As of April 21, 2016: The Giants are Major League Baseball's Worst Team. Kruk and Kuip are Calling it "April Fools"

This team started out of the gates as if they were following the same path as the local NBA basketball team, the Bay Area's most popular team, the Golden State Warriors. Winning 6 of their first 8 games while taking both series. And then something happened. All the hitters took leave of the strike zone and some fielders began booting the ball. All the while the bullpen, a source of strength in all of their World Series championship seasons began to show signs of fatigue. A leak in the USS San Francisco Giants has made them appear more like the Titanic. (At least in April 2016.)

We knew the staff was getting old and now is the time for some new, as yet, unproven talent to step onto the mound and show that they belong in the big leagues.

Right now on April 21st, all of their line drives are landing in foul territory while the opponent is hitting looping-liners that are finding spaces. Swinging bunts are all the rage when playing the Giants because it's damn near a hit every time! Matt Cain looks like "the Horse" for four innings and then all hell breaks loose. Jeff Samardzija on two separate occasions has tried to bunt a runner over and both times bunted into a double-play. In the same game the opposing pitcher has reached base safely and also scored a run. Who do you think won the game?

Guys like Jake Lamb are looking better than Robert Redford did in The Natural.

I tell ya it's rough. To be a Giants' fan these days is to be Rodney Dangerfield. Simply put, it's not easy being a Giants' fan. Fortunately, it is only April. How did Kruk (Mike Krukow) and Kuip (Duane Kuiper) describe April in their pregame KNBR radio show? "April baseball in the major leagues is April Fools."


Kevin J. Marquez

Somewhere where the Peanut Shells Roam

With all the statistics kept for major league baseball, has anyone bothered keeping the stat for when an umpire "squeezes" a pitcher on a 2-strike count and then the next pitch is clobbered? At this precise moment is when the broadcaster asks, 'Where did that miss?' or 'Was that an umpire's balk?' and then the next pitch changes everything in the game because the ball is bouncing around the warning track somewhere where the peanut shells roam.

I have said it before and dammit I'll say it again, the game of baseball is in the eyes of the home plate umpire. How he determines what is and is not a strike is how the game flows. Forget all the 'this takes long or that takes long' it is ALL on the person calling balls and strikes.

We have seen so far that the Giants have a good hitting lineup but the game REQUIRES that you get 27 outs. You need to have the ability to catch the ball as well as hit it where 'they ain't.' Now, throw in an inconsistent ump who doesn't know a strike from a ball and well, you have chaos.

(I don't quite think this is what Mel Brooks had in mind when he partnered in with Buck Henry for the television sitcom "Get Smart" which had Maxwell Smart and his crew constantly battling with chaos. Although, they spelled it with a "K" (KAOS). "K"... if only the umpire would have...)


Kevin J. Marquez

The 2016 San Francisco Giants' season is Here

Nice start.

Winning two of three in Milwaukee and then three of four from the Dodgers after they (LA) shutout San Diego in all three games is impressive.

The two losses: First loss was because high priced pitcher Jeff Samardzija failed to bunt a runner over (in fact, he bunted into a double-play) while the opposing pitcher, "Youngman" (no relation to Henny) was able to single and score a run, the difference in the game.

Loss number two was narrowed down to a ground ball hit to Kelby Tomlinson, in the rain, and it fooled him enough for him not to field it cleanly and instead of starting a game-ending double-play he allows the tying run to score and it eventually leads to a Dodger win.

But Manager Bruce Bochy made a mistake in pinch-hitting for Tomlinson with regular second baseman Joe Panik. Tomlinson had everything in the game to gain from getting a chance to redeem himself while Panik was riding pine in the rain all day. Tomlinson can hit and he was removed from his opportunity to make something happen. Why is Tomlinson on the roster?

Sorry Boch-y, you over managed in that situation. Panik was cold and not ready while his able teammate was aching to get the chance to right his wrong.

All is good though, the Giants are 5-2 after the first 7 games of the 2016 season.


Kevin J. Marquez