And now with Posey's ankle feeling "cranky" -- 

http://blog.sfgate.com/giants/2012/05/13/giants-promote-and-start-a-23-year-old-second-baseman-buster-poseys-ankle-cranky/

-- this could soon devolve into a season of prospect evaluation and trades of a couple vets whose presence on the roster is, in the short-term, less valuable than the return they can fetch. I have a couple in mind, but I'll save that for later. 

Even still, there was luck involved. The bad bunt by Uribe in the seventh let Posey throw to third for the force, and on third baseman Joaquin Arias' throw across the diamond Brandon Belt looked like he stretched off the bag. The umpire at first ruled Uribe out.

On the double play in the first -- a grounder to Arias with the runner on first moving with the pitch -- Brandon Crawford made it to second base, as the cover guy on the steal, before second baseman Ryan Theriot arrived. Even with two teammates at second base, Arias threw it without so much as a double-take, and the double play was completed, leaving Matt Kemp to hit with the bases empty. Monday night, there would have been mass confusion, infielders' heads knocking together with coconut sounds, and Dodger runners scampering about like spring lambs. 

In other news, the Brandons acquitted themselves well against Kershaw. Belt drew a disciplined walk and got good wood on a pitch but lined out deep to right. Crawford had a single. Their defense was key, too. Crawford was the smoothie we saw last year, and Belt saved the game in the 8th on yet another double play. Theriot spiked his relay into the dirt, but Belt made the short-hop scoop. Without that, the tying run would have scored, and perhaps the go-ahead run, too. 

For all the justified talk of the Giants' perennial hackitude -- once again they rule the world in swinging at pitches outside the strike zone -- Bochy could actually build a lineup with strong on-base percentage in the top half, even with Sandoval gone: 

CF Blanco .362

1B Belt .379

RF Cabrera .370

(3B Sandoval .375)

C Posey .362

LF Pill .341

I like the idea of Belt hitting second. He'll take pitches, give Blanco a chance to steal, or he'll have a big hole between first and second to shoot for. Right now, Pagan as leadoff hitter is a myth the Giants hope comes true. He's never been a good one in the past, and the sub-.300 OBP right now is deadly at the top. His saving grace right now is when he hits a ball in the gap, it's just as likely to be a triple as a double. I'm not saying glue him to the bench, but it's time to start re-thinking how to use him until he learns to work a count better. 

A team can have the patience and on-base percentage of Job, but if no one's driving the runners home, it's just more frustration of Biblical proportions. But if a team isn't driving in runs in droves, getting on base with frequency accomplishes at least two things: It wears out the opposition's starting pitcher faster and turns the game over to the soft underbelly of middle relief; and it creates room for luck. The bad bounce, the botched play by the other shortstop, the well-placed looping line drive that finds a gap, the blown call in your favor: if you don't have runners on base, you can't take advantage. Right now, the Giants need to take as much advantage as possible. 

ELM: Only one week into the season, and the Brandon Belt situation became, well, a situation. Can you give us any insight? If Belt truly has a hole in his swing that's so obvious the Giants don't mind talking about it in public, why don't they send him back to Fresno to fix it?

The Giants still very much believe in Belt. He is still a young player in terms of pro experience. Remember the Giants helped him make some mechanical changes after they drafted him that turned him from a player no one was talking about to a top prospect in the game. So I do think the Giants deserve some benefit of the doubt with regard to their understanding of his talent.

It's a tough situation. The Giants don't want to criticize the kid publicly, they want to nurture his talent, and they are very eager for him to be a part of the everyday lineup. But they also (in my opinion) believe that simply giving him extended at bats at the big league level is not going to solve a fundamental problem in his hitting approach that they believe is holding him back from realizing his full potential. They believe that he needs to make a few changes to become a big league ready hitter. And Brandon, like many young players, seems reluctant to make those changes. Not because he is a bad kid or is lazy. But the Giants want him to work on this stuff, and I don't think they feel like doing that against minor league pitching is accomplishing much of anything. So it is a tough spot.

Giants fans can differ. Many feel like that with a long, extended run of playing time, Belt will be up to speed and will be a valuable part of the big league team. But the Giants watch his major league at bats and still want some work done.

ELM: Matt Cain, opening day. Can you remember a better-pitched game by a Giant since you've begun broadcasting? [Ed. Note: I asked this question before the Cain-Cliff Lee duel on April 18.]

DF: Tossing aside the postseason, where those Lincecum and Bumgarner games were so memorable, a couple others come to mind. I put Cain's opening day start above the Sanchez no hitter; he was more dominant than Jonathan. The one that really stands out to me is Jason Schmidt in 2004 vs the Red Sox. That was such a powerful Red Sox offense, and Schmidt threw a one hit shutout against them. It was an amazing performance, quality of opponent considered. I will never forget the Red Sox announcers mid-game coming into our booth and saying, "That is his change up? We don't see anything that nasty in the American League." The Sox were stunned how good he was.

ELM: Any chance Barry Zito's shutout in Colorado was just as good as Cain, perhaps better? Consider the venue, the opposing lineup, and the must-win-ness of the situation... DF: I don't know. Perhaps House deserves some credit. I have heard from the Giants for years that Zito's side sessions and pregame warmups often featured impeccable command, and then the game would start and that would disappear. Who knows, but he does look to me like some extra confidence is also helping him. But there has to be some mechanical/physical improvement as well.

ELM: A couple years ago there was much ado about the fancy cameras installed at Mays Field to create a better defense evaluation system. What ever became of that?

DF: I'll try not to go overboard, but I'll give away one spot in each city:

Los Angeles - Too many to name, but a great taqueria just outside downtown is El Parian on Pico. Wonderful tacos/burritos.

San Diego - Food in ballpark not great, so I grab fish and chips at Tin Fish just outside. Not incredible, but good beach food.

Colorado - Steubens is a good diner for lunch/weekend brunch, close to downtown.

Phoenix - just for the setting, I like going to the Biltmore Hotel and sitting on their patio for fish tacos, which are good.

Chicago - Another wonderful food city. I have tried many, and I think the best steak is at David Burke's. Delicious, but pricey. Girl and a Goat also great food.

Cincinnati - My only advice: Avoid Skyline Chili! Not my style.

Houston - Original Irma's, in a desolate spot downtown near the ballpark. No menu, just a couple choices each day. But great Mexican home cooking.

Milwaukee - I love the Milwaukee public market, sort of like a mini Ferry Building. Many good choices.

Pittsburgh - Just go to the Strip District and walk around, all kinds of food carts, little shops, and good stuff to eat.

St Louis - The Good Pie. A long walk from downtown, but really good wood fired pizza and salad. Not a great food town.

Atlanta - Woodfire Grill is delicious!

Miami - Whip out the wallet for the total South Beach scene at Prime 112.

New York - Too many spots even to start. Babbo and Po in the village are great, Ess A Bagel for bagel and coffee, Scarpetta is good, and for a true fine dining experience Le Bernadin is still wonderful after many years, perhaps the best fish restaurant in the US.

Philadelphia - Another wonderful food town. Reading Terminal Market has tons of lunch choices, a la the Ferry Building. [Ed. Note: Specifically, the roast pork and spinach sandwich at DiNic's.] Devon for seafood on Rittenhouse Square.

Washington - My mom's crab cakes, best in town.

Seattle - Le Panier is, along with Tartine in SF, the best pastry shop I have found in the country.

I should charge for all that info!

ELM: If you go, dear readers, tell 'em Dave sent you. 

That said, my basic goal stays the same: describe the game accurately, and make whatever broadcast I do sound interesting enough to hold the audience.

ELM: Jon Miller is famous, and beloved among many fans, for occasionally letting it fly when criticizing a fellow Giant employee ("That was the worst base running in the history of the game!").



How do you deal on the air when you're exasperated with on-field events or with off-field moves?

DF: In a way it is easier for me to control that frustration than for an average viewer or listener, simply because I have more information. I can't always share that info, which is frustrating in a different way. But I may know of a nagging injury that is keeping a player out of the lineup; or an off-field incident that forces the front office's hand in making a trade. Often there is more going on in any one decision than is apparent. So that makes it easier for me to digest some of the things I might otherwise disagree with.

As for on-field blunders and the like, I do get upset, but I always try to temper that with a reminder of how hard the game is for even the best players. 

And I need to add this: it is way easier to watch a game as a broadcaster than as a fan. On the rare games that I do not work, I agonize over every pitch and missed opportunity, I pace around watching or listening. When I am calling the game, I am too focused to get that caught up in the tension. I really do not know how fans survive some of these games. The work saves me!

ELM: Speaking of Jon, the nutty Coors Field busted-rundown play was perhaps the only time I've ever heard him struck speechless mid-play. Is there a particular play broadcasters dread? Are there certain things you practice in the off-hours?

The only plays I might dread are big plays in important moments where there is confusion in the outcome, such as a home run off the top of the fence: Did it go out or stay in the park? Something like that. I hate to keep the listener waiting while I or an umpire tries to figure out what has just happened. A strange rules interpretation probably also falls into that category.

DF: I hate to say it, but I think I described it pretty well. Right away, as the collision was happening, I knew it was severe, and I conveyed that in the call. It was difficult to focus on the fact that the run had scored and the Marlins had taken the lead, when I knew well that he was seriously hurt. His immediate physical reaction gave that away. And I was extremely pissed at Scott Cousins, I just hate that play regardless of the player involved. Hard to keep that in, but I do think I properly covered the moment, agony and all. Not a night I remember fondly.DF: I sure hope so, but I think the lawsuits still ongoing prevent almost anything of the sort. Basically the legal stuff prevents anyone from doing anything, I think. 

Coming soon in Part 2: Prospect talk, Free Belt!, and tasty road vittles.

For any professional athlete to leave his team without warning, the situation has to be serious. "Serious" can mean different things to different people, but these are people who've trained their entire lives to perform under stress, to compartmentalize their lives, to shut out distractions. That's not necessarily a good thing for personal growth, but when you spend practically every day at work for eight months under the scrutiny of tens of thousands of people in person and hundreds of thousands more tuning, surfing or tweeting in, you build walls. When a wall breaks down, something weird is happening somewhere. 

I'm not going to ruminate on what "anxiety disorder" means. Could be a lot of things. But the bottom line is, you can't expect every athlete to shut out the distractions all the time. And when the distractions, external or internal, become urgent or frightening enough, we all need to cut major slack. How's your job? Or your school work? Do you have hundreds of thousands of people dissecting every spreadsheet or term paper or meeting you run? 

I suspect most of you out there know this. But it's so easy in these days of casual access to a digital megaphone to toss off a quip, a clever bit of ad hominem snark, that I don't mind writing a reminder -- to myself as much as to anyone else -- that everyone deserves respect until he proves otherwise. The next time Aubrey Huff comes to bat in San Francisco, let's give him a warm welcome back.