Freak Is Fine, Giants Still Suck; Bye Bye Bowker?

From Extra Baggs:

He’s OK, according to his agent, and expects to make his next start. The liner hit him on the tibia just below the knee. Bad bruise. You may breathe normally now.

Well [gasp] said.

Give [gasp] me [gasp] one [gasp] second.

Okay, now, in case you passed out and/or blacked out the rest of the game, I'm sure you assumed, correctly, that the other, less talented, Giants lost...badly.

Which means it's time for, you guessed it, a reactionary move!

Once again, from the always intrepid Andrew Baggarly:

All signs point to Bowker going down

Once I noticed that Travis Ishikawa wasn’t in the lineup for Fresno tonight at Portland, I went into a whirlwind trying to figure out whether he was on his way to Houston. (Late update: He pinch-hit in extra innings, so no, he wasn’t enjoying a bag of peanuts on the first Southwest flight to Houston Hobby.)

But there are indications that something is coming, as they say. For one, Brian Sabean showed up today. Demoting John Bowker is a fairly significant move given the tenor of this Giants season. It’s certainly a call that the GM wouldn’t want to make from afar. Plus, when you break the news to a player with Bowker’s potential future role in the organization, it’s probably best that the GM is in the room.

Add to that Bruce Bochy’s non-denial….”We’re talking about it” … and even with the roof closed at Minute Maid Park, you could tell which way the wind is blowing.

To me, the decision isn’t whether to send down Bowker but whether to replace him with Ishikawa or Pablo Sandoval. (I checked, and yes, Sandoval played for Connecticut tonight.)

So, though it looks like nothing is immediate, there's a good chance we'll see some type of transaction this series.

Optioning Bowker would be a blow for the half-assed youth movement for this franchise - the kid came up with a bang and had a very solid first two months in the big leagues. Right now, though, he's in a 9 for 75 slide, and sounds pretty lost in his approach.

However, the real impetus for a switch would not simply be to get Bowker some pressure-free regular ABs in the minors, but the lights-out hitting of prospect-turned-has-been-turned-prospect-again Ishikawa. Most of you remember him as a smooth fielding first baseman who had a cup of coffee with the 2006 team, only to regress and find himself in Single-A last year. But this year's been a different story altogether:

Travis Ishikawa is hitting .312 with 16 homers and 46 RBIs since his June promotion from Double-A. Ishikawa, 24, played 12 games for the 2006 Giants, backtracked last year when he was demoted to Class A San Jose (in part because of injuries) but re-emerged as a viable prospect this year.

In his first eight games of August, he hit seven homers. Of his 53 hits, 38 have gone for extra bases. Counting his stats from Double-A and Triple-A, he has 24 homers and 94 RBIs, numbers that he didn't come close to producing in any of his first six years of pro ball.

Although most local scribes feel Sando-Yeti is in the mix for a call-up, Ishikawa, who is the same age as Bowker, makes a lot more sense, both because of his fielding prowess at first as well as the logical development curve of the 21 year old Sandoval.

Then again, who said logic plays a part in any of these moves?

Carney and Manny On the plus side, Manny Burriss appears to be in the team's long term plans. But Carney Lansford thinks that he needs to spend a lot of extra time this off-season hitting from the left side. Looking at the stats, he's got a point.

AuRayLia? In the above pieces, both Baggarly and John Shea speculate that, with All-Star rookie sensation Evan Longoria out, the Rays may have an interest in Rich Aurilia. Don't know if this is a case of two reporters echoing one another's idea or an actual corroboration of a legitimate rumor, but it's worth noting.

Henry Schulman, however, appears to be plum crazy.

Who's Afraid Of Jim and Randy Wolf? For the second time this year, the Giants faced Randy Wolf while his brother, Jim, umped. Pardon me, Mr. Selig, but it would seem that with the less than holy officiating going on throughout the sports world, there would be a provision that would recuse said umpire from umping his kid brother's games.

Arms Race On a positive note, the Giants farm system has talented pitchers coming out of their ears these days. You've all heard of Madison Bumgarner (who had another magnificent start Saturday) and Tim Alderson, both '07 first rounders.

But two other heralded prospects shined on Monday:

Three left-handers in the Giants organization took no-hitters into the sixth inning Monday night. Jonathan Sanchez's effort at Houston was the most conspicuous, but he was joined by San Jose's Clayton Tanner and Augusta's Scott Barnes on the Class A level.

Gillaspie Shines And finally, while Buster Posey remains unsigned ahead of tomorrow's deadline, Conor Gillaspie has had a hot start in the Arizona Rookie League, driving in 7 runs in his first 20 PAs to go along with a .316 average.

Taking the liberty of speaking for all Giants fans, when it comes to third base, this is our most desperate hour. Help us, Obi-Con; you're our only hope.

Comment! Which youngster will make the biggest splash for the Giants?

Yor-vit Is Better Than Ours

Among the nasty byproducts of the mercenaries otherwise known as the early 21st century Giants is that we seem to play a former Giant every freaking series. And every freaking series, no matter how much their skills eroded, if there were any in the first place, they kill us.

So in following in the May tradition of Pedro Feliz, Jose Cruz, Jr. and A.J. Pierzynski, Yorvit Torrealba was the hero last night with the go ahead 2 run double off Vinnie Chulk. And Pat (you drive me) Mischuga once again had his first W of the season ripped away.

In April, the Giants showed that a punch and judy team can, in fact, generate enough runs to win, particularly given the presence of a solid staff. I don't think I'm going out on a ledge in proclaiming that the bullpen has been fairly awful the past couple of weeks, but I believe this is more of a correction than a permanent decline. Did anyone really think that Tyler Walker was going to keep that minuscule ERA? Or that Vinnie Chulk would strand every single runner he inherited? Or that Keiichi Yabu was any kind of long-term answer?

Additionally, Merkin Valdez's absence has hurt this team more than we could have imagined. And that's a guy, who, if he stays healthy (which has always been the problem) could maintain a dominant pace given his stuff.

Here's the point: this team could, you know, come back sometimes. The Giants trailed by 1 for three full innings at Coors Field against a 26th ranked pitching staff and couldn't get it done.

This team, you know, could use a clutch hit with RISP (.196 with 2 outs/.224 overall), or even, perhaps, put the ball in play with a runner on third but less than two outs (purely empirical - who dares call me on this?)

Even the "clutch hitters" are not delivering in this regard. Bengie Molina, who has largely been hitting cleanup because of his clutch hitting, is only hitting .250 with RISP. Same stat for Aaron Rowand (who had an ugly AB with RISP yesterday) - and these guys are our leaders.

Granted, you can't put lipstick on a pig, so I don't put this all on Carney Lansford. But it would be helpful if the better looking pigs told the uglier, runtier pigs that their collective best shot at an extended lifespan is as a showpig.

Okay, I'm done. In other news:

- Remember when the Giants talked to Dallas McPherson before deciding they had no interest? Because we were happy with our options at third?

The former Angels über-prospect, whose career was derailed by back injuries, hit 3 homers for AAA Albuquerque yesterday and is otherwise absolutely destroying AAA pitching.

I guess there's a reason the Marlins are in first with a payroll about a quarter of ours.

Also ironic: the third man out of the three man duel at third between Jorge Cantu (now starting with the Marlins) and McPherson, who was optioned, was Jose Castillo.

- ESPN reports P.J. may hang it up after this year. Unfortunate that such a great pitcher had such an assorted injury history, and a prime reason why Giants fans soil themselves every time the similarly proportioned Timmy L throws over 100 pitches or comes in after an hour rain delay. For the record, I only soiled myself in the latter instance.

- Andruw Jones may have an excuse for his general suck. Not a good one mind you, particularly because his rotundity is probably the reason his knee's giving out.

- Props to Jon Lester, who throws a no-hitter last night. Besides the fact that this is the Red Sox 112th no-hitter in the past ten years, a great story because of the odds Mr. Lester has had to fight to get back to where he is today.

Today's Giants Lookalike: Too Good To Be My Idea

Meet team OPS leader Matt Cain. A Bondsian 1.072 in case you're wondering.

I have an unhealthy obsession with pitchers that can hit. So even before Matt Williams, er, Cain muscled up again last night, I noted, "Cain certainly takes his hacks up there, doesn't he?"

So forget about the great game he pitched, or the fact that he may be starting to bounce back from a slow start (pitching-wise) to look like the Matt Cain we all know and love. We'll leave that to the lowly beat writers of the world today.

Cainer has shown some power in the past, blasting two out last year. But the entire staff as well as the younger hitters all seem to have benefited from the tutelage of Carney Lansford. So while Cain had 2 HRs in all of 2007, he matched that total last night and is on pace for almost 7 for 2008, a Mike Hampton-esque pace.

I'm only half-joking when I ask: can he play third?

Also, Giants win. Assists to Brian Wilson for a drama-free 1-2-3 in the 9th and FLew, who almost goes for the cycle a year to the date from last one. Slump's over, I suppose.

Win's good for a lot of reasons, most importantly because Pat Misch is facing the Astros stacked lineup tonight. And although Brian Moehler isn't exactly Roy Oswalt, Winn-Molina-Rowand also aren't Tejada-Berkman-Lee.

Where Have You Gone, Jack Thomas?

You just had to know that former mercenary Giant Jose Cruz, Jr., entering the series in a 3 for 37 slump, would hurt us before the series was over. He did, as did Sir Lance Berkman and Keiichi Yabu's throw to the ghost of J.T. Snow, leading to a late 7 runs for the Astros and a 7-3 margin.

Ugly loss in another game in which the Giants were in the driver's seat. Also disconcerting: after sitting for a week with forearm tightness, Merkin Valdez did not look like his dominant April self, setting the table for the decisive Houston rally in the eighth. Everyone send good vibes to the oft-injured Valdez.

Ugh.

Let's focus on the positives the rest of the way, shall we?

- By Zito's standards, a decent start: his first quality start of the year as well as his first no-decision - baby steps, people. As the 'Stros showed, Zito's a guy without an out pitch. To his credit, he's been a better pitcher in his last two starts. The Zit's heeding Rags' advice to pitch as if the extra 5 MPHs aren't coming back and in the process, he's looking eerily similar to Kirk Rueter: relying on changing speeds and location, throwing any pitch on any count from the arsenal of the 84MPH fastball, the change and the hook.

It's not pretty, but, as we are painfully aware, it could be much worse.

- Bowker's recent run of good hitting was lacking in much power until last night's fourth inning shot off Roy Oswalt. Most encouraging is that JB hit a pretty good curveball over the brick facade. And once again, man continues to show leather at his home of, oh, a few weeks at first. Guy's bounced back and is now looking like a big part of the future.

- As OBnB Godfather Jeremy pointed out, FLew lost the compact swing that served him well in April once he picked up a Splash Hit last homestand. Slump ensues as longswingitis sets in. Carney calls it, and Lewis started cooking again - another reason to like the new coach.

- And finally, I know I've been harping on his decline, but Vizquel has come back from the DL and has hit the ball hard. Even better, he's doing his best Jake Taylor as I spotted him giving pointers to Manny Burriss (who started at second) throughout the game. That's good stuff.