Some possible reasons Barry Zito is doing better

1. The steroids kicked in

2. He sold his soul to the devil

3. He’s used some of his $126 million contract to bribe batters around the National League

4. His 3-0, 1.32 ERA season thus far has actually been Zito’s wish as part of the Make-a-Wish Foundation (he more than earned his wish through all of his suffering over the past three seasons)

5. He met a girl

6. He’s decided to get all of his wins for this season out of the way before June

7. Prior to his recent shutout of St. Louis, he had his friends in the local Chinese mafia intimidate the Cardinals

8. He’s taken a page from Lawrence Taylor and sent call girls to the hotel rooms of his opponents the night before games

9. Bill Neukom called Zito into his office before the season and told him in no uncertain terms he would be “disappeared” if he didn’t get it together, citing the example of Trevor Wilson

10. Like the 2003 film Bruce Almighty, Zito has secretly been given God-like powers for a limited time. Am I the only one who’s noticed Morgan Freeman in the stands? It still isn’t going to win Zito the love of Jennifer Aniston

Seriously, though, what gives? Zito looks awesome so far and his WHIP of 0.84 is roughly half of what it was two years ago. He’s making an early case for the Cy Young award, even if the Giants have cooled a little off of their hot start.

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

2010 Pre-season

The Unwritten Rules of Baseball

Does someone need to get thrown at because of a prideful act?  I’m not really sure.  While I do feel like Prince fielder’s celebration after his monster home run was a bit much, I also kind of enjoyed it. The reason I enjoyed it was because of the group involvement; the whole Brewer’s team came together and participated in one individuals awe inspiring feat (a monster home run). Its kind of like a creative display during an NBA dunk contest (which by the way was non- existent this past year) or a pre-Roger Goodell era Ochocinco touchdown celebration. To me, its good entertainment, which is the point. I am a bay area native though, and while at times consider myself a “fair-weather” fan my heart wants the Giants to be successful and I want to be a solid representative for the squad. Therefore, I need to try and understand where they were coming from in this situation, back them up (i.e. its okay that Zito hit Fielder with the first he threw in spring training), and be okay with the “unwritten rules of baseball”. So, briefly, here is my attempt.

Fielder could not just be an amazingly skilled major league baseball player; he had to shove it in his opponents face. As a result, and when a player does that, it enables (unwritten rules) the other team’s pitcher to hit the player with an 85-100 mile per hour fastball (probably lower 80’s in Zito’s case). I mean the guy deserved it though, right? It kind of makes me think if this unwritten rule applied in other sports also. For example, in the NBA if someone did a Mutumboesque finger wag after blocking shot, should the team be able to retaliate by sucker punching that player in the stomach the next time the team’s face each other. I guess I just can’t help playing devil’s advocate in this situation. Point is though, Zito did hit Fielder, I am okay withit, and in the long run I want the Giants to win. However, picking up a potential 30 home run 100 RBI guy in the off-season may have made more of a statement for me the hitting Fiedler with the pitch though.

Barry Being Barry

Barry Bonds made an appearance at Pacbell/SBC Park in San Francisco a couple days ago for the 10 year anniversary of the ballpark. As a result of the appearance, I began to think again about the man who set the all time home run record, caused a lot of off field controversy, and helped the San Francisco Giants win a lot during the time he was with the team. During my reflection of Barry, I thought about him in two ways. The first way, is Barry as a baseball player; the second way, is Barry as a human being (looking into his human interactions/relationships). In this article, I am going to first talk about how I felt about Barry as ballplayer, and then reflect on him as human and some contemporary comments he has made since his post (not “retired”) playing days.

Barry as a ballplayer was amazing. So amazing, that there are people that I know that will not say a bad word about the man outside of how he played. The guy would see one good pitch in an at bat (sometime in a full game) and he would crush the ball. His plate discipline was unmatched to anyone in the past 3 decades (and possibly ever). The guy was a true G. He not only hit for average and power, but he also fielded very well (minus the last couple years of his career). I used to love watching players on the opposing team hit what they thought to be a standup double one bouncer off the wall to leftfield, only to have Barry field the ball with his bare left hand and one hop a dart to second base and get the man out. The guy was amazing. I don’t know another word to describe him on the field. As a fan, when one guy has the power to help his team win it translates to thousands of people in the ballpark and outside the park having a good time watching and supporting the home team. It felt like every time he came to the plate, something great was going to happen. It is so rare to have that one guy, that many who were around during these years will continue to treasure his value to the team forever.

Now, to the flip side of Barry, the side that some refuse to discuss because of wins and excitement he brought to the team and the city. The guy was not/is not good with some people. From what I have read and seen (I got to see him firsthand working as a 18 year- old usher for the squad), he does not trust people (specifically media people). From what my dad and others have told me, this is as result of Barry’s dad’s perspective on the media and the harm they caused his life. My Dad, who is part of Bobby Bond’s generation, recounted how they expected Bobby to play like Willie Mays. Even though Bobby did some tremendous things on the ball field (steal 30 bases and hit 30 home runs in the same season), he was not comparable to Willie Mays. But then again, and in the pro Basketball analogy world, that’s like saying James Worthy was good, but he was no Michael Jordan. Point is, Bonds does not trust certain people and part of that is due to the way his dad was treated as a ballplayer. I also think he is overtly arrogant and highlights that character trait too often. Exhibit A would be his recent comments about what he did over the past summer. He helped out Ryan Howard on his hitting and plate discipline. For some, being able to work with and provide service to one of the most powerful current hitting individuals in the game would be enough, not to Barry. Barry was quoted as saying he would like Howard to talk about how he helped him. His exact words were “hasn’t said anything about me yet”. While Bonds did laugh after saying this, to me it says Barry needs the notoriety; and to me, that notoriety is not necessary of even being joked about. While it is difficult to not have someone recognize you and the work you have put in, for some people putting in the work is enough, from the example just given it shows BARRY is not one of those guys. Exhibit B is his refusal to retire. While Barry may be able to come back and hit some home runs, he is refusing to accept his age (45 years old) and that no team wants an arrogant man who is being indicted for perjury at the moment. Exhibit C would be how he handled the steroid situation in its entirety, but I’m not writing a book only an article, therefore I will end it right here.

Even after his post playing days BARRY IS CONTINUING TO BE BARRY. While there are some who won’t say one thing negative about the guy, my job is to write it as I see it; from what I see, there is a lot more personal growth that I would like to see out of a man who has the potential to be a valued role model and citizen.

Rowand on 15 day DL, Downs gets the nod..

SF_Giants: The Giants have recalled INF Matt Downs to take the open 25-man roster spot due to Rowands 2-3 week DL stint #SFGiants

Kruk, what are you thinking?

Plenty of Gmen fans rocking the orange and black at Chavez Ravine…

Padilla knocks out Rowand, Velez and Nate to start.

Vicente Padilla pegged Aaron Rowand last night on a high fastball that hit his ear and part of his cheek. He was taken to the hospital and sustained two small fractures on his cheek.

Starting in CF today will be Eugenio Velez who had a 9th inning 3R jack in last night’s losing effort. Nate will start in RF. Wonder why Bochy is making the RF switch and sitting Bowker given today’s RHP.

Headed to Dodger stadium in a few minutes and will post from the game.

Ring ‘em up, Timmy…

Kruk warns against wearing SF colors at Dodger stadium

I’m headed down tomorrow to go watch Timmy take on Satan’s helpers, your LA Dodgers. Tbox called this morning to say Kuiper is warning against wearing SFG gear at Chavez Ravine. C’mon, this is a gentlemen’s game. Here it here in yesterday’s podcast along with a great recap of where the Giants are to date. Kuiper podcast 4/15/10

Fred Lewis, 2nd best Giants hitter in 2009, traded to Blue Jays

SF_Giants: Giants Trade Rumors: As previously tweeted, a decision on Fred Lewis is imminent @hankschulman says @fdotlew is headed to Toronto. More soon

Phils lose, Giants now tied for best record in MLB

Is it too early to be watching standings, records and win percentages? I think not.

The Nationals have just beaten the Phillies, who the Giants will contend with for the NLCS this year. The Nationals did it on home runs by Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman in the 8th inning, both off of Baez, the Phils reliever who got mercilessly booed after the effort.

Anyway, I’m listening to Dick Enberg call the Friars’ game against the Braves. They are in their throwback uniforms. I hope they make sure to change their undershorts before the Giants come to town on Monday.

What a place to retire, Dick.

Giants hitters rake Bucs while Sanchez dazzles…

Jonathan Sanchez threw 11 K’s and pitched a shutty today in a Giants 6-0 victory today against the Pittsburgh Pirates. If you’ve watched Sanchez pitch his last few starts you know that like last year, he’s either on it or off it. Today he was on it – capped by striking out the side in the 4th by asking Milledge, Jones and Doumit to politely take their seats. Despite some bases loaded trouble in the top of the 6th, Sanchez was nothing short of an inhospitable filth pig today. What a rude man.

On the other side of the house, I had to stick my foot in my mouth after Eli “Silverfox” Whiteside hit a three run homer in the bottom of the 2nd, driving in Bowker and Uribe after their singles. I still think Posey needs to get up here but I guess I’ll save that post for one more day.

And, how about your boy Aubrey “Ring of Fire” Huff? After a deep ass, triple’s alley triple last night which would have been a HR in any other park, he does the same shit today but with different results. I don’t remember the count but with no outs he launches one toward the 421 mark and the carom sends it way past McCutchen into the inner part of the outfield. Bananas. Flannery waves dude home and we’ve got our 4th in the parker of all time at AT&T. I’m sure Huff was thinking “WTF” when he finally caught his breath. Actually, you can tell he thought it was funny but later in the game, when he launched almost as far but a little more to the right and it bounced off the top rail, you could tell that he was sort of annoyed. After all, hitters get paper for launching the long ball and it’s long been a sticking point when we try to get real hitters to come play for us. Maybe this is grounds for a second post. Anyway, you’re here Huff so suck it up!

Finally, nice to Rowand finally go yard today and get something done with a 2R HR in the 5th. Love him or hate him you gotta respect the effort which half of this game called life.

Tbox and I will be coming at you from Chavez Ravine for Saturday’s day game against the Dodgers followed by Monday’s game from Petco Park against the Friars. We’re 7-2 — keep ‘em rolling boys.