The Difference Between DeRosa and Tejada (and Rowand and Zito)
It bothered me last night to see the posts that made light of DeRosa going down mid at bat last night. It made me wonder why I don’t share the same feelings when I see a Tejada, Rowand or Zito dig. In fact, I lead the way on many of those *roast posts*…..
Watching DeRosa flinch in pain and leave the game, without even taking a swing, just magnified, for me, the pain and the struggle and the hard work that guy has put in over the last 2 years. So many set backs and how frustrating must it be for him to be forced out by something as peripheral to the body as a wrist? For a baseball player though, it’s a key part of the body. It’s obvious that DeRosa loves the game and wants to be out on the field. It’s also obvious that his career is over and wouldn’t you rather end your career because you chose to rather than have it chosen for you? Watching him throw his helmet into the dugout was just sad to see.
I don’t doubt the effort from guys like Tejada, Rowand and Zito. And their is ultimate honor in effort. I think I just get so tired of watching them fail that I finally can’t take it anymore and vent my frustrations with blog posts making fun of their failure. With DeRosa, I never had to watch him fail (at least, not as many times as the other guys) so instead of getting tired of him I just feel for him that it all came to end end so quickly…..
But when it finally does end for guys like Miggy and Rowand and Zito I will force myself to take a moment and honor their commitment to this game. I often get focused with the results on the field, the box scores, the underlying sabermetric numbers— but there is no metric to measure how hard you work in the gym, or how many times you see a doctor, or how much it hurts to get injured and have to watch your friends play on the field without you…..
They’re saying DeRosa just has a strained wrist and who knows, maybe he comes off the DL and gets a few more at bats. But I think it’s obvious that it’s over for him. And right now I can honestly say that I regret every Noah Lowry post that I ever made especially the ones after he got hurt……
Hate a player’s performance, it’s part of being a fan, but don’t ever forget to honor their effort or their commitment to the game……..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
It is especially sad to see a player get hurt when they are not even doing anything athletic that warants the injury. Got to feel for the guy when you can read his lips and see him saying, |It’s bad” to the trainer. Maybe scar tissue ripped away and it is nothing more than that, but the guy obviously has a very damaged wrist and without that being 100%, hard to play baaseball.
Again last night, I failed to stay awake to to watch the heroics. I guess I just dont have the stamina anymore, at least that is what the wife says…dummdummdummm(what do they call the drum shot after a joke?)!
Rim shot
Have you thought about Cialis?
Excellent post, Flavor.
Don’t hate tha playa. Hate the game.
playing ball at this level is only going to last so long, before your reflexes etc. deteriorate to the extent you can no longer be productive at what you do. Baseball is deRosa’s life, and has been for a long time; it would be sad if last night was his last time on the field as an active player.
I’m kind of sick and tired of people complaining about Tejada..last couple years there were endless riffs on zito, renteria, and rowand and the money given away to them yet sabean and the giants were still the last team standing. There are plenty of highly paid guys on a lot of teams that spend much of the year under performing, especially in a sport with as much built in failure as baseball.
a very close and dear friend of mine shares a b-day today with none other than mr. detroit red.
I encourage one and all to celebrate and enjoy life
by any means necessary.
Well put Flav. I’ve always found myself rooting for the guys that look like, they’re having fun. The guys that appear to realize that it’s not just a job but it’s also a game. The Pulse seemed to me to be one of those guys (Mitch, Panda and Huff are other examples for me). I hope the fork isn’t in him and he can come back.
Went to bed early so I had to watch the game this morning. Talk about winning ugly.
Dennis, nicely done on the MASH lineup last night. Or, actually, I guess it’s “M*A*S*H.”
Ah, Bach…..
No, it wasn’t Friday the 13th. It was Wednesday the 18th. Strange enough, though. For starters most of the board were dooming over facing Kershaw. Still can’t figure it out, but the Giants biggest scoring binge in weeks landed on the LaBumbos’ ace and kept on pecking away right up to Commander Cody’s blast.
We’re not at all certain whether or not this is the career-ending bad break for MDR. Not really a good way to go out if that transpires, not with a bang but with a whimper. Wishing him the best. And thanks, Flav, for owning up and being a man in regards to this whole episode. What about Rowand? Is he actually injured, or will be be able to return to the field soon? Apparently Wilson’s ankle tweaking is not serious, but again, there, we are not sure. And no news on any of these developments. Frustrating.
One can only admire Cody Ross. True grit. Intense determination. He may be the accidental Giant, as i noted last season, but what a competitor, what a presence. He brings a lot to this team. Also it was nice to see a couple hints of life from Tejada. He has caught some very heavy flak on this board and most of it was probably deserved. After last night’s performance he also needs to get some warm fuzzies from this bunch. I know that for some it is far easier to complain than to extol, but here’s a case where a little lovin vibes may help keep the good times rolling.
Wilson. Bochy almost shot himself in the foot, bringing him in to replace Romo in the 8th. It did end up costing Matt the W. Perhaps Bruce will not be quite so quick to pull the trigger in future instances. The job of the fireman, with ducks on the pond and the game on the line, may be the toughest one in the game. Our .38 Special Drama Queen has been pretty successful in those situations, but it is a far easier job to come in fresh during the 9th to protect a lead than to clean up someone else’s mess.
With DeRosa probably out for at least 15 games, if not a career ending situation, Giants brass need to make a call to Fresno. Team is short an infielder. Who will it be?
Stix, I fully expect Bochy to use Wilson for the occasional 4-out save, and once in a great while even more than that. It’s worked well in the past. The Yankees did it for years with Rivera.
Ironically Zum, they now use him often for LESS than an inning . . . More irony, he lost the save last night too. But unlike Wilson, didn’t get a win (even though his team did eventually win in the 15th).
The thng about Tejada is, at least he has been hitting the ball hard. They’ve been mainly outs, but them’s the breaks. The hope is they start falling. DeRosa on the other hand was not hitting the ball anywhere hard.
Tough break for the guy. He was nothing but a solid player through most of his career. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see the guy play at the level he’s used to.
Burriss is batting .361. Rohlinger is batting .179. Gillaspie apparently got hurt yesterday. They could give Charlie Culbertson a shot. He’s batting .297 in AA. Lots of Ks though . . .
Culberson is a second baseman, they don’t need a second baseman, Chucklet..
He played a lot of 3rd, Mr. Hunt . . . and even a little SS . . .
“Duh?”
Huff makes that play, which I figured for a sure out off the bat, and Cain gets the W and wilson the save.
Pen stuff is chicken and the egg…ideally starter goes long, so pen guys are needed less. romo faced one batter last night, so did lopez…i’d rather have all of them rusty than overworked.
bochy had it figured out tho..wilson was coming in for as many outs as needed to get the W. Meanwhile, as twin pointed out, Mattingly has Lance Cormier (whose ERA is now in double digits at 10.03) in there, at home, with the game on the line in the 9th.
It was not as gruesome but the first thing I thought of when DeRosas went down was Dravecky. The basball gods are cruel and I really feel bad for the guy.
Well, it was Snarkkles and Loo, Flavor’s favorite “POTDers”, making light of the injury.
Well I may have made light of it last night, but I didn’t think it was funny as you said i did. Sorry if I don’t need grief counseling.
sniff…..
champions are made when no one is looking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms55MGkEBSg&NR=1
Flav, they need a 3rd baseman, not a 3rd base. . .
insert rim shot . . .
Yeah, boo. I know . . . .
Okay…I chuckled, Chuck…maybe it was just 6th grade nostalgia…but I chuckled
Yeah all those dumb-ass no-arms-and-no-legs jokes spring to mind.
I have a kid who’s in 8th grade, and those jokes still live in that time frame.
It’s uncanny the stuff that floats in the collective psyche of us all.
Dead baby jokes? Still there . . . These ones? Yup.
I’m interested to see the roster moves today but the idea of Huff at 3rd is nonsense. They may as well put Schierholtz there. It makes as much sense. Didn’t he start out as a 3rd baseman? They should go with Tejada and Frenchy on the left side until Sandoval returns.
Maybe Tejada is just a slow starter. I never followed the Pathetics when he was mashing over there so I don’t know but Tejada is looking better all around lately.
How about honoring the tons of older, ex-NFL players that are truly debilitated, to varying degrees, with injuries earned during short or long years of play? These guys played in a sport where serious injury of some kind is practically a given at some point, yet never had the benefit, and still don’t, of the insanity of guaranteed baseball contracts that pay in full for non-performance. And now, they have pitiful pensions and go begging for medical care. They aren’t even given a chair in the room of these current NFL contract negotiations where both sides are carving up $9 billion a year. Use your Google, the stories are rife out there about all these guys. DeRosa had a pretty decent career, with total earnings (including his SF deal) so far at around $25 million. He got hurt, he tried to come back like a good soldier, but it didn’t happen. In the meanwhile, he got a WS ring for playing cheerleader and being a quasi-coach. Now he’s probably done. Yeah, it’s unfortunate, but it’s only his wrist. He’ll be announcing on MLB network soon. He’ll still be able to walk and remember where he is when he’s 60. If DeRosa were on the Niners or some other NFL squad, he would have been cut last offseason in mid-contract with a far worse injury than a bad wrist — sayonara, no contract payoff, thanks for coming — and most NFL fans, probably a lot here on this blog, wouldn’t have batted an eye over it. So, no apologies for not crying a river for Mark DeRosa, a nice guy that barely played for the Giants…
Your empathy for the NFL veterans is honorable and correct. And I salute you and agree. But comparing it with DeRosa’s situation is apples and oranges
The only apples and oranges is one sport had Marvin Miller, the other one didn’t…
“who” barely played…
Spare us your rationalization for being a 24-carat asshole.
Can it. You’ve got that role sewed up on this blog…
fight?
Apples and oranges, Snarkk.
What about the millions murdered and tortured in Darfur? Think they’d like a chance to make millions in the NFL?
Football’s brutal, but no one forced those guys to play the game. And both sides look like greedy bastards when you see HOF guys end up dying in the streets when they can’t get medical help. Stupid bastards can’t even figure out how to play nice with a $9 billion pie to divvy up.
Chuck, two words: Jeff Fuller.
Now tell me why I should be all torn up about DeRosa…
Where is this place, Darfur? I don’t follow the news at all.
Yeah, that sucked. I used to see him and a couple other Niners at San Carlos bowl all the time. Hell of a nice guy. At least Eddie is taking care of him. He set up an annuity that pays him $100,000 annually for the rest of his life. He wouldn’t be getting squat from his NFL pension.
But again, you can throw darts or piss on a DeRosa picture for all I care. You don’t have to begrudge DeRosa anything. He got what he got. If this is it for him, well, that’s it. It has nothing to do with the NFL and its compensation, or whatever.
But when it finally does end for guys like Miggy and Rowand and Zito I will force myself to take a moment and honor their commitment to this game.
———————————————————————————————
I’m with you 66% there, Flav. I won’t celebrate a Zito injury but I’ll never like him or his attitude. Miggy gets on my nerves sometimes as well but at least you know he’s frustrated with his results and he seems to be gettting better. Baby steps. Zito just doesn’t seem to give a shit. He tries to say the right things but it still comes off as “Whatever”. I hope he retires and becomes bunk buddies with Phil Jackson and they can ohmmmmmmmmmmm together for all eternity.
Okay. I’m done.
Very, very well written lead in, Flav
Huff has played 360 games at third in the bigs, the Nate comparison is hardly valid…
Chucklet, Culberson is slated to be their second baseman, you don’t move him. Burriss is used as a utility guy. If he has a future, that’s it.
Twin, the Schierholtz at 3rd idea was tongue in cheeck. I don’t see the point in putting Huff there. He’s comfortable at first and is doing a decent job despite not grabbing that grounder late last night. Tejada and Fontenot can handle the left side with whoever they bring up (Rohlinger/Crawford?). If Belt gets the call he’s in the OF but I think they may wait on him depending on Rowands status. .
Well, Nate actually did start out as a third baseman, that’s why I thought you made the reference.
It was why I made the reference but I agree that it isn’t realistic. Huff would be the one to go to in a pinch but I think it will be ugly. . Schierholtz is doing just fine with the role he’s got.
Thank God for Twin.
I hear you on the NFL post Snarkk but to me, it’s all about where my passion lies. I like football but I’m not crazy about it. Baseball, as a player and as a fan, has always hit me on an emotional level like no other sport. It’s saved me from a lot of bad things in my life, actually. And so when I see someone go down in this sport that means so much to me, it’s something I get stuck on; hard to move on from. It’s the same way for horse racing. And while I’ve grown numb to horse careers that can end so quickly there is an emotional piece of the sport that’s attached to my soul…..
The Splash is chock-a-block with Snarkk’s kind this morning. “I’m sorry he’s hurt, but..” There’s no “but”. Got it?
“BUT” is a favorite word used in ROOM B.
I thought moving Huff was a little crazy, but I read he offered to move to 3rd. “gimme a week”…If he’s cool with it, give it a whirl.
Would like to see what Gillaspie’s got. Any word on the extent of his injury?
He has a severed head……15 day DL.
Malingerer.
It is entirely acceptable to write either the man “that” wanted to talk to you, or the man “who” wanted to talk to you (3).
The American Heritage College Dictionary. Third edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993, p. 1540.
Got it?
And this was addressed to whom?
“huh?”
Soph tries that often, finds an archaic, seldom used, or slang usage to justify an idiocy. Accepted usage is “who”..
Now go celebrate another injury, there are always plenty.
Jim is watching the travel channel……….at home.
I cited a well accepted authority on the use of the English language.
You cite yourself as authority, as usual.
You lose…
It’s telling that Snarkk would find and utilize the non-human usage..
Snarkkk has no sympathy for NFL vets, it’s a transparent ploy to denigrate DeRosa
Snarkk posts here because his kind are pandemic on the Splash. Here he can enjoy singular status as a fucktard prick.
No way, I wouldn’t presume to take over your role…
Uhm, Nipper? There’s still a couple posts you haven’t gadflied on
DeRosa strikes me as a guy that will try to come back.
Usage rules are a bunch of hooey.
I will play the Devils Advocate here concerning De Rosa. His carreer like many players his age was during the Steroid era, now I have not seen one article on whether he was questioned or not so if I am way off base I apologize. Many players have admitted to using steroids due to injuries to extend their carreers. I have a hard time feeling sorry for players who did this and then once they stopped using the steroids the injury resurfaced and is worse.
DeRosa had a wrist surgery that was botched. Read up on it- you are waaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of line. But Snarkk will love your take..
Typical. Ascribe some unsaid, yet nefarious undertones to my posts. And, as usual, totally baseless. Slow morning for you?…
I think you may be a bit off base, unless steroids had the opposite effect on DeRosa. His power numbers got better *after* the steroid era
Steroids are supposed to aid and accelerate healing. He oughta sue Conte, eh?
I rescind my earlier comment. I’m getting my centuries mixed up. Nevertheless…uh uh
Something that even suggests GENUINE sympathy for DeRosa might be appropriate, Snarkkles.
Kevin is 53 years old?
He always sounds like a college grad hangin’ at Melarkey’s. Or one of the boat jocks that is always moored to a dock near a fancy watering hole. Or maybe one of those bikers at, oh shit! I have no idea where bikers hang in Sacto.
Now that I know the truth he must be one of those guys on Auburn-Folsom road with a riding mower to cut the grass and a big screen TV that only shows sports?
Whoa, does this mean I am home sick?
Etiquette lessons on a baseball blog. What a bonus!
Hey, I said if I was way off base I apologize. if you all want blood…
Ed, Biker bar, Monroe street near Fairoaks blvd and Folsom Blvd near Raleys market
I knew I’d find you somewhere!
Keep Delta water in the delta!!
I’ve looked several times at that video of Huff backing off Loney’s grounder. It makes no sense and perfect sense. He’s thinking too much, rather than acting on instinct. This of course happens when you’ve been pressing at the plate, where you start thinking about all the elements that go into a swing or an AB. And it’s worse when you’re being counted on as the 3 or 4 hole hitter. Moving him to 3B might only make this worse; that is, all the new things he needs to ‘think’ about, but it might also be so much to ‘think’ about that he has to revert to instinct. Who knows? Anyway, it’s how I read what I saw…
He had a split second to make the decision. He felt Franchez had a better chance at it. Perhaps Huff could have at least knocked it down. It’s the play where the lefthanded firstbaseman has the advantage.
“two words: Jeff Fuller.
Now tell me why I should be all torn up about DeRosa…”
Classic “re-framing the debate” or “strawman argument.”
No one said you should be “torn up about DeRosa.” The statements were about people ridiculing DeRosa or Sabean because of the injury.
The cool thing about the steroid era, for bloggers, is being able to just throw it out there without even a hint of corroboration. DeRosa’s history here suggests that he might have benefited from use, and puts to ruin the suggestion that he did use.
Loo still disrespects Torres with the “adda boy” smarminess, even though it’s documented that he does suffer from ADD and was diagnosed well before the alleged abuse of the diagnosis..
First we had the “Panda”, then the “Two Water Buffalos”, and now … “SF Zoo renames hippo after Giants pitcher Brian Wilson”
Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://bit.ly/iP6HMV
I have absolutely no idea how I feel about this
This would have been more appropriate: http://bit.ly/lXMkKq
… maybe that were out of Yaks that day.
Yeah, *that’s* more like it
Or bearded clams . . .
Appropriate. But there’s something of an “ick” factor there
Burriss back for DeRosa. Don’t know it either of those two have a hippo named after them.
Is it just me or is the “You got a weather balloon with points!!” Citibank commercial, running on all the MLB highlights, really ffFucKKKking annoying?
So true, Bill. I sometimes wonder who comes up with those ideas, and why someone approved the idea, but then I stop because it’s pretty depressing…
Yer LU for tonight:
1 Gomez CF
2 Gomez 2B
3 Smith 1B
4 Smith C
5 Schultz RF
6 Smith LF
7 Frenchie SS
8 Gomez SS
9 Schultz P
err… no, scratch that:
1 Torres CF
2 Sanchez 2B
3 Huff 1B
4 Posey C
5 Schierholtz RF
6 Ross LF
7 Fontenot SS
8 Tejada SS
9 Bumgarner P
Just to be consistent, 7. should have been something like, I don’t know, Chagall
I was thinking of Cheeseeatingsurrendermonkey, but I didn’t want to be offensive.
I woulda went with Maurice Chevalier.
Both good, both good
I like the double shortstop defense. Bochy’s not afraid to try something unconventional.
heh… didn’t notice that. It’s just the way mlb.com printed it. Just checked again, same way.
I guess that would Ida Know at 3rd base.
Giambi with 2 bombs and 5 ribbies off Clif Lee today?
Kendrick not Lee. Kendrick shook off some catcherly advice.
Kendrick.
MLB showed Lee as the starter.
I just looked again, and Lee was pinch hitting for Kendrick in the bottom of the 3rd?
Huh?
Did Manuel lose his marbles?
Gotta hunch we’re gonna see a little beanball action tonight…
Anybody concerned that our clean-up hitter has turned into Wee Willie Keeler?
We should be so lucky
32 of his 38 hits are singles. His last extra base hit came April 30 at Washington. 52 at-bats ago…
Dare I say he’s due.
Dare. Dare
Still think that is only thing holding SF back from romping the division: Huff and Posey lack of pop in the middle of the order. But everyone is mostly too busy ragging on tejada, somebody i didn’t expect to carry the team. With torres and sanchez ahead of them, those two have a lot higher expectations and a more important role than ross and nate/burrell.
re: “holding SF back from romping the division” We’ve played 24 of 72 division games this season (exactly 1/3) and we’re at 15-9 so far. If we slip down to playing only .500 in the rest of the div games, we still end up at .667 against the div.
oops, fucked my math on that one. 😉 errr… make that .541. Okay, we press on further.
That’s some mighty fine mathemacating there, son
Mrs. McCourt seeks immediate sale of Dodgers … (and Frank can’t make payroll this month).
from MLB.com: http://bit.ly/
I don’t want bum engaging in any bean ball stuff. He’s 0-6, just focus on your damn job and get s win
Sabean was on knbr today saying not only is voggy staying on the team this yr but they have him on next year’s staff too…
Long relief? Or was he not specific?
He also said Zito wasn’t even close to being ready to throw game live, and when he was, he would throw “5 or 6” starts in Fresno first. Also, he’d have to earn his way back. In other words, Zits is on long-term storage…
Crazy goings on tonight. Colorado clipping the Phils with Giambi now at 3 dingers on the evening, two against Kendrick and one vs. Danys Baez. He has accounted for all seven runs for the Rox with a three-run shot and a pair of deuces. WHAT is that dude on?
Meanwhile across the Bay from PhoneBill park the Twinkies put on a hitting demonstation of their own in an 11-1 clobbering of the A-hos. Much of the attack may have to do with the fact that Oakland’s starter, Ross, went down with an injury after barely taking the mound in the first and Minnesota clambered all over the A’s BP. Another injury, according to a yahoo report, happened in that other game, with CarGo pulling up lame between bases. He’s out for at least the evening. No need for his bat, though, with Giambi reverting to a prior incarnation.
WHAT is that dude on?
———————————–
ha ha ha
Wilson’s ankle is fine and available to pitch tonight. So is the rest of him. (per Schulman)
Snarkk’s take is correct, the way Sabean was wording it we won’t be seeing Zito for 6 weeks, at least. And with Raggs telling the press this week that he’s got Zito working on a new mechanical delivery to get his velocity back, that just tells me they are scrapping him for most of the season and just *warehousing* him. Come on, he had a sprained ankle. And he’s obviously pitching again if Raggs has him trying out this new “wrist cock” thing. And you know what, that’s fine. He can go ahead and spend his time trying to get his velocity back–it’s better than running him out there every five days to produce shit……
Giambi just struck out . . . So much for his nano-second renaissance.
he did hit 3 bombs tonight.
Yeah but he sucked for the last 45 minutes…
Magnus, fine post, and a reminder to me why I come here. Your observations above are humane and compassionate, and not the one-dimensional stuff common in sports blogs. I do have a fair certainty that Shulman and others read what goes on here; there is some evidence for that. E.g., Shulman’s comments on his blog. Also, earlier this week the person who goes by ‘Duk, on Yahoo sports, talked about Maszzarro as a verb. Hey! That’s my line, here. (Incidentally, I talked to a former minor league pitcher in Syracuse, STL prospect, who knows Vin Mazzarro. Didn’t quite agree w/ my take on how harshly VM was thrown to the wolves. Maybe because he knows from bitter experience how tough a game it is.)
The take that Zito’s injury will mysteriously linger is a hardly a new one… as to the POTD, Romo won’t be getting 8th inning opportunities if he persists in giving up hits to his first batter…bringing Wilson in was the correct decision..
Buster pulls even with Dirrrrrrrrrrty in doubles!
A double for Buster? Check his bat.
Removing Romo was not unequivocally the correct decision. The lingering paranoia over Romo’s slurve did not serve Bochy well last night. Romo has given up 11 HRs in 140 innings.
Yes, it was. As I said, he needs to get his first hitter or he’ll be working the 7th.
Is that some special rule that applies to Romo? If so, it’s irrational. He has given up 6 hits in 36 ABs this year.
“Double your pleasure, double your fun”, with Posey and Frenchy we’ve gotten a run.
Henry posted his piece at 12:02 A.M. today, before Craig’s post. Craig’s was excellent, but could not have influenced Schulman…
I think Buster is just trying to hit the ball square, going with a pitch, etc. He’s a smart hitter, he’s not swinging for the fences. Actually, Tejada seems to be doing the exact same thing. He’s not over swinging and he’s hitting the ball hard, if not far. Both are doing what you’re supposed to do if you’re slumping…….
When you’re slumping,
When you’re slumping,
The whole team slumps with you….
Way to be Farmer
Yeah Andres.
Productive out, way to be Freddie.
In Scully-ese, Sanchez hit a “scoring fly ball” and not a sac fly.
couple nice pieces of hitting right there. I luv the bunt by torres.. i know he has pop, but…if he beats out the hit and steals second, it’s the same as a double. If it helps him get on base, that’s a good thing imo.
Madison is pretty bummed about being Oh and Six, so he helps himself, inspiring some nice echoes from Andres and Freddy. This could be called a team sport.
horrendous call. We deserve it…..
I saw a lot of Mattingly, and for about 5 years this guy was Stan Musial.
Since when did executing a 1-6-3 double play become harder than getting a no-hitter?
What’s with the crap throws from the pitchers to the bases? It’s a mini epidemic…
Schmidt & ?
I agree that these throws are ruining the possibility of a DP but that ball should have been caught. Catching a baseball isn’t this hard. Maybe your timing is thrown off and you can’t execute the throw to first for the DP but it was a ball that should have been caught…….