July 2009 Archives

Phillies 5, Giants 1: Please repeat: * The new Philadelphia ace set the Giants down cliffly. * Facing the reigning AL Cy Young winner, the Giants swung the bats cliffly.* Have you ever seen 30,000 people sit so cliffly on...
# continue reading

– Jake Peavy, currently on the DL, to the White Sox for four young pitchers. This time he waives the no-trade clause. Ka-zow!  – Scott Rolen to Cincy for Edwin Encarnacion. Jays reportedly paying Rolen’s ‘09 salary. – Victor Martinez to Boston for three young...
# continue reading

There are still four hours to trade freely, so this is an open-ended exercise: weigh in on the best and worst trades so far. (And a reminder that I'm now on Twitter. When I can't update this blog, I'll try...
# continue reading

It comes from Brian Sabean, and it’s courtesy of Henry Schulman’s blog: "Frandsen is on the roster and has value as a utility man. He should mind his business in Triple-A and see what happens." Frandsen didn’t take kindly to...
# continue reading

ESPN’s Keith Law makes two salient points about The Trade: 1) Alderson’s stuff has slipped and he now projects as a fourth or fifth starter in the majors. Still nothing to sneeze at, but the deal is “not unreasonable.” 2)...
# continue reading

Say hello to the Philadelphia Phillies. Unlike the Pittsburgh Pirates, they hit the crap out of the ball. Unlike the Pittsburgh Pirates, they have last year's AL Cy Young winner on their staff, plus the extremely handsome Cole Hamels. The...
# continue reading

That's the report. I'm not disappointed the Giants have traded Alderson, but for a guy who won't hit with any power? Why? Why why why why why? Was it not possible to put Alderson and a couple other prospects together...
# continue reading

Rumors, news, injuries, call-ups, trades....it's fast and furious, folks, as we approach the deadline. Let's get to the bullet points!* Freddie Sanchez is almost a Giant, if you believe some reports. Let's step back a second: Sanchez won a batting...
# continue reading

Giants 3, Pirates 2: The older I get, the more baseball rules I want to change. For one: Why should Barry Zito not get the win for tonight's game? Bruce Bochy made a great move to get him out after...
# continue reading

Stunning prequel to The Garko Backlash, followed by The Garko Redemption. Also playing: The Alderson Conundrum and The Bumgarner Rejection. What say the critics? Dave Cameron of Fangraphs, lead us off, good sir: Barnes is a high price to pay...
# continue reading

Giants 4, Pirates 2: Forget for a moment the roster moves and the trade and the drama over will-they-or-won't-they-contend, tonight's game is why we're all watching Giants baseball in 2009. Tim Lincecum struck out 15 -- the highlight reel is...
# continue reading

Let's throw all the names into one big bingo cage, roll the tumbler, and see who pops out. Don't even try to figure out which rumors are serious or not. Victor Martinez, Indians. He doesn't have monstrous power, so he might...
# continue reading

Now we'll see what the Giants are made of. This road trip was the first reality check in their new guise as improbable contenders. All good teams go through rough ten-game streaks, but how they bounce back is the real...
# continue reading

Driving Mrs. Malo to the airport last night, I caught a little late-night ESPN radio. The entire focus was Mark Buehrle, who certainly deserves tons of congratulations for his perfect game. Even from the President. (“Mark, you pitched stupidly! And...
# continue reading

As we head into the hottest trade-rumor week of the year, it's worth noting Thomas Neal hasn't merited a single mention on the mighty MLBTraderumors.com (mentions in the comments don't count). He's not one of the Giants' "Big Four" of...
# continue reading

Giants 5, Braves 1: How about that? Barry Zito is the stopper of the rotation. Barry haters had no excuse for explaining away his success today. It was a smokin’ hot Braves’ lineup, a smokin’ hotlanta day, a hostile crowd...
# continue reading

Braves 4, Giants 2: Go ahead. You know you want to. Push the panic button. Beep beep beep. Get your grubby little finger all over it. Stay up and gnash and wail if you must.I'm going to bed to dream...
# continue reading

Whenever a non-Giants team makes a trade for a player who, if you squint real hard, seems like he might have helped the Giants, someone, somewhere will explode with rage, sprinkling capital letters and a forest of exclamation points across the Internet...
# continue reading

A quick announcement before we dissect tonight's game: I've now got a Twitter feed for all my posts, and more. I encourage you to make Lefty Haikus. There's also a permalink in the right-hand column. Muchas thankyous to Elbo for...
# continue reading

Ryan Sadowski up, a ticked-off Rich Aurilia to the DL. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Giants told him it was either DL or DFA. But wait, there’s more: Matt Downs up, Kevin Frandsen down. Schulman has his take on...
# continue reading

Assuming the Giants send down John Bowker today when Ryan Sadowski is recalled, here’s my prediction for the trade deadline, which of course is the best way of looking like Public Pendejo #1. No matter: Between now and July 31,...
# continue reading

Braves 11, Giants 3: Not much to say about tonight's game except that Sergio Romo's moustache apparently does not create a reality distortion field that causes all batters to swing wildly and miss. Would that it did, because it would...
# continue reading

The Giants' owner died over the weekend from cancer, reportedly with frightening swiftness after a late-stage diagnosis only a week ago. Fifty-eight is too young for anyone to go. My best wishes and thoughts to her family, which from all...
# continue reading

Pirates 2, Giants 0: Remember the series last month in Milwaukee? Two losses like two boots to the groinage region, then Ryan Sadowski ho-hum major league debut six shutout innings WTF coast to victory sigh of relief. The road trip,...
# continue reading

A few things to look for in the next few days: * How much slack does Bochy give Randy Winn against lefties? He’s starting tonight against Pirates southpaw Paul Maholm, and lefty Zach Duke takes the hill Sunday. A reminder:...
# continue reading

When was the last time you woke up on the morning of the first day of the second half of the baseball season and your favorite team -- meaning my favorite team -- was a playoff contender? For a few...
# continue reading

You want it? You got it. Oh baby, you've got it. As expected, Buster Posey has moved on up to Triple A Fresno. If he gets shot down 'cuz he's overzealous, it might be hard to get the ladies jealous....
# continue reading

After the endless slog through the Home Run Derby last night — nearly as boring as the pre-pre-pre-pregame Super Bowl show — I am anxiously waiting the All-Star debut of Tim Lincecum. I’m swamped with work today, but I want...
# continue reading

Timmah is the National League starting pitcher. That helps make up for the loss of Matt Cain, though it being Cain’s first ASG, he might not have gotten into the game, anyway. PM UPDATE: A few other thoughts and notes....
# continue reading

I'm back from a weekend spent mostly on this side of the California-Nevada state line but on the far side of behavior I'm allowed to report on a family blog. It was my brother's bachelor party, and the timing was...
# continue reading

First, a note that Fangraphs has done a Fangraphesque take on my post topic from earlier this week, Jeremy Affeldt’s wowie-zowie ground ball rate this year. Now let’s talk about Fred Lewis, just like reader 50andstillfly asked for this morning....
# continue reading

Quick link this morning: Alan Schwartz of the New York Times breaks the news about a new statistical measurement system currently in testing at our very own Mays Field. If all goes well, it will be deployed in all 30 MLB...
# continue reading

The Internets don’t lie. The Giants Web site has John Bowker on the 25–man roster. According to Schulman, Sabean said on the radio that Bowker will start tonight in left field. And no Panda in the All-Star Game? We’ve been...
# continue reading

Hank Schulman got a tip last night that John Bowker could be called up today. Ryan Sadowski would head back to Fresno until after the All-Star break because the Giants don't need a fifth starter until July 21. If it's...
# continue reading

Marlins 7, Giants 0: After beating the 6’8” Sean West and the 6’7” Josh Johnson, the Giants finally caved to Chris Volstad (6’8”) and the Marlins’ relentless tallness. These guys are all young and good, even the 6’2” midget Ricky Nolasco,...
# continue reading

Last night’s Wilsonpalooza came just hours after I anointed Jeremy Affeldt the Giants’ first-half MVP of the bullpen. Sure enough, Affeldt pitched well and induced yet another double play, while Wilson got all nutty and nearly gave away a three-run...
# continue reading

I missed the previous week’s Players of the Week selections, so let’s get down to two weeks’ worth with just a bit of further ado: a quote from the Baseball Prospectus resident grumpy old man Joe Sheehan, who concludes his All-Star comments today...
# continue reading

The fizz of the back-to-back shutout blowouts Friday and Saturday subsided today when Roy Oswalt handcuffed the Giants, dampening talk of how maybe, just maybe the Giants won't need that extra bat. Perhaps you noticed: The two pitchers the Giants...
# continue reading

Cardinals 5, Giants 2: Dammit if Barry Zito didn't deserve better. If Giants' defenders made two extremely makeable plays tonight, he would have given up three runs at most. In the first inning, Fred Lewis lost a ball in the...
# continue reading

Cardinals 2, Giants 1: On another night, in another month, with a different Giant team, this might have been a 6-0 loss. At risk of making my middle name Pollyanna, I thought this wasn't too bad, as losses go. First,...
# continue reading

Once upon a time, a 25–year-old Giants outfielder finally got his chance after he spent what seemed like years punishing triple-A pitching.  He was under the radar for much of the year, with a .570 OPS in limited at-bats, but on...
# continue reading