Kuzul

I knew New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson about 30 years ago. He was new in baseball, acting as the general counsel for the Oakland Athletics. He was a classy guy. Very nice, very engaging. Very friendly to a young kid who was doing some day of game work for MLB Productions.

The guy who ripped Giants fans and one of the fine young hitters in baseball, Pablo Sandoval, is a different guy. Alderson showed absolutely no class with his Twitter comments. He came across as petty and arrogant.

Alderson tweeted:

ASG election of “Kung Fu Panda” shows the value of a cute nickname. Surprised Giants fans didn’t elect a “ball dude” to start at 3B.

— Sandy Alderson (@MetsGM) July 3, 2012

Of course Wright deserves to start ahead of Sandoval at third base for the National League.

But did Alderson forget about the 2009 election, when Sandoval clearly deserved to be voted in over Wright? That time the vote went the other way. I’m sure he wasn’t complaining then.

Alderson shouldn’t take it out on the Giants or their fans for voting for their most beloved young player. He has two groups to blame, and they’re both very close to home.

The first group is MLB for allowing a flawed process to exist. You’re allowed to vote 25 times per email address. Now if you want to take the time to create 1,000 gmail accounts, you can vote 25,000 times.

And quite frankly, based on my experience with the poor technology at MLB, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the process could have been compromised. After all, the Bay Area is host to the world’s technology center, Silicon Valley.

Leave it to some tech savvy Giants fan to hack into the MLB servers or create a code that circumvents the balloting.

The fact that Freddie Sanchez was fourth in ballots at second base, despite not playing for over a year, and that Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt were second at shortstop and first base respectively, tells me something is not right.

The second group Alderson should blame is the New York Mets fans for letting this happen. Alderson said it himself when he tweeted:

Wright vs.Sandoval: A city of 8 million was outvoted by a city of 800,000.

— Sandy Alderson (@MetsGM) July 2, 2012

And he’s absolutely right. This would have never happened to a Yankee.

I guess the Mets have been losing so long that their fans forgot what to do when they win.

Stop whining Sandy and stop blaming the Giants and the fans for getting their player voted in.

The culprits all reside right there in New York.

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I’m sure like all San Francisco Giants fans, watching the first inning of last night’s 5-4 win over the Oakland Athletics was both excruciating and exhilarating.  

By the time the second batter for the A’s, Jemile Weeks, had finished his at bat, Oakland already had a 1-0 lead. It got worse.

After Weeks’ RBI single, Josh Reddick singled, and Yoenis Cespedes walked to load the bases. Seth Smith reached on one of the strangest fielder’s choices you’ll ever see, as both Brandon Belt and Hector Sanchez contributed to the A’s second run with misplays. 

Then, Lincecum walked in the third run of the inning, and there were still no outs. Already, the Giants had bullpen activity. 

For those of us who have witnessed Tim Lincecum‘s previous 14 starts, the fear was that this would be the worst one of all. All of a sudden, visions of an eight-run inning couldn’t be denied. 

Then something amazing happened. Instead of completely falling apart, like he has so many times this year, Lincecum pulled it together. 

Brandon Moss struck out swinging. So did Kurt Suzuki. Ditto for Cliff Pennington. 

So, instead of a huge crooked number that would have virtually put the Giants out of the game in the first inning, Lincecum held the line at three runs. 

Then, he retired the side in the second with just a walk. In the third, Timmy had a rare (for him this season) 1-2-3 inning with two K’s. In all, Lincecum followed up that rocky first by retiring 15 of the next 17 batters before leaving at the end of the sixth. He struck out eight. He didn’t allow a hit after the first. 

Getting out of that first inning jam, as rare as it was for Lincecum in 2012, may have been a turning point for the Giants’ struggling ace. He looked very much like the Big Time Timmy Jim of old the rest of the way. The fact the Giants came back in the ninth to win the game had to boost his confidence as well. The Giants hadn’t won a Lincecum start since April 28! 

Since early in the season, my suspicion has been that the issue with Lincecum is between his ears. Yes, an injury was and still is a possibility, but the Giants don’t believe that to be the case. In fact, they’ve been adamant about that. They’ve been equally firm that they didn’t want to pull him from the rotation or send him to the minors. 

Although I suggested a minor league stint, possibly missing a start or two and even an MRI, none of that has happened. Funny enough, Tim’s dad went public, blasting people like me for having these thoughts.

But, I think that most others like myself have been primarily concerned about getting him right, which is why we made these suggestions. Plus, Tim’s ragged performance has hurt the team. Keep in mind, when Lincecum doesn’t pitch, the Giants have the best record in baseball. 

In all of the above cases, I hope the Giants and Lincecum prove me wrong. 

Last night was a huge step forward. 

Timmy still looks to be a bit uncomfortable pitching from the stretch position, and he didn’t have to do it too much last night. Keep in mind that those strikeouts in the first inning came from the windup. 

The next test comes Wednesday afternoon at AT&T Park when the Los Angeles Dodgers make their first trip to San Francisco this season.  

But, for the first time in a long time, we can truly say that Tim Lincecum has taken a big step in the right direction. Let’s just hope it continues.

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If you want to know why the San Francisco Giants are barely a .500 team, you don’t need to look any further then the sixth inning in the Giants’ 7-6 loss Friday night to the Miami Marlins.

With one out and one run already in to cut the Giants’ lead over the Marlins to 3-2, the Marlins had the bases loaded. Tim Lincecum was already over 90 pitches and looked like he had lost it.

Then John Buck hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game. Only then did Giants manager Bruce Bochy get the bullpen going. A little late, don’t you think?

The next batter, Chris Coghlan, hit a three-run homer and the Marlins had blown the game wide open, leading 6-3. By the way, Coghlan had a homer in only five career at-bats against Lincecum. 

Bochy pulled Lincecum, but it was way too late for the Giants and their ace.

So Bochy’s slow thinking cost the Giants and Lincecum once again.

A few things have come to light this year about Lincecum. One is that he no longer can be trusted to get out of jams in the middle innings. Bochy leaves him in every time and keeps letting Lincecum hurt himself and the team.

Yo, Boch, this isn’t Cy Young Timmy from 2008 or 2009. It isn’t even up and down Lincecum of 2010 or last year. This is a pitcher who has lost his confidence to get out of these situations.

Yet Bochy is making things worse by allowing Lincecum to bury himself and the Giants every single time. Bochy needs to throw Lincecum a life preserver by having a quick hook. Instead he’s sticking a fire hose down his throat and turning it on full blast!

Bochy potentially cost the Giants 4 runs in the sixth inning, and the Giants lost by only one. This was Bochy’s loss through and through.

This just goes to prove what I’ve been saying all along about Bochy. He’s a lousy manager with poor judgement. Brian Sabean and Larry Baer, are you watching the games? Bochy is screwing up right and left.

A good manager can sense when his pitcher is losing it. He knows when to make a change. Bochy isn’t a good manager. Not even close.

Remember a few years ago when Barry Zito would start allowing home runs after the 90th pitch like clockwork? Do you also remember that everyone in the media noted that fact? And do you remember how long it took Bochy to start using a quicker hook with Zito? It was absolutely ridiculous! The man just doesn’t get it.

There’s believing in your players and then there’s just being a damn fool. 

I was calling for Bochy’s head on a platter last season. Yes, the Giants were strapped by injuries, but all Bochy did was make matters worse on an almost daily basis.

Hensley Meulens isn’t the only one who needs to go. It’s time to get rid of Bochy and hire a manager who can think his way through things.

No, the Giants personnel isn’t perfect. Far from it. But no team is. Certainly the Los Angeles Dodgers, this year’s surprise team in the majors, isn’t perfect either. They are a collection of a few stars and the rest are journeyman that general manager Ned Colletti threw together with a limited budget. Yet they are in first place with the majors’ best record.

The Giants are a better team then the Dodgers on paper, and they should be better on the field. But they’re not, because of poor managing. Time to get a manager that will lead the Giants past the Dodgers and any potential playoff foes.

But there won’t be any playoffs for the Giants if Bochy continues as Giants manager.

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After watching another pathetic performance by the San Francisco Giants, one that almost put me asleep, I had a thought. This team might not be doing itself much good right now, but boy it’s been good to its opponents.

As evidence, I give you tonight’s opponents, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Before tonight, the Diamondbacks had lost five in a row and seven of their last eight.

Giants to the rescue! It doesn’t matter that the D’Backs rolled out a guy with a seven-plus ERA; he was still able to shut down the Giants’ feeble bats.

And the Giants’ defense helped again with a couple of errors, along with a misplay in the outfield that opened the door for a three-run inning that undid the Giants. Down 4-1 at that point in the fifth inning, the score might as well have been 16-1 the way the Giants have been hitting. Or I should say not hitting.

Prior to the D’Backs, the Giants limped into Los Angeles to play the Los Angeles Dodgers. The first-place Dodgers had gotten off to a great start, but had been slumping lately, losing four of six and coming off a series loss to the Cubs.

No problem. the Giants came to town and managed to lose two of three, including an embarrassing 9-1 defeat Monday night. Wednesday night wasn’t much better as the Dodgers prevailed 6-2 against Giants “ace” Tim Lincecum. Surprisingly, the only win in the series was against Giant-killer Clayton Kershaw. But the Giants didn’t exactly tear the cover off the ball, winning 2-1 and getting all of their runs on a Brett Pill homer in the second. That’s four runs in three games if you’re keeping score at home.

Before the Dodgers series, the Miami Marlins came into San Francisco, reeling with seven losses in their last eight games. Now the Marlins are red hot, thanks to the Giants, sweeping the Giants in three games at AT&T Park.

The way the Giants are playing right now, I think they would have a tough time with the Bad News Bears or the Sisters of the Poor.

The hitting is non existent, the defense is shaky and the bullpen is iffy at best.

It’s time to shake things up for your San Francisco Giants. The first one that needs to go is Hensley Meulens, the batting coach. The Giants need to bring someone in who isn’t as nice as Meulens and Bruce Bochy. Someone who will fill a player’s ear when he has a bad at-bat.

And Bruce Bochy needs to get mad about the situation. If I see one more shot of Bochy looking frustrated in the Giants’ dugout, I think I’m going to be sick to my stomach. The guy always looks like he has gas.

Get pissed off, Boch! Do you have it in you? Well, show us. Tell a player if he makes a bad play. Argue a little more with the umpires when there’s a bad call. Get yourself tossed every once in a while to try to fire your team up.

The Giants need some leadership right now. They need someone to show some care. Bochy has to be that guy. If he can’t show that kind of leadership, then he shouldn’t be the Giants’ manager.

The Giants have injuries, but that’s part of the game. The guys they have will need to perform. And I think they have enough talent to be competitive with their starting rotation.

If things don’t change soon, Bochy should be in danger of losing his job. But he can control his own destiny. Get mad, Boch! Let your team know you care. Or soon it will be someone else’s job to get the Giants on track.

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Bruce Bochy is consistent, you have to give him that. The San Francisco Giants manager seems to be getting worse before he gets better.

A couple of days ago my esteemed colleague Barry Shiller wrote this piece about Bruce Bochy’s blind spots. He was too kind. I’m not that kind.

In tonight’s 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Bochy showed again why he has no place managing the San Francisco Giants, let alone the Bad News Bears.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Giants catcher Chris Stewart bunted for a base hit with one out. Nice job by Stewart to get something going for a San Francisco Giants offense that had been stifled yet again, this time by Cy Young candidate Clayton Kershaw.

The obvious move, the move every San Francisco Giants fan and many non fans knew was coming next was to pinch run for Stewart with Giants speedster Darren Ford. Who can forget Ford single-handedly taking over a game in the late innings last year by scoring a run with his legs and winning the game for the light-hitting Giants?

Up came pinch hitter Mark DeRosa. No Ford. DeRosa popped out for the second out of the inning. Then Stewart jammed his ankle on an attempted pickoff play (after a strike was already on the batter, Justin Christian) and had to leave the game. Ahh, time to bring in Ford, who promptly stole second base. Christian struck out to end the inning.

Wouldn’t it have made more sense to bring in the speedster Ford right away, have him steal second, possibly even try to steal third and put the Giants in a situation with a runner in scoring position with less than two outs?

The Giants have three catchers on the roster, four if you include Pablo Sandoval. Why in the world was Bochy letting Stewart run in that crucial situation? Trust me, if Stewart hadn’t gotten injured, Ford would have never gotten in. Why? Your guess is as good as mine; maybe you should ask Bruce Bochy.

In the top of the ninth the Dodgers got a leadoff single by their catcher Rod Barajas. Don Mattingly (not exactly god’s gift to managing) did what any manager with a brain in his head would do: he pinch ran his fastest guy on the bench, former GIan Eugenio Velez, for his slow-footed catcher.

Velez was bunted to second by Justin Sellers and went to third on a wild pitch by Santiago Casilla. Then the speed came in when Velez scored on a short one hopper to Jeff Keppinger, whose throw was just a bit late and the go-ahead (and eventual winning) run scored.

The same situation—the catcher gets a hit—but different approaches. Mattingly does the sound thing and runs for the catcher, Bochy does the unthinkable and leaves his catcher in. Granted, there was one out for the Giants and none for the Dodgers, but that doesn’t take Bochy off the hook.

Bochy was not playing to win, he was playing not to lose, keeping in the better defensive catcher Stewart (until he got hurt that is). Yes, Eli Whiteside let the wild pitch get by him, on a ball that Stewart may have been able to block, but the Giants have a third catcher, Hector Sanchez, on the roster. Oh, that’s right, he’s a rookie, can’t play him Boch.

And Tim Lincecum is victimized yet again, first by the Giants’ bad hitting and second by another terrible Bochy non-decision.

Which brings up the point of my article last week, San Francisco Giants Should Fire Bruce Bochy. The guy is just a bad manager. Yes, bad managers can win the World Series, and Bochy is living proof. 

My new nickname for Bochy is an adaptation of his name, Botch-ey, because he botches things. The extra “e” stands for empty. Botch-ey has come up empty this season big time for the champs. Was there some sort of magic in the dip?

Up eight-and-a-half games and rolling, the Arizona Diamondbacks aren’t going to let the Giants back in the race. Bochy shouldn’t be making it so easy for them. Now, if it doesn’t cause the Giants manager too many heart palpitations, time to play the young guys every day.

Season over.

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Tonight, the Giants made a statement in their 6-2 win over the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks: They’re not going away quietly.

I’m probably the biggest optimist around when it comes to my beloved boys in Orange and Black, but as you can tell by my recent articles, I had all but given up. Why? Because in the last month this team had shown virtually no signs of life. Not only weren’t they hitting, but they have been playing sloppy baseball.

That seems to have all changed on Wednesday. The day started out with the surprising announcement that Aaron Rowand and Miguel Tejada, two high-priced veterans, had been designated for assignment. The Giants not only were willing to let the underperforming Tejada go with a month left in the season, but in a mild surprise they sent Rowand packing with a year and $14 million left on his deal.

It seems that the team has responded very positively to the moves. Whether the rumors of Tejada and Rowand being clubhouse cancers were true or not, something seemed to click. The Giants came out Wednesday and took care of business against one of the weaker teams in the league, beating the Chicago Cubs 4-0. Madison Bumgarner spun one of his best starts of the year and the Giants offense came to life—actually scoring some runs. Imagine that!

Tonight, there was a playoff atmosphere at AT&T Park. It was a throwback to 2010, with the crowd engaged from the first pitch.

But when the Diamondbacks scored a run in the first and had the bases loaded, everyone, including myself couldn’t help but thing “here we go again.” Not only have the Giants been falling behind early with their feeble offense being out of games, the Diamondbacks have, conversely, been scoring early and shutting the opponents down with solid pitching.

Matt Cain managed to pitch out of it with a 29-pitch first inning and only allowed one more run in a masterful performance, going eight. Santiago Casilla, the new de facto closer, finished the job and the Giants had their second two-game winning streak in a week.

But it was the offense that really impressed. Carlos Beltran had a chance at the cycle by his fourth at-bat and singled for a 4-4 day—driving in three runs with a two-run homer and an RBI single. Cody Ross, who has had a terrible 2011 hit a two-run shot as well.

These two performances are significant. Beltran has been a disappointment since being acquired for the Giants’ top prospect Zack Wheeler prior to the trade deadline. But Beltran has a history of coming up big down the stretch and in the postseason. And of course Cody Ross’ performance in last year’s postseason is legendary. He looked like his old self, adding a double to the homer.

If these two guys can have a hot September, it could be enough for the Giants to go on the kind of tear they need to catch Arizona. And since hitting is contagious, it might wake some of the other Giants out of their doldrums.  

Jeff Keppinger has been the Giants’ only consistent offensive performer as of late (Keppinger doubled and missed a homer by a foot tonight). Even Pablo Sandoval, the lone bright light in the Giants’ terrible offensive season, has been slumping as of late. Tonight, Sandoval was swinging the bat much better from the right side.

Put it all together and there is hope on the shores of McCovey Cove. A sweep in this series and the Giants are right back in it; and the Diamondbacks reeling.  And since Arizona has been a very streaky team (good and bad), it could land them on the kind of losing streak the Giants need them to have.  

But none of this matters if the Giants don’t take care of their own business. With 24 games left, the Giants better plan to win 18 of them and not count on the Diamondbacks to fade. Tonight’s game proved that though it isn’t likely, it’s not impossible either.

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