Showing posts with label Marvin Benard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marvin Benard. Show all posts

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Whew that was close!

GIANTS 10 - MARLINS 9

Wow where to begin?

I think I'll get the streak out of the way early like Posey seems to!  If you didn'already know, Buster Posey has extended his hitting streak to 21 games by hitting a single in the third inning.  he is now one game away from tying Willie McCovey for the Giants rookie record of 22 games.  I was looking at the list of 20 plus game hitting streaks by rookies and the list showed that baseball is a funny game.  The list is topped by Benito Santiago at 34 games Benito, like Buster, was a catcher.  He had an OK career but never really lived up to the promise that a 34 game hitting streak seemed to point to.  He did go on to play 20 seasons and he even had a sort of late career renaissance with the Giants from 2001 to 2003. 

The list does have a lot of great players and hall of famers. Guys like Richie Ashburn, Johnny Mize, Ichiro Suzuki, Jackie Robinson, and Fred Lynn.  But it is also populated by guys who you would be hard pressed to even name what teams they played for: Goldie Rapp, Joe McEwing, Chico Carrasquel, Taft Wright, and Danny Litwhiler.

So what does it all mean?  Well not much other than you can never tell what a guy is going to amount to from their rookie season.  Just ask Joe McEwing.

I have largely avoided writing about last night's game because it was so frustrating.  Sure it was a win but it was an ugly win.  After an early 9-2 lead, the Giants pitching staff wound up letting this game go to extra innings.  now the Giants did win the game so it's not all bad but it sure is hard to watch a 7 run lead evaporate.

As hard to take from a pitching standpoint, it was equally satisfying from an offensive standpoint.  Torres, Huff, Uribe, Rowand, and Renteria all had multi-hit games.

Uribe and Torres were the big heroes.  Uribe lead the team with 4 RBIs while Torres, with three RBIs of his own, was the big hero.  In addition to a 2 run splash hit homerun in the 6th to put the Giants up 9-2, Torres also drove in the winning run in the 10th inning. 

Torres is starting to become a folk hero in San Francisco.  From his improbable road to the majors, to his stellar defense, to his late game heroics.  He is winning the hearts of the Giants fans and he is beginning to get past those comparisons to Marvin Benard.

Link of the day:

The LA Dodgers got Scott Podsednik from from the KC Royals for 2 minor leaguers.  I'm not sure what hole he fills for the Dodgers but it's not pitching.  We are just going to have to settle for Jose Guillen it seems. 


Monday, June 14, 2010

4 in a row!


It sure has been a while since the Giants have blown someone out like this.  Now I know it's the last place Orioles and we are supposed to do this but it still feels good.  Besides, a good team beats the bad teams.  If we lost to the Orioles tonight then our status as a good team would be in serious jeopardy.  But, a convincing win, a four game winning streak, and multiple offensive successes have a way of keeping you in the conversation.  Good game all around by the Giants.

Pat Burrell is looking more and more like a steal every day.  Now, I really don;t think he's going to continue to hit .375 but he does add some power to this team which all of the sudden looks a lot more powerful than it did a few weeks ago with Huff, Burrell, and Uribe in the lineup and hitting with power.  I do expect Burrell to go into somewhat of a cold spell at some point considering he is a career .254 hitter.  But until then, let's hope it's not at a crucial time.

Andres Torres is the find of the year for the Giants.  By now everyone knows his story.  Didn't play baseball til he was 19, bounced around the minors, and has been one of the top players for the Giants this season after playing in his first full season last year at age 32.  I just can't shake the feeling that we have been down this same road with Marvin Benard.  (take a look at what the guy who sponsors his page says for a laugh) But, like with Benard, let's just ride this out as long as we can and hope the Giants don't reward this guy with some outrageous contract that will kill the team for years to come.

Jonathan Sanchez pitched well tonight.  Strikeouts were low for him (5), he only walked 1, and he made it 7 2/3 innings while only giving up 2 ERs.  He lowered his ERA to 2.78 and evened his record at 5-5 on the season

On The Farm:

Grizzlies win again on the strength of a John Bowker 3-run homer.This guy drives me crazy.  If he even hit half as well as he hits in Fresno he still would be up with the club.  I guess Sabean was right when he said the pitchers in AAA are no good.  Tyler Graham, Brock Bond, and Brett Pill kept rolling, can you believe this Graham guy is still hitting over .400? although he has ZERO HRs, each of them chipping in with hits of their own.

I still say we have enough prospects to acquire Paul Konerko and keep Madbum, Posey, Lincecum, and Cain.  However the Sox have been playing decent ball this week so maybe they are rethinking their "open for business" status.

Nate watch:

Nate came in in the 8th and lined out to the second baseman who threw the ball away while trying to double off Uribe.  After the Giants scored 10 runs I can't bitch about Nate not playing.

Almost forgot about DeRosa.  Watch this video: Dishin with DeRosa and draw your own conclusions.

Fan of the night:



photo courtesy of: fire-sabean.com