The Thrill of Defeat and the Agony of Victory

The Giants won yesterday.

You know, I used to hear about wins, way back when I was only a wee lad who had yet to see his 10th summer. Me Pappy used to doddle me on his knee and regale me with tales of when the Giants used to achieve victory three, sometimes even four or five times on a weekly basis.

"Carrots are really good for eye health," he'd reminisce, "but they're not as good as a Giants win. I always used to see so clearly after a Giants victory. I also like the smell of gas."

.....moving on to today's action

I'm just starting to watch today's game, and I'm seeing the Indians take advantage of Triples Alley even better than the Royals did in the previous series. First inning, and Brett Tomko gives up naught but extra base hits, in the form of a double and two triples.

Adding onto that is the fact that the Indians have C.C. Sabathia on the mound, and with the Giants already getting shut down by journeyman pitchers lately, I shudder to think how they'll look against a quality pitcher. Sabathia went to high school in my home town of Vallejo, and I actually played some basketball with him a time or two. The basketball team he was on at Vallejo High, in addition to having a ML bound player on it, also netted a NBA player in Brandon Armstrong. Not bad at all.

Update: I'm not sure if Al Levine really has a place on this roster, either. Nice spring and all, but he's as necessary to the future of this ballclub as Marquis Grissom, which is to say not at all. Isn't there any reliever in the minors doing well enough to be rewarded and replace this guy?

Changing a couple of roster spots would do nothing to change the fortunes of the Giants this season, but it would be a nice P.R. move if Brian Sabean would do something besides trade away possible pieces of the future and hold onto unneccesary and poorly playing pieces of the present. He's making himself look more and more ineffective the longer he sits on his hands. Again, replacing players like Grissom and Levine wouldn't make this team any better, really, but Sabes is going to have to do it sooner or later. If he does it now, it'll at least make him look like he's not idle.