April 2007 Archives

That’s Jon Miller at his most scornful. Willy Tavares was the object of his disgust, just after the Rockies’ center fielder made an ill-advised and errant throw that allowed an extra Giants’ run to score in the bottom of the...
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One way to look at the weekend sweep at the hands of Arizona: The Giants are 8–3 in their last 11 games. Another way to look at it: No one’s running away with this division, the Giants most obviously. I...
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I’m often accused of seeing only the hot dirty diaper on the otherwise pristine white sand of the tropical beach. Gloom ‘n’ doom, and all that. So today is a non-nitpick day. I’ll point out what has gone right for the Giants...
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On the Ephemerality of Human Good-Feeling: Philosopher A: "I don't worry about things when things are going bad because it's already here anyway. I panic when I'm going good because I'm trying to figure out how long that's going to...
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But then he wasn’t. By all rights Russ Ortiz should have been taking a shower by the third inning. He was awful, as well as terrible. But a double play in the first limited the damage to one run. Then...
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This is fantastic. Inferno, indeed....
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As alluded to in the previous post, the Giant pitching staff is walking a lot of batters, not striking out many, and getting away with it red-handed. Disclaimer: YES, YES, I know that K/BB ratios and such are not the...
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Noah Lowry danced through danger all night and managed to last into the 7th. I can’t fairly call this an excellent start, breaking the team string at 9. How long can Giants pitchers maintain success despite high walk totals? More...
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* Tonight on the Sci-Fi Channel: Clone Wars! Noah Lowry v. Randy Wolf. Lefties with mid-80s fastballs, good change-ups, slow curves. You might consider Lowry a poor-man’s Wolf, as the latter was able to sustain high K-rates for several years...
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If Giants baseball were like real estate, it would all be about rotation, rotation, rotation. Matty Mo gets his third win and easily could have escaped the 8th without a run scoring: the singles were a bloop and two grounders...
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Pardon my French. I meant to say “Giants at the Gates of Hell.” The men of French Vanilla cast aside their cozy togs for road grays tonight, starting with three in Dodger “Barry Sucks” Stadium. I would chide Dodger fans for a lack of...
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What? Me? Cassandra? Just when you thought it was safe to enjoy a five-game win streak, here I come with my “yeah but.” As in, yeah, but the offense other than Barry Bonds right now stinks. The rotation is carrying...
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Armando Benitez is on the cover of this year's swimsuit issue. Quoth Benizzar El-Mando after tonight's ugly save: "It's time. Armando's back."Two walks, only nine strikes in 22 pitches, a pocketful of hanging spliders (hanging splitters/sliders: indistinguishable). You are so...
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The life of most major leaguers is one of constant adjustment. Rookie sensations do not stay sensational for long as the opposition starts to pick apart their weaknesses and exploit them. Perhaps the most talented never need to adjust --...
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Slide, Ryan, Slide! On second thought...You didn't see the game? Watch the highlight clips (go here, click on the game and click on "top plays" -- don't blame me for the Right Guard ad) and laugh. Laugh because the Giants...
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Every field has its canon: history's most eminent molecular biologists, the top 50 sub-Arctic backpacking trips, the world's largest rubberband balls. We all need our anchor points to fasten us to the foolish notion that the universe has order. And...
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After Tim Lincecum dazzled yet again last night in triple-A -- 11 strikeouts and three hits in 6 2/3 shutout innings -- the question has becum, um, where are the Giants going to put 'um?Here are his triple-A totals so...
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Ugh. I blame Bruce Bochy for this stinker. Here's why: 1) Taking out Matt Cain after seven innings. Cain had thrown 110 pitches, yes. But the previous two had been low-stress, so why not see if he could breeze through...
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And who's pitching tonight? Big Daddy Cain.But on to today's topic. As you may know, former Mercury News beat writer Chris Haft has taken over for longtime Malo whipping boy Rich Draper as the MLB "reporter" who covers the Giants....
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Best game of the year so far, n'est-ce pas? I guess Zito loves him some Coors Field the way Russ Ortiz [used to love him some donuts]. Ed. note: after an email complaint, I decided to change the last part...
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The wet weekend may be a blessing for one Giant, Russ Ortiz, who threw 120 pitches Friday night and now won't pitch again until Friday. More irksome are the three extra days' rest for Barry Zito, who's already having trouble...
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As Dusty used to say, "Russell." If you didn't see or listen to the game, and all you know is the final line -- Giants win 8-5, Ortiz gives up all 5 in 8 and 2/3 IP -- please know...
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Chalk one up for Brian Sabean, as Ken Rosenthal of Foxsports.com reports: "The Giants did well to acquire Class AAA left-hander Travis Blackley for outfielder Jason Ellison, according to a scout who says that Blackley was one of the better...
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In the comments to yesterday's post, BigMerv tipped us off to Frandsen's demotion. (First-time commenter brings the news! Atta babe, Merv.) Here's the official blurb. However, Sweeney has not yet been placed on the active roster, so perhaps there's more...
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Yes, our favorite Giant martyr, nailed to the cross of Barry Lamar and left to hang, is coming back from the limbo of the disabled list either tomorrow or Friday. Roll that stone away, brother, and rise. So who's the...
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A win is a win is a win, except when it's pure luck: two runs, the difference between a win and a loss, thanks to an error, a lost fly ball, and a pitcher's brain cramp that made him throw...
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Four and eleven. Four and eleven. That's a winning percentage of .267, and it's where the 2000 Giants stood after two weeks. One and six is worse, percentage-wise, but at these early stages it's statistically insignificant. Don't get me wrong,...
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Why oh why oh why was Pedro Feliz hitting against Trevor Hoffman with the tying run at second in the bottom of the ninth? He has no special powers against Hoffman (lifetime 4 for 20), and Ryan Klesko was on...
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Catching up on back issues of the NY Times, I found last week's article about the college pitcher who throws with both arms. And his mom picks out nice ties for him, too. Will Carroll notes that Venditte has good...
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At least Armando Benitez hasn't blown a save! Seriously, ladies and gentiles, there's a lot of doomsaying around these parts. One win, five losses, Dodger fans shoving brooms in our faces. Even the Safeway clerk in King City remarked, upon...
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The morning after my wedding last September, we had an informal brunch with a nice noshy spread, people wandered in and out, no sit-down, no fancy set-ups, no cheesy hotel facilities, just sunshine, the warm smell of oak trees and...
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Giants 5, Padres 3. Now I can shave. Did any of you have any superstitions going until the Giants won? Same T-shirt every day? Same underwear? Say it isn't so. If you were at tonight's game, what did you do...
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Dice-K! ******* P.M. UPDATE: It's from a story written by Rich Draper's understudy, but the following sentence, from Bruce Bochy regarding the home run Taschner gave up to Gonzalez, is the quote of the day for its simple sanity: "He'll...
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Just back from the yard. I'm ofer two so far. Good thing I don't have more tix until April 20th or so. Giants lost but looked a hell of a lot better doing so. Lots of hard-hit balls that went...
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Tonight's starting pitcher for San Diego, Chris Young, is 6'10", 260 pounds. He big. I forgot about his height over the winter, as I had more important things to think about, and I also forgot just how good he was...
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Just back from the yard, where nothing went right. The highlight was Barry Bonds's stolen base in the first inning. Prepare yourself for all manner of pronouncements from tomorrow's columnists about the symbolism of today's game. So much more than...
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Lance Niekro's in. Jason Ellison's off to Seattle. Sweeney is on the disabled list, postponing a decision on his fate. A couple thoughts: * Ellison was traded for minor-league pitcher Travis Blackley, who used to be a top prospect. As...
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