Velez Back

Eugenio makes his triumphant return at the expense of Brian "The Rabbi" Horwitz. 

Velez seemed to take out the frustration of his May demotion on AAA pitchers, putting up a .310/.372/.509.  His 13 stolen bags would be nice if he didn't get caught a whopping 9 times, lending little credence to the notion that he has become a more polished player in the past couple of months.

Godspeed to Horwitz, who looks like he could be a nice Mark Sweeney type down the line.

Andrew Baggarly speculates that this could be a precursor to a Durham trade, God willing, but I'm going to stick with my policy of assuming it's just another case of questionable roster management by the higher-ups.

Baggarly also has a good piece on the curious merging of paths of the principal players of the White Flag Trade of 1997 and the Giants potential deadline activity.

For those of you who are not paying attention, The Freak goes against the Mets tonight.

The Rabbi

The King Bri Rock's real nickname is revealed. A very good read on the career and faith of Brian Horwitz.

From within that piece, a surprising bit of trivia: Horwitz is the first Jewish player on the Giants since the tenure of pitcher José Bautista. You may remember him as the Giants' long reliever during the '95 and '96 seasons, and as the man who impressively put together a 6.44 ERA in 100.2 innings of work, prompting a nascent future Giants blogger to dub him José Blowtista.

Turns out Bautista, who comes from the Dominican Republic, is actually half-Israeli - you know, the half that counts.

Oh Happy Ray!

Ray Durham may retire after this year? That takes the sting out of those two losses.

Ray Durham may get traded this year? That makes me high.

Also, Bri Rock is going to get more playing time. With the glut of good young outfielders, it will be interesting to see what the front office does whenever Dave Roberts gets back from the DL; remember, he's still signed through 2009.

Well, the post couldn't be all good news, could it?

Check Your Head

Me (two days ago):

Horwitz makes his first start - I'm not holding my breath for a Bowker-esque first full game.

Brian Horwitz (a 4 for 8 with a homer later):

Check yourself.

And Bri Rock is born. (Click here if you don't get it, you weird, slightly off-putting, but not really rebellious emo kid.)

Once again proving I don't know jack, Bri Rock and the 1927 New York Yankees decided to call it a game early in a drubbing of the New York Wets the Bed.

In another cruel-life counterexample to my ill founded assertions, Jonathan Sanchez is looking like a pitcher that has a plan, even out of the stretch, and his run of good starts continues. (He's also starting to look pretty comfortable at the plate.)

An interesting contrast to the starting pitcher for the Mets last night, Oliver Perez, another lefty with filthy stuff and a questionable mound presence. When it's all said and done, Sanchez's career arc could very much mirror Ollie's - fits of inconsistency (as last night's outing displayed) interspersed with absolute brilliance. Although it seems he's been around forever, Perez is, at 26, only a year senior to Sanchez.

And a huge congrats to Big Money for his 1,000th hit. Molina's quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite Giants. From the big guy:

"It means a lot to me. It's like most of the guys hitting 3,000. I know and understand I'm not a superstar. I'm not a Hall of Famer. But to get to 1,000 hits for a guy who wasn't supposed to sign and signed for $1,000 - $750 after taxes - for a guy who wasn't supposed to make in the minor leagues, for being the slowest guy in the world, to get 1,000 hits is really an honor for me. ... No scout in Puerto Rico gave me a chance to be a pro."

P.J. Martinez makes his long-anticipated return tonight. New Yorkers wonder what they'll get.

Meanwhile, San Franciscans wonder which kind of washed up ace they'd prefer: the injury-prone kind or the untalented kind. We'll get a first hand look tonight.

- A lot of prognosticators are licking their chops, as David Ortiz gets hurt, giving the Bonds to Sox as DH rumor momentum.

- Threets DFA'd. Best of luck to the hard throwing lefty.

- The Giants have expressed interest in Sac State's Gabe Jacobo, potentially as a fourth or fifth round pick. Jacobo's an athletic power hitter without a clear position - he was a prep shortstop before playing first in college.

- Define AAAA.

- Scary thought: "Hey kids, getting hurt's part of the game. And remember, one big stolen base does in fact a career make."

Discussion Junction (yeah I like that): With Randy Winn continuing to jack up his trade value and the young guys looking good, who do you think will be manning the Giants outfield on game 162?

Lincecum: Good for what Ails Ya

Lineups posted. Horwitz makes his first start - I'm not holding my breath for a Bowker-esque debut first full game.

Lincecum is 6-0 following a Giants losing streak. Meaning the Giants have been on a losing streak entering 6 of his 7 wins. So it's actually not really a telling stat, is it?

Giants Calculus

Call it the Anti-Disney Theorem:

There exists an inverse relationship to the magnitude of historic achievement in a single game to the chances of a San Francisco Giants win.

On a night in which the Giants honored Omar Vizquel for breaking Aparicio's record and the Giants turned their first triple play this millenium, the boys couldn't break through against the even more pathetic Padres in 13 innings.

Between the fact that history occurred, Matt Cain started and Greg Maddux was pitching for the bad guys, I shouldn't have even bothered tuning in.

In perhaps his last regularly scheduled start, Mischcast Pat takes on fellow injury replacement (for the nasty Chris Young) Josh Banks in the afternoon game.

- Ortmeier to DL (with a broken finger he has no idea how he broke - seriously) and Brian Horwitz up.

Ortmeier is quickly going the way of JR Phillips, Damon Minor, and Lance Niekro.

Schierholtz stays down to get regular playing time. I dig that.

So...Travis Denker? No one sees any problems with him having started one game since his call up?

Discussion Junction: How stupid is this Denker call up, and management as a whole? Also, do you agree with the Anti-Disney Theorem?