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

09.20.2007
Race to the Finish

Other than the Giants battling the D-Rays, Astros, Pirates, Marlins, Orioles, White Sox and Royals for worst record, there are a few interesting races left to follow. I’ve ignored everything non-Giants-related the past few days, so imagine my surprise to see:

* The Yankees 1 1/2 behind the Red Sox.
* The Phils 2 1/2 behind the Mets.

Holy Gotham drama, Sam-Bat man. The Red Sox collapse is due in part to their acquisition of Eric Gagne, who has gag-kneed up several leads since the trade. The Yankees resurgence is due in part to the young pitchers they’ve brought up from double-A. The modern-day Murderer’s Row of a lineup they have doesn’t hurt, either.

The NL West isn’t over, either, with the Pads and D-Backs neck and neck. With all the pissing and moaning over Bochy playing the Giants vets to “respect the pennant race,” it turns out he snuck in quite a bit of youth on the road trip.

In the last six games, Winn and Feliz started almost every game, but Durham and Aurilia got only 9 ABs each, Klesko only 2. Meanwhile Ortmeier got 18 at-bats, Schierholtz 18, Frandsen 16. The only youngster who got short-sheeted was Davis, with 9 ABs. Bochy even worked Velez and McClain into a couple games each.

Other than a Giant lineup with Eugenio Velez hitting leadoff this weekend, who else will you be rooting down the stretch? Yankees? Brewers? A phrenetic Phillies phinish? Personally, I’d like to see the Cubs in the World Series, just for the atmosphere. Discuss.



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[September 20, 2007 2:45 PM]  |  link  |  reply
trilljester said

My standard answer for these questions: Anyone but the Dodgers.

Seriously though, I'll be cheering for the Brew Crew. My brother-in-law is from Wisconsin, so I feel obligated to cheer for Wisconsin teams (except for the Packers when they play the Niners).

[September 20, 2007 3:50 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Boof said

If the Cubs get to the Series and win it, won't that leave the Giants as the team that would've gone the longest without a World Series title? If so, I gotta hope that the Cubs don't win.

[September 20, 2007 3:51 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Chris said

I'd like to see Scott McClain hit a big-league home run. Thats one of my few Giants requests left.

I'm rooting for the Indians in the AL. I've always liked their teams and the players that they've had.

Seeing the Cubs make it into the post season would be very cool.

And a question to Lefty, if the box "remember personal info" is checked on the posting form, I get this error message every time:

"Too many comments have been submitted from you in a short period of time. Please try again in a short while."

Anyone else having this problem?

[September 20, 2007 5:01 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

Chris -- thanks for the buggy heads-up. I'll let my ntwk tech guy know.

These are my votes for post-season:

Padres
Cubs
Phillies
WC: Mets

Angels
Indians
Red Sox
WC: Yankees

World Series: Cubs v. Indians

[September 20, 2007 5:05 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Elbo said

I'm rooting for nobody to win or lose 100 games. It's only happened once since the last realignment (2000).

Or maybe I'm rooting against that. Still deciding.

[September 20, 2007 5:31 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Mikefo said

I predict Sabean won't be able to resist picking up Gagne in the offseason.

You KNOW that's a classic Giants move!

[September 20, 2007 6:51 PM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive said

I normally would root for the Cubs but Piniella shunned us for them, so I hope they end up 1 game out of the playoffs. I like Bochy OK, but Piniella, to me, had more pizazz.

Plus, I like the Brewers to get something for their hard work this season, it's been around 15 seasons since their last playoffs plus they led most of the season, it would be hard to swallow if they then lost it. Hmmm, then again, misery loves company, so maybe I'm rooting for that...

I definitely want SD to beat out AZ, but it would take some collapse on AZ to get beat by Phillies (or wild Phillie finish) for Wild Card.

I would want the Mets to blow up and the fans clamor for more pitching so they trade us good position prospects for our pitching. :^) But looking at things, I see more like Lefty, Mets get in playoffs, AZ don't.

So that's SD, Brewers, Mets and Phillies for NL.

Who cares about the AL? :^D

Angels and Indians are set, it seems, barring titanic collapses, same with Red Sox.

Yankees look like they are pulling away from Tigers for the last playoff spot, even if they win the AL East, Red Sox would really have to have a titanic collapse to be beaten by Tigers for last spot. That's OK, suffering is good, Tigers had it good last year, they can suffer a little this year.

So AL seems much more set, Angels, Indians, Red Sox, Yankees.

Now, you asked who I'm rooting for, so I'm rooting for Phillies playing Indians, with the Indians winning. I don't care much for the other teams that I'm seeing to be in the playoffs.

Probably going to be Angels vs. SD or Phillies, though Yankees could just coast to the World Series the way they are going, heck, maybe Indians too.

I would like to see the Yankees blow it in the first round with A-Rod doing nothing, so the fans are grousing about him and he opts out. Him being a free agent would make the off-season very interesting, whereas him resigning with Yankees is boring. If they make it to win the World Series, King George would probably back up the Brinks truck to re-sign him.

None of the playoff contenders really gives me a rise though. In past seasons, I would be rooting for one team or another to win, but I'm not too excited about the mix of teams who look to be in the playoffs, except for maybe the Phillies, as I like Chase Utley.

I was totally surprised to see the Indians up there, so they could surprise too, with Bay Area product CC Sabathia. But the Angels look totally ready to take the playoffs. I guess I would hope they fall short due to lack of pitching, and thus trade us two good prospects for Lowry or some package.

[September 20, 2007 11:10 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Cyrus said

Gotta love em trying Velez at 2B tonight. Yeah he already commited an error, but maybe he can be the super-utility guy next year...

[September 22, 2007 3:53 PM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive said

Naw, Velez could be another Herb Washington! :^D

Hmmm, that's a pretty good idea if he's defensively challenged, but we have Aurilia and he's probably playing that role in 2008. 2009 maybe?