So Who Do We Blame? - Part I

Alas, Giants fans such as myself have to wait at least a year to have another night like this. Now that we are greedy, title-hungry, entitled fans, we need to start tossing some blame around. Barry Shiller over at the Bleacher Report writes about some under-the-radar reasons for the Giants demise. I'll focus on the more obvious, and what it all means for the future.

First, rather than using 1000 words to describe the season, I can save some time and just show this:

"No additional qualifiers". Awesome. And the one guy who did qualify was quite possibly the Least Valuable Player in the National League. That pretty much sums it up.

Injuries are the easiest, most comforting reason why the Giants only won 86 games this year. By the end of the season, the line-ups being trotted out were so far off from the Opening Day plan, it's a wonder they even got 86 out of this year. Still, that is the easy way out. Take a look at the final standings. The Giants finished a full 8 games behind the D-backs. Would a healthy Posey, Sanchez, and Sandoval be able to make all of that up? Maybe. But every team has injuries, and while the Giants were hit harder than most, the reason they didn't make the playoffs is simply a lack of talent. The veterans didn't pull their weight, and the potential-replacement younger guys were too overmatched to do any actual replacing. Injuries aren't the only reason the Giants had "No additional qualifiers". Most of the lineup wasn't good enough to play every day, forcing Bochy to mix and match, spreading the at bats all over the roster. So that's what I'm going with for my #1 reason for the disappointing season: the lack of performance from several offensive players. I'm mad at Aubrey Huff, Cody Ross, Andres Torres, of course Miguel Tejada and Aaron Rowand, and even Brandon Belt a bit for not carpe-ing the diem (in his defense, the herky-jerky handling of him by Bochean was ill-advised).

And so, looking to next year, what should the plan be? Who on this carousel of mediocrity should they bring back? The good news is, that just by doing nothing and/or maintaining their roster, the offense should improve significantly. While perfect health should not be counted on, let's assume Posey comes back for the full year, Freddy Sanchez does not go down, and Pablo will miss less time. Aubrey Huff can't do any worse, plus he'll be in a contract year, so I expect to see improvement there. If Belt sews up the hole in his swing and takes less called third strikes, he should be a staple in the line-up. So the top priority should still be keeping the pitching staff in tact, which Sabean has stated it will be.

Should they try to bring Carlos Beltran back? I say yes, if it is not more than a two-year deal at a reasonable price. He's at risk of production decline and/or injury, but he did perform admirably when healthy for the Giants (although you could argue it was too little too late). But picture the #2 through #6 spots in the line-up looking something like Sanchez, Beltran, Posey, Sandoval, Belt. That's the makings of an average offense, right there, folks. And we know what happens when the Giants keep their pitching staff in tact and put together an average offense.

And how about the pipe dream of adding Jose Reyes? What if his bat lead off before those other guys? Now I'm salivating. In all likelihood, payroll will not allow for it, but boy is Reyes a perfect fit for this team. Short Stop and the lead-off spots are HUGE holes, and the Giants should be going after these dynamic, athletic-types that their ballpark is tailored for. Someone from the Giants should lead the league in triples every year. If Reyes came aboard, I have no doubt he would. That is, if he stayed healthy. But that just makes it better! He's an injury risk, which is right up Sabean's alley!

The Giants clawed through most of the season by winning tight, low-scoring games. Unfortunately, that's not a sustainable business model. The 1-run games started to even out. You could say their negative run-differential caught up to them (they scored 8 fewer runs than they allowed, which usually translates to a sub-.500 record). But I don't think it's quite as simple as regression to the mean. You could tell they just played much worse the final two months of the season. Giving away 90 feet on both sides of the ball. And completely going into the tank offensively. They sucked, and that's about all there is to it.

In Other News....

A Wild Wednesday it was. Excuse me for a second while I take off my Giants Fan hat (otherwise known as a Giants hat) and put on my Baseball Fan Hat. I am so happy that I spent my afternoon/evening watching the MLB Network. 4 games to decide the final 2 postseason spots: Coming into today, the Braves and Cardinals were tied for the NL Wildcard. The Red Sox and Rays were tied for the AL Wildcard. MLB Network kept me up-to-date on all four games, which were awesomely going on at the same time.

Cardinals vs. Astros - Cards win 8-0. Not much excitement here, although the CGSO (complete game, shutout) by Chris Carpenter is noteworthy.

That game ended as the Braves were still in the late innings vs. the Phillies. So they know they had to win to stay alive and force a 1-game playoff. They head to the bottom of the 9th with a 1-run lead, but they're soon-to-be-rookie-of-the-year closer blows it. Still, with the Phillies having much less to play for and the stellar Braves bullpen, you had to think the Braves had the advantage in this extra-inning game. But in the 13th, the Phils broke through for a run. Then in the bottom of the inning, the Braves'-other-rookie-of-the-year-candidate, Freddy Freeman, grounds into a double play to end their season. Awesome.

The American League finish was even more exciting. Rays hosted the Yankees. Sox were in Baltimore. With these games going on at the same time, you could not have scripted them better. The Rays promptly fall behind 7-0. So you figure that game is over -- they'll have to hope for a Red Sox loss to force a playoff. Meanwhile, the Sox scratch out a 3-2 lead through 7 innings of exciting baseball (big hits, great defense, plays at the plate, etc). But then the rain comes. And as the Red Sox sit out the delay in their clubhouse, they watch the Rays in disbelief...
Down 7-0 in the bottom of the 8th inning, the Rays score 6. Then, down to their last strike in the 9th, PINCH HITTER Dan Johnson hits a game-tying solo home run. To extra innings we go...
Meanwhile back in Baltimore, the Sox miss opportunities to score, but still have their 1-run lead with their closer coming in to pitch the bottom of the 9th. And it all started with 2 out and nobody on. Double. Double to tie the game. And then a sinking liner that any self-respecting left-fielder would have caught. But Carl Crawford didn't. Ballgame......[side note: it really is amazing how well-timed and effective the rain delay was at syncing the games together].
By this time, the Rays and Yanks are in the bottom of the 12th. We see the fans and dugout cheer as the Red Sox score shows up as final. And 3 minutes later, Evan Longoria ends the game (and the Red Sox season) with a walk-off home run (his 2nd HR of the day, btw). The rain delay really was remarkably effective in syncing the games together.

Un-freaking-believable. In those 4 games, we had 2 go to extra innings, and 2 end in walk-off hits. Both races ended in epic collapses/comebacks. Seriously, both of these Wildcard races were all-but-mathematically decided at the start of this month. Sorry for gushing, but I just felt the need to summarize all this for the record. I love baseball. I love when the Braves lose. I love when the Red Sox lose. I LOVE BASEBALL.

Wait 'til Next Year Season Begins

Before this weekend, the Giants' chances of making the playoffs were about on par with a snowball's chances in hell. We don't know the exact numbers for those chances, mainly because we can't know for sure what hell is like if it exists at all. I'm not here to debate religion, though. After this weekend, the Giants' playoff chances dropped to zero. Everyone on Earth can agree to that. 

No Giants fan in their right mind can be happy about how this season turned out. They under-performed, and as a result will finish a distant second in a division they clearly should have won. Along the way, they depleted the farm system and suffered major injuries which will carry questions (if not actual ailments) into next year.

I'll be trolling out my thoughts on the season and looking on to next year over the next few days. That is all.

Protect yourself at all times

Every single fighter in the history of the sweet science has word those words and likely, evey single fan in the history of the sports assumes those words are just lip service from the ref because what fighter in his or her right mind would not protect themselves in the ring?? Well, those words were put to the test this past weekend at the MGM Grand in Vegas and Victor Ortiz paid the ultimate price.



If you followed the show 24/7 on HBO leading up to this fight, you are well aware of the dramatic and emotional back story that followed Ortiz into the ring this weekend. If you don't know and are reading this right now, click on this link to read more. http://www.hbo.com/boxing#/boxing/fights/2011/09-17-floyd-mayweather-jr-vs-victor-ortiz/video/24-7-episode-4

This fight was clearly about more than two boxers climbing in the ring to fight each other, it was clearly more about personalities. On the one hand, we have an ego maniacal freak in Floyd Money Mayweather. Undefeated, bathing in cash and felony charges and on top of the world.
Then, you have a humble kid who has been through hell in his life and wants to fight in order to prove to the world that he is more important than his parents told him he was. But, his humility was tested in this fight and that headbutt he layed on Money May was dirty and what transpired moments after, was not dirty at all. Was it a cheap shot? Yes. Would Sugar Ray Leonard have done it to Larry Hagler? No. Was it as bad as Tyson chomping on Evander's ear? No, but it was legal.

At the end of the night we learned a few things. Money May will go to any lengths to win and get paid and Victor Ortiz has a lot to learn about the fight game if he wants to continue his career int he ring and the next challenge he faces is picking himself up off the canvas and learn how to recover from his own stupidity.

Bill Neukom Out; Larry Baer In

As speculation continues on why Giants managing general partner and chief executive officer Bill Neukom is retiring, most fans will no doubt be concerned mostly with what this means for the Giants' on-field product. Since I claim that there's no bigger Giants fan than myself, let me see if I can provide some perspective:

First, on the move itself: Publicly speaking, Neukom and the rest of the Giant's front office deny that he has been "forced out". Rather, Neukom explained it as an "evolutionary process", while incoming CEO Larry Baer promised "business as usual" for the future. Nice of them to put on a rosy show, but the fact is, you don't lead a team to a World Series Championship and then find yourself announcing your surprise retirement less than a year later without having pissed some people off. There is no doubt we are missing plenty of details on why this move transpired.

As far as Giants baseball goes, I have two concerns. Both of them, more likely than not, will be rendered unwarranted. But let's get into what we do maybe-know about the power shift. According to Mark Purdy, who broke the story, the contentious issue was what to do with all the extra money that came in as a result of the World Series (by the way, the Giants won the World Series last year, so everything WILL be fine). Since last November, the Giants have basically been printing money in the form of new jerseys, "Championship Walk" bricks for sale, and the like. As they should -- to the victor goes the spoils. Purdy asserts that Neukom spent the money as he saw fit (increasing player payroll, technology for the baseball department, etc.) without informing the rest of the investing partners first. Maybe they they were just pissed that they heard about his decisions from the newspapers rather than from Neukom himself. Or maybe they disagreed with the actual decisions. If the latter is true, that concerns me a bit. Under Neukom's regime, it was clear that the Giants were trying to capitalize on their Title and strike while the iron was hot to attempt to become a powerhouse, national franchise a la the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies. Despite the inevitable "pink hat" fans that come with the territory, that's what I want my team to do: get rich, get even better, approach dynasty status, and become a team that the rest of the nation hates. We saw the Giants going after this when they allowed the Showtime cameras into their clubhouse, and when they traded their top prospect for Carlos Beltran (which certainly didn't work out, but I still don't blame them for trying to win while their window is open). So if this is the kind of attitude that the Executive Committee who ousted Neukom opposes, well that could be a problem. According to Purdy, they may have wanted to use this extra money as a "rainy day fund". It makes one wonder whether they are looking to maximize profits rather than wins. HOWEVER, maybe the attitude is that the rainy day comes when Lincecum and Cain reach free agency. If that is the case, I completely agree with the Exec Committee. Despite the impotent offense this year, I think the top priority for the offseason should be locking down LinceCain if either of them are willing to discuss it.

My second mild concern regards the stance of Giants ownership on the A's potential move from Oakland to San Jose. From what I've read, Neukom was a bigtime champion of the Giants' territorial rights to the South Bay. If he leaves and that stance is softened, I have a problem with it. I don't want those stinking A's down in San Jose. It's not that I'm concerned about losing fans to them. But there is a ton of corporate money down there, and I don't need the A's grabbing any of it. Other things being equal (i.e. if spent correctly), more money equals more wins, so I want it all for the Giants. Am I being unreasonable?

But I think the Giants are in good hands with Larry Baer at the helm. He's been with the team for nearly two decades. He helped in saving the team from moving to Tampa back in '93. From what I know, no one (other than our lord and savior Barry Bonds, of course) was more responsible for getting the new ballpark built in 2000. At the press conference today, he assured us that the stance on San Jose hasn't moved and that there's no reason to expect payroll to go down.

More than likely, things will remain "business as usual". So I guess what I'm saying is, sorry for wasting your time.

Farewell, Bill Neukom. I wish I paid more attention when you spoke at my 2006 graduation from the University of Puget Sound (in my defense, you hadn't become the Giants' owner yet).

The interim head of Pac-12 officiating wants to outlaw Oregon's "O" salute!

I was reading through some columns on Yahoo Sports and came across this loser named Mike Pereira.  Mike was previously involved with the NFL's officiating department.  Here is the article about how this guy is going to make a personal call to Chip Kelly to tell him to have his players not flaunt the "O" in celebration of a TD or big play.  If you watch the video he goes on about how saluting the military or praising "God" in anyway will not be flagged!  What kind of crap is this?  This guy needs to pull his head out of his ass and watch some other games around the league to see what goes on.  See any SEC game, a guy catches a TD and can "C-walk" across the whole field and then high five his teammate while jumping 50 feet in the air.  A simple "O" thrown up to the crowed for about 3 seconds is nothing compared to this.

Anyway, can't really do much about this.  I just can't wait for the entire crowd at Autzen to throw up their "O's" after each TD by LaMike, DT and the rest of the crew for the rest of the year in the referees faces!!

In the  mean time....... here are some more O's for Mike Pereira to write home about!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers,

Mr.A

Go Watch "The Franchise"

All episodes are up on YouTube. Starting here.

It's hard to claim that watching Showtime's behind-the-scenes docu-series on the San Francisco Giants is a pleasurable experience for Giants fans. The final 4 of the 8-episode series take place post-trade deadline, when the season began spiraling down the drain. Episode 4 ends at what will likely be the high point of the year -- the Giants taking 2 of 3 in Philadelphia, with Carlos Beltran having arrived to take the wheel the rest of the way. After that, each episode will remind viewers of their declining confidence in the team. From "we've got this in the bag" to "well, I guess it won't be THAT easy" to "geez we better be careful here" to "uh-oh, we actually might not win this thing" to "it would take a miracle". The on-field product is pretty depressing, and certainly not what Showtime was hoping for.

But that's not to say it's not good TV. There are good storylines, and fans certainly will learn things they didn't know before. Details on the too-soon deaths of the fathers of both Brian Wilson and Aubrey Huff. Tim Lincecum's inherent shyness to the spotlight. Barry Zito's dream to open a restaurant (gag). Ryan Vogelsong has a smokin' hot wife -- although that's no surprise; that dreamboat doesn't need to play baseball to get the girl. I actually wish they would have focused a bit less on the hokey, family-oriented stories on the hardships of being on the road. My favorite parts were the club-house hijinks and the nuts-and-bolts of actual baseball (true baseball junkies will love watching Beltran tutor Andres Torres in the batting cage). There are a lot of characters on this team, and it's fun to watch them in their natural habitat.

The final game chronicled is a Lincecum victory against the Padres on August 24. I do wish the cameras stuck around for one more week to watch Rowand and Tejada get DFA'd, but you can't have everything. I never thought The Franchise was a good idea for The Giants. After you win a championship, you don't just let world in to see how you did it. Nevertheless, as a Giants fan, it's must-see stuff, as it brings you closer to the team. And that's what we really want as fans, right? We want to feel like we are involved. Like we're friends with these guys. To that point, there should have been more of Sergio Romo. That guy is awesome.

Giants begin September Chase with Statement Win

That one felt good. That looked like the Giants team of last September/October. Now, before we make sweeping new-month-new-team claims, let's remember that this was just one game. Against the 5th starter for the D-Backs. They've got to do the same thing against D-backs ace Ian Kennedy tonight. The G-men counter with an ace of their own, so it should be a dandy of a game at 3rd and King.

One thing I will say: The September roster expansion may very well favor The Giants over a lot of other teams. All year this line-up has been a heap of interchangeable mediocrity. But at least there is a lot of it. Even if ownership hadn't said good riddance to the bad rubbish of Aaron Rowand and Miguel Tejada, there's still room for everyone. Burrell, Ross, Crawford, Burriss, Ford, Belt, Shierholtz (if he ever comes back), and even Brett Pill and Conor Gillaspie, to name a few. Again, these guys are average Major Leaguers at best. But I've got to think that most additions coming into most other teams are fringe Minor Leaguers. The same goes for bullpen additions. I'm guessing the Giants are adding a lot more Major League experience with the roster expansion than most other teams. Not only that, but there are defined rolls already set in place: Crawford as a defensive replacement, Ford as a designated pinch runner, etc. A small advantage down the stretch, but an advantage nontheless: The Giants are built to swell.