McCovey Chronicles!

McCovey Chronicles just kicks all kinds of ass. Certainly, there are several very good Giants blogs out there, and the four we have listed over at the right are (IMNSHO) the very best of the bunch. But right here, right now, I'm gonna give it up for McCovey Chronicles.

I mean, check out MC's recent post which poses the questions"what's up with the ever-enigmatic Pedro 'Pete Happy' Feliz?" and what can we expect from him this year?" :

The eternal question. The tendency with Pedro Feliz is to puff him up as some sort of Keyser Soze of lackluster production; the invincible source of all the Giants' evils and disharmony. He might have been the least productive starting third baseman in the majors last year, at least with the bat. At the All-Star break, though, he wasn't that bad. It seems so distant and abstract, but Feliz was having a Gold Glove kind of year and hitting .274/.306/.486. He wasn't exactly giving the Giants a significant edge on the competition, but he wasn't their main concern.

His second-half was absolutely rugged. He hit .202/.248/.348, which has to be one of the worst stretches in recent Giants history. If the first half was a poor man's version of an early '90s Matt Williams, the second half was Johnny LeMaster without the excuse of playing in a pitcher-friendly era. He just isn't the kind of hitter that will weather slumps well. A pressing Pedro Feliz is even more likely to flail at sliders, and that starts a nasty little feedback loop. Felipe Alou also refused to give him any sort of rest, and the end of the season featured a smoldering husk of a player that wasn't really that good to begin with.

Heh. That's the kind of sassy and savvy stuff that you're just never going to get in our local paper of record. MC's analysis, plus the remarks of the knowledgeable commenters, makes for damn compelling Giants-themed reading. Yet more proof (as if any were needed) that the blogosphere continues to provide essential and unique content far beyond what the mainstream media can or will (currently) offer.

Plus, I'm getting real excited for our Spring Training trip (T-minus 1.5 days!) and McCovey Chronicles has an open Spring Training post today!

After waiting months for exhibition games to start, we're stuck following games that are impossible to care about. If the statistics don't mean anything, the wins don't mean anything, and the losses don't mean anything, what's the point? There isn't a point...unless you're in Scottsdale, sitting in the shade, drinking something tasty, and actually watching players live. It might not be as fun as sitting inside an office on a beautiful day, but it's a start.

So this is an open thread to brag about springs past and present. Are you going to Scottsdale this year? Have you been before? Did you come home thinking Random Player was a star in the making, only to have Random Player eventually turn out to be Gino Minutelli? Did you understand what in the heck the big deal was with The Pink Pony?

I posted my thoughts over at MC as "ChaChaBowlRich". Check it out. And add your own Scottsdale thoughts .... either at MC or right here in our Comments. Been to Spring Training? Going this year?