As if a year’s worth of Bocock jokes weren’t enough, it turns out the guy’s been taking Viagra to help with a circulatory problem.
But onward to the real #1 spring training story that’s yet to be told: The Building-Up and Possible Tearing-Down of Pablo Sandoval. If you haven’t noticed, Pablo’s nice little run at the end of 2008 was enough to make him the penciled-in #3 hitter in Bruce Bochy’s Opening Day lineup as well as the starting third baseman even though his trial-by-fire there last year was inconclusive. Given the Giant treatment of previous shoo-ins — Dan Ortmeier at first base, Many Burriss at shortstop — we have reason to be skeptical that everything will go as planned, especially when those plans are fashioned into a monument of certainty by rabidly wishful fans.
Anyone outside the Giantworld bubble who pays attention to non-Bonds news will continue to say, uh, Bengie Molina’s still your cleanup hitter? And then they’ll say, uh, a guy who was completely off the radar screen until a year ago is going to hit third and be the third baseman based on a tiny sample size that was remarkable mainly for the high batting average?
Tell me again why you’re excited?
Grant sprinkles a certain liquid on the Pablo campfire here in a post worth reading. And thus we have what writers call the set-up: Will Pablo’s unlikely hitting style and success come crashing down to earth as big-league pitchers figure him out? Will the Giants quickly lose faith in his D when he boots a few balls at the hot corner? Will a cut-rate deal for the currently delusional Joe Crede make this third-base experiment moot? The suspense is killing me. OK, not really, but it’s causing mild discomfort for ten minutes a day.
