Thursday, August 23, 2007
Cain't Take It Anymore
Methinks Matt Cain is a little tired of the lack of run support that has plagued his starts all season long, as he took matters into his own hands again today by blasting his second home run of the season to help his own cause in a 4-1 Giants win. Cain only has four hits all year, but two of them have been homers. At 6'3'', 234 pounds, Cain does seem like the kind of guy who should be able to put a charge into a few per season. He's only three away from Krukow.
The Giants salvaged the win today in a series I was really hoping that they would sweep. You see, back when I was a little youngin' and collecting baseball cards, I was a huge fan of Paul Molitor and Robin Yount, who were then paving their Hall of Fame paths with the Brewers. For whatever reason, I've always liked the Brewers just because of those guys. Of course, once those two left in the early '90's, the Brewers franchise was run into the ground over the course of the next decade by everybody's favorite used-car salesman. They haven't sniffed the postseason since 1982...the year I was born! Have mercy!
Now, however, they have a group of exciting young stars and they're right in the thick of the race in the NL Central. Their main combatants, of course, are the Cubs. Since the Giants aren't going anywhere, why not root for the Brew Crew to win the Central? They've suffered long enough, and their fans deserve some sort of redemption now that the Selig era is thankfully over. I realize the Cubs are sort of the weepy favorites because of their long history of suffering, but hey, it's not my fault Phil Wrigley wouldn't let that damned goat into his stadium.
Anyways, as for today's game...The good: Matt Cain's dominance, obviously, and the hitting of Dave Roberts and Randy Winn. The bad: Rajai Davis took another ofer and is stuck in a 1 for 19 rut. Maybe he really is the player that all those Pirates fans were pooh-poohing when he came over from Pittsburgh.
Also, Ray Durham is now hitting .221. Is this man really done? It's hard to believe after the year he put up in 2006, but right now it looks like it's time to stick a fork in him.
The Giants salvaged the win today in a series I was really hoping that they would sweep. You see, back when I was a little youngin' and collecting baseball cards, I was a huge fan of Paul Molitor and Robin Yount, who were then paving their Hall of Fame paths with the Brewers. For whatever reason, I've always liked the Brewers just because of those guys. Of course, once those two left in the early '90's, the Brewers franchise was run into the ground over the course of the next decade by everybody's favorite used-car salesman. They haven't sniffed the postseason since 1982...the year I was born! Have mercy!
Now, however, they have a group of exciting young stars and they're right in the thick of the race in the NL Central. Their main combatants, of course, are the Cubs. Since the Giants aren't going anywhere, why not root for the Brew Crew to win the Central? They've suffered long enough, and their fans deserve some sort of redemption now that the Selig era is thankfully over. I realize the Cubs are sort of the weepy favorites because of their long history of suffering, but hey, it's not my fault Phil Wrigley wouldn't let that damned goat into his stadium.
Anyways, as for today's game...The good: Matt Cain's dominance, obviously, and the hitting of Dave Roberts and Randy Winn. The bad: Rajai Davis took another ofer and is stuck in a 1 for 19 rut. Maybe he really is the player that all those Pirates fans were pooh-poohing when he came over from Pittsburgh.
Also, Ray Durham is now hitting .221. Is this man really done? It's hard to believe after the year he put up in 2006, but right now it looks like it's time to stick a fork in him.
Labels: brew crew, chicago cubs, matt cain
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Not-So-Lovable Loss
Brutal loss last night, but I'm well past the stage of where this kind of thing has any effect on me this season. If the Giants were in a pennant race, then last night's ninth-inning choke job against the Cubs would have been utterly heart-wrenching, kinda like this game ten years back. As it is, it's just another day in a lost season. I can move on without too much trouble. I've become comfortably numb, to quote the great poet Roger Waters. Or is that opera writer?
I've been hearing a lot of naysaying (mostly from talk radio nitwits) about Bochy's decision to leave Lincecum in the ninth, but come on. Lincecum was only on 90 pitches going into the final inning and the Cubs hadn't been hitting him all night. If the Giants had scored some runs for him, it wouldn't have been an issue. The Giants let Jason Marquis off the hook in the first after he walked the bases loaded, then for the rest of the game simply couldn't take advantage of the fact that he's Jason Marquis.
A bad loss, but all in all yet another very encouraging outing from the kid. Tonight Barry Zito tries for his second consecutive quality outing. Cue the Sideshow Bob/rake sound. Actually, to be fair, Zito dominated the Cubs in his start at Wrigley this season. It's just that the whole contract-to-subpar performance equation instantly triggers a gag reflex at this point in time.
My only plea is please, please keep giving Rajai Davis more playing time. Even if he doesn't keep up this torrid streak, there's really only so much more of Dave Roberts that I can take. A lefty starts tonight for Chicago, so Davis is surely in the lineup, but it'd be silly for him to lose at-bats to Roberts over the rest of the season against righties. What do the Giants have to lose by giving him a shot every day and seeing if he's really this good?
I didn't get to catch much of the Giants' sweep of the Marlins this weekend, suffice it to say that it was easily the most impressive the team has looked all year. From what I could hear on the radio, it sounded like the games were being played in a library.
I've been hearing a lot of naysaying (mostly from talk radio nitwits) about Bochy's decision to leave Lincecum in the ninth, but come on. Lincecum was only on 90 pitches going into the final inning and the Cubs hadn't been hitting him all night. If the Giants had scored some runs for him, it wouldn't have been an issue. The Giants let Jason Marquis off the hook in the first after he walked the bases loaded, then for the rest of the game simply couldn't take advantage of the fact that he's Jason Marquis.
A bad loss, but all in all yet another very encouraging outing from the kid. Tonight Barry Zito tries for his second consecutive quality outing. Cue the Sideshow Bob/rake sound. Actually, to be fair, Zito dominated the Cubs in his start at Wrigley this season. It's just that the whole contract-to-subpar performance equation instantly triggers a gag reflex at this point in time.
My only plea is please, please keep giving Rajai Davis more playing time. Even if he doesn't keep up this torrid streak, there's really only so much more of Dave Roberts that I can take. A lefty starts tonight for Chicago, so Davis is surely in the lineup, but it'd be silly for him to lose at-bats to Roberts over the rest of the season against righties. What do the Giants have to lose by giving him a shot every day and seeing if he's really this good?
I didn't get to catch much of the Giants' sweep of the Marlins this weekend, suffice it to say that it was easily the most impressive the team has looked all year. From what I could hear on the radio, it sounded like the games were being played in a library.
Labels: chicago cubs, rajai davis, Tim Lincecum
