Thursday, May 21, 2009

Giants = Bad: Padres 3, Giants 2


'Nuff said.

Are We Having Fun Yet?: Padres 2, Giants 1

Not much to write about this one. Again, the Giants couldn't score (for the second straight night their one run was a pathetic excuse for one which came on an out and nearly a double-play). Again, they left a man at 3rd with one out to cost them the run which could've sent the game into extra innings. Again, they wasted a great pitching performance -- though for a welcome change it came from Jonathan Sanchez, who'd been struggling. Again, the Giants lost 2-1. Again, they lost at San Diego -- 0-5 to start the year.

The Giants fell below .500 for the first time since April, and things are looking pretty bleak from the offensive side. They can hit with no one on, but they can't get a big hit to drive in a run to save their lives, and the panic at the plate in those situations is palpable. The panic in the manager's office is pretty obvious too, judging from Bruce Bochy's comments on the feeble offense on Tuesday, and by the fact he wrote out a lineup for Wednesday with Aaron Rowand leading off. That might have been the one bright spot -- Rowand had 3 hits.

TOMORROW: Tim Lincecum loses 2-1 to ex-Giants Kevin Correia as the Giants set a major league record by stranding runners at 3rd with less than 2 out in every inning.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Spotted at Runyon Canyon...


Yesterday walking the canyon, I passed Matthew Perry, looking very gray, sporting a goatee and listening to his iPod. It's amazing to see certain stars out and about in Hollywood due to how gray their hair is. You don't realize they always have their hair colored before appearing in movies, TV, or even talk shows, so you get this idea of them being younger than they are. This is because once people find out you're old, you become less of a commodity in show business. So a few stars -- Ben Stiller comes to mind -- walk around LA with very grey hair, but never have even one grey hair in any of their movies. Matthew Perry is apparently a member of this group.

So is Nick Cage, but I think with him it has more to do with bad hair than grey hair. That, or an obsession to come up with the most insane hairdo's imaginable. This is my personal favorite:

cage my hair is a bird Pictures, Images and Photos

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

YOUR San Francisco Giants: Padres 2, Giants 1

This is the Giants -- like it or not. They will waste leadoff doubles with alarming consistency. They will leave men on 3rd with less than 2 out. They will threaten to score over and over, and fail over and over, just to lose by 1 run. And, it appears, they will do it most of all while Barry Zito is on mound -- the better his performance, the more frustratingly ineffective their offensive attack will be. This was again the case Tuesday night as the Giants wasted yet another impressive outing by the resurgent Zito, who had to realize his fate after just 2 innings.

In each of the first 2 innings, the Giants had their leadoff man reach 2nd base with nobody out (and in each case, in the person of one of their fastest baserunners -- Eugenio Velez and Randy Winn, respectively), but failed to even advance them as far as 3rd. In the meantime, Zito allowed nothing 2 runs, each coming on solo HR's (both with 2 out to make it even more frustrating). other than that, Zito was great, going the route, as he watched the Giants squander yet another man-on-2nd-no-out situation and other potential rallies. In all, they went 0-12 with RISP, 0-11 in the first 4 innings alone.

The biggest villain on offense had to be Rich Aurilia, who looks about as done as you can look. Aurilia flailed in attempts to advance a runner from 2nd, and also to drive one in from 3rd with one out, striking out both times. Aurilia can only play 1B at this point in his career, and he can't hit, so I'm not sure what role there is unless they come up with a new one called D.S: Designated Strikeout. If Jesus Guzman, the 1B prospect tearing it up at AAA, isn't called up soon, Aurilia could burn through all the good will he's earned with fans (including this one), and the Giants may end up D.H.-ing a pitcher during interleague play, Rays-style.

TOMORROW: Sachez v. Gaudin.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Balks, Walks, Cain Rocks: Giants 2, Mets 0

Matt Cain for the block, indeed. Cain did what he does -- fall behind batters, walk guys, run up his pitch count, then make great pitches to get out of seemingly impossible jams. Also, in his bag of tricks: Get inadequate run support, then take matters into his own hands, driving in a big run. The only aberration: Getting great bullpen work. Not so much from Bob Howry, who got through the 7th, but walked Luis Castillo to open the 8th -- an unforgivable sin in a 2-run game -- but definitely from Jeremy Affeldt, who got out of a big time jam in the 8th (his second escape act of the series) and Brian Wilson, who at least partially redeemed himself for two losses in the series, by saving it with a 1-2-3 9th.

The Giants somehow kept the Mets off the board despite several promising rallies -- usually started by walks, most notably Cain three free passes to open the 2nd -- using clutch pitching and good D (primarily Travis Ishikawa's 3-2-3 DP on a scorched line drive one-hopper). The Giants offense scratched out their 2 cheapie runs with the help of 3 balks by the very un-steady Mets starter Mike Pelfrey, and a clutch hit by Cain.

Of course, you might not have realized any of this by watching the game on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball as color commentators Steve Phillips and Joe Morgan did nothing by drone on about the Mets and their leadership situation, completely ignoring the game being played before them. Something else you might have missed: The formerly hard-luck Cain is now 4-1 with a 2.65 ERA.

TOMORROW: Off-day Monday, Tuesday, the Giants travel down to San Diego for a threesome with the Padres (not as sexy as it sounds), with Barry Zito taking on Chris Young in the opener.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

This Is Not A Recording: Mets 9, Giants 6

More of the same for the Giants, who basically took the worst of the first two games of the season and combined them in Game 3 -- poor starting pitching over come by good offense, followed by leaving in the starter too long, and bad relief pitching -- especially in the 9th -- plus an extra helping of bonehead managing to lose it.

This time it was the Unit getting the Giants in an early hole, 3-0 to Johan Santana. That would be enough most days, but the Giants fought back to tie it at 3-3. Johnson and the bullpen immediately gave it all back and more, allowing 4 runs in the top of the next inning. Down to Santana again, the Giants looked like toast. Again. But they came back. Again.

The Giants scored 3 to get within 7-6, and got the tying run on base to lead off the 8th. But their rally died when they made an out on the bases (their 3rd of the day) on a busted hit-and-run, which was just a terrible idea by Bochy. It was a 3-2 count, but Travis Ishikawa was at the plate -- a big-time strikeout threat -- and the not-too-speedy Juan Uribe was on base. After the Giants gave up their requisite 2 runs in the 9th, the game was over.

Unfortunately, his is becoming the status quo for the Giants -- doing just enough to give yourself a chance, but not enough to win. It was less than 100 hours ago, they were 4 games over .500, hadn't lost any of their last 9 series, and were going for the sweep against the poor, pathetic Nats to go 5 under for the first time since 1994. Now they are 18-18 and have to avoid their own sweep at the hands of the mighty Mets, who's middle of the order has feasted on Giants pitching. It's not just them, either: The Nats scored a lot of runs, even in their losses (7 each), so it's been all homestand so far. Suddenly, it's the offense which has become their only hope. Strange days, indeed.

TOMORROW: Matt Cain for the block.

...And That's When Depression Set In: Mets 8, Giants 6

So many things went wrong for the Giants on Friday night -- starting pitching, bullpen, defense, clutch hitting, managing, luck -- you could write a long, detailed essay on the multi-faceted failure. But that could take years and cost millions of lives. In my opinion, this game came down to one boneheaded decision by Bruce Bochy. And now, because of it, the Giants have a 3-game losing streak, and are back to letting the Dodgers (now 6 games up) run away with the division.

It was the 6th inning, and the Giants looked to have the game well in hand. It was 5-1, and Lincecum had struck out the side the previous inning. But his fastball velocity was a bit down, and he was leaning heavily on his changeup. In the top of the 6th, as his pitch count rose over 100, he allowed 2 runs, closing the gab to 5-3. It was pretty clear he was done. Sure, if the Giants went -2-3, and his spot didn't come up, maybe you could send him out until a baserunner got on, and hope he had a quick inning. Only the Giants didn't go 1-2-3, and Lincecum's spot did come up -- with a man on 2nd base. An insurance run. An engraved invitation to pinch-hit. Somewhere deep in the recesses of Bruce Bochy's brain he thought"Pinch hit? But that's just what they're expecting me to do."

Bochy let Lincecum hit, and briefly looked smart, as Lincecum singled in the runner. That positivity didn't last long. In the top of the 7th, Lincecum allowed a hit and a walk, and was pulled from the game without recording another out. Merkin Valdez also faced two hitters, and failed to record an out -- a walk to Gary Sheffield, and a 3-run double by David Wright to tie the game, 6-6. Jeremy Affeldt came in and did a great job of holding the score right there by striking out the side after Wright stole 3rd with nobody out, but it was useless -- the Giants were going to do whatever it took to lose this game.

They proved that yet again when they stranded Randy Winn at 3rd with 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, although that had as much to do with bad luck (Winn's ball missed being a HR by a foot, and with 2 outs, Rich Aurilia scorched a liner that Alex Cora stabbed at SS) as it did poor hitting (Aaron Rowand continued his LVP-caliber season by grounding weakly to 3rd with 1 out).

The Mets eventually won by beating Brian Wilson in the 9th inning of a tie game (for the second straight night), but the dye was cast when Bochy (who would later be ejected) left a spent Lincecum in, needlessly risking an insurance run, the lead, and most importantly, Lincecum's arm, by overworking him on a night what he was clearly not his best, after a tough inning. I don't care how tired the bullpen was, especially since Affeldt, their best set-up man, went 2 innings anyway. Boo Bochy. Boo.

TOMORROW: The Big Unit takes the hill in a semi-nationally televised game, trying end the the Giants 3-game losing streak, trying to keep alive his streak of pitching well at home, and trying to help continue the Giants streak of not losing series by giving them a chance to split on Sunday. That's a lot of streaks. Unfortunately, their all going up against Johan Santana, quite possibly the best pitcher in baseball.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

The Blahs: Mets 7, Giants 4

The Giants had been playing well recently, but their series winning streak seemed more like an oddity than a barometer of their strength as a team. They've been a bit lucky play the Nats, and the Dodgers right after they lost Manny. Sure, they were playing well, but so many of those wins were predicated on infield hits and 1-run victories. That trend was bound to turn. A lull in momentum is inevitable in baseball no matter how good you are. When they lost to the Nats on the eve of the Mets visit for a 4-game series, I wondered if this might be the time. Tonight did nothing to quell those fears.

The Giants scored 2 runs in the 8th, tying the game with an improbable comeback. Well, improbable besides the fact that the "rally" was started by an infield hit (Fred Lewis, leading off the inning), and ended with an infield hit (Edgar Renteria drove in the tying run, but appeared to injure his hammy legging out the hit*). But Brian Wilson continued to struggle in non-save opportunities, surrendering 3 runs to Mets in the 9th, allowing them to ice the game.

TOMORROW: The Giants need a win if they plan to at least split this series with New York -- remember, Johan Santana is scheduled to pitch over the weekend. The Good News: The Giants have ace Tim Lincecum taking the hill tomorrow. The Bad News: They'll face Livan Hernandez. I know, Livo is not so good anymore, and comes in with a 5+ ERA, but he's exactly the kind of pitcher who dominates the Giants, and it's the kind of thing that would drive me up the wall. So it's bound to happen.

* The way he left the field, I could easily see Renteria going on the disabled list, so you better get used to Juan Uribe at SS for while.

Sabean FTL: Nationals 6, Giants 3

I'm pinning today's Giants loss squarely on Brian Sabean. He's the one who gave away Shairon Martis, the rookie who's gone 5-0 to start the season while pitching for a team with only 11 wins, and who held the Giants to 2 hits to keep them from sweeping the Nats. It was 2006 when Sabean traded Martis, fresh off a no-hitter in the WBC that Spring, for crusty vet Mike Stanton in a foolish attempt to make a stretch run. The Giants were barely at .500 and were several pieces away from serious contention, but Sabean made a Sabeanic move by trading the future for a futile shot at the present.

Today, the rookie, pitching for the major-league minimum, beat one the highest paid starters in baseball, Barry Zito. And that's saying something these days. Again, Zito pitched well -- though his line is great because he tired in the 7th, and had some his runners score after he left -- but he wasn't as good as Martis. The Giants could get the sweep, but took the series to keep their streak alive, and prepare for a weekend series against the Mets -- including two nationally-televised games (FOX Saturday, ESPN Sunday).

TOMORROW: Jonathan Sanchez tries to find his groove as he takes on John Maine.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Riches to Rags to Riches: Giants 9, Nationals 7


The Giants turned their worst loss of the season into their best win with one mighty swing of Pablo Sandoval's bat. The Kung Fu Panda's 3-run bolt of a HR off reformed Dodger Joe Beimel gave the Giants a stirring come-from-behind win despite blowing 4 run 7th inning lead to the worst team in baseball and then trailing with 2 outs and nobody on in the 9th.

It was the Giants first real comeback win of the year, and puts them a season-high 4 games over .500, and guarantees them yet another series win. In the last 9 series including this one, they are now 7-0-2, both those ties coming on the road after losing the series opener. It was also the second game in a row, the Giants have allowed 7 runs (albeit against one of the best offensive teams in the NL so far), yet still scored enough to win it with their hitting (albeit against one of the worst pitching staffs in the NL so far). Oh yeah, and Pablo's HR kep the Giants undefeated when scoring first (14-0).

The Giants comeback followed what could have been a crushing rally by the Nationals, who scored 3 runs each in the 7th and 8th to erase a 5-1 lead and steal a win away from Matt Cain. Cain cruised through the first 6 innings, allowing just what should have been an unearned run (Adam Dunn's double should've been caught by Nate Schierholtz, who misjudged it and saw it clank off his wrist), but ran into trouble in the 7th. With 1 out and none on, and Cain on a pitch count which might allow him to finsih the game, Alex Cintron got his first hit of the year. Cristian Guzman followed with another hit before Nick Johnson crushed a good pitch from Cain (knee-high, outer third) for an opposite-field HR -- his first hit ever off Cain.

Right then, you knew it wouldn't be easy.It didn't take long for that to prove out. Cain stayed in to retire Ryan Zimmerman (who had 2 hits to extend his hitting streak to 30) and Adam Dunn to end the inning, but left after 7, having thrown just 100 pitches (not that much for Cain). The combo of Howry (mostly) and Affeldt (just a little) blew the lead by allowing 3 runs (albeit on some pretty weak contact) and the Giants suddenly trailed 7-5. A sure victory for Cain was gone, and the game seemed lost -- even when Bengie Molina led off the next inning with a HR.

I figured the Giants would lose by one, just to make it that much more frustrating. But with 2 out and none on in the 9th, Emmanuel Burris singled, and after being wild-pitched to 2nd, Edgar Renteria drew a crucial walk in a great at bat plate appearance. That set the stage for Sandoval, whose dramatics had to be all that much sweeter to him following an embarrassing play a few innings earlier when he stumbled trying to leg out a triple and took and header in the basepath.

TOMORROW: Barry Zito takes the mound against ex-Giants farmhand, 4-0 rookie Shairon Martis (who was criminally given awaty by Brian Sabean in the Mike Stanton robbery trade) as the Giants go for the sweep of the Nationals. Will Zito continue his recent run of unexpected mastery, or will he run out of smoke and/or mirrors?

Monday, May 11, 2009

Runs!: Giants 11, Nationals 7


I guess the Nats pathetic pitching is worse than the Giant pathetic offense. At least for one game, there's no other explanation for what happened in the opener of the 3-game set at Mays Field. Not only did the Giants score 11 runs, but at one point the team which draws less walks than any team around actually drew 5 in a row -- the last 3 driving in runs. And that came after 2 runs scored when LF Josh Willingham whiffed on a can of corn off the bat of Fred Lewis in one of the most embarrassing efforts you'll see in the outfield. They also got clutch hits, including one from a reliever. So, there's that.

The only downside of the long inning was that The Unit seemed to stiffen up. Up to that point, Johnson had allowed 2 runs (both on solo HR's) through 5 innings, striking out 9 and not walking anybody. Afterwards, he couldn't record another out, going HR, single, wild pitch, double before being pulled. He won -- #298 lifetime -- kept his streak of dominant pitching (yes, he allowed 4 runs in 5 innings, but 9 K's/0 BB's is dominant) at home --to off-set his terrible pitching on the road. It also kept alive the possibility of The Unit going for win #300 at Seattle, which would be pretty damn cool. For that to happen, he'll have to beat Johan Santana and the Mets this weekend, so I wouldn't hold my breath. On the other hand, it is at home.

The bullpen made it interesting in the 9th, and Brian Wilson had to come in for the save after pitching 2 innings yesterday in LA, but he only had to throw 3 pitches -- Strike 1, Strike 2, and Strike 3 to Willingham. Wilson seemed a little more deliberate in doing his post-game crossed-arm salute to the sky, possibly due to the Casey Blake incident yesterday.

Don't look now, but the Giants have crept to 3 games over .500, and are just 4 games behind the Dodgers, and just a half-game behind Cincy for the NL Wild Card lead.

TOMORROW: Matt Cain takes his fast start (3-1, 2.61) to the mound against Nats rookie Jordan Zimmermann, who has a very nice K/BB rate (18/6), but has given up a lot of hits (26) and HR's (5) so far (23 innings), resulting in a 5.48 ERA.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

O.M.G.: Giants 7, Dodgers 5


The Giants kept a streak alive by going against a trend. They won another series -- extending their streak of non-losing series to eight -- by winning a game in which they didn't score first. With the victory they're now only 3-14 when failing to score first. They did, however, continue a much happier trend -- scoring a lot of runs (for them) in the final games of series. On this road trip, they put 6 on getaway day in Chicago when needing a win Denver in the same situation, and 7 on getaway day in LA to take this series.

More than that, they won a game when several important factors broke against them -- Tim Lincecum wasn't as sharp as usual (though he still had great numbers everywhere but the "Runs" column), they continued to flail with men in scoring position (including two particularly poor AB's from Pablo Sandoval, who swung at first-pitch low-and-away sinkers to ground out with ducks on the pond), Juan Pierre could do no wrong, and Brian Wilson blew a save.

They won a game they needed to be able to feel like they're still in the race -- 4.5 out, but 2 over .500 -- even though it took 13 innings, they were on the road, and had every reason to believe they should lose. They scored in the 12th and 13th innings just when you might expect them to pack it in, After Wilson blew the save in the 12th, he came back to get the Dodgers 1-2-3 in the 13th, but that didn't stop him from fuming afterwards over mocking from Casey Blake, who took him deep to tie the game. Twitter, mohawks, mocking -- Brian Wilson is a walking controversy.

TOMORROW: The Giants come home to play the resurgent Nats, as The Unit takes on Daniel Cabrera at Mays Field.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Well, So Much For That: Dodgers 8, Giants 0


No game in May really means anything, but when you're as desperate for competitive baseball as we Giants fans are, you'll take what you can get. So when circumstances put them in position to climb within a few games of the psychically damaged Dodgers and make a race out of the NL West, it took on playoff-like drama. (Not really, but you get the point.) So the way the Giants fell on their collective face on semi-national TV was pretty disappointing. Surprising it was not.

Again the Giants were shut down -- shut out as a matter of fact, by the legendary Eric Stultz -- and Jonathan Sanchez remained maddeningly inconsistent and wild. Sanchez didn't get any help from home plate ump Dan Iassogna, who squeezed him quite a bit, especially during LA's 3-run 3rd inning, or the Giants offense, but he was sub-par any way you look at it.

Again the Giants lost a game in which they failed to score first. They are now 2-14 those games, in stark contrast to their 13-0 record when scoring first. I think the key to that stat is the fact that scoring first guarantees you actually score. The stat could almost be amended to simply "When the Giants score first, they win."

The Good News: The Giants still have a chance to win yet another series, continue their impressive streak of non-losing series, and end a tough road trip with a winning record, and they sent out Tim Lincecum. If the hitters can scratch out a couple of runs against Jeff Weaver -- which will be a lot easier if Bruce Bochy will see fit to playing Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval at the same time -- they have a shot.

Feelin' Frisky: Giants 3, Dodgers 1

Since the Giants started 2-7, they've gone on a 13-6 run fueled by great starting pitching, a competent bullpen, and some of the ugliest offensive baseball you'll ever see. It was more of the same tonight, as the suddenly dominant Barry Zito did his thing against the Dodgers for the second time in a week and a half, and the Giants offense scratched out 3 runs to beat the previously 5-0 Chad Billingsley.

For the fourth straight time out, Zito held the opponent scoreless through the first 5 innings. For the first time in those starts he allowed a run before the 7th, and even then he came within inches -- as Fred Lewis allowed a 2-out RBI double by Casey Blake to tick off the edge of his glove. That tied the game at 1-1, and seemed to be yet another bad break for Zito, who seems to have inherited Matt Cain's poor luck from the last 2 seasons. But for once this season, Zito caught a little luck in the next half inning when the Giants scored 2 runs while he was still the pitcher of record.

So Zito got first first win of the year when Brian Wilson nailed down another 4-out save, in what seems to be a growing trend -- Bruce Bochy going to Wilson in the 8th when the right-handed set-up men (previously Howry, tonight Merkin Valdez) struggle to close out the inning in a tight game. Wilson was up to the pressure, and so were the Giants, an interesting turn in what has become a fascinating sequence of events over the last couple of days: First Manny's suspension, then the Dodgers blow a game they led 6-0 after 1 inning against Washington (the worst team in baseball) to snap their 13-0 start at home, and finally the Giants win in LA against the Dodgers ace in their toughest matchup of the series.

Suddenly, LA looks vulnerable, and the Giants look feisty. Of course, while the Dodgers may struggle to score without Manny, we know the Giants will struggle to score. But if the Giants win on Saturday, and head into Sunday going for a sweep behind Tim Lincecum to pull within 2.5 games, I'll be too drunk on optimism and momentum to listen to that kind of reason.

TOMORROW: The biggest game of the year so far (as if that meant anything) -- Jonathan Sanchez vs. Eric Stultz.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

...And The Trend Continues To Be Your Friend: Giants 8, Rockies 3

Another non-losing series (7 in a row). Another game where the Giants scored first and won (now 12-0). Another day bouncing between .500 and one game over (it always feels nicer one game over for some reason). Most importantly, it was another win for Matt Cain, who somehow allowed no runs despite walking 5, and the Giants, who head to LA for a showdown of sorts with the Manny-less Dodgers.

It didn't look good early as Giant-killer Jason Marquis, who dominated them in San Francisco last week, set the Giants down 1-2-3 with very little effort, and Cain followed that by walking the first two batters he faced, and falling behind the next, Todd Helton, 3-0. But Cain managed to entice Helton into a GIDP with a monumental 3-1 change-up, righted his ship, and ended up going 6 shutout innings. By that time, the Giants were up 5-0 -- mainly on the strength of 2 Bengie Molina HR's off Marquis, against whom he'd previously been 0 for 12 lifetime.

Cain had settled down to the point he might've been sent out there for the 7th, but after reaching on an error (a throw which actually hit him in the back) and having to run the bases a bit as the Giants tacked on another couple of runs, he was pinch-run for by Bruce Bochy. The pen handled it from there, and Giants continued their win-one-lose-one streak.

TOMORROW: The Dodger series just a lot more interesting today with the news about Manny's suspension, and the Giants coming in over .500. If the Dodgers win tonight, they'll still be undefeated at home and threatening to run away and hide in the NL West. If they lose, the Giants might catch them just as they cool off. Either way, there figures to be a gaping hole in the middle of that lineup. Hopefully, the resurgent Barry Zito can take advantage and set the tone for the series Friday night. Still, a win will be a tall task -- the Dodgers will throw staff ace, and newly-crowned Giant-killer, Chad Billingsley.

State of the Blog


I've been seriously considering quitting the daily baseball diary thing. Not just because I'm quitter -- though I am definitely that -- but also because my writing time (and free time in general) has become such a precious commodity. With a job, a wife, and a screenwriting career (such as it is), I have enough trouble squeezing in time to watch baseball, let alone write about it. I think that shows in my effort, as I often squeeze in a perfunctory post late at night, often thinking, "Oh yeah, I still have write something for the blog." That's never the right attitude to go into any creative endeavor.

I know from experience that my screenwriting is much better when I'm excited to start, when I carve out sections of my life in which to work. But that's the thing -- when it's good, it's not work, but play. Sure, as a professional, sometimes you have to force yourself to get into it with a "Time to make the donuts" kid of mentality. But more often than not, I catch myself working without realizing it -- thinking about ways to improve something while in the shower, or the car, or hiking. Hell, that's half the reason I hike every day -- the other half being to keep from being a pale fatass. That hasn't really happened with the stuff about baseball, and there are several possible reasons for this.

Reason #1 I've already mentioned -- free time. That has to come first, and with the caveat that in terms of priorities, writing about baseball on my blog falls pretty low. That leads to Reason #2: I hate not doing things well. If I'm going to undertake something, I want to be proud of the result. That's why I quit so many things -- I don't think I can do as well as I deem necessary. But neither of those reasons shoulder all the blame.

Enter Reason #3: Though I often dreamed of being a sportswriter when I was a kid, it's not really something I've taken to when given the opportunity. The occasional post about baseball allowed me the great opportunity to write for McCovey Chronicles for a couple of interim stints, and I enjoyed it, but by the end, I was ready to stop and never do it again. A few posts about football from time to time got me the opportunity to write a couple of weekly columns for Niners Nation and that was fun, but again, I was looking forward to the end of the season. I don't know if it has more to do with the responsibility of having to get it done, or the fact my mind is so used to running through character traits, arcs, and plot points that it's hard to train it to think up ideas about what to say about sports. But how can that be the case when I spend so much time thinking about sports?

Maybe because I've yet to learn a successful way to channel what I think about into the posts. For screenwriting, I'm constantly jotting down ideas, notes, capturing every possibility, choosing between them, then tweaking them over and over. For sportswriting I find a little time, write some stream of consciousness stuff and hit "Post". That's it. No plan of attack. No notes about how Travis Ishikawa needs to start swinging at some first pitches because pitchers are laying in fastballs and he's falling behind right away. Just throwing shit at the wall to see if it sticks. If you want to do something well, and you're not some kind of genius or savant, you have to put some time and effort in. I haven't done that. The question is, am I ready to? Which brings us to...

Reason #4: Along with the screenwriting, work, and personal life, I also like writing about other things: movie and TV reviews, a post about my life here and there, another Hollywood Horror Show column -- a haven't written one of those in months and I have several good stories just waiting around to be told. I don't want to be all-baseball-all-the-time all summer, ignoring summer movies and all the new TV shows I'd like to review ("Better Off Ted", "The Unusuals", "Southland", even the so-bad-it's-good-or-maybe it's-just-really-bad "Harper's Island"). No matter what I do, I'm definitely going to post more stuff about entertainment.

So, while I'd like to re-dedicate myself and put a little more thought and effort into my posts, I'm leaning heavily toward either giving it up entirely, or reducing it somehow. Of course, as I'm writing this, the story about Manny Ramirez being suspended 50 games is all over the internet/TV/radio and the Giants are beating the Rockies 5-0 behind an "effectively wild" Matt Cain and a power-binging Bengie Molina. So it looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

Manny tested positive for a banned substance, reportedly a fertility drug. He claims it was prescribed by a doctor for a health issue, which seems curious since I haven't read anything about Ramirez trying to get pregnant. You'd think he'd at least wait until the off-season to try and get knocked up. then again, the way he plays LF, carrying a baby around in his womb probably wouldn't make much of a difference.

This is, of course, a very interesting -- and for a Giants fan, entertaining -- story which I'd like to explore a bit over the coming hours/days/weeks. And the timing of the whole thing -- the day before the 2nd place Giants travel to LA to play the 1st place Dodgers, who are undefeated at home and threatening to run away with the division -- makes it all the more intriguing. I can't just quit now, can I?

Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Same Ol', Same Ol': Rockies 11, Giants 1

Not much to say about this one. The offense was non-existant, again. The Unit was bad on the road, again. The Giants yo-yoed between .500 and one game over, again. They lost when not scoring first, again (now 2-13, 11-0 when scoring first).

TOMORROW: If history keeps repeating, the Giants will score first tomorrow and win to split the series.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Baseball Like It Oughta Be: Giants 6, Cubs 2


Today was good day. I woke up late, watched the Giants beat the Cubs behind Lincecum and two 3-run innings. Bengie Molina got the Giants started in fine fashion, as his 3-run HR in the 1st gave Lincecum 3 runs to play with before he ever took the mound. As soon as the TV cameras showed Lincecum in the dugout, pumping his fist like he'd already won, I thought, "That better be enough, Timmy, because that might be all you get". For a long time, it looked like I was right. Lincecum led by the slim margin of 3-2 after 7 innings before the Giants added 3 in the top of the 8th, highlighted by a 2-run double by the eternally-slumping Aaron Rowand.

Getting to watch the Giants play a day game at Wrigley is one of life's simple pleasures. Getting to see Lincecum hold down the Cubbies for the win is the cherry on top. The Giants scoring 6 runs is the tab of acid on top of the cherry.

Bright spots: Merkin Valdez was nasty, and struck out 2 in an inning of work -- he hit 99 and had a devastating slider. Emmanuel Burriss had 2 hits, albeit from the right side. Molina continues to be a not-as-embarrassing-as-it-should-be cleanup hitter. Rowand (see above).

Downside: After getting hot the last 2 games, Fred Lewis looked very bad at the plate, taking a collar and still hasn't homered. Before looking nasty and striking out 2, Valdez couldn't get the ball over the plate with a 4 run lead in the 8th -- he was lucky to get his first out on what would've been ball 4.

Again, just awesome -- real grass, real sunshine, real baseball. Giants at Wrigley. Lincecum. Runs. Not working. Today represented everything great about America.

TOMORROW: The Giants travel to Colorado to play the Rockies, the Big Unit taking the hill against Ubaldo Jimenez (a.k.a. "Battle of The Uglies 2: Rocky Mountain Ugly").

Monday, May 4, 2009

Insert Title Here: Cubs 4, Giants 2

Didn't see the game. Don't plan to either, though I have it on TiVo. It didn't look like much to see -- Jonathan Sanchez too wild again, offense dominated by Ryan Dempster (who shared a flight with my wife and I to Australia, where we were going to get married in 2004). Ho-hum. Move along. Besides, there's more baseball around the corner: I have the next three days off work -- during which the Giants will play two day games, including tomorrow.

The good news from tonight: Pablo Sandoval is back where he belongs -- hitting .320+ with gap power -- and so is Fred Lewis, who's hitting .312 and taking his fair share of walks. Though I'd love to see him take a couple of trots around the bases before too long, if you catch my drift (Chicago and Colorado aren't bad places to find your power stroke -- hint, hint). Another bright side: The 'pen. The Giants got 2 shutout innings out of both Bob Howry, who's been struggling, and Justin Miller, who'd been surprisingly good.

TOMORROW: An awesome fucking display of baseball -- Tim Lincecum at Wrigley Field in an 11:20 PDT start. God bless America!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

There's no "W" in Zito: Giants 1, Rockies 0


The Giants got great pitching and terrible hitting. This is not a recording. The good news is -- as it has been so often this season -- the offense did just enough to win. Not just the game, but the series -- the Giants 5th straight winning series. Seriously.

The worst part of watching your team struggle mightily to score is that point they reach where it's in their heads, and it seems they can do everything but score. They hit leadoff doubles (as they Giants did twice today in the later innings of a 0-0 game), they get them to third with less than 1 out (once) or even no outs (once), and still can't score. Guys lineout (once), guys hit shots into double plays (once), and guys hold up on balls that get away far eenough for them to score because they're afraid of being the latest guy to blow a rally (twice). Instead they leave it someone else.

When you're winning 5-0 in the 6th, a lineout to 2B with a man on third is a minor annoyance. When it's 0-0, and the guy on the mound is threatening to take shutouts into the 7th three times in a row without a win to show for it (more on that in a moment), that same lineout is a tragedy worthy of an opera. Schierholtz's lineout to 2B with the potential winning run on third and 1 out was bad luck, but the Giants are also making a lot of that lick -- lewis could've scored on a wild pitch earlier in the AB had he tried it.

And the bad luck leads to bad decisions from the manager, too. Witness Bruce Bochy's decision to PH Bengie Molina for Fred Lewis in the 7th. Rather than have the red-hot Lewis -- 3 rockets on the day for 2 hits: 1 to LF, 1 to CF, 1 to RF -- face a LHP, he went with Molina. This, despite the fact a double play would end the inning, and Molina undisputed King Of The DP. Of course, that's what ended up happening, and the Giants wasted a 1st and 3rd, 0 out situation. It was also their last chance to make a winner out of the suddenly hard luck Barry Zito.

Zito must have caught whatever curse Matt Cain had the last couple of years, because he went winless again, despite going 7 innings and allowing 0 runs twice over the last 3 starts. Both games were 0-0 when he left. That's same serious Cainage right there. Of course, the bright side is that he's pitching not just like the non-embarrassing #4 or #5 starter that I hoped he might turn into, but a real live ace. I doubt that will continue, but I'll enjoy it while it does, and keep hoping when he things finally even out, he'll settle into a middle of the solid rotation guy. While the odds are against that, his peripherals from his last two 7 inning, 0 run outings are encouraging -- 5 K's/0 BB's last time, and 4 K's/1 BB this time.

Just like the last time, the Giants came back to win 1-0 in the 10th after Zito was no longer around. Last time, the winning hit came from PH Bengie Molina. This time, it came from PH Rich Aurilia. The hit scored backup C Steve Holm, who walked and advanced to 2nd on a sac bunt by Randy Winn. Holm had a nice day in his first start of the year, notching a hit, walk and sac bunt while catching a 10 inning shutout. Not bad for a guy who was 0 for 18 in AAA before being called up.

TOMORROW: The Giants fly into Chicago for their only trip to Wrigley Field -- just a 2-game series. Jonathan Sanchez will take the hill against Ryan Dempster. Can the friendly confines of Wrigley awaken the Giants slumbering bats? God, I hope so.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

There's no "O" in Giants: Rockies 5, Giants 1

Again, the Giants offense came up small. This reminded me of what my old high school English teacher used to call the Giants: "The Pygmies". That certainly describes the team today, when they came within a Pablo Sandoval HR from being shut out by Giant-killer Jason Marquis (4-1, 1.98 ERA lifetime).

Matt Cain was off his game, allowing 5 runs, but a good offensive team might have taken advantage of the solid relief work and won the game, 7-5 or something. Not this team. At least, not right now. The starting pitching can't be perfect (see today), so they need to step it up a bit to give them a chance. Otherwise, Brian Sabean might see a team one power hitter away from contending and get a not-so-bright idea.

TOMORROW: Zito vs. Jason Hammel. Hammel has a 5.59 ERA and a 1.97 WHIP this year (5.89 and 1.65 career), and yet I still feel like he's the favorite.

Unit-ed: Giants 3, Rockies 2


I'm sensing a trend in Big Unit starts -- dominant at home, bad on the road, dominant at home, bad on the road, dominant at home. This is a little worrisome as half his starts this year will come on thee road, but then again, half will come at home. It's too early to draw major conclusions from these results (especially the two bad starts), but this appears a classic glass half-full/half-empty, good news/bad news situation. Or, more precisely, a Good Unit/Bad Unit situation.

On Friday night, he was definitely the Good Unit. The result was 7 innings, 4 hits, 9 K's and no runs, as the Giants won 3-2. The game was well in hand -- 3-0 Giants -- through 7 innings before the Giants set-up men did their best blow the lead. Struggling righty set-up man Bob Howry allowed a leadoff HR to Chris Ianetta in the 8th, and Jeremy Affedt allowed 3 hits (though 2 were of the cheapie infield variety which a better SS then Renteria would've probably turned into outs) while only getting 2 outs.

Then Bruce Bochy did something he's been doing more and more after avoiding it the last season plus -- bringing in Brian Wilson to get a 4+ out save. In this case, Wilson was up for the task, though he needed the help of Renteria, who did a good job to stop Garrett Atkins' grounder in the hole from going into LF to keep the potential tying run from scoring. That loaded the bases, but the situation wasn't quite tough enough for the adrenaline junkie Wilson. So he ran the count to the next hitter, Ryan Spillbourghs to 3-2 before striking him out on a high fastball. Wilson walked one in the 9th (can't make it too anti-climactic) before striking out Ian Stewart to end it.

Again, the Giants offense did just enough to support the good pitching. Leading the way were Pablo Sandoval, who stayed hot, getting two hits (including an earth-shaking triple), and Travis Ishikawa, who stayed both hot and power-unlucky with two hits, including an RBI double, which would've been a HR in almost any other park. Ishikawa could easily have a couple of HR"s this year, but remains stuck on zero because of the park he plays in.

In fact, Fred Lewis, who's been slumping quite a bit lately, also has zero HR's. That gives the Giants three most impressive (and potential middle of the order) young hitters -- Lewis, Sandoval, and Ishikawa -- with 1 HR total. If this trend continues, I don't think the pitching can keep them afloat, but I'll enjoy it while I can. What I won't enjoy, however, is seeing Emmanuel Burriss continue to flail away at MLB pitching. I was in favor of giving Kevin Frandsen the starting 2B job before the season, and am even more so now. At this rate, it won't be long before those two players swap places -- Burriss to Fresno, Frandsen to The City.