Monday, August 16, 2010
Dirty Sanchez Is No Carnac
Calling out your division rival and providing bulletin board material before a big series is always a sketchy proposition. Guaranteeing a sweep is never a wise thing to do (or guaranteeing anything in baseball, for that matter). Proceeding to go out and pitch like crap immediately after making said statements is a good way to make yourself look like a damn fool. Enter Jonathan Sanchez, who did a lot of talking before the San Diego series (he insisted the Giants would sweep the Padres) and then touched off an ugly weekend with a shaky start in which he couldn't hold an early 2-0 lead. His powers of prognostication proved to be Uri Geller-quality (as in, not good) right when Aubrey Huff's blast died in the center fielder's glove in the eighth inning on Friday night.
Sanchez's bloviating notwithstanding, this was an ugly series. The Giants were probably lucky to even win the one game, and another bad Tim Lincecum start killed any hopes that the Giants could gain ground in the division this weekend. The Padres' offense is notably scarier after the deadline deals they made, but they still don't have anything resembling a great offense, and they beat the Giants to death with a barrage of dinks and doinks all weekend (though that will happen when you have Pat Burrell and Jose Guillen patrolling the outfield). To make matters worse, the main Giant-killing culprit this series was Miguel Tejada, who is one of the whiniest players I've ever seen and is one of my least favorites of all-time (Brandon Phillips' comments last week apply to him much more than to the Cardinals).
It was just ugly all around, with the Giants constantly playing from behind, something you just can't do against San Diego's pitching staff. The Padres won again tonight, so the Giants stumble into a rough six-game road trip against the Phillies and Cardinals four games back in the NL West and with an ace who is as clueless as you and me as to why he suddenly can't pitch. Joy. On the bright side, this hellish-looking week is followed by nine straight games at home.
-So the sky fell and Jose Guillen is a Giant. The same guy who got sent home for the 2004 playoffs by his own team, despite being their second-leading home run hitter, is now here to grace the Giants' clubhouse with his own brand of belligerence. On the bright side, the Giants got Guillen for a song. A Neil Diamond song, sung off key, so if he throws one of his patented tantrums, he'll be kicked off the team faster than you can say "Pierzynski".
The upside here is that he provides some power and a needed offensive charge but, really, when was the last time he was a good major league hitter? 2007 with Seattle? That was his only good year with the bat since 2005. The positive aspects of bringing this guy into the clubhouse seem incredibly farfetched. It didn't take long for him to draw the ire of Giant fans when, in his first Orange and Black start, he was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple. He accomplished this while leading off an inning, with the team down four runs, and managed to look like the world's slowest human being in doing so, an amazing feat on a team with Pat Burrell and Aubrey Huff.
-In non-Giants related news, for anyone who finds the "#6org" snark as endlessly entertaining as I do, it looks like the issue has come full circle, as Dave Cameron has finally decided to confront his critics on the whole situation. It's a battle royale that provides some insight into why these bizarre, nerdy Internet battles (of which I happily admit to following) can often be so entertaining.
For those who aren't hip to the history of the "6org" madness...back in March, Cameron posted an article on Fangraphs in which he claimed that the Seattle Mariners were the sixth-best organization in baseball. This now looks completely insane, of course, since the Mariners are on pace to lose 100 games, but even back then it seemed overly optimistic. It didn't help that Cameron runs a Mariners blog and this just made him look like a total homer.
Well, Cameron is lauded in many circles for his insightful analysis, but ripped to pieces in many others for being a complete dick, and this was just the low-hanging fruit his detractors were looking for (besides this bit of strangeness). When it became clear that the Mariners were going to stink, a classic Internet meme was born. Ever since April or so, whenever the Mariners make a dumb move, which has been quite often, people mention it on Twitter and attach the "#6org" hashtag to it. Some might find it petty, but I choose to find it awesome to no end.
Sanchez's bloviating notwithstanding, this was an ugly series. The Giants were probably lucky to even win the one game, and another bad Tim Lincecum start killed any hopes that the Giants could gain ground in the division this weekend. The Padres' offense is notably scarier after the deadline deals they made, but they still don't have anything resembling a great offense, and they beat the Giants to death with a barrage of dinks and doinks all weekend (though that will happen when you have Pat Burrell and Jose Guillen patrolling the outfield). To make matters worse, the main Giant-killing culprit this series was Miguel Tejada, who is one of the whiniest players I've ever seen and is one of my least favorites of all-time (Brandon Phillips' comments last week apply to him much more than to the Cardinals).
It was just ugly all around, with the Giants constantly playing from behind, something you just can't do against San Diego's pitching staff. The Padres won again tonight, so the Giants stumble into a rough six-game road trip against the Phillies and Cardinals four games back in the NL West and with an ace who is as clueless as you and me as to why he suddenly can't pitch. Joy. On the bright side, this hellish-looking week is followed by nine straight games at home.
-So the sky fell and Jose Guillen is a Giant. The same guy who got sent home for the 2004 playoffs by his own team, despite being their second-leading home run hitter, is now here to grace the Giants' clubhouse with his own brand of belligerence. On the bright side, the Giants got Guillen for a song. A Neil Diamond song, sung off key, so if he throws one of his patented tantrums, he'll be kicked off the team faster than you can say "Pierzynski".
The upside here is that he provides some power and a needed offensive charge but, really, when was the last time he was a good major league hitter? 2007 with Seattle? That was his only good year with the bat since 2005. The positive aspects of bringing this guy into the clubhouse seem incredibly farfetched. It didn't take long for him to draw the ire of Giant fans when, in his first Orange and Black start, he was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple. He accomplished this while leading off an inning, with the team down four runs, and managed to look like the world's slowest human being in doing so, an amazing feat on a team with Pat Burrell and Aubrey Huff.
-In non-Giants related news, for anyone who finds the "#6org" snark as endlessly entertaining as I do, it looks like the issue has come full circle, as Dave Cameron has finally decided to confront his critics on the whole situation. It's a battle royale that provides some insight into why these bizarre, nerdy Internet battles (of which I happily admit to following) can often be so entertaining.
For those who aren't hip to the history of the "6org" madness...back in March, Cameron posted an article on Fangraphs in which he claimed that the Seattle Mariners were the sixth-best organization in baseball. This now looks completely insane, of course, since the Mariners are on pace to lose 100 games, but even back then it seemed overly optimistic. It didn't help that Cameron runs a Mariners blog and this just made him look like a total homer.
Well, Cameron is lauded in many circles for his insightful analysis, but ripped to pieces in many others for being a complete dick, and this was just the low-hanging fruit his detractors were looking for (besides this bit of strangeness). When it became clear that the Mariners were going to stink, a classic Internet meme was born. Ever since April or so, whenever the Mariners make a dumb move, which has been quite often, people mention it on Twitter and attach the "#6org" hashtag to it. Some might find it petty, but I choose to find it awesome to no end.
