The Belt Dilemma

Yesterday's post on the Bay Areas Sport's Guy's blog got me thinking.  

If Brandon Belt breaks camp with the big club.  Who is the most likely to be the odd man out?

As BASG points out:  It's really down to four guys.  Pat Burrell, Aaron Rowand, Nate Schierholtz, and Travis Ishikawa.

Now let's face it, my man crush on Nate aside, none of these guys is gonna be the Giants' MVP this season.  Most likely, barring injury to a starter, they would all be coming off the bench if Belt is on the team.  There is no way the Giants are going to bring him up to sit on the bench.  So first off, the Giants have to be sure he will outperform any of these guys.

Also as BASG pointed out, two of these guys would most likely be gone.

Aaron Rowand is easily the fan's favorite to be let go.  But can the Giants management admit it's mistake with him in such an expensive fashion?  The Giants already showed they are willing to put the needs of the team in front of the dollars on the contract when they sat Barry Zito during last year's World Series run.  So I don't think pride is an issue with them.  The real question is does Rowand contribute anything to this team?  (Being a gamer doesn't count because all of these guys can be considered gamers.)    I have heard talk of the Giants trying to boost his trade value this spring by having him play left field but his .207 BA this spring have caused that experiment to be a total failure.

Pat Burrell doesn't really belong on this list.  The only reason he is on here is because his $1 million salary makes more fiscal sense to eat than Rowand's millions and millions ($13.6 million according to Cot's baseball contracts).  However, it is likely that the Giants don't make the world series last season, or probably even the playoffs for that matter without some timely homers down the stretch from Pat "the Bat".  Besides, who would the Giants fall back on if Belt struggles in the show?  Aaron Rowand?

Travis Ishikawa is the most likely guy to not make the club out of this bunch whether Belt gets called up or not.  The Giants have a lot of options to play first and his .219 spring may be signalling that Ishi could benefit from a change of scenery.  I would hope the Giants could trade him rather than release him since his glove is so good and he does have some power potential (really only some like 15 or so HRs if he were to start).  But his inability to put it together up until this point and his horrid spring make a DFA his most likely option.

Last, but not least.  Nate Schierholtz.  In the past, I have made no bones about my thoughts on Nate's potential.  He is easily the best defender out of the bunch (probably second best on the team behind Torres) and he has shown flashes of competence at the plate.  This spring, he is third behind Posey and Huff with a .342 spring batting average and he had 3 hits in yesterday's win over the White Sox.  Impressive for a guy who is battling for his job.  He did have some clutch hits and plays down the stretch last season too.  plus, I think a right fielder is more valuable as a late inning defensive replacement than a first basemen.  Especially when you consider the drop in offensive production from Ross to Nate would not be as big as from Huff to Ishikawa.  

If I was a betting man, I would bet on Rowand and Ishi being gone if Belt makes the club.  But the Giants do have the option of letting Belt start the season in AAA to decide if they are going to keep Rowand around a little longer.  I don't think that will be a popular decision but if it buys time for a trade, then it may be a good option.  If it doesn't and they have to release Rowand, then it will be a mistake.  Ishi is pretty much a goner after spring training even if Belt starts the season in Fresno.

Giants - Braves 2010 NLDS preview

If the old saying "Good pitching beats good hitting" holds true then the San Francisco Giants should win the world series.

But they play the games for a reason.

The Giants bring their historically good staff into the first round of the playoffs to face the Atlanta Braves staff which isn't too bad itself.  In fact, the Giants led all of baseball with a 3.36 ERA and the Braves were the third best with a 3.56 ERA.  The most impressive stat coming in to the series though is the fact that the Giants entire pitching staff, not just the starters, has allowed 2 runs or less in 15 of their last 19 games.

The hitting is surprisingly close.  Giants hitters own a .257 season average while the Braves hold a .258 season average.  Also, in perhaps the shocker of the playoffs, the Giants have outhomered the Braves 162-139.  However the Braves hold the edge in runs scored 738-697 seeing as how the Giants are the lowest scoring playoff team from the National league.

In order for the Giants to win this series their pitching needs to keep up it's amazing pace.  If they can continue their run of 2 runs or less then they have this series in the bag.  (Atlanta owns a 5-39 record when scoring 2 runs or less)  The offenses are so closely matched with the Braves having scored 4.6 runs per game this season to the Giants 4.3 runs per game.  This series may come down to which team hits the clutch homerun.

Over the past 2 days there has been a lot of speculation over who will and who won't make the postseason roster.  Most of that speculation has focused of 3 guys:  Barry Zito, Aaron Rowand, and Edgar Renteria.  I really expect all 3 guys to make the roster.  Rowand rakes against Derek Lowe (11-23 .481) and Tim Hudson (8-21 .381) in fact, he has the best numbers against those 2 guys on the team.  So expect to see a lot of Rowand in this series.  Renteria makes the team because realistically he is the only guy other than Juan Uribe who can play shortstop.

That leaves Barry Zito.

Zito has been both brilliant and horrible this season.  He choked his chances of starting in this first series away on Saturday against San Diego.  But I can't even imagine a scenario in which a guy who threw 199 .1 innings for your team doesn't make the postseason roster.  He is one of the few guys on the team with postseason experience, in fact he is the ONLY starter with postseason experince.

But having said all of that, I still believe there is a chance that Zito is left off the postseason roster.

 t's going to be series with a lot of 2-1 and 1-0 games.   Both of these teams have trouble scoring runs (the Braves lost two games out of their last 3 to the Phillies who had absolutely nothing to play for).  But the Giants are just a little bit better at keeping the other team from scoring.

Giants in 4.

Giants rally comes up short

PADRES 6  - GIANTS 4

You knew it was gonna happen.  The Giants were gonna have to stretch the season out just a liiiiiitle bit longer.

Matt Cain just didn't have it tonight and the Padres capitalized.  He gave up all 6 runs in 4 innings.  In a way I'm glad Cain got this hiccup out of the way.  Better have it come during the regular season than in the playoffs.

The Giants, to their credit, made it a game.  The big hit of the night came from the least likely source of all.  Aaron Rowand.  I'm glad he got a moment to shine.  Despite what we all think about his play, the guy is a gamer and he goes about playing the game the right way.  The bullpen came through and pitched 5 innings of shutout baseball and the Giants got the tying run up to the plate in Aubrey Huff who somehow managed to fly out into a double play.

Anyway the champagne will just have to chill on ice for one more day.  It wouldn't be a fitting end to the 2010 Giants season if they just won it in the first game.

Go Giants!

Cain gets roughed up in the city of brotherly love

PHILLIES 8 - GIANTS 2

It was almost a carbon copy of the game the night before.  The Giants jumped out to an early lead, the starter was shutting the Phillies down, the Phillies tied the game, in the next inning they put the game away, and Pat Burrell homered.

All the Sabean and Bochy detractors are getting ready to start dancing in the streets especially after two of Sabean's trade pickups contributed to the losses the last couple of nights, with Mike Fontenot's errors and Chris Ray's Ray's inability to get batters out.  At least Ray won't be able to give up any more runs now that he is on the DL.  But at least we got Affeldt back so he can give up a couple of runs for him!

The Giants this season are 67-54 which is a huge improvement over last season right?

Well it is an improvement but considering the Giants were 66-55 at this point last season, you realize that maybe things aren't that much better.  Last season around this time, the Giants went into a slide that cost them the playoffs and this season's version of the Giants look poised to do the same.

Nothing looks right for the Giants.  The offense couldn't take advantage of the Phillis weakest link in Joe Blanton.  To show what a difference an offense makes, Blanton's ERA coming into last nights game was actually higher than Todd Wellemeyer's 5.69 to 5.68.  Wellemeyer was DFA and Blanton looks to be a factor on the Phillies all the way to the playoffs.

However, if you want to pin the recent losses on the offense then one would have to assume the Giants pitching staff has been doing it's job.  Well, when you consider that in the last 3 games that the Giants have lost after they won that 11 inning affair vs the Padres on Saturday, the Giants pitchers have given up 8, 9, and 8 runs, you realize that the rotation isn't doing it's job.

But cheer up Giants faithful, the Phillie favorite Aaron Rowand will be making an appearance in the starting lineup today so Huff can get a day off and Posey can rest his legs at first base!

Giants win with the help of the Ex-Phillie show

GIANTS 5 - CUBS 4

You see the Giants offense put up 3 runs in the first inning against the Chicago Cubs and you start to think good things are going to happen.

But, keeping in line with the torture theme of the 2010 Giants, they had to make it interesting.

The Cubs actually managed to tie the game twice before 2 ex-Philadelphia Phillies decided to step up and show San Francisco that they can hit HRs somewhere other than the bandbox that the Phillies play in.

Aaron Rowand, the man who makes Giants fans blood boil every time his name is inserted in the starting lineup, hit a solo homer in the 6th to put the Giants up 4-3.  After Zito gave up a game tying homerun to Tyler Colvin in the 7th inning, Pat "The Bat" Burrell came up in the 8th inning and put the Giants ahead for good with a solo homer.

Pat Burrell is the latest in the long line of players who have taken their turn carrying this club.  From Pablo Sandoval, you probably forgot just how hot he was in April, to Juan Uribe, Aubrey Huff, Freddy Sanchez, Buster Posey, and now Pat The Bat.  This is the biggest difference between last year's Giants and this year's Giants.  Last season it was all pretty much Pablo Sandoval and this year it has been pretty much a different guy every night.  Hell, even Aaron Rowand and Edgar Renteria have come through in the clutch a few times this season.

Oh and don't look now but Pablo Sandoval has hit in 5 consecutive games and has a .421 average during those contests.  That's all I'm saying about him.

Lastly, the Giants made a trade.

No, not an exciting trade but a trade that was necessary all the same thanks to the frailness of Juan Uribe and Edgar Renteria.

In keeping with their tradition of saving on airfare costs by trading for a guy on the current visiting team, ala Freddy Sanchez last season, the Giants made a deal for Cubs utilityman Mike Fontenot. All they gave up for him was an unspectacular A baller named Evan Crawford.  Bay City Ball has a pretty good breakdown of the deal but the Giants basically got a utilityman for a prospect who is, at best, a veeery long way away from the majors if he ever gets there.

One last note:

John Bowker is 12 for 24 since joining the Pirates AAA club.  I can't remember where I read it, probably on Twitter, but this lead another Giants Blogger to dub him a "AAA Hall of Famer".  lol.

Link of the day:
I gotta give credit to the Dodgerhater as the source for this link, but it seems that Mike Fontenot has sort of a claim to fame.  As the guy who was rumored to be romantically involved with Transformers hottie Megan Fox.  Who knows maybe those were Megan's panties.  Follow the link to get a chuckle.

Giants sweep the Dodgers in SF for the first time since 2003!

GIANTS 2 - DODGERS 0

It was a night of firsts.

Matt Cain's first win in 9 decisions against the Dodgers, Giants first sweep of the Dodgers in SF since 203, Javier Lopez's first appearance of the season, and Edgar Renteria's first clutch hit as a Giant!

Well OK, maybe Rent has had a few clutch hits as a Giant, but this one is the biggest this season.  (this one was the biggest last season)  But it didn't make it any less surprising.  I loved Joe Morgan's comment early in Rent's at bat when he mentioned that Renteria has had a repuutation throughought his career for being a clutch hitter.  Probably one pitch before Rent drilled his triple into the left centerfield gap that Matt Kemp totally misplayed from a double into a triple.

The fact that Rent was up with 2 runners on at all made me question Joe Torre's status as a great manager.  Torre, for some reason that I still can't figure out, intentionally walked Aaron Rowand, who was hitting a robust .230 against LHP this season, so that lefty Clayton Kershaw could face Edgar Renteria, who was batting .333 Vs. lefties this season.  Edgar promptly ripped the triple into the alley and scored the only 2 runs of the game and single handedly was responsible for the offensive side of things in tonight's victory.

And they say Bochy is a bad manager!

The battle of the trade deadline acquisitions was decidedly in the Giant's favor as well.  Javier Lopez made his Giants debut and threw 2 pitches to the new Dodgers leftfielder, Scott Podsednik, who he got to ground out to end the 8th inning.

It doesn't get any easier for the Giants.  Starting Tuesday, they face the Colorado Rockies in Colorado.  They will be throwing Sanchez, Bumgarner, and Lincecum at the team that has won 4 games in a row after losing their previous 8.  Then it's off to Atlanta to face the always tough Braves and to have the 2 top NL ROY candidates face off against one another.

Link of the Day:

John Bowker is in a better place now.  It seems that after the initial shock of being traded wore off .  john Bowker realized that the Giants have done him a favor by sending him to Pittsburgh.  He wasn't going to get a chance to play everyday in San Francisco while they were in contention.  Hell, he wouldn't have even put on a Giants uniform until September at the earliest.  But in Pitt he will get a chance to play.  The Pirates aren't going anywhere and they play in a more hitter friendly park than the Giants do.  Good luck Johnny B. and hopefully Bowkermania will catch on in Pittsburgh!

From Clark to Posey

MARLINS 4 - GIANTS 3

I'm running out of words to describe Buster Posey.

The most impressive Giants rookie in the last 23 years is playing that good.  His rookie campaign has exceeded the level of most rookies in Giants history and is in the same air as Will Clark, Willie McCovey, and Orlando Cepeda.

Will Clark is my favorite Giant of all-time.  My earliest baseball memories are of Clark and the Giants in the playoffs vs. the Cardinals in 1987.  In 1989, I sat out in the upper deck in right field and saw a towering homerun almost make it out to my seat!  I watched Will lead the Giants to the world series in 1989 and watched in sadness when he went to the Rangers after the 1993 season.

Buster Posey is making Clark's impressive Rookie season look mediocre by comparison. 

In Will's rookie year of 1986 he hit .287, with 11 HRs, 41 RBIs an on base % of .343, and an OPS of .787.  He accomplished all this in 408 ABs.  In 1986 these were great numbers for a rookie.  Good enough to earn him 5th place in the Rookie of The Year voting.  Todd Worrell of the St. Louis Cardinals was first.  (1986 was a good year for Giants rookies both present and future.  The top 10 vote getters for rookie of the year included: Robby Thompson in 2nd, Kevin Mitchell in 3rd,  Will Clark in 5th, and Barry Bonds in 6th)

Fast forward to 2010.  In 182 ABs Posey is hitting .368, has 8 HRs, 33 RBIs, with a .404 OBP, and an OPS of  .975!  It's going to be a stretch for Buster to get another 220+ ABs since he's a catcher but if he gets close to 400 ABs this season he just may obliterate Clark's rookie numbers.  One thing that Posey is doing that Clark, hell any Giants rookie other than Willie McCovey, is hit in 19 straight games

Both players had excellent college careers too.  Clark won the Golden Spikes Award, which is given to the best college player in the country, in 1985 while playing for Mississippi State.  Posey won the award in 2006 while playing for Florida state.

Clark finished his career with a respectable 284 HRs,a .303 average, an OBP of .384, and an OPS of .880 in 15 seasons.  In 2006 Clark only received 4.4% of the Hall of Fame vote thus failing to receive the required 5% of the votes to stay on future ballots.  He likely would have increased his HOF chances had he played a little longer but retired early to help care for his son Trey who is autistic.

There is no way that you can ever replace your childhood hero as an adult.  Even if Buster goes on to make Clark's career numbers look tiny by comparison, wins a world series, and gets voted into the hall of fame.  Hopefully, he can be my son's favorite player of all-time!

Last night Buster got the drama of extending his hitting streak to 19 games early with a hit in the second inning.  That and a pinch hit two run replay upheld homer in the 7th were pretty much the only Giants highlights of the night.  Although they did make it interesting in the 9th when had runners on second and third and only one out.  But all they were able to muster was 1 run on an RBI groundout from Andres Torres. 

Aubrey Huff's hitting streak came to an end at 12 games.

Posey looks to extend his streak to 20 games tonight and it's going to be tough with Josh Johnson on the mound for the fish.  The Giants will counter with Matt Cain.  Expect to see little offense on both sides tonight.

Link of the day:

Thrill22.com.  Your home for all things Will Clark.

Well that was disappointing.

NATIONALS 8 - GIANTS 1

Matt Cain appeared to have things under control.  Adam Dunn had different ideas.

Cain was pitching OK until the 6th inning.  The only hiccup was the solo homerun to Adam Dunn in the 4th inning.  In the 6th inning the Nats scored 2 runs that pretty much put the game out of reach.  Then the 7th inning came along with another Dunn homer, a 4 run outburst, and Cain was done after allowing 8 runs 7 of which were earned.

Cain allowed 11 hits for the second time in his career.  The last time he allowed that many hits in a game was way back in 2006 .

With Cain, the problem has always been lapses in concentration.  It's nothing new.  Cain won't pitch again until after the break so hopefully he can work on that concentration.

Not much else to tell.  The Giants struggled against Strausburg which was too be expected.  They had him on the ropes in the first inning and worked him into throwing a lot of pitches.  Then they all of the sudden went into a slumber and made it easy for him to throw 6 innings.  The Giants also managed only 1 hit off of 3 Washington relievers.

The fact that the Giants were unable to keep the runs coming after the offensive barrage in Milwaukee was disappointing.  Again, Strausburg is a tough order but you would have liked to see them score more than one run.   Hopefully they look better the next 2 games before the break.

The biggest development of the day is the injury to Andres Torres.  He left the game in the 5th inning and everybody's favorite Giant Aaron Rowand came in and went 0 for 2.  I expect Torres to be allowed to heal until after the break giving Rowand plenty of chances to strikeout.

It would be too easy to give Nate Schierholtz a chance to show what he could do with two starts in a row.

Dan Runzler was also placed on the DL and Joe Martinez was called up to replace him.  Runzler is expected back in 6 weeks.  This leaves Jeremey Affeldt as the only lefthander in the Giants bullpen.

Link of the day:

The Giants will be monitoring Madison Bumgarner's workload.  he threw 140+ innings the last 2 years so he is maybe going to be allowed to throw 160 innings tops this season.

Bengie Molina traded!

WOW!

The Giants traded Bengie Molina to the Texas Rangers for a pack of chewing gum, reliever Chris Ray and a player to be named later.

Well OK, I'm not sure about the pack of chewing gum cut most Giants fans would have been happy if that was all that they got for him.  Instead B.S. filled a need (reliever), cleared the way for Posey to start, and was even able to get a Player to be named later out of the deal.  Maybe since he was named one of the toughest GMs to trade with the day before, Sabean needed to prove that he could get a deal done!

The Giants didn't rob the Rangers as I'm sure many Giants fans will believe he did.  Expect Molina's offensive numbers to improve slightly once he plays every day in the Bandbox that the Rangers play in.Plus, for them, he is an upgrade at catcher since all of the Rangers catchers combined have hit .212 so far this season.  Plus with guys like Nelson Cruz and Vladimir Guerrrero in their lineup the Rangers are better equipped to take on player with Bengie's limited offensive skills.

Molina was a good Giant, offensive struggles this season aside.  But the time had come for him to go.  Buster Posey has shown that he can hit at the major league level and as Bruce Bochy said the other day: "You can't get em all in there."  Hopefully this opens the door for Nate Schierholtz to play more every day.  i doubt it though since Bochy will almost assuredly jump at the chance to get Aaron Rowand back in the lineup and I have to admit that he did earn himself at least one more start after yesterday's 3 for 4 performance.

I'm not even going to comment on yesterday's 8-2 loss to the Dodgers since I have nothing positive to say.  I will say that I am a man of my word and my order for a Fire-Sabean.com t-shirt has been placed.

Good and Bad

RED SOX 4 - GIANTS 2

Today's game had some good and some bad. 

The Bad:

The first 2 innings for Madbum.

 He gave up 4 runs, 2 of which came on homers by Darnell McDonald and Mike Cameron. 

The Giants offense.

They were only able to muster a measly 6 hits and 2 runs despite having starter Clay Bucholz leave due to injury after pitching only 1 inning and having multiple opportunities to score.

The Good:

Innings 3-7 from Madbum.  He only allowed a two out double to Marco Scutaro over these four innings and showed everyone why they were so excited to get him up here.

Jeremy Affeldt.  Sure it was only one inning but it sure was good to see him go 1-2-3 for once.

Some notes:

Bruce Bochy says that Bumgarner will make his next start.  He also says that Posey will be his personal catcher.

Andres Torres is 5 for his last 35.  I wonder how long it's going to be before we see an outfield of Burrell, Rowand, and Huff out there every single day?

Pablo Sandoval is hitting the ball hard and just missed extra bases by an amazing catch from Mike Cameron.  Hopefully these are going to start falling for him.

Nate Watch:

Once again no Nate.  Rowand rewarded Bochy for his faith in him by going 0 for 4.  Really Boch, how long before this guy is on the bench forever except to maybe be a defensive replacement?  Tomorrow would be a great time to start Nate over Rowand.  Rowand is batting .175 against lefties and Nate is hitting .395 against them.  The Red Sox are sending John Lester to the Hill.  However, knowing Bochy, Rowand probably will sit and Burrell, Torres, and Huff will start in the outfield.  Even though Torres is hitting .224 against lefties.

Cain Fails

ASTROS 7 - GIANTS 5

It's tough to figure out what to make of this series. 

The Giants lost 2 out of three to the worst team in the National League.  Their offense looked lost at times, but last night they managed to scrape together 5 runs.  Matt Cain had his shortest outing of the season allowing 7 runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Are the Giants a team that isn't very good?  Did the law of averages finally catch up to them?  Is the Giants pitching staff in trouble?

The Giants at this point in the season are just pretty good.  They aren't a great team.  Sure they have great starting pitching but beyond that they are mediocre at best.  The offense is at times terrible and at times pretty good.  There are a few guys in the bullpen who are somewhat reliable and there are a couple of guys who have just been disasters.   Brian Wilson has been pretty much lights out closing games, but lately the Giants have had trouble getting the lead to Wilson in the first place.

The law of averages did catch up to the Giants a little bit here.  On Monday the Giants won their 9th game in a row against the Astros dating back to last season.  The Astros had to beat the Giants sometime.  Sure, it would have been nice for a season sweep of the Astros but those are rare and 7-2 against a team over an entire season would fall under the category of domination.

The pitching staff will be fine.  Again, it's a little bit of the law of averages here.  Barry Zito has been pretty much lights out against the Astros in his career so a rough outing against them was inevitable.  Cain had been lights out against everybody recently so he was due for a little correction too.  Plus he may just have trouble against Houston or trouble pitching in Houston.  In his fist start of the season, Cain gave up 4 runs in 6 2/3 innings which, up until last night was his second worst outing of the season.  He had a no decision in that game and the Giants eventually won 10-4

So you can see how tough it is to gauge much from this series because it does not necessarily reflect how the Giants may be playing but it was just something that was going to happen sooner or later.

Some notes from the game:

Aaron Rowand was 3 for 3 so he will be starting for the next week I am sure.  He could have been 0 for 10 last night however and would have still started tomorrow against Tim Wakefield whom he owns an impressive .647 average against.  Overall against Wakefield he is 11 for 17 with 4 home runs and a double.   As bad as Rowand has been lately those kind of career numbers against a guy demand that he plays against him.

Edgar Renteria had 2 more hits last night.  If this guy keeps hitting like this all season then the Giants will be extremely happy.  Hopefully he can make us forget last year.  Also hopefully it doesn't earn him a 2 year contract extension.

Pat Burrell hit another homer.

Bruce Bochy has stated that Buster Posey will catch at least once a week.  This is good news and it probably mean that he will be catching Joe Martinez.  Or, hopefully, Madison Bumgarner but at this point it seems pretty likely that J.Mart will get the start on Saturday.  Madbum is scheduled to start tonight in Fresno so if he doesn't pitch tonight it may be a good indication on who starts Saturday.

Nate watch:

Nate wasted away a little more on the bench.  Rowand's 3 for 3 day almost guaranteed he won't get another start for at least a week unless someone gets hurt.

Posey, Burrell are each making some noise.

Maybe this kid is the savior?

Buster Posey had 3 more hits today against Ian Kennedy who, in case you forgot, held the Giants to 3 hits over 8 innings 11 days ago.  Two of those were doubles so he actually improved over last night in the power department.  But he only drove in 1 run and his average dropped from .750 to .667.  I guess this kid will never make it.

Obviously I'm joking.  It sure is nice to see someone actually making some things happen for the Giants.  Over the last few weeks leading up to this homestand it seemed that every player on the Giants was just kind of taking things as they came. Nobody went out there and took control of things, well except maybe Andres Torres who I keep expecting to turn into Eugenio Velez any day now.  Posey is doing that.  What a story this kid could be if he really does stick with the big club and reignites this offense.  This club has always been lacking the big hit.  Not necessarily a homerun but something as simple as a 2 out RBI of which Buster had another today.  I'm trying to not get too excited in case this kid comes back to earth but nothing he has done at any level he has played at indicates that he will.  Tomorrow is his biggest test yet against Mr. Ubaldo Jimenez who is trying to replace the Freak as the Cy Young award winner in the NL.

In other news, Pat Burrell went 2 for 5 with a HR and 2 RBI for the Fresno Grizzlies today.  This means one of two things: 1. Brian Sabean is right about the quality of pitchers in the PCL or 2. Pat the Bat is getting ready for a comeback story with his hometown team.  I find it highly unlikely that Burrell is going to lead the Giants to the playoffs by single-handedly transforming the Giants into a feared offense.  Playing at AT&T usually lowers the power numbers of anyone not named Bonds but more troubling is his career .253 average.  The last thing this team needs is another .250 hitter who will be just another easy out while the Giants are getting one hit by some middle of the rotation guy. 

Now I'm not saying that Burrell wasn't a safe gamble in case he can magically find his stroke.  I just wonder what guy with potential gets the shaft once this guy gets called up to the big club.  Mr. Schierholtz and Mr. Ishikawa I'm looking at you!  I don't believe that Bochy will let this guy come off the bench.  I believe he will start.  What proof do I have?  Look at all the ABs Aaron Rowand gets.  His career numbers are just like Pat Burrell's with less power and a better glove.  Although, to be fair, Rowand never batted .209 or .221 in a season in which he was given 400 plus ABs.

I'm also starting what I'm going to call the Nate watch.  It's where I will break down the contributions that Nate Schierholtz makes for the team whether he hits or not.  It's called the Nate watch instead of the Schierholtz watch cuz I don't want to type Schierholtz over and over!

Today Nate went 0 for 4 with a walk and a strikeout.  Not much to write home about offensively but he has been hurt and hasn't been allowed to play consistently since he has been declared healthy.  Nate was however responsible for the two most crucial plays of the game.  In the top of the 7th with the game tied 2-2 Adam Laroche drew a walk and Gerardo Parra hit a one-out single to right.  Nate got the ball in to Freddy Sanchez who gunned down Laroche at 3rd.  The next batter, Chris Snyder, singled to left which would have scored Laroche had he still been on 3rd.  In the 9th inning Kelly Johnson singled to right .  This time it was Ryan Roberts who got thrown out at third.  The next batter, Justin Upton hit a double that scored Johnson.  Which would have also scored Roberts and made the score 7-4 at that point.  Since the Giants only scored 6 runs today I would have to say that Mr. Nate was the difference in the game today. 

That's something that none of the coverage I saw of the game even gave more than a passing mention to.  The most I saw was "Almost lost in the valiant comeback were the solid defensive efforts of right fielder Nate Schierholtz (two outfield assists) and Sanchez who, in the sixth inning, threw out Arizona's Kelly Johnson after Johnson tried to stretch a ball that ricocheted off first baseman Buster Posey into a double."  Even when they did mention it Sanchez's play got more credit than Nate!

Do you really think that John Bowker, or Andres Torres, or even Pat Burrell makes those 2 plays?