Take a hike!

Fresh off the wire!  Tejada and Rowand designated for assignment!  Here's a quick link.  Sounds like there's going to be a few call ups after these two moves.  Two of them might be Pat the Bat and a young man named Brett Pill who crushed it in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) this year.

All this news is just a little too late.  Looks like it's Football season.  Can't wait for the Ducks on Saturday!

Cheers,

Mr. A

There's still hope for the Giants! Oh, wait...

The Giants are 5 games out of first place. Correct me if I'm wrong, but on this date 1 year ago, the Giants were 5 games out of first place, and they went on to win the World Series. And get this: Last year they had evil Pablo Sandoval at third and Jose Guillen in right. So we've got them right where we want them! Well, there are a few other subtle differences. Last year at this time...

- The Giants were chasing the Padres, who were in the early stages of a 10-game losing streak. This year, they're chasing the Diamondbacks, who have won 7 in a row.

- The Giants had a functioning Aubrey Huff. A functioning Andres Torres. A functioning Pat Burrell.

- They had Juan Uribe. This year they have Cabrera, Fontenot, and Tejada. A proven winner, a gritty gamer, and former MVP. Also 3 of the worst hitters in the league. The short stop position is nothing short of an embarrassment. And these are the guys who are pinch hitting in late innings because last year...

- They had some kid named Posey, who ended up doing alright. This year, they have Stewart and Whiteside. Some of the worst hitters in the league are pinch hitting for guys who are even worse.

It's an orange and black hole.

What did we learn from the series with the Astros?

Not a whole lot. Same old story, as this continues to look like a team that simply does not have enough competent hitters to win many more games than they lose. So one thing we learned is that if The Giants are going to take back the West, they are likely going to need some help from the teams that face the Diamondbacks down the stretch. A few other little nuggets I can provide after 4 mediocre games against the League's worst:

- Belt still has work to do -- his "good eye" seems to be drifting towards average.

- Beltran is a noticeable defensive downgrade in right field compared to Shierholtz.

- It's nice to have Romo and his "no-dot" slider back.

Other than that, I don't think there's a whole lot of takeaway from this series. DeRosa made excellent contributions, but I'm certainly not ready to tag him as an important figure down the stretch. And it's not as if the case is closed on the Mystery of the Missing 5th Starter. Eric Surkamp's outing was encouraging -- 6 innings and 1 earned run (that should have been unearned) is nothing to scoff at. But let's not forget it came against the Astros and that every one of his 6 innings came with varying levels of stress. A better offense could have knocked him around quite a bit more.

What we do know is that splitting a home series with the Astros in unacceptable, but we knew that going in. Panic time officially starts.....now.

Baton Rouge, a sunny place for Shady people!

So I woke up this morning and as I was perusing through the net, I couldn't help but come across this story over a dozen times.  There was a news break in the case against two of the four LSU Tiger players involved in a bar fight late last week.  After the four suspects agreed to talk to the police, the police drew up a search warrant for the main suspect in the case (or at least highest profile name), Jordan Jefferson who is the starting QB for LSU.  The police searched his house and seized 49 pairs of shoes from his house.  49 you may ask?.... Ya me too.  I not even going to go there with this one.  Anyway, they were checking his shoes and took his DNA to see if they could match it up with the footprints and blood on the victim's head that allegedly got stomped in by these four stand up individuals.  Not only did they allegedly beat the victim up, they fractured 4 of his vertebra's.

Now that all this news broke and these guys can't cover themselves up anymore they finally did one thing right and turned themselves in to the police.  Hours later this morning the LSU Football program and coach Les Miles came out and suspended Jefferson and Johns (seen in the picture above) indefinitely!

All I got to say is these guys deserve whatever punishment they get.  Not only were they out after curfew, but they were at a bar named Shady's!  Come on!  Nothing good can happen at a bar named Shady's.  Also, the best part about this story is that the main witness that saw the attack/fight go down was a 19 year old girl?  Can someone please tell me what she was doing at a bar?  This can't be good for Shady's.

Anyway, I kind of wish this didn't happen because this is just an excuse the BCS and LSU themselves can pull out of their asses once Oregon crushes Jarrett Lee (the new starting QB) and the rest of the Tigers!

Just a little more than week away ladies and gentleman!!!  Get your popcorn ready Dallas Stadium because because DT and LaHiesman are going to put on a show!

Here's a take from a local down on the bayou.

Cheers,

Mr. A

Belt Staying Awkward

If there's one silver lining to the cloud of recent Giant injuries, it has to be the playing time for Brandon Belt. Before the injuries to Carlos Beltran, Nate Shierholtz, Pat Burrell, and Andres Torres, it probably would have taken a Constitutional Amendment to get Belt regular starts. But as it is, Belt has been allowed to fill a hole in the outfield, and what do you know? To the surprise of few people outside of the Giants brass, he's hitting. I do believe his reputation of having a good eye may have gone to his head a bit, as he seems to be watching more called strike 3's than one would like, but his at bats are generally fun to watch. In a line-up filled with at bats that are downright unbearable, this is a welcome addition, to say the least.

If Belt continues to hit, but the Giants still fall short in the NL West, one of the first things I will point to is the amount of time it took for Belt to get starts on the regular. I'm of the opinion that he should have gotten about a full month in July/August as sort of a "try-out" to see if he could snatch the first base job from Aubrey Huff outright. Instead, Bochy suffocated him on the bench and in the minors while continuing to watch Huff roll over ground balls to second base. And let's not forget the defensive upgrade Belt would be providing at first.

Now, with Beltran back, and Huff approaching a .250 batting average, Belt will have to continue to keep a gun at Bochy's head in the form of 3-run jimmy-jacks and balls smoked into Triples Alley. I believe he will. I just pray it's not too late.

-Mike the Menace

Giants close to landing Bell off waivers!!!

Fresh off the news wire!!!!  Giants working on a deal with the Fathers to send Heath Bell to the Giants.  If a trade can be agreed upon, then Bell could be a Giant as early as tonight.  This is good and bad for the Giants.  The good is the obvious, Bell is a nasty throwing right hander that can get the job done.  The bad news is that this means B-Willy's injury is for serious.  More news to come tonight!

-Mr. A

Seastrunk granted to transfer... to grandma's house!

In today's news, Lache Seastrunk was granted to transfer back home to Texas.  Here's a link to the story.  When asked why he wanted to go, he said he is home sick and he missed his grandma.  I would have to say that is a cover up.  There's just too much competition at the RB position and its not getting any easier with the arrival of freshman RB star De'Anthony Thomas aka "the Black Mamba" from southern California.  This is too bad because the up side of this guy has is huge.  He was a track star and a great athlete in high school and could have excelled at both of those in Eugene.  I wish the dude the best.

As a Duck fan I am not worried about it because the Black Mamba is going to have a chance to become a star for the Ducks right away.  With Harris out (for the first game at least), the PR situation is up for grabs not to mention the headaches he's going to cause at RB when the opposition has to cover Thomas and LaHeisman.  The Ducks/Tigers game is less than two weeks away and it will again be time to show the nation how we play ball out on the left coast!

Go Ducks!!!

-Mr. A

My name is Cliff Harris... and "we'd smoked all the pot officer!"

About a month or so ago, Cliff Harris, CB for the University of Oregon Ducks football team,  was in the news for getting pulled over on I-5 for driving at speeds over 115mph.  A video from the dash of the state trooper that pulled him over just got release.  This is some of the funniest footage of Harris yet and he's still only at the start of his junior year.   The video is a bit long but sit back and enjoy, it's a classic!

Harris Traffic Stop

Some of the classic quotes:

Officer: "What's your name?"
Driver: "My name is Cliff Harris"
Officer: " Cliff Harris the football player?"
Driver: "Yes Sir"

Anyway, this will become the past very soon and before you know it Harris will be burning your team with a pick-6 or a KR-TD.

GO DUCKS!!!

-Mr. A

Panda fouls a ball of the top of his foot... leaves the game!

Panda leaves the game.  Good news, x-rays are negative!  Pablo will be back soon folks don't you worry.

-Mr. A

A letter to Aubrey Huff!

Dear Mr. Huff,

Ever since I first got a chance to play ball with the big boys, I never wanted to go back to Fresno.  After being invited to the season opening series in LA, my struggles at the plate after that series and dealing with a wrist injury over the next couple of months landed me back in the minors.  Now that I am healthy and playing well in Fresno again, it gives me even more encouragement to see your lack of production at the plate.  Two nights ago I got the call and a few hours later I was on the plane from Fresno to Miami.  I guess it was the humidity, as you could see from you seat on the bench, but I was in the zone and those two bombs I hit felt so good!  I was like taking two huge weights off my shoulders and handing them to you.  Maybe all the money you don't deserve is getting to your head or maybe that thong of yours is just riding you too hard.  Whatever it is, I recommend you fix it or your starting role for this club is long gone.  The future of the Giants at 1st base is here and guess what?...You're looking at him!

Well, other than that I look forward to earning more of your playing time for the rest of the season because I'm not going anywhere.

As they would say in Texas...

I gotta scoot on outta here now, Bah!

-BB

The newest addition to the Jim Harbaugh era, Brylon Edwards! Fear-the-Beard!

Meet the newest 49er, Brylon Edwards!  The 49ers and Edwards agreed on a one year deal worth $3.5M.  Looks like the Bay Area can welcome another man to the fear-the-beard team!  Here's a link to the report from SFgate.

Cheers,

Mr. A

Brian Wilson public signing appearance in San Mateo

Calling all Giants/Brian Wilson fans in the Bay Area.  B-Willy will be signing autographs at Man Cave Memorabilia in San Mateo on Wednesday August 31st from 6-7:30pm.  

Go show your support!

Go Giants!

-Mr. A

Giants, Phillies back at it tonight!

Giants fans, here comes another set of huge games!  It starts tonight with Bums vs. Lee.  Let's start the weekend off right and show Cliff how its done.  On Friday night the Giants welcome back Dirty Sanchez back from DL.  How is it that the Giants play the Phillies seven times in two weeks or so and still don't have to face Halladay.  Oh well!  Get out there and support the G-men paving another path toward a play off run.

Cheers,

Mr. A