Jose Castillo Reads This Blog

Giants take the rubber match against the defending NL Champs, end up rebounding from a 1-6 start to go 12-10 the rest of the way in April. I have to say, I have been enjoying this team a lot, warts and all.

One of the great emblematic moments for this team was watching Fred Lewis, whose glove has been much maligned, make the defensive adjustment that allowed him to snag Willy Tavares's would-be game-tying RBI hit. With him playing every day and work with major league coaching, you can see him making huge strides with the glove. As for hitting, the team-leading .952 OPS (followed by Aaron Rowand at .866) speaks for itself.

I'm going to go ahead and take credit for Jose Castillo jacking an unexpected game-winner last night - I called our third base power production out yesterday morning. Yesterday afternoon, guy goes yard for the first time in 20 months. Let's put that in perspective: the last time Castillo hit one out (as a member of the Pirates), America mourned as it came to light that Mel "I Know What Women Want" Gibson was actually a belligerent racist. I can only imagine Danny Glover, his longtime Lethal Weapon cohort, was shocked and dismayed. Glover, of course, is a Giants fan.

See how I did that?

Also, requisite daily Barry Zito story from John Shea. Actually a fairly good read. The scouts are all over the map on what's up with bro hymn. From the article:

Two National League scouts provided The Chronicle with different reasons for Zito's decline, speaking on the condition of anonymity because teams don't want their scouts sharing information. One said it's because of the fastball. The other blamed the curve.

The first scout: "It's velocity, period. If he can throw 89, 90 like he used to, he could escalate the ball in the strike zone. That sets up the curve. Now, with that slower stuff, they can take it for a ball or go wild with it."

The second scout: "It's his curveball, bottom line. Losing 4 to 5 (mph) doesn't concern me as much as his inability to break the curveball as much as he used to. It was his bread-and-butter pitch. It used to break from your head to your ankle. Now it breaks from your chin to your belt. Only a few guys in the league have the ability to snap off a good curveball. Now, for some reason, he can't."

Don't know if that makes me more or less hopeful. I still see a tough road back for him if he can't pick up at least some of the MPHs. The only people who survive in the low 80s have unbelievable control, and I'm not sure Zito has it in him.

Speaking of soft-tossing lefties, Noah Lowry's return has been delayed at least another three weeks as he continues to feel numbness in his arm in fingers. Don't know much about nerves and such, but this whole thing starting to get a season-ending vibe to it. Everyone keep their fingers crossed - no offense, Noah.

In non-Giants news, I get the feeling that this guy is going to give us fits this year both on the mound and in the box; but man, is that a cool baseball story or what?

Check out this ESPN all-time chart of OPS leaders on the left. I mean, sure, it's a small sample size, but still! Pretty impressive.