When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

05.21.2007
Post-Game 5/20: Mo' Better Blues

It’s good to be home, not just for the Giants, who often looked saggy on their three-city, 10–day jaunt, but for me (three cities, 15 days). I didn’t have access to greenies in the clubhouse, but based on the way the Giants played Friday and Saturday, neither did they.

Thanks to the youth squad — Tim Lincecum, Dan Ortmeier, Fred Lewis — and Matt Morris’s gem yesterday, things could be a lot worse. Three and a half games back and only one game under .500: I’ll take it, though even with Lincecum now and forever in french vanilla I don’t quite spy the favorable conditions on the horizon that would put a snap in the sails of the H.M.S. Gigante.

The Chron today ran the headline, “A's happy to tread water until injured players return.” The Giants’ equivalent: happy to tread water until…Dave Roberts returns? …they acquire A-Rod and Travis Hafner for Jonathan Sanchez and Brian Wilson? …their starting rotation decides not to give up more than one run per start for the rest of the year?

The good news: Matt Morris and Noah Lowry are pitching extremely well at the exact right time, and Russ Ortiz is publicly saying all the right things as he returns to the bullpen. The trade winds may yet blow the Giants’ way.

PLODAG: Matty Mo, with his best game as a Giant. Runner-up: Dan Ortmeier, with three hits and a diving catch. Could this Lewis/Ortmeier platoon become a fixture in 2008?

***

P.M. UPDATE: The next time you go to a sold-out weekday game at Mays Field, it’s worth asking, “Who are these people?”

Speaking of idle personnel, Russ Ortiz is expected to come off the DL tonight. Smart money is on Jonathan Sanchez to head to Fresno to stretch out his arm as a starter (it’s deja vu all over again). But I wouldn’t be surprised to see the sparsely used and oft-well-struck Steve Kline (10 hits, 3 walks in his last 5+ innings) shuffled off to Buffalo via the waiver wire.



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[May 21, 2007 2:12 PM]  |  link  |  reply
bigO said

hell they lost 2 of three in interleague play and still picked up a game on the Dodgers.

[May 21, 2007 4:08 PM]  |  link  |  reply
trilljester said

Wonder if Sabean noticed Ortmeier at all. Or if he's even noticing that the youth are actually doing something to help the team?

[May 21, 2007 5:08 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

Even better: did other teams notice Ortmeier? The Giants would do well to maximize his trade value.

[May 21, 2007 5:18 PM]  |  link  |  reply
sfgfan said

> Even better: did other teams notice Ortmeier? The Giants would do well to maximize his trade value.

Indeed.

[May 21, 2007 5:28 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ogc said

There hasn't been a platoon, Lewis has been the starter since he came up and Ortmeier has gotten the scraps that a utility OF gets.

What would be interesting is if Lewis continues to hit around .900 OPS, when Roberts is ready, what happens to Lewis? The thing is, a lot of the ABs available from a Bonds/Roberts/Winn OF is from the platoon of Roberts, but Lewis is also a lefty, so he couldn't take that role, though Ortmeier can since he switches.

Lewis L/R splits:

LHP: .100/.100/.300/.400 (10AB)
RHP: .379/.438/.586/1.024 (29AB)

Anyway, I guess it's too soon to speculate on this, he is now 0 for 7 after his 7 game hit streak ended.

I think that Ortmeier's best value to us is as 4th OF, he has power, speed, some defense, OK batting. You aren't going to get much for him in trade above that.

I think Sabean has noticed that the youth has been actually doing something to help the team, after all, he's the one who drafted the young guys we have on our pitching staff, Cain, Lincecum, Lowry, Sanchez, Hennessey, Correia, Taschner. If you haven't noticed, the pitching staff has been transitioning to the youth over the past two seasons.

The thing is, Ortmeier hasn't done much in the minors to get noticed, and while what he has done so far is nice, it is in limited play. If a GM gave a lot of notice to every young guy who hits well initially, he would be wasting his time. Many hitters do well initially because of unfamiliarity with him initially, then the league adjusts. It's happening with Lewis, it'll happen with Ortmeier.

[May 21, 2007 6:42 PM]  |  link  |  reply
pantalones said

I agree with your take on the outfield, ogc, although I would call Ortmeier a platoon outfielder at the moment, since he has started against every lefty (plus a righty or two) since being called up.

Those tiny sample sizes are backed up by Lewis' numbers in Fresno this year, by the way:

LHP: .191/.255/.362/.617 (47 AB)
RHP: .313/.410/.597/1.007 (67 AB)

Lewis, Roberts, Klesko, Sweeney... none of them are good outfield options against lefties. Our strongest lineup vs. lefties may involve Frandsen in right field. This team could really use an outfielder who can hit lefties. I'm not confident that Ortmeier is that guy, but then again I thought that Linden was that guy so what do I know?

Oh well... at least we're not scheduled to face any lefties on this homestand.

[May 21, 2007 6:44 PM]  |  link  |  reply
someguynamedg said

Well BOO to you sir.

[May 21, 2007 6:44 PM]  |  link  |  reply
someguynamedg said

Well BOO to you sir.

[May 21, 2007 6:58 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

>Well BOO to you sir.

It helps to cite the post or passage that has incited your response, just as I've done here, or else people won't know what the hell you're talking about.

[May 21, 2007 7:20 PM]  |  link  |  reply
bigO said

"Well BOO to you sir."

What the hell are you talking about? :)

[May 21, 2007 7:57 PM]  |  link  |  reply
BawLa said

I've been impressed with how Ortmeier has gone about his business, even though he is not the cherished rookie, he is not the center of attention.

Bringing up the points about our OF not being able to hit lefties well makes keeping Ortmeier more intriguing. Randy Winn has been hot, and he might be able to be packaged up with some other players to give us back a power hitting corner IF. Since we have some outfield depth at AAA (Schierholtz and Timpner) I think we could sacrifice a Randy Winn and hope that between the 4 kids that one can become a starter, and one can be a backup.

We have already been transitioning to a younger team so why not let the kids get some real experience this year?

[May 21, 2007 8:56 PM]  |  link  |  reply
someguynamedg said

"Randy Winn has been hot, and he might be able to be packaged up with some other players to give us back a power hitting corner IF."

He has a full no trade clause. Thank you Mr. Sabean.

P.S. Quotation marks are evil.

[May 22, 2007 1:08 AM]  |  link  |  reply
moonman said

Ira Glass did the "why aren't you at work" story years ago:

http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=157

[June 22, 2007 2:24 AM]  |  link  |  reply
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