The San Francisco Giants were in New York—not to face New York’s most beloved team, as they usually did, but to face the New York Yankees on the weekend of June 7, 2002.
The visit marked the first time in 40 years that the Giants had returned to Yankee Stadium, but it seemed as if time stood still when the Yankees won the Friday night game, 2-1, in front of 55,053 fans.
Barry Bonds changed that the next day when he faced Yankees left-hander Ted Lilly in the first inning.
At the team meeting before the Giants series, manager Joe Torre told Lilly not to allow Bonds to dominate the game, which was like telling a politician not to dominate the discussion.
David Bell led off the Giants’ first inning with a walk. Rich Aurilia followed with a ground-ball single to left field, moving Bell to second. Barry was the batter.
Lilly delivered the first pitch, which was a high fastball. Barry swung and missed. The crowd, in unison, screamed with delight.
Some older fans had an image of Mickey Mantle in their minds. Even older fans could see Babe Ruth.
Jorge Posada fired the ball back to Lilly, who toed the rubber, checked the runners, and delivered a pitch that was low and away to even the count at 1-1.
Bell took a short lead off second. Aurilia inched towards second base. Lilly fired, and Barry blasted.
The fastball that, much to Lilly’s chagrin, stayed too far inside landed about halfway up the third deck along the right field foul line. The ball was still rising when it crashed into the seats.
It was a shot that Mantle, Ruth, and even Albert Pujols would have been proud to claim.
Ted Lilly knew what he was up against. He told reporters that most left-handed power hitters would have pulled the pitch foul, but Barry Bonds was not most left-handed power hitters.
Lilly continued:
“There’s no shame in it, but when you’re facing the best in the game, you want to win a little bit more.”
Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle were always in the conversation when the subject was long home runs. When a player hits one high and far, the shot is often called “Ruthian.”
Barry hit them just as far.
It is easy to imagine what he would have done if he had played his entire career in Yankee Stadium, where the distance down the right field line was all of 314 feet and to straightaway right field was 344 feet.
It would likely have been Barry, not Mark McGwire, who topped Roger Maris’ single-season home run record, and Barry would have been considered the greatest player in the game during the late 1990s.
There would have been no reason for Barry to feel slighted by the media during the McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run chase. History would have been changed.
But Barry became a San Francisco Giant, and he will always be a Giant. He didn’t need Yankee Stadium to become the all-time career home run leader.
References
TYLER KEPNER. (2002, June 9). BASEBALL: Small Victories Equal a Defeat for the Yankees. New York Times (1923-Current file), p. g3. Retrieved August 17, 2010, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2006). (Document ID: 727161212).
If a rough patch in a Major League Baseball season can be analogized to a gathering tempest, then the San Francisco Giants are heading into a doozy.
The club is sailing into a bank of cumulonimbus that isn’t just dark; it’s that inky, purplish shade of black. The kind that means your best option is to find Toto, stick your head between your knees, and kiss your tokus goodbye.
As unhappy a metaphor as it might be, the Gents could very easily be the ill-fated Andrea Gail, futilely climbing that CGI wall of water. The weekend series at AT&T Park against the National League West-leading San Diego Padres would then be the first waves crashing over the forward deck.
Granted, that would cast Bruce Bochy as the team’s George Clooney—a parallel that only works if compare literal and figurative head sizes, respectively.
The point is, the going is about to get tough for the lads. Extremely tough.
The younger brother of San Francisco Giants outfielder Nate Schierholtz was arrested today for a drunken driving rampage in their hometown of Danville, California.
23 year old Cainan Schierholtz was driving a big red pick-up truck when he first struck a bicyclist, then hit a pedestrian standing a in a bicycle lane, then hit not one, but two parked cars and finally came to a halt only when he struck a light pole and two other pick-up truck drivers boxed him in so he couldn’t get away.
Cainan reportedly reeked of alcohol and was nearly incoherent when the police arrested him around 10:00 a.m. this past Sunday morning, and the authorities have tested him to see if he had any other substances in his system.
I’m obviously reminded of the conviction of Dustin Pedroia’s older brother Brett, who pleaded guilty last year to having oral sex with the nine year old son of the woman with whom Brett had been abusing methamphetamine.
Amazingly, Brett Pedroia was sentence to only one year in the county jail and eight years of probation for what is obviously a heinous and unjustifiable crime no matter how badly you’re tweaking. Apparently, the crime had been committed four years earlier, and in the interim Brett had made substantial progress toward beating his addictions and turning his life around.
But even though incidents like these, in spite of their incredible sordidness, are only really news because the acts were committed by siblings of the wealthy and famous. It is tremendously unfair to tar Nate Schierholtz and Dustin Pedroia with the stains of their brothers’ conduct.
At the same time, it is news. The American public loves to hear stories about the mighty falling, or in these cases, the relatives of the mighty falling.
At the same time, there is some real value to these stories entirely distinct from the cheap sensationalism and schadenfreude they provide the public. For example, it’s good to remind people that drug and alcohol abuse can effect anyone regardless of income or social class and that drugs and alcohol can lead people to do really f***ed up stuff.
There’s also a value in the public seeing that even the wealthy and powerful will have to suffer the consequences (including the negative publicity) when they do something really reprehensible. I often suspect that it’s only the fear of being caught and the consequences that keeps a lot of us on the more or less straight and narrow.
Last night, Aug. 1, the San Francisco Giants completed a sweep of their arch-rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers, which brought back memories of another Giants sweep of the Dodgers many years ago.
However, it was the next game, against the San Diego Padres, that lives on forever.
Giants manager Clyde King rested Willie Mays in the first game of a three-game series in San Diego on Sept. 22, 1969 following a successful home stand that ended with a sweep of the Dodgers.
At the end of six innings, the teams were tied with two runs each.
The Giants held a slim half-game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the division that was referred to that season as the “Wild, Wild West.” King wanted the game.
Ron Hunt, the gutsy little second baseman, led off the Giants seventh with a slow roller to the left side. Padres shortstop Tommy Dean charged the ball and fired a strike to first, but Hunt beat it out.
King made his move. He sent the greatest of all Giants to the plate to bat for a young rookie outfielder named George Foster, who would have a 1977 season for the Cincinnati Reds in which he would hit 52 home runs.
Willie stepped into the batter’s box to face rookie right-hander Mike Corkins, whom the Giants had signed as an amateur free agent in 1965.
The Padres drafted Corkins in the expansion draft three years later, and now he was facing Willie Mays.
Everyone in the ballpark knew that Willie had 599 home runs. What might seem unbelievable is that there were only 4,779 paying customers in the ballpark.
Corkins went into the stretch, got the signal from his catcher, Chris Cannizzaro, checked Hunt at first, and delivered Willie Mays’ 600th home run, which won the game.
Don’t let the small crowd give the impression that there was a lack of excitement about Willie’s accomplishment.
Everyone connected with baseball marveled at Mays’ achievement..
Legendary baseball journalist Arthur Daley wrote: “When Willie stepped up to bat as a pinch-hitter…and smote a home run, he advanced to a new and spectacular plateau in baseball history.”
Willie Mays achieved what only Babe Ruth had achieved, and it cemented Willie as one of the great sluggers of all time.
There was excitement everywhere, especially in San Francisco, where for the first few years in his new home, Willie was viewed as New York’s, but that was no longer the case.
Willie told the media that the pressure was building up: “I was trying too hard to hit home runs.”
Since Willie became the second player to hit at least 600 home runs, Henry Aaron (755), Barry Bonds (762), Sammy Sosa (609), and Ken Griffey Jr. (630) have joined the club.
Presently, Alex Rodriguez is stuck at 599 home runs.
The contrast between the indifference to Rodriguez’ pursuit of his 600th home run and the excitement, respect, and love with respect to Willie’s quest for his 600th home run is striking.
Teammates, Giants fans, and most baseball fans loved Willie Mays. Opponents respected and feared him. All marveled his great skills, and all appreciated his great accomplishments.
The same cannot be said with respect to Alex Rodriguez. As a wise woman once said, “No one can hurt you as much as you can hurt yourself.”
No. 600 Is One Ruthian Home Run for Willie Mays: Giants’ Star, at 38, Is 2d on List and Richer, Wiser. (1969, September 24). New York Times (1923-Current file), 39. Retrieved August 2, 2010, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2006). (Document ID: 88865325).
By ARTHUR DALEY. (1969, October 1). Sports of Times: An Epic Home Run. New York Times (1923-Current file), 50. Retrieved August 2, 2010, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2006). (Document ID: 81992636).
With the minutes ticking away toward the 2010 Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline, fans saw the typically violent flurry of activity as general mangers hustled to smooth out the rough edges. Some of the moves look brilliant while others seem to stink of acquisition for acquisition’s sake.
Take a gander at the maneuvering that started way back at the beginning of July and decide for yourself:
July 9th —Texas Rangers acquire RHP Cliff Lee from the Seattle Mariners for 1B Justin Smoak, RHP Blake Beavan, RHP Josh Leuke, and INF Matt Lawson.
July 14th —Atlanta Braves acquire SS Alex Gonzalez, LHP Tim Collins, and INF Tyler Pastronicky from the Toronto Blue Jays for SS Yunel Escobar and LHP Jo-Jo Reyes.
July 25th —Anaheim Angels (they can’t even see Los Angeles, let alone play there) acquire RHP Dan Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks for LHP Joe Saunders, RHP Rafael Rodriguez, LHP Patrick Corbin, and a player to be named later.
July 28th —Detroit Tigers acquire INF Jhonny Peralta from the Cleveland Indians for LHP Giovanni Soto.
July 29th —Minnesota Twins acquire RHP Matt Capps and cash from the Washington Nationals for C Wilson Ramos and LHP Joe Testa.
July 29th —San Diego Padres acquire SS/3B Miguel Tejada and cash from the Baltimore Orioles for RHP Wynn Pelzer.
July 29th —Philadelphia Phillies acquire RHP Roy Oswalt and cash from the Houston Astros for LHP J.A. Happ, OF Anthony Gose, and SS Jonathan Villar
July 29th —Los Angeles Dodgers acquire Scott Podsednik from the Kansas City Royals for RHP Elisaul Pimentel and C Luke May.
July 30th —Chicago White Sox acquire RHP Edwin Jackson from the Diamondbacks for RHP Daniel Hudson and LHP David Holmberg.
July 30th —Rangers acquire INF Jorge Cantu from the Florida Marlins for RHP Evan Reed and RHP Omar Poveda.
July 30th —Rangers acquire INF Cristian Guzman from the Nationals for RHP Ryan Tatusko and RHP Tanner Roark.
July 31st —Tampa Bay Rays acquire RHP Chad Qualls from the Diamondbacks for a player to be named later.
July 31st —New York Yankees acquire 1B Lance Berkman and cash from the Astros for RHP Mark Melancon and INF Jimmy Paredes.
July 31st —Yankees acquire OF Austin Kearns from the Indians for a player to be named later or cash.
July 31st —three team trade in which the Padres acquire OF Ryan Ludwick from the St. Louis Cardinals and cash from the Indians, the Cardinals acquire RHP Jake Westbrook and cash from the Indians plus LHP Nick Greenwood from the Padres, and the Indians acquire RHP Corey Kluber, also from the Padres.
July 31st —Pittsburgh Pirates acquire C Chris Snyder, SS Pedro Ciriaco, and cash from the Diamondbacks for SS Bobby Crosby, OF Ryan Church, and RHP D.J. Carrasco.
July 31st —Los Angeles Dodgers acquire LHP Ted Lilly and INF Ryan Theriot from the Chicago Cubs for INF Blake DeWitt, RHP Brett Wallach, and RHP Kyle Smit.
July 31st—Dodgers acquire RHP Octavio Dotel from the Pirates for RHP James McDonald and OF Andrew Lambo.
July 31st—Yankees acquire RHP Kerry Wood from the Indians for a player to be named later or cash.
July 31st—San Francisco Giants acquire LHP Javier Lopez from the Pirates for RHP Joe Martinez and OF John Bowker.
July 31st—Braves acquire OF Rick Ankiel, RHP Kyle Farnsworth, and cash from the Royals for LHP Tim Collins, RHP Jesse Chavez, and OF Gregor Blanco.
Phew, that’s a lot of movement.
Yet noticeably absent from the list of substantial movers and shakers are our San Francisco Giants.
Despite an increasingly glaring need for help in the shaky bullpen—especially a capable southpaw—and another plus-piece of lumber, general manager Brian Sabean didn’t pull any major triggers.
He did grab a reliever who throws from the southside in the Bucs’ Lopez, but that’s not exactly the magical elixer for which some die-hards had hoped. Luckily, the Giant GM only cut bait on a couple of “prospects” who’d worn out their welcome in the City.
Nevertheless, there were constant rumors about the club sniffing around various primetime targets, but the prices were either too high or the players were ultimately deemed an unsavory fit.
Regardless of the specific reason, I commend Sabes on his willingness to let the deadline come and go while resisting the pressure—created by the activity of other squads—to make an ill-advised, big splash maneuver.
The man at the helm was clearly running (probably jogging) down leads, but his posture made it clear that any such decision would be made on Orange and Black terms.
And fans should applaud that.
Everyone loves for his or her contender to make a deal and bring in new blood as the calendar turns to August, but that doesn’t necessarily justify the decision.
There is something to be said for continuity and internal improvement; with Pablo Sandoval drastically under-performing and several injured pieces making their way back to the club, SF’s cupboard of assistance isn’t totally bare.
More importantly, as Giant fans will remember, the franchise was in a similar position last year and brought in the likes of Ryan Garko and Freddy Sanchez for a little extra playoff push.
Garko was incompetent and Sanchez was an injury disaster from the get-go; neither trade helped in 2009 and only the grace of the Baseball Gods has prevented the deals from going south badly.
Now, look back at that list of swaps.
The Lee, Haren, Oswalt, and Berkman developments are the only ones that appear to carry with them a significant power shift. The Ludwick trade gets honorable mention.
The rest are Garko deals—shots in the dark that could help, but seem more likely to be exercises in public relations while sacrificing potentially gifted prospects.
Guys like Jorge Cantu, Scott Podsednik, Miguel Tejada, etc. could rediscover their glory days (or keep them going in Pod’s case), but I’d say the chances of such renaissances are less appealing than the odds that the dearly departed blossom.
Furthermore, the most reliable pieces available were front-line starting pitchers.
That is the one place los Gigantes are set—they need a contingency plan for the eventual shutdown of No. 5 starter Madison Bumgarner, but that doesn’t merit leveraging the farm system for a guy like Haren/Lee/Oswalt.
Finally, dissect the action with an eye to San Francisco’s biggest vulnerabilities—the ‘pen and the big bat.
The thumper is easier to dispatch with because there simply weren’t any to be had unless a GM was willing to be a voluntary participant in highway robbery.
Don’t buy it?
Well, the only evidence anyone should need is the most neon name changing hands. Sir Lance-elot is still a threat, but check the splits .
Only a money-bloated franchise like the Bronx Bombers could part with two upper echelon prospects for what is essentially half of a platoon. No way San Francisco could do the same; not for a guy hitting below the Mendoza line against left-handers.
As for the relievers, only three major players changed hands.
Qualls had basically pitched himself out of any important innings for the Snakes, so forget him.
Dotel had been quite effective, but he cost the Bums two highly touted prospects. Neither McDonald nor Lambo have shown much at the Big League level (Lambo hasn’t gotten a shot yet), but you don’t have to search too hard to find glowing reviews of each.
Meanwhile, to grab Matt Capps—who can’t be considered one of the Show’s superstar closers—the Twinkies had to part with one of the most prized blue-chippers in all of baseball.
Granted, Joe Mauer made Ramos a redundant asset, but that doesn’t change the fact that Minnesota just shipped out a dangerously offensive catcher (perhaps the rarest of all baseball assets) to get a relatively unproven stopper. As the last man standing for the Pirates and then the Nats, Capps has never locked down a meaningful game yet he demanded a premium price on the market.
So, yes, it would’ve been ideal to soundly plug the gaps in the bullpen and the batting order.
But, as the saying goes, you’ve got to give to get.
In 2010, it would appear the giving was better than the getting.
Which means the San Francisco Giants’ relative inactivity could be very good news.
As the trade deadline approaches, a lot of people want the Giants to acquire the big power bat they need to shore up their sputtering offense. At this point, however, I just don’t see any way the Giants can put together a package for the kind of player who might actually make a difference without weakening the team just as much somewhere else, as they head into the last two months of the season.
Yes, an Adam Dunn or Prince Fielder would make a big difference in the lineup, but what exactly are the Giants going to have to give up to get a player of this caliber? The answer is obvious—one of their starting pitchers: Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, or Madison Bumgarner.
If that trade is made, who are you going to make the Giants’ fifth starter? No one that I can see, unless you are willing to take on Carlos Zambrano and the potential headaches and enormous future contract commitments he brings with him.
Or the Giants could trade away their future in the form of Pablo Sandoval or Buster Posey? Do you really see that happening? I don’t.
The problem is the Giants really don’t have much top-flight talent in their minor league system. I like Brandon Belt, who is still hitting a ton (.360 with a 1.130 OPS after 86 ABs at Class AA Richmond), but he’s a former fifth round pick with less than a season of professional experience. No one really knows if he’s for real yet.
I like Thomas Neal, also at Richmond, but he isn’t exactly murdering the ball (.289 batting average, .792 OPS as I write this).
Daryl Maday? Getting his brains beaten out at AAA Fresno.
Lefty Eric Surkamp at A+ San Jose? He’s on the DL for an indefinite period after injuring his hip fielding a ground ball on July 18.
Charlie Culberson is looking good in San Jose, hitting .327 with a .904 OPS, but he’s a long, long way from the majors. Even more so with young right-handed pitching prospects Jorge Bucardo and Jose Casilla. You don’t give up proven major league talent at the trade deadline for low, full-season Class A pitchers; there’s too much risk they’ll get hurt before they ever really amount to anything.
I could mention a few other guys I kinda like, but what’s the point? No GM would accept a prospect package centered around any of them.
So what’s left? Joe Rosenthal of Fox Sports thinks the Giants have some interest in the Marlins’ Jorge Cantu, although Giants beat writer Henry Schulman doesn’t agree.
At first blush, the thought of going after Cantu has a certain appeal. He might, in fact, be an extremely cheap acquisition, because Cot’s Baseball Contracts says he will be a free agent at the end of this year. If Cantu continues to play the last two months of 2010 the way he played the first four (he currently has .716 OPS), he won’t be a Type-A free agent, and in any event the Marlins won’t offer him arbitration for fear that he might accept.
As such, the Giants could conceivably acquire Cantu for less than what the Dodgers gave up today to obtain Scott Podsednik from the Royals (more on that below), particularly if the Giants are willing to assume the approximately $2 million left on Cantu’s 2010 contract.
So what if the Giants do acquire Cantu—does it really help them? Not much that I can see.
Cantu can play three positions: first base, second base, and third base. At third, his .716 OPS isn’t significantly better than Pablo Sandoval’s .706 OPS and is worse than Juan Uribe’s .776 OPS.
At second, Cantu beats Freddy Sanchez’s .660 OPS, but Freddy’s .328 on-base percentage is twenty points than Cantu’s. Also, Sanchez plays appreciably better defense, and the Giants aren’t paying Freddy $6 million this year to be a back-up, at least not to someone who isn’t significantly better. Of course, Juan Uribe can also play second.
At first, Cantu, a right-handed hitter, has a .722 OPS against left-handed pitching, while Aubrey Huff, a left-handed hitter, has a .929 OPS against left-handed pitching. The Giants also have Sandoval, Buster Posey, and Travis Ishikawa for platoons or when they want to play Huff in the outfield to get another bat in the lineup.
In short, Cantu would be unlikely to provide the Giants with much more than depth.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers move to get Scott Podsednik looks like a good move for both teams. Podsednik has a .353 on-base percentage so far this year, matching his 2009 mark. He still runs well, Mso he still has value as a top of the lineup hitter.
However, at age 34, Podsednik isn’t likely to be a good player long enough to help the Royals when they finally put together a winning team.
The two minor leaguers the Royals got aren’t great, but they aren’t terrible either. Catcher Lucas May is described as the best catching prospect in the Dodgers system by ESPN.com, but he’s unlikely to develop into a star.
May turns 26 in late October and currently has an .848 OPS at AAA Albuquerque, a good place to hit. My guess is that he develops into a useful back-up catcher at the major league level.
The Royals also received RHP Elisaul Pimentel. He turned 22 about three weeks ago.
Pimentel has a 9-3 record with a 3.49 ERA with good ratios in the Class A Midwest League. He’s another good young arm, but he’s nothing special.
If nothing else, the Royals turned an oldster into minor league depth, which they can certainly use as they continue to build for the future.
Last night, Arizona Diamondbacks’ second baseman Kelly Johnson became the third player this year to hit for the cycle. Johnson went 4-for-4 with three RBI along with a hit by pitch in the Diamondbacks 7-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
While this is a great feat for Johnson, I am a tad annoyed this happened. I am annoyed this happened because I had Johnson on my bench last night for my fantasy team. My logic? I went off sample size.
Johnson went into last night’s game 5-for-10 with two doubles and a triple off of Giants’ starter Jonathan Sanchez. This is pretty impressive, but I thought that was too small of a sample size to go off of.
I decided to look at the larger sample size, which was Sanchez versus left-handed batters. Lefties were hitting just .169 with a .582 OPS and two home runs (ironically they were hit by Ike Davis in the same game, who is also on my fantasy team and who I also benched the day he hit those two homers) in 71 ABs against Sanchez in 2010.
I figured the odds were in my favor that Johnson’s line would even out against Sanchez and Sanchez’s success against lefties would hold true. I inserted Gordon Beckham into my starting lineup and he proceeded to go 1-for-4 against Trevor Cahill and the Oakland A’s.
Johnson on the other hand, ripped a home run in the first (411 feet) and then ripped another double off of Sanchez in the fifth. Johnson got his triple in the sixth off of Santiago Casilla and completed the cycle with a single in the eighth off of Sergio Romo.
I play in a total points league and Johnson’s benching cost me 27 points last night. That is a week worth’s of points in one day sitting on my bench. Just terrible.
This is the second time I have put my fantasy team in the hands of Sanchez and for the second time he has made me look like a fool. No more. If I have a lefty going against Sanchez, I am starting him.
I have learned my lesson.
You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg
The umpires giveth and the umpires taketh away. After getting burned by a blown call against the Mets on Sunday, which cost them the ball game, the umpires gave the Giants one back last night in Los Angeles.
In the ninth inning, with the Giants trailing 5-4, one out and the bases loaded against Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton, acting manager Don Mattingly (Joe Torre having been ejected along with Dodger starter Clayton Kershaw earlier in the game for hitting Aaron Rowand with a pitch—the third hit batter of the game) went out to discuss the situation with Broxton.
However, as Mattingly was walking back toward the dugout and had just stepped off the pitcher’s mound, he stepped back onto the mound a second time, either to say one last thing or because someone called him back. Giants manager Bruce Boche came out and argued that stepping off and back onto the mound constituted a “second trip to the mound” and thus Broxton had to come out of the game.
The umpires agreed and the Dodgers had to pull Broxton and put in lefty George Sherrill, who’s been struggling mightily of late. Sherrill’s struggles continued as the next hitter, Giants’ leadoff man Andres Torres, drove in the tying and winning runs with a double.
Frankly, it seems like kind of a silly rule. It would probably make more sense to require the manager to cross the baselines twice to constitute two separate visits. However, I’m sure the rule exists so that managers can’t come back and give the pitcher any last words of advice after the umpire has come out and told the manager to get his behind back in the dugout.
It’s also gratifying to see Ol’ Boch, who sometimes doesn’t seem like the sharpest managerial tool in the shed, burn the hated Dodgers with handy knowledge of an obscure rule.
Of more concern to Giants’ fans is Tim Lincecum’s continued struggles in last night’s game. He pitched poorly, allowing five earned runs in 4.2 innings of work, while walking three and striking out only two.
Lincecum’s velocity and command were issues once again. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Lincecum struggled to reach 90 mph on the radar gun with his fastball, and the command issues may have something to do with lack of arm strength or changes to Lincecum’s mechanics as he tries to regain his power.
I don’t know entirely what to make of it. According to the San Jose Mercury News, in his last start against the Mets, in which he pitched a complete game shutout, Lincecum’s first three fastballs hit 95 mph, and in the late innings his fastball was sitting on 92-93 mph. That’s exactly where Lincecum was last year when he won his second Cy Young Award.
However, other commentators have noted Lincecum’s loss of velocity in games he pitched earlier this year. On the other hand, while Lincecum’s strikeout rate is down from last season, he still has more Ks than IP so far this season (138 Ks in 130.1 IP).
Because of his slight stature, everyone is waiting for Lincecum’s arm to fall off, particularly after throwing just over 450 innings in 2008 and 2009 combined. Lincecum’s 2010 numbers are still too good for anyone to panic, but there have indeed been some worrying signs this year.
We’ll have to see if it’s just temporary arm fatigue, adjustments the National League has made to his pitching, or if serious cracks are developing in the Freak’s heralded right arm. Obviously, I’m hoping its the former and not the latter.
As Giants fans know, F. P. Santangelo is the Giants’ fifth radio/TV announcer. He provides “color” when the team needs a fifth announcer, which doesn’t happen all that often since Jon Miller, Dave Fleming, Mike Krukow, and Duane Kuiper can usually handle both radio and TV on any given date.
The Giants have long been blessed with exceptionally good sportscasters (probably because the San Francisco Bay Area is an exceptionally great place to live when you are exceptionally well-paid). Jon Miller was feted tonight for being awarded the Ford C. Frick Award this year, and he’s just an outstanding baseball play-by-play man.
Before Miller, the Giants had Hank Greenwald, who was a terrific announcer, and before that Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons.
Back to the subject at hand: tonight was the first time I have ever enjoyed listening to F. P. Santangelo’s color commentary. Usually, he says nothing that isn’t painfully obvious. Tonight, however, he made a great many germane points that actually added something to the broadcast.
F. P.’s performance tonight merits praise and acknowledgement, even if only here. It isn’t particularly easy for a sportscaster to dramatically improve his performance, any more than it’s possible for, say, John McDonald to suddenly learn how to hit (for what it’s worth, McDonald currently has a .685 OPS—still terrible—the highest he has ever had in any of the nine seasons in which he has had 50 or more major league plate appearances).
To give you a better example of F. P.’s accomplishment tonight: every year, just as I hope the San Francisco Giants will finally win the World Series, I hope that this will be the year when I will enjoy listening to Joe Buck and Tim McCarver broadcast Saturday’s Game of the Week on Fox.
It never happens. Every year, they are as unbearable as the year before.
Buck/McCarver say nothing that gives even one piece of new information to the fan (who has never played professional baseball) who has been following baseball seriously for more than five seasons.
Their broadcasts are obvious and usually contain smarmy interviews with one of the game’s managers that really have nothing to do with the game at hand (for example, Rays manager Joe Madden’s thick rimmed eye-glasses).
I assume MLB likes the Buck/McCarver team because they are nothing but shills for the line MLB wants disseminated. They treat their listeners like idiots, or at least people who haven’t watched closely more than 10 games in their lifetimes.
I find myself glued to the mute button when I watch the Game of the Week. It’s bad enough that the game almost always features one of the New York or L.A. teams, without having to listen to Buck and McCarver butcher the broadcast.
It was just announced the Giants signed lefty Dontrelle Willis to play for their AAA team, the Fresno Grizzlies. While the adult in me thinks Dontrelle’s arm is shot, the kid in me loves this move.
I’ve always been a big fan of Dontrelle. He’s from Oakland, just across the Bay from San Fran, and I just liked everything about him as a player.
Aside from being a great pitcher at a tender age, Dontrelle was also a terrific hitter. He also really seemed to enjoy playing the game and showed a great deal of enthusiasm. For a while there, he became one of MLB’s poster boys, with his infectious smile, his talent and performance, and the fact that he is African American at a time when MLB is trying to win back the black audience it once had.
The problem for Dontrelle is age-old. He was too good, too young. He was so good the Marlins couldn’t resist working him hard for five years between age 21 and 25 (he averaged 212 innings pitched those five seasons, peaking at 236.1 IP in his best season 2005 when he won 22 ball games). Doc Gooden, Larry Dierker, Harry Krause: it’s an old, old story.
It’s been two and a half seasons since Dontrelle’s arm fell off, and at this point it seems doubtful he’ll ever recover the arm strength he had in 2005 or 2006.
Still, I’m glad the Giants are going to give him a chance, because he’s only 28 years old, and—who knows?—he might surprise me and a lot of other people by becoming a useful major league pitcher again one day. It’s not like the Giants are so loaded with arms at AAA Fresno, they can’t afford to give Dontrelle a good, long look.
Here’s hoping the Giants get lucky.
In other news, the Marlins have given up on former Giants’ closer Armando Benitez and cut him loose. Armando didn’t pitch terribly for the Marlins’ AAA team in New Orleans; in six appearances he had a 2.70 ERA, although his ratios weren’t as good.
Sorry, Armando: I hope the Giants don’t offer you a minor league deal like Dontrelle’s. At age 37, probably weighing close to 300 lbs now, and not having pitched in the majors since 2008, he’s just not worth the Giants’ effort.
