Why?

Why do we live and die when the Giants lose a lead and flail away at the ball as it wiffles past their bats?

Why does it cloud the day from the sun when the Giants lose or make for sunny skies when they win?

Do we not have lives? I'm beginning to wonder.

The little things always matter. The inconsistent strike zone of home plate umpires is always HUGE when the Giants are playing because they have such a difficult, struggle of a time scoring runs. I mean, phew, listening to the broadcast of Giants games is excruciating.

Oh well, I was just wondering about the Giants players Bruce Bochy thinks will give them the best chance to win and how they continue to come up short. Eugenio "Brain Spasm Pharoah" Velez is a guy who hits with some pop and has blazing speed but he's not a thinker. And to play ball you have got to know every situation as it arises and what is the best way to get the most out of it and in these instances this guy is clueless.

Maybe I need a life because listening to Dave Fleming's negative-ridden play-by-play is killing my thirst for the game of baseball. It may have something to do with the teams' inability to manufacture runs. Making supposed "no-name" pitchers look like all-stars. (On that note, I saw a trivia question asking Who played Adam on Bonanza? And I immediately thought Bobby Parnell, the NY Met pitcher who has spoon fed the toothless, bib-adorned Giants on two separate occasions. But in actuality the correct answer was Pernell Roberts. Not Bobby Parnell.) I just think most people don't like hearing someone state the obvious over and over and over again, the way Dave F-f-f-f-leming is wont to do.

Kevin Marquez

Not Nate the Great, Yet

Those of us who have lived in San Francisco for over a quarter of a century know that Nate the Great was what all-time great announcer Bill King called the center of the San Francisco/Golden State Warriors', Nate Thurmond. His relentless defense and slick play with the number 42 on his cable car adorned jersey is neither lost nor forgotten.

Now as we slip into 2009, the Giants have a Nate, on their team, who is raising some eyebrows with his play between the foul lines.

You can listen to sports talk radio until the cows come home and somebody somewhere will ask why Nate Schierholtz isn't in the every day starting lineup and it's hard not to agree. He has the best arm, has excellent mobility and is a hitter who shows occasional pop.

Now, in defense of Randy Winn, I can see where Manager Bruce Bochy has this feeling Winn will come out of his funk. And he does play a good outfield. But the need to play Aaron Rowand may be losing it's purpose, since Nate needs to be in the lineup every day. So if it's a toss up between Nate and Aaron, c'mon man! Give it to the guy who brings something to the table not the guy struggling.

George Carlin once said: Swimming isn't a sport, it's a way to keep from drowning, well if the Giants continue to play Aaron Rowand their season most certainly will sink into the drink.

Kevin Marquez

Amazing Barry Zito Statistic

After coming from behind to beat the 2008 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies, Barry Zito had this to say about newest teammate Freddy Sanchez: "The guy just knows how to find barrel."

Not done passing out the compliments, Zito then turned to Eugenio Velez, dubbed the Pharaoh by beat writer Henry Schulman, and offered: "I don't know what adjustments he made in Triple A, but he has...been a huge part of this team for the last week. I think he's on a mission."

Speaking of on a mission, did you know that when Barry Zito gets 4 or more runs his won/loss record is 104-6. (15-2 as a Giant.)

Seems to me a statistic so glaringly incandescent as the aforementioned had to be known by those wanting to sign Mr. Zito. Not to take away from Barry Zito but the fact that Zito had to learn the basics of hitting had to be a concern as well (because in the National League pitchers who have the most success often help themselves with the glove and bat aside from how they throw on a given day).

You can definitely see Zito get into a zone when given the support of some runs scored. Zito is a starter for the San Francisco Giants who on 7 occasions got ZERO runs scored for him and he's still hanging in there with a 7-10 record. He's proven to be durable over his career and I can sense a coming out for the San Francisco hurler.

He's been the butt of jokes and on the short end of any compliments but it looks as if he'll be a bigtime contributor down the stretch. With the injury to Randy Johnson and the overall consistency of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, a third and fourth starter who can rise to the occasion will be a much needed tonic for the Giants to reach the post season and then succeed once the playoffs begin.

Jonathan Sanchez is the other hurler, also a left-hander, who will get the good look by Manager Bruce Bochy and his staff. He's shown what he can do when he puts it all together but he still has a matter of consistency to address. I have faith in 26-year old Sanchez and 33-year old Zito. There's no reason why they can't pitch well enough for the Giants to continue on this glorious ride to post-season play.

All aboard the bandwagon. Next stop, at a non-believer's house near you!

Kevin Marquez

If You Listen to Dave Fleming You'll HEAR How the Giants are Doing

As a youth following the Giants it was always about the June Swoon. But as I age, like a fine Boone's Farm wine, it is becoming apparent that the swoon really begins after the All-Star break.

I understand that during every season a team will go through a period of time when the opponents' grounders appear to have eyes on them as they find a hole or take a fortuitous hop over a beloved Giant fielder's glove. Or an individual player will struggle at the plate and get into what most refer to as a slump just as a pitcher will have difficulty doing what he wants to when he throws the ball. But listening to Dave Fleming describe these struggles is painstakingly brutal. In fact, on bad days (and you know we all have them) it's downright medieval (i.e., heads usually roll.).

Fleming struggles with his choice of words by being verbose when the Giants are struggling on the field. And yet, when the Giants are winning, Flem isn't nearly as harsh. For whatever reason, the Stanford graduate-Fleming suddenly empathizes with the Giant players while being concise in his description of their actions. He isn't quite as appalled as when things are going against the orange and black attired hometown nine.

It could make a listener think that Fleming is a bad sport. The way he rants about how the pitcher is "immediately in the stretch" after walking the leadoff batter. Then he groans on how the pitcher just "doesn't have it today" and its the second or third batter in the game!

If you listen, you can't help but notice how Duane Kuiper or JT Snow or FP Santangelo always cut the players some slack. Why? Because they know through experience that the game just is not as easy as some players make it look. When was the last time Fleming played ball?

Players aren't going to make the play every time. The ones who do, well, they are called Hall of Famers. How many players are there in the game and how many make it into Cooperstown?

On a couple of occasions the broadcast crew of Duane Kuiper, Jon Miller, Mike Krukow and Flem urged Jon Miller to do his John Wayne impression of some movie he makes reference to once in a while. So Miller does his John Wayne saying how his mom worked hard to put his brother through college and Wayne hears his brother use the word clum for the word climb.
"Clum? He didn't clum the wall he climbed it. What did you do in school all day, college boy?!" Miller goes on to use a couple of examples to get his point across, all in the familiar tones of Duke-delivery.

In borrowing from that hillarious bit by Jon Miller I would like to say... Can't I just tune into a ballgame and hear what's going on between the lines and NOT how it's seen through the eyes of some college boy?

(much appreciation to Jon Miller)

Kevin Marquez

Sticks and Stones

Viewing an old VCR tape I came across one of the first episodes of All in the Family with Mike Stivic (also known as Meathead). He and Archie were talking about baseball and Archie goes on to say how the game changed dramatically in 1947 (the year Jackie Robinson broke the color line).

After expressing himself, "Meathead" told Archie he was ignorant. To which Archie replied, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but you are one dumb Pollock!"

****************************************************************

On a Flintstone's cartoon, Fred was reading from a book entitled "The Power of Positive Umpiring"

IF YOU CAN KEEP YOUR HEAD
WHILE THOSE ABOUT YOU ARE LOSING THEIRS
AND BLAMING IT ON YOU

IF YOU CAN TRUST YOURSELF
WHEN ALL MEN DOUBT YOU
AND LITTLE CHILDREN WHISTLE AND BOO

IF YOU CAN SMILE
WHILE ALL YOUR FRIENDS DESERT YOU...

Remember: Sticks and stones may break your bones
but names will never hurt you

IF YOU CAN BE CALM WHEN THE CROWD CALLS YOU DUMB
THEN AND ONLY THEN
WILL YOU BE AN UMPIRE,
YOU BUM!!!!!!!

Some of the names of the players and a park:

Mickey Rockburn (Mickey Cochrane)
Mickey Mountain (Mickey Mantle)
Roger Marble (Roger Maris)
Warren Spindle (Warren Spahn)
Joe DiRockyo (Joe DiMaggio)
Candlestone Park (Candlestick Park)


Kevin Marquez

Tip of the Cap to Jonathan Sanchez

On a July 10th, 2009 night @ AT&T Park, the Giants were scheduled to play their Western Divsion rival, San Diego Padres. The Padres, currently occupying the cellar of the Western Division, aren't a good draw unless the Giants were in San Diego. Especially since the Giants were filling the void of a disabled 300-game winner in Randy Johnson with a pitcher whose unlimited potential had staked him to a 2-8 won/loss record, with an earned run average (ERA) of over 5 runs per start. I'm speaking of Jonathan Sanchez.

Earlier in the day, on the KNBR680AM-Gary Radnich show, a caller couldn't understand why there were so many empty seats when Tim Lincecum was pitching. It was Radnich's contention that when you're playing a last place team during a time of economic strife you can only expect, (maybe) 1,000 diehard fans willing to attend.

With that in mind, the jewel of a diamond on Third Street and King, at Willie Mays Plaza, should have been half-full (half-empty...depending on if you're a glass half-full or half-empty kind of gal/guy) if not for the Friday factor.

Jonathan Sanchez' family thought enough of the game to fly in from Florida to see #57 pitch. They saw this game as Jonathan's "second chance."

Isn't it funny how it works in the game of life, one man's injury is another man's opportunity?
Like with Wally Pipp and Lou Gehrig, strange things can happen. (Pipp wasn't feeling good so Gehrig was inserted into the line-up. But not for one game, but over 2,000 consecutive games. In the words of one-time Yankee broadcaster, Mel Allen, How about that?)

Sanchez lost his starters role due to insonsistent showings and it introduced us all to Ryan Sadowski, a man Mike Krukow dubbed as "the Big Sadowski." So now the local media-folk refer to Sadowski as Dude-A-Reno or His Dudeness or simply Dude.

Then Randy Johnson tweaks his shoulder swinging a bat, of all things, and Sanchez gets his second chance.

In his second chance Sanchez throws a complete game, no-hitter, while striking out 11 and walking none (0). The only base-runner allowed was on an in-between hop to Juan Uribe (Jose's nephew) that he couldn't handle. E5 was no shame for the nephew of the man known to Giant fans as UUUUUH-REEE-BAY. Because on the offensive end, #5 was a major contributor to the Giants' 8 run total.

Another contributor was Aaron Rowand. A player who was struggling mercifully at the plate until manager Bruce Bochy inserted him into the leadoff spot on May 20th. Since then he's been among the leaders of all major league leadoff hitters. Rowand had 3 hits and 3-runs batted in along with a sparkling catch in the 9th inning to preserve Jonathan Sanchez' no-hit bid.

Last, but certainly not least, was the contribution of a player who is every bit as popular as another Latin who arrived with the San Francisco Giants when they arrived from New York in 1958. (I'm speaking of Orlando Cha Cha Cepeda.) The current favorite of Giant fans everywhere is Pablo Sandoval, the chaw-chewing Panda. Pablo's mammoth 3-run homer broke the game wide-open. (When I heard the play-by-play of Jon Miller, it sent chills up and down my spine. That with the background noise of the crowd erupting into a crescendo only the Panda could elicit and then the curtain call, well, it was something to remember.)

And to all of those fans who bothered to attend last night's game, regardless of who the Giants were playing and who was slated as the starting pitcher for the Gigantes, congratulations!

You got your just due, a memory that'll last forever.

Kevin J. Marquez

Why Are Teams Pitching to Albert Pujols?

Earlier in the 2009 season teams were electing to walk Albert Pujols every time he came to bat.
Albert was losing patience and in time teams thought it was okay to pitch to him. Why?

If you see he was losing patience, continue to frustrate the guy. Do not give in and think he won't find a way to correct the problem.

The Giants had a guy who was lucky if he saw one pitch to hit, every night he played. You remember Barry Bonds, don't you?

Until Albert Pujols is able to hit that one pitch a game I will not be convinced he's as good as they (the media) say he is. Oh, don't get me wrong, the guy is good. But teams are pitching to a guy who showed he couldn't handle being issued bases-on-balls. He swung out of the strike zone. He did exactly what the opponent wanted him to do.

And now, for some reason, teams are beginning to pitch to him. I just don't understand it.

Four wide ones is the way to go. Frustrate him by not giving him anything to hit. It is the opponents' objective to annoy, bother, bug, etc., a player who can hurt you if you choose to ignore such tactics. You're doing him a favor by pitching to him. Don't give him what he wants. Pitching to a guy like Pujols allows him to get into a comfort zone.

He's the enemy! You don't give him what he wants.

Kevin Marquez