Is It Over?

The Giants took the first two games of their four game series with the Braves.  The Dodgers then made their blockbuster trade and over the weekend the Giants looked like a team that has given up. It was a disgrace.  The relief staff gets worse and a few of the relievers are really a joke.  Not like the 2010 team when you could depend on the entire relief staff to do their job. . .    Then there is Panda.  No sign of power at all.  It time to start calling him 'Fatty' and maybe then he will get the message. . . There is no other words for Pence.. terrible.  Maybe being back in Houston this week will help him get his stroke back.

The Minors - Xavier Nady recently signed former major league outfielder and Cal star hit three home runs for Fresno over the weekend.  His average has risen to.273.  Maybe he should be given a chance in left field although he is not currently part of the 40 man roster. . .   Gary Brown who was so hot a few weeks ago has now settled in as .280 hitter. Not the answer this year.

The Red Sox -  Last winter this blog site predicted that the hiring of Bobby Valentine gave the AL East Championship to the Yankees.  Little did I realize that he would completely destroy the Red Sox team which in turn would  provide support for the Dodgers.

The 49ers beat Denver 29 -24  in a glorified scrimmage before a packed house in Denver.  They really got killed by Manning and the Broncos first team. The 49er defense is playing on its reputation.   

Homer Sweeney

Shocked Again!

The Giants took five out of six on their South land road trip which has given them a 2 1/2 game lead over the Dodgers.  They are now home to face the tough Atlanta Braves. The drug situation in baseball makes for many suspicions.  I have chosen to ignore my thoughts on the subject in making these following comments. 

Pagan - Had a great road trip  making up for the absence of Cabrera
Scutario - What a sound pick up by Sabean
Sandoval - Got a couple clutch singles and sacrifice flies.  He is so fat it is embarrassing
Posey -  Cooled off a little which was expected.
Pence -  Since July 4th hitting .125.  Did the Giants get taken again? Had a sold out 45,000 for his bobble head night in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Arias -  Signed in the spring as a no hit good fielder.  Left spring training for Fresno as one of the Giants best hitters.  Returned to the Giants to show that he could field but not hit. He is now showing the Giants that he might be a pretty good hitter.
H. Sanchez -  Gets raves from the pitchers but has lost his touch with the bat. 
Belt - Much improved at the plate but lacks consistent power for a first basemen
Blanco and Christain- Lost at the plate.
Starting Pitching -  Zito, Vogelsong and Lincecum continue to be a worry.
Relief Pitching -  Shaky at best.  Looks like Casilla will return to be the closer as predicted by this blog two weeks ago.
Attendace in San Diego was very good thanks to thousands of Giant fans.  The Dodger games were  a disappointment.  A sellout for Fernando bobble head night but 20,000 empty seats Monday and 16,000 on Wednesday.  Decades ago the Giants always drew 50,000+ at Dodger Stadium.

Homer Sweeney

Shocked!

Melky Cabrera gone for the season.  Drugs!  The Giants chances of winning the West now are between slim and none unless they are able to sign or find a Cody Ross who will hit 10 home runs in September.  The pitchers cannot carry the team because they have been worn out by lack of run support earlier in the season.  The good news is now they can afford to sign Melky for next year.  He lost millions today!  What are you getting?   Was his tremendous season all because of drugs and if he plays it straight what can he really do with the bat?  Looking back at the season there were a few warning signs.  I remember Melky was hitting the cover off the ball then there were two  games in San Francisco where he looked lost at the plate going hit less and the Giant broadcasters could not believe it was the same person. This blog believes the Giants will not take a chance next season.  It was fun while it lasted.  Oh yes, Washington took the series from the Giants two games to one.  The Giants now trail  by a game which means the Dodgers cannot block any waiver pick ups the Giants might desire.

Homer Sweeney

The Win of the Season

Duane Kuiper said it best after Sunday's game, "This one is for the fans because nothing has happened all year."  The fans have not seen the Giants rally and score five runs in an eighth inning as they did Sunday to wipe out a two run Colorado lead.  Posey's at bat in that inning was classic as he fouled off pitch after pitch then was finally able to hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game.  Then Pence followed with a three run homer which he later credited to Posey for tiring the pitcher so he could get a pitch he could park.   Can you imagine the Giants losing a series to the last place Rockies at home just after Brian Sabean said  the team that wins the most series will  win the NL West.  The Giants won the series two games to one which assured them of a one game lead in the NL West.  The  Washington Nationals with the best record in the National League come in for three tough games which will prove to be a real test for the Orange and Black.

Sports Notes -

The 49ers open their pre-season schedule with a impressive victory over Minnesota which featured two Wildcat formation plays that would be the envy of the New York Jets. Colin Kaepernick reserve quarterback entered the game at the start of the second series.  On his first play from the Wildcat formation he handed the ball to James for a few yards gain.  That set up the next play.  The Niners quickly went into a no huddle offense and before Minnesota defense knew what was happening Kapernick faked to James and found the field wide open for a 78 yard TD run.  Save those for the season!  It reminded me how Kaepenick with his running and faking led Nevada to a route of the Golden Bears a few years ago.

The Olympics -  Congratulations to all those athletes who worked most of their entire lives for the Olympic dream.  Looking at the final medal count many American will go home very happy. . . I heard last night that USC students earned 25 medals at these Olympics and a few of them were even Americans. . . The USA Old Men Olympic basketball team won a gold as expected.  Spain was about two NBA players short of upsetting the Red, White and Blue. . .  The part of the Closing Ceremony that I watched was horrible.  Al Michaels was on with Bob Costa at the beginning expounding on  the greatness of beach volleyball.  Was he comparing beach volleyball to the great USA Olympic hockey win in 1980?  I guess it depends if your talking sports or sex.  Even Kelly Rippa commented that beach volleyball was all about sex for the delight of a lot of old men. . . Athletes are beginning to lose their medals as results of their drug tests being completed.  What hypocrisy!  Test all the athletes then have a closing ceremony based of the drug culture of today. . . The last Olympics of this modern era is scheduled for Rio in 2016 although they are beginning to find out they really can't afford  to host them. When Rio applied for the games they were anticipating a budget of a little over $1 billion.  The budget for the London games was $14.1 billion that does not take into account the billions the games will be over budget. Will LA be needed to bail out the Olympics again?

The NBA -  The 2012-13 NBA season is over.  If you read the LA papers or listen to LA sports that's the big news.  The reason is that the Lakers acquired 'Superman'  Dwight Howard in a very confusing four team deal which some of the under the table payoffs were not made public which is typical of the NBA. The Lakers don't seem to worry that  Howard with all kinds of competition has emerged as the NBA's leading prima donna.  Orlando fans refer to him as 'Dwight-mare' since Howard did not live up to his contract like so many NBA  players who take big bucks complain about everything and then quit playing or get 'hurt'.  The Lakers have a long track record of making the right moves even though some might consider Howard a bum who is also coming off of back surgery for a herniated disk which is usually found only in old men.  So Howard, and old men like Kobe, Nash and Jamison will have much in common.

Homer Sweeney

Two Wins and No Rain

The Giants continue to lead the NL West after splitting a rainless four game series with the red hot St Louis Cardinals while at the same time at Chaves Ravine the Rockies were taking two out of three from the Dodgers. All of the Giants played well in the series noting especially Posey and Scutaro for their hitting, Zito and Vogelsong for pitching and Brian Crawford for his outstanding defensive play at shortstop.

Notes -  This blog pointed out at the start of the week that the relief staff had gotten very unreliable so it was no surprise that the Giants decided to change the assignments of the relief staff and close games by committee.   It has been reported that the former closer Santiago Casilla has had a blister on his finger but the facts are that he got tired, careless and lazy.  This blog believes he will get his second wind and be the main closer for the Giants by September. . . Vince Scully mentioned on a Dodger game broadcast which was also highlighted on the internet that he can 't understand with all the technological advancements why baseball doesn't have instant replay umpire sitting in the press box correcting all the missed calls within a matter of seconds. . .  The Giants like many major league  teams have a solar company as one of their sponsors.  Most solar panels advertised look the same as the 1970 version but one company has really innovated by having a small chip instead of a large solar panel placed on top of  a roof.  Scully would be impressed with that type of progress. . . Giant fans got a little nervous when contract talks between the team and Melky Cabrera were broken off until the end of the season.  This blog mentioned back at the start of the season that the Giants have no interest in resigning Cabrera.  These recent talks were not serious and designed to keep the loyal Giant fans quiet and happy. The Giants offered the star outfielder $21 million over three years which is an average of 7 million a year. Give me a break they can't be serious.  They paid Huff $11 million a year for the past two years on emotion and are still paying Rowand 12 million.  The Giants pay their pitchers enormous salaries which makes it almost impossible to sign Melky with Posey and Sandoval waiting in the wings.. .  Will Brian Wilson be offered a contract next year by the Giants?

Homer Sweeney

Olympic Thoughts

The Olympics of 2012 are much different then the 1948 London games held  immediately after World War II   Old men have supplanted younger athletes and professional millionaires have replaced amateurs on the USA basketball team, swim teams and in track and field. . . Michael Phelps wasn't even on the 1948 team. . . . One thing that hasn't changed is when a US athlete wins the gold and stands of the platform they play the same old scratched record of the Star Spangle Banner that has been played since the days of the great Jessie Owens during the Hitler games of 1936.  . . . How about NBC prime time coverage?  Turn in at 8 and you get sex better known as women's beach volleyball  or an exciting quarter final water polo game while most of the audience is waiting for the gymnastics, swimming and track and field coverage that is dragged out until midnight so they can get those all important ratings . . .  With high unemployment I guess they figure nobody has to go to work the next day. . .Would you allow your daughter to stay in the Olympic Village if you knew the USA basketball team was also there? . . . The Rio games in 2016 will be the last games of this modern area.

Homer Sweeney

Giants Sweep the Rockies

The Giants' scored 35 runs with 45 hits including five home runs as they swept three straight from a horrible baseball team, the Colorado Rockies. The "g" men with Texas Rangers like numbers, were led by Buster Posey, the hottest hitter in baseball since the All Star break, who collected eight hits and seven rbi's and raised his batting average to a robust 327.  That's the good news but the bad news is that the Rockies go to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers. The Giants move on to play the Cardinals four games in St Louis and Bochy's big worry is the relief pitching which seems to have worn down and become very unreliable.

Homer Sweeney

Pouring It On!

Carmillo Anthony?

Coach Mike Krzyzewski of the USA Olympic pro basketball team was visibly upset when he was accused of  running  up the score in beating a group of amateurs from Nigeria by 83 points 156-73.  The Duke coach pointed out that the team only took 46 three point shots and stopped using the fast break once they had a safe 57 point lead at the start of the fourth quarter.  Carmillo Anthony lead the assault with 37 points in just 14:29 minutes of play exemplifying why he is known as a 'hog'.   A girls basketball team from Texas was recently heavily criticized nationally for winning a game by 100 points. If they had only known they would have saved themselves a lot of grief and embarrassment had they just won by 83 points which is not considering pouring it on according to the Duke University professor of basketball.

Homer Sweeney

Loosing To A Lousy Team

It was sad and discouraging seeing the Giants lose three out of four to a lousy baseball team, the New York Mets. The New Yorkers gave the Giants the second game of the series and played sloppy enough to lose two other games during the series.  The magic of the three amigos that kept the Giants going early in the early season is gone.  The team needs new heroes.    Perhaps having a refreshing Coors as Krukow suggests during each telecast will spark the bats this weekend in Denver.

Homer Sweeney

Winning the Bronze!

It has been published that US athletes are paid from your contributions for winning at the Olympics and Uncle Sam will soon be knocking on their door for them to pay their taxes.  The IRS is also considering  taxing the value of their medals.  Are they in for a shock.  The athletes who win receive a commemorative Ghiradelli Chocolate bar wrapped in gold paper for their efforts.  That is the reason you see all the athletes biting into their gold medals. The value of bronze medal bar won by the athletes has been set at $4.95.  Can you imagine if the Giants finish third in the AL West that on Wednesday October 3 following the last game of the season they would be spraying champagne all over the clubhouse yelling, "We won the bronze, we won the bronze, we won the bronze!"

Homer Sweeney

Predictions Come True

On November 9, 2011 this blog reported that the following Giants would not be with the team in 2012 - Whiteside, Stewart, Beltron, Burris, DeRosa, Fontenot, Burrell, Ford, Ross,Torres, Keppinger, and Corbrea. This week Burris was designated for assignment the last player to fall.  We said at the time that Stewart would be in Fresno in case he would be needed. He was traded to the Yankees and it was Whiteside who was brought up for Sanchez.  On May 4, 2012 this blog predicted that Schierholtz would be traded if the Giants could find a player that could help them immediately. Pence is that player.

Homer Sweeney