Division winner? Heck, I dunno. Thundercats, however, I do know.

I haven't a clue.

Who, in the name of Snarf, is going to win this division?

While the Giants do seem to possess the ability to come back again and again like Mumm-ra, the Ever Living, they have a plethora of evil henchmen within their division to overcome.

They do not have the speed of Cheetara. With Barry Bonds still struggling and Moises Alou on the shelf, they do not have the power of Panthro. The guile of their manager, Father Alou, is not thought to be the equal of Tygra. So how are they to defend AT&T Lair and bring the battle to enemy territory?

It's plain the team needs their Hero, Bonds, to step up. They need him to wield his weapon even though he not in the fullness of his powers. Although I think the division will stay within reach of any team close to .500, I'm sure the Giants will need Bonds' production to put them over the top.

This is what happens when you give a goofball a blog, let him write whatever he wants...and then someone lets fly with a stray Thundercats reference during the day. The results should be predictable.

Waiting to Exhale

Anticipation can be great for a little while, then it starts to suck.

So while I've been waiting for Barry Bonds to make some more history, I've tried not to dwell on it. Instead, I've waited for a few other things.

I've been waiting for Mike Matheny, Ray Durham, and Pedro Feliz to start hitting. I've been waiting for Mike Morris to start pitching. I've been waiting for Brian Sabean to awake from this slumber and realize Jose Vizcaino doesn't belong on a major league roster anymore. I've been waiting for interleague so that the Giants can DH Barry, and run a decent defensive outfield in Jason Ellison, Steve Finley, and Randy Winn. I've also been waiting for interleague so that Finley can get some regular at-bats to see if he's really as good of a pickup as he's looking right now.

A little of what I've been waiting for has come to pass. Matheny is hitting well now...check that. Matheny is hitting to his ability, which will have to suffice. This is about as good of a hitter as he is capable of being.

Feliz is hitting to his ability as well, and that will have to suffice as well. Heck, take one look at Adrian Beltre's numbers from last year and so far this year, and Feliz's pedestrian production looks absolutely svelte.

That being said, I am plenty happy to see him at least being himself. Being that we're about at the 25% mark of the season, multiplying Feliz's stats by four would yield us 28 home runs and 108 RBI, which does have some value -- I just wish he could scrape together something higher than a .761 OPS to do it, but with nobody behind him and no prospects coming up the Giants in the near future at 3rd base, it'll do.

Small note: I wrote bad things about Feliz on April 27th, and he's improved on all of the things I pointed out expect for his ISO discipline number. His ISO SLG is way up from a forgettable .122 to a much more palatable .197, and I think some of that can be trace to two other numbers: his pitcher per plate appearance rose from a nasty, impatient 3.18 to a still-nasty-and-impatient-yet-better 3.27 (he's taking a few more pitches here and there), and his ground ball to fly ball ratio went from 1.27 to 1.13 -- for Feliz, I think hitting more fly balls is a good sign, because it could mean he's not getting caught trying to pull those offspeed and breaking pitches on the outside as much.

I'm hoping, as I'm sure we all are, that Brian Wilson comes back to pitch just like he did in his debut. Not only am I hoping for that just for the sake of a young Giant doing well, but also for the addition in the makeup of the team that it will continue:

Jeremy Accardo, Kevin Correia, Brad Hennessey, Brian Wilson, Noah Lowry, and Matt Cain are all young, with Hennessey being the oldest at 26. At this point it's hard to not see those guys sticking with the big club for a while (although it's obviously shaky with Cain at the moment), and that is a refreshing thing to see some Accardos and Correias pitching in some important late-game situations rather than a Jeff Fassero or a Tim Worrell.

And with the allowable exception of Hennessey they all have live arms with the ability to miss bats. Pretty nice, I think.

I'm wondering...

When will the league stop walking Barry Bonds? While it's obvious he can still get a hold of one and hit it a long ways, he's been very normal this season.

Bonds has 17 intentional walks, and Albert Pujols, the best hitter in baseball, has all of six.

Can't help but think some of that is due to Moises Alou's absence from the lineup. Whereas it was always debateable in the past how much any hitter could protect Bonds and get him more chances to hit, now I believe it is necessary for the Giants to have a good hitter behind Bonds not only to get him more chances to hit, but to get him better pitches to swing at in his at-bats.

Still can't figure out why the league pitches to Phat Albert, though.

On the bright side of things, our main man Pedro Feliz is finally making enough offensive contribution to warrant a spot in the batting order. He's run his OPS over 700, thus I will leave him alone for a little while.

It's funny -- the Giants had a chance to win the series vs. the Dodgers earlier today and failed to do so. If they had, it'd have been easy to say that it was a great series win and move one, but since they lost, all I can think about is the fact that it should've been a sweep barring the miracle comeback on Saturday.

All the Right Moves and Less is Morris

The Kevin Frandsen Walk and Power Watch did it's duty a few days ago (as Frandsen finally drew a walk), and apparently the Giants brass noted it and decided to cut things short.

Ray Durham in, and the no power having, no walk drawing, no pitch taking, ground ball hitting Frandsen is out.

I don't really think Frandsen is quite that bad, but despite all of the support the kid got, that's exactly what he did in his 50 plate appearances with the club. I think there is this tendency to sort of...over-support (to make up a word) a player when he has a spectacular debut. Remember Brain Dallimore? Whenever a rookie players shows out in his first test, the support for that players seems to last way beyond what it should, even if the player basically tanks afterward (which is precisely what Frandsen did).

I want to see him back here, but not this season.

With that, it's time to look at the other pieces of dead wood on the club, and that starts with Jose Vizcaino. He's a utility player that the Giants shouldn't utilize, and one that should take almost no effort to replace. Get 'er done, Sabes.

...oh jeez. I hate that expression, and I just used it.

Also becoming a serious, serious problem is Matt Morris. While it's easy to simply say that Morris sucks and it was a mistake to sign him (try it for yourself...g'head), what I see is a pitcher who is not himself:

• His strikeouts per nine innings (k/9) is at 4.20, which is a precipitous drop from even the pedestrian 5.47 it was in 2005. This number has been falling for six consecutive years, though, so it's hard to just call it a fluke. I'm just trying to figure out why it's dropping so much -- while Morris is aging, he's still only 31, so I would've thought that he would've been able to hold in the fives somewhere on his k/9. Time will tell.
• With that drop in strikeouts and a rise in his walk rate (he's already walked about half the number of batters in 45 innings this year that he walked in 193 innings last year), of course Morris' strikeout-to-walk ratio (k/bb) takes a big hit. Last year it was a stellar 3.14, and the lowest it's been in the last five years was 2.34, which is still plenty good. This is the biggest reason I liked him as a pitcher, and this year it's at a by-far career worst at 1.17. Ick.
• Two other numbers that are at career-high levels (or, career low levels, depending on your glass being half empty or half full of a fine cognac...because you've already drank the other half, and now you're feeling kind of...nevermind. Ahem.): his pitches per plate appearance (p/pa) and his pitches per innings pitched (p/ip) are significantly higher than his norm. It's taking Morris more pitches per batter, and thus taking him longer to get out of innings. While these numbers don't always tell much of a story by themselves, when taken in context with Morris' struggles they reinforce what's been going on.
• Opponents are teeing off on Morris. Opposing batters are hitting...perhaps you'd better sit down, first...opposing batters are putting up the following line against Morris: .340/.424/.558. List of players with similar numbers right now: Prince Fielder, Derek Jeter, Miguel Tejada, Hank Blalock, Austin Kearns, and Todd Helton. Who the heck would want to face off against a lineup like that every time out? But that's what it's been like for Morris. This is something where it's easy to expect improvement because it really can't get any worse.
• And what could be the most telling stat of them all is Morris' own ground ball/fly ball ratio. Normally he's getting a chunk more ground balls than fly balls hit against him (his career number is 1.64). This year he's about dead even at 0.96, which sometimes could mean there's a lot of line drives being hit -- and with that .558 SLG percentage against Morris, I wouldn't doubt that. Morris has induced an average of 20 double plays over the last five years, this year he's on pace for about four.

In essence, there's nothing Morris is doing well. For better or worse, he's going to get ample opportunity to right the ship because of the type of signing this was thought to be. Let's just hope things turn around, because right now it's looking as if bringing back Brett Tomko was the move to make.

...just had to end it that way (chuckle).

Winning baseball and interesting reading...

The Giants have taken the series against the Cubs with a 9-3 win, and the Royals enjoyed a day off today after sweeping the Cleveland Indians yesterday.

Can everything just stay...just like this?

I also read a neat piece by Dayn Perry over at FOX Sports which summarizes a bunch of reasons why Babe Ruth was overrated. I agree with him wholeheartedly while disagreeing with him -- all of his reasoning is solid and factual: Ruth drank heavily and cheated on his wife, he didn't play against the best competition because baseball wasn't integrated, the dimensions of Yankee Stadium favored his home run exploits, etc, etc.

There can be absolutely no doubt that if Ruth played today as he was then, he wouldn't have gotten anywhere. His physical limitations (brought on by his eating and drinking habits) would have greatly hampered his effectiveness in today's game, and even if he was to do well enough to hold down a job as a DH or something, he'd get blasted in the media day-in and day-out for his lack of morals. He either wouldn't have been good enough to stick around unless he got in shape, and he wouldn't even have been welcomed for very long by any club with all of the negative press he would've brought with him.

However, that being said, there is a reason why Ruth is so huge -- he was so much better than anyone else playing around him, weakened talent pool or not. Not admiring Ruth's baseball career would be like to discount, say, LeBron James' high school career. Sure, it was obvious he was head and shoulders above those around him, but what could he do about it?

It would've been nice if Ruth had been tested against the world's best players, which is what someone like Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, or Greg Maddux have to do everytime they play. This wasn't the case, but there's nothing that can change that, so I don't see much value in bringing Ruth down because of it.

If we are doing a comparison of Ruth and Willie Mays as players and trying to equate their accomplishments, then sure, Ruth's era and circumstances warrants a huge hit. But if we are compare Ruth's and Bonds' stature and impact on the game at the respective times they played, well, Ruth is and should be just as big of a deal as he is.

And who knows? If Ruth had been tested against the world's best and had found his physical condition lacking, perhaps he would have made the necessary changes to adjust and still be just as good as he was. While it might be a valid point to doubt the absolute validity of Ruth's accomplishments from a statistical standpoint (especially when compared with today's players), I don't think it's wise to doubt his talent and impact on baseball.

Well, that was quick

The Kevin Frandsen Walk and Power Watch has done it's duty.

Frandsen drew a walk in his first at-bat against Carlos Zambrano in tonight's game vs. the Cubs -which, incidentally, was his first at-bat since the inception of the Watch.

That's what I do. I crab and moan about things, and they get fixed. Notice how Pedro Feliz and Mike Matheny have both hit better since I've bitched about them. No, it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that it was very unlikely that they would hit that poorly for the whole season or anything...no, not at all.

Nevertheless, I will still keep the Watch going, because otherwise I'd be bored.

Calm excitement, and stick a fork in Vizcaino

I want to get excited about Jason Schmidt's and the Giants performance yesterday in their 6-1 win over the Cubs.

I am excited, really -- can't help it. Lance Niekro went oppo field with a blast, which is 10 times more exciting than it should be (showing that kind of power to right field for him is something I didn't quite knew he had in him). Mike Matheny is heating up, getting to the point where at least he can be justified to hold a spot in the batting order.

Steve Finley seems to have found a sweet spot in Triples Alley, and quite honestly is looking like the best pickup of the offseason. The man is running a .900 OPS, and speaking of running, doesn't look like he's slowed down (what the heck is he eating?). While I like Jason Ellison, there just isn't any reason for him to play much beyond pinch-running unless there is an injury...which there is right now, of course, but after Moises Alou comes back, any and all extra plate appearances should go to Finley.

And then there's Schmidt. I wrote a week ago about Schmidt's performance against the Brewers on the road, wondering whether the Giants have gotten their ace back...and I still don't quite know. Yes, he was dominant against the Cubs, and that reinforces the start against Milwaukee, but the Cubs have lost eight games in a row and are quite wounded right now -- their offense is on the...ahem, south side of effective. So gimme one more pearl and call me a Believer.

Despite my misgivings about Kevin Frandsen's start, it's got to be becoming more and more difficult for Father Alou to play Jose Vizcaino. Hitting a buck-fifty is just unacceptable -- having a position player who can't hit as well as about four pitchers on the roster cannot be had...tell me, does anyone pinch hit Vizcaino over Brad Hennessey, Noah Lowry, Jamey Wright, or even Matt Cain at this point? I certainly don't, and thus I'm feeling the desire to see him not play anymore.

Yes, Brian Sabean, he is old. Not old as in "veteran", but old as in...er, old. Old like Jeff Fassero. I would rather have Joe McEwing, and if you knew how much that pains me to say, you'd realize how much I'm down on Vizcaino right now.

It just hit me...

I'm late.

I can imagine the rest of you laughing at me, as undoubtedly most of the rest of you have had no issues with this. What's this, you query?

Seven. Four. Teen.

I've been anticipating it, sure. I've known for a while I want to see it pretty badly, and I'm so glad I'm able to watch most of tonight's game and have the next couple o' days off to make certain I can watch both games.

But, it really didn't hit me exactly what I'm watching unfold until it darn near happened.

In the 5th inning, Barry Bonds hit a deep fly ball into centerfield causing flashbulbs to go off by the thousands, and 40,000 people watch the flight of that ball in perfect unison. It had the right crack, the right distance, the right height...

...but, unfortunately, the wrong person playing defense. Juan Pierre caught the ball about 6 inches above the fence and hauled it back from history. Shame 'bout that.

Honestly, it would've been a bit of a funky one, barely clearing the fence. Remember Mark McGwire's 62nd home run in '98? It was a laser, and out of the park so quickly it was hard to get your bearings before you realized what you were seeing. While Bonds' blast in that 5th inning was home run worthy, it just wouldn't have quite fit the magnitude of the moment, the man, and all of the things that have surrounded both these past months.

I'm thinking splash hit, personally...put it out there in the Cove to put a stamp on the whole thing. Plus, it'll be worth it just to: 1) see the watercraft make the mad dash towards it, and 2) save us from that silly situation with home run #73 in 2001.

Facing the music...

Jeff Fassero has been DFA'd in favor of Brad Hennessey. It's wonderful and terrible at the same time.

I've spent most of the time I've talked about Fassero talking bad about him, but I've never doubted that he had heart. Last season he squared off against Retirement and went the full 12 rounds, winning a majority decision. In the rematch, it looks like Retirement wins by TKO in the 3rd round.

He had a decent year in 2005, showing he still had some life on his fastball and being the epitome of the "crafty left-hander". This year he was fooling no one and was getting tagged more than the fat kids in grade school. Still, it's sad seeing a career come to a close -- and while it's still very possible (and perhaps even likely) that some team will pick Fassero up to see if just a skoche of gas is left in the tank, it's unlikely I'm going to be following any of his future expoits as his body tries to tell his mind that it's had enough.

Good luck to you, Jeff. I do agree with Kruk -- he was a good Giant.

In the meantime, I'm watching the Giants ride the strength of one breakout inning and some strong pitching from OH-MY-GOD-I'M-SO-GLAD-HE'S-BACK Noah Lowry to defeat the Houston Astros in the Cover Girl Make-up Game. Not only is it great to see Lowry back, but it's just as good to see more and more of Jeremy Accardo. Apparently he wants to become a closer, and I say more power to him. He's got the full pedigree -- the velocity, the stuff, and the ability to use those two things to miss bats and strike some guys out (more strikeouts than innings pitched is just lovely to see from any Giants bullpen pitcher). The only thing he seems to lack is experience, but it's to be hoped that the Giants don't take experience over ability all the time...

...as I'm watching the game...not...quite...end, I feel like I have to add Tim Worrell to my list of very "done" looking pitchers. He relieves Accardo, and promptly throws a BP fastball to Mike Lamb which ended up deposited over the centerfield fence.

Credit to Father Alou in one sense -- he showed absoutely no patience with Worrell and took him right out. I can only hope it wasn't necessarily because he felt he needed to call on Armando Benitez to get the last out, but because he was sending a bit of a message to Worrell that he's not going to tolerate many more of these sad excuses for pitching performances.

You've got to think that Worrell and Scott Munter are on short leashes.

Oh, and today starts the Kevin Frandsen Watch. While the rookie has certainly shown he can put together a variety of singles and get hit by a few inside pitches, he hasn't shown much interest in drawing a walk thus far in 42 plate appearances. While Jeff Francouer had quite a run last year before drawing a walk, he was hitting quite a few extra-base hits along the way -- Frandsen has only one double in 11 total hits, for a SLG % only 27 points higher than his batting average.

I've like seeing Frandsen, and with backup infielders like Jose Vizcaino, it's not as if Frandsen has no value...but c'mon, man, let's hit a couple more doubles and throw in a couple of walks, alright?

Power Outage

How is it that one team can collect 11 hits and only score one run, while another team can scrape together six hits yet score four runs?

Extra base hits.

Of the Phillies six hits in their 4-1 win over the Giants, they had three doubles and one home run. Of the Giants 11 hits, they're only extra base-hit was a double.

The Giants offense has one huge problem with power -- they ain't got none. Compounding the problem is the fact that they don't have a lot of team speed, so they aren't able to make up for their lack of power much by stealing bases or stretching singles into doubles or doubles into triples.

If we look solely at power, there are only four teams worse than the Giants in the NL in SLG %: the Dodgers, Pirates, Cubs and Padres.

If we look solely at steals, there are only two teams worse than the Giants: the Pirates and the Astros (be proud, fellas, you definitely got it all over Pittsburgh).

I would seriously doubt that increasing their steal attempts would help the Giants in any way, so what's left? In team batting average and on-base percentage, the Giants are currently in the middle of the pack (9th and 10th, respectively).

So. Only a month into the season, and quite honestly, it's already time for Brian Sabean to leap...nay, spring! into action. Were the Giants to stay around .500, I don't think the division will get away from them, but that's a silly thing to count on -- not to mention there's no guarantee the team can stay close to .500 with its current makeup.

The rotation is competitive, and the bullpen has stabilized to some extent (although it bears watching). But the offense? While there are a few players hitting below expectations, I don't see some kind of huge turnaround in the making. Their entire infield can't hit for power (and for those that want to counter with Pedro Feliz, I say to you...heh, sure), and only Omar Vizquel has made any sort of significant offensive contribution thus far this season...oh, and he's finally cooling off.

But am I worried? Nah, 'course not.

Awww Schmidt

Jason Schmidt. Have we gotten our ace back?

Well: 9.0 innings/5 hits allowed (only one an extra base hit)/Zero runs allowed/Zero walks/7 strikeouts

...and all that on just 113 pitches, which may be the most important piece of it. Oh, and by the way, he did it on the road in a hitter's park against a team which, before the start of this game, was 2nd in the NL in runs per game at 5.26 runs/game.

That's like, cool. 2-0, Giants.

I must admit I got a chuckle when reading the MLB game recap from Giants beat writer Rich Draper. I'm sure part of his mandate is to up-play the positive and find a positive spin on the negative, but lying just shouldn't be allowed. The Giants offense was 100% provided by Pedro Feliz, which is great -- it's nice to see him go deep and drive in some runs, but Draper had the following to say about Feliz and his efforts:

Fireworks came from third baseman Pedro Feliz, who is struggling offensively, but has a knack of rising to the occasional with men on base

That's incredibly untrue. From 2003-2005, where pretty much all of Feliz' career resides, he's hit .254 with runners on base, and .240 with runners in scoring position. This year, he's hit .200 with runners on and .148 with runners in scoring position.

Rich, what the heck are you talking about? I think he means well, but when he talks about the Giants, I think some kind of fluid leaks into his brain and dumb stuff flies from his keyboard. I've started to pick up the habit, if I happen to read a game recap from MLB.com, of reading the opposing teams' recap from the opposing teams' beat writer. There's just less of a chance of wading knee-deep through fecal matter doing things that way. Or, at least I'm wading knee-deep through the fecal matter of that other team rather than the one I follow. That, I can stand.

One thing that is becoming painfully obvious once again this season -- ain't no wildcard coming out of the NL West. It's win the division or bust. The NL Central has three teams with over a .600 winning percentage, and five of six teams with a record above .500.

Lance Niekro, after having some encouraging at-bats earlier this season, is starting to look a lot like he did last season -- smack in the middle of the Amazon without a guide.

(That was a tough one, deciding between the remote place of the world to finish that metaphor. I started with Siberia, moved onto the Sahara Desert, then to the Nepalese Mountains, Antartica, the Bermuda Triangle, finally settling on the Amazon. I was even switching between his method of aid -- from a compass, to a map, to a GPS, then instead choosing to go with a guide. See, I bet you all just thought I threw things together here with no kind of plan, didn't you? Far from it. There is careful planning that goes into each...wait, what was I talking about before this?)

The Giants upcoming schedule is truly screwed. The short two-game set with San Diego that they played followed by hitting the road for the two-game set with Milwaukee, starting a three-game series in Philadephia the day after ending with Milwaukee, then flying all the way back across the country to play the make-up game with Houston the day after the Philadelphia series ends. Oh, and they play for nine consecutive days after that, too.

Their next day off is May 18th, which will make it 20 straight games. Most of the games will have been at home, luckily, but that's got to take it's toll on a team this old. I'm going to set a bit of a mile-marker on that Thursday, May 18th, to see where the team stands after all those games. Could be a little rough.

That's gotta be it, right?

Well, at least that's out of the way.

It's obvious the San Diego Padres just decided to get all of their run-scoring in the series out of the way in one game. Before the game yesterday, the Padres were scoring at a 3.7 runs per game clip, meaning in a three-game series, they've been averaging about 11 runs.

Simple logic would dictate that we note that their 10-4 smothering of the Giants yesterday as a temporary occurence, with zero chance of reoccurence -- as this is a two-game series, it would be impossible for the Padres to score any more runs, right? They've already scored more than their share of runs. Yes, yes, that makes sense.

The Giants, meanwhile, currently have four offensive vacuums in their lineup at catcher, 3rd base, 2nd base, and the pitcher's spot. Care to guess which one has been most productive? Stats are approximate -- had to add and divide every darn thing myself:

• The line for 3rd base (for the sake of ease, I've assumed Pedro Feliz has gotten enough of the plate appearances here to not include anyone else): .208/.243/.313 (556 OPS)
• The line for 2nd base (Ray Durham, Jose Vizcaino, and Kevin Frandsen): .203/.315/.250 (565 OPS)
• The line for the pitchers: .190/.190/.224 (414 OPS)
• The line for the catchers (Mike Matheny and Todd Greene): .239/.304/.348 (652 OPS)

The winner is...kinda...the catcher position, although without Greene's hot contribution Matheny's numbers would be 3rd to last. No big shockers there, I suppose, but I think we can all admit the catchers, 3rd base, and 2nd base offensive stats are much closer to the pitchers' than we'd like.

Looking at it another way, the Giants have given about 30.5% of their plate appearances to hitters who have the following line: .203/.278/.282 (Matheny, Feliz, Durham, and Vizcaino). About a third of the team's at-bats given to that...and I didn't include the pitcher's, mind you. How would this lineup look to you?

Omar Vizquel, SS

Solid Defensive .203 Hitter, 2B

Randy Winn, CF

Barry Bonds, LF

Moises Alou, RF

Sold Defensive .203 Hitter, 3B

Sweeney/Niekro, 1B

Solid Defensive .203 Hitter, C

Pitcher's Spot

If I went on to tell you that those three Solid Defensive .203 Hitters also hit a chunk more ground balls than fly balls, and doesn't that look like a rally-killer of a lineup?

Well, enough soapbox -- I doubt there is much the Giants can do about the situation, what with two of the culprits in Durham and Feliz and virtually untradeable at this point, Vizcaino just filling in, and Matheny not about to lose any playing time no matter how poorly he hits.

Well, Jon Miller has described the weather for today's game as, "Absolutely perfect in every way", so I 'spose I ought to get to watching.

Go Giants!

No, not exactly, but yeah, kinda...

Paraphrasing a Richard Pryor bit:

You ever hear one name in boxing you can say, and it'd fuck everybody up?
"Well, what if he'd fought Sugar Ray Robinson?"
"Aw shit! Don't fuck with the SUGAR! I ain't lyin', Sugar fight so good, it'll make your dick hard."

I mean, I won't go so far as to say Omar Vizquel does that, but boy, he sure does come as close as possible while playing shortstop. Another day, another spectacular play, this one coming from a total standstill, leaping up to snag a snowcone from about seven feet off the ground -- courtesy of Rob Bowen, who's probably mad, but not too mad. One of those tip-your-cap plays, like Kruk says.

So, that play, plus making the other outs of the inning, and then? Well, of course, Vizquel simply comes up the next inning and lines a single into centerfield to plate the Giants first run. It's just a bit unfair for a guy to produce as many defensive highlights as Vizquel does on a daily basis, then have a month of April where he runs about a .945 OPS.

I feel a bit bad for Bowen, though -- after getting robbed by Vizquel, his next defensive inning has seen him drop a catchable ball behind the plate, then has a passed ball that allowed Randy Winn to score (although it ended up being ruled a wild pitch).

And the Giants are just becoming magnets for beanball wars. After Steve Finley gets buzzed and Barry Bonds gets hit on the hand, Jamey Wright comes out the next inning and wastes no time in drilling the first batter he faces on the second pitch. Wright has pitched very well this year although I didn't expect it, but regardless, I respect him for coming right out and protecting his teammates.

As an aside, is it just me, or has Wright picked up an extra two mph from someplace? I haven't seen him this consistently between 92-94 before...

It's pretty obvious that the Giants pitchers have sent an early message to the league: hit one of ours, we're going to hit one of yours. Unfortunately, Wright followed the beanball with a walk, so this one could end up hurting a bit.

UPDATE: Well, shucky darn. Bases loaded, one out, and one run in thus far this inning. Two walks after the beanball plus a single...he had Khalil Greene down 1-2 in the count and lost him, which has set the Padres up nicely for the big inning.

UPDATE: Egads, this got ugly in a hurry. Wright just lost the plate for a bit, and when he found it again the Padres were waiting for him (I think they were whistling while they were waiting, too). Lots of loud contact ending up in six more runs scoring. It's a shame that the beanball started all this off, but the fact remains that Wright walked the next two batters, then could only get in the zone again after he took something off. I'd have felt bad for him if he had allowed a run or two in the inning, but seven?

Dude, that's ya own damn fault.

Yesterday...

...was nice on a few different levels.

Four wins vs. two losses for the Giants against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Although two of the wins came in dramatic fashion after the Giants ended up having to get over and past D-Back rallies, they do count.

Some notes:

• The Giants are 1-3 without Bonds, and they are 1-2 in games where Bonds homers. The latter is semi-uselss information, but the former will be something to keep an eye on later in the year.
• A bit odd, but despite the offensive struggles, the Giants are 6th in the NL in both batting average and on-base percentage. However, they are 3rd to last in team SLG percentage, so it's pretty easy to see where the problem lies. Moises Alou is just about the only guy homering much, although Barry Bonds is heating up -- but that's pretty much it (they're also 3rd to last in home runs hits as a team, and dead last in doubles hit as a team). Less singles, more extra-base hits, Giants. Chop chop!
• By the way, two teams less powerful at the plate than the Giants? The San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers. This division isn't very good, I think, although both those teams play in a pitcher's park.
• The Giants...er, lead the league...in double plays hit into. This, in large part, is because the Giants are 3rd in the league as far as ground ball/fly ball ration at 1.42. They just hit a lot of ground balls as a team, and thus are much more susceptible to the double play.
• The Giants are dead last in the league in p/pa (pitches per plate appearance) at 3.56, so it's easy to surmise that they are the most impatient team in the league. Possibly associated with that number is that the Giants strike out the least in the NL -- a lot of it may have to do with the fact that they just don't see enough pitches to strike out.

The umps have blown yet another important call against the Giants, as a big-time run-scoring opportunity went by the boards after a check-swing by Bonds was appealed and called a swing, thus making it strike three against Bonds, and also wiping out Kevin Frandsen at 3rd base -- he was trotting into 3rd base thinking Bonds had been issued a walk.

We'll just have to see if this call ends up being as important as the other two missed calls were.

Update: Is it just me, or is Jeff Fassero looking very much done? The Giants have had another rally fail, once again because of their tendency to hit ground balls. With runners on the corners and nobody out, Mark Sweeney hits a ground ball that Bonds couldn't score on, and got caught in a rundown. Then with runners on 1st and 2nd after that play, Mike Matheny hits into an inning-ending double play.

And to just round this game out, Pedro Feliz has twice grounded out after only seeing one pitch.

If you neeed me, I'll be vomiting over in the corner.

Oops, and the Fate of Feliz

During my Brian Wilson rant yesterday, I failed to notice that he apparently went on the DL right after being brought up, which was why Jeremy Accardo was there to pitch in the 1st place. This was pointed out to me by someone going by the name of Nonny Muss.

Mr. A. Nonny Muss. Thanks.

My Royals-related euphoria (caused by them winning three of four games) met with a serious downer in the form of their 15th loss of the season.

Whenever I find myself getting too angry at the Giants, I can always compare them to the Royals and bask in the relief that both my favorite teams aren't as bad as Kansas City is.

Mad at Pedro Feliz, and wish he'd display some plate discipline? Heh. Check out Angel Berroa. He's hitting .296 and his on-base percentage is .306, thanks to the single walk he's drawn so far for 2006 in 72 plate appearances. He's seeing the fewest amount of pitches per plate appeance of his career at 3.24, not to mention he's pounding the ball into the ground at an almost 2 to 1 clip over fly balls (1.94 g/f ratio). In other words, even his seemingly-decent .296 batting average will eventually drop, because you need to be extremely lucky to high for that high of an average while hitting twice as many ground balls as fly balls.

But is Feliz even any better than this guy? Let's look at Feliz' same peripherals and see what they say:

• ISO Discipline (.032) - Well, did you expect this number to be good? This number is simply the difference between a player's batting average and his on-base percentage, and it basically tells us how well the players is drawing walks. Barry Bonds' ISO discipline is .297, so even when he's hitting for low batting average, he can help by getting on base. If Feliz ain't hitting for average, then he's just taking up space in the lineup.
• P/PA (3.18) - Can you believe that Feliz is actually seeing less pitches per plate appearance than Berroa? If it seems to you that Feliz is making a lot of one-pitch outs, you're likely right. What's worse is, Feliz is even being impatient for...himself. For his career, Feliz' p/pa is 3.36, so that gives you an idea of what's happening -- the guy is regressing. Each of the three previous years, that number had risen (3.28 to 3.36 to a career high last year of 3.43), and now it's dropped to an all-time low. Not good.
• G/F Ratio (1.27) - This isn't a bad number, per se, but for whatever it's worth it is at an all-time high for Feliz. He's best when he can hit line drives, but he hasn't been doing much of that this year -- it's either pounded into the ground or popped into the air, because pitchers almost always have him off-balance.

So, let's review. Feliz isn't hitting for average, he doesn't get on base, and he's not hitting for much power when he does get a hit, either, with an ISO power of just .122 (career ISO power is .182).

Why does this man lead the team in at-bats? It is a rhetorical question, truth be told -- he was given the 3rd base job totally and unconditionally, and there is no plan B behind him. Brian Sabean won't go to the minors for a replacement (not long term, at least), so that necissitates that some sort of trade be made. And, I dunno, I'm thinking there wouldn't be too many suitors for a 31 year-old 3rd baseman who has limited offensive abilities. Not at about $4 mil per year, at least.

Almost makes no sense

Almost is a frustrating word.

Think about it. It's made up of "all" and "most", which, last I checked, aren't the same thing.

With winning it's even worse. You either have all of the win, or you have nothing. Sure, we say things like, "they almost won" all the time, but it's a bit goofy. They almost won, but they lost instead.Think about it -- winning and losing are two extremes, very far away from each other. You can eat most of an orange, but you can't have most of a win.

But geez, the Giants almost swept the Mets, if it weren't for the fact that they lost two of three in the series.

The Giants, as usual, specialize in the excruciating loss. Tuesday it was the blown call at 1st base followed by the Cliff Floyd home run, and Wednesday it was the ecstasy of watching Barry Bonds come through in the clutch with a game-tying, 9th inning home run off of molten-lava-thrower Billy Wagner, then watch that effort go to waste in extra innings.

People are going to start looking at me funny on B.A.R.T., walking around with as many daggers in my heart as I have.

Good Samaritan: "Sir, I don't mean to bother you while you're rocking out to Tool, but I can't help but notice that you seem to have several knives in the region of your ventricles."

Pierced Individual: "...actually, I'm listening to A Perfect Circle -- you do know that lead singer Maynard fronts for two bands, right? And they're daggers, not knives."

Good Samaritan (slightly confused): "...well, yes, I stand corrected about the...daggers, and...er, which progressive rock band you're listening to. But, the...daggers...isn't that a bit...uncomfortable?"

Pierced Individual (nonplussed): "It's fine. I took some Visine earlier this morning, and I've got an Ace bandage around my ankle."

Good Samaritan (moderately confused): "...are you certain that's sufficient? I think I should notify the train operator."

Pierced Individual (me, in case you didn't recognize my subtle pseudonym): "It's really not a big deal. Why don't you mind your own affairs? I don't appreciate all this hullabaloo, you bastard!"

Good Samaritan (confused as all heck, but now quite irritated): "...you're bleeding on my newspaper."

Pierced Indiv...Me: "...perhaps you should read your newspaper elsewhere."

Good Samaritan: "You're sitting on my lap."

Me: "Whaddya know? It's my stop."

I have the feeling the NL West is going to be a big clusterf--k all season long. All five teams, in a race to achieve the very best of mediocrity possible (I've determined that to be a .524 winning percentage, which is exactly the Giants winning percentage right now).

One thing truly bothered me about this game, though -- the selection of relievers by Father Alou. He doesn't seem to mind throwing the same guys into the fire night after night whether they're slumping or not -- in a game that saw Alou use five relievers, where was Brian Wilson, he of the impressive outing in the first game of the series? It would not only have been riding the hot hand, but it would also have been not riding the cold hand(s) of the rest of the bullpen.

Jeff Fassero's been struggling, as has Tim Worrell and Armando Benitez. Scott Munter has avoided being horrible, but has inspired confidence in very few of his outings thus far. Steve Kline's been decent, but...five relievers, four of whom have ben struggling to some degree. Both Jeremy Accardo and Wilson had great outings in their last appearances, yet they didn't get into the game.

It isn't a huge deal in any individual game, but it's a pattern of not trusting the young guys in favor of the veterans, regardless of how the veterans have been performing. In this case, it was kind of dumb, and it ended up in a line for the bullpen that reads like this: 5.1 innings pitched, 9 hits, 5 runs allowed, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts.

The two guys with the best arms in the bullpen also happen to be the youngest. While experience plays a large role in determining how well a pitcher does, sometimes talent just kicks experience's ass. I hope it doesn't take too long before Felipe tests that little theory out.

Whatever

Watching Barry Bonds go yard, and opposite field at that, still instills a certain amount of awe in me. Number 710 was impressive as all heck, with one of those no-doubt cracks of the bat along with the inherent beauty of watching someone identify exactly where a pitch was going early in its flight, and using his power to go with the location of the pitch -- which was outside.

It was also interesting to see Jamey Wright just...pitch...his way through the Mets lineup. Still early to give him the keys to the city, but he seems to know how to use what he has, and doesn't deviate from how he wants to pitch a particular hitter. When he makes a location mistake he can get pounded, but that's no different from most pitchers out there. I'm no longer cringing when I see him on the mound.

However, it's still sad to see how ineffective Pedro Feliz and Mike Matheny are right now, and while Ray Durham was stinking up the joint, too, seeing someone with as little offensive ability as Jose Vizcaino take his place doesn't put soothing balm on the wounds (although I'm much more comfortable with him defensively at 2nd base than Durham).

The shiny lustre has even come off of Randy Winn, who's been 0-fer his last 16. I love Kruk and Kuip, but they made a comment about how unusual it is for Winn to go 0-fer a few games in a row...guys, he's been on the team for about three months. For all we know, this could be the real player they traded for. In any case, his slump is still a bit of a surprise to me, too.

So while the umps once again made a questionable call that went against the Giants in their 4-1 loss to the Mets last night (which was, like the last game in the Colorado series, followed almost directly by the opposing team taking advantage to a game-winning effect), this team still has those gaping holes in their lineup. How do they fix them?

Todd Greene's had a nice offensive beginning to his season, so perhaps sitting Matheny for a day or two could help matters, and Steve Finley is waiting in the wings for whomever falters in the outfield, whether it be through injury or ineffectiveness.

But what about Feliz? This is truly a bad spot, because there is no plan "B" for Pedro Happy Swing. There isn't a backup for him, per se. Vizcaino can play 3rd, sure, but Feliz's defense at 3rd so far this year has been rock solid, so there's no need to replace a poor hitter with some power with another poor hitter with no power.

Brian Sabean's got to be worried, and he's got to be thinking in the short term. Feliz wasn't exactly lighting it up last season, especially after the All Star Break, so Sabean can't really assume Feliz will break out of this. I'm thinking Feliz will get to about mid-May before Sabes trader-finger gets itchy -- but, of course, trading Feliz at his current salary could prove a bit difficult.

Oh yeah. Uh-huh.

While I still hold with the thought process that the Giants were lucky to some degree in their first 18 games or so, it can't be overlooked that they were a bit unlucky, too, in the form of the couple of last at-bat losses to the Colorado Rockies.

And, as the season progresses, certain things that seem like happenstance at first start to gain a bit of credibility:

• The Giants haven't lost a series
• In games against Atlanta, the New York Mets, and the Astros, they are 5-3
• They've managed an 11-8 record despite having a lot of players perform below statistical expectations

So. Lucky? Perhaps they're a bit unlucky to have so many players start slowly, thus robbing them of a win or three that they would have had otherwise. In any case, if they are able to take 2 of 3 or sweep the Mets (who early on look like a top 2 or 3 team in the NL), then perhaps we'll be able to give the Giants credit for at least being a decent team, with the possibility of being better.

Other things:

• I thought I remembered Omar Vizquel starting hot last season as well as this one, and I wasn't wrong, but he wasn't this hot. Last year: .315/.390/.452 with six steals. This year: .387/.494/.500 with five steals. Not to mention turning what could easily be the Double Play of the Decade with that force at 2nd base and throw to 3rd base earlier this year. You just don't see that done, and by the way, he's doing it as a 39-year old.
• Seeing Matt Cain pitch so much better is a huge relief. We can still hope to see more strikeouts all we want, but the fact is that he pitched very well without them and got the job done. Baby steps, etc.
• Lance Niekro still hasn't fully got it, but I can't help but think he's significantly further along than Pedro Feliz, who just happens to be several years older and have a couple/few thousand more big league plate appearances. Add in about 65 points to his SLG, and Lance would be right about where I think his potential lies (currently .269/.345/.385). Oh, and as horrible as Feliz has been this year (except for two back-to-back games vs. the D-Backs and Rockies), he still leads the team in at-bats, which makes so little sense that I want to cry.
• Steve Finley looks like he could start, if needed. Wondering how important this pickup may be later in the season, as Barry Bonds and Moises Alou rack up playing time and potential for injury. Alou looks like he's running through maple syrup in the outfield, but he's getting to enough balls and making enough plays to hold his own. But, I still cringe when balls are hit out to right field.

Well, that's enough for now -- I've got the day off, so I've got some important things to do like breathing, blinking, along with an occasional scratch of my testicles. I'd go somewhere, but as Jim Gaffigan likes to say, I'd probably have to put on pants.

Here's a question for everyone...

Is the problem Barry Bonds, or is the problem steroids?

Forgive me, I get confused. Whenever someone brings up Bonds in a steroid-related conversation, I tend to shrug it off -- see, I believe that there are folks working on this (heck, some are even making a career off of this) and that the truth will come to some degree of light sooner or later. There are a couple other reason I shrug it off, too, and neither of them are because Bonds plays for the San Francisco Giants.

But I digress.

After shrugging it off, I usually attempt to open up a can of worms that has been staying determinedly closed for a while now -- what have we been missing in this whole scandal? Or, put another way, who have we been missing in this whole scandal?

Some of you may bring up a Rafael Palmeiro, counter with a Jason Giambi or a Mark McGwire, but honestly I give a rat's posterior about any of them. Two reasons for that: 1) apparently, the rest of the nation doesn't give a damn about any of them, either, and 2) because they've all managed to find the eye of the hurricane.

Think about those players' role in this -- honestly, just as big of a role as Bonds', expect that they had the good fortune or common sense to not threaten Babe Ruth's or Hank Aaron's home run marks. That's the only difference between them -- Bonds has more talent, it manifested itself in the form of more home runs, and thus he's the focus.

The focus has wavered from Bonds for only short periods of time: McGwire's evasion in the Congressional hearings, Palmeiro's failed drug test, Giambi's admission -- those things brought us a week or three of Bonds' playing 1st and half fiddle (as opposed to 2nd fiddle). That's it, really. After that...SNAP! back to Bonds in a hurry, and another month or two of focus solely on him.

But to reiterate, I give a rat's ass about those other players, because my musings tend to go off on this tangent -- who else has ever taken steroids, or any other performance-enhancing drug, and gotten away with it?

Furthermore, what did they do during their playing days?

To be sure, not much -- at least, not much anymore. We don't know exactly who they are, or what they did, which tends to make most of us disregard the problem. If it can't be investigated, if the truth can't be found, why look?

Or, why bother, when we can just find Bonds guilty and be satisfied?

That's what this is coming to. People aren't really interested in broad, sweeping justice -- if they were, they wouldn't focus on Bonds. Bonds is a huge, huge fish in the pond, to be certain, but thinking he's the only catch is ignoring the real problem -- steroids.

Right? Steroids, remember? Other people have taken them in their careers, used them to enhance their performance, and done...what?

Did they use the drugs to help them have a career year (Brady Anderson, anyone)? Did they use them in Spring Training to help them win a job on some team's 40-man roster? Or...

Did they use them to help them hit a game-winning homer in April of 1990-something to beat such-and-such team? Perhaps a couple of those performance-enhanced players got hot in August and September, and used their man-made physique's to help propel their squad into a pennant race, or a wild-card spot, or...

...maybe even a few of those guys hit important, playoff series home runs, or...gulp...important World Series home runs.

Do you see the point? How can we know? We can't, really, but not being able to know isn't an excuse to ignore, which is what the vast majority of America is doing. They're ignoring all other possibilities in favor of getting Bonds, because that will satisfy them that all is right with baseball. If Bonds can't break the record, or, if he breaks the record but gets his accomplishments erased from history, then everything else will just fall into place.

Wrong. Everything else won't fall into place, it'll just fall into some dark corner of history that will never see any light.

Kirk Gibson is a hero, because he took some cortisone which allowed him to ignore the pain in his legs long enough to hit a World Series-altering home run. What would Gibson had done if he hadn't taken any cortisone? He wouldn't have hit at all...heck, he wouldn't even have come out of the trainer's room. What is cortisone? A drug, right? A drug that allowed Gibson to do something he couldn't have done otherwise...

...you see where this is going. If you aren't interested in where it leads, then you aren't interested in true justice -- you just want to get Bonds. That's fine, of course, but just be adult enough to admit it. You think the problem is Bonds, not steroids.

And that means you and I disagree.

Who's THIS guy?

Hi, Brian Wilson.

A sure-fire way to impress me in your first big league action is to come into a game throwing in the 89-95 mph range, staying almost completely in or around the strike zone and getting a bunch of swingthroughs and strikeouts in two innings of work.

Consider me impressed.

I'm also impressed that Rockies manager Clint Hurdle is pitching to Barry Bonds in the 9th inning of a tie game with a man on base. 'Course, this could feed into the bit of the buzz around the league that Bonds is no longer Bonds -- dangerous hitter, sure, but not superhuman.

Bonds struck out, inning over. Could be something to that buzz.

The game is currently resting on the arm of Jeff Fassero, who thankfully is going clean-shaven today (his three-day unshaven look has that ol' alcoholism look, to me).

UPDATE: Losing two of four games in a series on the road isn't a bad thing, but losing those two games in the 9th inning and extra innings, respectively, really bites sweaty jockstrap. The fact that this game was lost on the pitch directly after the third strike and last out of the inning was not called by the home plate umpire, and it stings just a wee bit more.

The umps' handprints were all over this game, though, and it was one of those rare games where it was almost as much about their judgement than the game between the lines. The umps threw out two pitchers who likely didn't deserve it in Matt Morris and Ray King (although it's difficult to fault them too much after Jose Mesa set the tone yesterday with the beaning of Omar Vizquel), then the questionable no-call at the end of the game.

Offensive Goodness

Well.

Pedro Feliz is having himself a game -- three hits, three at-bats, two home runs, four RBI. The first one was very nice, as he simply took a get-it-in-there fastball over the plate in a 2-1 count over the fence in left-center field. Working the count in your favor cannot help but put you in positions for these things, I think.

The second was Feliz turning on a pitch on the inside, ending up in a line-hugger that had some good distance on it. Both homers were of the two-run variety. Neat.

Jason Schmidt, however, is looking like just another dude out there on the mound...his fastballs have to be well located nowadays, what with his velocity usually settling into the 91-93 range and them looking as hittable as they do. The breaking ball is working well tonight, but he isn't really throwing it much. He's thrown his changeup even less.

UPDATE: Didn't I tell you all Father Alou ain't never scurred? Bases loaded, on out in the 9th inning up by two runs, and Felipe calls on just-activated Armando Benitez.

The skipper's got those big brave balls, I tell ya.

UPDATE, VERSION 2.0: Benitez gets a guy to fly out, scoring one run on a tag-up, then promptly allowed an oppo base hit in an 0-2 count to allow the tying run to score. Very next hitter, 0-2 count again, and 'Mando again allows a base hit, this time to let the winning run to score.

Armando, what the fuck are you doing around the plate in an 0-2 count?

Nevermind.

Felipe, put those big brave balls away for a game or two, and next time don't bring in your fresh-off-the-DL guy right into a high-pressure situation. Really, it's stupid.

A certain, je ne sais quoi

It.

Some have it, some don't. Bad teams don't have it, and neither do very good teams, strange as that might sound.

The teams that have it, or "it", if you prefer, are a special breed of team. They are the team that "finds a way" to win, that just "gets the job done". Joe Morgan is good at spotting teams like that, but then, he's also good at confusing me four or fives times during a broadcast (thank God for Jon Miller).

What all that cliche crap usually translates to is, nobody can figure out how they're winning, but acknowledge the fact that yes, somehow, the team is doing just that.

Personally, I hate "it". There isn't a stat for it, and there isn't any way to figure out when it'll show up. There are a lot of teams that sometimes look like they'll have "it" for a while, only to be exposed later on after truth rears its ugly head. The Giants are 9-6 in 1st place in the NL West, and I'm trying to figure out how.

They're still being outscored by their opponents by a significant margin -- for those that may not like my belaboring of this point, take a look at the standings and find me another team that has a winning record while being outscored. I can save you the trouble...there isn't one. In fact, even of all the teams with .500 records, there's only one, the Angels, that has been outscored -- though only by four runs. The Giants have been outscored by 14.

Houston and Cincinatti both have been pretty lucky with a +2 over their expected win/loss record, partly due to their knack for one-run wins (Houston is 5-0 and Cincinnatti is 4-1 in one run contests). The Giants are 3-0 in one run games, and are +3 over their Pythagorean standings at this point (given the Giants runs scored/runs allowed, one would normally expect them to be about 6-9 instead of 9-6).

In essence, nobody has been as lucky as the Giants so far, but we can't expect it to continue. When 1/3 of the teams' wins have come off the pitching performance of their #5 starter, well, my hats off to Jamey Wright (is this just Mike Matheny, 2005, or what? Talk bad about the guy for all of the normally correct reasons, then he comes out and does better than everybody expected. Sheesh.), but forgive me if I don't exactly buy into a back-of-the-rotation guy as the team's best starter.

The Giants line offensively is .252/.340/.381, and the opposing teams are hitting .276/.367/.453. Being outhit is one thing, but the Giants have been outpowered -- that difference in SLG is almost totally due to being outhomered 19-10. The most obvious culprit, of course, is Barry Bonds. Steroids shmeroids, none of us expected him to be homerless after about 10% of the games had been played.

We'll see what a trip to Coors Field can do -- we can certainly hope that Ray Durham and Pedro Feliz turned a bit of a corner after last night's game, with Durham having a 2-5 night at the plate, and Feliz hitting a very important double late in the game. It'd be nice to see their OPS climb above .500.

Felipe ain't never scurred

Watching the Diamondbacks pound on the Giants like a sledgehammer in the 6th inning, I'm starting to wonder when enough is enough.

Jack Tashner has pitched more like Jack Black. His ERA entering tonight's action was 40.50.

Is that even an ERA anymore by the time it gets to that number?

Yet Father Alou keeps throwin' 'em in the fire, heedless of the consequences. Tashner, sure enough, burned the team yet again. And guess who comes in the very next inning? Tyler Walker, he of the 24.30 ERA coming into tonight.

Never let it be said that Felipe lacks cahones.

Mmmm...runs

My powers of prediction and projection are puissant.

Of course, on Sunday when I mused that the Giants would likely see an improvement in their offensive fortunes in Arizona and/or Colorado, I didn't necessarily think that musing would manifest itself in the form of a ten run outburst in their first game against the Diamondbacks, but it is not for nothing that in certain portions of the world I am known as Danieldamus.

Well, in truth the longer version of the name is used just a bit more: the Loud, Obnoxious, Shaved-Headed American Who Likes His Vodka Too Much and Often Makes Predictions About Things We Care Nothing About. But the shortened version is starting to catch on, I think.

It wouldn't be me without worry, though, and that worry manifests itself thusly:

• Dunno 'bout you, but for reasons of superior ability, youth, and the lack of Scary Facial Hair, I'd much rather see Kevin Correia start than Jeff Fassero.
• In that same vein, I'd rather see this guy pitch than Tyler Walker or Jack Taschner right now:

As Lefty and Grant have theorized, the Giants have indeed been lucky thus far, but now they are at a point where we can surmise they can win a few on their own merits. Today they face Russ Ortiz, and I'd be lying if I said I don't chuckle every time I see this guy toe the rubber for another team. He wasn't too bad of a Giant, but his control issues are scary (although Kruk interpreted that as meaning Ortiz was a "grinder").

Perhaps you guys can chime in with an opinion on this -- while it is still early, do any of you see any evidence this division is any better than last season? Or, do you see it as being just as poor as 2005, and maybe even a bit worse? Excluding the Giants, the rest of the NL West is currently 11-15 outside their division, and while the Rockies do sport a winning record as of today, they are doing on the strength of a 6-4 record against divisional opponents -- so it's possible they haven't played anyone that's any good yet.

Sidenote: It is an interesting feeling to be able to give up on a team in mid-April, but that's just the feeling my other team, the Kansas City Royals, have engendered in me. It seems a safe bet to assume they are the worst at everything, having managed to already accomplisht the 1-2 punch of scoring the least amount of runs in the majors while allowing the most. Their opponents are running a .946 OPS against their pitching, while their offense is at .667. They don't even have anyone enjoying a hot start -- the highest individual OPS on the team is Shane Costa (whom I've met, by the way, and found to be cool) at .806.

Sad doesn't even begin to describe it. Betcha Reggie Sanders is pissed at his decision to sign there right about now.

Should we be worried about the offense?

The Giants are winning again as I'm watching, to my everlasting delight. But I can't but think -- two runs through eight innings isn't exactly lighting it up. Heck, nevermind lighting it up, because that's hardly even plugging it in the electrical socket.

In their first 10 games, the Giants have been limited to three runs or less half the time, with two of those times being held to a single run and once being shut out. Tonight, assuming they don't score again, will make it six of 11 games scoring three or less.

Is it time to worry yet?

Looking at this objectively, they've faced a few capable pitchers in and amongst these games. These have been the starters in those games: Jake Peavy, Shawn Estes, Roy Oswalt, Brad Penny, Odalis Perez, and tonight it was Jae Seo.

Three very good pitchers, one decent pitcher, and two mediocre pitchers. All in all, it's understandable to struggle from time to time, but you'd hope to be able to get to a very good pitcher sometimes if you want to be a very good team.

Well, they've beat up on Tim Hudson, and was able to touch up John Smoltz early in his start against them, so I'm thinking that qualifies to some degree.

What I'm saying is (again), is that it's still a bit early to panic. I want the offense to break out as much as anyone, but with Barry Bonds still missing a few games, Moises Alou being in and out of the lineup, and with what looks to be some early-season slumps from a couple of players we all know can hit better, I think we should exercise a bit more patience with the offense.

The next two series will be played in Arizone and Colorado, so not only will they get to play in two ballparks which usually help offense, but they'll be hitting against two pitching staffs which cannot be considered elite by any means. There will be the opportunity to show what the offense is capable of over the next seven games, and they'll do it in first place with a 7-4 record after shutting down the Dodgers 2-0 tonight.

It's nice to have a host of team deficiences to address, yet win at a 63.6% clip while you do so.

Oh, and welcome back Brad Hennessey. Not really dominant, but he kept the Dodgers off balance long enough for his team to score behind him, and the bullpen finished up nicely (Scott Munter's pitching style has just been weird so far this year, but I'll take it).

Lemme guess...

This'll be another weird season. I can feeeel it in my bones, I can.

...wait, nevermind. That's my osteo kicking in. Drat these inflexible joints of mine!

As far as weirdness in this young season thus far, I'll give the briefest nod to what's becoming a plain and simple fiasco around Barry Bonds, but quickly move past it -- yes, it's weird, too. Let's consider the path to their current record of 6-3, though:

• Rainouts. Here in the Bay Area, yes, but let's remember that one cancelled game and yesterday's rain-delayed game were in Southern California, not Northern.
• The Giants have been outscored 48-41 despite sporting the winning record.
• The only three Giants who have hit any are Moises Alou, Randy Winn, and Omar Vizquel. Well, Todd Greene, too, but he's only had nine at-bats. Almost everyone else has been atrocious, and while Bonds has drawn some walks and hit a few balls hard, he hasn't produced anything tangible.
• Continuing in the same vein as the previous comment, the Giants offense has been horrible.
• Noah Lowry went on the DL after not even lasting two innings in his first start of the season.
• For the most part, the bullpen has been awful.
• Jamey Wright has pitched much better than either Matt Cain or Jason Schmidt through two starts.

While I'm sure a few people might think I'm trying to see the dark lining around the silver cloud, I assure you I'm not -- I'm just seeing this little run as a house of cards, and there's some guy staring at it and looking an awful lot like he wants to sneeze.

Everything wrong about the team right now is fixable, though, so I'm hoping some of those issues work themselves out before the Giants luck does.

Still, 6-3 beats a kick in the ass anyday, and twice on Sundays. But it's a weird 6-3.

Things to look for: 4/12 vs. ....the weather

I make valiant attempts to not be a moron, yet seem to do it with alarming regularity.

Writing any previews about Giants home games right now are just plain silly, as the constant rain in the Bay Area that simply will not cease for any appreciable length of time is rendering it all moot.

So far this year, we've had more rain here than the Pacific Northwest, and we've smashed the 100 year year-to-date record for rainfall from 1904. I can see why the Northwest has a higher suicide rate than than the rest of the country. Makes you want to scream at the sky.

As the rain is slated to continue towards the end of the week, my speculation on what the Giants might or might not do are even more useless than they normally are.

If you're thinking the rain is depressing me, you're wrong. If you think the rain stopping baseball from being played is depressing me, you're right.

Ah well.

Things to look for: 4/11 vs. the Astros

Call me crazy, but I think the Giants stand a great chance of sweeping the Astros if they manage to score more runs than Houston in each of the three games in this series. If they can't do that, it might be difficult.

Stuff I'd like to see:

1. A little separation in Matt Morris' k/bb ratio. While his last start was pretty good, striking out and walking hitters at a rate of about four per nine innings won't cut it for too long. Also, I'm hoping he's a little more efficient -- he left his last start at the 104 pitch mark while only getting through six and 1/3 of an inning.
2. A bit of offensive consistency. Guess the significance of the following numbers: 513, 590, 255, 284, and 455. If you guessed those were the OPS's of Pedro Feliz, Randy Winn, Ray Durham, Mike Matheny, and Mark Sweeney, then you deserve a prize. You won't get one, of course, at least not from me, but you deserve one nevertheless. I'll keep my fingers crossed...for the Giants offense, not your prize. Go find someone else's fingers to cross for that. Or cross your own. Lazy bum.
3. The bullpen, if they are used, to be mediocre. Because mediocre would be an improvement. Once we get to mediocre, then we can worry about them being decent, or serviceable.
4. $500 in my wallet. Hm. Didn't work this time, either.

The offense will have to come against Taylor Buchholz, whose name sounds an awful lot like this one pitcher for the Astros I've never heard of named Taylor Buchholz. Must be a coincidence.

Play like Roy Rogers and sllllooooww down...

While many whose blood pressure is high and patience low might want to read something into the Giants 4-2 start, I am not one of those (my blood pressure is high and my patience very low, but the last part of that statement is like, totally not me).

By way of explanation:

• The Giants are 4-2 having been outscored by their opposition 34-36
• The Yankees are 2-4 while outscoring their opposition 35-23.
• Milwaukee's 5-1 while barely outscoring their opposition 23-21.
• The Marlins are 1-4 despite being even in runs scored and allowed, 21-21.

While the Pythagorean standings tend to mean something with a large enough sample size (this formula measures a team's expected record given their runs scored and runs allowed in comparison to their actual record), in any given five to ten game stretch, it's meaningless. There are those who want to be optimistic because of the 4-2 start vs. two teams who are generally viewed as contenders in Atlanta and San Diego, while there are those who want to shoot that optimism down because the Giants haven't been dominant.

Hey! It's only been six games, people. Simmer down thar!

In the same vein, all of the whispers about Barry Bonds' apparent lack of prowess are just premature...ejaculation. Sorry, had to say it -- we all know most folks out there want to see Bonds fail in some way, shape, or form, be it failing a drug test, failing health, or failing at the plate.

Not that it isn't possible he could be in the process of limping Over the Hill on that gimpy knee (everyone, supporters and haters alike, seem to only occasionally remember that at 41 years of age he's just old for baseball) , but let's all wait for a few more than 17 plate appearances, alright?

Other things I've prematurely noticed:

• Lance Niekro has more walks (3) than strikeouts (2). Don't give him anymore at bats! I want to bask in the glow of fleeting plate discipline...
• Jim Thome certainly is trying to dispel any doubts about his remaining prowess, eh? Four homers already, at a clip of a homer every 7.5 plate appearances. No, he won't hold that pace, of course, but playing at the NASA launch pad disguised as U.S. Cellular One Field won't exactly hurt, either.
• The Braves have allowed the most runs in the majors, with their opponents scoring 7.5 runs per game on their pitching staff. It's just great fun to say that, even if I know it won't last.

Oh, and I just wanted to admit my error in assuming the Giants wouldn't bring up Kevin Correia in response to possibly putting Noah Lowry on the DL. I was right in figuring that if Lowry was going to miss more than a start or two that it would be a callup, but just assumed the Giants wouldn't give Correia a chance despite his strong Spring.

Don't mind being wrong in this case, and at least the team showed some consistency in their approach -- Jamey Wright won the 5th starter's spot because of his Spring showing, and Correia has gotten the callup for the same reason. It looks like Correia's first start will be against the Dodgers on Tax Day in Los Angeles.

Beauty, thy name is Baseball...

Some observations from early in the Giants/Braves game, now in the 2nd inning:

• Lance Niekro's at-bat vs. John Smoltz was marvelous. In a two strike count against a nasty right-handed pitcher, Niekro lined a single to right-center field to plate Barry Bonds, who can still run just a tad...but being watched very closely. Couldn't help but notice a little gimp-hop at the very end of Bonds run from 2nd base, which gives me the freaking willies. It's going to be like that all year until he gets hurt, I imagine.
• After another old guy in Moises Alou showed that he can still run a bit after scoring on a wild pitch, Pedro Feliz did something we'd all wish he'd do more -- go with the outside located pitch to the opposite field instead of trying to pull. It ended up an out, but it was well-hit, and it scored Niekro for a sac fly.
• Two outs, Jason Schmidt up, end of inning, right? Nah. Schmidt flashed the one offensive talent that he has: a skoche of power. Double to deep left-center, and after Randy Winn battles nicely, Schmidt scores on the ensuing double from Winn.

This is the first game I will see in its entirety this year -- caught the end of the win vs. the Padres, but that's been it so far (and thus the reason I haven't yet picked up the amount of posts on O&B as of yet).

Seeing Schmidt hit the mid-90's on the gun is nice as well, although to my eye it still doesn't seem like it's the old Schmidt velocity -- a couple of years ago he had one of the very few mid-90's fastballs that looked like a high-90's fastball. Overall, though, it looks like that he's settling in from the 92-94 range as opposed to the 94-97 range he had before last season.

Early worries...

Injuries at this point in the season tend to put a damper on my hopes that the Giants will crush all opposition standing in the way of their rightful 2006 World Series Title.

Of course, most of us know the Giants aren't built to do too much crushing, anyway. But Noah Lowry's back strain certainly doesn't help matters.

It will be of some interest, however, should this cause Lowry to miss a start or three, as to what the Giants do to fill his spot in the rotation. Should they go the spot-starter route, then Jeff Fassero is the likely pick there since he's done it before and presumably is part of the reason why he's on the team in the first place. Perhaps derailing that train of thought is Fassero's line in his outing in relief of Lowry: 3.2 innings pitched, 3 runs allowed, 2 home runs allowed.

One poor outing shouldn't change the team's philosophy on things, though, so even if I rolled my eyes at bringing Fassero back for 2006, I admit that letting him have a start or two wouldn't be a horrible idea at this point. Calling up someone from Fresno just to make a start or two this early in the season would be a bit irresponsible, I think.

Some of it may depend on the nature of Lowry's injury as well -- if the Giants want to be careful with Lowry (and I have absolutely no doubt that they will), then letting him miss a couple of starts is the way I expect them to handle it. Anything more serious will bring call-ups back into the equation, at which point I'll begin to wonder whether Brad Hennessey or Kevin Corriea would be the pitcher of choice.

All conjecture, of course, since Lowry's going to be re-evaluated today, and I suppose it is possible that they clear him for his next start. But back injuries being as sensitive as they are, I tend to think we won't see Lowry for at least one start, and that makes me worry.

Almost there...

Looking at the Giants April schedule, specifically the first 13 games, I believe we'll be finding out something about this team pretty early on.

In those first 13 games, they'll face both the Padres and the Dodgers on the road, while facing tough competition at home in the forms of the Braves and Astros.

Now, this ain't to put no more importance on the first 13 games then the last 13 games, or even any particular 13-game stretch in any other portion of the season. The Giants got as close as within two games of the Padres late last season, but faded before completing the comeback. It's very easy to say that they just couldn't get the job done, but I'm sure we could all point to several silly losses someplace in May, June, or August that would've made the well-nigh impossible comeback just a little more possible.

That being said, I think a healthy jump out of the gate against those types of teams would do wonders for this team.

I'm not going to insult your intelligence by going into great detail as to why this is, because you already know:

1. Last season's poor showing largely without Barry Bonds.
2. Expectations this year assuming Bonds plays a majority of the season.
3. Oh yeah...steroids.
4. Steroids.
5. Steroids.
6. Peanut Butter...just seeing if you were still with me.
7. Yes. Steroids.

The media crush will be intense enough for Bonds with Bud Selig's probe, and thus will be intense for the other members of the team, as well. But let's imagine that crush, and throw a little extra scrutiny onto the performance of Bonds and the team, especially in the early going. I've heard many people talk about the whole East Coast bias before, with the Yankees and Red Sox getting so much more coverage than most teams. Well, it'll be a San Francisco Bias for a while now.

Personally, I think it's close to imperative that the Giants get off to a good start to alleviate some of this pressure. Throwing in a poor team start or a poor Bonds start will set things up for avalanche-type conditions, and the season could become a disaster in a hurry.

But you know what? Damn it all to hell, I'll just be happy to see some baseball.

Sidenote: Nice to see the good ol' preemptive strike in effect. The Giants lock up Noah Lowry for four years. Neat.

I'm just trying to get to the end of the week -- I went ahead and gave myself a four day weekend, Friday through Monday off.

Baseball and a four day weekend. If there's anything better, you just let me know. Well, besides winning 100 million plus, or sex with an attractive, talented woman. But just you try to think of anything else! I dare ya!

When is Wright wrong?

Well, right now.

However, I must congratulate Jamey Wright for having such a strong Spring and making the Giants team as the 5th starter. I mean, if the job was up for grabs (and apparently, it was), then he earned it.

But should it have been up for grabs? Yes. No. Maybe.

I believe the job should have been Brad Hennessey's to lose, which he may have done with a Spring ERA of 7.02. However, when I mean the job should have been his to lose, I mean the during the regular season, not Spring Training.

This seems like another one of those cases where Brian Sabean was just looking for an excuse to take an older veteran over the younger player. Nevermind that Wright has never pitched exceptionally well wherever he's been, and nevermind that although his time spent in Coors Field for the Rockies could have skewed Wright's numbers some, his road numbers weren't much good, either.

And what about Kevin Correia, who's Spring has been just as strong as Wright's?

C'mon now, he was never really in the running. Nevermind that the main two issues he needed to fix to become a much better pitcher (giving up gopher balls and cutting down on the walks) have both been addressed in his Spring outings -- he would have needed both Wright and Hennessey to pitch horribly to have a shot.

So, once again, Sabean pisses on the Giants future by going with a present that isn't any better, just older. I'm going to begin the Wright Watch, which will wonder weekly whether Wright will pitch well.

WORLD CLASSIC, ANYONE?

Daniel runs a tight Giants ship over here, even though we get to occasionally see photos of him drunk on wine. So, to keep on topic, I'll mention that I watched with pleasure as Moises Alou played for the DR in today's kinda sorta interesting match between the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

What I really want to talk about is how much fun the World Classic has been. No, I haven't been to any games, but I've filled the lonely hours late at night streaming Classic games. As I write this, the final showdown between Japan and Korea is stalled by rain in the 8th, with Japan, well, shaming Korea 6-0, 5 of those from the top of the 7th. During this stall, I learned that Japan's manager, Sadaharu Oh, the world home-run leader, happily admits that if he had played in the major leagues, he wouldn't have hit nearly as many homers. Someone suggested that he'd have been in the 600+ club, with an outside chance in a 20-year career of nearly touching 700. Thank you World Classic for making information like that available to ignorant shmos like me. Makes me love baseball even more.

Daniel, have you followed the games much?

I loved Stephen Colbert's rant last week about team USA's wince-inducing defeat at the hands of Canada. Funny stuff. Is anyone else as irritated as I am by MLB's promotion of this as some sort of patriotic expression? Before you love your team, you love your country. Sure, yeah, whatever, dude. Does this mean that if I don't love "my" team, I can't vote in the next election?

Is spring training over yet? [tapping foot impatiently]

A #4, Super-Sized with a 2003 Cabernet, please

I never showed you all any pics from the wine bus I partooketh of a couple of weeks ago, so...

Here are the highlights. I absolve myself of any responsibility for any drunkeness that is displayed in the following pictures.


Yes, you too can be a Mac Daddy, if you get them drunk enough.


And God shall call the Grapes of Wrath upon thee!


Yes ma'am, I'll need to look very closely to make sure there aren't any lumps...


Cooler smoke has never been blown.


Trust me, I was a lot drunker than I looked here.


Hotties. No coldies.


Lucky Luis, puttin' down game to all the fly cuties, as usual.


Yes, more hotties. Wine bus trips tend to attract them by the twos, apparently.


Felix and Jay being cool and easy, and Ed...wait, what the heck IS Ed doing, anyway?


What, did you think we WOULDN'T play poker afterwards?

So there you have it. Some pictures have been left out to protect the innocent (or was that the intoxicated?).

Musings...

Well, that's out of the way, finally.

Now that Barry Bonds has hit his first home run of 2006, we here at O&B (all three of us: me, myself, and I) were wondering if people think that Bonds is currently on steroids.

Past juicing we'll gloss over, and assume that he was doing it for some length of time.

How 'bout now?

It'd be tantamount to an award for All-Time Stupidity if he was, I'm sure we'll all admit. And being that "stupid" has never been an adjective applied to Bonds in any print media I can remember, I'd like to put forward the assumption that he isn't currently juicing.

So, what happens if he hits another, say, 45 home runs this year?

Would we all assume, then, that he continued to use steroids in the face of drug testing? If he is tested and passes, would we assume that whatever steroid he was using is undetectable?

Lemme know what you think.

A little Dub-B-C

Well, that was an exciting game.

I will have to admit, the World Baseball Classic is making a valiant attempt to be just that -- a classic tournament of world baseball.

Before today, I've only been able to catch most of the game between Korea and China (which was a laugher), and there is an obvious divide between the haves and have-nots (winless in their first three games were South Africa, Australia, Panama, and China -- and Chinese Taipei's only win was vs. the most hapless China team).

But, all that aside, when you get down to the baseball being played between Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Cuba, the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Domincan Republic (and Venezuela isn't bad, either), there really isn't a way around it -- it's good baseball.

The first game I watched in full was today's controversial victory by the United States over Japan, 4-3.

Firstly, the U.S. obviously should have been down at least one run. The botched tag-up call will loom large in the discussion around this game, and the fact that the game was played here in the U.S. will obviously spark some bad feelings in Japan (and probably other places with anti-U.S. sentiments).

However, I will say this -- the U.S. showed some moxie in this game after going down 3-0 early, with Chipper Jones and Derrick Lee connecting on big flies to bring them back even. The gap between talent levels has obviously been bridged, for the most part, between here and Japan.

I'm going to go ahead and watch the Puerto Rico/Dominican matchup tonight, and I'm expecting some good baseball there, too, as there's a bevy of major leaguers in that game. Interesting sidenote: the stadium capacity for this game was 20,000 -- that sold out the very 1st day. The attendance for the U.S./Japan game was 35,000 -- my estimate was that the crowd there was 30% Japanese.

Shocking...or, absolutely expected

There's been a book written that goes into detail about alleged steroid use by Barry Bonds from 1998, and for at least five years afterward.

Those who are paid to say things about these types of events are saying that it is now harder than ever for Bonds to deny steroid use (see Ken Rosenthal's response to the book).

Those who are not paid to say things about these types of events, like me, say...that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

Why is it harder? Nothing has changed. It's simply another accusation, and it's not even really a new one -- the two gentleman who wrote the book are San Francisco Chronicle reporters. Yes, reporters of the same newspaper that leaked Bonds' grand jury testimony, and the same newspaper that has been finding bits of circumstantial evidence for years now.

So, again, why is it harder?

I suppose it could get even harder to deny if some guy from Idaho comes out and testifies that on April 28th, 2002, he saw Bonds using the cream and the clear while sucking on a lollipop and playing Super Mario Bros. on the Gameboy in downtown Sausalito. I mean, that's about as much new proof as this book provides, coming from the source that it does -- which, essentially, is the San Francicsco Chronicle.

The story will sweep the nation, just as it shouldn't. There isn't anything new here -- most of the nation believes he took steroids, so is this book supposed to make those people believe even more than they already do?

No, I bet that many think this book might sway people like myself, who suspect Bonds of steroid use, but simply refuse to raise allegations on something that I cannot verify for myself. And, furthermore, people who would rather see concrete proof (like say, a failed drug test or some DNA samples) before grabbing my torch and noose.

And now, Bonds will have 10 times the steroids questions and probes to deal with, though all those asking the questions and doing the probing should know that he'll keep denying it. He hasn't a choice, now, whether he's lying or not, so why ask? Why not wait for concrete proof, which I guarantee that gobs of people are working to get?

But no, instead we'll have this farce continue -- Bonds being tried in a court of public opinion that has already deemed him guilty, yet doesn't seem to get tired of "new" allegations and "proof" that Bonds has done something that most folks are sure he's done anyway.

The merry-go-round goes 'round, and we just keep hopping on thinking it'll take us somewhere new and interesting.

Mr. Rosenthal says he "can't wait" to hear what Bonds will say. Personally, I can't wait to hear people like Rosenthal say exactly what I know they'll say after they hear exactly what they should know Bonds will say. Nothing more entertaining than getting exactly what you think you'll get. It's the spice of life, I tell ya.

Sigh.