Giants finally pull the trigger on Jose Guillen

The San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals surprised nobody and were finally able to pull off the deal that had been in the rumor mill for about a month now.  The only thing surprising about this deal is the fact that the Royals threw in so much money and that we didn't give up Brandon belt to get him.  At least I'm hoping we didn't!  (The Royals will be getting a Player To Be Named Later and usually this means that the Giants gave them a list of names they could pick from and I would be SHOCKED if Belt's name was on there.  It probably wasn't because he would probably already be on his way to Kansas City right now if he was.

This is another solid, if unspectacular deal for Brian Sabean this season.  Guillen is in a contract year, has good power, and has just gained 15.5 games in the standings.  He is in a position where he can succeed. I know everybody is worried about his defense and about his low average over the last month or so but the defense hasn't hurt the Giants so far when it comes to Pat Burrell and Aubrey Huff and the average can be thrown out the window because Guillen suddenly has some motivation.

Think about it.  Guillen is a guy who is labeled as a complainer and a malcontent.  He throws tantrums, criticizes his teammates, and is just a negative presence altogether.  These kinds of guys need a reason to get motivated.  he has been sitting in K.C. waiting for the day that they traded him away.  Now, he is on a contender and he will be close to the lead on Sportscenter almost every night.  He will be able to put up numbers to pad his next contract, which hopefully will not be coming from the Giants.

I am a little concerned that Bochy has already anointed him the everyday Right Fielder, but Boch also said that Burrel would be coming off the bench and he is in the lineup every day.  Maybe Bochy means the opposite of what he says!  ( really if you look back at a lot of Bochy's quotes it's true!)

Anyway, Guillen is not Adam Dunn But he is the best that the Giants are going to be able to do without giving up Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey, and Brandon Belt.

Oh and the way I envision the lineup with Guillen and the resurgent Panda:

Torres, Sandoval, Posey, Burrell, Huff, Uribe, Guillen, Sanchez

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.