Where Ya Been?

I’ve been offline for a while. Doing this is a habit that is easy to get out of. Everyday has a different timing to it, so I can’t always have a standard moment in the day where I stop working and write. I had a meatpie lunch (Henry's Hunan) with Mark and Noel today, and they both asked what happened to the blog. It's nice to be missed, so, to quote Buckwheat, "Heah I is!"

Anyway, let’s begin with my 8th Giants game last night at SBC. The Giants have actually won a few games lately, which was not the case the last time I wrote here. Jason Schmidt sort of looked like the Schmidt of old, giving up 4 hits and no runs through 8 innings. He’s not throwing 97 MPH anymore, and rarely humps it up to go over 92, but his control was superb.

In the bottom of the 8th, the Giants got a runner on, and with 2 outs, Schmidt came up to bat. He had thrown 110 pitches through 8, and although Eyre and Walker had warmed up in the top of the inning, they were back in the dugout now. I thought, “I don’t get it. Yeah, he’s got a shutout going, but there is a good chance he’s going to throw too many pitches trying to finish the shutout, which is what got him in trouble in the first place.”

Now it’s top 9 and Schmidt is on the mound. He should not have been there, and I was sure Felipe had him on a short leash. I even wonder if he said anything to him in the dugout about it. The Giants need this guy. If they are going anywhere (ok, unlikely), they are NOT going to do it without this guy being a #1 pitcher. It’s clear no one else on the staff can do it. So he needs to throttle his ego and protect his arm for the good of the team. Anyway, Luis Gonzalez is up and it’s strike one, strike two. Then Schmidt rears back on a fast ball and throws it 5 feet over Matheny’s head, hitting the screen on the fly. Everyone is laughing except me and the Doc. We’re both saying get him the hell out of there. A couple more pitches later and Gonzalez slaps a single into right field.

Felipe is out of the dugout almost before Gonzalez gets to first base. I got up on my feet, applauding Felipe. Hey, it’s a no brainer. Then the fans start to boo. Loudly. What a bunch of freakin’ idiots. Schmidt is losing it, he’s thrown 116 pitches, which was 6 too many, and the fans are booing taking the team’s most critical working piece out of the game. I’m sorry, but Bay Area fans know nothing about sports, even though they think they do.

Of course, Eyre and Walker came in to strike out the side (Green by Eyre, Glaus and Tracy by Walker), and the Giants win 4-0. All the pitchers hugged Schmidt in that shaking hands thing after the game, especially Eyre and Walker, and of course, Matheny. It was the most positive thing this team has seen all season. Moises had an especially good game (he’s clearly going to be the Giants’ All-Star). I’m 4-4 at SBC.

So it appears we’ve got a 7 team race in BABI. I got an email from Mr. Leaguer the day he took over sole possession of first place, which I assume he expected me to post. Here it is:

“After a long and unexpected period of chaos, the natural order of the universe has been restored. “

I guess I’ve got 2 things to say to that. The first is “how true.” The second is “bite me.”

We’re not giving up, but we’re not doing so well. Suddenly BA is way down and RBI’s are fading, though we’re hitting homers again this week. Jayson Werth finally got homer #1 last night. We’ve had trade talks with a couple of teams, but the closest deal did not happen because we refused to throw in Lastings Milledge. Baseball Prospectus said that his name is even better than the names in Dickens. All I can say is Milledge, age 19, could be phenomenal. And I’ll add that we’ll trade him, but not as a throw in as part of a fairly equal deal. Meanwhile, I'm sure Lou wouldn't have been concerned about throwing in Milledge. With the Lickers, it's all about now. I love those guys.

I’m not going to post details about deals that don’t happen, because, well, they still might. But the guy we were talking with should take note: that was the best offer you’re likely to get from anyone.

Mark has thrown in the towel. The trade with the Cappers was a good one for George, decent for Mark. It probably depends on how healthy and productive Rolen is. As for Mark, I asked why he didn’t at least even call us and he said we didn’t have anything he wanted. Well……..see the second thing above.

We’re not sure about the Pounders plans for this year. I suspect Ken is trying to suck him dry. They have been trading partners for years. I’ll just take this moment to suggest to Kevin that he should at least speak to us first or else be the butt of some poignant sarcasm here. Hey, whatever it takes: charm, begging, intimidation. I promise this: we make fair deals. Always have, always will. (OK, Larry, Bonds for Borowski didn’t work out so well for George, but he was a $3 closer.)

Nice to be back.