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

04.09.2008
4/8/08: Mo' Better

Giants 3, Padres 2, 11 innings: There's nothing more entertaining than watching Bengie Molina jiggle-jog his way around the bases. If he were naked, it would be like watching a scene from the Borat movie.

Report from the 1-3-8: Best heckle of the year so far, directed at substitute left-fielder Calix Crabbe: "S-T-D! S-T-D!" Second-best: "Hey Hairston, whatcha got in your pocket, dill-flavored sunflower seeds?"

Huh? Dave Roberts to the DL and....Clay Timpner is called up? I guess the Giants want Nate Schierholtz getting his 4 ABs a day in AAA, not the occasional spot-start and pinch-hit appearance in the bigs.

Early but encouraging observation: Jose Castillo not only has a nice opposite-field swing, he can pack a little punch behind it. Beautiful work on the double over Giles's head in the ninth inning last night.

Speaking of the ninth, here's a little day-after quarterbacking to chew on. After Castillo's double, Bochy sent Lewis to pinch-hit for Davis against Heath Bell, a nasty right-hander. Problem was, first base was open with two out and Bocock was up next. It was obvious the Pads would intentionally walk Lewis. Bocock then struck out against Bell. So Bochy essentially wasted Lewis's PH appearance and removed the defensively superior Davis from the game. Despite his team-high OBP, Bocock was no match for Bell. Bochy should have left Davis in. If the Pads pitched to him, fine. Better Bell vs. Davis than Bell vs. Bocock. If they walked Davis, Bochy could have PH'ed Lewis for Bocock (though he has shown no inclination to do so this year, perhaps because he doesn't trust Castillo at SS, even for a couple innings). This will be a common scenario until teams learn to, you guessed it, Respect the 'Cock.

PLODAG: Tie! Bengie for his two taters, and Brad Hennessey for his two shut-out extra innings.

The Upside: Brian Wilson. He blew the save in the ninth. It happens. But the way he started out -- a walk to Josh Bard and a full-count single to Tony Clark after he had Clark 0-2 -- it could have been much worse. With the heart of the order up, Wilson regained his composure and got the Giants to extra innings. No meltdowns, no excuses.
Also on the Network:



[April 9, 2008 12:49 PM]  |  link  |  reply
bbstucco said

It's only fair to add that, for one day at least, our clean-up hitter won the game by going yard twice.

Isn't that what a clean-up is supposed to do?

[April 9, 2008 1:35 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Chris said

Sheehan talked about the weird Bochy move today at BP.

Link - http://baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=834

[April 9, 2008 2:04 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

I said it in fewer words, and with a juvenile pun and vulgar movie reference to boot. Advantage: Lefty.

[April 9, 2008 4:58 PM]  |  link  |  reply
bgl said

i was in second row 138, pretty much right next to that padres fan

[April 9, 2008 7:15 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM replied to bgl

You mean the loud chunky blonde girl?

[April 9, 2008 6:40 PM]  |  link  |  reply
mxmob33 said

I like Wilson and agree it was nice to see him pull it together and keep the game tied.

One thing I do like about the Giants this year is how many hard-throwers they have.

Wilson
Lincecum
Cain
Sanchez
Merkin
Threets
Taschner

These guys can definitely bring some heat.

[April 9, 2008 10:07 PM]  |  link  |  reply
El Guapo said

I was at the Pads games this past weekend against the Dogs. Got to see Peavy pitch lights out on Saturday. Within a couple minutes of sitting down some random Pads fan saw me eating seeds and offered me some of his Dill sunflower seeds. Disgusting. Great heckle.

[April 9, 2008 10:08 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Paul R. said

Is it just me or is Sheehan spending an inordinate amount of time these days ripping on the Giants? It seems like he's writing at least two of these "Giants=worst organization in sports" articles per week. I mean, perhaps it's fair, but aren't there other crappy teams in the league besides the Giants?

[April 9, 2008 11:10 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Chris replied to Paul R.

Maybe I'm a negative Ned but I usually like what Sheehan writes.

It's probably easy writing material for him, anyways.

"Oh, crap, article is due in 15 mins...hmmm, time to write about the Giants"