Every dog has his day, even 100-loss teams win 60+ games...hey, that's stuff I've said as recently as last week. And the Astros? Well, they did have Roger Clemens pitching in one of the games in this 4-game set, so their chances to win at least one game did bode well.
But in the end, so what? The Giants had to take three of four from this team in order to keep up with the San Diego Joneses, the Arizona Joneses, and the Los Angeles Joneses of Los Angeles, and they had to take three of four from this team because the Astros were 12-21 coming into the series -- in other words, they're either a poor team or they're playing poorly, take your pick.
However you slice it, last night's game wasn't a must-win game from a standings standpoint, but it's the type of game the Giants need to win; a game against a team struggling on offense (2nd to last in the NL in runs scored)with an unheralded starting pitcher (6.05 ERA coming into yesterday's game). Instead, that struggling offensive team exploded on offense with four home runs (three by the must-be-on-steroids Morgan Ensberg), and the unheralded starting pitcher shut out the Giants on four hits.
(insert Valley Girl voice here) Hey, like, that wasn't supposed to happen, was it? Like, totally bunk!
Other things that are good, bad, and ugly:
- If you look at the sidebar, you'll notice that the Get Jason Ellison More At-Bats Than Marquis Grissom! campaign will continue to march on with updates on where each player stands in number of at-bats and OPS. Right now, there is a 26 ab's differential between the two players in Grissom's favor (104 vs. 78), while there is a 432 point differential in OPS between the two players in Ellison's favor (.994 vs. .532). And most annoyingly, Grissom continues to start over Elly in centerfield when the two play in the same game (with Elly playing in RF), which is so stupid it's sad. Ellison has more speed and a better arm than Grissom, and while some might tout Grissom's experience in centerfield as some sort of factor to even things up, I say...bullshit. Grissom's had a nice run with the Giants and all, but he's never displayed any particular prowess for taking great routes to the ball in center, and now he's getting old fast. Make the change in your heart as well as your brain, Father Alou. Your team needs Ellison to help cover both alleys in the outfield, not just one.
- Props to a Giants bullpen pitcher who has Failed to Be Horrible: Scott Eyre. He's had a few bad outings, but he's been decent more often than not.
- On another bullpen note, somebody tell Jason Christiansen and Matt Herges that it's probably a good idea to miss more bats; they have a k/9 rate of 2.70 and 2.93, respectively. I know they aren't strikeout pitchers, but those are ridiculously low numbers...unless, of course, your name is Kirk Rueter (1.74 k/9). But there can only be one Woody, right?
- Remember when the Giants had all those purdy team offensive numbers, and looked to be a decent offense despite my frothing-at-the-mouth entries telling you that they weren't good at all? Ah, the crows have come home to roost, as the Giants are now 12th in the NL in team OPS and 9th in runs scored.
Just to let you know, I'm started to put up some...ADS! Yep indeedy, there's gonna be some colorful Amazon.com banners on that thar sidebar -- if I can somehow figure out how to get them to work properly. One of them is up already, but I'm not sure if it works how it's supposed to work (namely, if the darn thing will credit me correctly in case one of y'all actually decided to follow the link and buy something on Amazon).
If one of you lovely, adventurous people would like to click on the link and tell me: a) if the thing works, and more importantly, b) if it brings you to a page that says "Hello, Daniel Smith" on it. Thanks in advance for your support.
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