extra credit, for sure.

--M.C.

**Game of My Life is published by their subsidiary Sports Publishing.

Failadelphia

2011-10-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

I want to go on record as being absolutely delighted with the outcome of all four divisional playoff series, especially the epic failures of both the Yankees and the Phillies.
Ryan Howard is making a career out of being the last out in the last game for the Phillies, and Roy Halladay is going to be remembered for being good but always the second best pitcher when it counts in the post season.
Frankly I don't care what happens from here on out. I want to see Justin Verlander do well. He has clearly emerged as the #1 pitcher this year and since he's in the AL he's no threat to the Giants, so I have no animosity towards him. I also get a kick out of Nyjer Morgan. Is he crazy or what?
My prediction- Rangers vs Brewers, Rangers win it all.

Dollars & Sense

2011-10-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

Go to this website.

Click on this link.

Read this document.

$73M is already committed for 2012. This year's payroll was about $118M. Schierholtz, Sandoval, Romo, Vogelsong, Fontenot, Casilla, Torres, Keppinger, JSanchez, and Lincecum are all in their abitration years. Javier Lopez is a free agent. Matt Cain is a free agent next year. Tim Lincecum is a free agent in 2014. The only guy on the payroll in 2014 is Barry Zito (his $7M buyout year), so perhaps they will be ready to make a real big pitch to keep him. They'll have to extend Cain. Wilson goes to arbitration in 2013, his final year, and MadBum and Buster go to arb for the first time. They have a real window to win with this group. How do they keep the team together? Obviously ownership could spend like fiends, but I just don't see this franchise doing that sort of thing. They'll be in the top third--but I'll be shocked if they go over $125M. Giants have some interesting choices to make.

What would you do?

--M.C.

Free agents, anyone?

2011-10-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a partial list from MLBTR (click for the rest):

Shortstops
Clint Barmes (33)
Yuniesky Betancourt (30) - $6MM club option with a $2MM buyout
Orlando Cabrera (37)
Jamey Carroll (37)
Ronny Cedeno (29) - $3MM club option with a $200K buyout
Craig Counsell (41)
Rafael Furcal (34) - $12MM club option with a $1.3MM buyout
Alex Gonzalez (34)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (36)
Cesar Izturis (32)
John McDonald (37)
Nick Punto (34)
Edgar Renteria (35)
Jose Reyes (29)
Jimmy Rollins (33)
Ramon Santiago (32)
Marco Scutaro (36) - $6MM club option/$3MM player option with a $1.5MM buyout
Jack Wilson (34)

Center fielders
Rick Ankiel (32)
Carlos Beltran (35)
Willie Bloomquist (34) - $1.1MM mutual option with a $150K buyout
Mike Cameron (39)
Coco Crisp (32)
David DeJesus (32)
Scott Hairston (32)
Andruw Jones (35)
Nate McLouth (30) - $10.65MM club option with a $1.25MM buyout
Corey Patterson (32)
Cody Ross (31)
Grady Sizemore (29) - $8.5MM club option with a $500K buyout

--M.C.

Thank goodness for the little things

2011-09-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

At least the Giants had the good grace to collapse early enough in the second-half of the season so that we weren't on pins-and-needles until the bitter end. My gosh, the epic face plants by the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox will be talked about for years. The Tampa Bay Rays and the St. Louis Cardinals overcame the largest deficits in playoff history! The Sox had the Orioles down to their final strike with no one on base and lost. The Rays were down 7-0 and won. The Phillies came back in the 9th to tie the Braves and won in extras while the Cards got a shutout from their ace. If the Giants had put us through a September like that (Sox 7-20, Braves 9-18) we'd have gone insane. The Braves lost their last five games! The Sox lost their last eight series! I suppose nothing will ever be worse than watching the Giants lose Game Six in 2002--that still gives me the heebee-jeebees. But the Braves were 8-1/2 games ahead and the Sox were nine up at the start of the month. Imagine if that had been the Giants!

Giants go 11-7 in their final inning which included an eight-game winning streak and a four-game losing streak. The season goes 10-8, 10-8, 9-9, 10-8, 11-7, 11-7, 6-12, 8-10, and 11-7 for a grand total of 86-76. They out-perform their Pythagorean record of 80-82 because Bruce Bochy is a genius or they got to play Colorado (13-5) and San Diego (12-6) a lot. Either reason works for me. The Giants scored 570 runs--total--in 162 games which is one of the "little things" I was talking about (3.52 rpg). Man, that's some feeble offense. The 1985 (62-100) Giants scored 556 runs. The only other seasons that were worse since the team moved west were 1994 (504) and 1981 (427). Those "seasons" only lasted 115 and 111 games apiece. Last year's offensive juggernaut rolled out 697 runs! What mashers!

The 2011 club misses the playoff by four lousy games (Cards finish 90-72) despite the horrible hitting. FOUR GAMES! Just for fun, pick out your four favorite games that they "shoulda won." I'll start. How about Tim Lincecum's four losses to Clayton Kershaw?

Your turn.

--M.C.

MadNumbers

2011-09-28T06:50:00.000-07:00

Madison Bumgarner

Stat--NL rank

ERA 3.21--11th
WHIP 1.21--19th
IP 204-2/3--17th
QS 23--T7th
AGS 56--10th
K/9 8.29--12th
K/BB 4.15--6th

FanGraphs has not updated their site to include last night but MadBum was 4th in the NL in FIP (2.73) behind Roy Halladay (2.20), Clayton Kershaw (2.47) and Cliff Lee (2.60). He's 5th (5.3) in WAR. I expect he'll pass Matt Cain (5.4) and finish 4th in that category. I'm not up to speed on the saber-stats tERA and SIERA but our boy is 7th in both. I figure they must be excellent metrics. He was 0-6 at one point this season and 2-9 at another. He finished 13-13, tied for the team lead in wins. He's a beast no matter how you measure it!

Eric Surkamp goes today instead of Cain. The rookies--Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, and Conor Gillaspie--shined last night. Let's hope the young lefty keeps that going. No matter what happens today the Giants will finish at least four games up on LA and at least 10 games over .500. Like I said before, not bad for the worst offense in baseball.

--M.C.

The Never-Ending Vogel-Story

2011-09-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

A crisp and efficient Ryan Vogelsong mowed down his favorite club to pitch against (4-0, 0.96 ERA vs. Colorado) and the Giants secured second place with their 85th win. The 34-year old righty goes to arbitration after this season and is a free agent in 2013. He leads the team in ERA (2.71, 4th in the NL) and is tied for the team-high in victories with 13. Not a bad place to be when you go to the bargaining table. FanGraphs rates his season at 2.6 WAR, just behind Shaun Marcum (2.7) and just ahead of Derek Lowe (2.5) for the 23rd spot in the league. The Giants have three guys in the top ten: Matt Cain (5.4, 4th), Madison Bumgarner (5.3, 5th), and Tim Lincecum (4.6, 10th). Only the Phillies can boast better with the 1st, 3rd, and 6th spots. Voglesong is also 21st in the NL in FIP, 22nd in Quality Starts, 10th in Average Game Score, and 23rd in WHIP. Not bad for a fourth or fifth starter.

MadBum goes tonight. He will likely top 200 IP for the season. If Cain goes Wednesday afternoon as scheduled he will likely reach his career high in innings as well.

The Giant wasted one hell of a lot of good pitching this season.

--M.C.

Kinda Wimpy Tim

2011-09-26T19:05:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I'm being rather over critical, but I'm a little peeved at how Tim Lincecum (13-14, YUCK) lost control of, and then, lost the game. No big deal since the game was meaningless, but it was a chance for us to regain some dignity. Yeah right, like that was going to happen this year.

Specifically, I'm disappointed that Tim let the beaning of Justin Upton get to him. I know it is scary when the helmet is involved and people go down in a heap. And I'm not saying he deserved to get plugged, but Upton crowds the plate and getting hit is part of his game. I believe that was #18 this year which ranks him third. Yet it really rattled Tim. Lincecum admitted that it effected his approach for the rest of his mediocre outing. Anybody else think that is sort of lame for "big time" MLB pitcher? I know Timmeh isn't Bob Gibson, but we sure could have used some grit from our "ace."

I guess this is a poor time to assess the complicated 2011 Tim Lincecum season. What with me being so pissy and all. We may have wait until I've regained some composure...how does February sound?

Arizona? Really?

2011-09-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

Seriously, Arizona won the title? Of the NL West? Really? Arizona does not inspire me as a playoff team. Not just because I don't think they are in a league with Milwaukee, loaded with sluggers, the Phillies, who have most everything, and either Atlanta or St. Louis (although I don't) but I just can't see them as an inspiration. Arizona Champion of the NL West? That seems less a recognition of an achievement than an indictment of the division.

The Padres, who nearly won the west last year on some mystical, magical pitching, and one hitter, decided that they didn't really need that hitter, so traded him for prospects. They might be good again some day, but maybe their magic pitching was not just what it was last year (actually, it was almost as good, but the results were quite different). They knew they were a last place team going into the season, and they did not surprise themselves.

The Rox figured to be the competition - I thought so a couple months into the season. But once they had a couple key players, like Tulowitsky, get hurt, they decided to trade their ace for some magic beans. Imagine if when Posey went down, ownership said, "Ship out Lincecum for whatever you can get and, by gum, we'll be good again by 2020." Very discouraging to be a Rockie fan.

The doggers were, of course, drastically mis-Manny-ged by their ownership, to the point where they are now owned by MLB. They may be worse next year, if buyers are not found, they may be paralyzed into doing next to nothing, and doing it as cheaply as possible.

The until-recently reigning World Series Champions were beset with injuries, and equally beset with sub-mediocrity when they needed competence. Yet they were in first place, with Posey injured, until they elected to turn in a 10-20 August. Hard to get happy after that, and they didn't. Yeah, I know, they had a nice little 8 game win streak, but that looks pretty abnormal in the rear view mirror after 4 straight losses (5 of 6), doesn't it?

But Arizona? A playoff team? I know they have Justin Upton, who's really good, and that guy who used to pitch for the A's, but beyond that, ???? This is not a team that won the division, it is a bunch of guys that outlasted a bunch of losers. The dbacks seem to play the game of baseball quite competently. They move runners, get hits with RISP, steal bases and do not allow too many stolen bases. They also play defense well. No wonder some mediocre pitcher has 21 wins. The Giants, by contrast, spent 2011 not moving runners, especially with RISP, and sought to reinforce our wonderful pitching by hiring an aging, defensively-challenged shortstop with no bat and then going out and getting a worse one when he got hurt. The Giants have pitched well, but otherwise have not had a particularly stellar defensive year, and they have just been horrible offensively, as has been well documented and deeply felt by every Giants fan. so the dbacks are what's left. Sad.

Meanwhile, I tune in Saturday, and the dbacks have "Los D-Backs" on their jersey and apparently it is Hispanic heritage night in Arizona. WTF? Isn't this the state that is trying its darndest to advance racism? Especially against Hispanics? Haven't they already done an English-only thing? If you bought a Los D-Backs jersey, would you be immediately arrested as you left the stadium, your car confiscated and either deported or sent to work in the desert on one of Joe Arpaio's slave labor details? Never let it be said that Arizona lacks in hypocrisy.

Maybe I've used up my wishes, but if I get one for the 2011 baseball season, just get this team out of my sight as quickly as possible. I root for anyone against them.

Well, that's a relief

2011-09-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

I was getting tired of running out the string on the seemingly endless and highly improbable playoff scenarios. It is now mercifully over. Arizona put us all out our collective misery last night with a 3-1 win that looked a lot like the kinds of wins the Giants got last season. Bully for them. They won fair and square. I'm not a sour grapes sort of fellow (anymore, that is, middle age has its benefits) and have no problem saying "congratulations" to the new NL West champions. A lot of things went wrong in the 2011 title defense. Buster. More DL. Still more DL. Belt-gate. RISP-death. You name it, it happened. At the same time, the pitching was awesome and the Panda re-emerged from hibernation. It would be nice if the team could win a few ballgames before the end. Score a few runs. Not get Cained again. We'll see. As I type this, the Braves are losing. Please win. 'Cold turkey' is the best way to get clean, isn't it?

Sharpen your offseason digital pencils, mates. We'll have to get things figured out for 2012, eh? No hurry, though. I'm tired and I'm going to take a break.

--M.C.

Keepin' up appearances

2011-09-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

It was one of those painful lessons you had to learn as a kid. You know, you'd be pissed off at some kid stuff or at your parents or somesuch and yet you had to bottle it all up inside and comb your fucking hair and button your goddamn shirt and still smile and shake hands and say "fine" and "good" and "thank you" and all the rest of the polite shite that was expected of you when all you really wanted to do was kick someone or break something and tell the world to "eat shit and die." Remember? That's what this feels like. The Giants are done. Don't talk to me about the Wild Card. Four games out with six to play? Yeah, I believe it is possible for both St. Louis and Atlanta to take a massive double-dump and give the club and opening. Here's the rub, though--the Giants would still have to win a shitload of games. You could have a sumo wrestler-sized offensive line who could open a hole you could slide a Winnebago through and hand the goddamn ball to this team and they'd fall down after a two-yard gain and then get penalized for illegal motion. You see? I'm resorting to fecking football metaphors! It's over. The fat lady hasn't sung--yet--but she will, and the sooner the better from where I'm sitting. I said all those nice things about MadBum and he looked like crap. That's OK, I'm sticking by what I wrote. He's going to open some eyes next year.

They moved up Cain to tonight's game.

--M.C.

Seven games to go

2011-09-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

The Giants earned their ninth win over the Dodgers last night and can secure the season series with a win today. The D-backs also won and their magic number is down to two. They'll only need to win one game this weekend to clinch the West (they are off today). I heard some talk that Matt Cain would get moved up to pitch Friday night in Phoenix, but the website still says it is Eric Surkamp. If so, perhaps Ol' Boch is offering him up as the sacrificial lamb so Kirk & Co. can get the dog-piling and champagne-spilling over with ASAP. That's OK by me. All that's left for the Giants is a long, long shot at the Wild Card (3-1/2 back), but we've all stuck our forks in them already, so I can live with dropping the pretense. They had a nice run and earned back some respectability. With two more wins they can guarantee themselves second place. Not bad for the worst offense in baseball.

If Cain pitches Friday, he'll get the last start of the year on Wednesday at home against the Rockies. If he goes Saturday, he'll be done, and the rookie will get the call for game 162. We know what Matt can do, perhaps it is best to give the youngster another real-time audition before next spring. Tim Lincecum gets his final start of the year on Sunday. Ryan Vogelsong, who looks a little ragged and run-down at this point, would then get the Monday game at home. 172-2/3 IP is his career high, so I'm not surprised he's gassed. All the better to prep him for a full season in 2012. Madison Bumgarner goes today, and gets his last start on Tuesday at home. That will be 33 starts and over 200 IP for the super southpaw.

GO GIANTS! BEAT LA!

--M.C.

Deja' Screwed Tim

2011-09-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

Again? Really? Isn't there a chance that was a replay? I swear I saw that game before.

Clayton Kershaw outdueled Tim Lincecum ONCE AGAIN and trashed our lovely winning streak with his 20th victory, 2-1. That was the frigging FIFTH time he has beaten us ths year, four times against Tim. Get's old.

Tell you what else has gotten real old: giving Timmeh no support. That was the 20th time in 32 starts that he has received 2 or fewer runs! Eleven of his thirteen losses have come from getting one or less runs of support. Lincecum clearly wins the "Cained" Award this year. Only one poor bastard (Doug Fister) has gotten less run support in all of baseball.

Snakes lost, but Atlanta and St. Louis won. Our chances are also getting old. And very tired.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

2011-09-18T15:55:00.000-07:00

That was the day for Giants hitters. SIX homers! They smacked the ball all over the place. They had a season-high eight-run inning which featured FOUR homers (two by the Panda). They hadn't hit four in an inning since 1961. Even Matt Cain got in on the act with a two-run bomb. Both Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford hit dingers. Mike Fontenot blasted a massive homer to start things off in the first inning. And Pablo Sandoval was ridiculous! (He was impressive with the glove as well.) The Giants sweep the Rockies by scoring 8, 9, 6 and 12 runs (35!) in the four games. Besides the absurd offensive explosion, the other noteworthy aspect of today's game is that Cain did NOT get a quality start. Considering he leads the NL in that category (and is second in baseball to über-aces Justin Verlander and Jered Weaver) I think it qualifies as news. He did, however, manage to get a decision, the good one (you know, the "W" kind), and that puts his record at 12-10 for the season. It was a hard, ugly slog for the big righty. He walked guys and hit guys and was in trouble every inning, allowing 11 baserunners. It is always a tough day when Joe "Joke" West is behind the plate. This guy has been umpiring since I was a senior in high school and he is an embarrassment to the profession. I try not to complain about the umpires as most of them do an amazing job. But Mr. West is too much a part of any game he officiates when his job is exactly the opposite of that--not to get noticed. He had one of his inexplicable, random strike zones that shrunk and expanded at his whim. Matty is the kind of guy who relies on corner strikes to be effective and he seemed to get squeezed from the first inning. (To be fair, all good pitchers need to command the corners.) Certainly the Giants benefited from Esmil Rogers and his quartet of relievers having to pump balls down the middle, but it doesn't stop me from spilling digital ink about it. Joe West needs to retire and get replaced by a proper umpire who has read the rule book. And that's all I have to say about that.

Giants get another win and now have their longest streak of the season (eight games). Maybe it is too little, too late, but it sure is fun. With Atlanta losing today that puts them four back in the Wild Card race with nine to play. Unfortunately the Cardinals (who play tonight) are still in the mix and the Diamondbacks won their game against the Padres. That puts their magic number at five, so Arizona are masters of their own destiny at this point. The series in LA coming up this week will be epic as you know the Dodgers would love to play spoiler and end the Giants season before the Arizona series this weekend. Tim Lincecum gets the call Tuesday, so we get to see our best guy against both clubs.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Greatest Giants' Theme Song Ever (1978)

2011-09-18T14:17:00.000-07:00

Lots of great player references in this one:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVXjt20SWUQ

Rollin' sevens

2011-09-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

Giants come up with another big win and make it seven in a row. The last time the team won seven straight was in June, their best month. They played .607 ball (17-11) then, allowing only 93 runs in the 28 games (3.32 per game). Here in September the club has found some new life and some new heroes and boasts an impressive 10-5 record with 69 runs scored against 45 allowed. Brett Pill is 'serving notice' that he's in the mix with a gaudy .857 slugging percentage. His triple (the second of the night for him) off Huston Street in the 8th inning was the big hit. Eric Surkamp had control problems and couldn't get out of the 5th, but he hung tough and did not give up the ghost. Colorado is a tough place on breaking balls but the youngster kept throwing them because that's what he's got. And I can't complain about that. Live or die with your best stuff.

Giants are five back in the West and the Wild Card with ten games left to play. Their elimination number in both races is six. Matt Cain gets the ball tomorrow.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Lucky us

2011-09-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

Madison Bumgarner was 2-8 on June 9th. He's 12-12 now. We all knew the W-L record did not reflect the performance of the young lefty. Last Hallowe'en MadBum threw a game for the ages in the World Series and forever endeared himself to Giants fans. Like his teammate Matt Cain, the national audience has yet to appreciate his greatness. That's fine. Tim Lincecum can handle the spotlight-grabbing duties for the club. We get to watch them slay opponents with regularity, and if the rest of the baseball world can't enjoy it, too bad for them. MadBum is a mere 22 years of age and doesn't get to his fourth and final year of arbitration until 2016. I think we are going to see a lot of our super southpaw.

Lucky us.

--M.C.

Cyclo-Panda

2011-09-16T07:19:00.000-07:00

It's always a fun night when Pablo Sandoval puts on a show. He's the antithesis of Carlos Beltran, who is one cool cat and never breaks a sweat. Can you imagine Beltran with pine tar on his helmet or his uniform crumpled and soiled? Never. Can you imagine the Panda intent and contemplative on the bench? Impossible. One of the things I like most about baseball is the variety of characters who populate the field, and the differences in style and temperament the game seems to accept. I like the large variation in physical types as well. In baseball you get everything from Mike Fontenot (5'-8", 165 lbs.) to Kyle Blanks (6'-6", 270 lbs). Take a look at any soccer team--everyone is the same (other than the keeper). They are all six feet tall and 13 stone as the Brits would say. American football selects for freakish size, as does basketball. Take a look at Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (throw in Novak Djokovic as well)--they are clones! Baseball is one of the few sports where the athletes don't have to look like they just stepped out of a Tour de France commercial. Thank Bog And All His Holy Angels And Saints for that, eh?

Ryan Vogelsong labored, but hung tough and got big outs despite having some command issues. I like that guy and I think he's going to give the club 200 innings next year. Brandon Crawford looked great at the plate, and Brandon Belt got some late redemption with a lovely opposite-field bomb in his final AB. He'd looked awful before that. Let's see these guys every day, dammit!

Five wins in a row comes a bit late for the playoff hunt, but it will certainly help keep the Dodgers in third place, which makes me happy. LA is seven back in the win column and six back in the loss column with 13 to play. Giants have an even dozen left with three in the LAtrine next week. Finish strong, lads. Speaking of teams with an ownership crisis, who knew the Giants would have this ugly falling out with Bill Neukom? If you saw any of the press conference it was obvious that he was very upset and was biting his tongue and mouthing the usual press conference jibber-jabber instead of saying anything substantive. I'm just a humble schoolteacher and have never worked in the corporate world, so I have no fucking clue what the culture is like and what actually goes on in boardrooms. I do know that multi-millionaire businessmen, like professional athletes, aren't regular joes. They see the world through a different set of lenses than we do. So who the hell knows what went on? I suspect it will be some time before we get all the facts--if ever. I do think dumping the guy who presided over the long-sought World Series title is tacky. "Nice job, Billy, now scram." At the same time, Larry Baer was both Peter Magowan's and Neukom's right-hand man, so if anyone is "up to speed" and ready to run with the ball it is him. In that sense, I'm not going to fret too much about the games the suits play. This off-season was going to be a real test for ownership and management anyway, what with the looming cost of keeping the core together and the need to improve the lineup. The farm system is still being run by the same guys and the scouting department is still intact. There's still Boch & Sabes (for better or for worse). I'm still here, too.

--M.C.

Bad, Very Bad

2011-09-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

Not to step on Mr. Parsons and his excellent post on the praiseworthy Tim Lincecum, but I fear the worst as a result of the news that Giant's ownership is forcing Bill Neukom out as CEO and as a partner. He will step down at the end of this year. Here is the simple equation: Without Neukom, no World Championships, with Neukom, World Championship. More to the point, however, is that I do not understand how a fractious ownership can continue to support the team that won the World Series. Is the split over money (Giants payroll up 25%) or, as the Chron claims, lack of communication? Or maybe a little of both. In any case, the ownership (apparently, no one owns a majority stake, apparently Mr. Neukom did not even own the largest stake) did not seem satisfied with the direction Mr. Neukom was taking the team and the manner in which he was doing it. Dissatisfied after winning a World Series! And with a streak of 2011 sell-outs at the park, merchandise flying off the shelves, split-gate revenue undoubtedly up, advertising revenue up (although probably not as much as in a better economy), all kinds of extra tv shows, with their accompanying revenue! Not to mention acquisition of development rights to the land just south of Mission Creek and McCovey Cove, worth zillions. (Have you seen UCSF Mission Bay and the other the development along the Third Street corridor?)

The Chronicle also reported that Mr. Neukom's stake would be sold to investors. We can only hope that the investors are Giants fans, but I am bothered by the plural. More investors, means more consensus building is necessary, meaning that the team is to be run increasingly by committee, rather than by leadership and vision. More investors means more time to make a decision. Will the Giants be able to bid for free agents when the asking price gets a little high, or will they have to convene the numerous members of the executive committee to talk about it? "Oops! someone else signed 'em while we dither." And maybe the investors will not be Giants fans, maybe they will be investors. Not as though that hasn't ever happened (see: LA). Should we dig a little deeper to keep our pitchers AND Buster Posey? "Wait, let me run the numbers to calculate ROE/ROI - gee, the margins seem to be dropping - so, No."

Maybe the owners will be content to let baseball people run the club. But I doubt it. Look at the recent history. There seemed to be a major shift in the club's direction when Mr. Neukom took over. We went from long term contracts for celebrities to shorter contracts (a good thing!). He generated "The Giants Way" which stressed athleticism, among other things. I have previously tried to make the case that we need to spend to keep our core pitchers together. We have a very good - no, excellent pitching staff going into next year with Wilson, Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner and Vogelsong. Wilson, Cain and Lincecum are expensive, they are either expensive with us or with another team. We have some great relievers that are not too expensive, so even if we keep a couple of the more expensive guys, like Lopez, we still have an excellent group without too great a cost. We have Posey and Sandoval for not too much money, not to mention the up and coming youngsters like Belt and Crawford and Stewart. We need to supplement the hitters, whether with Beltran or with someone else, but it is not like we need a complete re-do of almost all the positions.

The Giants have the opportunity, with one World Series under their belts, to be great for at least most of a decade, in spite of the big, injury-aided stumble this year. It will cost money to do so. It sounds to me like the "lack of communication" explanation is a way of saying that the reasons are not to be divulged so as not to make the ownership look bad. Baseball is a business. Business owners get kicked out when investors lose money, or when they create some impression that investors will lose money in the future. It also sounds to me like the team, just past the height of their success, is anticipating a poorer future. I do not understand why unless they simply plan to go cheap. Welcome to Pittsburgh.

Sweepy Tim

2011-09-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

Did you say "Sweep"?
What? The floor? Well, I suppose, but I usually do that on the weekend....and its more like a vacuum than a broom.
Excuse me, what's that? OOOOHHHH. That kind of sweep!

Hell, yes...the good kind of sweep, as in: Tim Lincecum and Carlos Beltran carried the Giants to victory today against the puds, 3-1, and completed the beleaguered team's first series sweep since the Pleistocene. Timmeh was in good form (game score 71) and he got just enough help to pick up his thirteenth win, against 12 losses.

7 innings......4 hits (3 doubles!)........1 unearned run........2 walks.............6 strikeouts

Lincecum must be thankful every time he gets to face San Diego. His domination of them this year is a big reason why Tim's stats are still looking pretty sweet, even if it is clearly not his best season. He improved to 9-4 with a 1.96 ERA lifetime against San Diego, which includes a blistering 4-1, 1.64 this year. Just think how bad off we would be if the puds were any good??

Mat Latos would probably tell you that the Giants' acquisition of Beltran was worth every penny and we should try to keep him. Truly, without Carlos drilling career homers #299 and #300 the Giants and Tim were staring at another disgusting loss. But should we go after him? Definitely not, in my opinion. Wrong position, wrong age, wrong injury risk, wrong agent/price. That is a couple too many wrongs for me. If we can't do better than that on the free agent market, like only two wrongs, then we are screwed.

p.s. Sorry for the rather extended absence from the blogging scene. I was shanghaied by some crazy Pyrates and forced to build a ship. A beautiful ship, I might add. Long story...if you are good I'll tell you sometime.

Matt Cain shows emotion and gets yanked

2011-09-13T21:37:00.000-07:00

I know it was the 7th inning and the pitch count was over 100, but I had more faith in Matt Cain at that moment than anyone in the bullpen. And the Giants have a good bullpen. I don't argue much with Ol' Boch, he knows his guys, but I would rather have watched Cain pitch to those clowns than either J-Lo or WillyMo. Alas, he managed a no-decision, which I'm on record as favoring. I'm convinced that Matty got yanked when he cursed to himself after walking James Darnell. The rookie was having at party at Cain's expense and I've no doubt it pissed him off. But Matt is all about sangfroid and Ol' Boch is all about what we call here in America same thing. So when he saw Mr. Cool lose his cool, it was time to cool him out. It wasn't Ol' Boch's fault the normally stalwart bullpen gave up back-to-back doubles to tie the game and raise it to new and soaring heights of anguish. I'm tired and want to go to bed. Please win, Giants.

--M.C.

UPDATE 0640 Wed: Giants win in 12!! Once again, the tried-and-true extra-inning formula of "wait until the other team uses their worst pitcher" works to perfection. It amazes me that DeRosa is actually playing and hitting well. I'm impressed by his resolve. I thought he was going to have to hang up his cleats, but he battled back. His $6M comes off the books next year as he's a free agent. Arbitration looms for Lincecum, Sandoval, Romo, Vogelsong, Ramirez, Casilla, Torres, Keppinger, Fontentot, and Schierholtz--should be an interesting off-season. Lopez, Mota, Burrell, Cabrera, Beltran, and Ross are all free agents. Rowand gets his last paycheck ($13.6M for 2012) and Zito still has $46M coming. Giants have a lot of decisions to make!

I can't wait for the torture to stop but I'll miss it when it's gone

2011-09-13T07:09:00.000-07:00

Despite scoring a week's worth of runs (16!) in two games I think we all ought to remember what got the Giants here in the first place, and that's run prevention. Only FOUR runs allowed in those same two games! That's what winners are built from. The Giants allowed FIVE runs in the two games previous to those two, with all too predictable results, namely back-to-back losses. In the two games previous to those two, they gave up SIX runs, and you know what happened--they won both games. OK, so my thesis needs some polishing. In the two games previous to those two, they gave up ELEVEN runs. And lost both. You see? There's a masters degree in their somewhere, I can feel it.

Eric Surkamp is one of those guys that even on his best days will fail to inspire confidence or even joy. He's a soft-tossing southpaw, not his fault that he clung to his umbilical with a changeup grip (left-handed, natch), and as a result he relies on mesmerizing hitters with slowballs and slower balls. Breaking stuff, too. Looks like he has major-league whatchamacalit, I forget the arcane term the scouts down in the Sally League use, but he's got it. Something to do with alligators--or was it kudzu? (It sounds like schadenfreude but with a French accent.) The South is a mystery. I think he should invent a pitch and call it the "Surkie." It starts out like a curveball but morphs into a changeup as it crosses the plate. I will say I saw a lot of weak contact last night. The Padres got six doubles on infield grounders, but NO RUNS. That's what I'm talkin' about!

Pablo Sandoval hit a home run on a ball that was low and outside, out of the zone, and he had to lunge for it. Yet it soared majestically into the LF bleachers (he was hitting left-handed). Strange dude, that Pablo. Generations of ballplayers are trained not to swing at such shite, but this guy comes along and gets homers with pitches like that. It's a poverty-in-Venezuela thing, as a child you get cat wishbones to gnaw on for major holidays, so when you see choice cuts of prime rib you pass. "No thanks, I'll suck the marrow out of these tiny, brittle bones instead! Delicious!" Now there's a thesis.

--M.C.

Well, that's something

2011-09-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

The Giants got a bunch of extra-base hits and a pile of runs and beat the Dodgers to cling to second place and a shred of dignity. Madison Bumgarner got a win despite laboring with 100+ pitches in five innings of work. I'm not sure what I would have done if the team had been swept. This is crunch time--LA is only 3/1/2 back! I realize that once the playoff prize is gone any consolation award (like second place) is meaningless, but it will make the off-season a hell of a lot more pleasant if the Giants finish ahead of the Dodgers. So c'mon, Giants, win some goddamn games!! And hang on to second and some self-respect. Rookie Eric Surkamp gets the call against the Padres tomorrow.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Two runs in three games

2011-09-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

I was happy to see Ryan Vogelsong get the Willie Mac Award on Friday night. You can't, apparently, give it to Matt Cain every year, even though he probably leads in all the inspirational studliness categories. And Veteran Savvy Clutchness as well. If you aren't a grizzled vet after 200 starts then I want a ruling. "Point of order, Mr. Selig, point of order!" Nonetheless, Vogie was my pick all along and he deserved it. He toughed out a hard-luck start tonight and deserved better, but that sort of thing is everyday fare for Giants pitchers. Get used to it. "A run? A goddamn run? Fer chrissakes, ya think we work miracles around here?"

Friday night's game, that travesty of baseball justice, was the 144th of the season for San Francisco. It was thus the end of the 8th inning as 8 x 18 = 144. The first three innings went like this: 10-8, 10-8, 9-9. The next three innings went like this: 10-8, 11-7, 11-7. We had reason for optimism. But the regression gods just couldn't help themselves, and the Pythagorean beast finally chased the team down and gnawed out its guts. The 7th inning was 6-12, and that was enough. Follow that with 8-10 in the 8th inning and it's "stick a fork in 'em" time. The Giants start their final push, the last 18 games, the 9th inning of 2011 with a decidedly noticeable thud. That feeble display you saw tonight was against Dana Eveland, Cy Young candidate.

--M.C.

Kershawed Tim

2011-09-10T11:35:00.000-07:00

Clayton Kershaw continued his mastery of the Giants with another make-them-look-silly start. Once again Tim Lincecum was the victim. Giants get Cained in back-to-back games and manage to sandwich in an off-day as well. It makes for a real downer stretch. I really want to see the club hold on to second place, finish strong, and hang on to a bit of pride. Giants are making it tough on me. Kershaw deserves serious Cy Young Award consideration. I expect Roy Halladay will be the overwhelming favorite--you could make a case for him as MVP--but the Dodger lefty is as good as they get. I keep thinking the Giants will get to him at some point, but it looks like they'll have to do it in 2012. I told my lovely bride during dinner before the game that the Giants would be "lucky to avoid getting no-hit." Not only is Kershaw doing everything right this season, Giants hitters are the worst in baseball. It's not a combination that encourages confidence. The Jeremy Affeldt injury is just another karmic consequence of winning the World Series. The baseball gods have made the Giants, their fans, and my friends and loved ones pay a stiff price for all that pent-up joy and blissful celebrating. I know, I know, it is post hoc ergo propter hoc to assume such a connection, but I'm looking for meaning, even logically fallacious meaning, in the heaping pile of rotten luck that's come our way. OK, that's enough whingeing from this lad. After all, they are still sporting those lovely shoulder patches and I've got multiple photos of me standing next to that lovely trophy. 2012 seems like it ought to be a Giants kind of season, what with The Apocalypse and all on the agenda.
--M.C.

p.s. I'm typing this on an iPad, sitting on the couch in the living room (listening to the SF Opera). Cute gizmo. Very slick. Not exactly suited to this task, but a neat little device anyway.

Bekershawed Tim

2011-09-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

Tim pitched damn well last night in what was perhaps, for me, the most deflating loss of the year. Kershaw has consistently beaten us and we had him albeit by the slimmest of margins. In the eighth, Tim had Kemp swinging at a ball that would have bounced on the front of home plate for strike three. Instead, a "hit" that could not have even been called a dying quail. More like a little turd that a quail leaves just before it dies. The ball dribbled about one-quarter of the way down the third base line and did not roll foul while the Giants stood around watching it. The worst of luck. Then, a steal of second and a passed ball to allow a speedy runner who has no other discernible baseball skills to take third, and didn't you just know that this game would be tied? Can anyone inform me why we substitute Whiteside for Stewart? Doesn't this passed ball/can't throw out a runner kind of thing happen just about every time we do? For what, a .205 average as opposed to a .199 batting average? Yeah, then a two-out hit for a tied game. The Giants scored in the first, and got damn few hits after that against Kershaw, none of them out of the infield. Perhaps it is atonement for the hubris of believing that our pitching could carry us in spite of a totally shit offense. I'll leave that thread to MOC, who believes in that stuff. By the way, fuck Eugenio Velez.

The Chron on Friday carried an article by Henry Schulman about arbitration-eligible and free agent Giants, speculating on whom would or would not be on the team next year. It is here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/09/SP9I1L1S75.DTL. The free agents are Beltran, Ross, DeRosa, Burrell and Cabrera among hitters, and Affeldt, Lopez and Mota among pitchers. Arbitration-eligible hitters are Torres, Keppinger, Fontenot, Schierholtz, Sandoval, Whiteside and Burriss, and there are plenty of pitchers: Lincecum, Sanchez, Ramirez, Casilla, Romo and Vogelsong. First, before getting into this discussion, the Giants absolutely must keep the core of pitchers together. The Atlanta Braves went to the playoffs, what, 11 straight years on the backs of Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz, and they paid a higher percentage of their total salary to their pitching staff than any other team. The Giants must keep Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner and Wilson (assuming he is not permanently injured, and he doesn't seem to be) on the team, anyone who thinks that one of them might be traded for a big, big bat is an idiot. Vogelsong pretty well played himself into a must have, hasn't he? The relievers are more problematic, because they absolutely necessary, but may be replaceable. A big, big reason that we won the World Series is because of Ramirez, Lopez, and yes, Affeldt, Mota, Casilla and Romo. Romo is the must-have out of the group, and probably one of the least expensive must-haves. You need Mota and Casilla or someone like them, and you need Affeldt (currently out due to a kitchen accident). Among hitters, Sandoval is the must-have. Cabrera is a net detriment at any price, DeRosa, Ross, Fontenot and Burrell rate a "meh" at best. I like what Keppinger has added, don't know if he can play short, but if he can, he is a far better acquisition than Fontenot. Beltran would be great, depending on the length of contract and the price, unfortunately, someone might offer him 5 years plus and option, and I'm thinking it would be the White Sox (it would be the Mets, but they did that already with him, they wouldn't be dumb enough to do it twice, would they?). Whiteside is a waste of time, and why anyone thinks that Burriss is a major league baseball player is beyond me. Ditto Ford, unless you want a really fast guy for baserunning and don't mind that he has been thrown out almost as many times as he has stolen a base (5 vs 6). Which brings us to Torres. It seems like the Giants fully intend to go into the offseason totally unsure about which Torres is real, the 2010 Torres or the 2011 Torres. So they will either give him raise and regret it or not offer him arbitration and regret it. I like Schierholtz much better, but that means we need a lead-off guy (or maybe, keeping Torres would still mean we need a lead-off guy). I don't know yet if Christian is that guy. Jimmy Rollins, Philly free agent and Bay Area native, could be that guy, solving the SS vacancy with a competent glove, but NOT IF IT MEANS THE LOSS OF OUR CORE PITCHERS. Neither Beltran, Rollins, Pujols or any other hitter is worth that.

Sorry about the lack of hyperlinks. I am too pissed about last night.

200 starts, 68 wins

2011-09-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

My tank is empty. Matt Cain pitched well and lost. It's such a tired story--I can't do it any more. I have nothing to say except that he should know better than to give up late runs. I mean run. Will Venable hit a leadoff home run and then the Padres got zero hits until two out in the 6th, when they got two and scored the go-ahead run. That was the game. Like I said, Matt Cain should know better. He should have been happy with a tie (thank you, Brett Pill). The 'no-decision' is a respectable stat. C'mon, Matt, shoot for those NDs from now on. And speaking of Brett Pill, I'm happy for the guy, but I really think the Giants first baseman of the future is Brandon Belt. And the future is now. Let's see some more of the Baby Giraffe. And Crawford, too. Let's see some more Brandon Crawford. Please, no more Orlando Cabrera. He is not an upgrade over Miguel Tejada, a man who was just served his walking papers. I'd feel better about the wretched state of the Giants offense if it was a bunch of youngsters struggling to hit real pitching instead of an over-the-hill gang coming up waaaaaaay short in the Veteran Savvy Clutchness department.

The Giants are 3-7 in Cain's last ten starts. He's thrown 70-2/3 innings, given up 54 hits, 26 runs, and 18 walks. He's struck out 50 and has 164 on the season (his career high is 186). He's 5th in the NL in WHIP, 1st in Quality Starts, and 3rd in OPS against. He now has five straight 200 IP seasons which ties him with Jim Barr and Jack Sanford on the all-time SF list. Only Juan Marichal (10) and Gaylord Perry (6) have more. Cain will pass Sanford (211) and Barr (220) in starts next season, and has Mike McCormick (252), Kirk Rueter (277), Perry (283), and Marichal (446) still ahead.

--M.C.

Career-high Ks for MadBum!

2011-09-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

If the Giants aren't going to finish in first place then I want second place, goddammit. No late season death spirals that drop the team into mediocrity, thank you very much. It's a small thing, I know, but I'd like to see the lads finish strong, proudly displaying their World Series Champion shoulder patches for another few weeks. No shame in coming up short, especially with all the injuries and assorted bad things that have beset the 2011 club. And more of the Brandons, please. I want to see Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford every day for the rest of the year. We know what the old guys can do, let's give the young 'uns all the reps they can handle, whaddya say? I'd love to see both Brandons as the starters next season, but we know that's a bit of a problem for Boch & Sabes. Aubrey Huff, unless Belt hits .600 in the spring, will get the nod at first base to start the season. As he fades the youngster will take over and be the everyday guy in the second half. Or something like that. These stories are already written, aren't they? Nothing new here. Crawford is on the fast track, they are going to send him to the Fall League for more playing time, but whether they will plug him to the full-time 2012 job with an under-developed bat seems unlikely. I say bat him 8th and let him save runs with his glove, but the team is absolutely stocked with 8th-place hitters and the pressure on the Brian Trust to improve the wretched offense will be extra-huge this off-season. They can always scrape another Miguel Tejada or Orlando Cabrera off the scrap heap, and they just might do that if Crawford isn't ready. Yuck. No thanks. No more of that, please. Get ready, Brandon, I can't take another season of tortoises in a hare's position.

Madison Bumgarner had another great game today. FanGraphs says he's second on the club with 4.7 WAR. Damn. The Giants have Tim and Matt and MadBum. Damn! (And Dirty and Vogie, too.) The Phillies may have the best pitching in baseball this season, but the Giants are going to be the best next season (just like they were in 2010). And you know something? I'm already salivating over a Posey-Panda 3-4 punch. Pablo Sandoval is putting it all back together after last year's struggles and this year's injuries. He just turned 25 and has over 1800 ML PAs. I think this kid has a bright future, don't you? The news from Camp Buster is all good, too. Can't wait to see him back behind the plate again. In the meantime, let us appreciate what a rare gem we have with our super sophomore southpaw. He goes all Steve Carlton on you with the fastball and the strikeouts, then he throws in a little Jamie Moyer lefty-slurvy shite, too, adding to the batters' befuddlement. He's only 22 and will just top 50 career starts by the end of this season. Did I say "bright future" somewhere in this post?

Happy Labor Day!

--M.C.

Giants collapse

2011-09-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

All Arizona had to do in this series was avoid being swept. They managed that yesterday. Today they hung around until Ryan Vogelsong made a mistake. Then the Giants bullpen threw the game away and the season as well. The D-backs came to town in front by six and leave in front by seven. Vogie had a great start but couldn't nail down the last few outs. I have no complaint with Ol' Boch sticking with him. With a crippled 'pen he gave us just as good a chance to win as anyone else. I'm happy he had a great start. On many other clubs that would have been an easy win. The home team couldn't get it going with the bats--a familiar refrain for 2011.

Giants pitchers battled heroically all season but could not overcome their offensive handicap. Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, and Madison Bumgarner were all stalwart performers. We know how special that group is and there's still Jonathan Sanchez waiting in the wings! Vogelsong saved the team early in the year with a long run of quality innings and has earned his spot in the rotation. He showed today that he still has it despite the worries over his recent loss streak and the wear-and-tear due to his increased workload. Injuries to Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson stretched the relief corps out too thinly and the cracks started to show. Even before the injury The Bearded One was not as dominant as he had been the previous two seasons, but I'm not complaining, he was still damn good. With any hitting at all the team would have been right in the middle of the playoff mix and would have had just as good a shot as Philadelphia, Atlanta, or Milwaukee to go to the Series.

Alas, it looks like the D-backs are on their way. The magic number for them is 16. They were the better team today, this weekend, and the entire second half of the season. I hate writing an obit with 22 games left in the season for a team not mathematically eliminated, but there it is. On to San Diego with MadBum tomorrow and the rookie on Tuesday.

--M.C.

Snakebit Tim

2011-09-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

Tim Lincecum took the hill tonight in San Francisco with his long, dark locks and his tall, black socks and pumped 95-mph fastballs to the first batter and struck him out. It was an auspicious beginning. Unfortunately the Diamondbacks had other ideas. They raked the Freak for nine hits including five doubles and a home run in his five-plus and put an emphatic stamp on the NL West race. The Giants worked starter Ian Kennedy for 64 pitches in the first three innings but could only manage one run. He settled down after that and got quick outs while his teammates added on. Kennedy is undefeated this season against division foes. Rookie phenom Paul Goldschmidt made himself into Timmy's personal nemesis by blasting a massive home run to take the lead in the 4th and stroking an RBI single in the 5th to make it 3-1 for the front-runners. This guy hit his first big league bomb off the Franchise on August 2nd, a two-run shot to give the D-backs a lead they would not relinquish. They won that game 6-1 and tied the Giants for first place in the standings that night. They've been on fire since then, going 18-11 while the Giants stumbled to 12-17. Carlos Beltran had another perfect night at the plate but was thrown out at second on a stupid play in the 8th, the Giants scoring on a sacrifice fly by Pablo Sandoval, his second of the night. The Panda was 0-4 last night and hitless again tonight. The D-backs show no sign of loosening their grip on the lead as the Giants are six back once again. With only 23 games left to play the math looks mighty grim.

--M.C.

p.s. JC, hope you had fun, mate. Watching the team ace fall flat in the biggest game of the year was not. Fun, that is. I'm assigning you Tuesday night's game against the Padres. That's Eric Surkamp's turn.

Cain and Beltran lead the way

2011-09-03T08:42:00.000-07:00

Carlos Beltran finally delivered the kind of game The Brian Trust was hoping for when they pulled off the trade at the end of July. Three hits from the right side and one from the left, he drove in three of the team's first four runs, hitting a two-out, two-run homer in the 3rd to give the Giants the lead and knocking home Matt Cain (who had gritted out a leadoff infield hit) with a one-out single in the 5th to seal the deal. He had a workout in right field as well, making five putouts, a couple of throws, and chasing down three extra-base hits. Ryan Roberts hit a drive to right-center in the 5th that just eluded him for a triple. It would have been a damn fine play if he'd managed to close the hands-breadth gap. We've seen Nate Schierholtz catch that very same ball, but we all know Olympic Nate is a magnificent fielder. Beltran made his reputation in center field, and still has some of those moves at age 34, but no one can cover the vast greensward of the foul line to Triples Alley like Schierholtz. Nonetheless, the newcomer had a great night. I like watching him hit, he has such a relaxed stance, great balance, and that smooth, compact swing. He runs with a languid, effortless grace that almost looks like he's not trying very hard. Some guys have a gift for making it look easy. I hope he stays healthy and keeps it up--the Giants need everyone to deliver their best from here on out. Cody Ross put the icing on the cake with a big two-run homer after a Cain walk in the 7th. Last season the Giants hit 162 homers in 162 games. A late-season power surge would be nice.

Matt Cain had a little trouble in the 1st after an infield hit and it took 29 pitches to keep the pesky Diamondbacks from scoring more than just one run. After that he racked up some quick innings and managed to give the team eight strong. He walked four guys which tied his season high. Cain had only walked nine batters in all of August and has 54 for the season (2.3 BB/9, his career best). He's only given up one home run in the second half of the season and a mere eight overall (0.4 HR/9 is also a career best). His average Game Score (last night was a 63) is 59, also a career best. FanGraphs credits him with 5.1 WAR, the best of all the Giants pitchers and, you guessed it, a career high. He's 5th in the NL behind Roy Halladay, Clayton Kershaw, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels. It has been an outstanding season for no. 18, let's hope he keeps it going for the final push.

Big Time Timmy Jim goes today. Giants, realistically, need a sweep. Gaining only one game wouldn't be bad, but gaining three would be a hell of a lot better. This is it! The time is now! GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

GIANTS REMAIN UNDEFEATED IN SEPTEMBER - Cite Improved Team Chemistry

2011-09-02T06:53:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a win

2011-08-31T19:41:00.000-07:00

And a few DFAs to make me feel better. Madison Bumgarner was outstanding and the Giants won a game. They also cut ties with Aaron Rowand and Miguel Tejada. Both moves were overdue. In Rowand's case, the Giants are on the hook for his 2012 $13.6M.

Hope springs eternal in baseball. The Giants are still contenders despite the injuries and poor play. Last year the Giants gave up 50 runs in the month of September. Fifty. Total. That was in 26 games. Imagine if they do that again.

--M.C.

And you thought it couldn't get worse

2011-08-30T22:41:00.000-07:00

OK, so I thought that. And then it did. Get worse, I mean. Couldn't hit before, no reason to expect they can hit now, but with the pitching falling apart the wheels are really coming off. At 3-0, the Giants had some "chances" and even got it to 3-1 and another "chance." Carlos Beltran was the goat both times, getting dispatched on six pitches by Matt Garza. Then WillyMo and Ramon Ramirez gave up the ghost and that was the game. The Giants were in a desperate offensive state when they went out and got Beltran. They gave up a lot for a two month rental. He was hitting .289/.391/.513 at the time, so it wasn't unreasonable to expect he could help the lineup. He not only went into the tank, he got hurt, and it appears he won't be getting much out of the tank soon. Even if he has a .900 OPS in September, it won't matter. The Giants need his bat now, and they needed it as soon as they traded for him. It is one of those things that I can't get too upset about. Sometimes you have to "go for broke." Guess what? It doesn't always work. (Read Grant Brisbee's "Assigning Blame" for a bit of perspective.) The much-maligned Giants brain trust took a bold step to help the team and it has been a bust, plain and simple. You can argue about the cost, but the idea that Beltran would revert to Aubrey Huff as soon as he put on the orange-and-black was pretty far-fetched. But it happened. You know something? Shit happens. Tim Lincecum gave up three home runs in a game for the first time. Ever. (He still the best in baseball at preventing homers.) He also quit. Right there on the mound, in front of 40,000-plus and a hell of a lot of TV viewers, he called it a night. Never thought I'd see that. (I expect he'll get over it and bounce right back and I bear the lad no ill will.) The Giants have lived on magic and gumption and defying the odds, so it shouldn't surprise us too much that the regression gods got pissed off and spewed wrath and venom upon the team and the faithful.

The 2010 Giants taught us that if you pitch like hell and play good, solid ball in the field you can win with a below-average lineup. The 2011 Giants taught us that you can't ignore the rest of the equation when you build a team around pitching. You still have to have good fielders. And you can't have the worst offense in the game. You can't. It doesn't work. Losing 2-1 or 3-2 is still losing. The Giants had some great luck last year with injuries--not that they didn't have them, just that they were never catastrophic, and the bulk of the key guys were healthy at the end. We all know this year's club can legitimately claim a mulligan on the DL front. It has been an astonishingly bad year for injuries, and they've sapped the club's ability to bounce back in the second half. You can bitch, fairly, at Sabean for a few shoulda-coulda off-field moves, and you can bitch, fairly, at Boch for some shoulda-woulda on-field moves. But through the cold, hard lens of fact, it is clear that the players have simply not performed or not been able to perform to the level required. I hate facts. They can't be argued with. And I'm good at arguing. But there ain't no arguments left. The Giants are not playing winning baseball and they are not playing winning baseball because they aren't good enough.

And that's disappointing. I expected a tenacious defense of the crown. I can't get angry--these are my beloved Giants and they are wearing World Series Champion patches on their uniforms. I've wanted to see that my whole life! But this team is letting the division slip away. The D-Backs could come to town this weekend six games in front which would make the outcome of the three games almost moot. That is not what I expected. There are 26 more games. It ain't over. We've all seen crazy shit happen in the last few weeks of a season. No team is ever really eliminated until the math says so, no matter how improbable the turnaround. But at this point the Giants need Arizona to take a huge dump, much like San Diego's fabulous 10-game skid in 2010. It gets hard to keep the faith when it depends on such an unlikely event. Just for shits and giggles, and since I'm on a roll, lets do a little math. Say the Snakes stumble and go 10-16 or even 8-18 from here on out. The Giants would have to play .615 ball in the first case (16-10) just to tie. They'd actually win by two games in the second case, but that's .308 ball from the opposition making that happen. Those odds just look too long for me to be hopeful. Here's another thought--the Giants have given up over 100 runs (actually 104) in August, the only time this season that they've given up that many in a month. The previous high was April with 96. (Compare with 2010.)

I'm a big fan of Dos Equis Guy and his "stay thirsty, my friends." It gets me through the tough times. I know that's a non sequitur, but it's my coda, and I'm sticking with it.

--M.C.

Rattled Tim

2011-08-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

He isn't wrong often, but I think we can all agree that my esteemed colleague, M.C. O'Connor, was quite premature when he called a game 10 days ago "the nadir." Oh yes... tonight's debauchery was much worse. Much , much worse...

Tim Lincecum (12-11) finally showed signs of breaking down under the pressure of carrying an historically anemic offense. Ugly (game score 42) barely describes it. The date will be remembered in the mass media as the first time Tim has ever given up three home runs in a game, but I will remember it as the first time I've seen Tim get truly rattled and throw away a game. Could it have come at a worse time?

Of course, we never had a chance against the dominating talent of Randy Wells (game score 89!!). I mean, come on....he lowered his ERA all the way down to 5.04!! Don't they really have to start adjusting pitcher's stats to reflect just how lame we are?? At least there should be an asterisk, right??

Sorry, I wish I thought this was the lowest point of the season. But I fear it can still get worse....

Pitchers fail again

2011-08-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

Matt Cain still hasn't learned despite the many hard, cruel lessons. 'Very Good' (Game Score 69) is not going to cut it. You have to be damn-near perfect to be a winning Giants pitcher. Matty lost a two-out, nine-pitch battle with young lefty leadoff hitter Jordan Schafer and the Astros tied up the ball game in the 8th inning. The Giants had fashioned an unlikely rally to take a 2-1 lead after being one-hit through the first six innings by local boy Bud Norris. This time the trip to extra innings was unlucky--Jeremy Affeldt gave up the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th and things looked bad for the local lads. But Mark DeRosa, or Magic Mark as he's known these days, got a huge hit to score Andres Torres (nice to see him back and making a contribution) and even things up. Unfortunately, it was only to prolong the agony. Ramon Ramirez gave the lead back in the 11th and the visitors closed it out. The Astros executed better than the defending champions and won the game and the series. Depressing thought, that.

--M.C.

Way to look, rook!

2011-08-28T10:52:00.000-07:00

Eric Surkamp wasn't exactly smooth and polished, but he showed grit and fortitude aplenty. Toss in a little luck and some help from the fielders and you get a Game Score of 57 for the rookie's debut. More importantly, it was a win. The Giants got a hit from Mike Fontenot on the first pitch of the game and had to wait until the sixth inning (20 batters later) for Carlos Beltran to get the next one. Yet they still won the game. Surkamp showed poise and a good breaking ball, but had to battle every inning, giving up six hits, three walks, a hit batter, and Clint Barmes reaching on a error by Pablo Sandoval on an infield pop fly. The Giants finally got to the Houston bullpen after looking feeble for seven innings against Brett Myers. I can't decide if the 73 Game Score is a result of his studliness or the wretched state of the Giants lineup. Guillermo Mota, Santiago Casilla, and Jeremy Affeldt gave the Giants four scoreless innings, giving up only a two-out single and a one-out walk (both to Carlos Lee), and that gave the team enough time to find some guys who could get a hit. It turned out to be yesterday's hero Jeff Keppinger and given-up-for-dead Mark DeRosa. After he re-injured his wrist I figured his season and likely his career were over. I was wrong. He has shown remarkable persistence and determination to get back on the field. I keep saying the Giants need a lift, and those things often come from the most unlikely places. A grizzled old vet on his last hurrah? A fresh-faced, soft-tossing southpaw from the Richmond Flying Squirrels? Hey, why not?

--M.C.

p.s. Surkamp was drafted in the sixth round of the June 2008 amateur draft (#177). Brandon Crawford went in the fourth round (#117). Buster Posey was the 7th pick overall that year and Conor Gillaspie the 37th.

Winning! Yes, yes, I remember that feeling

2011-08-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

I'm handing out the RMC Croix de Awesomeness to Ramon Ramirez for his game-saving performance last night. He threw 23 pitches and got five huge outs, three of them the "grab some pine" variety. Madison Bumgarner crafted six scoreless but ran out of steam in the 7th and left with men on first and third with one out and one run in. Ol' Boch summoned Ramirez and he promptly struck out pinch-hitter Brian Bogusevic and got leadoff man Jordan Schafer to ground out to short. A three-up, three down 8th with two more strikeouts (the last one to get Carlos Lee looking was sweet) and the Giants got back to the winning formula. Nice to see Ramirez step up with a big effort after the blown save on Tuesday. Santiago Casilla again filled in admirably for Brian Wilson and closed it with an effortless 11 pitches. Jeff Keppinger won the clubhouse lottery for this week's extra-base hit with men on base. I was also happy to see Carlos Beltran look strong and healthy at the plate. His two hits, one walk, and a line drive out didn't figure in the scoring but certainly helped me feel better. The Giants--uncharacteristically--went out and got the best player available at the trade deadline. He's been terrible, and then injured, and now the rest of his season is a steaming pile of uncertainty. The baseball gods are cruel. When you get Shea Hillenbrand you should not be surprised when he plays like Shea Hillenbrand. But when you get Carlos Beltran it is reasonable to expect that he won't be Shea Hillenbrand. I make no claim to understand this game. I'm just happy when the Giants win. And I'm excited about seeing Eric Surkamp make his debut tonight. Let's hope they toss a few runs his way.

--M.C.

I'm running out of things to say

2011-08-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

C'mon Giants, you're making it tough on me. That was a damned depressing display last night. The Astros are the worst team in baseball (88 losses!) but are 3-1 against the defending champions. What's up with that? The Giants have scored 12 runs against this collection of call-ups and have allowed 20 runs in the four games. Let's see, let me get the Windows calculator going here, and the NumLock key, OK, let's see, uh, divide, and uh, OK, clear, divide again, that's an average ass-whuppin' of 5-3 this season by the Houstonians. And to top it off the only game the Giants won took eleven innings. Now I recorded this little message to myself and I play it over and over again, you know, the one that goes there's over a [insert time frame] of baseball left and there's six games against the D-backs left and they are only [insert GB] back so no reason to get upset blah-blah-blah. Like I said, you know which one. I tried to soothe my jangled nerves last night with that message and it didn't work. Of course, I drank a lot and passed out on the couch. I did wake up to see the 9th-inning rally (a Beltran lead-off single). Then I went to bed. I really don't want to spend my evenings pickling my brain in order to stave off my despair over the frightening collapse of the club. The Giants were four games up on July 28th after taking two of three in Philadelphia. Since then they've gone 8-18 and lost seven games in the standings. It's like a big budget movie ("Repeat: The San Francisco Story") that went straight to video after a couple of bad reviews. Actually, it is worse than that. It's like a lottery winner pissing it all away on yachts and sports cars and then having to beg his friends for cash to make the mortgage payments on his mansion. Wait, that sounds really dumb. OK, fine. No comments from any of you unless you can come up with something better. The Giants going 8-18 and watching their season fall apart is like . . .

And they have to be funny and original and pithy with inside jokes and hip cultural references and cool enough for BoingBoing. Now get to work, you slackers. I'm tired of doing all the fecking typing around here.

--M.C.

Tough Tim

2011-08-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

One reason why I love Tim Lincecum is because he is tough. Not mean and grubby "Sons of Anarchy" tough. His own kind of tough. Here are two very specific examples from tonight's significant victory over the rather pathetic puds:

Pitch #119 : Probably Tim's best pitch on a rather long night. Clinging to a one run lead in the eighth inning, Tim had a full count on the dangerous Cameron Maybin. The poor guy really didn't have a chance against a perfect slider. Out #23.

Pitch #124 : The Freak's last pitch was a perfectly placed slippery fastball (up above the zone, 92 mph) that Jesus Guzman missed by a mile. Out #24. I jumped up and preceded to pump my fist and march silently around my home for about three minutes. (Don't worry, only my pooch witnessed the impromptu parade. He's seen worse.)

We needed him and he delivered. Tim's blazing summer continues with some slick numbers (game score 72):

8 innings...4 hits...1 run...5 walks...7 strike outs

A great night for sure (I mean, shit, the dude lowered his ERA), but I bet Tim is still talking about his RBI single. I joke (?) all the time that the best way for us to win more is for the pitchers to hit better. Well, tonight it turned out the beautiful solo homer delivered by Carlos Beltran (a.k.a. Voltron) was not quite enough. Timmy was the true difference maker on this lovely evening.

Hmmm, Ryan Vogelsong swings the bat pretty good....Maybe things are looking up.

The Agony and the Ecstasy and the Agony Again

2011-08-23T22:38:00.000-07:00

Matt Cain had a shitty night and that was nearly the game story. The Padres did to Cain what the Giants should have done Mat Latos. The first six guys in the Padres lineup all had a hit and four of them had RBIs. San Diego actually has an offense. The Giants were damn-near doomed after the home run by Kyle Blanks in the second inning. Matty had not yielded a home run in his 12 previous starts.

Then, Orlando Cabrera. He had the hit of the night for the Giants, one of those Veteran Savvy Clutchness moments that just can't be explained. The OC is not amenable to rational analysis! Rookie Hector Sanchez got it going with his maiden knock and the Giants, improbably, tied a game up late and gave themselves a chance to win. Aaron "It Only Looks Like I'm Shitting" Rowand was in the lineup all evening and spread much futility, including inducing errors from the Padres (he was on deck when the Jesus Guzman gift-of-the-gods gaffe happened). How a club can contend with ABs from that guy is beyond me. Then again, Orlando Cabrera.

It was all for naught of course as the Padres trashed Ramon Ramirez and won the game in the ninth. It hurts not to have Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson available.

Giants are now 7-14 in August, having scored 62 runs (2.95 per game) and allowed 82 (3.90 per game). Their season averages entering tonight were 3.43 runs scored (last in NL) and 3.55 runs allowed (2nd in NL). Time to turn it around and start winning some games, especially at home against a last-place team.

--M.C.

That's a relief!

2011-08-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

Another exceptional effort by the Giants bullpen led to a much-needed victory in Houston. I said yesterday's game was the nadir of the season and I stickin' to that, by gum! Poor Dan Runzler couldn't get the ball over the plate and nothing gets Ol' Boch fumin' faster than a crack-addled flyin' squirrel than bases on goddamn balls. The Runzinator was out by the second inning. Naturally my man WillyMo got the call and he put out the fire with a little gasoline of his own, but settled down and got the outs. Guillermo Mota is a valuable guy! Farmhand Steve Edlefsen made his major-league debut and impressed everyone with some nasty-sinky stuff. Giants need a lift and anyone can be the guy--go Effie! Eddie! Edlie! Whatever-the-Fuckie! Brandon Belt awakened from his slumber and delivered big time for the team, family, and friends. Save us, O Baby Giraffe! Pablo Sandoval gets my inaugural RMC Croix de Awesomeness for the game-winner and general all-rounder gnarliness, playing through injury like a manly-man. Nate Schierholtz and Aubrey Huff get kudos, too, for making it happen in Chips-are-down Time. My most hilarious moment was Mega-Cranium pinch-hitting Miguel Tejada for Mike Fontenot. "Way to Go" was hella pissed about it, with good reason as he'd had solid PAs and the game-tying RBI, but The Noggin was not to be denied. Te-nada then hit a dinker that never left the infield but was a hit nonetheless! Bochy is a genius! I love this game. I love it especially much when the Giants win. Arizona loses in Atlanta--hah! Giants are only 1-1/2 back. C'mon, lads, take it away from those ocher-clad wankers!

--M.C.

Beer and Baseball Go Together, Right?

2011-08-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

1. On the Lufthansa plane I was served a bottle of Warsteiner Premium Verum.
2. At my hosts' home I had a bottle of Waldhaus "Ohne Filter Extra Herb." (unfiltered, extra hops)
3. Then a bottle of Rathaus Pils Tannen Zaepfle (this brewery is owned by the state of Baden-Wurtemberg)
4. During a day trip to Colmar, France I had glass of Kronenbourg draft.
5. Freiburger in Freiburg, From the Ganter brewery.
6 &7. One evening in Freiburg we went to two brewpubs which served the beer made on the premises. First Feierling unfiltered, then Martin's Hefe Weisse.
8. At a cafe on the way to Bavaria I had a glass of Koenig Ludwigs Dunkel.
9. At Neuschwanstein Castle I had a glass of Hofbrauhaus Munchen Helles.
10. Lowenbrau Pils draft.
11. (See photo) My beer-drinking highlight- in the beer garden of the Englischer Garten in Munich a glass of Hofbrauhaus Munchen Hefe Weisse, with a grosse pretzel.
12. Spaten Pils draft.
13. Lowenbrau Urtyp (old style) from one of those funny bottles with the flip-off top.
14. Rupaner Pils, from Constanz, while on the ferry boat to Constanz.
15. Feldschlossen in Zurich
16. Radeberger at the Frankfurt airport
17. Yuengling in Philadelphia (does this count?)

MC, you may hate me for this, but I went to the Hofbrauhaus in Munich, the Mecca of beer, and walked through it like a tourist and took pictures but didn't have a beer. I hope I made up for this later by my beer and giant pretzel in the beer garden. It was a family situation and moderation was required.

The nadir

2011-08-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

At some point, I keep telling myself, the Giants will "bottom out." Once they hit that bottom, I reason, they will start to climb out of the slump and start winning. I have decided to declare this evening's game "the nadir" so that the team will end its losing ways and rediscover its winning ways. After all, getting whipped by a bunch of rookies in Houston is pretty bad. Everyone OK with that?

The Atlanta Braves seem determined to lock up the wild card race as today's win over Arizona gives them an eight-game lead over the Giants. The D-backs have now lost four straight--that has taken a bit of the luster off their seven-game win streak. The Giants are fortunate to be only 2-1/2 back. The good news (I'm always looking for good news) is that even after the poor outing by Madison Bumgarner the team is still second in all of baseball in runs allowed with 450 (the Phillies are the best with 405), just a little better than the third-place Braves (464). The D-backs are fortunate to be where they are as well. They've allowed 556 runs on the season--20th on the list of MLB teams. By any measure--ERA+, FIP, xFIP, WHIP, WAR, QS, BAA, SO--they are a mediocre staff, despite the presence of some fine young talents like Ian Kennedy and Daniel Hudson. The NL West race is just starting to heat up. C'mon Giants, win some goddamn games and get these pretenders off the top spot!

--M.C.

Through seven

2011-08-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

Last night was the 126th game for our beloved and beleaguered club. That means seven innings of the season have been played (7 x 18 = 126). There are two more innings (36 games) left in the season. The first third of the season saw the Giants put out a respectable 10-8, 10-8, and 9-9 for a 29-25 record on May 31st. The Giants were in second place (1/2 game out) to the Diamondbacks at that point. They improved to 10-8, 11-7, and 11-7 to go 32-22 and sit at 61-47 on July 31st. The team was two games up on Arizona, having held as much as a 4-1/2 game lead. The wheels started to come off at the end of the sixth when the Giants were swept in Cincinnati. The seventh inning has been a disaster (6-12) and included losing three of four to two potential playoff opponents. It was capped by a truly wretched effort in Houston last night. The Astros are playing .328 ball!! They are the WORST TEAM IN AMERICA!! Starter Ryan Vogeslong was a little shaky (four walks, two-out RBI hit to the pitcher) but deserved better. Of course "deserved better" is Matt Cain's career motto, and one that Tim Lincecum is learning more about every day.

Injuries have finally taken their toll on the team. That's the bad news. The good news is that there is still time to right the ship. The D-backs are only up by 2-1/2 and the Giants see them six more times. There are 21 home games left on the schedule. A little good health, a little good luck, they could finish strong and win the West. The current version of the team is not going to do anything. They've got to get Sergio Romo, Brian Wilson, and Jonathan Sanchez back. They'll need contributions from the likes of Carlos Beltran, Cody Ross, and Aubrey Huff. They'll have to figure out how to score a few more runs. You do actually have to score SOME RUNS to win in baseball. The outstanding pitching means you don't have to score a lot--just some. If the Giants do make the playoffs with this "offense" they will be the lowest-scoring team ever to do so. Regardless of baseball history, Pythagorean records, or personal belief in the importance of run scoring vs. run prevention, one thing is certain: no team ever won by being shut out.

--M.C.

Screwed Tim

2011-08-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

Yeah, OK, he did put a couple pitches on a tee for Chipper Jones. One of which resulted in yet another gut wrenching loss to the Atlanta Braves. Maybe, Tim likes guys that are named after gardening tools. But BESIDES that, Tim Lincecum (11-10) was his usual masterful self :

7 innings... 5 hits (3 xbh!)... 1 run ...2 walks ....7 strike outs

That is a very nifty 68 game score, which is like the fourth time out of the last 5 starts with the same game score (and the fifth start was an 80!). I don't really know if that means much but it seemed like a neat statistical booboo. Tim deserved to win, he got hosed by a terrible offense, bbblah bblah BLAH! I have written this too many times for a lifetime, let alone a season.

I shall say nothing about the offense...except to mention that I noticed around the fifth or sixth inning that I was no longer even hoping for a hit...Heaven forbid, that would be asking too much of these frigging millionaires. I was just hoping they would have a good at bat. You know, foul a few off, take a close one or two. That's all I wanted. I was really rooting for them.

They didn't come close.

Stopper!

2011-08-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to let an ugly 9th inning ruin a lovely start by the ever-stalwart Matt Cain. I'm going to fret a bit about the error by Orlando Cabrera on a play that should have ended things. Young stud Brandon Crawford has ruined me. I can no longer look at a Giants shortstop without comparing him to what we saw from the rookie. I almost don't care if he can't hit. I know that's a bit of blasphemy in the Bochiverse. Things aren't much different in the Sabeanisphere where Veteran Savvy Clutchness is valued to the point of fetishism. Orlando has the rings, baby. The proof that his VSC runneth over. Edgar Renteria is living proof that VSC matters when things matter most, and there's just no winning that argument. But I sure hope OC sits a bit when BC comes back in September. I'm glad Bochy gave Dan Runzler a shot to finish a 7-1 game even though it didn't work out well for him. With Jonathan Sanchez and Sergio Romo on the DL the team needs a fresh arm or two. I think Runzie is the man. Runz-feld, bringin' shock & awe! The Runzinator--stops runs before they start! Speaking of runs, I'm glad the Giants scored a lot of them.

Matt Cain snaps a personal losing streak and notches double digits in wins for the third season in a row. He ties Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels for the NL lead with 20 quality starts. Giants gain a game as the D-Backs lost in Philadelphia. Big Tim Timmy Jim gets the ball tomorrow as the Giants battle for a split.

--M.C.

Post-Op Report: Zo Doing Well!!!!!

2011-08-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

Akemi's report on Zo is good - that is the best news!!!!!

Giants' Make Things Even More Difficult

2011-08-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

On the day that our beloved Zo-meister is in for his second surgery (supposedly, much shorter & easier than the last one - hopefully, he's doing REALLY well), the latest from Atlanta, per Baggerly:

- Nate Schierholtz may have broken his foot & is about to have an X-ray.

- Jeff Keppinger is having an MRI on his wrist.

- Carlos Beltran is finally on the DL.

- His replacement ... Miguel Tejada.

OK, we've finally leveled the playing field & given the Braves half a chance. Now, let's go & beat them anyway! GO GIANTS!!!