Randy Winn Baby!

How many of you fans still want to trade Randy Winn?

When Randy first came to San Francisco from Seattle the numbers he put up were almost like something never seen before. Except we all got to see Barry Bonds perform, so we had actually seen BETTER!

Not to take away from what Winn did, here's a looksee at the numbers Randy Winn posted upon his arrival in 2005.

AB-231 R-39 H-83 2B-22 3B-5 HR-14 RBI-26 AVG.- .356 in 56 games.

What he's done since August 1, 2008 is almost as noteworthy. I don't have the supporting numbers but I do know that at the end of July he was batting .279 and he has raised his average to .308.

He has currently stolen 25 bases, having been caught only two times this 2008 season. Atta boy, Randy Winn!

(thanks to Giants website)

Kevin Marquez

From: Let's Play Ball (Without any Delays) To: 2008's Just Get the Call Right

All the statistics in baseball with new ones popping up all of the time, due to the growing interest in Fantasy baseball and figuring out ways to enhance a player's value, and yet most of the numbers accumulated are erroneous. (A quick reference to the Thesaurus suggests others words, since the Baseball Gods are looked in such high esteem let's offer as many ways of describing their behavior as possible..apocryphal, defective, unreliable, misleading or discrepant.)

Whether an umpire missed seeing where the ball hit, or a batter-runner or baserunner missed a base or ran past the guy in front of him, the numbers that are supposedly etched in stone are variations of what should have been. Except, of course, for those homers lost due to inclement weather.

On the eve of baseball's 2008 Just Get the Call Right, with the installation of video cameras in an 18-by-24 foot room that is said to have so many computers and television screens, it looks like NASA's Mission Control. Located on the 5th floor of a former banking factory, in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, this place of Getting the Call Right is referred to as Network Operations Center (NOC).

Here's a smidgeon of examples proving that the numbers considered to be somewhat etched in stone (i.e. Babe Ruth-714 homers, Harmon Killebrew-573 homers...Lou Gehrig 493 homers or Mickey Mantle-536 homers) aren't the exact totals, afterall.

On 4-15-1930, Babe Ruth hit a ball into the right-center-field stands, in Philadelphia off Robert "Lefty" Grove but because the ball struck a loud speaker and bounced back onto the field it was ruled a double.

On 9-26-1930, Babe Ruth hit another ball that again struck the loud speaker in Philadelphia off Cy Perkins for the same result.

On 7-5-1921, Ruth hit a ball into the rightfield stands at the Polo Grounds in the 6th inning and should've had another in the 4th inning but a fan reached out over the fence to catch the ball. Home plate umpire, Tommy Connolly consulted with base umpire Ollie Chill and they ruled the hit to be a double. Ruth was already at third base and returned to second only after a long argument.

On 4/26/1931: Lou Gehrig hit a homer into the centerfield bleachers at Griffith Stadium. The ball caromed back to the centerfielder. The runner on first (Lyn Lary) returned to the dugout thinking the ball was caught (what, no base coaches?). Gehrig was declared out for passing the runner and lost the home run. He ended the year tied in homers with Babe Ruth.

On 4/28/1956: Mickey Mantle drilled a ball into the Fenway Park centerfield bleachers in the 8th inning. The blast off Dave Sisler landed 3 or 4 rows up in the stands. The ball was bouncing around while a number of fans tried to grab the apparently greasy orb only to see it bounce back onto the field. Mantle hustled and beat the throw to third base for a triple. Casey Stengel, Yogi Berra, Bill Dickey and Frank Crosetti surrounded second base umpire, Ed Rommel, trying to convince him that the ball reached the seats, but the ump ruled that the ball hit the top of the wall and not in the seats. (Plays like this must have been the reason for newer stadiums to incorporate the yellow line as an easier way for umps to distinguish whether the ball was or was not a home run.)

On 7/1/59: Harmon Clayton Killebrew, born in Payette, Idaho, a player credited with hitting 573 homers had a homer taken away from him. And as you will see, this will not be the only one.
In the bottom of the 7th inning, according to fellow 500-HR club member, Ted Williams, the Killer blasted a Jerry Casale pitch towards left field where Ted was patrolling. According to an umpire in the game, Bob Stewart, the ball struck the visiting bullpen fence and was not out of the park. The ball rolled almost all the way back to third base. Williams stood watching as the ball rolled, with his hands on his hips. According to Williams-a player known for his incredible eyesight, which isn't something you could say about the aforementioned umpire Stewart, 'the ball struck the screen on the left field foul pole a couple of feet above the fence. I saw no point in chasing a home run."
Killebrew was awarded a double.

On 6/12/59: Harmon had a homer nullified due to a rainout. He hit this one off Cleveland hurler, Herb Score.

6/5/1973: Harmon and Rod Carew both lost homers off of Cleveland pitcher Dick Bosman, once again to inclement weather.

On 7/17/1961: Both Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle lost homers they hit off Hal Brown due to the game being called to inclement weather.

6/20/1969: Joe Pepitone lost a grand slam in the first inning when he tagged Mike Nagy at Fenway Park. The game was called one batter later, with nobody out and a torrential downpour hitting. This game was certainly not meant to be.

8/12/1969: Hammerin' Henry Aaron lost a homer he hit off Phillie pitcher Larry Jackson.

5/25/1971: Frank Robinson of the Orioles and Ken "the Hawk" Harrelson, of the Indians lost homers due to inclement weather.

4/15/1984: Michael Jack Schmidt lost a homer he hit at Olympic Stadium in Montreal when the rains came pouring down.

9/6/96: Ken Griffey, Jr., lost a homer off Jack McDowell at Jacobs Field, in Cleveland when along with the umpires, John Fogarty wondered, "Who'll Stop the Rain?" This would have been Griffey Jr.'s 50th homer that year. He would finish with 49.

(Note: Bobby Bonds would have been the first 40-HR, 40-Stolen base player had a homer of his not been nullified due to inclement weather.)

(thanks to Retrosheet.org)

Kevin Marquez

A Look Around the League

Tonight, August 26, 2008, marks the beginning of the last series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium before the Yanks move in across the street to their new digs.

This series is Giants/Dodgers with WAY more hype and interest on ESPN. (What's the "E" stand for, East, of course.) So anything can and will happen. In fact, I'll go on record and say, not having paid any bit of attention to Game One (of this series), that a call will be made that will hurry the installation of instant replay. It'll be a 'what are they waiting for?' type of missed call.

Unfortunately, for major league baseball, these calls happen all of the time. But nobody gives a hoot about the KC Royals, SF Giants, SD Padres, Wash Nationals, Cincy Reds, Oakland A's or least of all the Seattle "Pilot-Mariners."

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This Date in Baseball*August 26th

In 1939: the first major league game was televised as WKBS brought its cameras to Brooklyn's Ebbets Field for a doubleheader between the Cincinnati Redlegs and the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers.
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In 2002: A current Yankee, Derek Jeter, scored his 100th run of the season. Joining Ted Williams (1939-1949) and Earle Combs (1925-1932) as the only players in modern history to score at least 100 runs in their first seven (7) seasons.

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In 1947: Brooklyn's Dan Bankhead became the first black pitcher in the majors. He homered in his first at-bat but didn't fare too well on the mound. In 3 innings of relief, he gave up 10 hits and 6 earned runs to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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In 2008: In Pittsburgh, Geovany Soto belted his 20th homer, a club record for a Cub rookie catcher. He broke Randy Hundley's record of 19 HRs in 1966.

On December 2, 1965, the San Francisco Giants traded Cecil Randolph Hundley, Jr. (Rebel) and William Alfred Hands, Jr. (Froggy) to the Chicago Cubs for Lindy McDaniel and Don Landrum.

Randy Hundley hit 19 his rookie year and in 1969 hit 18-HR. Bill Hands won 16, 20 and 18 games from 1968 thru 1970 inclusive.

This was a trade when first made looked like the Giants got the star player because McDaniel was a known commodity. But Lindy wasn't as dominant as his record might suggest. He was flimsy Lindy in the Candlestick wind. Lindy had a decent career with the St. Louis Cardinals, the team he began his career with (15W 9-L in 1957; 12-4 in 1960 with StL and 13-7 in 1963 with the Cubs. In his first season as a Giant his record was 10W 5L. His numbers were solid (2.66 ERA, 93-K's 35-BB...but he gagged in the clutch. (Note: When a pitcher comes in with runners on base, he is not responsible if he gives up the hit that allows those runners to score. He is only charged with runs scored against when the batter who got a hit off of him scores.)

All in all, Lindy McDaniel was not a bad deal. It's just that Bill Hands and Randy Hundley went on to have good careers and they were once Giants. Proof that sometimes the best trade is the trade not made.
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If you like looking at statistical feats in baseball, things such as "firsts" and "lasts" and just are interested in any kind of kooky thing that may have happened in baseball you may be interested to know a website just might fulfill this quirky knack of yours.

For instance: The first batter at Candlestick Park, on April 12, 1960 was Joe Cunningham of the St. Louis Cardinals. (Remember him? If you do, you ARE alone!)

The first hit was a single by Bill White. He also stole the first base at the 'Stick. Who hit the first double? Willie Mays. First triple? Orlando "Baby Bull" Cepeda. Home run? Leon "Daddy Wags" Wagner

As per Giants' announcer Jon Miller the website is: retrosheet. org.
Check it out...

(thanks to the Fresno Bee for This Date in Baseball)

Kevin Marquez

Pablo "E.liminator" Sandoval

I don't want to jinx Pablo Sandoval by saying something about him because what he has done so far is impressive (like I did with Alex Let's Hear It for Hinshaw. Hinshaw does have some nasty stuff and I still believe he CAN be a quality arm for the Giants' future.) but I do have to acknowledge that the 20 year old has done well.

Pablo E. Sandoval was born in Puerto Cabella, Venezuela on August 11, 1986.
His major league debut was on August 14, 2008...do the math, it's 20 years.

He bats from both the left side and right side.
He throws from both the left hand and the right hand.

I don't know what the E stands for, but based on his start out of the blocks, in the major leagues, I'll say it stands for Eliminator, due to the way he annihilates any possibility of the opposing team going 1-2-3, when it's Pablo's turn to bat. And it can also be thought of as a reference to the segment of the Comcast broadcast of Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow where Krukow draws stick men and goatees on every fan who Krukow thinks deserves some humiliation. But Giant fans can never lose sight of the fact that, as J.T. Snow and Duane Kuiper say, "He can hit."

I know it's early but hear are Pablo Sandoval's numbers through August 23rd (and he got 2 hits in 4 at-bats, with 1-RBI on August 24th)

Through August 23rd he was batting .571 vs. left-handers and .381 vs. right-handers.
At home he's batted .438
On the road he's batted .417.
During the day he's batted .267
At night he's hitting .615.

The Eliminator, Pablo Sandoval, so far has impressed the heck out of this Giants' fan.

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A note around baseball.
The current Seattle Mariners need 17 wins, the rest of the season, to avoid matching the record of the one-year Seattle Pilots back in 1969. The team in 1969, coached by Joe Schultz had a won/loss record of 64-98. (Currently the Mariners are 47W 82L.)

The 1969 team (who became the Milwaukee Brewers the following season as they were the Seattle Pilots for one season only. The Mariners did not come into existence until 1977.) had some names that would be familiar to fans of baseball. Former Minnesota Twin and Oakland Athletic, Don Mincher, led the team in homers with 25. Former LA Dodger, Tommy Davis led the team with 80-RBI. Tommy Harper, originally a Cincinnati Redleg and a wanted man because he could get on base and then steal another stole 73 bags that year. Lifetime 408 stolen bases. (Harper played for: Cincy, Cleveland, Seattle-Milwaukee, Boston, California, Oakland and Baltimore. The trade that sent him to Boston included: Lew Krausse, Marty Pattin who also went to Bosox for Jim Longborg, Ken Brett, Billy Conigliaro, Joe Lahoud, George Scott and Don Pavletich.)

(thanks to Giants website and Baseball-Reference)


Kevin Marquez

Lincecum Continues his Amazing Season and STUFF...8/23/08

Tim Lincecum pitched 8 innings of shutout baseball at AT&T Park vs. the San Diego Padres to pick up his 14th victory of the season, against 3 losses.

We all know how tainted this won/loss record is. From the unforgivable balk call by the home plate umpire that cost Lincecum his first defeat to Tyler Flush Walker's numerous blown saves, it's incredible that Tim Lincecum still has an impressive number. Especially when the world knows the Giants were the worst major league team, scoring runs in July, and basically throughout the year! To be 14-3 on a below .500 team is commendable, to say the least.

Factor in that Lincecum's eighth and final strikeout of the game was the 200th of this 2008 season for the National League lead and the story just keeps getting better. (Milwaukee late-season acquisition C.C. Sabathia has 192, but not all came in the NL. I never thought of it before but carrying his numbers from another league, isn't that almost like counting minor league, Mexican, Japan, China or wherever else outside league, when whatever he tallied in the American League should stop there and the NL should have a new total. Sure, it's unfair to Sabathia, but in a way it's also unfair to Lincecum. I guess they just continue Sabathia's tally and if he so happens to have more than anyone in the NL, then so be it. He gets the crown. Is that how the home run leader is decided? I don't think so? If a batter smacks 30 homers, then jumps leagues. I believe his total stops right there. And the league leader needs only to pass 30 and stay ahead of the pack to collect the coveted crown.)

According to the Fresno Bee, the Giants haven't had a pitcher lead the league in strikeouts since Bill Voiselle (161) in 1944. Nicknamed 96 or Big Bill, the 1944 season was his best. He won 21 games and lost 16, starting 41 and completing 25. He was voted the Sporting News pitcher of the year for 1944. (This was during WWII, so the numbers during 1941-1945 weren't as good as one may have become accustomed to. In part, because the best players weren't participating. But the league wanted to continue so for 1944, Big Bill Voiselle was voted the best by The Sporting News.)

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Travis Denker has begun to light it up for the Fresno Grizzlies, hitting homers in back-to-back games.
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Jose Castillo was activated by the Houston Astros.
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Nate Schierholtz will bring home (to the United States) with his teammates, a bronze metal. South Korea gets the Gold and Cuba gets the Silver.


(thanks to the Fresno Bee and Baseball Reference)

Kevin Marquez

Orange and Black Attack: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

During the Olympic Games of 2008, there was a classic collision that involved current Fresno Grizzly, Nate Schierholtz and a former Giant, China manager, Jim Lefebvre.

The story goes like this...China's starting catcher (Wang) had to leave the game due to a foul tip off of his foot. He was then replaced by Yang Yang. No, this isn't an episode of the Simpsons or Family Guy. It's the Olympics at Beijing.

With Nate Schierholtz on third base he tagged up on a fly ball to center field and took off for the plate. Yang blocked the plate and even though the ball was cut-off Schierholtz didn't know that until after the play was consummated. In the Giants' farmhand's words, " Had the throw from center not been cut-off at the mound, nobody would have said anything because the play would have been close."

Jim Lefebvre got tossed because he thought Nate should have been given the heave-ho. Lefebvre, a one-time Dodger rookie of the year (1965) and later a Giants' coach will forever be remembered by yours truly as the coach who wouldn't stand for Tommy Lasorda's shenanigans and when he questioned Lasorda he saw Lasorda's body language, asked him if what he just heard was true then hauled off and decked the calorically-challenge Dodger coach-manager, who has forever claimed to bleed Dodger blue. Just edging out his next story that it took the greatest pitcher in the world to keep him from making the Dodger's roster. (Sandy Koufax, who like the talkative Lasorda was a lefty. Fortunately, for Mister Blue Bleeder, the organization stuck with the better pitcher. At least that's what blabber-mouth Lasorda would have you believe, since 'he'd do anything for the organization.' Yeh, right. You know he was punching lockers when he got word that Koufax beat him out.) That makes Jim Lefebvre the best Giant -who was a Dodger- ever! (According to yours truly.)

At the game's end the final score was USA: 9 China:1.

5 USA batters were struck with the ball while in the batter's box.
Wang Wang hit a homer for China's only run. As he rounded the bases he raised his hand signalling "Number 1."
Hey Wang, was that for the number of runs your team scored or were you using the wrong finger? (The homer proved that Wang was not injured in the collision, which is a good thing.)

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Barry Zito won his 7th game of the season as the Giants exploded for 3 runs in the top half of the first inning.
Why the sarcasm? Barry Zito improved to 97-5 in his career when on the receiving end of 4 runs or more, of support, including 12-1 with the Giants. San Francisco has scored no more than 1 run in 24 of his starts.

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For those of you Jonesing for John Bowker, a guy I like to call Rusty, he hit a homer for the Fresno Grizzlies last night.

(Thanks to the Fresno Bee for some inspired Giant stuff)

Kevin Marquez

Forget the Fat Lady Singing, It'll be Porky signing off: "That's All Folks!"

On the Comcast broadcast of the Giants/Braves game, August 15, 2008, the first base umpire, Lance Barksdale had blown a couple of calls. After the second gem of a miss, wiseguy color commentator, Mike Krukow, spouted off how 'tomorrow may be a long night for the Giants with Barksdale behind the plate because history shows Lance Barksdale has his roughest games against the San Francisco Giants.'

Krukow went on to say that, ' the Giants are a team he has had bad luck against."

Originally scheduled for the game was Jonathan Sanchez, a pitcher I think has some difficulty with home plate umpires who don't establish the strike zone and display an arrogant attitude while missing pitch after every other pitch.

But as luck would have it, Sanchez would miss his turn due to an injury so Matt Palmer, a pitcher who has played his whole professional career in the minor leagues and was now finally making his debut in the major leagues, was called up to pitch his first major league game with Barksdale behind the plate. Gee, all of those bus trips and sleepless nights wondering if he was ever going to make it and he gets a clown like Barksdale behind the plate for his first major league game.

What did Krukow mean, had his roughest games against the Giants. Did someone, on the Giants' bench at some time during Lance Barksdale's career, call Barksdale "Barkie" from the bench and it touched a nerve? Because as August 16th rolled around and Matt Palmer took the mound what you saw was a strike zone that was far different for the Giants than it was for the Braves. And as the game entered the late innings, Barkie, was calling anything close a strike. Just the way it's written in the unwritten rules of calling balls and strikes in the Major Leagues. A book not yet in print, as far as I know! (Now I'm the wiseguy.)

Final score: Braves-11 Giants-4.

Most of the players in the major leagues belong. (Due to the expansion of so many teams the talent level has diluted over the years. You can see poor baserunning and lack of execution on any given day and it's because players aren't seasoned the way they were when there were only 12 teams. Back then, guys who played their whole careers in the minor leagues would be considered stars today. Or at least they'd sign the million dollar contract.)

But I'm really thinking the term major league is antiquated. Becoming almost obsolete by the actions, however appalling, seen time after time in the major leagues. It could be a player misbehaving or an umpire misbehaving or even an owner misbehaving, take your pick. And there's no place for any of the aforementioned but we fans like going to the yard and our tolerance levels are accepting of such behaviors. Now. But I think some day, when is anybody's guess, some people are just going to say the heck with Major League baseball because they will have reached that tolerance level.

And when the time comes, I'm sure I'll be in a box in the dirt or ashes into the wind or perhaps even in a gutter near you, but the fat lady aint gonna be singing. For this one, the popular animated Warner Brothers cartoon character, Porky Pig, will be the perfect spokesperson-pig, for all dissatisfied customers concerned, when he stutters, "Ebb-a-ebb-a-ebb-a-ebba, That's All Folks!"

Kevin Marquez

Remembering and Not Recognizing

Todd Jones, a closer, who has a weekly column in the Sporting News, gave thanks to Jerome Holtzman in the August 4, 2008 edition of TSN.

For you movie buffs, Jerome Holtzman looked like a cross between Ed Begley and Sheldon Leonard. He was a Chicago-based writer who also wrote for the Sporting News, when it was strictly a baseball paper. Back then it had baseball card like photos of the hottest player in the game, each week. In fact, the phote was so good it would have been a great idea had I saved the covers because they were far better than baseball card photos and those phony stances with the bat and awaiting a ground ball that used to be in vogue. These photos were in such living color that you felt like you were there and could smell the freshly mown grass of the field.( Note: If the photo was taken on astroturf, you could smell the nearest hot dog and cigar.)

Todd Jones goes on to say: Relievers are indebted to Mr. Holtzman because he introduced the save statistic to baseball.

Mr. Holtzman was ahead of his time. He realized just as many games were won or lost late as early. He noticed that some guys were coming into games a lot more often than others when the outcome was on the line. He decided there needed to be a way to quantify what those guys were doing. And finally, he was able to sell his idea to Major League Baseball (MLB).

In a way, the save laid the groundwork for the entire evolution of the bullpen. The save shed light on the guys in front of the closer because without the 8th (inning) there is no 9th (inning), without the 7th there is no 8th...

I agree with everything Todd Jones says. Unfortunately, Holtzman's fellow writers are having a tough time assimilating this because the closer isn't getting a whole lot of love when it comes time to vote for Hall of Fame stoppers. How can this be? Are they jealous of Holtzman because they think the save stat ruined the game because starters barely pitch 6 innings nowadays? Why let that fact get in the way of what is happening and judge a player by his standards between the lines of play because that's what being Hall of Fame worthy is all about. The complete game will come back, give it time. (San Francisco has a pitcher, Tim Lincecum, who will see to that.)

The writers just prove how inept they are when they don't vote for a player based on how that player changed the game or made those playing with him change their game because of said player. Only players know which players did this to them and their peers. That is WHY I say remove the writers from having the authority and privilege in saying who is and is not worthy. Because the majority of writers aren't worthy of such a privilege as voting for who belongs in the hallowed halls.

Most writers vote based on popularity. They don't care that batters had to constantly make adjustments or change their whole approach because of what a particular pitcher did to their comfort level when facing that pitcher. Or vice versa, if that player was a batter, the pitcher may have had to change his whole philosophy because everything he tried seemed to fail. So at long last the pitcher either elected to intentionally walk the batter or made sure no runners were on before that batter came to the plate.

When you play the game of baseball differently than what brought you success - just to avoid having to challenge this particular opponent- you cannot possibly be comfortable in your surroundings therefore unusual results are bound to happen. Usually in unfamiliar and uncomfortable settings an athlete doesn't get his/her desired results. This brings up the question: How many players would have had a real good shot at being Hall of Fame worthy had they not ran into these type of players often enough where all of these unnatural adjustments affected the numbers necessary to even be considered for the Hall of Fame?

You cannot vote a player into a hallowed place like the Hall of Fame based on popularity. Politics and voting for Hall of Fame worthy candidates do not mix. Please, leave your hurt feelings at home or in the closet- with all your other disjointed personal problems-where they belong, you cry baby writers.

Isn't it enough that your whining (about certain ballplayers) finally gets some owners, those Good Ole Boys so near and dear to you because you all grab each others ass until finally these ballplayers aren't allowed to play in the Big Leagues ever again.

Big Leagues, wow, what a misnomer that is. Because there is nothing Big League about the behavior of Good Ole Boy owners and cry-baby writers who couldn't get the respect of the player because the player wanted no part of playing any game other than baseball.


Kevin Marquez

Tyler Walker To Most Fans is The FLUSH

Mike Krukow, former pitcher who is currently the Giants' television broadcaster and contributor to the post-game Wrap, refers to Tyler Walker as the Bulldog or Polar Bear 'out there on the mound.' Not me. All I can think of -when his name is announced- is the FLUSHing of the toilet. Because it's time to relieve myself.

Robb Nen had "Smoke on the Water" piped in over the loud speakers upon his entrance. Perhaps it's a bit of a takeoff from the movie Major Leagues. Whenever Ricky Vaughn was called upon for relief the song Wild Thing (by the Troggs...I prefer the Jimi Hendrix version) was played. Shortly thereafter, many pitchers took note and picked a song they felt best described them on the mound.

Tyler Walker doesn't deserve the right to make a choice. His efforts make this fan, yours truly, think the Polar Bear should hear the sound effects of several toilets flushing as he approaches the mound. Lose the name of Polar Bear because he's Tyler "the FLUSH" Walker. When he toes the slab, the Giants' chances of staying in the game or remaining in the lead generally get flushed down the drain.

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In blogging baseball, a weekly section of Sports Weekly, the August 6-12 edition talked to a blogger about the Colorado Rockies. One of the questions was: Are you embarrassed by the quality of the NL West? The answer: The folks who should be embarrassed are the front offices: The Diamondbacks for trading Carlos Quentin, the Padres for not realizing you have to score runs to win games, the Rockies for not reinvesting all the extra ticket money last year's run brought and the Dodgers for persistently shooting themselves in the foot despite much greater financial resource.

A page over is MLB report. Power rankings.
At #27 is the San Francisco Giants. It merely states: scored fewest runs in baseball in July.

No mention of the Giants only proves nobody expected much from the orange and black. That's why it is imperative the Gigantes come out of this season with a couple of every-day players out of it and it looks like they got their closer. No longer is it Brian Wouldn't It Be Nice Wilson, it's Brian Don't Worry Baby Wilson.

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Finally in the Giants' minors watch it mentions something about Garrett Broshuis, 26, had won six consecutive decisions for Class AA (Norwich) Connecticut before suffering a loss Sunday. He fell to 12-7 with a 3.60 ERA in 22 starts. Last year at Connecticut he went 3-17 in 26 starts despite a respectable 3.88 ERA.

What it didn't mention was that Garrett Broshuis is a part-time columnist for Sporting News who just so happened to face David "Big Papi" Ortiz during Ortiz' rehab stint and struck out Big Papi.

As it says in the Sporting News...for more of Garrett Broshuis' experiences in the minors, go to sportingnews.com.


(thanks to Sports Weekly and the Sporting News)

Kevin Marquez

Trade Deadline IS a Misnomer

Sports Weekly's August 6-12, 2008 issue did an article on the top 5 LOPSided trades, not including the Orlando Cepeda to St.Louis Cardinals for Ray Sadecki trade (which was on May 8, 1965).

1) June 15, 1964: Cubs trade Lou Brock to the St. Louis Cardinals.

2) July 28, 1995: Blue Jays trade right-hander, David Cone, to the NY Yankees for Marty Janzen and two minor league prospects. Damn, if they name Marty and not the other two one can only imagine who the other two guys were. Bet they aren't talking about it unless some obscure trivia buff happens to know who they are... (Jason Jarvis and Mike Gordon). Whoa! that's scary stuff, eh?

3) 7/31/1997; The A's trade Mark McGwire to St. Louis Cardinals for RHP's: Blake Stein, T.J. Mathews and Eric Ludwick (the brother of Ryan, #47, on the current Redbird roster).

4) 7/18/1993; Padres trade Fred McGriff to Braves for OF-Mel Nieves, RHP-Donnie Elliott and minor league OF (why'd he get that rap?): Vince Moore. If any Giants' fan ever wants a reason to despise the Padres, or Madres per my buddy Rook, just check out this trade. It was as if the general manager had a bug up his ass where the Gigantes were concerned. He just couldn't let the orange and black run away with the division so he did what he thought he had to do to prevent that from happening. And Fred McGriff was so unbelievably hot that this run of McGriff's just may get him a key to Cooperstown, NY.

5) 7/30/2004; Mets trade LHP Scott Kazmir and RHP Jose Diaz to DevilRays for RHPs Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Not So Fortunato.

(thanks to Sports Weekly and Baseball Reference for knowledge on the David Cone and Mark McGwire trades.)

Kevin Marquez

Umpire Phobia...Coping with the Men in Blue

Is it possible today's player will have to go through periods of Umpire Phobia? A condition caused by having to cope with the inconsistent, tenuous, unconscionable, arbitrary, irresponsible, undependable, unpredictable and incompetent game officials known in baseball as umpires.

Who would have thought of such a thing? But umpiring has become such a faltering skill that these high-priced athletes are having to deal with something no generation before them has had to be mentally prepared for. Used to be you had to have a book on the opposing players but now, especially if you are a pitcher, you had better have an idea of the umpires' tendencies or you will have a difficult time coping with his antics on that day.

This may be young Giant left-hander, Jonathan Sanchez' biggest problem. He has a most difficult time accepting the attitudes of these arbiters in blue.

I have no access to the locker room. I am just a casual observer and I can see the ever-changing facial countenance of Jonathan Sanchez when he throws a pitch that makes a strike on K-Zone but not from the fellow behind the catcher. Sanchez is young and still perfecting his craft and he has to ask himself, is that erratic strike zone always going to exist? Why can't the people assigned the task of adhering to the rules, those deemed to be the ambassadors of the rules, whose sole purpose of existing is their assurance that the rules WILL be followed according to the book, do what they were hired to do?

Managers, more than ever have to pay close attention to the attitudes of their players and seek help whenever necessary. With all the money involved in this kids game the pressures are enormous. And if your livelihood is being determined by some calorically-challenged-buffoonery-in-blue you just might flip.

It's the 21st century and the times they are a changing.

Kevin Marquez

Charles Theodore Davis was Chili with a "Y" in San Francisco

Charles Theodore Davis, "Chili" in the baseball world, born in Kingston, Jamaica, was Chilly and not Chili while wearing the orange and black.

I got to thinking about this when viewing one of the Giants' greatest games as voted by their fans. So I looked up his career statistics and they are impressive but not worthy of Hall of Fame induction. Although, Chili Davis did come away with 3 World Series rings.

In Chili's career during the regular season these are his totals:
G-2436 AB-8673 R-1240 H-2380 HR-350 RBI-1372 AVG. .274

His postseason record was immaculate sans the 1987 loss by the Giants to the Cardinals in 7 games.

In 1991, as a Minnesota Twin, the Twins defeated the Atlanta Braves in 7 games.
In 1998, as a New York Yankee, the Yanks swept the San Diego Padres in 4 games.
In 1999, as a Yankee, the Yankees again swept their opponent, America's team per their Superstation plug, the Atlanta Braves.

But as a Giant, this player with a solid career was just Chilly Davis.

(thanks to Baseball-Reference.com for the numbers)

Kevin Marquez

A Couple of Phenoms are Opening Special Assistant-Felipe Alou's Eyes

According to Felipe Alou, the one-time player and later manager of your San Francisco Giants, Angel Villalona needed to gain some familiarity with the team concept. After all, he was signed as a 16-year phenom with no knowledge of such things needing to occur for him to put his bat on the ball or use his glove to snag an on-coming ball off the bat of an opponent.

You know how that is, we all learn things according to how it befits our part in the matter. Not until we realize it's necessary do we even bother with such things.

"There's a lot of stuff they don't know they have to learn as professionals," said the elder statesman, Felipe Alou.

Villalona was signed as a 16-year old two years ago, entered Monday (July 28th) batting .247, with 12-HRs and 43-RBI. A more impressive stat was that he only struck out 92 times in 344 at-bats.

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Pablo Sandoval, who went from dominating Class A pitching at San Jose (.359, 12-HR, 59-RBI in 68 games) to crushing Double A (AA) at Connecticut (.342, 6-HR, 26-RBI in 27 games).

As for the future of the San Francisco Giants...Hope Springs Eternal.

(thanks to the Giant's web site for the aforementioned info)

Kevin Marquez

No Habla Means I Did Not Know, to Some...For Shame (Nobody Signed Barry Bonds)

How ironic that in a season where it may appear to paying customers, also known as fans, that they aren't getting what they paid for (when entering AT&T Park) that a story about the Giant's Triple A club, has Fresno Grizzlies' pitcher Julio Mateo, being arrested for paying his cab fare with a counterfeit $100 bill.

According to a police report, officers later found other $100 bills in Mateo's room. As they approached Mateo, before saying a thing as to why they were approaching Julio Mateo, Mateo blurted out how he knew nothing about the hundred dollar bills. In the words of a schoolmate, Busted!

As a check casher I encountered this situation on several occasions. And in every one the customer claimed to "not know English" as if they misunderstood something I said or throughout the whole process of us calling the police (to come into our store and apprehend these "innocents") they begged for the bogus bill back.

This story about Julio Mateo is exactly what happened in every one of our incidents. The police know a few tricks to get the guilty to incriminate themselves so as to be implicated of a crime. Years of practice has taught them just how to set the bait and wait. How's the Wham song go... guilty feet have got no rhythm (or patience).

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I just cannot understand why a team who says they want to win would not give Barry Bonds a shot to help them to the promised land. All the nonsense with Manny Ramirez being Manny is so tired and the idea that Manny dogged it just to get his way and he got it... I don't know why Barry is so disrespected. My only thought is that Barry has the respect of the players just not those anal retentive people with pens, known as writers. People who never knew what it was like to put on a uniform or were jealous of those who did, even if it went as far back as the athlete getting out of school early.

The Yankees, Rays, and La Russa's Cardinals (earlier in the year LaRussa gave us his 'I talked to the front office but...' statement, just so he could be "in the clear." Politics in sports, you must be leary of those who practice it because they are the ones who cause the congestion that turns into traffic that goes nowhere.

Writers have too much say if they can convince the Good Ole Boys of Baseball to avoid the plague that supposedly, to the hacks, is Barry Bonds.

It's a shame. If Ted Williams were alive he'd tell all the writers and people of influence what an injustice they were doing just as he did in his Hall of Fame induction speech. 'Cause all you hacks know the Splendid Splinter didn't care for your conduct since you weren't out there between the lines giving it your all like you were sucking down the sudsy libations and choking down cigar after cigar. Your blurred perspectives somehow got some Good Ole boys' attention because you've been riding that cab, at their expense, ever since.

What is truly unfortunate is that even though the Big Leagues goes out of its way to kiss the African-American's buttocks -what with the retirement of Jackie Robinson's jersey number (42) and posthumous inductions of Negro League ballplayers- the fact still remains that the BIG LEAGUES is still very prejudiced over who it takes care of and who it could care less about.

For shame, major league baseball. Not allowing Barry Bonds to play any more because your narrow-minded, short-sighted GOOD OLE BOYS colluded to keep Barry from doing something he loved. You kept a man from something he did better than most because you couldn't stand the fact that he was so good he didn't have to kiss your buttocks, whatever color ('cause I'm sure there are other ethnicities besides the lily white variety).



Kevin Marquez