SF Baseball Giants

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Why the Giants?

Many talk smack and speak out of place about the Giants franchise. It should be noted that there are reasons for why the Giants are a great baseball and sports franchise. At the same time I can take the persecution and hate that comes from fans of other teams. The Giants have had many management problems since their 2002 World Series appearance and they haven't increased their player payroll since then. But back to the point, here are some basic reasons for why the Giants deserve respect.

RESPECT THE GIANTS
Won the first ever World Series in 1905 over the Philadelphia Athletics
The most members in the Baseball Hall of Fame
The most wins of any team in baseball and all of organized sports

THE GIANTS-DODGERS RIVALRY

The Giants-Dodger rivalry is the longest standing rivalry in baseball. The Giants move to San Francisco made it possible for the Dodgers to reach an agreement with the city of Los Angeles.

Current rivalry standings
Giants 1148 Doodgers 1130 Ties 17

(It should be noted that the Giants-A's rivalry is practically non-existent, except for some A's fans who can't deal with the Giants having the bay area spotlight)

SOME RECENT HISTORY

The current state of Giants fans is an interesting one. Our team was almost moved to Florida just three years after the 1989 World Series. MLB and current Giants owner Peter McGowan kept the team in San Francisco, stopping our franchise from becoming the Devil Rays. During this change in ownership McGowan immediately signed Barry Bonds and began planning for the construction of what is now AT&T Park. People will always throw Giants fans under the bus for their support of Bonds, but he saved our franchise long before he ever started using steroids.

The Giants family is tight-knit, steeped in baseball history and teaches appreciation for the game of baseball. AT&T Park is a proud home for fans and players, often seen as the best stadium in all of baseball. Willie McCovey and Willie Mays are regularly in attendance at games, JT Snow and Will Clark work for the front office and Giants history is everywhere you look. All Giants fans are different. Some Giants fans are students of the game, some are historians and others are taken in by the Giants experience. But what brings all Giants fans together is the appreciation and love for how this franchise gives back to us.

The Giants first loss frustrating

It's about time Randy Johnson became a Giant. Oh wait he's 45 years old. The Giants have terrible timing when it comes to signing star players, its always a couple of years too late. Barry Zito, Edgar Renteria, Aaron Rowand, Randy Winn, Rich Aurilia and Benji Molina were all stars at one time or another. The question remains was bringing Randy Johnson to San Francisco a good idea?

Even amist all the naysaying, mine included, last night Randy Johnson proved that he is still of value to a major league team. Johnson was in control of his pitches the entire game. Even the high fastball that was slammed out of the park by Brewers pitcher Yovani Gallardo was a well placed pitch. Gallardo got lucky. Watching the game last night you could hear the huge sigh let out by the crowd at AT&T Park. It was painful to watch.

What was even more painful to watch was the innings that followed. Eight guys were left on base. This is perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the Giants teams of the last couple of years. Hopefully this trend of being unable to drive in runs will not continue. Aside from Randy Winn's two stolen bases and Aaron Rowand's two doubles, they each struck out twice and looked ugly doing it. Benji Molina also grounded into a double play and hit a soft roller with the bases loaded. All of these infractions are forgiven, because these guys had agressive approaches at the plate. There are two guys whoever who don't look aggresive at the plate. Edgar Renteria and Emanuel Burriss. When they step into the batters box they look lost to me. It's like they are just trying to avoid striking out.

The big positive I take away from yesterday's game is that Bruce Bochy and/or Randy Winn decided to take chances on the basebaths. An agressive approach on the basebaths and in the battersbox is the only way the Giants can have a chance to make the playoffs. Nobody has given the Giants a chance this year, but I think only time will tell how good this team really is. I believe the true talent of this team will be shown by their response to difficult losses like last nights.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Giants Opening Day 2009

There is nothing, except maybe a playoff game or possibly a Dodgers vs. Giants game, that gets me more pumped than opening day. Yesterday I sat down at my computer, connected to a newly purchased widescreen external monitor and watched the Giants home opener through MLB.TV.

The expectations for Tim Lincecum in '09 couldn't be bigger. He's now a Cy Young Award Winner, on the cover of a video game and he even stars in a handful of commercials. For several reasons he really is the future of of the Giants franchise.

Veterans Randy Johnson and Barry Zito are looking to Tim Lincecum to lead the pitching rotation and Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain are hoping to soak up some of the early success that Lincecum has had. I personally believe that Bruce Bochy and Brian Sabean's jobs are dependent on how this years pitching staff performs and develops. Although it's more likely Sabean would get fired before Bochy.

Tim Lincecum is only 24, but Giants managment and the entire fanbase is depending on him. It was frustrating for me yesterday to watch Tim struggle to throw fastballs for strikes and it was even harder to hear the frustration of the crowd. Surprisingly I found myself feeling for the guy in that moment. All this pressure on him. Fans and many in the sports world were waiting to rip him or praise him dependending on how he pitched. It even looked as though Tim was not the same Tim from last year. He was almost too focused, easily irritated when he through bad pitches. After 3 innings and 3 ER he was pulled.

Luckily the Giants scored 10 runs, which seems like a lot by Giants standards and won the game. But I couldn't help but worry about Lincecum and the rest of the Giants family after his tough outing. Then I read some things Lincecum said in an interview, "I don't think there's an excuse or a reason why I did the way I did, it's just part of the game and part of the day."

"I'll try to take it with a grain of rice and move on," he said.

Rice?

"Rice, salt, whatever. I'm half-Asian," Lincecum replied.

And just like that my worries were put to rest. This sounds like the Tim Lincecum I remember. Wait the Giants won yesterday, should there really be anything to complain about?