May 2008 Archives

Thanks to Randy Winn’s Chase Field-flavored vitamins and a side helping of largesse from the D-Backs in the 8th inning (walk, error, hit batter, walk = tying run), the Giants fly home with a desert sweep and a 6–3 road...
# continue reading

Hey, maybe “How Much For Ray Durham?” (see Tuesday’s post) won’t be such a grim question, after all. Ray-Ray is getting hot at the right time — which for him means contract year. After his double and home run...
# continue reading

PM UPDATE: If you didn’t know, former LA GM Paul Podesta has a blog. He’s now a consultant for the Padres. He doesn’t write every day, but this one is interesting. He breaks down the reasons behind a recent trade...
# continue reading

A few days off the grid, and I'm refreshed. It's also my favorite part of the season -- time for wacky desperate personnel decisions. The trade buzz will build over the next two months, but perhaps more exciting for the...
# continue reading

Who are these Marlins, and why do they mock us so? Oh, God, why? They trade two of their biggest stars, they start the year with a payroll lower than a Dunder Mifflin sub-regional office, and they bounce out to...
# continue reading

Giants 3, Rockies 2, 10 innings: Dan the Rockies blogger asked me if I thought the Giants could start scoring more runs. After I sponged the pee out of my pants, I caught my breath and replied that the only...
# continue reading

Giants 6, Rockies 5: Call it the Education of Brian Wilson. When you get all geeked up trying to close a game in the ninth, throwing harder harder harder doesn't necessarily work. He nearly blew the save because he overthrew...
# continue reading

Dan Boniface of the Rockies-themed blog On the Rox asked me some questions about the Giants before the current series. (Our little Q&A is here.) In turn he answered my three burning itching questions about the Mile Highlers, forsooth: How do...
# continue reading

Rockies 4, Giants 3: Is it my imagination, or is Vinnie Chulk the king of making one bad pitch? Pat Misch was throwing a gritty game, got into a spot of trouble in the sixth, and Bochy brought in Chulk...
# continue reading

Two interesting tidbits surfaced this weekend from the biggest reporters on the Giants beat, the Chron’s Henry Schulman and the Merc’s Andy Baggarly. Schulman first: remember the story last week in which Brian Sabean said the Giants could compete in...
# continue reading

White Sox 13, Giants 8: Good pitching, no hitting. Lots of hitting, worse pitching. That's the way it goes these days. Two and eleven in the past two weeks, much of which parallels the downward spiral of the bullpen, though...
# continue reading

Or how about Neukom? I hardly know him! Actually, that’s not true. In a previous life, I sweated over the new Giant managing general partner’s every word. See, Bill Neukom, who will replace Peter Magowan as top ownership dog at...
# continue reading

Astros 8, Giants 7: It's not the come-from-ahead loss that bothers me so much; every team suffers a few gut-shots like this over the course of a season. It's the worry that the Tyler Walker honeymoon has ended, the carriage...
# continue reading

SMALL PRINT UPDATE: Merkin Valdez went on the DL with an elbow strain, and lefty Alex Hinshaw, who’s been closing games with extreme prejudice in Fresno, is now up. In fact, he just made his major league debut after Tyler...
# continue reading

Giants 4, Astros 2: Nice to see Matt Cain go deep and go deep into a game, 114 pitches in eight innings thanks to some early-count swinging by the Astros in the middle innings. Though, dammit, four walks is still...
# continue reading

Thanks to the continuing exploits of their 28–year-old rookie backup catcher, the Giants take two of three to win the weekend series from the Phillies, leaving Bruce Bochy to grumble again about the blown chance to win the previous weekend’s...
# continue reading

Rumors abound that Peter Magowan wants to wave his frozen peas over the express lane check-out scanner and step down as the Giants president and managing partner. Former Giant beat writer Mark Gonzales, now covering baseball for the Chicago Trib, slipped the...
# continue reading

Pirates 5, Giants 4: Our fair team’s dastardly run against the Pirates continues. Matt Cain gave up just enough to lose, with two sequences doing him in. In the third, he walked the pitcher to lead off. Two runs followed....
# continue reading

For those who don’t follow San Francisco politics, Sunset District supervisor Ed Jew had to step down recently amid a world of legal trouble, including accusations of shakedowns, an FBI investigation, and questions whether he was actually an S.F. resident. Read this for the...
# continue reading

Pirates 3, Giants 1: Two runs in five innings doesn't a quality start make, but Barry Zito showed a flash -- perhaps a tease -- of promise tonight. What was different? First, Pittsburgh is a good offensive club, and seven...
# continue reading

Billy Sadler is up from Fresno to replace Brad Hennessey. As noted on this very blog of record, Hennessey had a minor-league option, and oh boy, did the Giants just use it. Sadler was a teammate of Brian Wilson at...
# continue reading

It turns out Zito didn’t suffer an extended banishment in the bullpen or take a few weeks off to surf. He’s back in the starting rotation tonight. It’s not a reversal, exactly, as the Giants were careful to avoid setting a specific timetable....
# continue reading

No, not that Omar, though you could say Vizquel’s rehab is coming down to the wire. He’s played a couple games in triple-A, and the Giants probably won’t keep him down much longer barring setbacks. When he returns, it won’t shake...
# continue reading

The Eugenio Velez Experience rolls on, and it ain’t pretty. His two gaffes yesterday (the first was officially Castillo’s error, on a low throw that Velez should have caught) cost the Giants the game, and his O isn’t making up...
# continue reading

Last night's game was a bummer, with Brian Wilson giving up the walk-off to Pat Burrell. But it was also one of the best games of the year. The Giants came back strong against a tough team in a hostile...
# continue reading

Good God, the Giants closer eats 60 eggs a week, thanks to his daily 8–egg-white omelet. (What does he do with the yolks, throw them out? What a waste. Is there something we can do with all the yolks...
# continue reading

PM UPDATE Two links for your afternoon delight: – Dedicating a huge chunk of his weekly column to Barry Zito’s fall from grace, ESPN’s Jayson Stark interviews asks his anonymous sources what the Giants should do. One suggests the Giants buy out...
# continue reading