String Him Up

Another Off-Monday means the Giants are quiet as they get ready for a must-sweep series against the Brewers.

Doesn't mean baseball was quiet.

Across the pond from Pac Bell, a very ugly incident took place. Anyone here bothering to read this knows what I'm talking about. And my personal take is pretty much what most are saying. Frank Francisco needs to be dealt with harshly. VERY harshly. If he pitches again in 2004, it's a travesty. He probably shouldn't pitch in 2005 either.

Look, you're a professional ballplayer. Sports is an emotional world. People love their teams, some of them get drunk (less than you'd think, but it only takes one...). They're gonna say some horrible things. But I don't care if the fans are saying your three year-old daughter is having sex with their dog, your job is to ignore them. They are drunk. They are louts. You make a lot more money than they ever will.

Francisco couldn't handle it. He threw a chair into the stands.

He should go to jail.

It's that simple. The chair flew into the stands, apparently hit it's intended target on the head, then bounced and hit an unintended female target in the face, breaking her nose.

Francisco should go to jail.

Not just suspended, which ought to be obvious, but jailed. Behind bars. And sued. Trust me, he will be sued. But we need to keep our anger in check. The woman with the broken nose will sue. She should. But she should only sue Francisco. Not the Oakland As. Not the Texas Rangers. Not MLB. Francisco. Not as deep a pocket, but he threw the chair, so he should pay the price.

This is where we hold our breath and look to see if the fine line of decency is crossed and what starts out as an ugly incident turns into a frivolous lawsuit by an ambulance chaser. Francisco threw a chair at her and broke her nose. He should pay her, I don't know, maybe a few hundred thousand dollars. A year's salary. My fear is her lawyer will want her to become a millionaire over this, and that crosses the line.

We'll see.

Argh! (and other 4-letter words)

Jason Schmidt can just give back the Cy Young award he won about a month ago. Is there ANYONE who thinks he's fully healthy after his groin pull? He's been shelled 3 straight times!

The only reason the Giants are even alive for a playoff spot is that they have beaten up on weaker competition from time to time, though not, of course, on the Rockies.

2004 is over. It just is. It's over for the Giants, it's probably over for the Cubs. The wild card looks to be Houston or Florida, two teams who were left for dead a few weeks ago, but pretty much expected to be in it this year. They are living proof that it's not how you get out of the gate, but how you stay aloft for the long haul. Getting hot at the right time will do wonders.

Meanwhile, what to do with the Giants? I'm going to pretend I'm Brian Sabean and that I can cut whomever I want for 2005. Should be fun.

Outfield:

Bonds, Mohr, Tucker, + 2. One of those two should be a young, bold, PROSPECT. Liek Linden, or speedster Ellison. Grissom? Go. Go far away. Leave us be. Ledee? Are you kidding me?

Infiled:

Snow, Durham, Alfonzo, Cruz. TRADE PEDRO FELIZ NOW! While people see the power and ignore everything else. Yes, he somehow backed into a 9th inning walk last night and was not the reason we lost. But in my world, to be on my team, you have to have an OBP of AT LEAST .300! You've got your starting 4. You need backups. DON'T PAY A LOT OF MONEY FOR THEM! Dallimore, Ransom, and others will do just fine in these rolls, and cost a lot less than a "proven veteran."

Catcher:

Trade A.J. Pick up a servicable back-up Catcher. Yorvit can start. A.J. may be worth something from someone who wants the eternal promise of a .300 hitter. Admit that trading Nathan away was a HUGE mistake.

Notice I'm not being overly down on the offence. Nor all that realistic. Why? Because the offence isn't the problem.

Rotation:

Schmidt- but let him heal.
Lowry- but let him be the #3 guy.
Tomko- but let him be the #4 guy.
Bring up Cain or another young gun and let him be the #5.
Gee... that leaves the #2 slot. And... Rueter? Nope. This is where Sabean needs to work the market. Get us the #2 guy we need. Pick him up, he's out there, available. Go get him. Please. Pretty please. With a cherry on top.

Bullpen:

Brower
Hermanson
..
..
I have no idea.

OK. I guess pitching is what's going to decide Sabean's off-season. It's no secret we need quality pitching. It's no secret it's out there. So keep an eye on what Sabean does to our pitching. Don't fret too much when we fail to sign Garciaparra or Delgado or J.D. Drew. But scour the newslines looking for the pitching.

This offence can win it all in 2005. This pitching staff can't.

It's only the D-Backs

On one hand, I want to be excited about a 3-game sweep. ANY 3-game sweep. I want to explain away Lowry's bad outing to strep throat and a 100 degree fever and revel in Tomko's resurgence. On the other hand... IT'S ONY THE DIAMONDBACKS. This is the WORST team in the majors.

Still, we beat Randy Johnson, no easy task. Sure he's 12-13 now, but his ERA is better than any Giant's starter.( Including Schmidt, who's over 3 now) and he's FREAKIN' RANDY JOHNSON! We scored 4 off Randy. Not bad, kids. Not bad at all.

And now we go to Colorado. Will we continue this mini-uprising? Only 3 1/2 behind LA, can we make it up? Will Chicago choke on a series of double-headers? How do they reschedule an enitre series? How do these double-headers work? Do they play one team in the morning, then the Marlins fly in from Pittsburgh and play an evening game, then go back to Pitt. for game 2?

So many questions. That's the point of the 2004 Giants. All questions, no answers. The season is over when they lose to Colorado, then back alive after sweeping from the worst team in the majors? I don't think so.

This is a flawed team trying to make it on flash and sizzle.

Still, there's only 3 actual teams in the NL this year, ayet 4 need to go to the playoffs.

Why not us?

The Day The Season Died

Let me take you back.

Tuesday, August 17th. That was the day the Giants' season ended. We won. But in all reality, we lost, big time.

Jason Schmidt leads Montreal 4-2 after 8 innings. He comes out to pitch the 9th, throws three warm-up tosses, and leaves. Hermanson blows the save, but scavanges the win.

We haven't been the same team since.

You think Jason's fully healthy? He's been shelled twice in a row since coming back from his minor groin pull. I'm no doctor, but I'm a guy and I don't think there's anything remotely close to a MINOR groin pull.

That's like saying we currently have a MINOR budget deficit. Without The Schimdterator, we're a decent offense behind a AAA rotation. Oh sure, we're only 1 1/2 behind the Cubs for the Wild Card, but if I'm Chicago, I'm more worried about Florida and Houston than SF and SD. Time to pack it in? Of course not. Miracles happen. We've won 10 in a row this season, we can do it again. One never knows. But in al reality, we need to look ahead to 2005 and MAKE A REAL PUSH FOR A TITLE.

The offence, much maligned, is actually in decent shape. Install Mohr full time, let Grissom go. That's an upgrade. Would we like a bopper? Sure thing. But more than that.. we need a HUGE starting pitcher. Steal Pedro from Boston. Or something. There are some Starters on the market this winter. We NEED to get one. And I don't mean make a last second curtesy bid to Greg Maddox only to be spurned, I mean make the first move, signalling to other free agents that 2005 is the Giants' year.

We wiping Nen's $9 mil off the books this year. Don't have to pay F-Rod's $3.5 mi. Niefi won't be eating up $2 mil. The money is there. USE IT!

Or forever rest in peace.

Group Therapy II

"So....."

"Go ahead Kirk, let it out."

"So I lost again."

"Go on."

"Gave up 2 Earned runs in 5 innings. Then another Earned run in 1/3 of an inning."

"Ah."

"WHY DO THEY KEEP BRINGING ME OUT FOR THE 6TH???"

"Now, now Kirk. Let's be honest. You gave up 2 runs in the 5th. Nothing stellar about that."

"Don't change the subject on me! I can't pitch the 6th! I can't! God help me, I can't!"

"Kirk, I'm feeling hostility. Not everybody can pitch the 6th inning, you know. It's OK."

"Doc, let's face it. I'm a freak of nature. Coming into the season with one of the best records for a left-hander currently pitching. I've never been a good pitcher but I've always won! Now I'm not winning! What's wrong with me?"

"Well, you said it yourself. You're not a good pitcher. Let's work with that."

"Screw it. I don't care anymore. I'm making a ton of money. I'm just going to go out there and let the losses pile up. What are they gonna do? Put me in the bullpen?"

"Interesting idea..."

The Marquis Grissom de Sade

In France in the 1700's, there was a man you may have heard of known as the Marquis de Sade. He was a deranged, sexual deviant who once famously declared "Either kill me or take me as I am, because I'll be damned if I ever change..." He was arrested numerous times in his life for various horrid acts of sacrilige and perversity (and some outstanding debt) and was thought of in his day as a truly dangerous and disturbed man.

Nowadays, people look back at Mr. Sade and, well, I don't exactly what most people think, butthey certianly don't have the honest view of who he was. Some find him an amusing and interesting figure from history, some see him as the father of the Goth movement (no idea why, but I swear I knew a guy who said that- something about Sadism... I'm sure The Cure were involved)

Point is, looking back on his behavior, he doesn't come out quite so bad. Oh sure, he masterbated with crusfixes, but did he ever bear a woman's breast during half-time? I think not.

The Giants have their own Marquis de Sade who will also look better in retrospec than he ought. Mr. Grissom just hit his 18th Home Run in a 9-5 drubbing of the Woeful Rockies. When the season is over, is it too much to assume he'll end with around a .270 average, 20+ HR, and 80+ RBI (he has 71 right now)? Does a 20-80 guy sound pretty useful to you? Yeah, me too.

Thing is, he's been nothing but a disaster for us. After a darned good April, he's been a drain on the offense. The guy has 30 walks (an improvement for him) to pick up an OBP of .317. .317. That hurts. Oh sure, It's not Neifi-level, or Feliz-level, but it hurts. And what hurts more?

How about 20 GIDP so far this year.

20!!!

And you're probably thinking "Only 20? Really? I was sure he'd be in triple digits by now."

And that's the key. Grissom has become Mr. Rally Killer. Even more than A.J. PeirceBrosnanKinseyWhatever. At least in terms of "Yes! Giants have 2 on and 1 out! Who's up? Grissom? Oh well, we'll score next inning." (A.J. has actually hit into 22 Double plays, but for some reason, you just feel that Grissom has done worse.)

How many times has Grissom made the last out, often a double play, with Bonds on deck? How many innings have been derailed by the one-time speedster thwacking a groundball to short? It's like there's a groove from the Batter's Box to the SS and he manages to slide the ball right in there every time.

Or, of course, he just strikes out. Can't forget that.

Yet at the end of the season, you watch. 20+ HR. 80+ RBI. What a great guy. Let's resign him to a Marvin Bernard-style contract.

Repeat after me.:

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

If there's anyone out there who knows voodoo, or magic, or majik, or Tarot, or heck, anyone with a powerfully prophetic Lite-Brite, chant for a new CF in 2005.

"Either kill me or take me as I am, because I'll be damned if I ever change..."

Works just as well for our Marquis, doesn't it?

Oh, and in other Giants news, Brett Tomko, pitching well for the 2nd straight time, injured himself AFTER a strikeout.

Of course he did. Can't have a half-way decent starting pitcher not named Schmidt, now can we?

Uhg