It was a fun time at good old Wrigley Field earlier this week. The Giants scored two week's worth of runs in one afternoon. Barry Zito won his first game since Ronald Reagen was elected to his second term, and Ryan Dempster figured out that there’s a team in the National League that he can pitch well against.
Splitting a four-game series on the road isn’t such a bad thing, but when the opposing team is as bad as the Cubs, you’re left with the same feeling of dread that occurs after being on the losing end of a sweep.
I have only one thing to say about Thursday. Don’t blame Brian Wilson. The Giants blew too many chances to add an insurance run, and it cost them in the ninth. The team Bruce Bochy fielded that afternoon was full of hapless hitters that couldn’t manage a single hit in nine innings against the Cubs’ horrific bullpen. Given their production in the doubleheader, it’s a miracle if the Giants aren’t a hit before the All-Star break.
As usual, it was a poor game for everyone except the guy who started on the mound. Emmanuel Burris bunted into two more outs, Bill Hall inexplicably played in another game and Cody Ross blew a chance to nail the final out at home when he threw the ball 30 feet above the plate.
It's hard to believe that the Giants are four games better than they were at this point last season.
I know this sounds crazy, but isn't it plausible that if Buster hadn't gotten injured and Brian Sabean didn't signed Miguel Tejada in the offseason, the Giants might have won 100 games by now?
Aye me.
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Speaking of Cody Ross, while he hasn’t been that great so far in this road trip hitting .190 and grounding into a rally killing double play, he showed the world the proper way of reacting to one of the most frustrating occurrences in baseball.
In the sixth inning of last week’s game against the Minnesota Twins, Ross chased a foul ball down the left field line and sprinted into the stands. Just as he appeared to make a circus catch, a fan reached out in front of his glove and caught it.
It was a play that brought back a flood of memories from Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS.
Except Cody didn’t make like Moises Alou and throw a tantrum. He simply scooted back to his position in right field with barely a glance over his shoulder. Vogelsong retired the next two batters and the inning was over.
The same thing may have happened eight years ago if Alou had done something similar. Screaming at somebody won’t change the amount of outs on the scoreboard. Slamming your hands into the turf isn’t going to help your pitcher retire the next batter. What transpired was one of the most hilarious meltdowns in the history of professional sports.
It’s not funny really. I despised the Cubs for several years after they hired Dusty Baker along with a few other ex-Giants which included Kenny Lofton, Ramon Martinez and Tom Goodwin. More loathsome than Dusty, cheatin’ Sammy or screamin' Carlos Zambrano however, was the presence of the Ostrich-sized douche bag Mark Prior.
But even as I gleefully taunted Prior with a pair of middle fingers directed at the television screen, I found it disheartening the way Fox kept zooming in on the tearful Steve Bartman for what felt like two hours. A diehard Cubs fan, whose greatest dream was to see his team play in the World Series, suddenly found himself clumped together with guys like Steve Garvey, Will Clark and an immigrant farm owner from Greece.
There was no justice in making this kid the poster boy for a century's worth of failure.
I’ve continually maintained that Bartman wasn't to blame for the Cubs’ demise as they were closing in on that oh so elusive National League pennant. Although Alou certainly had a shot at making the play, there’s no guarantee that the result would have been different without Bartman’s intervention. This was not Jeffrey Mauer reaching into the field of play and corralling the ball over the fence for a home run.
This was a strange happening with an unusual set of circumstances that could have produced any outcome.
Whatever the result, Alou didn't help the situation by screaming at the fans and blaming Bartman again during a postgame interview.
Let that be a lesson learned.
Never follow any example set by the Cubs.
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The Giants continue to allow their bullpen to walk the tightrope in the every game. For the second straight day, Brian Wilson squandered away a 1-0 lead, and it took a miraculous rally and a couple of crazy plays in the ninth to avoid another late-game collapse.
Cameras caught Wilson in the dugout where he cussed out the helmet rack, threw a Gatorade bucket into the wall, then smacked around the same bucket with a baseball bat.
While Brian was probably reacting to his fourth blown save, I'm sure he's also peeved that Alex Smith is coming back as the starting QB for the 49ers next year.
Pretty f#@$ing stupid, I know.
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Over the last three games, Giants starters have allowed two runs in 21-and-a-third innings, striking out 24 and walking four.
And they have no wins to show for it.
Bumgarner was unhittable again on just four days of rest. He might actually win a game if he comes out of his hitting slide.
Snap out of it kid, you're the best hitter on the team. Now is not the time for slumps.
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You just have to love Brandon Crawford. He walked three times and saved the game when he caught Brennan Boesch's soft liner as it was heading toward center field. Biggest double play of the season so far.
Still he's only batting .198 for the year. But he also has one home run. That's good enough to be hitting cleanup in this lineup.
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