Backe to the Minors

Despite the Giants best efforts to win all of their games on infield singles collected in the ninth inning, they managed to make Brandon Backe look like Cy Young as they fell to the Disastros Monday.

Squeaking out only four hits against Backe (he of eleven earned over 3.1 innings in his last outing), the Giants' offense turned the suck knob to overdrive and left their bats on the team's charter flight.

The Giants did show early life when Ivan Ochoa's third inning double set him up to score on a Fred Lewis single. Grandpa Richie Aurilia, who ended the game 2 for 3 with two doubles, added a liner in the fifth for the only subsequent Giants hit of the night.

Although Jonathan Sanchez got through five innings of hitless ball, former hippopotamus Humberto Quintero knocked a broken-bat blooper over Ochoa's outstretched glove in short left-center to lead off the sixth inning, effectively ending the young lefty's shot at Nolandom. He would score with Backe trailing close behind him on a Ty Wigginton single to give the 'Stros the only two runs they would need to seal the Giants' fate.

Not all is lost, however. We still have guys that are hitting less-than-ready pitching and dominating teeball hitters in the minors. So there's that. On Extra Baggs today, Baggarly sits down with Dick Tidrow and Bobby Evans to discuss some of the more interesting young 'uns who could potentially make a big-league an impact sometime in the next five years.Particularly encouraging is this bit on catching and first-base prospect Pablo Sandoval:

He’s ready for the big leagues now. Crushing balls from both sides of the plate, though he’s obviously getting more at-bats from the left side. Energizing that whole Double-A club since his midseason promotion from San Jose. No longer taking ground balls at third base; that experiment is over. Very competent at first base, though, and has some skills behind the plate. A very strong arm, too. (There’s an anecdote about his ambidextrous throwing ability that you’ll see in tomorrow’s Giants notebook.)

A guy who can throw with both hands? Awesome! Once they start letting the Giants throw the ball from home plate in place of their ABs, this guy can be daunting to pitchers of either handedness.

Buster Posey, watch out, 'cause Pablo "Escobar" Sandoval will stomp you faster than a pit full of gasoline and coca leaves. Also mentioned in that piece are the likes of Timmy 2.0 Alderson, Madison Bumgardner, and even Travis "I didn't know I was still playing baseball either" Ishikawa. Nick Noonan is also getting some praise and could skip high-A ball next year.

To me, it sounds like there's a whole load of pitching prospects that Sabean will likely dangle in trade talks in the offseason in the hopes of bringing back anything relevant in terms of hitting.

If we keep getting killed by the likes of Brandon Backe, I can't say that I blame him.