Giants 3, Brewers 2: Wasn't that the score last night? Welcome to Giantland, where sometimes you lose by a run, sometimes -- a bit more often than not -- you win by a run, and fercrissakes, it's never easy.
The above quote in the header might explain a lot. It's from Eugenio Velez, much maligned from all quarters for his wayward defense, his baserunning blunders, and his hackiness. He did a lot to get the Gs a W tonight, however, the capstone his "very very spectacular" (Duane Kuiper's words) play in the 8th to rob Prince Fielder of a game-tying, two-out hit. The best thing about Eugenio is that he's inspired several nicknames, some not so flattering -- EPICgenio FAILez -- and some downright silly -- Fast Black Abraham Lincoln -- but all of them mighty clever.
The thing is, though, you never give up, which someone should tell to FreddieLoo!, who unfortunately aired his grievances, not entirely unfounded, to the press. Fred's gotten buried the past month or two, but he's not far removed from a pretty good year as the leadoff guy. He got something of a raw deal this year, in that the Giants were desperately hoping he'd turn into a 15-20 home run guy in the third spot, and instead he became extremely passive, almost entirely punchless, and his D, no matter what the stats say, took a big step backward. He still works counts and gets on base, which is no small feat on this team. With a little more perseverance, Lewis could earn back a starting job, or at least a prominent role, on this team. It's not like he's being blocked by an outfield of All-Stars.
Velez suffered worse: he got demoted to Fresno. (Sorry, but when everyone else says it's better that so-and-so goes down to the minors to get at-bats every day, no major leaguer wants a demotion. It's all about the post-game spread and the chartered flights, baby.)
He never gave up, and it's showed since his return. His OBP is nearly .350. He's hit four HRs, four triples, and nine doubles. He's stolen 5 of 6 bases. He's not perfect, but he's helping, not hurting. Baron Pickoff Von Ironglove always makes me laugh, but it's getting harder to make the name stick.
Oh, and Matt Cain is pretty good. Superduperkudos as well to Juan Uribe, with another home run, and Brian Wilson, who somehow (it's called Velez's D, yo) escaped the 8th, then nailed down the save in the 9th. Fantastic work. Great win.
The Giants could do a lot worse than go into 2010 with Uribe and Velez as two bench guys, with Andres Torres added to the mix.
