April 2009 Archives

This month started out disastrously, but the last couple weeks my rotation has gone deep into games and shut down the opposition. Let's get right to it: Elastica (eponymous): Tough chicks, loud guitars, leather jackets, racy sex....what could be better?...
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Giants 9, Dodgers 4: Great win tonight, taking two of three from a team that destroyed the Giants two weeks ago in L.A., and ending what could have been a grim April with a .500 record. But I want to...
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Dodgers 5, Giants 3: The Dodgers gave one away Monday night, but the Giants couldn't sneak off with tonight's game. This time, the Dodgers made better plays on defense, in particular the spectacular 1st inning outfield-to-home relay that cut down...
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Brian Wilson will tweet no more. He has signed off. He is an ex-tweeter. He blamed the media, of course, for not understanding his sense of humor. (Back story here.) So did his tweety buddy Barry Zito, who will carry the...
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Giants 5, Dodgers 4: The B to the L to the B, Barry Lamar Bonds his bad self showed up at the yard last night and behold, the Giants won a game they probably shouldn't have. Can we order the...
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Bad on Brian Wilson for yesterday's performance, but blown saves happen to every closer. A three-run lead and a weekend sweep is painful to let slip through the hands, but it's now more important to see how Wilson bounces back....
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Giants 5, D-Backs 1: Too tired for a full recap, but I want to pass along one great observation Mike Krukow made on the TV side tonight. Right after Bengie Molina turned on a high tight fastball and pulled it...
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1) Giants win two of three by any means necessary. 2) RF Schierholtz. Not PH Schierholtz, RF Schierholtz. Hell, why not put him in the lineup twice? One day he can give the slumping Randy Winn a breather, the next...
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Giant hitters are having trouble putting up good numbers this year, and the team's accountants aren't far behind. According to the latest Forbes list of baseball franchise values, the Giants lost 5% of their value last year, the fifth worst...
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Giants 1, Padres 0 (10 innings): Every Giants starter pitched on this homestand, and the only one to surrender a run was Matt Cain, who obviously sucks. If it weren’t for Bengie’s pinch-hit, 10th inning, game-ending double, the theme of...
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Today’s lineup, courtesy Baggs: LF Lewis2B BurrissRF WinnC SandovalSS Renteria1B Ishikawa3B UribeCF TorresP Zito The good: Ishikawa is in after a great game last night. There was chatter of Aurilia getting the start, but no. The bad: Poor Nate Schierholtz....
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I'm listening to the post-game wrap and Duane Kuiper just said that Alex Hinshaw was sent down and Steve Holm brought up right after the game. The Merc is reporting that Pablo Sandoval will catch tomorrow, and Hank Schulman wrote...
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Eight more games in April, and my spidey-sense tells me roster moves are going to happen in the next couple weeks. Here are a list of possibilities: * Starting May 1, the team plays 17 days in a row. Bengie Molina will...
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An arm-stravaganza! A mound-a-palooza! Thank you, Giants, for taking two of three and making me feel better. In case you were spelunking or working round the clock to save GM from bankruptcy, every game this weekend ended 2-0. The Giants...
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Giants 2, Diamondbacks 0: From my vantage point in the LF bleachers tonight, Jonathan Sanchez looked so fluid and in control I was stunned to get home and see that he walked as many as he struck out (four each)....
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When the Dodgers hand you your ass and life seems one long uphill climb, a quick tweet or two always makes a guy feel better. Let’s clear our minds and ponder a fresh BZ Tweet Haiku. long drive down sunsetcyber-anonymitybalance...
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Dodgers 7, Giants 2: Another all-around stinker. Bad baserunning, bad defense, terrible situational hitting, and generous pitchers on the mound. You want a bright spot? Barry Zito didn't pitch terribly badly through five innings. That's about the best thing to...
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No matter how the 2009 Giants play, everyone is really looking to 2010. Let’s face it, a competitive team this year is a special bonus cookie with a little extra sugar sprinkled on top thanks to a few pundits choosing the Giants as dark...
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Dodgers 5, Giants 4. This was primed to be the most inspirational win of the young season after Aaron Rowand's three-run homer put the Giants up 4-2 in the 8th. They hadn't done squat until then thanks to the nasty...
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Q: Any team, even the best, can go an ugly 2-5 at any stretch of the season. This just hurts more because everyone was hoping for a nice little start to the year. Right? A: Right! Between June 18 and...
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Don Drysdale. Steve Garvey. Steve Sax. Kirk Gibson. Orel Hershiser. Mike Piazza. Paul LoDuca. Eric Gagne. And of course, Tommy Lasorda. Yuck. There are people who happen to be Dodgers, and then there are out-and-out Dodgers, no matter what other...
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The best thing about today was Andy Baggarly's notes from Thursday's Little Giants game in San Jose. With all the other prospect dazzle down there (Bumgarner, Posey, Alderson, etc.), Baggs foams over Brandon Crawford: "Steal of the '08 draft"? That...
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No shame in getting shut down by Jake Peavy, so I won't harp on tonight's loss or too much, except to say Jonathan Sanchez's mental meltdown was disheartening. This was supposed to be last year's problem. C'mon, kid, get your...
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If I had mad Photoshop skillz, or if I had mad Photoshop at all, I would find a picture of a ragged orphan child begging on a street corner with a tin cup. Then I would seamlessly meld the cherubic...
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Terrible news about young Angels pitcher Adenhart. A drunk driver ran a red light and hit his car early this morning, and just like that, his life and two other lives were over. When I hear or read about death...
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I got home from the yard too late last night to write, but you all probably know the story. Opposing pitcher Yovani Gallardo pulled a Brad Hennessey and won the game with his arm and bat. Just before Gallardo's homer,...
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Tonight’s oh-behave lineup, courtesy of Baggs: RF Randy WinnSS RenteriaLF LewisC Molina3B Sandoval1B IshikawaCF Rowand2B BurrissP Randy Johnson More naughty bits to peruse: The Unit’s record against current Brewers. Mike Cameron and Bill Hall, goodness gracious. That mysterious 12–hour strep...
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In the last few days the Giants’ minor league affiliates have released their rosters. The most exciting place is San Jose where all the top prospects have landed, at least until the weather warms up back East. Today I’ll outline...
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Post-game breakdown #1. I won't do all 162, I'm no Iron Man, but count me in for at least 120 or 130, like a 34-year-old starting catcher with the knees of a 31-year-old.Great way to open the season, and just...
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So far, so dry. I'll keep up some running commentary, with the latest entry at the top:- Jeremy Affeldt in for the 7th. Apparently Bochy hasn't looked at matchups, or doesn't care. Fielder just doubled and is now 4 for...
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That's not a jinx. Not at all. It's double reverse jedi-mind-trick psychology. Just because there's a massive hawked-up phlegm ball sitting on top of us doesn't mean Opening Day will be delayed or postponed. But just in case: let's put...
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Welcome to the big squad, Brandon Medders. (And whoa -- new Baseball Reference interface! I like it.) Much to everyone's surprise, the Giants took former Arizona reliever Medders over Luis Perdomo, the Rule 5 pick who had a great chance...
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This is the time of year of preseason prediction lists*, top-five question lists, and all sorts of angst about the final bench spot or bullpen job. They're all fine and dandy thoughts to keep us distracted until the first pitch...
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POST-GAME UPDATE: Ha. "Warm-Up." It was fershlugginer freezing out there tonight, and the nasty wind made for some adventures in the outfield. Anything that got up into the jet stream took off, like Pablo Sandoval's first inning fly ball that...
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All three innings of Madison Bumgarner's outing yesterday are on YouTube. (Link tip from McCovey Chronicles.) Watch the Garner of Bums strike out four, including Manny Ramirez. Here's the first inning for those too lazy to click over:  Thoughts after watching...
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P.M. UPDATE: With Jonathan Sanchez on the shelf with a flambéd digit, guess who started today's final Cactus League game? It's Madison Bumgarner, and he has struck out four of the first six Dodgers, including Manny Ramirez. ******I'll start this...
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