Across the Seams

Out the Door

Quick notes on the Diamondbacks series before I hit the road:

Giants pitching has been superb, while the offense has been bad. The pitching can't get any better, while the hitting is pretty much status quo. Winn and Feliz need to pick it up, in particular.

At some point Matt Cain has to get as much press as Matsuzaka. (By the way, Peter Gammons has gotten himself even further into my good graces by calling him "Matsuzaka" and not that horrible pseudo-nickname everyone else uses.)

None of the games were sellouts.

I think I'm going to start calling Arizona the Dacks. Saves me a syllable.

Sweeping

My taxi driver on the way home from Thursday's game asked how the game went. When he learned the Giants won after spotting the Cardinals two runs, he said that coming from behind was the mark of a good team. I'm usually not one to argue with cabbies, but being behind is usually a reliable mark of a losing team.

Oh, the Giants have done just fine lately, winning four out of the last five while getting good to great outings from everyone in the rotation. Zito looked like a new man in Colorado and Matt Cain is just Matt Cain. (It doesn't stop there. Tim Lincecum has been untouchable in three AAA starts.)

Lowry pitched well against an anemic Cardinals lineup in which the biggest threat was Kip Wells. So Taguchi (really) in particular would like to burn the tapes of his ABs. So far the biggest hole in Lowry's game is the tapper to the third base side of the mound. I'd expect to see quite a few bunts in that direction until Lowry can prove he can hit the first baseman from there.

Lowry wasn't alone in the play-at-first ineptitude. After Lowry's error in the third, Klesko mangled a throw to first after fielding a bunt, handing the Cardinals their first run. Pujols played like his left hand is injured: He dropped the double-play throw in the first (still got the out), dropped a simple throw from Miles in the fifth, then failed to catch a reasonable hop on a terrible throw from Miles later in the inning. It was really ugly at first.

I'm having a difficult time seeing a reason to give Pedro Feliz many starts at third. Klesko had a good day at the plate and Rich Aurilia has been the best Giants batter most of the season. Feliz, meanwhile, isn't hitting, isn't walking, and isn't fielding. Maybe start Feliz when a lefty is on the mound and sit Klesko, but I just don't see the advantages of having Feliz soaking up ABs.

Back to Game 1 of the Cardinals series ... Sanchez pitched great to keep the Giants even, and Benitez was unrecognizable to me. He looks about 20 pounds lighter, and whatever that offspeed pitch was (Krukow said it was a split), it made him unhittable. He looked -- dare I say it -- awesome.

Bull Something

Matt Cain will have to pitch a complete-game, 110-pitch shutout and hit a homer himself to get a win. Seven innings of sterling ball flushed away in one inning.

You can't really stick this on one player. It was a team effort. No one made a play in the eighth. Feliz had two chances and whiffed on both. Correia couldn't handle a chopper near the mound. Linden ran a long way -- it would have been a great catch -- to have it bounce off his glove. Heck, one of the outs was from a runner falling asleep and getting picked off.

Watching the replay, Benitez was at least up a little in the bullpen in the eighth, yet he didn't get called in. He hasn't exactly been overworked, so I'm wondering why Bochy left Correia out there. (Sanchez vs. Helton was a tough AB.)

I like Dave Roberts and all, but Fuentes made him look like a high schooler.

Ortiz Wins

Nice outing for Russ Ortiz. It will look worse than it actually was due to that 3-run shot in the ninth, but the guy delivered a fantastic outing, including a key hit in the first inning. I just love it when pitchers know what they are doing with a bat in their hands. It sounds nutty, but walking Winn to get to Ortiz probably was not a good idea. Didn't matter much, as Duke looked bad. (If you have MLB.com video access, take a look at the two-strike pitch he made to Linden in the first. Just awful.)

The number that jumps out in Ortiz's line is the one walk. That's right, one in 8 2/3 innings. That's so not Russ. (Hate to keep bringing up Web video, but the Pirates station did some cool things in the eighth as the announcers were trying to figure out what Ortiz was throwing. Great shots of Ortiz's grip as he delivers the ball.)

Black undershirt, red vest is not a good look for the Pirates. As Jack Wilson tore around the bases in the first inning, his white gloves conjured an image ...

Bonds' first homer was classic Bonds. Inside part of the plate, he turns on it and hits a laser out. Never even had a chance to hook, and you know that 95 percent of the hitters in the bigs would have just yanked that thing foul. Never get tired of watching that.

What is up with Adam LaRoche? He can't be this bad, and he's striking out a lot. I think I say this a lot, but maybe he should get his eyes checked.

Uncrooked Numbers

The Giants appear to be a binary offense: 0-1-1-0-0.

The Washington Nationals have scored more runs than the Giants. The much-maligned Houston Astros have scored more. Actually, every team in baseball has scored more runs, with the exception of Seattle, but that really doesn't count, as Seattle scored its 18 runs in five games while it's taken the Giants nine to score 20. This happens when you get shutout three times and score just one twice.

The key seems to be getting Clay Hensley on the mound. The two Giants wins this season were in games he started. The offense muscled up in those two, scoring 11 runs. That means they've mustered nine runs in seven games against Peavy, Young (2), Penny, Lowe, Wolf and Maddux.

There at least seems to be some acknowledgement by the club that hitting is a problem. For the second straight game, Pedro Feliz rode the pine. To be brutally honest, I'm shocked. For the past two seasons, you couldn't get the guy out of the Giants lineup with a crowbar. The change didn't help much, but at least it looks like Bochy is trying.

Schulman's gamer says that Linden will start again Friday, but in center. If this is right, I'll assume that Roberts is sitting against lefty Zach Duke. Why Winn doesn't move to center and Linden play right in these situations mystifies me. Linden has all of one game of experience in center, and even when he plays in right it's a bit of an adventure. Or maybe I've just got his performance in 2005 stuck in my head. 

I caught glimpses of Tuesday's game, mostly in the ninth with Benitez on the mound. His outing was ugly, and the fact that he's now got two saves and a 7.71 ERA shows how silly the first stat is. After Benitez gave up the homer, I strangely didn't think about the tying run coming to the plate. No, I was thinking "how the heck are the Giants ever going to be able to unload this guy?" It's a strange situation. If he pitches well, as most Giants fans want him to, it will be difficult for the club not to trade him. If he sucks, well ... he's going nowhere.

No Hitters

Monday's 1-0 loss to the Padres was a fine exemplar of what drives Giants fans to madness (Sabean's "lunatic fringe"). A splendid performance by a young starting pitcher was utterly wasted by an inept offense.

Brian Sabean has made it a policy to acquire veteran players (that's the neutral term; he calls them "proven major leaguers" while I call them "old"). The Giants may be slow and powerless, but they don't lack for experience.

So why doesn't this feel like a smart team?  Did anyone bother to move Mike Cameron back to the on-deck circle? Or is it OK to let the opposition set up camp behind the plate to scout the pitcher? How is it that leadoff doubles and triples continually lead to nothing? Is it really that hard to for Pedro Feliz to hit something to the right side?

The manager counts, too. Sunday was an off day for Roberts. Linden played instead, but he was installed in center field for the first time in his major league career. Why? Winn was in right, but he's played center before -- hey, proven major league. Linden wound up making a bad break on Valdez's drive in the sixth, turning it into a triple. I have to cut Bochy a little slack, as decisions like this seem to be systemic: This organization has voluntarily started Marvin Benard and Shawon Dunston in center.

This feels like a rant to me because I can't put my finger on something concrete. However, I can't imagine anyone ever pointing to the 2007 Giants and saying "That, my son, is how the game should be played." (I can see someone pointing at Vizquel after yet another amazing double play and saying it, though.)

From Schulman's account in the Chronicle:

Before the game, general manager Brian Sabean said the Giants' first week blindsided him. "I never expected us to go 6-0 or 5-1," he said, "but I didn't see a 1-5. I don't think anybody did."

If there is a remake of Casablanca in the works, I know a great candidate for the role of Captain Renault. Get serious. The Giants were mediocre at best in 2006 and spent the offseason pretty much treading water. Zito in for Schmidt. Russ Ortiz and Bengie Molina will probably turn out to be nice pickups, but they certainly aren't franchise-changers. Meanwhile, the rest of the division got stronger. No one predicts a 1-5 start -- why bother with six games? -- but anyone with some sense has to see it as a possibility, and not a remote one. It certainly would have been a better bet than picking a 5-1 start.

As for Matt Cain, the question isn't whether he'll throw a no-hitter, but when it will happen.

Accentuate the Positive

Matt Cain pitches Monday night. Steve Finley is hitting .083. Um ... I'm running out of things here.

Sunday's game was painful to watch, so maybe those folks who didn't buy the available seats knew something. (Really, when was the last time an early-season Giants-Dodgers Sunday game didn't sell out?)

Ah, here's something. Lincecum struck out eight in five innings for Fresno. Wow. That's some record. Me, looking at Fresno boxscores in April.

Bad Friday

Note to the Giants PA people:

Please do not play "Enter Sandman" before the bottom of the ninth with the home team trailing 2-1. You see, that's a "closer" song. Mariano Rivera and Billy Wagner use it. You may be familiar with another closer that used it. Guy by the name of Robb Nen. Of course, this was back at Candlestick, before the move to Third and King and the oh-so-clever switch to "Smoke on the Water." Oh, and please refrain from following that up with "Hell's Bells." That's another closer song, favored by Trevor Hoffman.

Thanks

Giants didn't get many baserunners, and when they did they were erased via caught stealings or double plays or close plays at home. The play at the plate on Feliz looked close, but I'm sort of wondering why the umpire was standing on the first-base side. Not sure how he could have made a call through the catcher there. Maybe he had an angle, but aren't umpires usually more toward the third-base side on those plays? Just asking.

Edit: Just saw the replay and he had a good view of Martin completely blocking the plate. Looked weird from my angle, but I guess that's why the umpires are on the field.

And Feliz. OK, make a list. Giants corner guys. Aurilia, Klesko, Feliz, Niekro. Put them in preferential order, with the guy you'd like to make the most plate appearances at the top. Is Feliz No. 1? Probably not. But I'm willing to bet that Feliz will be on top in actual PA at the end of the season by a large margin. The question is why. Can't be the bat. And if it's the glove, well, he must have dropped off a cliff this week defensively. By the way, there really is no correct way to order that list. Ha ha!

Giants 2006, Held Over

Riding home from Wednesday's loss to the Padres, I heard one of the local sports call-in shows. The host was busy telling the Giants fans that now is not the time to panic, two games into the season. In a way, he's right. It is only two games. He failed to give any reason why someone should be optimistic about the 2007 Giants, besides noting that there are 160 games left.

The source of Giants fans' distress is not two April games. It's two games plus a few seasons of bad baseball. We've seen this act before. Didn't like it then, don't like it now. The things that made this a sub-standard baseball team in 2006 didn't go away in the offseason.

So we know what we're in for. It's just that the NL has been bad along with the Giants, allowing them to pass off yearly Bondo jobs as serious body work.

Matt Cain seemed inconsistent; it's hard to tell from my angle at the ballpark, and the auxiliary scoreboards and radar gun weren't working. What I can tell is the two homers he gave up were absolute bombs. Ditto Taschner's gopher ball.

But it's hard to fault the pitching when you scratch out three runs. (Barry's homer was scalded, too. The replay appeared to show that Young pretty much put it on a tee. Hey, it counts.)

The Scoreboard is Nice

The fancy new high-definition scoreboard at Mays Field is pretty, even in broad daylight. Sure, it took more than seven seasons to finally get both lineups posted, but you take what you can get.

Not only are the lineups visible, what each batter does during the inning is recorded, which is a boon for those weak-bladdered scorers in the stands. Nothing is perfect, however. When Kevin Kouzmanoff struck out in the eighth, the scoreboard operator missed it and gave fans a giggle.

We got a calendar, too! Just this week I was musing over when the posed shot gave way to the action shot on baseball cards. Sure, most of the poses were hokey, but you got a great look at a player's face and there was at least a hint of personality. Like magic, this year's calendar riffs on those old cards, putting today's Giants in the ridiculous poses of yesteryear, alongside actual cards of former Giants all-stars. My favorite is Bengie Molina "catching a pop-up."

So I was living in Phoenix in 1987. True story. The Firebirds were the Giants AAA club, and I spent a few nights at Phoenix Muni drinking $2 beers the size of my head. True story. At one of those games they handed out cheap baseball cards featuring the Firebirds. I kept these, if only to amuse myself every so often by pulling out the Terry Mulholland card.

Clearly, some overworked and underpaid photographer got shipped to the desert, armed only with a list of names and a casual knowledge of minor league baseball. Besides the Mulholland card, there's a left-handed "Matt Williams" and an elderly looking "Atlee Hammaker." (These guys could actually be who the cards say they are; it has been 20 years -- ouch! -- and I'm not all that good with faces.) Almost all the pitchers have bats in their hands, and the batters take stances with ridiculous crouches. Steve Miller is almost kneeling and is choked up to the label.

Not pictured, but in the collection (spelled as on the card): Mackey Sasser, Cliff Shidawara (trainer), John Verducci, Joe Price, Jessie Reid, Alan Cockrell, Randy Kutcher, Larry Hardy (coach), Mike Woodard, Kevin Burrell, Jon Perlman, Jeff Brantly, Randy Bockus, Chris Jones, George Ferran, Charlie Corbeii, Mike Rubel, Steve Miller, Francisco Melendez, Duane Espy (coach), and Pat Adams. The cards are of low quality, but they aren't as goofy in real life as they are here. Blame my lousy camera skills and lack of a scanner.

OK, you got me. There was a game. It wasn't good. Barry Bonds looked fine. His steal wasn't even close. Zito was meh. Sanchez uncorked one of the best wild pitches you will see in 2007. The inexplicable Pedro Feliz absolutely butchered a room-service hop, but showed unnatural patience at the plate. He's still a stiff, and you have to wonder why the Giants aren't willing to find a replacement for him. Dave Roberts gave me a Marvin Benard flashback in center, breaking in on a fly before turning around to chase it down. Sort of a Benard moment -- he caught the ball.

Taken as just one game, there's nothing special about it, which is the scary part. The Giants just weren't good, but none of what happened was a surprise.

But hey, Wednesday is Matt Cain, and I look forward to seeing him pitch.