A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

Look, I like both of those guys and I recognize how important it is to have a solid bullpen. But both of them (especially Lopez) are basically just lefty specialists. I am assuming that Sabean is working within some framework of a budget. And with SO MANY slots to fill on offense (at LEAST one outfielder, a shortstop, and a decent back up catcher) I just don’t think that the Giants can afford the luxury of having two of the most expensive pitching specialists out there.

Put another way, the 9.5 million they are spending on two guys who MIGHT pitch to 3 or 4 batters combined during a game, is now money that is diverted away from signing a free agent hitter who plays potentially 1400-1500 innings a year. And I’m not talking about this diverted money now not available for pipe dreams like Fielder and Reyes. Did we just price ourselves out of the Coco Crisp *Sweepstakes*? Probably not, but it’s clear to me now that Sabean is going to think all will be resolved with the return of Franchez and Posey. And that is risky at best and idiotic at worst.

It is just not realistic to think that Franny makes it through a full season without misplacing a body part or two (and looking for them on the DL). And there is NO guarantee that Busty will be back at full strength. Those types of injuries are complicated. The stud first baseman for the Angels (I can’t remember his name right now–the guy who broke his leg in early 2010 in a home plate celebration) missed the rest of 2010 and ALL of 2011 even though they said he would be back for 2011. My idea would have been to sign another legitimate major league catcher and have Buster play first base against lefties (with new-dude catching). That would take some pressure off his legs, something he will probably need in 2012. But I digress, I accepted a long time ago that Sabean isn’t interested in my ideas 🙂

Anyway, welcome to your new starting shortstop:  Brandon Crawford. Whatever shot we had at signing Rollins went out the window with the 9.5 million Sabean just handed over to a luxury we can’t afford……

That’s what some of these fringe Ranger players will be telling someone at a  bar in their hometown years from now. They’ll shake their head sideways and tell that story a million times hoping the ending somehow changes. “Bartender, one more round….”

Did you see how hard Nelson Cruz went for that Craig HR? Now THAT, dude, is how you’re supposed to go back on a ball. If he did that in Game 6 the Rangers would be Champions right now instead of the insufferable LaRussa’s. What is it about these goddamn Cruz’ in right field that fail so horribly at the worst possible times??????

And how about David Freese? While other Cards have WS MVP bonuses written into their 8 figure contracts, this dude just went out there and banged out more RBI’s than ANYONE in post season history. Amazing. His agent, the crafty and well known “Nez Balelo” scored him a $6,000 bonus after he was drafted by the Padres in 2006……..

The only guy as happy as a Cardinal this morning? Adam Meyer, the Vegas gambler who bet $100,000 on the Cardinals to win at 15-1 . http://www.covers.com/articles/articles.aspx?theArt=251367 . He ends up making more off that bet than every single one of the league minimum guys on the Cardinal’s roster……

He hedged his bets all the way through so the profit isn’t what it looks like. But still, well done on him. He runs a website called adamwins.com and he charges his VIP clients 10K a month for all his sports bets. 10K? I wouldn’t be *VIP* if I paid for that I’d be *DUI*…..

The bottom line for the Rangers is, they just couldn’t close the door. Each pitcher failed when given the chance to step up. Overall, their pitching was shady. Their staff collectively  issued the most walks for any world series ever. Can’t win when you’re handing out free passes all the time.  I still think Washington should own a lot of this. He seems like a great guy, roots and cheers like a fan every time they score a run, but the tactical side of managing is not his strength. Around the 7th inning or so I felt a genuine sorrow for him as he knelt on the dugout steps watching the inevitable unfold….

I read some of your posts last night about game 7 giving us “one more day to bask” and all that. To me, it’s never been about being the reigning champions. Maybe when the season first started it did, for a bit, but that quickly faded away. We have a spot in history that will live forever. “Supernova’s” usually last for about a month, but the one that set off inside my soul on 11/1/10 hasn’t come close to extinguishing. And it never will….

Alright, so who the Hell is Sabean gonna go get to fix his goddamn offense? 🙂 We now have about 4 full months of down time. I’ll turn my focus to finding the best bikini babes the internet has to offer. I’ll set up polls that, after Sabean reads the outcome, will likely determine the make up of the 2012 club. During a dark month we’ll probably all turn to Haiku for solace…..I don’t think I’m gonna do a retro-Giant thing again but I’ll find something, I always do. The Flap doesn’t take a break like the other slacker blogs, we go 24/7/365……

I find it rather amusing that the first World Series game (this year) that I watched from start to finish was last night’s game. I actaully had to turn it off after the 10th (life got in the way) but I got up early this am and watched the 11th…..

This box score is ridiculous.

Chuck might have had an easier time scoring in a whorehouse than either of those teams had in throwing up a shut down inning. Easy, I said *might*…..

This was NOT the best game I have ever seen. Any game with that many errors and miscues and horrible pitching can’t fall into a category of anything *best* unless you’re talking about *worst*. But in terms of excitement and clutch hitting from start to finish, that was the most exciting baseball game I have ever seen. I have been rooting half heartedly for Texas but I caught myself rooting for St Louis at least 3 times from the 7th inning on….

I found several of Washington’s moves questionable but none seemed to really backfire badly until the last inning. The only scenario that I can put together for why Feldman went to the on deck circle and then finally got pulled for German is this: Cruz had a noticeable limp coming off the field at the end of the 10th. I think Wash wanted to keep Feldman in the game but for some reason didn’t find out that Cruz was done until Feldman literally got announced in the on deck circle. Then he had to go with German. Pulling your last reliable reliever for your worst to get a pinch hitter into the game with 2 outs and a guy on FIRST BASE makes no sense at all. We’ll see what story gets told about that weird sequence………

If you’re David Freese you are waking up this morning a unique hero. A hometown dude, down to his last strike, saves the game in the 9th and then wins it in the 11th with a walk off bomb? That’s a cheesy, made up Hollywood movie……….

I don’t know why I am trying to talk myself into believing that signing Grady Sizemore would be a good idea. But our outfield is so bad that it seems like a risk worth taking. And you’d probably have to go 2 years with him. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think his most recent surgery was related to the micro surgery he had 2 years ago. It always tough to predict how someone bounces back from micro surgery, it’s not like Tommy John or repairing and ACL. But it can easily take longer than a full year and if that ‘s the case then maybe Sizemore is ready for that bounce back year everyone thought he might have had last year. He’s only 29, this guy was a legit 40/40 threat just a couple of years ago. Run him through a complete physical, if he passes that I would be fine with signing him to play LF for us……

I’m assuming Bruce Jenkins was kidding when he said the Niners shouldn’t sign T.O. I mean, he hasn’t actual heard this is being discussed, has he? T.O needs money, that is the only reason he’s looking for a job right now and he knows he can’t afford to wait till next season as he turns 39 in December of next season. This would be “Chris Webber” all over again at least in terms of failed expectations. You can’t tell me that we don’t have a healthy receiver on the practice squad who isn’t better than TO at this point in his career. Not even Harbaugh has the hubris to pull this off with a straight face……..

After reading and re-reading LaRussa’s bizarre, unbelievable explanations for how the names “Rzepczynski”, “Lynn” and “Motte” get mixed up, I have to believe he is covering for someone. Either Duncan or Lilliquest. Hell, maybe Motte was in the bathroom or something. Who knows. But nothing about what he’s saying happened could have actually happened. And if he is covering for someone, what is the point? If someone else is responsible, why can’t they man up and field the tough questions? I understand WHY Tony is choosing to cover I just don’t understand why the guy responsible isn’t wanting to own any of this. Maybe he doesn’t want to be “Bartman-ized”. Actually, that makes some sense.

But that makes this just about one man. What about the team? The city and fans that want this so badly? If a plausible answer came to light, this would all blow over (except for the one guy who would eat it). As it stands today, there are still more questions than answers. LaRussa just made all this worse than it needed to be (assuming he’s covering up the real story). The Cardinals need to regain their focus and it’s pretty hard to do with this hanging over their collective head…..

A win tonight would fix everything. A loss? LaRussa will go from “baseball genius” to “baseball joke” over night. He’s just not a smart person if he thinks anyone believes the bullshit answers that he’s feeding the media right now……

Last January, I mocked the Angels for TRADING FOR V-Wells.

Here was the post I put up after that trade:

“the Angels are fucking retarded morons. Trading for Vernon Wells? I don’t give a flying fuck what he did last year, he is probably the most overpaid player in all of baseball based on production (besides Zito). And they TRADED for him. Shit, Napoli, if given a starting spot, might hit more HR’s than him. They coulda paid him 6 mil to do that. Instead they trade for “Mr Nagging Injury” and get to pay him 86 more million. Shit, why didn’t they just overpay for Carl Crawford?”

I couldn’t believe that a GM would WILLINGLY trade for one of those bad, bulging contracts. It was bad enough that a GM would GIVE a guy 100-200 million. But a guy TRADING for one of those contracts? It made no sense at all. Only an idiot would take what Wells did in 2010 and say “Hey, I think he’s back on track. Gimmie Wells and the 85 million he’s still owed.”

Anyway, I also made a quick comment  in passing about the guy the Angels gave up for the great honor of taking on Wells and his bulbis contract. Mike Napoli has been a revelation this year. Besides probably being the WS MVP, this dude banged out 30 bombs this year, he hit .320 with a 1.046 OPS. He was a monster. What did Wells do? He hit .218 with 25 bombs. Predictable.

But that’s not even the thing that blows my mind the most. Who did the Angels have to replace Napoli at catcher? Jeff Freaking Mathis–he’s So-Cal’s version of *Whitey*. Mathis, the last 3 years, has hit .211, .195, and .174. He’s had over 1200 at bats in those 3 years. I understand he’s a stud defensive guy who the manager loves. But he’s batting .194 over the course of the last 3 years. Whiteside just blew a load in his pants. If he doesn’t keep the back up job with SF he can always head down to Anaheim and be embraced with open arms by Mike Scioscia…..

I took a long look at Napoli when I was getting ready for my drafts last Winter but mostly because he qualified as a catcher and you just don’t get anything from that position besides a handful of guys. But, in 30 round leagues he was going 10-11 round and that was just too early for my tastes. Clearly, I made a mistake…..

Toronto is almost as bad as the Angels, they trade FOR this dude and then turn him over to Texas 4 days later for Frank *gas can* Francisco. The Toronto GM was probably so excited to have pawned off Wells he didn’t take much time appreciating the found gold he had, instead pining his hopes on Arencibia who hit about what I thought he’d hit for the year (.219)…..

One GM’s good decision is another GM’s bad decision and those are usually the differences between being on vacation now while the *other guys* are still winning baseball games…….

As this series unfolds and we watch the pendulum swing back and forth, I think we are seeing two teams that aren’t evenly matched as much as they are genuinely flawed. They both have good offenses and below average pitching staffs, so in that respect I guess they are evenly matched. But when you have average pitching there’s just no way to predict how a game might turn out. These are all major league pitchers, they all have talent. A lot of the time they’ll get lit up or have no idea where the strike zone is. Other times they turn in their serviceable 5.2 innings. Occasionally, like last night, you get a gem out of Holland. And hey, every blue moon you get a no hitter out of a guy like Edwin Jackson……

If you’ve got great pitching v a poor offense it’s usually a lot more easy to predict. The Giants, for instance, could be counted on for months of bad hitting and months of great pitching. Occasionally, you’d get the *7 run outburst* but more often it would be the usual *scratch and sniff*.

If I was betting (which I don’t do anymore because the stupid government shut down all the online gambling) I would have bet the over on last night’s game (I find both of those pitchers to be hittable except in the case of Jackson who is unhittable when he’s walking everybody). And of course, I would have lost. If I had offered you the Chiefs minus 27 yesterday, how many of you WOULDN’T have taken that? Betting on sports is fun. I’m glad I don’t have to try to make a livin’ doing it……..

No Niner game today. I can kinda get up for a quarter or two of the Raider game, especially if Palmer plays. But otherwise, today is a *get shit done* day. I find it much easier to get shit done when there aren’t any sports on tv to tickle my fancy with. I’m gonna start out at Katie’s school for some sort of *Work Day* to fix stuff at her school. I’ll be the one pretending to do something. I’m not known as a handy-man. After that, we have some Halloween shopping to do and will probably hit a pumpkin patch later. But that’s about it. You guys got anything special planned today? What does a typical Flapper do on a typical  Sunday when there isn’t any baseball (Giants) or football (Niners) to watch?

I had great interest in reading Baggs’ quick interview with Sabean published in the Merc this morning—greater interest than I’ve had in the playoffs up to this point. I was going to take a shot at watching an entire actual game today but Game 3 is starting at the same time the Cardinal game starts so that isn’t happening…..

Anyway, pretty typical comments from Sabean but this line from Baggs disturbed me a little: “Sabean said he probably cannot acquire another full time catcher as insurance because resources will be needed elsewhere.” I get it that we will be dumping a lot of money into the pitching staff, and I’m fine with that. But this admission suggests that the brass didn’t quite get how devastating the Stew-Whitey tandem was to the line up last year. With Crawford hitting in front of the catching position we were basically giving away a third of our outs each time through the order. That isn’t going to ever work or be ok. If Sabean thinks we can go into a season with one of those 2 catchers as our back up to Posey he just isn’t understanding how bad they were last year.

I would sign a legit back up major league catcher who wouldn’t just back up Posey—Let him play a couple of days a week vs lefty pitching and slide Buster over to first base. We have precious little right handed power hitters and if the choice is Pill or Posey at first during those games I go with Buster all day long— it would also give his body a break and if the unthinkable happens again, and he either can’t recover from the ankle injury or he gets badly hurt again, then we have a legitimate player to put behind the dish for the rest of the season…..

To not take this approach is short sighted, risky and borderline ignorant. I hope the brass does the right thing here……….

I loved reading the comments from everyone….Here is a partial post from Stix from the thread below. It is the perfect way to end this…..

Saving the best for last……

….Baseball is sacred, in its way. It is the hallmark of dedication and devotion and sometimes even deification. But it is not idolatry. We do not so much idolize these gifted athletes and their feats as we adore the spirits that move them to perform the way they do. Ultimately, the spiritual triumphs over the material. All the experts picked the other guys in this most blessed Post-Season. But it was the team with the most character, the largest number of characters and the greatest spirit who became World Champions……”

SF Giants: 2010 World Series Champions

1. More. Win.

I searched youtube for the Tony La Russa *dancing in tights” videos and only came up with “Tony La Russa–DUI videos”– some of those were a hoot, as was David Cassidy’s road side test. I feel a twinge of sympathy for celebrities who get pulled over. Once the cop finds out who they are they probably do anything they can to be able to bring them in. But that sympathy goes away when I remember that they are millionaires who should be able to afford a driver or, at worst, a cab ride home. Anyway….

I am rooting for Texas to win this series and I think they win it rather easily. Everyone talks about how poor, dumb Ron Washington can’t manage within the NL rules. Well, he’s made the World Series 2 straight years so he’s gotta be doing something right. And I suspect he, and his players, gleaned a lot from last year’s experience. I’ll say Rangers in 6 (and I almost said 5)….

The Raider Trade: It’s a trade they had to make. There wasn’t anyone on their roster or languishing on the WW who could step in and keep this thing going. Everyone is looking at Palmer’s last couple of years (saying his best years are behind him) but he had no deep threats on those teams and that’s the Raider’s specialty. I can’t wait to see how that  golden arm connects to the bullet trains that Oakland sends on all their “go” routes. I don’t follow Oakland enough to know how good their O-Line is so that could be a problem if they aren’t any good. But if he’s got any time at all this offense could turn into a high-flying machine. And they’ve got McFadden that the defense always has to stop. The *go* routes and the *post* routes are there for the taking if they want it…..

Plus, they DID technically draft a #1 QB in the supplemental draft this year (Pryor). That could have been the *type* of guy they would have drafted anyway in next year’s draft….

Of course they paid too much. But if it works and they go deep in the playoffs or to another Super Bowl and Palmer is re-born in Oakland, the price won’t matter a bit. Only the results. And although it’s a huge gamble, I can’t think of a better way to say “Just win, Baby”….

Moments In Time

I guess some people called Texas in the World Series, but St Louis? This is a repeat of 2006 for them when they won 83 games and, of course, the World Series. This year they won more (90) but they are the last team I would have picked to get here.

And what will the over/under’s be for these two gas can pitching staffs? The total runs for both of these “clincher” games? 38. Thirty-eight freaking runs in 2 games. That’s not baseball that’s beer league softball.

Maybe I’m just being bitter about the Giants not being there but I’ve got no interest in watching a parade of shitty pitchers get blasted away on and somehow trick myself into believing that these are the best 2 teams that baseball has to offer…

So how about those Niners, eh? Of course, I was wrong about how the game would unfold. I get to chucklin’ every time I think about Harbaugh and his “humble hearts” comment from last week. Is there a bigger dick anywhere in football when it comes to the coach’s handshake than Jimbo? The “What’s YOUR deal” guy looks like he could stand a lesson in sportsmanship. I think the Detroit coach over reacted but Harbaugh needs to look at his end-of-game win reactions. Simple lesson not just in sports but in life: act like you’ve been there before…..

I’m re-posting my contribution to Chuck’s blog this morning. Nailing football scores are tough but take a stab at it even if you don’t care about the game. It beats whatever baseball game is on today. For what it’s worth, I see Milwaukee winning today. Marcum is such the better pitcher than Edwina.

Glory today, But Destiny Awaits…..

Back to Philly

Great Cody Ross Story

Black Beards VS Phuckin Fillies…….

I was driving around yesterday re-living some of the moments from last post season in my brain. It wasn’t really doing it for me. When I got home I decided to check out the archives at The Flap and that DEFINITELY did it for me. I appreciate that many of you aren’t Niner fans and there just isn’t a lick of Giants news to kick around right now. So at least for the next week or so, maybe longer, I’m gonna re-post a thread from last year and try to have it be exactly a year ago today. Today’s was actually written the morning of October 10th, I believe that was the “Brook’s Conrad” game. We were 1-1 in the series before that game. I picked this thread to start because, like many of you, I enjoyed Stix’ posts from last night. And last October 10th I appreciated one of his posts so much that I re-posted it in the main thread. You can go read the comments too, but I would encourage you not to *read ahead* since I will be posting some of the best threads that followed last year in the coming days. So, without further adieu, I give you YOUR 2010 San Francisco Giants, on the way to becoming World Series Champions, 2010….

Guest Author For Game 3….

It’s amazing how quickly baseball has switched out in my brain with football taking over. I tried to watch some of the Brewers game yesterday–even had it on right next to the Niner game at the Sports bar I was at. I just couldn’t do it. It could be that the pace of the two games are so different. I love the pace of a baseball game when I’m watching it, especially live. But putting it next to the helter-skelter violence and speed of a football game? Baseball is a cerebral game, football is an ADHD game. I like both but trying to watch them at the same time? I dunno, it just didn’t work for me. It could also have to do with me not really giving a rip about any of the teams left in the playoffs. Say what you will about the Yankees but the drama, the anticipation of the game, just isn’t really there without them. I just had to go to Yahoo sports to see who won the Tigers/Rangers Game and saw it was postponed due to weather. I had no idea……

The other possible reason I didn’t get into the Brewers game is that I am swimming neck deep in a re-birth in NinerLand. Football is fun again. Alex Smith is now the 3rd highest rated passer in all of football. After five games, let that fact sink in if you even can. And where the Hell did Carlos Rogers come from? I mean, I know he played for the ‘Skins but this guy is a revelation. He’s like the 2nd coming of Eric Wright. And what I’m most impressed with is not his picks (those are great, though) it’s how well he reads routes. The dude is certain of what play is coming and he cuts off everything. Unreal.

My favorite quote from Alex Smith yesterday? Easy: “I don’t think it’s some big, magic thing. WE JUST CONTINUE TO LEARN and improve.” It’s sad that Smith was coached by two fools for so many years. I mean, I know Nolan and Sing didn’t *coach* him. But they did nothing but get in the way of his development and success. He’s now got a coach who believes in him and who COACHES him and who is installing an offense that utilizes these skills. I’ve always thought that Harbaugh sees himself in Smith–a guy who had skills, maybe not to be *Joe Montana*, but a guy who would develop later in his career……

Anyway, I’ll keep the baseball game on in the background and will check the box scores every day. Maybe catch a few highlights at mlb.com. But the rest of my sports-watching time will be 100% focused on The Motor City. Bring on the Lions, baby. That will be a tough one to win……

I think anyone who knows me knows that I wouldn’t ever celebrate a person being injured. One exception: I  have no problem with a football player going after a known injured area of an opposing football player. It’s a violent game, if you take the field willingly you are fair game. And exploiting weaknesses is what football is all about. I’m still pissed that the Niners didn’t go after Romo when they knew he was hurt……

But I don’t celebrate other people being hurt or injured. I don’t have a bad feeling in the world about Ryan Howard, I hope he’s ok. And I do have genuine sympathy for him and for how his last 2 seasons have ended….

Hell, I’ve been hurt several times playing sports. I’ve torn ligaments in both wrists diving for balls on separate plays 2 years apart. Competing is something to honor and if you get hurt doing so you get honored that much more.

I just don’t like the Philly fan base and I never will. They’re all a bunch of whiny, hubris-inebriated,  out of touch with reality, blaming booing fucks. And I will not be changing this opinion any time soon…..

Except for Tom Petty. I fucking love Tom Petty and he gets a pass with me for as long as we are both alive for being a Philly fan. No Flappers, it’s not THAT  Tom Petty. But the one I’m talking about reads the blog regularly, lurking but never posting. I hope you’re good my man, you need to check in soon. 🙂

Here’s a pic of one of the great men I have been lucky enough to know in my lifetime. This dude is a compilation of brilliance, genius, glory and destiny. He is, quite simply, THE MAN!

This has been a good week phor me. I revel in watching east coast teams phail. New York and Philadelphia both got knocked out. I’ve got nothing against the players who phail. It’s their phans who I don’t like. I don’t like the east coast media, either. When east coast teams phail, they blame it on bad luck. The other team “caught lightening in a bottle.” Phailure doesn’t happen to their team. At least in the pre-season. Or the regular season. Phailure only happens to  other teams. At least until it happens to them…..

So watching the Eagles phail last week to my phavorite phootball team, during the same week I was celebrating the one year anniversary of my phavorite baseball team phorcing a phail right down the Phillies throats made phor a really good week phor me. And watching Ryan Howand lie on the phield, injured, as yet another season went up in smoke phor a phan base that I don’t like or respect, well, that just capped a really good seven days phor me. I’ve got nothing against Howard so don’t think I’m celebrating his injury. At least he got his bat off his shoulder this time. It’s the epic collective phail of a phan base that I am celebrating. Phuck you, Philly phans. Don’t phorget the phacts. This season, phailure phinally phound you. Phrankly speaking, your *dream teams* phooled you. Enjoy your off season of phreaking out and phantasizing about phinishing 2012 with a championship. You’re phucking delusional……..

I was shaking my head at some of the blogger comments I read this morning that were celebrating the Yankees losing to the Tigers. Many commenters called them “cheaters!”. Huh? How are the Yankees cheating? They have a high payroll. That’s cheating? They operate completely within the boundaries of the rules of signing players. And the other owners don’t complain, in fact they secretly love it, because of how much direct revenue the Yankees bring each time they come to play them in their yard. Not to mention the luxury tax and revenue sharing that they dole out through mlb back to the other 29 teams. They have constructed one of the most successful, BEST cable companies in the world. If you don’t subscribe to the YES network you should know this: they put on the best baseball production (pre and post game included) of any team in the country. It’s not even close.

And another little FACT that everyone seems to miss: most of the time, they aren’t *buying* anything but misery for their fan base. Since their WS win in 2000 they’ve won exactly ONE WS in the last 11 seasons. That’s a percentage of failure that hardly suggests *buying* championships. Forgetting their salaries, that rate of success is right around the same as every other team that’s won a world series over the last 11 seasons. They are “one of the gang” of the more successful franchise’s over the last decade…….

So they aren’t *cheating* and they certainly aren’t *buying* championships, that’s been proven. What they consistently do is put a professional, winning, cash producing product on the field every single year. They also consistently produce a hilarious dysfunctional drama through the press that is better than any soap opera or reality show. Listen, these players are held to a different standard than almost any other player not playing in Boston. They put up with a lot of sh!t and for the most part do it with dignity and honor. Say what you will about A-ROD but he knows what it means to be a Yankee and how to conduct yourself in public. He screws it up all the time, but he knows what he’s supposed to do. In fact, watching him screw it up is another reason that following the Yankees is one of my hobbies. 🙂

They play the villain. Every great story needs one. They know their role. But they aren’t villain’s the way you would look at T.O or Romanowski or guys like that. They play the game the way it is meant to be played and I, for one, have always honored them for that. Watching them lose, and knowing what that does to their pompous fan base, is a sick pleasure to enjoy.

But calling them *cheaters* and the *Evil Empire* just doesn’t make any sense to me…..

By the way, Detroit’s payroll is in the top 10 in all of baseball. This is hardly a case of the poor factory worker taking down his well-off factory owner boss. The Twins, Cubs, Mets and Giants are in the top 10, too. Did they *buy* a World Series this year? Ha, they couldn’t even get into the playoffs. And the Twins, Mets and Cubs were awful this year. Those 3 teams spent about 350 million dollars this year. As Ricky would say, “For who, for what?”

You don’t buy World Series championships. You earn them with a little luck along the way…..

This has been kicked around a bit already. I find it interesting that there isn’t a single headline about his dropped lawsuit at the Giants official website (though Yahoo reports the team is “welcoming him back with open arms”). What a weird situation the team is now in with him. He’s 21 freaking years old. They have precious few hitting prospects in their organization. But their BEST hitting prospect plays the position Villalona had taken over prior to killing that (er, I mean, being *accused* of killing that guy) in the DR (Belt/1B).

From a PR standpoint, the Giants should probably cut ties with the guy. Despite what may or may not have happened, the *perception* is that Villalona paid off the family of the dude who was murdered. It’s impossible to know what happened down there, he’s as likely totally innocent as he is guilty. Maybe he paid off the family, maybe he didn’t. But again, the *perception* is that he was guilty of killing a man. What chapter of The Giants Way does this conundrum cover? I guess with Bow Tie gone….um, nevermind.

What do you do with him? It appears they don’t know yet. I suppose they could shy away from answering anything about him and just let him start playing in their minor league system again. Being a legit hitter goes a long way–though it’s still unclear if that’s what Villalona will ever be……..

Trade bait?

Career minor leaguer?

Our next great hitting prospect?

If I’m Villalona, I never go back to the DR again. He’s got a 2nd chance or maybe he dodged a bad luck bullet frame job. Either way, he’s got an opportunity here. Where and with whom that opportunity lies is unclear.  It’ll be interesting to watch it play itself out…..

I’m catching a little bit here and there. I’ve watched the Yankee/Detroit games. Most of them anyway. It’s been hard for me to think about baseball with the season over and the buzzkill of the Giants not being in it this year. Are you guys watching it?

I have Detroit beating Philly in Twin’s contest. I did it quickly and if I had to do it over again I think I would have Milwaukee in the WS vs the Tigers. The Brewers have 3 stud pitchers who I think will shut down Philly’s offense (assuming they get by the Cardinals). And there is just something about that line up that is impossible not to admire–speed and power. It’s a beautiful thing……

Go through their starting 8. I’d take every single one of them over who the Giants had starting this year except McGehee  over Panda, obviously. Morgan was a nice find for them this year. He modified his game, upped his batting average and didn’t try to get thrown out stealing every time he got on first base. He’s still crazy since you can’t extract that out of your body. But he’s kept his insanity pretty well in check this year. He could have been the next Milton Bradley (and still might end up that way).

Anyway, the Brewers are legit, I wouldn’t want to face them in the playoffs……..

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Huge HUGE opportunity for you today (insert gay-ass…oh whatever you know). If you are interested in guest-posting an upcoming thread, email me your post and I’ll slap it up here. You can sign your name or not, it doesn’t matter to me. Don’t send me thread IDEAS send me something you write that could be an actual thread. I’m all about cutting and pasting these days. Twin’s already got Room B covered so it can’t be him.  It would help me out since thread ideas are few and far between in *the Winter* so don’t be shy. Hell, it could be a Haiku for all I care.  E mail me if you want to take a shot at this gig: bigflavor77@gmail.com

We did it to them again. Less than a year ago, our team from San Francisco gave Philly fans a lesson in what happens when you have too much hubris. Some of them are still waiting for Ryan Howard to swing that bat. Yesterday, the Alex Smith Led Niners doled out another painful lesson to learn. There are few things I enjoy more in sports than knocking an east coast fan base or media base down a few pegs. And boy did we do that yesterday. The “Dream Team” is turning into a nightmare. How many Super Bowl teams started the year 1-3? There’s probably precedent for it but it can’t be too many.

Chuck is doing a fabulous job with his new blog ninersforever.com. You can check it out in the blogroll to the right. I shouldn’t have a thread about football but I’m still flying high off one of the great Niner comebacks in their history. As a longtime Harbaugh disciple from our street growing up as kids through his short but dominant time at The Farm, nothing about what he’s doing with this team is surprising me. I thought it might take a little longer to take hold since they had virtually no training camp. But what he’s done with the Niners in this short time is amazing and Alex Smith, as I suspected, is reaping the benefits of a coach who believes in him as well as actually coaches him. His QB rating for the year is 97.7 and that’s outstanding no matter how you look at it. He’s ahead of Romo, Vick, Rivers, Newton…..even the vaunted Dalton. Who’d a thunk that?

Yes, this is a Giants blog and “no” I will not be tolerating anything but high praise for Smith and the Niners here today. If you’re a fan, enjoy this re-birth in San Francisco. But this bus isn’t taking on any new fares so if you weren’t on before the season started just wait patiently for the next one. The Cowboy bus should be coming along any time now…….

If you want to check out a historic baseball milestone, clink on this link

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/60th-anniversary-bobby-thomsons-famous-homer/

Big college football weekend so this will be quick. I still don’t understand what the hell Bochy and Sabean were talking about regarding Huff at their press conference. They both attributed his down year to not doing enough in his off season conditioning program. They threw in all the requisite press conference bs like “we’re here to win” and “Aubry was humbled by this year” and “he’s gotta pull more weight”. But then on the Giants website they have Huff saying “Huff took full accountability for his year, saying he began the season with mechanical problems before his problems became more mental than anything….”

Huh?

Everyone was praising Sabes/Bochy for that forthcoming press conference but they left more questions unanswered than answered. What EXACTLY did Huff NOT do in his off season workout program? He looked exactly the same in 2010 as he did in 2011 so it wasn’t a weight issue. And I still don’t see how *being out of shape* results in you hitting 464 billion bouncing balls to 2nd base. Plus, Huff himself is on the Giants website saying it was a mechanical/mental thing.

Huff got married in the off season and his wife gave birth to their first child. Was he up all night helping feed the baby and too tired to do anything the next day? Who knows.

He did rake the ball in Spring Training so I don’t understand why his suggested poor conditioning didn’t show itself then. Something that was NEVER brought up was his 1 on/1 off pattern from year to year. Sabean even brought up “the back of his baseball card” without mentioning that. It was actually mentioned at this blog several times last off season and it’s a pretty obvious pattern. I am assuming that Huff knows this too and that’s what he meant when he said “and then it became a mental thing.” If so, we are in for a nice year in 2012. Plus that baby’s sleep pattern might be a little more regular and the dude is finally getting some sleep 🙂

I’d like to see Belt at first base next season with Pill getting some playing time against lefties. Pill might also learn how to play the outfield. Something that never seems to get brought up is that we have very little right handed hitting power in this team. Outside of Posey and Panda (when he can swing right handed) it would be nice to have another right handed hitting bat in the LU or coming off the bench in the later innings. I could absolutely see Pill with that role next season and if the Giants don’t go get a *Willingham* or someone comparable to play left field, it could be *Huffy* out there with Belt at first base…..