The Javier Lopez - Brian Wilson win total challenge

The Giants very strange defense of their World Series title continued yesterday in San Diego. Once again a starting pitcher (this time Matt Cain) pitched well.

Once again the starting pitcher got a no decision and it went into extra innings.

Once again a reliever got the win.
I am convinced that Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, Ryan Vogelsong and Jonathan Sanchez will continue to put up wonderful numbers... except in the win column.

The Giants are going to win the West. Right now they are tied for the Phillies for the biggest lead in any Division. And the Giants rotation is the only one in baseball that can match up with the Phillies.

But I would LOVE to see the Giants finish the year with their aces winning 12-13 games, thus creating the illusion to those who just glance at the win-loss record that San Francisco's rotation is inferior.

Right now Brian Wilson has 6 wins, just 2 fewer than Cain and Lincecum.
Javier Lopez has 5 wins (including yesterday) and that is one behind Vogelsong.

I want Wilson and Lopez to each get to double digit wins. Preferably more than their All Star pitchers.

Imagine at the end of the year hearing "Brian Wilson led the team with 13 wins and Javier Lopez was second with 12. Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain had 11 wins. Ryan Vogelsong and Madison Bumgarner each had 10."

Then you get to smoke out which commentators are lazy and say "A down year for the Giants starters" etc.

Think that is crazy?
Have you been WATCHING the Giants?
Have you been noticed how many times the announcers say "A great start for [INSERT GIANTS STARTER HERE] but no run support"?
Have you seen how many games end with a mob at home plate after a walk off win?

Have 6 more walk offs go as wins for Brian Wilson... bam! There's 12 wins right there.
5 extra inning wins go to Lopez... and that's 10 for Lopez.

And that's 11 decisions NOT going to the rotation.
Throw in a fluke win here and a vulture win there and they could get up to 12-13 wins.

All that matters to a Giants fan is to pile up wins, no matter how odd they come about.
The Giants have played 15 extra inning games and 38 one run games.

So pile up the wins, Javier and Brian.
Lead the team... and make the other teams feel complacent

It's a hell of a way to defend a title.

The Giants are incapable of playing a boring game

Is it just me, or is every Giants game a 1 run, down to the wire, walk off, extra inning pitchers duel?

They can't even lose in extra innings like a normal team.
They have to allow the other team to come back and then take the lead and THEN give up a walk off homer.

I'm serious, Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum will finish the season with single digit wins and losses and Brian Wilson will have 25 wins.

The Giants give you their money's worth.

Kind of lame uniforms... good win

I can NOT get behind the orange uniforms for the Giants.
Sorry.
They look like Jack o Lanterns.

If anyone should be wearing orange uniforms, it is the Astros.

But Matt Cain was on his game and not only are the Giants back in first place but they are only a few games back of the Phillies in the loss column for the best record in the National League.

I know it is early but it IS the second third of the season.

Maybe they should dress like Jack o Lanterns more often.

This Lincecum fellow isn't bad

Not sure if you noticed or not... but this kid can pitch.

And the Giants made a very interesting statement tonight. They went into Colorado, who were red hot and only lost 3 games all year (and as I wrote earlier, 2 of those losses were extra inning affairs.)

The light hitting Giants made sure the Rockies were down 5 runs before they even came to bat. And Lincecum made sure they didn't get as much as a hit until the 7th inning. By then it was an 8-0 ass whuppin'.

With Ubaldo Jimenez coming off the DL tomorrow, the Rockies can't be too sure what they are going to get from him. And the Giants are throwing Matt Cain on Wednesday.

In other words, the Giants are making a statement.
The Rockies may have the best record in baseball, but the Giants are still the champs.

And this Lincecum kid might have a future.

Does Omar Vizquel have 201 hits left in him?

Omar Vizquel is going to be 44 next season… and he has a contract to play for the White Sox.

He will be a mentor to the talented young infielders with Chicago. Gordon Beckham at second, Alexei Ramirez at short and Dayan Viciedo at third could be as talented a collection of infielders as you will see in the bigs… and each can learn a little from the master.

Vizquel will always be considered one of the great defensive shortstops in history. And a few years ago I made the case that he belongs in the Hall of Fame regardless of his offensive short comings. He was a good hitter, but his defense and the number of hits and runs he took away I felt put him over the top.

If he can get 201 more hits, that won’t be an issue.
He sits at 2,799 career hits. 201 more gives him 3,000 and the issue is closed. No using his 11 Gold Gloves as his resume highlight.

Obviously he isn’t going to get 201 in 2011 unless he suddenly becomes Ichiro.
But if he gets around 95 hits like he did this past season in Chicago, then it will almost be a foregone conclusion that he will play in 2012 and make a run at it.

He’s played 22 seasons already and if he got 10 more hits each of those years, he’d be past 3,000 already. This reminds me of the Harold Baines dilemma and how close HE came to 3,000 and Cooperstown. But unlike Baines, who by the end of his career didn’t need to OWN a glove, Vizquel remained the gold standard (literally) BECAUSE of his glove, adding to his trophy case as recently as 2006.

The only thing with more range than his defense is the time that Omar stretched across in baseball.

He was a rookie in 1989 with the Seattle Mariners. That was the same year that another rookie named Ken Griffey Jr. made the squad and a minor leaguer named Randy Johnson came over from Montreal. Could that team have had three Hall of Famers on the roster?

Hall of Famers such as George Brett, Nolan Ryan, Carlton Fisk, Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and Jim Rice were all still active when he broke in… as were names from another era like Fred Lynn, Dwight Evans, Dave Parker, Keith Hernandez, Chet Lemon and Tommy John.



He was a teammate with Ken Griffey Sr on the Mariners… and with Tim Lineccum, Matt Cain, Brian Wilson and Pablo Sandoval on the Giants... and with Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Neftali Feliz and C. J. Wilson on the Giants... connecting both 2010 World Series teams with the Big Red Machine.

And was as vital a part of the great Cleveland revival in 1995 as any of the (probably juiced up) sluggers.

He already has more hits than Ozzie Smith, the other standard of shortstop wizardry.

Stick around Omar. Stay in shape. (Clearly Vizquel wasn’t on the juice!) And get 201 more hits… then rehearse that Cooperstown speech.

Yes we Cain

Going into the World Series, I felt that if the Giants could be tied 2-2 after four games, they would be in terrific shape. So after last night's stunning offensive output, The Hum Babies are almost at the point where 2-2 would be the worst case scenario after 4 games.

All it takes is a kick ass Matt Cain outing (because we ALL know the Giants aren't scoring 11 runs again.)

Hands up if you would have taken 2-2 after four games, Giant fans.

Have Cain win today and you will be playing with house money.

(And I can't be the only person who thinks of Cains Mayonnaise when I hear Matt Cain's name. Maybe I am.)

Giants fans... this glass is HALF FULL

Before Giants fans go all nuts about losing that game the other day, let's pull a Superman and spin the world backwards and go back in time.

Let's spin in alllllll the way back ONE WEEK!

If I told you as the NLCS was about to start that the Giants would be still alive after 5 games, I am guessing you would have ALL TAKEN THAT, right?

Most experts, including me, had the Giants losing in 5 games. So being ALIVE after 5 should be feeling pretty good.

If I told you the Giants would only need to win ONE game in Philadelphia, you'd all take that too.

If I told you Sanchez and Cain would be on full rest, you'd take that in a heart beat.

And if I told you that Roy Halladay would not be starting EITHER of the last 2 games, you'd probably thought your soul was sold.

The Giants are AHEAD of schedule.
Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, thought the Giants would be up 3-1 in this series.

Keep proper perspective. The Giants, if they win, will have pulled off one of the great upsets in recent baseball history. Don't act upset that it could take longer then 5 games to pull it off!

Were there four games played last night?

It really felt like there were more than 2 games played, didn’t there?

The Reds and the Phillies played two games yesterday… in the first game the Reds showed some serious guts. They came right out swinging, homering in the first at bat.

Bronson Arroyo was in control, Roy Oswalt was faltering, Chase Utley was a mess in the field and the mighty Phillies were vulnerable.

Then they played ANOTHER game in Philadelphia. In this one the Phillies bats were clutch, the calls went against the Reds and the defense would have made Lupus hide his face.

They played 2 games in San Francisco as well. In the first game, the bats were cooking and Matt Cain was dealing. The Braves looked dead from the neck up and AT&T Park was rocking.

In the second game, the Braves got the key hits, made all the right pitches and made the right plays. Meanwhile the Giants pitching nibbled too much and could not get in sync. Eventually it was a Braves shot into McCovey Cove that was the difference.

The problem for the Reds and Giants? They only played one game each today. And now both teams are facing a dire situation in Game 3.

The Reds are staring down elimination.
The Giants have to face Tim Hudson.

If only those first games could have counted!

I wish there was a New York Post like sports section in San Francisco

The Giants won a must win, titanic game in San Diego (in front of empty seats). Everything worked. They got homers... they got timely hits... they took the crowd (as it was) out of it and they got a terrific performance from Matt Cain who pitched into the 9th inning.



Now I like the sports sections in the Bay Area... the Sporting Green... the Mercury News... they are all good. But you just don't have that great tabloid headline that you would have in New York for such a big game.



It was always something I would cherish walking in New York. I'd stop and check the back page headlines... and if they made me laugh, boom... you've got my 50 cents.



A big game like the Giants win, which carries them to within 1 game of both the Division and the Wild Card, I am sure there would be some good ones.







YES WE CAIN!

CAIN IS ABLE!

KEEP PRAYING, PADRES!

WE'LL HUFF.... AND PUFF... AND BLOW YOUR LEAD IN! (Picture of Aubrey Huff.)

DIRTY SANCHEZ (Shot of Freddy Sanchez stealing a base.)



Shame on anyone who gets the last one.

Seriously Giants... no rush in getting a new bat!

I mean there's nothing disturbing about what is going on.

Matt Cain threw a complete game where he let up no earned runs, let up 5 hits and 1 walk, holding the A's offense to a sacrifice fly for an unearned run in the third and that's it!

Naturally IT'S A LOSS!!!

Look Gio González is a nice pitcher and the White Sox were nutso to give him up for Nick Swisher... but come on! He's not the second coming of Walter Johnson. A Major League lineup should score... oh I don't know... TWO runs off of him?

Buster Posey is currently hitting .333 with an OPS of .951 in Fresno.

He's not in San Francisco because........?

Make it 19 of 22 starts for the Giants

Another day... another terrific starting pitching performance for the Giants.

Today Matt Cain took a no hitter into the 6th and pitched into the 8th inning.

He gave the Giants 7 innings, 2 runs, 3 walks and 6 K's... and once again the Giants don't need to wear out their pen.

19 of their past 22 starts have been solid starts as I wrote before.

Seriously Giants... this is the best starting rotation since the 1993 Braves.
Find a big bat. Trade for one now.

The Giants misery is underrated. This is a chance to take care of business for Giants fans.

My dad is a Giants fan... and he hasn't seen his team win the World Series since 1954.

And my son Aidan is also a Giants fan.

He was born in 2005... he's never had a champion in his lifetime.
Hasn't he waited enough?

18 of 21 Giant Starts

Let’s take a look at 18 of the last 21 games the San Francisco Giants have played and get a sense of their rotation.

We’ll take out one bad start by Jonathan Sanchez and two bad starts by Todd Wellemeyer and average the starts from every other game between Tim Lincecum’s win against Atlanta on April 11th to Barry Zito’s solid game against Florida earlier tonight.

The average starters line for 18 of the next 21 games has been…

6.87 Innings pitched, 1.4 earned runs, 2.27 walks and 6.78 strikeouts.

That’s nearly 7 innings a start and less than a run and a half per for an ERA of 1.89.
That’s nearly 3 strikeouts for each walk.

And along the way they gave Adam Wainwright and Roy Halladay their first losses.

Lincecum went 3-0 in that stretch (with two gut wrenching no decisions.)
Zito went 4-0 in that stretch (with the bullpen blowing a game for him in LA)
Both Cain and Sanchez had some hard luck losses tossed in with some dominating wins.

And even Wellemeyer threw a 7 inning gem.

And while it isn’t a huge sample, it IS more than 10% of the season where you are getting quality innings, not giving up walks and getting nearly a strikeout an inning.

What I am saying is… GIANTS! YOU HAVE SOMETHING VERY VERY SPECIAL GOING ON HERE! GET ANOTHER BAT! GET ANOTHER RELIEVER! YOU COULD WIN THE NL PENNANT!!!!!

How many teams out there are as loaded as this team is in the rotation?
When will the National League be this evenly matched again?

Put it together NOW.

Here are the lines of the pitchers


1. 7 ip, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K (Lincecum) W
2. 6 ip, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 K (Zito) W
3. 6 ip, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (Cain) ND
4. 8 ip, 0 ER, 3 BB, 11 K (Sanchez) W
5. 6 ip, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7K (Lincecum) W
6. 7 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (Zito) ND
7. 6 ip, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (Cain) ND
8. 7 ip, 1 ER, 3 BB, 10 K (Sanchez) L
9. 7 ip, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K (Lincecum) W against Jaime Garcia
10. 8 ip, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 K – (Zito) W against Wainwright
11 5 ip, 2 ER, 1 bb, 4 K – (Cain) L
12. 5 ip, 1 ER, 5 BB, 6 K – (Sanchez) – W against Halladay
13. 7 ip, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K – (Wellemeyer) - W
14. 8 1/3 ip, 2 ER, 1 BB, 11 K – (Lincecum) - ND
15. 8 ip, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K (Zito) - W
16. 8 ip, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 Ks (Cain) - W
17. 7 ip, 3 ER, 1 BB, 13 Ks (Lincecum) - ND
18. 7 ip, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4Ks (Zito) - W

THE GIANTS (COULD) WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS (COULD) WIN THE PENNANT!

The Giants won a big game today.

Oh Sully, you say, there ARE no big games yet. It's early. It's May 1.
Nope... they won a big game. They beat the Rockies.
They took the first two from the Rockies and later today can go for the sweep.

Why is it so important? Because it could turn out that the Rockies will probably be the Giants biggest competition for the NL West title... and winning games head to head NOW are games they won't have to catch up and win later.

Yeah, I know the Padres are in first place. That won't last. Remember how the Blue Jays were in first place at this point last year? Exactly.

The Dodgers are a bit of a mess and won't be able to get reinforcements provided the divorce heard round the world plods on.

And Arizona just isn't clicking yet.

The Giants and the Rockies will probably be the class of the NL West.
And guess what? The Giants have one thing that virtually no other team has:
4 kick butt starters.

As of now, Lincecum, Cain, Zito and Sanchez is the best 1-2-3-4 in the game.

And in a short playoff series, Lincecum could neutralize any other ace in the game (including Halladay or Wainwright) and have the better pitchers in the other games.

In other words... and bear with me... the Giants could find themselves in a great position to possibly... dare we say it?... win the National League Pennant.

But in order to do that, they need to bring in two players:

An outfielder and a reliever.

They don't need a superstar outfielder... just one who isn't an automatic out and can get on base for Sandoval to knock in.

And they don't need an All Star closer... just an effective arm to give Bochy another option late in games.

Most teams are searching for solid starters or a big bat.
The Giants have all of that.

They need a little bit of depth and to avoid injuries.

But they should make those moves NOW.

Try out a few guys from Fresno, see if Jermaine Dye is available... and then see who can be traded for.

This is a strange situation where the division is winnable, the league has a lot of parity and the Giants are holding 4 Aces. Fill in the holes now and go for it big time.

You'll never know when things will align in the Giants favor quite like this again.

Ironically a Sullivan spoils a potential Sully Baseball post

I had my blog post all ready to go...
Tim Linecum threw 7 shutout innings on opening day.
Barry Zito did the same.
And Matt Cain was one out from throwing 7 innings with no earned runs.

I was going to write about the Giants pitching staff and how the pressure is now on Jonathan Sanchez to keep the no earned runs off of the starting staff streak alive.

But with 2 outs in the 7th the Astros scored 2 runs on a triple by Cory Sullivan... no relation to me (I don't think he is at least.)

Instead the story became about Aaron Rowans and Edgar Renteria going a combined 9 for 11 in the top 2 spots in the lineup.

That's not bad. And if they keep up geting some runs and getting some pitching, this could be a fun fun year in San Francisco.

Of course I called my dad about the game.
He said "The Giants are either better than we thought or the Astros or worse than anyone thought."

True true true... but these are three games the Giants won't have to make up for later.

(Seriously, Renteria goes 5-5? REALLY?)

Not So Dirty Sanchez

The second Sanchez struck out Everth Cabrera to seal his no hitter last night, I called my buddy Greg Lee, the second biggest Giants fan I know (after my dad.)

I assumed he was somehow following the game. He wasn't.

I said "How about Jonathan Sanchez?"

He said "Did he win?"

I said "He threw a no hitter."

There was a pause.

Then Greg said "Shut... up."

That pause said it all and illustrates the repercussions of Jonathan Sanchez's no hitter.

As I wrote last night, Sanchez was the least likely Giants starter to do this.

But imagine this scenario Giants fans... what if this gives Sanchez confidence?

Derek Lowe threw a no no in 2002 and wiped away a horrific 2001 to have a Cy Young worthy season. And NOBODY's confidence was lower than Lowe's!

People have never doubted Sanchez's stuff, it was always his head that seemed screwed up.

What if his head is now screwed on tight?

Can you imagine a pitcher with his stuff and thinking right in the #4 spot in a rotation?

Lincecum is probably winning the Cy Young again.
Cain is a legit All Star.
Zito has been up and down but pitching better recently.
Sadowski has pitched well since being recalled.

And then Sanchez (with Randy Johnson lurking on the DL.)

They already have a 2 game lead for the Wild Card and with that starting staff they are not going on any prolonged losing streak.

Now... Giants fans... allow yourself to imagine that rotation in a short playoff series.

If pitching wins series, who could beat San Francisco in a best of 5 series that has Tim Lincecum pitching twice?

And then has Matt Cain lined up with the other team's #2 starter and either Sanchez, Zito, Johnson or Sadowski against another team's #3 or #4 starter.

Will you allow yourself to imagine them not just being happy with the post season but actually having the arms to pitch into October?

I know Giants are tormented and underratedly so.

But let yourself imagine a long October in China Basin... and who knows? Maybe last night was the turning point.

A suggestion to the Giants...

Bring Jonathan Sanchez's dad to every game. 

Seriously... 100% the games he's seen his son start in the bigs, he's thrown a no hitter.

Now of all the pitchers on the Giants rotation, he's the last you'd pick throw a no no.

Lincecum, Johnson and Zito all have Cy Youngs on their mantle and Cain is an All Star... and Sanchez can write "trade bait with potential" on his tax return.

I would have expected a no hitter from Jonathan Winters before Jonathan Sanchez.

His dad shows up... and suddenly he becomes another ace.

Seriously, put him on the payroll and have him show up to the rest of Sanchez's starts.

Right now the percentages look pretty impressive. And the magic number for a Giants playoff spot is 75. (Zito's number.)

Cain is able

I wonder how many times Matt Cain has heard that?

Probably daily. Oh well.

I'm just happy that stories about Matt Cain no longer have include the phrase "pitching better than his record would indicate."

In fact he is the walking proof that Win Loss record can be overrated.

He posted sub 4.00 ERAs the last two seasons (3.65 in 2007, 3.76 in 2008.) On a team that could score 4 runs a game, he'd be a 15-16 game winner easily.

But on a team that considered Randy Winn its big run producer, he would put up 7-16 and 8-14 records.

Well now he's a 10 game winner and an All Star. And the Giants, as my dad keeps reminding me, are a playoff team with terrific pitching (throw in this Ryan Sadowski kid who might be for real!) and suddenly Cain might be pitching in October.

My dad said "Cain's the ace of the team."

I reminded him that not only was Lincecum the defending Cy Young award winner but leads the league in strike outs, innings pitched, complete games, shutouts and second in the league in ERA."

My dad said "Cain has more wins."

I let it slide. Cain was underrated because of his win loss record, so I suppose he could be overrated a little for the same reason.

Hey Giants... just resign Barry Bonds!

You are getting terrific pitching! You even got 7 shutout innings from Barry Zito yesterday. I didn't think that was possible.

The lineup remains horrific.

Don't believe me? 10 out of 14 games you've scored 3 or fewer runs. Which means 10 out of 14 times you've needed a lights out pitching performance to have a shot.

And Matt Cain is living proof that you can be a great talent, but you can't win without the run support!

Your lineup needs a shot in the arm (or the butt.)

It lacks juice!

Something needs to pump it up.

The performance needs enhancing!

I'll say it.

You need Barry Bonds back!

Come on! He's available! He's technically a free agent! And he wouldn't cost the team any draft picks.

Even if he did, you'd be giving the picks to the Giants... which is YOU!

You won't have to trade any prospects for him. The amazingly named Madison Bumgarner will still be in the system. 

And it's not like you can say "Oh... will he be a distraction?"

OF COURSE HE'LL BE A DISTRACTION! He'll distract fans from the fact that Randy Winn is the most feared name in that line up!

Even if he can't hit them out anymore, he can draw a walk, he can get on base and maybe take the pressure off of the Sandovals and the Ishikawas on the team.

Or are you expecting Edgar Renteria to hit a grand slam every night!

COME ON! You spent every year between 1993-2007 saying "Hey! Barry will put butts in the seats." 

2008 wasn't pretty.

Help is just sitting at home.

Make the call.

Cain is not the Giants lineup's keeper

It must be nice for Matt Cain to get a run... or 4.

Edgar Renteria's grand slam tonight off of Jake Peavy was that very odd and rare occurrence in baseball:

Run support for Matt Cain.

The guy has posted sub 4.00 ERAs the last two seasons with 200 or more innings in both years.

Not saying that is Cy Young caliber, but in this day and age, that's pretty dang good.

Certainly better than his 7-16 record in 2007 and his 8-14 record last year would indicate.

He's 2-0 now. If the offense keeps hitting for him, who knows? He might turn that around.

I wouldn't hold your breath, but he should be happy today