The Padres Weekend

Giants - Padres.  The two out hit was key in this series.  In the Friday opener Arias had two opportunities with two outs to get the big hit.  He failed both times in the Giants 5-3 loss.  On Saturday Belt came through with a two out two run double in the 7th inning leading the Giants to a 2-1 victory.  Sunday afternoon with San Francisco leading 2-1, Arias redeemed himself with a two out two run triple to give the Giants breathing room in their 4-1 victory.

Homer Sweeney

Giants-Reds Series

It was  close to a disaster as Pagan step up to the plate with the Giants within two outs of losing three straight to the Reds.  Pagan must have read my blog the other day that said  speeds scores runs while power wins games.  He took my suggestion and used his power to hit a 3-run homer that propelled the Giants to a 6-5 win.  Glad to be of help! 

Homer Sweeney

Baseball Observations

Giants-Mets Series...  The Giants won 3 out of 4 from the Mets at Taxpayer's Field in New York so we can forget about 'Huff Day' on Saturday.  The Giants seem to be learning that speed will get you a run but power will get you a win.

Dodgers Pull ...  Who do the Dodgers know in the National League Office to be able to play the 3 of the worst teams in the league in 4 out of the first 5 series which enabled them to get off to a flying start with a  record of 12-4?

Angel Headache ...On December 10, 2011 I wrote that Arte Moreno owner of the Angels would have a real hangover for spending upwards to $335 million in a Dallas bar.  I didn't realize he would need so many aspirins so soon.  Attendance is suffering. Friday night is fireworks night at the stadium at the game always draws in the neighborhood of 45,000.  Last Friday the Angels drew 32,000. What happened to all the Albert Pujlos excitement?  He is currently hitting .246 with 0 home runs.  In 2006 at the same date in the season Pujlos had 11 home runs.  I expect Pujlos to provide some relief soon but do the Angels have enough aspirins for 10 years?

Homer Sweeney

The Homestand

The Homestand  - What an epic game last night between Cain and Lee.  Both pitchers threw less than 90 pitches and the first nine innings were played in 1 hour 49 minutes.  -  Looks like Casilla can be the main closer.  Can he pitch three days in row?  -  The first 12 games proved that questions regarding who is on first, second, shortstop and in the outfield may not be answered all season.  Lack of a power hitter really hurts.
 
Homer Sweeney

The Giants' Week

Honoring the 1962 Giants - I was driving along Colorado Blvd in Denver listening to the Giants - Dodgers playoff game when Mays caught the final out.  I didn't honk my horn like many did on the Bay Bridge but I was still very excited.  Mike Krukow  commented on how similar the 2012 Giants are to the 1962 team.  Sorry to disagree but there are no similarities.  Vida Blue in the pre-game show remarked how easy it is to pitch the current Giant lineup because they have no umph --- no power!  The 1962 team had Cepeda, Mays and McCovey.  Enough said! 

Brian Wilson finally admitted he has been hurting for a long time.  You could tell against the Rockies he had nothing but people marvel that he still saved the game.  Remember one those outs was a screaming line drive by Helton that almost knocked Burriss down when he caught.it.  That goes through Rockies win  This was Wilson's contract year  and one has to wonder if anyone will sign him to a major league contract next year.
Can Fresno closer Heath Hembree (2 saves to date) be far away?  Remember the Giants signed their two left handed relievers Lopes and Affeldt at inflated salaries because they were uncertain about Wilson's arm. 

Giant fans should not get too excited about Melky Cabrera.  Brian Sabean was asked last week on Chronicle Live about signing Melky for next year.  The Giants have no interest.  He would be expensive and Giants already have their money budgeted for the players they want. But don't worry Giant fans the answer to the void is in Fresno right now.  His name is Todd Linden.  Yes he is back in the Giant organization.  I remember he was a September call up in 2005 and he hit a home run at Dodger Stadium that landed in about the third deck down the left field line.  I thought the Giants had a real power hitter.  Wrong.  He never learned to adjust to major league pitching and has been a AAA wonder. 

Fresno and other minor league players to watch with early stats that can be very misleading:
Joaquin Aria ss - 2b hitting .381 with team leading 12 rbi's.
Skyler Stomsmore ss - just joined the team hitting .500 with 1 home run
Roger Kieschnick - of - hitting .422 with  3 home runs
Francisco Pequero - of - considered on of the top Giant prospects hitting. 158.
Justin Christian  of - the veteran is hitting  .553 after one week.
Gary Brown of - can't miss rookie playing for Richmond is hitting .189
Joe Panik ss & 2b - hitting .293 with a team leading 9 rbi's for San Jose.

Giants Comments
If Zito can limited the opposition to about 3 runs in 6 or 7 innings when he pitches Giant fans would be thrilled.
Vogelsong pitched very well considering he had very little spring training.  Give him 4 runs and he will win many games.
Pagan even if he isn't in a slump is not impressive.
Posey went hit less Sunday and looked terrible at the plate.  Just a bad day?
Huff is "swinging the bat well" hitting .227
Burriss has been a very pleasant surprise.
Crawford looks much better at the plate this year with his average currently at .235
Matt Cain looked like he is worth a 100 million

Homer Sweeney

This Week in Baseball

Play of the Week -  A group of about 25 fun loving fans wearing the green and yellow of the Oakland A's  were tooting their horns, beating their drums and having fun at the expense of  Kansas City right fielder Jeff Francoeur at the Wednesday afternoon game. Francoeur showed his appreciation by buying all of them hamburgers that were delivered on trays to the entire groups as shown on Kansas City TV.

Ozzie Guillen lives in the wrong place to sound off about how he respects  Fidel Castro.  He must have thought he was still living on the south side of Chicago or at the Vatican or on a university campus when he made his communist loving statement. He now resides at the new Marlin Stadium which I understand has been built in an area called 'Little Havana'  This area is composed mostly of Cubans who have escaped their home island but have relatives and friends that have been killed or are in prison at the hands of the dictator.  Since the incident  the Marlins have drawn crowds between 30,000 - 34,000.  These are great crowds for the new Miami team but where they expecting sell outs for the first week of the new stadium?  Will Ozzie last?

The 'Magic' Dodgers -  Dodger land was thrilled when they drew 55,000 for opening day letting everyone know that the 'magic' is back.  Attendance fell dramatically after the opener even with the Dodgers winning all of their games.  'Magic' still has work to do.

Triple Play Padres - The Padres clean-up hitter bunted into a triple play in the ninth inning Sunday against the Dodgers.  Why was he bunting?    He is the only potential hitter on the entire team.  Frank Robinson who I consider the worst manager in San Francisco Giants history used the same strategy.  He would get two on and it didn't matter if it was best hitter or the worst they would bunt. I never believe in giving the other team outs.

Jackie Robinson Day -  Why did it take to 1947 to integrate baseball?    Part of the problem has to be the attitude of progressives in the US Government.  Woodrow Wilson  is well known in history as the propaganda expert for getting the United States  involved in World War I which not only killed 116,000 American soldiers and disabled thousands more for life but also brought diseases back to this country that killed many Americans at a very young age in the 1920's. He brought us the Federal Reserve a money making machine for bankers, the Income Tax a money making machine for the government, changed how US Senators are selected and segregated the Armed Forces of the US that were integrated before World War I.  President Roosevelt, a great admirer of Wilson and like Ozzie Guillen had great respect for another  communist mass murderer "Uncle Joe" Stalin, was asked in 1942 at the start of WW II to integrate the armed forces. Instead of setting a strong example for the rest of the country he refused. The United States Armed Forces were integrated in 1948 one year after baseball took the lead.

Homer Sweeney

Zito Pitches a Shutout

This is a different year!  Congratulations to Barry Zito for his great pitching against the Rockies.  Most credit has been given to fact that he has corrected his motion which I am sure helped.  But remember another important fact is that he got married in the off season.   Buster Posey may play 1st base more often then he planned this year because the Giants will have to get Sanchez's bat into the lineup.

Homer Sweeney

Giants Swept

Now tell the truth.  When the Giants had a 6 run lead with Matt Cain pitching you thought the game was wrapped up.  That was last year. No it wasn't last year because the Giants rarely scored 6 runs in a game. It's a new year and remember Cain has over 100 million things on his mind and probably lost  his concentration when he remembered he has pay taxes on all that money.

Homer Sweeney

Giants 1st Game

First the negatives about the Giants loss.  Tim Lincecum was belted.  It looked as if the Diamondbacks could  score anytime they wished.  Lincecum fast ball was clocked about as fast as Zito's.  Tim has had this problem in the past so it is expected that he will soon work his way out of it.  He  better!  Don't the Giants owe him $40 million for the next two seasons?   Huff failed to deliver a  key base hit twice during the game and Posey once in the ninth inning.  The positives included Pagan whose bat finally showed some life.  He had one hit but just missed a home run down the line.  Now be honest!  Did you say to yourself when the DBacks took a 3 run lead that that's the game. It would have been true last year but this year the Giants did come back to tie the game. A good sign!.

Note on the Angels:  When the Angels signed Pujols the OC Register wrote that the fans would not mind paying extra for tickets   The Angels did not sell out their opener.  That's a  real surprise since the Angels usually sell out almost every Friday night..

Homer Sweeney

Reviewing Our Predictions

I wrote an e-mail on September 30, 2011 which appears on the blog dated November 9, 2011.  I expressed at that time who I thought would not be back with the Giants for a variety reasons including retirement, money ability, etc.  I listed 12 players which included Whiteside, Stewart, Beltran, Burriss, DeRosa, Fontenot,, Burrell, Ford, Ross, Torres, Keppinger and Corbrea.  Burriss was the only player from the list that has made the original 25 man roster for the season. He has shown improvement and had a very good spring but he will have to produce to stay beyond June 1st.

On the December 10, 2011 blog  I wrote who I thought who would make up the team.  Infield would be Belt, Sanchez (if he is ready a big question), Sandoval, Crawford and two reserves.  The outfield would be Pagan, Cabrera, Schierholtz, Huff and a fifth player to be named later.  Posey and Sanchez will be the catchers.

Many writers had Huff at 1st base but I remember the final news conference of the 2011 season when Bochy said Huff would have to compete for playing time in the outfield and Sabean remarked that Bolt is too good a 1st basemen to be playing the outfield.

Then there was the question if Whiteside or Stewart would back up Posey.  I always thought it would be Sanchez because Sabean and the Giants do not want to be embarrassed like they were last year when it came to scoring runs.  This year they could not afford to have a .200 hitting catcher for 40% of the games with weak hitters playing short and second.

Homer Sweeney

New Uniforms

Yesterday Nike showed off their new NFL uniforms.  Congratulations to the 49ers for remaining traditional.

The Giants playing in Oakland also introduced their new # 1 traveling grey uniform.  The # 2 style uniform has been available from the Giants Store for months.  It is very close to the design worn by Roger Craig and Will Clark with the SF emblem on the front of the shirt with two stripes around the collar and down the front of the uniform. The new # 1 uniform has added the two stripes in the front with the word San Francisco across the chest  The two stripes on the front are similar to the Giant uniforms worn prior to 1950.

Homer Sweeney

Where Are You Bill Neukom?

The Giants did not learn from history!  Do I need to spell it  for you?  ZITO.  They signed Matt 'the bandit' Cain for a ridiculous sum of money The Giants have not been able to afford a power hitter since they were paying too much money to non producing players like Zito.  The same thing is going to happen again.  Cain will probably win only about 12 games a season  like in 2011 because he has no run support. It's a vicious circle!  The proof will likely be played out this fall.  If Melky Cabrera has a season for the Giants like he did last year for Kansas City (.305 18 HRs) the fans will be clamoring for the Giants to resign him.  Do you really think they will have the money?

The fans are thrilled with the signing of Cain even if tickets prices go up about 10% a shot.   After November when the fans vote themselves a tax raise they will even have less money to spend on food, clothing and the Giants. Then there will be that big TV contract that will take care of everything.  Where does TV get their money?  From advertisers who are going to demand more and longer commercials which will equal even longer games.  Can you imagine Jon Miller having to say after each pitch 'that strike was brought to you by tap plastic'

According to the Giants the success of the franchise depends on developing and retaining young talent.  But not at a ridiculous price.  Develop young pitchers that can win a few games so you can have a team that can get a few hits.  Oh where are you Bill Neukon when we need you?

Homer Sweeney

A Plan for the 2012 Giants

A Plan for the 2012 Giants

 Three givens if the Giants are to be contenders:
1)  The four reliable starters will continue to pitch well.
2)  Wilson will be in good form and other relievers will pitch as they have in the last two years
3)  Posey, Sandoval and Cabrera will hit around .300 with some power

Plan:

Stay close to the leaders during the first seven weeks of the season until the following situations are resolved.

1st base -  Will it be Huff, Belt or Pill with Posey?
2nd base - Don''t count on Freddy Sanchez coming back.  Can Burriss hit major league pitching?  Theriot hasn't shown much to date.  Don't the Giants wish Joe Panik was ready! 
Shortstop - If Crawford continues to hit like he has during the spring he will be the shortstop.
The savior - Arias can play short of second.  He started the spring as a good field no hit infielder but during the last weeks of training he became one of the teams best hitters.  Is he an answer at either 2nd or short?

Outfield - Cabrera is set at one outfield position.  But what about the others?  Can Huff play left and hit close to .280?  Was Blanco a spring flash or did the Giants find a gem?  Pagan can't really be as bad as he was in the spring, can he? Can Schierholtz hit enough to keep his job in right?  Will we see Belt and Pill in the outfield?

Catcher - Do they need Sanchez for his hitting?

Pitcher -  Find a fifth starter

Homer Sweeney