Now we can have a rolling 2005 GIANTS thread!

some things never change!

Edgardo Alfonzo is playing OUT OF HIS HEAD and Pedro Feliz TOOK ONE BASE ON BALLS... what is this good world coming to?

Even with sluggers Barry Bonds and Moises Alou on the DL, the Giants lead the majors with a .301 average and trail only the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL with 67 runs.

Also, they far and away lead the MLB in OBP WITHOUT Bonds.

Now if they could only do something about that pesky 5.40 team ERA.

Amazing. And fluke-y.
Mike Matheny: .324/.351/.559
That's the kind of season they're having thus far.

fi'teen days.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2052945

The news sounds bad, but really isn't. For a player not named Barry Bonds, it probably wouldn't even be called surgery. Technically, any intrusion into the body for a medical procedure is surgery, so the arthroscope-aided irrigation and antibiotic injection does qualify. It's hardly the equivalent of the other surgeries that he's had on the knee. Still, this does set back Bonds a matter of weeks, meaning an optimistic timeframe is now June rather than May. Assuming the procedure worked, the fluid buildup should stop, Bonds should be more comfortable, and he can get back to concentrating on getting back on the field. New target? Interleague play in early June as a DH.

There is no answer because Bonds was attached to an IV full of antibiotics 24 hours a day as recently as Tuesday. The IV phase started two weeks ago after his third knee surgery. The Associated Press reported that Bonds will keep taking oral antibiotics.

"As of today, Barry Bonds is no longer on IV antibiotics," Giants trainer Stan Conte said. "This allows Barry to be a little more mobile, he has been pretty much stationary because of the IV. ... It's still important to keep a close check on the infection and make sure that it is totally eradicated."

There is no answer to when Bonds might return because he is no longer dealing with the aftermath of "just" a baseball injury or "just" a knee operation. He is dealing with a potentially serious post-operative infection that left him essentially immobilized at the time. Still, some close to Bonds contend he is fine.

"Barry's doing great," Bonds' spokeswoman Rachael Vizcarra said. "The IV antibiotic is very standard. He's not on it any longer, and he's progressing very well. He really wants to get back to his teammates."

But there appears to be no timeline for Bonds' rehab, because right now, there is no rehab. Bonds' case is in the hands of Dr. Robert Armstrong, an infectious disease specialist. And that won't change until Dr. Armstrong is certain the infection is completely absent.

That could be a matter of days, but it also could be a matter of weeks. Infections to the knee are particularly precarious -- because of the risk of infection to the bone itself -- and it's believed that Bonds' medical team plans to be extra cautious before deciding to clear him to resume his rehab.

By then, however, Bonds might be so weakened by several weeks of nearly total immobility that his rehab almost certainly will be significantly longer than the normal four-to-six-week schedule that faces most patients following arthroscopic knee surgery.

At this point, it's believed Bonds is even being discouraged from hobbling around on crutches, as he did earlier this month in a visit to SBC Park, because that puts more pressure on his knee than doctors would prefer.

So when is Bonds coming back? It isn't even worth guessing, because there is literally no one who knows the answer.

Bonds out
Benitez gone for the season
Alou and Schmidt spending DL-time

is a complete absurd surprise and a testament to the crappitude of the NL West.

I don't see how this is true, when teams now play most games out of division -- and in this case, when SD and LA (til the recent slump) have been quite good.

Yay team!

Yeah no kidding. Somebody must have missed the part when the Padres took 9 of 10 from the Cardinals, Braves and Marlins.

The worst thing about the Giants is that they continue to play shitty veterans when young players are available (JT Snow should never play over Niekro; Grissom should probably never play over Jason Ellison; Matheny definitely should not play over Torrealba). Bonds hid a ton of weaknesses that were always very obvious to me. I will never get over the time when Sabean went on KNBR and said "We couldn't sign Vladmir Guerrero because we had to sign JT Snow, Tucker, Tomko, etc.!" I thought "The Padres are going to own this division as soon as Bonds is gone." The Giants would probably be even worse off if Ned Coletti wasn't around.

vs. Andy Pettite: SF 6 - HOU 4
vs. Roy Oswalt: SF 5 - HOU 2
vs. Roger Clemens: HOU 8 - SF 1 (yeah i know but the score was 1-1 when Clemens left in the 8th, typical SF bullpen performance)
vs. Horacio Ramirez (who?): ATL 7 - SF 1
vs. John Smoltz: ATL 5 - SF 4 (heartbreaking loss in 12th)
vs. Tim Hudson: SF 5 - ATL 3
vs. Dontrelle Willis: SF 1 - FLA 0 (this was easily Dontrelle's best game against SF, yet I think he's still like 0-6 against SF lifetime including the postseason)

FIFTY. EIGHT.

FIFTY. EIGHT.

CYCLE!

Jim Callis: He has a chance to be very good, a No. 1 or 2 starter if all goes well, and the Twins absolutely stole him in the A.J. Pierzynski trade (as if Joe Nathan wasn't enough). He's ready for a shot in the majors at this point.

SF closer Tyler Walker's been doing a reasonable Matt Herges impersonation so it's only a matter of time before Benitez gets back into the closing spot (what with that $9M a year contract that just doesn't cut it for a 7th/8th inning guy).

In 3 years of A/AA pitching: 2.71 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 10k/9, 3k/bb.

From the Desk of Brian Sabean

Dear [season ticket holder],

First and foremost, I share with you the disappointments we’ve all felt this season. From the fans, to the front office and those on the field, we have not even come close to the expectations we all had entering Spring Training. Sitting in fourth place on September 1 is not something we’re accustomed to over the last eight years and is not acceptable.

There’s no question that the team has clearly missed the presence of Barry Bonds and his seven MVPs in the middle of our lineup. Unfortunately, Armando Benitez’ injury put our bullpen in flux for a good portion of the first half of the campaign. While you can never control injuries, I can’t tell you how disappointed I was with the performance of our starting pitching at the beginning of the year.

Ironically, due to the lack of a club running away with our division, we still have a chance. I can assure you that this team will battle until the final day of the season. As we make our final push, I want to outline for you some reasons for optimism as we head into September and the 2006 season:

We’re trying to compete in our division now, while also preparing our young players for the future. We improved our team from within by using the young talent from our farm system. The average age of our Opening Day roster was almost 32 years old, while the club as it is constituted today now averages out to 29 years old.

We have a chance to climb back into the race in the National League West in September when we play 19 of our final 30 games against teams ahead of us in the division standings. This is largely due to the much improved starting pitching and a solidified bullpen over the last month or so.

Our pitching staff now has seven homegrown players, with the likes of Matt Cain, Noah Lowry, Brad Hennessey, Kevin Correia, Jeremy Accardo, Scott Munter and Jack Taschner. The young arms have played major roles in the team posting the second-best ERA in the National League during the month of August (3.25).

The rotation has rounded into form in the second half of the season, posting the fourth-best ERA in the National League following the All-Star Break (3.70).

Noah Lowry has come into his own after his early season struggles and paced the majors in both wins (5) and ERA (0.69) during August. He’s also been one of the top pitchers in the National League following the All-Star Break, going 6-2 with a 1.41 ERA.

Jason Schmidt has returned to his form of the last few seasons over his last 14 starts, tallying an 8-3 record with a 3.04 ERA. He’s a veteran who we’re looking to build our rotation around with our young players and some veterans we might add over the winter.

Our free agent acquisitions have played major roles on this year’s team.

Moises Alou is arguably our biggest offensive force this season, ranking second on the team in both home runs and RBI despite two different stints on the Disabled List. He also became just the second player ever to make the All-Star team with five different teams, when he represented the Giants at the Mid-Summer Classic in Detroit.

Omar Vizquel, who arguably could have made this year’s All-Star team, has made a very strong case to win his 10th Gold Glove Award at shortstop. While possessing the top fielding percentage among the game’s shortstops this year, he also ranks second on the team in runs scored and is the first Giant to steal 20 bases since 2000.

Mike Matheny has continued his exceptional defense behind the plate, while helping our pitching staff improve immensely in the second half. He’s also produced extremely well at the plate, on pace to eclipse his career best for RBI while ranking among the NL’s top catchers in both home runs and RBI.

While Armando Benitez missed a majority of the season, he’s earned everyone’s respect by beating the odds and the timetable on returning to the mound following his torn hamstring. He’s converted each of his five save opportunities since coming off the Disabled List two weeks ago.

Randy Winn has been a welcome addition to the top of the lineup and has brought stability to our outfield defense since we acquired him from Seattle. Since his acquisition, he’s led the team in runs scored while also becoming the 21st player in franchise history to hit for the cycle.

After much anticipation, we were all able to see a glimpse of our future when Matt Cain made his Major League debut Monday night. While he did not emerge victorious, in my estimation he served notice that he will contend for a spot in our starting rotation for the foreseeable future.

After struggling during the early part of the year, our bullpen has been transformed over the course of the season to one of the biggest strengths on our team. The return of Benitez to a core group of Tyler Walker, Scott Eyre and LaTroy Hawkins, along with the additions of rookies Scott Munter, Jeremy Accardo and Jack Taschner, gives us a solid group of power arms to help win and save ballgames both in September and potentially next year.

LaTroy Hawkins has become the eighth-inning stalwart we envisioned when we acquired him from the Cubs since he came off the Disabled List at the beginning of July. In 27 outings since his activation from the DL, he has posted a 1.90 ERA and limited opponents to an impressive .211 average.

While I’ve spoken about the young arms which we’ve brought up over the course of the season, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the contributions of some of our other rookies this season. The trio of Jason Ellison, Todd Linden and Lance Niekro have played integral roles throughout the season, with each of the three providing valuable offensive contributions at different points throughout the season.

While this year has been a challenging season in the win-loss column, I want you to know that I share your frustration. However, I think that we have taken steps to address our shortcomings and I look forward to seeing how our mixture of youth and our experienced players pull together over the season’s final month to make things interesting in September. We are fully committed to making this team younger, healthier and more talented overall now and into the future.

As always, I want to thank you for bearing with us during some admittedly rough spots this season. While I’ve heard from many of you about your disappointments this season, I look at that as a sign that our fans are passionate about our team. I respect that and it drives my staff and me to continue to fix our club and get it back to the level that we’ve all been accustomed to over the last eight years.

Respectfully,

Brian R. Sabean
Senior Vice President and General Manager
San Francisco Giants

Why do people care about hitting for the cycle? Surely it's nothing more than a curiosity... hitting e.g. 3 HR in a game would be much more impressive.

It's the kind of thing that fascinates the Raveches of the world.

So who's the player BB allegedly fought with... in June? I was amazed to find myself admiring Joe Morgan's terse "who cares" reaction to that news.

The Giants are making things mildly interesting, but wait a week.

It was a pitcher who is no longer with the team making it either:

Jason Christiansen
Jim Brower
Matt Herges
Kirk Rueter
Jesse Foppert
Jerome Williams

I sorted it out in my personal ranking of likelihood.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-giants-bondsscuffle&prov=ap&type=lgns

Thanks a lot for the ticket, gygax! I had a great time!

Two walks, a called strike 3 (questionable, but I really couldn't tell), and a incredibly sharp single through the shifted-out infield.

He has not lost any batspeed, that's for sure.

You're welcome Alex, glad you could make such a last-minute poorly-coordinated event.

If the Giants split the next 2 games against the Padres and can take 2 of 3 from LA, I think they've got a legitimate shot of making the playoffs. 3 of 5, that's all I'm asking.

Bottom Line: Ump blew the call, that wasn't a strikeout.

``First impressions, I like (Liriano) kind of like (Seattle's) Felix Hernandez, who made his debut against us a month or so ago.''

I got another set of free tix last night (the ever-entertaining bleacher section 138) and on a brighter note, saw Bonds hit a laser into McCovey Cove that was foul by milimeters (saw the TV replays that showed how close it was).

Whats San Diego's magic number now? Like 12?

He's on pace for 6 more homeruns this year leaving him at 711. Only 46 to catch Aaron which, if healthy, is entirely possible in 2007 judging by his comeback thus far.

scroll down...

Steroids in Baseball pt.3 (Bonds, Giambi, Sheffield, Palmeiro, BALCO, etc.)

San Diego is 28th in Total Bases and dead last in extra base hits. They walk often but steal too much. If the Padres were a player, they'd be Craig Counsell.

So they're obviously winning with pitching, right? Well, their starter ERA is 4.51, which is good for 11th in the NL. So it's pretty safe to say that the only strong point the Padres have is the bullpen.

Look out, playoff contenders!

(Also, I think like 10 of Xavier Nady's 13 homers came in the first month or something.)

But seriously, it's pretty obvious that the Giants or Dodgers should have won this division, isn't it?

Why won't Bonds play first base? Imagine this team next year:

C. Matheny
1B. Bonds
2B. Durham? Craig Biggio? (free agent, and a total Sabean type of player... old and scrappy)
3B. Feliz
SS. Vizquel
OF. Winn
OF. Alou
OF. Linden/Ellison
SP: Schmidt, Cain, Lowry, two warm bodies
SU: Hawkins, CL: Benitez

I mean, that looks like a 95 win team to me.

No fooling.

12 games left (well 11 games and 8 innings), he looks as driven and as focused as ever... tying Ruth in 2005 is not out of the question?

*and let's not forget that 1-0 shutout that the Rockies threw against SD a few months ago that set the record for lowest scoring game in Coors Field history.

-- gygax! (gygax0...), September 22nd, 2005.

Didnt the Giants get shutout on Saturday? hmm? hehe.

Bonds is literally limping and hobbling around, but I wouldn't put any Kirk Gibson-style heroics behind him. SF is 9-2 with him in the starting line-up.

Hennessey, for as bad as he looked in the bottom of the first, had outstanding composure. He turned an absolute mismatch (#5 in the Giants rotation) start against the best pitcher in the division into a complete duel. (note: he outduelled Patterson less than a week ago).

Now that SF has shown that they can beat not only Peavy AND Hoffman, the Padres have only just realized that their playoff odds are in serious jeopardy and that their season-long sub-.500 stroll hasn't fooled anybody. And not that the Giants don't have their work cut out for them (they need to complete the SWEEP the Padres at PetCo and then go to Arizona and take at least 2 of 3).

But still unbelievable... as Krukow said on air: the Giants will go home thinking about tomorrow and the Padres will go home thinking about tonight.

Miller's impersonation of Gammons: "Well the Sox game's over-- I'm out".

*.346/.389/.649 not to mention outstanding defense down the stretch.

But only if San Diego loses 5 of the next 6 games.

Two sidesteps to his left and the inning-ends (and Giants win 6-5?), instead he boots a routine grounder to the load the bases for Ramon. Ugh.

It's not like JT's categorically lost a step. It was only his 3rd E all season, and I don't think that booting a grounder during "crunch time" necssarily warrants exile. He has probably won his share of games with his glove earlier in the season, after all.

It's one thing that Sabean gets a little goofy about. (OK, one of many questionable things Sabean does.)

I think it's either him or Cashman. How you can manage to barely make the playoffs when your payroll is five times larger than one of your prime competitors is baffling to me.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=2206069

AT&T Park.

Former mayoral candidate Matt Gonzalez' petition to rename the park "Mays Field at [insert corporate sponsor of the moment] Park" was shot down last year by none other than current SF mayor Gavin Newsom. What a shame.

I last saw him during the summer at a Brooklyn Cyclones game honoring the '55 Dodger championship. When I asked him what he'd do with the mini-1955 Brooklyn banner we'd just gotten at the gate, he said "Probably burn it."