Sorry for the dead air lately, folks. A family wedding, tons of work, and a bit of travel (I'm on the East Coast at the moment) have all conspired against me. I missed the Angel Villalona news. Let's hope the Dominican police got the wrong man. I missed the Brad Penny implosion, too, though I peeked into a bar and just happened to see the fateful hanging changeup to Ronnie Belliard.
Unless the Giants stage a miracle, the talk from here on out should focus on how much Bochy plays the young 'uns. Tonight's lineup with Randy Winn hitting third, yet again, doesn't give me much hope. I'll make my definitive pronouncements on Sabean and Bochy after the final game of the year, but right now I agree with Bill Neukom's comment in his KNBR interview the other day that these last few games are part of the evaluation, too. Speaking of evaluations, I think we can add Dan Runzler to the list of bullpen candidates next year.
And if the Giants fall farther behind in the next few days, the Giants should seriously consider skipping Tim Lincecum's next start or at least getting him on a short pitch count. From the reports, it sounded like fatigue was a problem Sunday, and there's no sense in messing with that.
As I type this the Giants have just bumbled away their short-lived lead in Arizona. Juan Uribe giveth and taketh away.
Uh-oh: I also just saw the Freddie Sanchez news. Sheesh. Apart from looking like a bad injury, which is never anything to wish upon anyone, it doesn't look good for Sabean, who rolled the dice by trading Alderson for a gimpy Sanchez and basically came up empty. And if Bochy uses this as an excuse to put Renteria back in the lineup instead of giving Kevin Fransden at-bats, it'll literally add insult to injury.
