Giantsblog

Chris Kline at Baseball America recently got a scout’s view on Giants Rule 5 find Eugenio Velez.  With a solid season at Double-A and a good Arizona Fall League so far this season, the scout throws out the name Jose Reyes without a full fledged comparison.  He’s a switch hitter and he’s played second base and he’s also got some time in the outfield.

Well, 2007 is almost wrapped and not only did the Giants not make the post season, they didn’t come close.  Brian Sabean, the architect of this mediocrity, got a contract extension (the A.J. Pierzynski trade has been long forgotten) and the only highlight of the season was Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s record.  I don’t know guys like John Perricone do it, following this train wreck of a team season after season.  I’m a die hard Giants fan but even I found myself getting more frustrated then usual hence the long abscence.

Barry Bonds isn’t going to get the MVP consideration that he deserves because of the poor Giants season and the fact that he’s only been great and not elite.  Only A-Rod has a better OPS in all of baseball and even then it’s just a couple of points that could swing either before seasons end.  Still, it’ll be fun to watch him next year reach 3,000 hits and potentially 800 homeruns.  He also became just the fourteenth player in baseball history to reach 600 doubles and he now trails Hank Aaron by just 37 extra base hits for the all time record.  He probably won’t finish with a career .300 average, but Bonds has done it all and I’m hoping for a curtain call next year.

What a bust Barry Zito’s been, at least this year.  You hope if the Giants field a good team next year that he’ll turn it up.  He has a another chance to two to finish with double figures in wins.  Still, a quartet of Noah Lowry, Matt Cain, Barry Zito and Tim Lincecum is pretty solid, they just need to put some hitters out there.

So with just a handful of games left, I’ll be watching but it’s the offseason that I’ll be most interested in.  We’ll see if Sabean can reinvent himself and finally throw together a World Series contender.

Barry Bonds did it.  He’s now the homerun kind and while Giants’ fans don’t have much to cheer about these days, it’s sweet to see Bonds get it done.  I just wish someone could write a column about it that didn’t have the word steroids in it.

The Giants sit ten games back, ten games below .500 and in last place in the NL West.  While I wouldn’t say they’re out of it yet, I’m not too optimistic about the Giants chances this year.  That doesn’t mean the team won’t be in the spotlight though with Bonds just four homers away from tying Hank Aaron.  And there’s no better way to kick off the second half then at home against the Giants arch-rivals.

The talk of Brian Sabean coming back was a little disappointing and I find the whole “he’s had to build around Bonds” arguement lacking.  If you have the best player in baseball, you should be building around him, the Giants just never found the right parts.  And things went downhill once Jeff Kent left the team because from then on, the Giants lost their real one-two punch. 

Only Baseball Matters talks about the less then stellar chances of A-Rod coming to the Giants.  My bet is he signs with the Angels, but we’ll see.  Some good stuff though from my favorite Giants blog.

There’s little doubt who the MVP of the first half was, because Barry Bonds should be the MVP league of the again.  A .512 OBP and a 1.101 OPS says it all and Bonds is on pace to walk well over 170 times.  With the leading hitter in the NL hitting just .342, you could also see Bonds contend for another batting title if he has one of those awesome second halfs.

The best pitcher has been Noah Lowry, with Barry Zito being the most disappointing.  Lowry leads the team with nine wins and the left hander, while he’s walked his share of batters, has also held lefty hitters to a .195 batting average.

Matt Cain gets the start tonight and the Giants will face Chad Billingsley in the opener.  If the Giants are going to make a move, they need to do it now and the Dodgers are on of those teams the Giants need to make progress against so this is a pretty big series.

Yeah, it’s been a while but other then Barry Bonds, there hasn’t been a whole lot to talk about with the Giants.  They lost their seventh straight game today and they sit way behind the pack in the National League Central.  The Rockies are closer to first then were are to the Rockies and it’ll be interesting to see what Brian Sabean dose at the trading deadline if things keep going the way they have.

On the one hand, it looks like letting Jason Schmidt go was a smart move.  The problem is, Barry Zito has hardly been the answer.  Zito has always given up his share of walks but this year, his strikeout rate is way down which isn’t an encouraging sign.  Then again, we’re getting almost the same pitcher from 2006 minus the run support and the bullpen because Zito’s WHIP and batting average against are very similar to what they were in 2006 when playing for the Athletics.

Still the Giants are near the bottom of the pack in a lot of hitting categories and their pitching has only been good.  The net result is a disappointing eleven games below .500 with a lot of those wins on the road. 

Matt Morris has been a nice surprise though.  He’s probably been the Giants best pitcher so far this year.  At least the most consistent.  If you take out Sunday’s beating at the hands of the Red Sox, Morris had given up three runs or less in seven of his eight previous starts.

It doesn’t get any easier because the red hot Yankees roll into town on Friday.  Friday’s matchup of Matt Cain versus Kei Igawa may be our chance to end this skid though.  Hopefully the day off helps as well.

The Giants are trying to dig themselves out of a hole and while they still sit in fourth place, they’re just 2 1/2 games back of the first place Dodgers in what’s been a four team race so far.  After tough stretch, the Giants have won three straight and it’s been the pitching staff that’s carried them.

The best outing came on Monday when Noah Lowry and two relievers combined to shutout the Astros in a 4-0 win.  Matt Morris gave up just one run on two hits with nine strikeouts in a complete game and then last night, Tim Lincecum improved to 2-0 with eight solid innings.

In the meantime, Barry Bonds hasn’t hit a homerun since May 8.  That’s coming up on two weeks although he doesn’t seem to be too troubled by it.  And while his OPS has come down, it’s down to “just” 1.121.  I’ll still take that.

The Giants finish up with the Astros tonight and then the Rockies come to town for three games after a day off tomorrow.  Barry Zito gets the start tonight and he’s had two rough outings in a while.

Fred Lewis had a career day today.  He hit the first triple and homerun in his career today en route to a five for six game in which he hit for the cycle.  He drove in four runs and scored three times as the Giants racked up 15 runs and 22 hits all without Barry Bonds in the lineup.  All nine Giants starters had at least one hit and they each scored at least one run in the 15-2 win.

It was also nice to see Matt Cain get some run support.  He picked up his second win of the season and he gave up just a single run on five hits and three walks with six strikeouts in six innings of work.  That stops a string of two rough starts and hopefully this will help Cain get back on track.  It was also his first win since April 22 when he pitched his first complete game of the season.

So the win pushes the Giants just above .500 and they’re 3 1/2 games back of the Dodgers.  Tomorrow is an off day and then it’s three in Houston.  I like the pitching matchups in all three of these games so while a sweep would be a lot to ask for, it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

Nothing like a last to first push with a nice eight game winning streak.  The Giants kept it going though despite being on the road against their arch-rivals.  And it wasn’t anything special though.  The Giants got just enough pitching and just enough hitting to hold back the Dodgers.

On Tuesday, Matt Morris improved to 3-0 with 7 1/3 solid innings.  He gave up three runs on six hits and two walks with two strikeouts.  Dave Roberts was the hitting star at the plate and he went two for five with a homerun and two runs.  Bengie Molina went three for four and Randy Winn finished with two hits and two RBIs in the 5-3 win.

On Wednesday, Barry Bonds inched closer to making history with his seventh homerun of the season.  He drove in three runs and Pedro Feliz helped out with a solo shot in the 6-4 win.  And Noah Lowry wasn’t great, but he was good enough to pick up the win.  He gave up four runs on seven hits and five walks with four strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.

Yesterday was more of the same.  Ray Durham and Molina each drove in two runs in the game and Omar Vizquel scored twice in the 5-4 win.  Russ Ortiz gave up three runs in 5 1/3 innings and Kevin Correia picked up the win with 1 1/3 shutout innings.

Now the Giants lead the pack and they head to Arizona for three games with Diamondbacks.  Barry Zito gets the start today and hopefully he can keep up his current solid stretch.

Talk about a nice run.  It wasn’t that long ago that the Giants were floundering in last place and now they’ve pushed their record over .500 with five straight wins.  The last three all came at the expense of the Diamondbacks, who not that long ago sat in first place and are now behind the Giants.  You have to love these big swings when the season is less then 20 games deep.

And the Giants got some great pitching in all three games.  On Friday, Russ Ortiz got it done against his former team with seven quality innings.  He gave up just two runs on eight hits and two walks in seven innings and the win pushed his record to 2-0.  Bengie Molina drove in two runs and Barry Bonds finished with two hits and two runs in the 4-2 win.

On Saturday, Barry Zito got it done for the second straight start.  He threw 7 1/3 shutout innings and he picked up his second win of the season.  The lone Giant run was a solo homerun by Barry Bonds and that was homerun number 739.

Then yesterday, it was Matt Cain’s turn.  Cain went the distance and he gave up just one ninth inning run on three hits.  Bonds did it again with homerun number 740 and Pedro Feliz hit his second of the year in the 2-1 win.

Next up is three against the first place Dodgers.  There’s an off day today and then Matt Morris will go for win number six in a row against Derek Lowe.

The Giants are still in the cellar, but they’re doing their best to crawl out.  They’ve now won four of their last five with last two coming in a sweep over the Cardinals in their two game series.  Bonds hit number 738 yesterday and he drove in two and scored twice in the 6-5 twelve inning win.  Rich Aurilia also had a solid game with two hits, a run and an RBI.  Matt Morris was touched up for five runs but just one of them was earned and it was Jonathan Sanchez who picked up the win.

Ryan Klesko and Rich Aurilia got it done this afternoon.  Klesko had three hits and two RBIs while Aurilia drove in two and scored twice in the 5-2 win.  The pitching was a touch better as well.  Noah Lowry gave up just two runs on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts in seven innings of work.

Next up is three against the Diamondbacks who got off to a great start.  They’ve tapered off though so hopefully the Giants can pounce all over them and pick up another couple of wins.