A suddenly shaky bullpen blows the game in late innings once again as the Giants lose to Fat Elvis and the 'Stros 6-3.
Meanwhile, unclutch hitting, a constant for this team, cosst Pat Misch a chance at his first win, as hitters go 1 for 12 with RISP, including two instances in which runners were stranded at third with less than two outs.
Giants can (and will) get the split as Hold Me Closer Tiny Lincecum faces Chris "I want to talk to" Sampson in the day game.
So the Giants are on a 91 loss pace.
But don't sweat it - Brian Sabean isn't. In fact, he thinks the Giants can contend...this year.
When it comes down to it, I think I'm an optimist. Sure, I've enjoyed watching the Giants play this year, and like this team much more than the one before it and the one before that. There's some interesting (gasp! positional) prospects up looking like they belong, and the pitching, notwithstanding the bullpen's recent hiccups and Baked Zito, is very solid.
Sabean, however, is either shrewdly spinning a bad product or has really gone off the deep end. Yeah, maybe the Giants can catch lightning in a bottle and go on a little run. But statements like this make me scratch my head:
"You're seven games under .500. That's where you don't want to be, but I really feel good about the energy around the club and I feel good about some of our choices. We've now got a solution at first base. We've got a solution at third. We've gotten Omar (Vizquel) back. Freddie Lewis has come into his own and (Emmanuel) Burriss has been a real factor lately."We've got a solution at third? Really? Is this the double-secret probation solution to which the general public is not privvy? Surely, you're not talking about Jose Castillo, right? The guy otherwise known as the bastard child of Pedro Feliz and Shrek. (Shrek's been thrown around lightly in describing ballplayers, but seriously, I think this one really does work.)
As for Fred Lewis and Emmanuel Burris: they are playing out of the sheer dumb luck (or inevitability) of Dave Roberts, Omar Vizquel and Ray Durham being out with injuries. This wasn't by design - so don't claim it as if it was.
And then there's this nugget:
With that in mind, Sabean said he does not contemplate moving his most marketable experienced players before the trade deadline, as many rebuilding teams do. Catcher Bengie Molina and outfielder Randy Winn, both signed through 2009, might yield the most in return. But as of now, Sabean plans to keep them.Okay, I can understand Molina, although I would trade him in a heartbeat if yielded a package that included a legitimate prospect at third base.
"Both of those guys are unique," he said. "On any team, whether you're in transition or you're a veteran team, you want a veteran catcher. You want somebody like Molina who has an upside with the bat. In Randy's case it's the same thing, somebody who is so versatile, a switch-hitter who can play all three outfield positions. Their relative value is going to be consistent no matter what year it is or who you have around them."
But you won't trade Randy Winn? THE Randy Winn, our venerable punch and judy right fielder? He can play ALL three outfield positions, you say?
However would we replace that? It's not like we have a glut of young outfielders who need playing time, correct? It wouldn't be useful to, I don't know, call Nate Schierholtz up, or play Dan Ortmeier (who's showing a decent bat in limited time) there, or even try playing Eugenio Velez at a position at which he's more comfortable and where his rocket arm would shame Randy's noodle in comparison?
But I guess Sabes has got a point, Winn is actually REALLY versatile - he can play point guard in a pinch.
Granted, it could be Sabean double-speak - but he lost OBnB's benefit of the doubt somewhere between Jason Schmidt and Neifi Perez.
Maybe the combination of another tough loss and the office downgrade from slightly crappy coffee to Kirkland Signature EconoCoffee has made me crabby.
So here's a comment-starter: do you really think the Giants can contend this year? And what will it take to do so?
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8 comments:
In my humble opinion, the Giants don't stand a chance of really making a run at the postseason. If the D-bags play decent ball for the rest of the year, they will likely take the West and it's looking increasingly less likely that the Wild Card will come out of our division.
I think the best course of action is to consider trading any of the vets that teams show interest in, with the possible exception of Molina (I'm not a huge fan of his bat, but love the no-country-club attitude and the relationship he has built with out staff).
My worry is that Sabean will find us the next Shea "Notting" Hillenbrand as his midseason move. I fear the loss of Ole Dirty Sanchez for a post-30 hack who does nothing to get this team over the impossibly large hump.
For now, I am content watching the kids and enjoying each game as its own mini-season. I have no delusions of grandeur regarding the rest of this year.
Listen,
Crazier things have happened. I'm a huge Barack Obama supporter, so clearly one of the things I hold near and dear is the concept of Hope. Let me put it another way: in the words of Michael Rappaport in the Ted Demme film Beautiful Girls , "
Supermodels are beautiful girls, Will. A beautiful girl can make you dizzy, like you've been drinking Jack and Coke all morning. She can make you feel high full of the single greatest commodity known to man - promise. Promise of a better day. Promise of a greater hope. Promise of a new tomorrow. This particular aura can be found in the gait of a beautiful girl. In her smile, in her soul, the way she makes every rotten little thing about life seem like it's going to be okay. The supermodels, Willy? That's all they are. Bottled promise. Scenes from a brand new day. Hope dancing in stiletto heels."
Replace supermodels with Giants and beautiful girls with true ballplayers and stiletto heels with baseball cleats, and we've got something.
That said, if Sabeansan is taking cues from Ted Demme, we have a problem. Because Ted Demme is dead.
Boy, what a fucking circle jerk. The Giants would have to improve their run differential by between 260-290 runs in order to win 90 plus games this year. Our less than stellar record as it stands right now is the product of extreme luck and great starting pitching from the KKK (Lince, Cain, Sanchez). In the titular words of Ted Demme's one and only good film, there is "No Cure for Cancer".
A 3-4-5 of Winn-Molina-Rowand is not gonna get you anywhere.
The oft-bandied reference for a successful no-hit good-pitch team is the 2004 Dodgers. You know who hit 3-4-5 for them? Vintage Finley, contract whore Beltre and the last hurrah of Shawn Green. Not to mention the fact that they got some other good seasons from LoDuca, Bradley, Werth and Cora.
This team needs at least two more legitimate hitters. That's why Sabes' speak about finding a solution at 3B literally made me throw up in my mouth a little.
"So here's a comment-starter: do you really think the Giants can contend this year?
Yes.
"And what will it take to do so?"
A time-machine. A gun. And the keys to Brian Sabean's office.
"A time-machine. A gun. And the keys to Brian Sabean's office."
HA
Stranger ones have come by here, maybe including Mr. Sabean himself.
I've never been very optimistic about anything at all, but that' what makes this Giants team worth watching. Yeah, they're not ridiculous, and it's disappointing when they lose, but it's not unbelievable...we can cut some slack here and there, especially as the new guys get their feet on the ground...plus it's in Mr. Sabean's best interest to remain optimistic, because it is true that people perform better when they feel empowered. Not that Sabean can inspire any confidence at all.
Still, I don't think the postseason is completely out of reach, but I wouldn't place any bets on it.
It's easy to speak about how the Giants can content next year, so let me engage the difficult idea of competing this year.
Step 1: Trade Matt Cain for a stud 3rd baseman and hopefully a promising AA hitter. The difference between Cain and Misch is less than the difference between Castillo and a respectable 3rd baseman (of say a Ryan Braun type). Assuming that Alderson or Bumgarner pan out, this doesn't leave the team short of pitching in 2010.
Step 2: Put Schierholtz in RF. Stop jerking around with Winn who can't slug at Pac Bell and get some pop in the line-up.
Step 3: Trade some mediocre pitching, like Osiros Matos for a 2B with a big contract. The DBacks would probably part with Orlando Hudson as he's not that great with the bat and costs more than he is worth. However, the Giants need some infield defense super bad, so he immediately starts saving runs and can't be any worse with the bat than what we currently have.
Will this help us contend? Maybe with lots of luck, too. Maybe we should get some Brandon Webb voo-doo dolls - that probably has a better chance than any other ideas I might have. Of course, it would be smarter to trade blue-chippers like Cain for a couple of studs in AA that could mash for us from 2010 to 2015, as opposed to trading for someone who is major league ready and certainly more costly.
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