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.

``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."