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

05.21.2008
5/21/08: Holmie Don't Play That, But Then He Does

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 way the Giants would win more games was with longer outings from the starting pitchers, more consistency from the bullpen, and clean defense. Eh voila!

After flailing at the plate all day, the Giants tied it in the ninth, the capper being Steve Holm’s pinch-hit RBI double to the left-center field fence. He was supposed to start, then got scratched with stomach ouchies, then delivered in the pinch. Steve Holm, 28–year-old minor-league veteran rookie backup catcher with a flair for dramatic extra base hits whose mom came to see him play on Mother’s Day? Hellllooooo, man-crush.

PLODAG: Holmie, with sprinklings of kudos to the bullpen kids for strong work.

The Upside: Jonathan Sanchez. Ol’ Dirty wasn’t dominant, but he went into the seventh without his best stuff against a scary lineup and kept the Giants in the game. In the post-game wrap, Kruk raved about his progress in holding runners on and in fixing his mechanics from the stretch — in other words, for growing up a little bit in the hellhole of Coors Field. Atta babe!



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[May 22, 2008 11:57 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Jonathan said

First a disclaimer, I didn't see or hear this game, apart from the first inning, on the radio.

Progress for Sanchez. If he has truly has learned how to pitch without his best stuff, we may finally be on our way to our own "big 3". That's assuming Cain can learn to pitch without his good stuff and we can afford to re-sign all of them on top of the world's most expensive fifth starter. In the first inning Sanchez got in the way of a line drive that turned into an out. Were there more miracles like this or does Sanchez really deserve the credit for wriggling off the hook?

Progress for Brian Wilson for exorcising the demons. Was he mixing his pitches effectively? Not overthrowing?

Also, I haven't had a chance to weigh in on Magowan. Magowan is a tough one. In many ways, he has done the dirty work necessary to make SF a baseball town. The sport itself is not enough, as it is in Chicago, New York and Boston. Magowan didn't "save" the Giants in 1992 by assembling the new ownership group--someone would have stepped forward. Magowan saved the Giants by understanding that he had to replace Candlestick, that to do it in SF he would have to do it with his own money and that he needed Bonds and all his baggage to get it done. I applaud him for that. If the 49ers move to Santa Clara, it should help people understand the enormity of the task that Magowan and his group faced.

I personally believe that Magowan at some point decided that he did not want to oversee a rebuilding process, that he would step down when that became inevitable, and as a result, I believe he, perhaps unwittingly, drove decisions that delayed that process as long as he could. I believe that Magowan not only approved, but initiated and was the driving force behind the Zito signing, over what must have been significant internal objections. Sabean is not Billy Beane, but he is not a fool either. I also believe that Magowan probably blocked Sabean's attempts to start the rebuilding process at the 2006 trading deadline.

I am grateful for Magowan because it took enormous vision to get the park done and significant resolve to stomach Bonds in the process. But I am relieved that he is moving on, because the time for marketing is over, and the time for shrewd team-building has begun. Bring on Paul DePodesta!

[May 22, 2008 3:51 PM]  |  link  |  reply
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[May 22, 2008 3:52 PM]  |  link  |  reply
steve said

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