Across the Seams

715

So what was the third thought that came into your head when Bonds hit 715? If you are like most Giants fans I know, the first two were something like "Yay" then "About dang time."

The third is probably where we all diverge. Mine was "some oblivious joker just got 715 dropped in his souvenir cup." Close enough. There have to be at least 300 people who show up in the bleachers every game, armed with a glove. Lifelong Giants fans. And they get nothing, although a few did get a shot at it, so I can't blame wretched fate entirely for the fiasco.

And then there's poor Dave Flemming, who somehow got cut off on KNBR as the ball was leaving the yard. Would a joke about brain-dead radio technicians be off base?

Glad he finally did it. Now I can concentrate on the important things, like figuring out why exactly Jose Vizcaino still has a major-league job.

New Faces

Don't expect Travis Ishikawa to have three hits per game. It's a nice bonus, but the guy apparently is known for his glove. That's perfectly fine right now, as otherwise the Giants have been running out no-glove, no-bat Vizcaino at first. Sweeney is a fine pinch-hitter. Please don't ask him to play much in the field.

I don't know a whole lot about Jonathan Sanchez. The Baseball America Prospect Handbook has a line that is meant to be a compliment but currently is more ominous: "an arm action and velocity reminiscent of Oliver Perez ..." Munter, however, was getting raked every time out there. Sure, he had a few unlucky bounces, particularly in the last game against the Cardinals, but he hasn't fooled anyone since September. Very few pitchers can get away with just one pitch. I like the guy, mainly because it's hard not to like a big lug who can get you a ground ball. Hope he can return to form.

What little I saw of Dan Ortmeier was memorable, and not in a good way. He had a lot of trouble in the field, seemingly breaking the wrong way on every play. He appears to be a man learning the position, but from what I can tell he's always been an outfielder. I have to cut the guy some slack, though. Right field in San Francisco is rough no matter how long you've been playing. Plus I'd imagine lots of minor leaguers have to make an adjustment to the larger major-league ballparks. Backgrounds matter.

Cardinals 8, Giants 5

I wrote my Vizcaino screed hours before the game, just so you know. I didn't fiddle with the posting time. So I thank Jose for making me look good.

So the question remains: Why is Vizcaino playing first? On his first error, he wouldn't have gotten the out even if he had caught the throw, since his feet were a mile from the bag. I really felt sorry for him on his tumble in the eighth. The guy is trying, but it's just not going to happen.

Therefore, I'm pinning this loss directly on Brian Sabean. Go get a first baseman!

I'm waiting for the unveiling of the Finley Shift, where the center fielder and right fielder stand about 20 feet apart in the gap.

Matt Morris could not have given Pujols a fatter pitch to hit in the first. Pujols hit another bomb later in the game, but he just hit it in the wrong spot of the park.

Pitching First

The Giants are winning, hoorah. There's the good, namely that the starting pitching has been fantastic, including the return to form of Matt Cain. Jamey Wright has been much better than we have a right to expect. And Schmidt is looking like the guy from a few years ago.

That's the good. Then there's this:

Vizcaino, 1b

This is horribly wrong. What makes it worse is that when Vizcaino starts, it's damn near impossible to take him out of the game, thanks to the horrible construction of the Giants roster. Who is the backup shortstop? Vizcaino. Backup third baseman? Vizcaino. Frandsen is back, so the team is covered at second. Vizquel is ouchy right now at short, so if he can't play, Vizcaino has to move over there. Sweeney is a nice short-term fill-in, but he's really a pinch hitter and if he could hit lefties regularly, you wouldn't need to slot in Vizcaino in the first place.

But the Giants do, and that's pathetic. Has any other organization punted this position more than the Giants in the past several seasons? When's the last time a real threat played there?

And don't say J.T. is available. Yes, he is. No, he's not the answer. Has Barry ruled out first entirely?

Can we get some more AB for Ortmeier, by the way? Let's see what he can do. We know what Vizcaino can do, and it's not pretty.

Catching Up

Thank goodness, Barry finally did it. Did it on the road, but close enough to home that there wasn’t a great number of zealots beating their breasts or ripping out a hank of their own hair. He’s tied Babe Ruth, and soon will be the most prolific left-handed hitter the game has known.

It’s one hell of an accomplishment. Kind of mind-bending. But it’s still just a milestone. Aaron still has 755, and he appears safe to me. Bonds will pass Ruth, but there’s no way we’re ever going to forget him. Like Jayson Stark noted in a great recent column, he’s still Babe Freaking Ruth.

I’ve avoided discussing whether records are “tainted,” both in casual conversation and in this blog.  A lot of this has to do with laziness, as I can’t summon the energy to overcome the superficiality of the whole mess. The mass media hasn’t done a good job putting any of it in perspective. There are a few voices out there, but they are mostly drowned out by the TV machine.

I’ve said before that I’m not much bothered by steroids or any other “performance enhancer.” But let’s pretend that I was. Would I find records set by individuals confirmed to have used such things to be suspect? Yeah, I probably would. But that actually would be the least of my worries. If I thought that the use of such things was cheating, wouldn’t I be more concerned about the outcome of games? I would. But you don’t hear much about that kind of concern, mostly because things start to get messy. Do you invalidate all a team’s wins when you find a violation, NCAA-style? Or do you look the other way? If you don’t invalidate the wins, aren’t you implicitly allowing what you said you wanted outlawed?

All right, forget the enhancers. What about the performance depressors? There’s quite a few alcoholics in the major leagues, I’m willing to wager. Gamblers, too. If you’re fighting a hangover or intoxicated on the field, you’re as close as you can be to throwing a game. Where’s the outrage over that? At least I know that someone sucking down HGH is trying to win the damn game.

I’m not even going to start with things like due process, civil liberties and the even more complicated issue of labor relations. Bottom line is that it’s just not that simple.

Barry Bonds has hit 714 home runs in the major leagues. Only two other people have ever done as much. Two. That’s pretty damn amazing.

I can’t decide what was more amazing: The Giants score 34 in three days in Houston or Russ Springer’s and Phil Garner’s denials that Springer was throwing at Bonds. Anyone with eyes could see that Springer was trying to hit him. It was only his own incompetence that made it take five pitches. That Springer didn’t even bother to appeal tells you something.

I fully expected Benitez to blow the game twice Saturday. He almost did it.

Speaking of pitchers, did you see that Liriano, Bonser and Nathan are up with the Twins? People are still amazed at that deal.

"That's a special arm, and I can't believe the Giants gave him up; that's shocking to me," Milwaukee's Jeff Cirillo said. "They got Nathan, Bonser and Liriano for Pierzynski? Are you kidding me?"

On the other hand, the Angels put Alfonzo on waivers, so that Finley deal is looking like a robbery.

Giants 6, Dodgers 5

This is why you never leave the ballgame early, part 2.

Until the ninth, the Giants were comatose. Sele cruised through seven innings on 86 pitches. Really hard to watch, especially the top of the seventh, when Sele started a two-out rally and the Giants pitchers couldn’t throw a strike.

Alou seems to have a delayed reaction to everything this homestand. He got a pinch runner in for Greene – the winning run – an at-bat too late. Why he was out there with one out is a mystery to me.

Dodgers 6, Giants 1

Giants hitters were overmatched the whole way. At least it was quick.

Matt Morris struggled again. He hasn’t had a decent outing since his second start. He’s not fooling anyone, allowing nearly 14 runners every nine innings with a horrible k/bb ratio (1.17). What’s worse is that it appears that Felipe is reluctant to go to the bullpen, contrary to his normal style. You can’t really blame him.

Giants 9, Cubs 3

Steve Finley just keeps hitting triples. Today's I thought was a double for sure, but he never stopped and just beat the throw.

You may have noticed that Randy Winn has had some success in this ballpark as well. I'm becoming convinced that the Giants need semi-speedy guys who can hit the gaps. This is purely reactionary and based on my faulty memory. Remember when the Royals came to town in 2005? That team seemed to triple the Giants to death. (They hit five triples in winning the first two games. No triples in the finale, which the Giants won.) If you're not fast or a gap hitter, you need to be a lefty crusher. That last one is my personal bias.

Nice game by Jamey Wright. We'll try to forget that it was against the lackluster Cubs.

Cubs 8, Giants 1

The Giants stank, pure and simple.

Bases loaded, top of the sixth. Score is 4-1 Cubs, thanks to a walk, a single and a double. Matt Cain walks Murton to load the bases with one out. Jacque Jones, who had earlier homered off Cain, is up. Scott Munter is ready in the bullpen. What do you do? Felipe left the kid in, Jones doubled, Munter finally came in, and the game was effectively over. Now I understand that Alou might be trying to pump up Cain's confidence, but this has got to be the wrong way to do it. Why have Munter up at all if you're only going to bring him in once the game is out of hand? If Cain is going to come out, why not take him out when the Giants are still in grand slam range? Why not stick the ground-ball guy on the mound when you desperately need a double play?

Giants 6, Cubs 1

For all the hoohurrah surrounding Bonds and his chase for 714, it was easy to miss that this was a second straight great outing for Jason Schmidt. Admittedly, it came against a pathetic Cubs lineup, but it counts. He looked great.

The crowd was a bit crazy for Bonds to tie Ruth. Pierre made a great catch to rob him of a double/home run, but that only earned him boos for the rest of the night. Then Niekro got a huge cheer in the eighth when he struck out to bring Bonds up. If he had hit into a double play, there might have been a riot.

Noticed Steve Finley's batting line? Six triples, one double. That is very strange.