Archive for May, 2010

Possible bats for the Giants

The recent signing of Pat Burrell to a minor league deal could mean the eventual addition of an extra power bat that San Francisco has needed all season. I continue to tell people the Giants look like a 90-win club, but I don’t know if that can happen on pitching and solid veteran presence alone. I think the Giants need at least a couple of 20 home run hitters to prevail in the National League West, which seems completely within reach, the last couple of depressing weeks not withstanding.

Here are a few sluggers who could be a fit in San Francisco:

Burrell: The 33-year-old has struggled this year, with two homers, 13 runs batted in and a .202 batting average, which prompted Tampa Bay to designate him for assignment. He never hit his stride (or managed above a .221 batting average) in two years there, though prior to that, he was a perennial 30 home run threat in Philadelphia with a batting average in the .250 to .280 range. The Giants could (and have) done worse than him.

Carlos Pena: This is the bat I want for the Giants, and another person Tampa Bay could make available ahead of the July 31 trading deadline. Pena and Carl Crawford will both be free agents this fall, and it will be difficult if not impossible for the Rays to resign them both. My money says they opt to keep Crawford, who’s three years younger and offers an all-around package of skills. The left-handed, pull hitting Pena seems ideal for AT&T, perhaps the biggest threat on McCovey Cove since Barry Bonds.

Lance Berkman: My Dad suggested Berkman yesterday, and I agree. The Astros are in last place in the NL Central at 17-33 and look like they could start rebuilding at any moment, with top pitcher Roy Oswalt having requested a trade. Though Berkman has played his entire career in Houston and is a franchise cornerstone, he is also 34 and making $14.5 million this season. Though he’s only hitting .234 thus far, his five home runs would tie him for second on the Giants and his .358 on-base percentage is 31 points above what San Francisco is managing collectively.

Graham Womack is a writer in the San Francisco Bay Area and the author of Baseball: Past and Present

They’re All Cy Young

Greetings from New York, where I’m at a tech conference – part of my day job. Thank God I’m no where near San Francisco. Thank God I’m nowhere near the radio in my truck, the sports page in the Chronicle (not that I read printed paper anymore) and the incessant rants on the KNBR call in shows.

Is it me or have the last few series (v. Pads, Dbags and A’s) been notated mostly by the sports press with “pitcher’s duel!”. Please. Aside from Timmy’s implosion the other day in AZ, few of our opposing pitchers are dealing, per se. Good performances? Sure. But it’s become a developed skill of our pathetic offense to make pitchers we face all look like Cy Young. 2 runs in the A’s series? Ouch. We’ve scored 17 runs to opponents’ 40 in the last 5 games which we’ve lost. You know all the stats and I’m just venting.

Solution:
Giants hitters take. Go to the therapist. Seek out slump busters. If I have to watch another 5 pitch inning, I’m going to croak.

We all do it – psych ourselves out – at work, in romance, in sports – and start to think stuff that isn’t true. That we can’t see the ball, that we can’t make a sale, that we can’t get a hit, that we can’t bust a slump. We go on trying to hit 5 run homeruns desperate for a change of heart and mind.

Giants hitters let it go. Relax. Have fun. Quit trying so hard. Accept loss. Embrace failure and get cozy with the worst that could happen. Who cares? Take some pitches and work some pitchers over. We’re facing average pitching talent (until we face Ubaldo – Jesus!) and we need to quit pining over San Francisco 7’s.

Fresh start on Tuesday vs. the Nats.

Your 2009 Giants

A quick post this morning, to get back in the habit, mostly.

I’m worried. The Giants are back to their offensive anemia we all knew so well from 2009. The kind of anemia that keeps you up at night, that makes you order decaf coffee and keeps you obsessing on cat hair on your car seat even if you own a dog.

Watching last night’s limp schilling of the Giants by the Pads (we’re 0-7 now but who is counting?) made me feel for our starting rotation. Guys aren’t loose and each and every one of them is simultaneously trying to hit 5 run home runs and not make a mistake for fear of giving up the one run that’s going to bury them.

I can tell we’re the 2009 Giants because, well, everyone one is screaming again for a big dumb ridiculous bat.

San Diego again tonight. Let’s see if someone can awake from their slumber and grow a pair at the plate. (these 8 pitch innings are just killing me.)

An interview with 1962 San Francisco Giants pitcher Billy O’Dell

I interviewed Billy O’Dell for a Where Are They Now piece for another Web site. O’Dell went 19-14 for the 1962 Giants team that made the World Series, and he pitched the top of the ninth in Game 7, when they lost a thriller 1-0 to the Yankees in the bottom of the inning.

For anyone who’d like, here’s the link. Enjoy!