OK, so maybe I was wrong about being wrong. 
Both Gwen Knapp and John Shea point out the same problems I mentioned in yesterday's update, mainly that the Giants seem to have trouble with the better teams, even though their records may be similar:
….Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain promised to camouflage a lot of flaws elsewhere on the roster, offering hope that they could take the Giants to the playoffs and then to an upset, past a team that seemed vastly superior in every other way.
…. They can do a lot by themselves. They can overcom
e a wan offense. They can overcome a mediocre defense. But they can't overcome both against a talented, predatory opponent, at least not enough to turn a five- or seven-game playoff series in the Giants' favor.
The Giants' weaknesses at the plate have drawn a lot of attention, but sloppiness in certain parts of the field and the staggering failure to hold baserunners (see the Mets) probably have been more disappointing. The Angels' three-run eighth benefited from a passed ball, a line drive that bounced off the end of diving second baseman Matt Downs' glove, and Pablo Sandoval's misguided decision to throw to first when he had a shot at preventing the go-ahead run at home.
Sounds like +MIA.
And another thing. John, when you say vis a via Knapp’s column, “Sounds like +MIA,” sorry, but you are wrong yet again. While it certainly sounds like the substance of what Mia would offer, it had none of the acid-laced, careening, over-the-top, spot-on caterwauling that we’ve all come to know and love. In short, at the risk of getting off topic, it sounds nothing like him. He understands that it requires a bit more than the tired old “weaknesses at the plate have drawn a lot of attention” and “sloppiness in certain parts of the field.” No, he knows this kind of baseball requires observations such as footraces with a “third place-finish against a pregnant woman” and contemplating Molina finishing a season with “a higher batting average than on-base-percentage.” That shit is genius.
OK, end of encomium, and back to your regularly scheduled programming.
There are some good teams in the NL that are underperforming, like the Cubs, Mets and Cardinals. Heck, I’d put Florida and Atlanta in there as well. Note that the Rockies have gotten back into the picture, and they are no great shakes. Talk of “wild card” for the Giants is fun–hey, I’m a fan, I’m in favor of fun–but premature. We’ve only got one real hitter (Sandoval) and he’s 22, raw and unpolished, and doesn’t have a position. Ace work by our young superstar (Lincecum) and young stud (Cain) has kept us in a lot of games. The ‘pen has improved quite a bit, Affeldt has been a smart pickup and youngsters like Romo and Valdez look very promising. Good relief work has helped. Over the long haul, though, we just don’t have the guns to compete. I’d be thrilled if we finished .500–remember that we were 72-90 last year with a very similar team. The best thing (other than Tim & Matt) about that last few years is the draft. John Barr and the scouting guys seem to be doing a great job. We’ll know for sure in a few years. Alas, we still have Brian Sabean at the controls, and no Greatest Player of All Time to patch up the holes in the lineup.
Well, I witnessed a AAAA team (I think Ishikawa batted 8th!) playing in a MLB+ stadium. Lincecum was cruising until crappy defense and see-eye hits (read: crappy defense) did him in. He’s gotta be chomping at the bit to leave, and I’m sorry to write that. I just can’t imagine that an MLB stud would want to play for this team when winning is habitual at so many big league clubs.
My game mpment was summed up by the two white trashy chicks next to me. Both were dressed in Lincecum gear (lots of “Let’s go Timmy”) and were fans (nice to see) at the level that they really did cheer every routine play (Ugh! Like the routine fly to CF and when the balls caught they exhale like they’re actually saddened that it wasn’t a home run). So, in the 8th, one thought, just for a second, that the team was rallying. Angels pitching change. Giants feeling the tension/excitement building begin to play Baba O’Reilly to get things really moving. WTC#1 looks to WTC#2 and says, “hey, this is that CSI song.” Ahh…I love this country.
Gotta love those white trash babes…where would we be w/o them. I wish more showed up at the yard…the Gigantes need all the enhancement they can get.
Of course their defense is marginal. Same as their offense. How do you go this far into the season with an $82 million payroll and still have only half a starting line-up in place.
The outfield has been a merry-go-round outside of Randy Winn and the useless Aaron Rowand. Lewis, Velez, Torres, Shierholtz? Whats next? Buying out Todd Linden’s contract from the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
In the infield they have settled on, Molina; who if he was in a footrace with a pregnant woman, would finish third. He is possibly the only cleanup hitter in the history of baseball at any level, who could complete a season with a higher batting average than on-base-percentage. I guess that’s what you call gritty, gamer, grinding, leadership by example. Little good it has done for Ishikawa, Aurillia, Burris, Uribe, Frandsen, Velez, Bowker ad naueseum.
And let us not forget the magnificent under the radar multi-year contract given to the 35ish, whateverish, from the land of milk and phony birth certificates, Edgar Alfonso Rentaria who has all the range of a three-toed sloth and an arm perfectly designed for fly-fishing.
The third stooge in this farce is Pablo Sandoval, who depending on which way the jelly-donuts line-up, is either a catcher, a first-baseman, or a third-baseman, none of which he handles particularly well unfortunately. Maybe Sandoval could be really good. But he won’t be unless he loses weight, and the Giants give him a chance to develop major league caliber skill-sets at one position. You know like other organizations. Like oh say for example; just about every fucking team in the Solar system that has a clue rake and knows how to use it when they embark upon developing potential star players in the pursuit of capturing championships.
To be honest, this team would be better off with Vizquel back at SS and Durham at Second Base. Thats how bad a job Sabean continues to do day in, and day out.
Having said this, it probably really doesn’t matter all that much for the near future that other than a couple of pitchers, and Randy Winn, this team has more problems than a death row inmate or the Washington Nationals, take your pick.
Your best position players according to the folks who pay for such things and make up the lineups are Molina, Sandoval, Rowand, Winn, and Renteria. Is there a 5 tool player there? A four tool player? How about 3? Winn? He can run, throw and catch. Not much in the way of hitting for OPS, or average though.
The position players as a collective team are horrible. Not average. Not mediocre. But total horseshit. One and two-tool players. Mostly C and D caliber players. And Sabean, the one who put it together, continues to be charged with player transactions as the deadline nears. Neukom nor Baer recognize that the longer Sabean is around, the less credibility this team on the field has. They need to send Sabean to Bangkok to scout Thai ballplayers and hope he goes all David Carridine or something.
That Lincecum and Molina erupted in the media is no surprise. That game was as big a statement on the Giants organization as was Wayne Franklin giving up a walk-off Grand Slam to Steve Finley to effectively end the 2004 season. What is surprising is that it has taken this long for an actual player to say what the hell a lot of folks who know better have been writing about for a couple of years.
So Other Robert, my question to you is simply “Can Cain be far behind?”
Ouch. Just my luck to have a little faith in John being right about being wrong. Next thing you know, they drop three straight and even Lincecum can’t win – not even against an Angels lineup that showed up absent Hunter, Guerrero, Abreu, and Napoli.
Look, Mia, you were quite right when you suggested I don’t know “shit” about you. But one thing I do know – there ain’t a lot of teams that want to face a wild-card entry in a five-game series that opens with Tim Lincecum on the mound, knowing who will be starting game 2. Because if Lincecum starts game one, yes, it’s true, Cain can’t be far behind.
Because if Lincecum starts game one, yes, it’s true, Cain can’t be far behind.
—————————————————-
Touche!
+mia,
Check out all the wild card pretenders…it’s anybody’s for the taking…87 wins probably takes it. At this point…there are a lot of avg to poor teams in both leagues.
The Yanks lose 2 of 3 at home to the Nats. Got shut out and booed off the field the last couple innings yesterday. Go figure.
Well sure the w.c. is attainable. In theory anyway. It is the illusion of contending that Selig and the other owners have concocted to keep the turnstiles turning and the media dollars coming in. The reality is just as stated. About half of the NL teams are in so-called contention for a wild card. Thats the illusion. But the fact of the matter that the wild card team has to win about 90 games. Thats a winning percentage of .555. The Giants, having just come off their winning splurge of the year are sitting at .523. And they are just now beginning to play the better teams.
Yeah. Anything can happen. But it won’t. You have to be good and lucky. The Giants are neither. They have two “A” starting pitchers two D starting pitchers, a B bullpen and a bunch of D position players, a D field manager and a D general manager still in charge of this mess. No way do these guys even break .500. Look at the schedule in August. And thats before Cain and Lincecum start to break down in September if not earlier from all the high stress innings put on them by the horrible defense, non-existent offense, and Bochy keeping them out there for in excess of a hundred pitches every game.
Insofar as the Yankee fans booing their team off the field? Fucking New York fans have always been classless asses and undeserving of the Yankees talent. Nevertheless, the Steinbrenners and Yankee fans and NY media are a perfect fit for each other. Three legged toilet stool of MLB The Mets are a perfect fit for New York. Steal a little of the transplanted Dodgers and Giants, claim you’re the real deal, and totally underwhelm and disappoint on an annual basis.
Anyway, to add to your happiness. Here’s a little side by side comparison in the upcoming Giants/Rangers series
Edgar Renteria .254 BA – .319 OBP and .639 OPS in 210 ABs
Omar Vizquel .323 BA – .354 OBP and .773 OPS in 62 ABs. And he’s their backup for a $1million per year vs. Sabean paying Renteria $18million over two years!
The Giants cleanup hitter Bengie Molina ($6.5Million has an OBP of .270 and OPS of .716 for fucks sake.
The Rangers cleanup hitter is Nelson Cruz Jr whom the Rangers are paying $408,000, has an OBP of .345 and an OPS of .913
And their fourth outfielder? Andruw Jones; whom they are paying $500,000. And what is Andruw Jones doing for them lately?
115 ABs .355 OBP and an 859 OPS
And the fucking Giants don’t even know who their 3rd outfielder is, let alone their fourth.
The Rangers are turning it around because they brought in Nolan Ryan to fix things. A baseball guy. A tough baseball guy who doesn’t give a shit what people think about him. A tough baseball guy who like Randy Johnson besides being talented, outworked, outhustled, and outhought his way to success over an extended period of time. Not a media dork and an arrogant Florida con artist who coached two years at a DII college before becoming a Yankee Scout. He signed Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettite JT Snow in the early nineties and hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary since.
That is not going to get it done.
I have to disagree with you about the Nolan Ryan part…
The Rangers started turning everything around BEFORE he even got there. Jon Hart deserves most of the credit after his terrible earlier years.
Oh, you’ll get no argument from me regarding John Hart and his astuteness at judging talent. The thrust of my bringing up the Rangers and Nolan Ryan was that even though the Giants have been pretty good at scouting and recognizing potential, they have not been very good at developing it and making it fit into any sort of cohesive organizational structure.
The Giants throw a book of “Do, Don’t, What, and when” at their prospects and let them sink or swim. If they develop on their own, fine. If not, fuck it, they just go out and sign some q-rating dude like Alou, Finley, Alfonso, Renteria, Zito, Morris, Rowand, Vizquel, Johnson, Roberts or whatever, and call it all good. The turnstiles still turn, and the concessions still get sold and the advertising and sponsorship dollars continue to come off the printing press. Thats the “Giants Way” under Neukom, Baer, and Sabean. And if you don’t believe me, look at the last 5 years.
Under Ryan, (with credit to John Hart) the Rangers have implemented a systemic program of progress, promotion and reward that is all inclusive of both acquired talent and homegrown talent. There is a plan in place that follows the adage that the whole is greater the sum of its individual parts. Every player in the Ranger organization has a role and knows what that role is. (Think 49ers during the DeBartolo era) That is what Ryan brings to the table. Strong ass leadership, a good game plan, smart personnel and an organizational belief, dedication and most importantly, the implementation of that game plan.
This is obviously not something that the Giants have. Now the Giants may very well think they have that, but even if you have the talent to compete, if your players do not buy into your program 100 percent, you are not going to compete on any consistent basis, much less win any championships.
The extreme case of the opposite of this is the Washington Nationals. They have more offensive weapons than a lot of teams, yet they cannot even win 1/3 of their games. Obviously Bowden put a lot of non-fitting pieces together before he was forced out for allegedly taking kickbacks from Dominican baseball interests. And now they have saddled themselves with the ridiculous carnival that is going to be Scott Boras/Steven Strasburg.
At least the Giants have not fallen that far.
+mia,
Understand the points about performance vs salary…or in other other words value. But, RJ is better than a D, and our bull pen is better than a B when comparing to other teams. Rowand is still putting up good numbers and Renteria…even though hitting .250+ is productive wisp. Winn needs to be more consistent, and you need to hold off on judging TI until he gets 200+ ab’s. He has made great adjustments on his swing…especially covering the low inside. You were all about rebuilding last year…be patient and give some of these kids a chance.
You’re spot on about the Gigantes organization with Sandoval. He needs to be given steady time at one position…3b. Sabean was born under a lucky sign…his time has long past…needs to go before he cause any more harm.
The Gigantes could…and should be better…but, I disagree with you on how bad you think they are. Hey, you got me watching these guys again…and they’re not nearly as boring as they once were…and definitely not as bad as you say.
I watch many of the other wild ccard teams play on a weekly basis…and that’s where I develop my opinions on the Gigantes and play-off chances.
We’ll see where it all stands in a month. The Nats have won three in a row against good teams…and that’s why they play the games.
It can be done.
I did not mean to imply that Johnson was a D. The Two A pitchers are Cain and Lincecum; the two D pitchers are Sanchez and Zito. Randy pitches just like I would expect a 46 year old power pitcher of immense ability, experience, dedication, desire and diminishing strength to pitch. Awesome for 45 to 60 pitches. Than not so much. So he is either an A, B, C, D or an F. Depending upon what inning we’re watching.
“Sabean was born under a lucky sign…his time has long past…needs to go before he cause any more harm.”
I didn’t know Feces was part of the Zodiac. I agree though, this turd needs to be flushed
I was at the game with decent seats on 1b line. The line drive looked to hit right in the middle of Downs glove…not the end. Would’ve been a good play…and should’ve been made at the MLB level. Most likely would’ve doubled off Vlad. Pablo definitely had a shot at Figgins trying to score…unless he had a bad grip…cannot fathom that one.
Totally deflating….I’m sure Lincecum has some choice words for it.
For whatever weakness Burriss was having at the plate…he didn’t carry it out on the field. He would’ve made that play. Defense was flat out shotty. 2b is a problem.
A bright note…TI hit the ball hard all three times…and continues to play a solid 1b.
I haven’t given up on the wild card…yet…mainly due to weak competition. But…the defense needs to improve(more so than the offense) or it will be a long summer.
Maybe if the Giants sweep the Rangers, you’ll be wrong about being wrong about being wrong.
I actually see this team as a 79-80 win team, so most of the season has been in line with my expectations. Get (mostly) beaten up by good teams, beat the teams that are worse than you (except I don’t get the Padres still) and fight it out with the teams that are in the middle. And it seems like there’re a lot of average teams in the NL this year.
Not many good teams in the NL either. Dodgers, Phillies…and nobody.