San Francisco Giants
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Beat L.A., Beat L.A.August 14th, 2008
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In a season without playoff promise, each individual game takes on a heightened sense of importance. The San Francisco Giants can’t salvage the year, but they can play to win each game because that’s all that’s left to do.
A string of August or September victories might not mean much now except to slap a bit of polish upon a dismal year, but they could provide a young team a necessary confidence boost for 2009.
The arrival of the Los Angeles Dodgers in San Francisco with new slugger Manny Ramirez for a weekend set gave the Giants a chance to strike a blow against a rival in pursuit of the pennant. At home, against the Dodgers — the three games were playoff-like baseball and the best it would get for a team playing out the string.
After dumping the first game in depressing fashion, San Francisco won Saturday and Sunday in their final at-bat to sting the Dodgers and send a mob of jubilant Giants out onto the field at AT&T Park. The two victories gave the Giants their first winning series against Los Angeles and homestand of the year. Read more
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A Movement Towards YouthAugust 7th, 2008
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The baseball trade deadline expired last Thursday without a peep from the San Francisco Giants (48-65). Sure, second baseman Ray Durham departed for Milwaukee, but the Giants failed to find a home for any of their other veterans. So, what remains will remain unless a waiver deal can be arranged, which is a possibility. In some ways, the lack of trade news is deflating, but with the deadline now in the distance, the Giants have found courage in not feeling obliged to audition older players and can finally proceed with the future.
Friday night in San Diego marked the beginning. San Francisco trotted out a line-up of kids, which delighted many who have clamored for this moment for months. Shortstop Emmanuel Burriss and second baseman Ivan Ochoa formed the Giants’ new double-play combination, which added a much needed dose of excitement and athleticism. Ironically, the Giants won Friday and Saturday with the kids and lost Sunday with the vets. To end Saturday night’s game, Ochoa displayed a bit of fancy footwork as he fielded a ball behind second base, stepped on the bag before a sliding Padre could take him out and zipped a throw to first for the double-play. The game-ending play exhibited a type of dazzling quickness and youth, missing around the diamond. Read more
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The First Domino To FallJuly 29th, 2008
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With the trade of second baseman Ray Durham to Milwaukee on July 20, San Francisco parted ways with a player who held the longest tenure on the team and officially started a new chapter. Whether the Giants can unload remaining veterans such as Rich Aurilia, Omar Vizquel or Randy Winn before the July 31 trade deadline remains to be seen. In dispatching Durham to the Brewers, the Giants answered the question of whether they would send away their veterans with a resounding yes.
In return, the Giants received low-level prospects in outfielder Darren Ford and left-hander Steve Hammond, two players who might or might not factor in the team’s future plans. The trade of Durham was more about creating a vacancy at second base rather than the players headed the Giants’ way.
Shortstop turned second baseman Emmanuel Burriss, can now be plugged into Durham’s old spot on a full-time basis without the threat of controversy or hurt feelings. Not that Durham ever had the label of a complainer, but the Giants simply have a hard time letting go and constantly feel the need to satisfy older players at the expense of younger ones. Read more
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Second-half QuestionsJuly 17th, 2008
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San Francisco’s slide into the All-Star-break avoided becoming a complete collapse thanks to Tim Lincecum’s pitching gem on Sunday against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The right-hander tossed eight innings in a 4-2 victory to halt the Giants’ six-game losing streak. At 40-55, the Giants sit in third-place in the NL West, seven games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks. While the Giants’ play on the field doesn’t represent a team capable of contending, the standings fail to lie, which might stagnate the team’s plans for youthful progress in the second-half.
This scenario has greeted the Giants before. For the last three seasons, San Francisco has greatly needed to reshape their roster with youthful pieces, but have fallen into patching the cracks with a veteran pitcher here or a veteran outfielder there. They chased after the illusion of a pennant because it seemed so close and so easily reachable, but ultimately out of their grasp. This illusion was created by the division’s mediocre teams, which all lack the dominance to sprint out and leave the others in the distance. The Giants’ rise in the standings hasn’t been because of their strong play, but the general lack of quality throughout. It only seems as though the Giants have risen because everyone has sunk down to their below-average level. Read more
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An Exiled Home Run KingJuly 5th, 2008
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Somewhere in Southern California, possibly Beverly Hills, Barry Bonds, baseball’s home run champ, is smashing balls beyond the pedestrian fences of a local high school field, pumping iron and running sprints under the glaring sun. He’s working out like a ballplayer on the brink of extinction. His baseball career is quite conceivably in his rear view mirror. And each day the reality of him stepping back on the field recedes further into the distance.
According to the Associated Press, Bonds would be willing to play for the league minimum. If true, this admission is fitting, admirable and sad. At his core, Bonds is a baseball player who desperately desires to play and would do so for nothing except admittance back into the game. At the same time, for all those who bit their tongue and stomached Bonds’ sour attitude, who believe he cheated his way into passing Henry Aaron, who fear looming legal troubles and who simply detest the man, this is their chance at retribution and to keep him on the sidelines.
While Bonds is no longer great, he is still good and able to summon greatness on occasion when his body is right. At the same time, Bonds is a circus freak, an individual some struggling team could sign to create a storm of interest during the waning months of their season. Fans would turn out to boo, to jeer him and to shake their heads and cheer. With Bonds, no middle ground exists as he’s a polarizing figure, which divides fans into pulling for the man or hating him.
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A Winter’s PropositionJune 19th, 2008
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Toronto Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi placed his offer before Giants’ general manager Brian Sabean during major league baseball’s annual winter meetings. The deal arrived without an expiration date, but existed as an open-ended trade that Sabean could act upon when ready.
Toronto desired San Francisco right-hander Tim Lincecum with right fielder Alex Rios the attractive bait dangled in the hopes a bite would be had.
If Sabean accepted Ricciardi’s proposition, San Francisco would receive the appealing Rios, a right fielder with power and youth and unlike anyone on the Giants’ roster. An All-Star selection in 2007, Rios hit .297 with 24 homers and 85 RBIs last season. Read more
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Rowand’s Rugged StyleJune 11th, 2008
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In a scary bit of foreshadowing, as if expecting a future collision, Aaron Rowand issued a warning to Philadelphia Phillies’ management about a dangerous section of the centerfield fence at Citizens Bank Park, which he thought needed padding. A month later, he found himself in pursuit of a long drive off the bat of the Mets’ Xavier Nady, sprinting with abandon after the ball and towards the same area of fence he’d labeled as treacherous.
For an instant, he appeared to be stuck, implanted into the fence, his face absorbing the brunt of his mad dash and subsequent crash into the center field fence. With his back facing the playing field, he caught the ball with an over the shoulder snag a la Willie Mays or Jim Edmonds.
He emerged bloodied, his face cut and nose broken, but the ball tucked safely away in his glove for the third out, rescuing the Phillies from a bases loaded jam.
If you’d seen him on the street, with his bruised face and bandaged nose, and hadn’t watched the game, missed his catch or simply didn’t know him, you might think he’d been involved in a car accident or found himself on the wrong side in a bar brawl. Read more
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A Strange WeekJune 1st, 2008
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After dumping a double-header to the Florida Marlins on Sunday to end last week, the Giants achieved the indescribable, a three-game sweep of the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the desert to stir thoughts of the improbable. Could the Giants inch their way into the division race?
Two straight home losses to San Diego, which could have been three, tempered any fantastical thoughts about the Giants contending this year and ushered in a dose of reality. At 24-33, San Francisco is still a long climb from playing even baseball and reaching the second-place Los Angeles Dodgers. But, the Giants’ sweep of Arizona and stirring comeback to dash the Padres’ hopes proved once again that this season won’t lack for entertainment value.
Down 3-1 to San Diego in the bottom of the tenth on Sunday, San Francisco pinned a loss on major league saves leader, Trevor Hoffman with three runs for a 4-3 victory. Rookies Brian Horwitz and Fred Lewis played big roles in the stirring win. Horwitz singled as the tying run after a Ray Durham single opened the tenth, while Lewis tripled to tie the game and then scored the winning run. Read more
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Good Night and Good Luck, Mr. MagowanMay 19th, 2008
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The 1992 season was supposed to be the last for the Giants in San Francisco. Sold by owner Bob Lurie, the Giants were headed to St. Petersburg, Florida until Major League Baseball blocked the move east. Up stepped Peter Magowan and a group of local businessmen to buy the Giants. The team would stay in San Francisco, their home since moving from New York in 1958.
On Friday, May 16, Magowan, the man many credit for saving baseball for San Francisco, stepped down as Giants’ president and managing general partner. His 16-year run will end at the end of the 2008 season.
Magowan became the public face of the investor group, a responsibility now passed to William Neukom, the former general counsel for Microsoft Corp. and president of the American Bar Association.
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The Demise of Barry ZitoMay 11th, 2008
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What does a team do with a win-less former Cy Young Award recipient who carries with him a 7-year $126 million contact? Apparently, the San Francisco Giants hadn’t a clue either until the ugly truth about Barry Zito became too much for them to ignore any longer. After Cincinnati thrashed Zito for eight runs in three innings of work, the Giants banished him to the bullpen and the wasteland that is middle relief.
But after a week without pitching, Zito climbed back atop the mound in Pittsburgh on Wednesday to throw his best game of the season. Though he ended up the losing pitcher, Zito (0-7) logged five innings of work, allowed two runs and struck out a season-high five batters. The Giants pulled him after the fifth inning and 100 pitches. His sole mistake came on a first-pitch fastball to Xavier Nady, which left in a hurry for the outfield bleachers.
Subtle reminders of the Zito of old presented themselves in his trademark curveball, which snapped across the plate, while the new Zito remained as well in his low to mid-80’s fastball. Caught between two worlds, Zito is attempting to find himself again as a soft throwing control pitcher, while saying goodbye to a never blazing fastball, but one good enough to set-up his curve. He’s at the beginning of this ugly process to re-create himself at the major league level. He’s more Jamie Moyer now, but without the fine control or economy of pitches. So, what is he then? He’s a pitcher who didn’t have four to five feet to spare on his fastball and someone who’s dealing with altering his comfortable style. This transformation might take the entire length of his San Francisco career.
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