June 2004 Archives

I'll be out of town when the season reaches the midway point of the calendar, so a few days in advance we present for you El Lefty First-Half Roundup. Going into the season, most people assumed the Giants had just...
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Wow. I opened my BAPR e-mail this morning to find that Merkin Valdez made his triple-A debut last night. That means he has jumped from low single A to AAA in the span of what, less than a month? The...
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Today was one of the best games I've attended in a long time, not for the quality of play but for the quality, nay, sheer quantity of Dodger humiliation that spoke volumes about their frustration and total Southern California lameness....
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Jerome around the world. The budding star Jerome showed up tonight, followed by the Wayne Franklin whom Sabean told us a few months back was coming into his own, followed by a lucky Felix, a breath of fresh Eyre, and...
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It is absurd, as my girlfriend loves to point out, to feel good about yourself through affiliation with a winning sports team. Why is it that when the Giants win, my good cheer for the rest of the evening can...
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Coming soon: July. Isn't there's an Einsteinian theory about time speeding up the older you get? Weren't we just cautiously optimistic about the A.J. Pierzynski/Joe Nathan trade back in November? Distraught over the Michael Tucker signing in December ? Six...
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Whew. I'm all wrung out. The Giants just beat the Red Sox 6-4. After watching the first two games of this series, it seems both teams have gotten advice from their accountants that they haven't been giving enough to charity....
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July 5th: Mark it on your calendars. It's a national day off, which in this day and age means that the post office and banks are closed but commerce rages on as usual. You can't send a letter or get...
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Commenting last night on the umpire's warning after he threw a pitch at Michael Tucker's ankles, Toronto pitcher and man of letters Miguel Batista said, "It was stupid. I'm not trying to hit a guy with a changeup in the...
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As we head into the meat of the schedule, there are so many factors that make us shake our head and wonder how the Giants are 1.5 games out of first. The non-Schmidt starters. The non-Bonds-Grissom-and-lately-Tucker hitters. The lack of...
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One of my favorite sportswriters, Ralph Wiley, has just died of a heart attack at the age of 52. Author of one of the best pieces on Barry Bonds I've ever read, Wiley was one of my favorites because he...
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Funny how the Giants have gotten rained out on the last two road trips just when they've needed it most. In San Juan, they had just won three in a row, yes, but they were at the end of a...
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This isn't a big surprise, but the Giants have finally admitted that Robb Nen isn't likely to return this year. Now they need to admit that Pedro Feliz isn't likely to take an off-speed pitch out of the strike zone...
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Not only is Neifi Perez by most measures the worst hitter in the major leagues, he is perhaps the daftest. I'm listening to the Giants' afternoon game in Colorado. The weather is scorching, and balls are flying out of Coors...
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Last night's 11-2 loss to Colorado was perhaps the nadir of the Giants' 5-hole experiment. Bonds got on base four times in front of Pedro Feliz, three via intentional or semi-intentional walks. All four times Feliz made the last out...
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Jeffrey Hammonds has received his walking papers, and Todd Linden has been called up from Fresno to be the fifth outfielder. Brian Sabean hinted in Chicago just before the Giants began their win streak that veterans on the roster should...
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You know, I started to write the sentence, "Not if past history is any indication." Then I decided to check said past history. The last five years, the Giants are 17-24 at Coors. That's not good, but I expected worse,...
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The Baseball America Prospect Report (which you should subscribe to if you don't already) tells us this morning that Merkin Valdez has made his 2004 debut at single-A San Jose, so it's as good a time as any to wander...
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Tomorrow night, the Giants will start another ten-game win streak with their secret anti-Unit weapon...Neifi Perez. Lifetime, the Neifster is all over Randy Johnson: .310 avg/.310 obp/.655 slg. That's 9 for 29 with a double and three home runs. (Hmm,...
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OK, OK, just to prove that I am not always a curmudgeon, here are some things I like about the Giants: - Felipe Alou's moustache - Barry Bonds's lack of moustache - Matt Herges's two-seam fastball - Damon Minor getting...
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