Opinion

If you do not know who Stephen Strasburg is, then it is time for you to wake up. Before Friday night, Strasburg was already arguably the greatest college pitcher of all-time. After his performance Friday, he may have separated himself from the field.

Strasburg added to his legacy by throwing a no-hitter against Air Force in what was probably his last home game. He did not disappoint the record-sized Tony Gwynn Stadium attendance; striking out 17, while only walking two.

Carlos Silva will be mysteriously injured soon. It may not be tomorrow, it may not be next week, but it will be soon.

In 1995 Randy Johnson was billed as a “stopper” because the team could count on the lanky lefty to stop any losing streak it may encounter, and Silva’s been exactly the opposite so far this season.

Ryan Rowland-Smith will be coming off the disabled list, and guys like Jason Vargas and Chris Jakubauskus have show enough promise to warrant the team keeping the more productive pitchers in the rotation as opposed to Silva.

Hey Jo-Jo, how's it going?

Just thought I'd let you in on a little secret: you're not "the man."

In fact, you are far from it.

When your team loses, according to the Peachtree TV crew, 15 straight of your appearances, it's not them, it's you.

You make me utterly sick every time you step on the mound because I know what's about to happen.

Hold on, I take that back, two out of three times I know what's going to happen.

Your inconsistencies bring tears to my eyes.

But, don't worry.

With 2008's dismal season behing them, the San Francisco Giants are looking to bounce back in 09.

With one of MLB's best starting rotations and an unproven defense the Giants will look to make a run for the National League West's Penant.

Manny Ramirez and Dodgers loom as the obvious choice for the division leaders. The Padres, Diamondbacks and Rockies all have more recent post season appearances than the Giants.

Still, if the Giants can play to their strengths and limit their weaknesses, they might have a fighting chance.

None of us speak Latin, but most of us have heard the term “caveat emptor”—defined by the dictionary that pops up when I hit the F12 button on my Mac keyboard as "the principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made."

Until Monday, the Mariners were rolling.

They were coming off a comeback-riddled series with Oakland, in which they came out on top. Wakamojo was at full force.

Since then, the Seattle Mariners have lost four games in a row, and in a very disheartening manner.

Half of these losses came in the form of a 2 game sweep at the hands of the now division leading Texas Rangers. During the Texas series, we also lost one of our top performing relievers in Sean Kelley. It's looking like he's going to be on the DL for an extended period of time.

And so it seems another baseball great has fallen. Fallen to the inevitable black hole in the baseball universe called steroids. 

Manny Ramirez is the latest player to fall to the allegations that he took steroids, and while I can go on and on about Mannywood or what the implications this has had on the game. I'm not going to, solely for the reason that this is an article about why this is an ample opportunity for the San Francisco Giants and the rest of the NL West to take advantage of a team blindsided by the recent controversial news.

The Mets have an incredible lineup full of speedsters and sluggers, and in two cases, namely David Wright and Carlos Beltran, they have both speed and power as evidenced by both of them being members of the 30/30 club. 

Jerry Manuel does little to change the lineup on any given day other than the pitcher and the catcher in the event of a day game following a night game. 

Yet another domino fell in the ongoing defamation of baseball in this generation.  Add to the list of household names to be crucified for their actions now and forever, Manny Ramirez.

Manny is not the topic of this article, but his situation must be mentioned to really drive the point home. Manny now joins this generations group of baseball dunces, and sure the baseball community is shocked, but really how shocked are they at this point? 

Canseco has been trying to tell us for years.