NFL and 49ers

49ers Want Their Welfare -  Wouldn't it be nice if you owned a multimillion dollar company and the government paid the salaries of your employees?  That's what the 49ers want indirectly from the County of Santa Clara that decided to renege on their contract to pay the 49ers $30 million towards their new stadium. If the County will pay towards the new stadium that frees up the 49ers money to pay their million dollar player contracts.  Pretty good deal!   The 49ers might be learning not to trust the government just like the State of Arizona discovered this week that you can not trust the federal government.


The Lies Continue -  The NFL announced that the second games on Sunday would start 10 minutes later this year so that fans watching an early game will be able to see the end of the game they are watching.  This is the way it has been  for over forty years and now the NFL decides to address the situation.   Give me a break!  Most fans will not realize or won't care that they are being lied to because it is the NFL. This is an easy way to slip in the fact that there will be more commercials and longer games in order that the networks will have enough advertising dollars to pay off the new NFL contract so that players can continue to get those million dollar contracts.

Homer Sweeney

The Dodgers Are Swept

The Dodgers failed to score a run in three games for the first time since the team moved to Los Angeles in 1958.  The last time the Brooklyn Dodgers failed to score in a three game series was in 1937 against the Boston Braves. . .  The Dodgers tied a major league record by hitting into a double play in the first inning of each game. . ...  The three loses moved the Giants into a first place tie with the Dodgers.  It took the Giants exactly one month to gain 7 1/2 games on Los Angeles  proving again that it is a long season and anything can still happen.  The Giants have weaknesses but a real chemistry that was started when the 'three amigos' Cabrera, Payton and Blanco took over as starters in the outfield..  . The real reason Bochy selected Sanchez to catch Lincecum instead of Posey was to protect his star catcher from taking a beating like Sanchez took stopping close to 15 pitches with his chest and chasing numerous pitches that hit the backstop.. A quick review of the three games :

Game 1 - Pablo and the 'three amigos' supported Zito  with key hits in  a 8-0 shut out win.

Game 2 - It was Cabrera and Pablo leading the attack for Vogelsong in a  2-0 win.

Game 3 - Lincecum got his first win in months with amigos Cabrera and Payton getting 3 rbi's  to lead the 'g' man to a 3-0 win.

Homer Sweeney

How I Would Change the All-Star Game

If the major league owners and the union believe the All Star Game should continue I would propose to change the purpose, the selection process and the number of players allowed on each team.

Purpose:  The current rule of the winning league obtaining home team advantage in the World Series is absurd and would be eliminated  The purpose would be to show case the best players in baseball

Selection Process:  Currently players are selected by popular vote of the fans.  This would continue but it would be structured similar to the Presidential Election. The voting would be divided into 7 voting blocks one for the players, one for the baseball media and five for the fans broken down geographically across the country. The players wining a voting block would receive 10 points, second place 5 and third place 3 with one bonus point awarded to the players with the highest popular vote at each position. The players with highest total points from the seven voting blocks would be chosen.  If there is a tie the players with the highest popular vote would be selected.

Roster:  There would no requirement for each team to be represented.  The roster would be limited to 14 position players and 11 pitchers. Extra inning games will be limited to 12 innings and two players for each team would be allowed to re-enter the game. A player who declines the invitation to play in the game would be replaced by the player with the next highest votes at his position and would be eliminated from all star voting for five years and automatically placed on the DL for seven games.

Homer Sweeney

Are the Warriors a 21st Century Team?

It was just a few months ago that Golden State traded away the season for highly regarded Andrew Bogut 7 foot center who it is believed will lead the Warriors to the playoffs. Perhaps in the 20th Century NBA but maybe not in 21st Century basketball where big men have all the basketball skills. During the Championship series just completed the Miami Heat Center Erik Spoelstra played about two minutes and scored 0 points in the series.  The center-for-center sake as Mark Whicker of the OC Register points out is headed for the tar pits.

Homer Sweeney

Touring the American West Conculsion

The Bay Bridge Rivalry -  The Athletes love this series because it fills the Coliseum with Giant fans.

Game 1 -  The Giants rallied with four runs in the ninth inning to overtake the A's.  Lincecum is the story.  In the first inning he had allowed three runs, the base were loaded and still none out.  He then proceeded to strike out the next three batters and went on to pitch hit less ball until taken out after the sixth inning.  Is Lincecum back?

The Giants won this game in spite of  their strategy.   In the A's eighth Lopez had two out and then walked a batter.  Hensley was brought in to pitch to a right handed hitter.  Sorry, I would never replace Lopez with Hensley regardless of the situation.  Hensley proceeded  to load the bases bringing up Crisp.  The count is 3-2 and the next pitch is two feet inside and the umpire calls him out.  A big break for the Giants and a call that probably costs the A's the game.   In the Giants ninth the first five Giants got on base with walks and hits.  The A's were desperate to get an out and the Giants obliged by having Arias bunt demonstrating how to kill a rally in one easy lesson. The Giants managed to score one more run which they needed but could have probably easily scored a few more. If I managed in the American League with the DH rule the team would probably not bunt once during the entire season. 

Game - 2   The A's scored four runs in the ninth but fell one run short of catching the Giants.  Hensley replaced Lopez again and got the final out with the bases loaded.

Game - 3  A three run homer in the last of the ninth enabled the A's to salvage the last game of the series.

Notes - The Giants won the season series from the A's 4 -2. . .  It is hard to expect the 'Three Amigos' (Cabrera, Pagan and Blanco) to continue their hot streak which has carried the Giants for most of the first part of the season.  They cooled in the A's series going five for 32. . . The Yankees play in a stadium built for home runs which is one of the reasons the 2012 Yankees already have more round trippers then the Giants had during the entire 2011 season. . .  We reported that the Giants were ready for their road tour but they lost five of nine to  American League West teams proving that we can't be right all of the time.

Homer Sweeney

You're Kidding

There were two stories in the SF Gate in recent days that are worth  a comment..  One deals with the 49ers signing A.J. Jenkins their first round draft choice to a four year contract. You're kidding!  Four years? If they had to sign him, why not two years? The 49ers have been very impressive in recent years adding quality players to their roster  This year the Forty Niners now know they made a big mistake in drafting Jenkins in the first round.   The accounts regarding Jenkins have indicated that he drops a lot of passes, is not in football shape, has been outplayed by undrafted wide receivers, has difficulty keeping his balance and is buried deep on the  debt chart..   The 49er were perhaps getting a little too cocky after all their recent successes.

The other story deals with 'can't miss' Giant  Gary Brown currently hitting .247 for Richmond.a class AA team.  This past winter he was in the outfield for the Scottsdale Scorpions along with Bryce Harper 19 now tearing up the National League and 20 year Mike Trout hitting .337 for the Angels. Brown was not selected to be part of the 2012 Futures Game and the Giants say don't worry it's part of the developmental process.  Today's real stars of the future make it to the majors quickly such as Lincecum, Posey Sandoval, Belt, Bumgarner and Hector Sancez of the Giants.  The ironic part is that I keep reading that Brown will be a September call up and if Giants don't sign Pagan for next year he will be in Giant outfield.  You're kidding!  That's just what the 'g' men need is another singles hitter with speed.  The Giants can use somebody that can hit the ball with authority.  This recent draft saw them revert to their former plans of drafting all kinds of pitchers hoping a couple will make it.  The Giants miss Bill Neukon's direction.

Homer Sweeney

Touring the American West Continued

California Adventure -  The Giants lost two out of three to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim who currently along with the Texas Rangers are the two best teams in the major leagues.

Game 1 - Two plays made the difference in the first game of the series.  Trout of the Angels smashed a ball up the middle that Cain knocked down recovered and through a runner out at home.  In the other play, Mike Theriot of the Giants also hit a grounder up the middle that went through the legs of pitcher LeRoy Hawkins of the Angels to score a Giant run.  The relief staff retired the last twelve Angels to preserve a win for Cain.

Game 2 - Zito and the relief staff were rocked but good.  Enough said!


Game 3 - We attended this game with thousands of other Giant fans and were very disappointed and discouraged at the outcome.  The men in Orange and Black were shut out with just four singles.

Homer and Blog Artist Emi

Notes -   The Angels out homered the Giants in the series 5-0. . . Talked to a couple of Giant fans from Ventura who were attending the game and they said they use to go to Dodger Stadium but will not go again.  They asked about hotels in San Diego.  We recommended the Omni Hotel five minutes from your hotel room to your seat in Pepco Park. . . In game three the Giants and Angels tied a major league record of no throws to first base by a pitcher in a nine inning game.  Ironically I had e-mailed a few of my friends telling them to look for us on television because we had seats that would probably be shown when a pitcher threw to first. . .  It seems that every time I try to check on the Dodger game on the out of town score board in right  field they covered it with a commercial. . . There were at least ten beach balls forbidden by Angel Stadium that were in play during the game. . . The game was so bad for Giant fans that they even participated in the Wave. . . Seeing Pablo in person last night I revised my thinking on his weight which I don't really think is an ounce over 268lbs.

Homer Sweeney

Touring the American West

Disappointment in Seattle - The last place Seattle Mariners took two out of three from the 'jelling' Giants over this past weekend.   Sunday's game was particularly disappointing since it wasted a terrific pitching performer by Bumgardner, the relief staff failed,  the best hitters were unsuccessful in the clutch and the Dodgers won their series with the White Sox to move 5 games in front of the Giants. The Giants hit two home runs to win Friday's game the last round trippers they would  hit in the series while the Mariners supplied the home run power against Lincecum Saturday.

'C' Street Car - 1940's

Book Cover

Notes -  Pablo looked about 270 lbs on TV this weekend and I believe last year they were hoping to keep his weight in the neighborhood of 245. . . A very loyal  Giant fan and a very successful attorney in the East Bay e-mailed me that Lincecum would break out his funk but needs to quit smoking pot. . . Many believe that Lincecum lost 20 lbs  over the winter because he was on the 'The Drinking Man's Diet.' . . .  The Giants played the American League Champion Rangers since the NL West is playing the AL West this year except the Dodgers who are the only team in the NL West to play the AL Central Division White Sox. . . .  The Giants play the Astros nine times this year while the Dodgers play them only six times which are  a couple more examples of the horrible major league schedule that throws baseball tradition out the window for the almighty dollar.  The schedule will reportedly be better balanced next year since the Astros are moving to the American League to the disgust of most of their fans.  It couldn't be any worse! . . . Justin Christian hitting .364 was called up from Fresno. He spent some time with the Giants last September and we wrote at the time that we thought he could compete to be the fifth outfielder.  Then we learned that Sabean didn't think much of him so we revised our thoughts and said if the was in Fresno he would be a outfielder to bring up in case of injury. . . Roger Kieschnick hitting .319 with a team leading 14 home run is on the DL.  He probably would not have been called up since the Giants need a right handed bat off the bench which Christian has an opportunity to provide.   Brett Pill is hitting .400 in his first nine games back at Fresno. . .  It still being decided if before his next start at AT&T Matt Cain will hit golf balls from home plate like he did before his perfect game last week.  It is known however that Rory Mcllroy defending Open Champion from 2011 who did not make the cut at Olympic will not be throwing out any first baseballs in the near future. . .  The fog rolled into the Olympic Club Sunday after a few beautiful days in San Francisco.  It reminded me when I was young and returning from a Sunday doubleheader at sunny Seals Stadium on the 'C' street car that once we arrived at the top of Geary and Presidio the fog was rolling in to welcome us back to the Richmond District. . . Gregor Blanco's  sensational perfect game saving catch for Matt Cain will be hard to top this year for both excitement and importance.

Homer Sweeney

US Open and the Warriors

The US Open -  The Giants celebrated the San Francisco Olympic Cub hosting the US Open by featuring  Rory Mcllroy bobble head night and having the defending Champion throw out the first ball on Irish Heritage Night. Then on Wednesday Giant players including Matt Cain hit golf balls into McCovey Cove from  home plate.  Since Cain pitched a perfect game that night maybe we should have Cain hit some golf balls before every start. . . The wall to wall TV coverage of the open switched to NBC on Thursday at noon for two hour of coverage.  It was never shown in LA because of LA  Kings Stanley Cup Celebration  parade was taking place. Never trust the networks to televise sports.

The Warriors -  After seventeen years in North Dakota the Warriors are moving their developmental league team to Santa Cruz so they play 'beach basketball'.     Another loyal group of supporters gets the well known shaft from Golden State just like the fans in Oakland.  North Dakota has all kinds of oil  is growing fast getting rich and in the future may have their own NBA team while California is full of hot air,depends on wind and is broke.

Homer Sweeney

Perfect

The Giants took two out of three from the Astros highlighted by Matt Cain pitching the first perfect game in the long history of both the New York and San Francisco Giants.  The Giants finally broke out of their home run slump hitting six in the series.  The Orange and Black are jelling with Sandoval back in the lineup and Belt starting to look like the hitter many think he is.  This takes the pressure off Cabrera, Blanco and Pagan who for the most part have carried the Giants offense up to this point. The team is ready to meet the big challenge of playing the next nine games on  the road against American League teams.

Homer Sweeney

Rangers Return

The Texas Rangers took two out of three from the Giants.  The opening game on Friday was embarrassment to the Giants since not one Giant hit a ball over 200 feet and in the final game Sunday the orange and black  could only collect three hits in losing by the same score of 5-0.  The one win of the series came on Saturday thanks to another brilliant  effort by Vogelsong and some very timely two out hits.

McCovey Statue

Thoughts on the Giants:  Its getting hard to find a positive about the pitching of Tim Lincecum.   Here's one for you.  The Giants have now lost 11 games that he has started and since the Giants  are paying Lincecum 20 million this year that is currently about 1.82 million a loss. If they lose over 20 games that he starts it will be less then a million dollars a loss which should make Sabean feel better. . . . Pablo Sandoval had a horrible game at third base Sunday but we need his bat in the line up.  We got spoiled with Arias playing third. . .  The Giants are going to have a difficult time contending this year for two reasons.  One is the fact that  they have no power and second it is really hard to imagine the 'three amigos' in the outfield continuing to hit at their current rate. . . Congratulations to the marketing team of Giants who continue to sell out AT&T.  It's a lot more difficult this year since last year's weekend games were sold out weeks in advance.  This year they have give a ways such as orange and black caps today and recently McCovey statues to entice the fans to come.  It has worked.  Houston coming in Tuesday will be a challenge!. . . Is it time to put Melky Cabrera on the DL?  The tendency is to come back early like Kemp of the Dodgers with disastrous results.

Homer Sweeney

D-Day Week

US Army bazooka

Day 1 Monday June 4, 2012 - Field Commander Bochy was asked if the lack of fire power is a problem since the Orange and Black army had just won four battles in a row.  He answered that it is a concern that has been compensated for up to now with speed.

Day 2  June 5, 2012 - One day before the 68th anniversary of D-Day the Giants must have felt like the Germans in 1944 getting bombed by three Padres home runs. The Germans were not fast enough to stop the Allies.  Will the Giants speed be able to stop the new found Padres fire power?

Day 3 June 6, 2012 -  There were many decorated heroes in the famous battle of Normandy.  Today the star bazooka marksman Romo was down wounded and the medics responded with braces on both knees so that he could fire three bazookas to knock out the Padres fire power to save the Orange and Black

Day 4 June 7, 2012 - The boozka marksmen are feeling the effects of the war.  The Orange and Black army lost their star (Wilson) months ago and his two of his most reliable back ups Casilla and Romo are wounded.  Yesterday it took Casilla six shots to eliminate the Padres fire power which enabled the Giants to take the rubber game of the series.  One can never anticipate the results of war.  In a related battle the Blue Army of the City of Angels minus many of their heavy guns surprisingly swept through the City of Brotherly Love in four days.      

Homer Sweeney

Sweep, Records and Concerns

Giants 1912 uniform emblem

Sweep - The Giants swept a four game series from  the Chicago Cubs which was highlighted by each team wearing their 1912 uniforms on Saturday  to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the New York Giants World Championship and the 200 year anniversary of The War of 1812, sometimes referred to as  "A second war of independence"


Records - During the Cub series the Giants tied a major league record by starting four different first basemen (Pill, Huff, Posey and Belt) in a four game series. They tied another major league record by winning six out of seven games on the home stand without hitting a home run.  Pagan continues to break his own Giants record of hitting safely in 28 straight home games.

Concerns - The Giants are currently not happy with fun loving Pablo Sandoval for two reasons.  The first is the fact that he got involved into sex related incident last Thursday in Santa Cruz which could become a major distraction.  Bochy is also concerned and extremely annoyed with the fact that Pablo may not be able to handle third base when he returns because he has put on weight while on the DL.

Homer Sweeney

Our Plan for the Giants

At the start of the season this blog established a plan for the Giants that by June 1, 2012 they would:
     -  still be in contention for the the NL West and
     -   player positions would be finalized.

It is now June 1 and the first goal has been met. The Giants are 5 games behind in the west still in contention. The second goal is nearly complete since most positions have been finalized including catcher, the outfield, third base, shortstop and starting pitching..

There are still questions regarding first and second base and relief pitching.

Currently Belt and Pill are platooning at 1st.  This strategy has not produced to date. .
Arias will take over at second base when Pablo Sandoval returns from the DL to take over third.  This may prove to be the solution.  In the meantime Theriot will play second with chance to save his job on the team.

The loss of Ramirez, Wilson and Mota has hurt the relief staff.  Casilla has done a great job closing.   This move however weakened the rest of the relief corp.  The Giants are hoping that Penny will be ready to help soon.  Giant farm hand pitchers at Fresno and Richmond have plenty of incentive to do their best and hope for a call up at any time.

Homer Sweeney