Philadelphia Phillies

Okay Giants' fans, it's time to get over Wednesday's loss, and get ready for the Rockies Friday night. Hey, I can be just as greedy as anyone, especially when it comes to a potential three-game sweep of the defending N.L. Champion Phillies. Everything was looking good: Lincecum on the mound, a three-run lead in the top of the 9th, and Brian Wilson getting loose in the pen should Timmy run out of gas. Then, with one out, a four-pitch walk to Shane Victorino, Bochy yanks Lincecum after 106 pitches, and Wilson cannot close the door. Jayson Werth's bases-clearing bloop double down the right field line tied the game at 4-4. In my opinion, total fluke! Wilson had not allowed a single run all season, and actually retired the first batter he faced. There were two outs before Utley singled and Howard walked to load the bases. Listen, if Wilson had finished off the game as he usually does, we wouldn't be having this endless discussion about Bochy's ill-fated pitching change. If he had left Timmy finish the game and he blew it, the same people would be criticizing Bochy FOR NOT making a move. It's really an impossible position for the skipper. I don't mind seeing Lincecum throw 120 pitches, but you have to figure it will make a difference later in the season once he exceeds the 200-inning plateau. If Bochy can save him, and limit the pitch count here and there, it could keep him fresher into September, and that's really the big picture. Don't pound your horses into the ground in April. Yes, it would have been nice to see the complete game, but IT IS Wilson's job to slam the door, and Wednesday just wasn't his day.

Continue reading ""Time for the Giants to Focus on ..."

 Just sheer domination that didn't necessarily show up in the win column! Fifteen victories equals a Cy Young?  Let's look at ALL of the numbers to really appreciate how great Tim

Continue reading ""Tim Lincecum Captures Second Cy Young""

   It's hard to believe only 10 games remain in the regular season for the Giants, trailing Colorado by four games in the N.L. Wild Card race.  Although it's still mathematic

Continue reading ""Giants Begin Final Home Stand of the Season""

  Eugenio Velez drilled the first pitch of the game of Pedro Martinez for a home run and a 1-0 Giants' lead.  Too bad that was the end of the scoring for the rest of the game in a 2-1 loss to the Phillies Thursday.  Martinez looked really good with 9 strike outs over seven innings. No, his fastball is not what it once was, but he knows how to pitch, and still features a deceptive delivery with his arm angle. Philadelphia is hoping THIS will be the same Pedro they can take with them into the post season. Giants' fans may remember when Pedro came off the DL in May of '08 as a New York Met, and beat San Francisco at A.T.& T. Park. He also had two hits in that game, and Barry Zito was awful - I remember because I was there!  Now Zito has regained his form, and apparently, so has Pedro, because he was Way better today then he was at anytime last year with the Mets.

Continue reading ""Giants Can't Score Off Pedro Martinez; ..."

  I don't think anyone expected that!  How about 8 shutout innings in a small ball park against the defending World Series Champion Phillies!  And it was the real line-up too:  Rollins, Victorino, Utley, Howard, Werth, Ibanez.  How many all-stars and/or MVP's are in that batting order?  Penny looked comfortable, and was surprisingly NOT rusty at all, throwing an easy 94 MPH as late as the 8th-inning.  His last start for Boston was August 21st when he allowed 8 earned runs to the Yankees in just four innings of work.  Wednesday, it was some timely double plays, good defense, and plenty of composure from a 10-year vet.  This was A BIT of an upgrade over Joe Martinez and Ryan Sadowski.  (By the way, sorry to see the team designate the "Big Sadowski" for assignment - we barely knew you.

Continue reading ""Digging Brad Penny in the Orange and Black""

  Hopefully for Giants' fans, Brad Penny can find his groove back in the National League.  In his three inter-league starts against national league teams this year, Penny posted a

Continue reading ""Brad Penny on the Bump for the Giants""

iss?  Is Sanchez a long-term solution, or just a quick fix down the stretch?

  The Philadelphia Phillies come to town for a four-game weekend series beginning Thursday night.  The defending World Series Champions feature one of the most powerful line ups in baseball, and were also busy dealing Wednesday, acquiring last year's A.L. Cy Young Winner Cliff Lee from Cleveland.  So the Giants will likely have to contend with both Lee and Cole Hammels over the weekend.

Continue reading ""Are The Giants Done Dealing Before the Deadline""

So I normally title my Monday blog: Monday Mourning due to being hungover from a full day of drinking and watching sports, hence the “mourning” because I have to get up, go to work, puke in the bathroom, and subsequently fall asleep in all of my meetings and get absolutely no work done. But today is different, mainly due to the fact that CBS’s and Fox’s regional coverage of NFL games in my area was HORRIBLE. Games that had a spread of +11 with no fantasy implications at all were being aired, so I went and watched polo (you know, the sport where guys on horses trot around and whack a ball with mallets). I had never been to a polo game before but we decided to go due to the possibility of attractive females (there are always beautiful women at horse events). We mingled with a few and made up some elaborate lies that we were just checking out the competition and had our horses stabled a few miles away. We were obviously out of place, with our cheers of “nice pass man!” and “shoooooot it!” but we wholeheartedly plan on attending it every Sunday for the rest of the season – pending what NFL games are on of course. 

Continue reading "Monday Mourning"

With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

Continue reading "The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs"

It’s the annual midpoint of the baseball season, and for the brief span that is the All-Star break, all eyes are upon the Bronx. As everyone is well aware of, this campaign is the last go around for the world’s most famous, largest, and most prominent ballpark, Yankee Stadium. It seems hard to believe, and even more sacrilegious that this living legend’s days are numbered. Built in 1923 and christened by the greatest ballplayer to ever live, Babe Ruth, the cathedral of baseball will never truly be replaced. Although the Bombers will move a block to Yankee Stadium’s heir, the Mecca of America’s Pastime will still live on in our hearts. Whether you’re a diehard Yankee fan, or Yankee-hater, you still can respect the history and awe that the stadium brings. So when the All-Stars take the field Tuesday night, sit back on your couch, crack open a cold one and soak up the history of Yankee Stadium, as its final chapter is unveiled to all of us.

Continue reading "National League Looks to End Rut"

One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.

Continue reading "Second Half Predictions"

On the other site I write for, I got into it with a Phillies fan over the way Phils fans ride players right out of town. After defending Dick Allen, the irascible 60s slugger who earned nothing but scorn from Philly fans in spite of his powerful numbers, I offered some more modern examples of guys who have earned the scorn of Phillies fans. First was Abreu, a nice enough guy with a good eye and little pop and whose biggest flaw seems to be his tendency to take a walk, rather than swing at a pitch outside the zone. Phillies fans ran him out of town on a rail.

Continue reading "Pat Burrell vs. Bobby Abreu"

dly need to acquire more pitching in season if they expect to redeem their collapse of last year.

Philadelphia Phillies

Can Brad Lidge nail down the closer’s role?

The first thing is getting Lidge healthy. He had offseason surgery on his knee but looks to be back in the bullpen early in April. His struggles since giving up that monstrous home run to Albert Pujols in the playoffs has been well documented and he even lost his job as the closer with the Astros last season. He did regain the role in June and went on to rack up all 19 of the saves he had last season after the All-Star break. With Lidge in the closers role, the Phillies bullpen stacks up fairly well led by Tom Gordon in the setup role. Gordon is an excellent second option to close games however that greatly affects the bullpen depth unless Philadelphia wants to return Brett Myers to closer, but that leaves a gaping hole in the starting rotation.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: National League East"