Hugs and Kisses

The Giants swept the DBacks today, and I was in attendance at two wild games, Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon.

Last night I was joined by most of the folks in my seat license group, including the Colonel and the Doc. We began a tradition last season of choosing one game that we buy all of the tickets around us in FC 109 so we can share a game. The Colonel calls it the Group Hug game. Last year we saw the Canoodler game together. Last night, it was another round of Boonitez.

You all read about Buttmando’s meltdown in the ninth last night with the Giants ahead by 4. With a run in, 2 on and 2 outs, Felipe pulled him. The Giants’ “closer” was not happy. When they finally pulled out the game with Kline getting his first save in 2 years, Boonitez did not come out of the dugout to shake hands with his teammates. He was probably already in his car, headed home.

There was a guy sitting behind us last night who was hilarious. In the ninth inning he kept telling us we had to keep it positive for Armando. He was ranting: "Why y'all booing Benitez? Who else are they gonna bring in? Vinnie Chulk? Jack Taschner? You gotta understand this: the Giants got no bullpen". And he added, “Give him the love. Give him the love.” But when Felipe yanked him, he whipped out his cell phone and yelled into it, “Is this JT the Brick? Our closer sucks, I’ve got no love for him anymore.”

He got another chance today, coming in to close out the ninth with a more precarious one run lead. This was a different pitcher. He was seething. Facing the top of the order, he just started firing 96 MPH fastballs, one after another, like a gatling gun. With 2 outs and a 2-2 count on Luis Gonzalez, he threw his only off-speed pitch, a nasty splitter, for the final swinging strike. It was a dominating performance.

The crowd booed him lustily when he came in today, but by the second pitch, a bullet at the knees, the mood of the crowd changed dramatically. The crowd was on its feet for the entire final at bat, and the cheers poured down on every pitch. The great hope is that in his fury and embarrassment at being removed last night, he may have found himself. On the other hand, Felix Rodriguez had some great, overwhelming outings too, but it didn’t keep him from giving up critical runs at the most critical times.

My guess: Boonitez still sucks. But it is possible that Felipe did the best thing possible to get him on track last night.

Eliezer Alfonzo was amazing. He had the key hits in both games, a two out double last night to drive in the go ahead run in the eighth, and a triple to right center in the seventh today to drive in the game winner. He only got one hit today, but he was absolutely mashing the ball in every at bat. He is one of the great, unreported stories of this season. A decade in the minors, and suddenly, finally, he gets his chance, and the result has been remarkable. He’s not just adequate, he’s good, very good. And now he’s added clutch hitting to his resume. He is surely going to be the starting catcher next season. When are those hacks at the Chron going to write a feature article telling the story of his glacier-like trip to the major leagues?

Todd Linden had a nice clutch at bat last night too. The Doc and I grabbed him off the scrap heap for next year’s Pickled Pecklers as we think he’s going to finally get his chance with the coming shakeup. The youngsters are starting to show their stuff, with Cain and Lowry having fine outings in this series as well.

It’s impossible to report on this series without some comments about the Diamondbacks. This has got to be one of the finest rebuilding jobs through a minor league system ever. Whoever engineered this is a genius. For those of us who are sick of the old guys on the Giants, the Dbacks are the model.

C – Johnny Estrada 30
1B – Conor Jackson 24
2B – Orlando Hudson 28
SS – Stephen Drew 23
3B – Chad Tracy 26
OF – Eric Byrnes 30
OF – Carlos Quentin 24 (next Monday)
OF – Chris Young 22

Jackson, Drew, Tracy, Quentin and Young all came up through the system. They have so much talent here, including power and speed, that you’ve got to think if they add a couple of pitchers next season to Brandon Webb and Miguel Bautista (say Jason Schmidt, who was less than spectacular today) they’ll be one of the favorites in the NL. But more than that, this is a team a fan can really get excited about.

Take Chris Young, who came up to the majors for the first time this past week. Last night he made a catch on a ball in centerfield that was flat out unbelievable. I’m not going to describe it, I can’t possibly do it justice. It had to be a web gem on ESPN. Then, as often happens, he came up in the next inning and mashed a line drive double to left center, to almost the exact place where he made the great catch. Today he crushed a two run homer deep into the bleachers off Schmidt to tie the game. The kid is only 22. He’s just scratching the surface of his talent, which is enormous.

The Pecklers traded for Estrada a couple of weeks ago. We kind of liked him for next year. Then we got a real eyeful of him last night: a single, two doubles and a homer – every ball just blasted. Holey moley, this guy can hit. (That’s what Alfonzo looked like today, just blasting every pitch over the plate.) He’s going to be the centerpiece of this team, the glue. And he sure looks like a catcher.

I’m sure Brian Sabean is not going to rebuild the Giants in this manner. He’s going to have free agent money, and he’s going to spend it. Let’s just hope he does a better job than spending it on Edgardo Alfonso and Ray Durham and Armando Benitez and Mike Matheny and Moises Alou and Mike Morris. It’s like purchasing $30+ guys in a Rotisserie draft: you’ve got to be right. If you’re not, you’re dead, unless you’re the Yankees. But realistically Sabes can’t just slap together a minor league system overnight. And of course, he’s never, ever shown the ability to put one together over any period of time.

Yesterday I posted a piece in which I talked a little about Will Clark. Low and behold, he was at the game last night. Between innings in the middle of the game they showed some old Clark highlights, and then they put him on the big screen at the stadium. The crowd went wild, giving him a prolonged standing ovation. He got up and waved and then sat down, but the crowd wouldn’t quit, standing and cheering until he took another curtain call. I bet he was surprised at the hearfelt ovation and the obvious depth of feeling for him here. The Giants love The Thrill, and I’ll bet everyone (except Jeffrey Leonard) continued to root for him throughout his post-Giant career. He works for Arizona now, along with his buddy and another Giant favorite, Matt Williams. And speaking of Matt, if you never saw him do his Babe Ruth imitation, you haven’t lived.

So the Giants are 4 behind the Reds for the wild card as they begin a 4 game series against them this week. And they are 4-1/2 behind the Dodgers as the Padres and Dodgers get underway tonight. There are still almost 6 weeks to go. The playoffs seem so unlikely, with all of these damaged and missing parts. When you compare the teams, I’m not exactly sure how they swept Arizona this week. But they did. It all looks like an elaborate Penn and Teller magic trick, but there they are, still standing.

Give them the love.