Tom Ontis's San Francisco Giants fan blog

Scuttlebutt around the league has the Giants signing Rick Peterson as a special consultant to work with BARRY ZITO on his woeful season.  Peterson was fired as pitching coach with the New York Mets at the same time they fired Manager Willie Randolph and almost the entire coaching staff.  Peterson was a private pitching coach for Zito prior to his big league career, as well as pc in Oakland during most of Zito's stay there...Barry fell to 2-11, as he gave up 5 runs in two innings versus Detroit on Wednesday.  It was the second shortest outing of his career.  Now what I really think: It burns me up when fans are yelling all these insults at Zito when he under-performs.  I am in a habit at yelling back At them: "So you could do better?" 

Continue reading "Peterson to Giants?!"

The brooms were out at AT&T Park over the weekend, it's just that they were carried by fans of the cross-bay Oakland Athletics.  The A's swept the first three of the six games the two teams will play this year.  (The other three are in two weeks at the Mcafee Coliseum...The A's pitching were blue chip, showing that Billy Beane knows how to pick them...The rotation was somewhat off blue chip, but very competitive.  Matt Cain Struck out 11 on Saturday evening, one off his career best...Kevin Corriea came back from an oblique strain and pitched remarkably well for his first major league appearance in nearly two months...And Barry was Barry.  He was in command of most of his pitches, but ended up issuing those dreader walks...The Boo Birds were out!...Now what I really think:  All of these Boo Birds, many who were probably cut from their 8th grade team, I always won dered if they could do better?  There are always references to the big contract--$126 million over seven years.  With the All-Star game coming up in one month, maybe Manager Bruce Bochy needs to step back and look at the staff ace and say maybe that isn't the spot for him.  Perhaps he would be better suited as #3, as in Oakland.  The pressure would certainly be off him...Tim Lincecum, wh  the staff ace, may be suited for that role...The scores of the three games were:

Continue reading "The Brooms were out at AT&T!!!!!"

4th Straight for Giants over Nationals...Four days and nights in hot, sweltering Washington DC, proved an elixir for the Giants, as they posted their fourth straight win over the Nationals.  They had previously won three in a row on three occasions, but this was their first streak of four...Matt Cain threw six innings Monday evening, BARRY ZITO went five on Sunday.  He left behind by one run, but the team picked him up as he won his second game of the year....Ray Durham-one of the old guys, continued his hot hitting, with four hits on Sunday and a couple more tonite.  His average is over .300 for the first time this season...John Bowker smacked a grand slam on Saturday, hit a two run sot on Sunday...Randy Winn continued his hot hitting to keep his average over .300

Continue reading "Four in a Row! Break up the Giants!"

I guess it is inevitable the old adage that says 'What goes around, comes around.  Certainly seems that the Giants were listening to that one, as they blasted the Mets 10-2 one nite and the Mets turned around and almost blasted them the next night 9-6.  On the surface that doesn't seem like a blasting, but before Travis Denker blasted a three run homer in the bottom of the 9th, his first of his career, it was 9-3, which would qualify as a blasting.  Who knows...60 percent of the players who responded to a recent Sports Illustrated poll named AARON ROWAND as the toughest player in the majors.  He has taken some mighty strong knocks lately, but is out there everyday.  He may be one Giant that goes to New York for the All-Star game in July.  He is hitti

Continue reading "Bad 2 days at AT&T"

Funny what a half a dozen runs before you throw a pitch can do for you!  Ask JONATHAN SANCHEZ about it, as that is what took place on a cool, breezy evening at AT &T Park as the Giants downed the struggling NEW YORK METS 10-2.  It was the most runs that Giants have scored all season...A lead off homer by RANDY WINN, the 14th of his career (who holds the record?,) and a two run shot by three day veteran Brian Horowitz highlighted the inning...Mets pitcher Oliver Perez went just 1/3 of an inning, lasting just 36 pitches...Steady AARON ROWAND contributed a double passed third sacker David Wright...Bengie Molina had the 1,000th hit of his career...The bullpen, mostly Billy Sadler mopped up..I hope it's not too early for this and I'm not saying the Jints a

Continue reading "Half Dozen Runs in First as Gianrs sink Mets"

Randy Winn had a lot to say about the outcome of tonight's game against the Western Division leading Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix...He clubbed two solo homers to left field, both as a right handed batter.  The first tied the game at 1-1 and the second was the game winning hit in the Giants 4-3 win...Barry Zito went six innings, giving up the three Arizona runs, but pitched impressively for his third straight appearance...He ended the evening with a no decision...Tyler Walker-The Bull-plagued recently by a string of poor performances, pitched the 8th inning and went home with the win...Brian Wilson had another 1-2-3 9th inning for his fourth save on this road trip.  The save boosted his save total to a league leading 16... Giants head home aft

Continue reading "Giants sweep the Diamondbacks; Big Night for Randy Winn"

Monkey off the back?...The Giants may have gotten the monkey off their backs with an 11-3 blowout of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday evening...Ask anyone, that is what I have been saying that they needed for weeks now...Jonathan Sanchez went 6 innings, gave up just 6 hits and walked 3...His record now stands at 3-3...Should it surprise you that BENGIE MOLINA had another good night on the road.  With three more hits tonight, he is batting around .667 in his last 7 games.  His BA is up into the .320's...He is going to miss the road...Let's not forget the contributions of Ray-Ray Durham with a solo homer and a three run triple.  He is now hitting in the solid .280's.  Since Velez was sent down last week, Ray-Ray has become the fulltime second sacker again.  He provides a lot of leadership too...Emmanuel Burris at short, giving Omar Vizquel the night off.  Since his hot start when he returned two weeks ago, his bat has turned against him...The Giants are planning to honor Omar with some kind of ceremony Friday evening against the Padres.  They aren't saying what though...One more tomorrow night against the D'backs and the 'Big Unit' and then home for three against the Padres beginning Friday evening...Good reading and Good Rootin'!  May 28th, 2008! 

Continue reading "BLOWOUT!!!!!"

TIM LINCECUM and BENGIE MOLINA pretty much had their respective ways with the Western Division leading Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday evening in Phoenix...LINCECUM went 7 1/3 innings, striking out 7, while giving up six hits and walking 3 Diamondbacks.  LINCECUM is proving to be the Giants stopper, as he won for the fifth time after a Giants loss.  His record is now 7-1 ("Your kingdom for a balk...")...Each strikeout by LINCECUM gets fans $1 off their bleacher seats next time he pitches.  So, 7 K's, seven bucks off the normal $27 dollar ticket... Meanwhile, back in MOLINA-land, Bengie,coming off being named National League Player of the week with an average of .652 (15 for 23,) smacked another home-run to put the Giants ahead for good.  It was his fifth of the year.  His other hit was a plain, ordinary single...JOSE CASTILLO has been showing some pop recently and his defense has improved markedly, slugged a solo shot to deep center...BRIAN WILSON had an unusual 1-2-3 inning.  Though his ERA is over 5.00, much of it has come on three bad games early in the season and in early May...Two more with the 'Backs and home to face cellar-dwelling San Diego May 30 to June 1st...Good reading and Good Rootin'!  May 27th, 2008.

Continue reading "Lincecum and Molina again!"

Doubleheader Loss-Giants now 20-32...Giants dropped two to the Florida Marlins, 8-7 & 5-4.  The good news was:  Omar Vizquel, the seemingly ageless shortstop, tied and broke the record for games at shortstop, playing his 2,584th game at the position.  He took over the top spot from his hero Luis Aparicio, who played in the 1950's's and 60's in the American League.  (C'mon, you must have a baseball card of him somewhere, if your mother didn't throw them out when you went to college.)...Giants are planning something against the Padres Friday evening, but aren't saying what...It is also 'Until There is a Cure' night, spearheaded by late reliever Rod 'Shooter' Beck...Pat Misch, still in search of his first major league win, started and took the loss in the first game 8-

Continue reading "Giants Drop Two to Marlins; Vizquel Sets Record"

Extra, extra, Barry Zito (1-8) gets his first win of season...Yes, the 125 year record is safe...No Giant up to now has begun the season with an 0-9 record as Barry Zito finally got his first win of the season with an 8-2 thrashing of the Florida Marlins...He threw six and one-third innings, gave up one run, three hits, struck out five and walked four...He threw 100+ pitches...  He was clearly way tired in the Florida heat...This was the Barry Zito that the Giants ponied up $126 million over 7 years for, not that other guy that went nearly eight weeks into the season before garnering his first win...It didn't hurt that the offense got him eight runs, there highest total of the season...Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand provided much of the muscle, clubbing back t

Continue reading "Barry Zito gets 1st Win!!!!!"