by Gregg Pearlman
Sunday, July 9, 2000
Well, they're losing now, but -- and I can hardly believe I'm saying this -- that's been rare lately. The Giants had a horrific trip to Denver, even though they managed to win one game, and then the Dodgers came to Pac Bell and knocked them off. That was on June 30. Since then, the Giants are 0-for-July in the loss column.
Today Livan Hernandez didn't really have it, surrendering five runs in six innings. Joe Nathan has since given up a home run to make it 6-2 in the seventh. I take it back: it's 8-2, as Craig Paquette has just homered with a man aboard.
Nathan's in there primarily because tomorrow marks the beginning of the All-Star Break, meaning that he won't be starting for several days. Ditto Russ Ortiz, who'll probably pitch the eighth.
The Giants' offense has been so potent lately, or at least timely, that a late six-run deficit doesn't really faze me. I figure, hey, either we can come back -- and I know we can -- or, well, maybe the Annual Post-All-Star-Game Nightmare starts a teense early this year.
And it's hard to complain -- much -- because the Giants have won eight straight, including the first two of the series here, despite Barry Bonds sitting out all but the first of those. (Well, he pinch-hit in the ninth yesterday and struck out, but the Giants held on.) Bonds has a stress fracture in his thumb, and swinging the bat has been painful. As a result, he's going to sit out the All-Star Game on Tuesday, so the Giants' lone representative will be Jeff Kent, an All-Star starter for the first time, thanks to a huge number of late votes. Fine with me -- he deserves it, in a big way. Guy's hitting .354 with 23 homers and 82 RBIs going into play today (and he's taking the day off anyway). He even has 48 walks, leading to an OBP of close to .430 (I don't know how many sacrifice flies he has, and I think Dusty had him bunt once). He has a .674 slugging percentage, which gives him an OPS in the neighborhood of 1.100 -- that's Bonds country. This guy's having a hell of a season so far.
Like most of the team lately, Kent has gotten big hits when he's needed to, including a double off the wall Thursday which beat the Rockies 6-5.
The Giants scored another run just now, and Barry Bonds is coming up as a pinch-hitter, broken thumb and all... and the Cards are bringing in a lefty to face him with two on. Hey, I can understand that -- the guy's Barry Bonds. I guess what I don't understand is, what's a stress fracture? And how many of 'em do I have?
Really, a stress fracture sounds like the politically correct name for a nervous breakdown, but I gather it's a legitimate crack -- perhaps a hairline fracture. Those, I can tell you, hurt like hell. I think Robby Thompson had one in his back in the '80s. Bonds has to try and swing a bat and throw and stuff, and God knows he's looked terrible lately anyway. And you know what? Bonds isn't gonna bat -- it'll be Ellis Burks. Baker obviously got the matchup he wants: Burks against any Cards pitcher. (He's 6-for-8 in the series, with extra bases.) What I hate is that if Bonds is healthy enough to swing, he's just been wasted.
Here comes the 2-0 pitch: base hit, left field... and Bill Mueller holds at third. God, this team is slow. Not an infielder on this team has the slightest speed, especially J.T. Snow, who could almost nose out a fatigued banana slug in the hundred-yard dash, but it'd be a photo finish. Mueller's probably the next slowest, followed by Rich Aurilia, followed by Jeff Kent, who's pinch-hitting now, with the bags loaded. Russ Davis, well, he can't do much of anything; and even Ramon Martinez can't run particularly well.
As catchers go, Bobby Estalella's pretty quick, but then, compared to Doug Mirabelli, so's Jate's banana slug. In the outfield, Calvin Murray's the only one with palpable speed, though Bonds is still reasonably quick, and Burks can move pretty well on those awful knees. Marvin Benard's not slow, but he's not as fast as he should be, and Felipe Crespo's speed can't be much better than average.
That leaves the pitchers, many of whom have pinch-run for people in their careers. Shawn Estes can motor -- he may be as quick as Scott Garrelts was, and Garrelts could move. Joe Nathan gets up the line pretty well, and even Kirk Rueter's reasonably quick. Ortiz and Hernandez aren't as slow as they look like they should be; and Mark Gardner's not bad. Can't tell much about the relievers, though, because they almost never play on offense. Felix Rodriguez looks like he should be quick, but who knows? So did Brent Mayne.
Meanwhile, Jeff Kent's facing Dave Veres with a 2-2 count. I would be quite pleased with a long, long home run right about now, especially with the count full. There's only one out, for what it's worth, and here's the pitch: liner to left, all the way to the wall. All three of 'em score... and can you believe this guy? It's 8-6, and Kent has 85 freaking RBIs in 85 games. Bases-clearing double, with Burks scoring from first. I will therefore accept that he failed to hit a grand slam.
Benard moves Kent to third with a grounder to third first for the second out, which brings up Murray, who drove in a run with a double last time up. This time he bounces one to short -- apparently a routine play for Edgar Renteria -- but somehow he beats the throw, and it's 8-7. Snow lines one toward center, but it's caught by a leaping, and annoying, Fernando Viña.
Well, while we wait for the Giants to -- I hope -- hold off the Cards and then put some runs on them in the ninth, here's how things have looked since the last installment:
At the moment, the Giants are now in second place with a record of 46-38, 2-1/2 back of Arizona and a game ahead of the Rockies. The Dodgers are five out.
A key element in the Giants' winning streak has to be the first of the eight wins, the 4-1 dusting of the Dodgers at Pacific Bell Park -- especially great after the Dodgers seemed to break our backs the day before. But the most important part of that victory is the fact that I was in attendance for the second time this year. The Giants are 2-0 with me in the house, which I feel is ample evidence necessary for them to spontaneously send me a free lifetime pass.
Not only am I 2-for-2 in victories, but I'm also 2-for-2 in happy meetings with previously unseen Giants newsgroup regulars. My gracious host for last Saturday's game was Steven Rubio, one of the more fun voices in EEEEEE! and an actual professional baseball writer in his own right, for Baseball Prospectus. I've known Steven for, I think, over three years, but this was the first time we'd met; Steven's a delightful guy, as is John Gutierrez, whom I met on May 24, the day Shawn Estes beat the Expos 18-0.
Steven and I embarked on a wide range of topics, which just tells you how relaxing Pacific Bell Park is. I mean, this was a game against the Dodgers, for crying out loud. These are the guys who tried to steal the Ark. We hate those guys. But the conversation was more fun.
In fact, really only two things went wrong all day. The first was when I failed to realize, until I'd reached my seat, that Orlando Cepeda's barbecue shack had sold me a beef sandwich instead of jerk chicken. As a result, a multimillion-dollar lawsuit is pending. The second was simply the fact that the Giants still insist on doing that thing where a tiny kid announces the hitters in the home half of the third. The kid that day said, "Now batting... Barry Bo -- no, not Barry Bonds... number twenty-five... Barry Bonds." Kid PA-announcer's balk. Still not as funny as the guy a few years back who stopped cold during the national anthem and announced that he'd forgotten the words.
Crespo, with his team down by a run, struck out to start the ninth. Martinez pops out to center. And now it's 2-1 on Mueller, who just hasn't been hitting. Rich Aurilia, who's come up with a number of big two-out hits lately, is on deck. Now it's 3-1. Now it's full, and we're down to our last strike. I'd prefer a big, long homer here. Strike three called, however, and we're losers going into the break. Sigh.
Last Saturday Steven and I remarked frequently on how strange Bonds looked at the plate: completely uncomfortable, as if each swing was truly a strain. I thought maybe it was his back, because he looked so awkward, but we found out a day or two later that it was the thumb. I wonder how long it's going to hamper him, especially because he seems to be such a quick healer. It had been thought that he'd make it to the All-Star Game, but today the opposite was announced, so if it's looking bad, I expect some kind of trade (despite news in the paper today that Brian Sabean intends to stand pat).
But the game itself was terrific. The Dodgers managed a run off John Johnstone late -- well, everybody does that this year -- but I never felt as though the Dodgers were in the game at all. The Giants' offense consisted of two-run homers by Martinez and Aurilia, but it just felt like the Giants' day from the beginning -- which didn't bug me much, as you can imagine. The next day Marvin Benard beat the Dodgers with a leadoff home run in the ninth, and the Giants never looked back (till today).
I tell you, if you haven't done it yet, get out to Pac Bell Park. Steven and I roamed around for a while before heading to our seats. Saw the Coke bottle and the giant glove pretty close up, and you know what? They still don't bother me. I wouldn't exactly call them cool, but they do sort of lend some character to the place. We got a look through the portals behind the right-field wall, and it was simply beyond belief. I mean, on a day off, if I really wanted to, I could pay six and a half bucks to take the train up to The City and watch what amounts to six innings of free major league baseball. Nothing wrong with that. Ignore the absurdly expensive food and the pervasive ads and other evidence of selling out, folks: this place is nice.
In case you don't know, Pac Bell's playing like a pitcher's park. What's funny about that is how whiny the Rockies were about the place (pretty much echoing the Giants' expressions about Coors Field, really), and how Denver journalist Tracy Ringolsby feels... well, I'll get to that later.
JVV says, "Peter Gammons keeps saying that most of the NL fears the Giants, because they haven't gotten their shit together and are still hanging around in the NL West race. 'If they keep Bonds and Kent healthy, and straighten out Ortiz and Estes, they'll make a lot of noise this year.'"
The Giants pretty much demolished the Astros at Enron Field late last month, sweeping them in a weekend series, to which Gregg Bell of the Sacramento Bee says, "The last Houston event this bad was the perilous mission of NASA's Apollo 13." He further notes that the Giants' 13-4 victory in the second game of that series featured "a season-high 22 hits -- including a career-high five by catcher Doug Israeli -- onto six Astros pitchers in a 13-4 annihilation."
"The PLO really hate this guy," guesses Cadillac.
"Wow, that's some spell check correction," says Richard."
Gunman says, "I prefer the one Netscape Mail does on [Mirabelli's] last name: 'Miracle.'"
"Even though all's well that ends well, I feel compelled to say that I've seen some pretty poor performances from home plate umpires this year, but Marty Foster [in the Giants-Dodgers series] pretty much left them all in the dust," says Tobias. "He gave [Dodgers starter] Eric Gagne a strike zone that was as big as all outdoors, while squeezing Shawn Estes. Truthfully, I thought he was calling Estes' pitches about right, but being way to generous to Gagne, particularly on low 'strikes.' This generosity to Dodger pitchers continued most of the game. With Giants pitchers, though, Foster was incredibly inconsistent. Watching the game on TV, it became nearly impossible to predict whether a pitch would be called a ball or strike. And even when Foster would make a call, I still couldn't tell what it was, much of the time. When calling a strike, Foster seemed to hide behind the catcher, so no one could see him. When calling a ball, Foster would stand up, and grab his crotch. Which I guess made sense.
"Generally, though, Giants' hitters were being forced to swing at pitches out of the strike zone. Fortunately, Foster saved his biggest screw-up for last, calling the swing on Eric Karros' check-swing, rather than letting the first base ump rule (I thought it was a swing anyway, but still...). The field mike let us all know how Karros felt about it. You know, I thought there was a 'magic word' that players would always get ejected for uttering, and I thought I knew what that word was. Guess not."
Well, I really don't believe there's a magic word anymore, except perhaps "you." And sometimes you don't even need that. Hell, supposedly Rickey Henderson was ejected recently despite not saying a word, throwing down his equipment, making eye contact with the ump, or anything. Evidently he took a called third strike, then just stood there, staring at the plate, for five second. See ya, Rickers.
"It did seem that the Dodgers starters' strike zone was high, low, slightly inside, and outside," says Wayne, who basically means "bigger than the Giants starters' strike zone." "Shawn and Fultz got one or two strikes called that were probably balls, but, after Shawn was very wild for awhile, he had a tough time getting any pitch called a strike. There was one at-bat from Hundley, that Shawn threw a bunch of pitches over the plate, and when I turned around the count was 3-and-1. Go back and watch that at-bat on tape.
"The Giants don't complain that much about the strike zone. Atlanta, which usually is the beneficiary of good calls, gets the bad calls on occasion, and they complain vehemently. The Giants seem used to getting bad strike zones, and seem to expect it. I would say about 70% of Shawn's pitches that were called balls were no-doubters; about 10% were close; but about 20% were strikes.
"Anyway, like you say, despite the poorly umped game, all's well that ends well. But I think Shawn may have been able to go another inning if some of his strikes were called strikes."
"I was amazed to see those low pitches called as strikes for Gagne," says John W. "It didn't help that the catcher was hauling them into the strike zone. So why did the ESPN announcers say he didn't move his hand when he caught the ball? So Foster would look good on those bogus strike calls?"
But the one I just don't buy at all -- I mean, I figure I would've heard it at some point over the last zillion years -- is, this one caller talked about how Frank Howard used to light up Juan Marichal, so in a key at-bat, Marichal moved to third base, then resumed pitching when the next guy came up. Said something about how Jimmy Davenport stood real close to Marichal.
Yeah.
Now, I know Paul Richard used similar moves at least twice in the majors, and many of us remember the Kent Tekulve game in 1979 (in which the Pirates closer was moved to left field so lefty Grant Jackson could pitch to Darrell Evans with two outs in the ninth; Evans popped to left, and Tekulve struggled, but finally caught the ball to end it), but aside from this radio story, have you ever heard about the Marichal move?
Oh, and remember the part about Marichal going to third base? I could see this happening if he'd been naughty and the Giants needed to discipline him for some reason -- Howard was a righthanded batter who stood six-foot-eight and weight 275, and he hit the ball real hard.
Hey, people's memories (Von Hayes) get clouded (Von Hayes), as I know full well (Von Hayes), but this one.... ("What is Gregg talking about?" you might be asking. Well, for whatever reason, I have this memory of Hayes driving in seven runs in an inning against the Giants, but that didn't happen; he did it against the Mets. What I'm probably keying on is Hayes hitting three in a game against the Giants, which did happen.)
"I don't remember the specifics," says Wayne, "but I can remember the Giants moving a pitcher to first base for one hitter [before bringing the guy back in to pitch], and one time to right field. I think one time it was done with Ron Bryant. I do not remember Willie Mays getting thrown out of a game. Maybe it was one of the two games I missed since 1950, but I doubt it. I don't think I missed any against the Bums."
I just don't remember the Giants ever doing that pitcher maneuver -- you'd think it'd stand out in my mind. Then again, maybe Wayne's describing things that happened before 1970, which is when I started really getting into baseball. Also, you'd think Mays would've gotten tossed after that huge fight with the Mets, but I guess he didn't. Apparently the caller had told this story to dispute Mays' claim of never having been ejected -- but I don't think I'd ever heard that, either.
"It doesn't make sense moving Marichal to third just for one hitter, no matter how hot the hitter was against him," says Nick.
No, it's beyond ludicrous -- especially because Howard was a righthanded batter. What you do, if you're inclined to move Marichal to a position, is stick him in right field for Howard's at-bat.
"I don't know how good an athlete Marichal was because he was before my time, but moving him to third would surely weaken the infield defense, increasing the possibility of any runners already on base scoring. Besides you don't take out San Francisco's greatest-ever pitcher for one batter, no matter who the batter was."
My guess, because I've sort of encountered this before, is that the person had something unusual in his mind, but it was probably Matty Alou pitching, or Mays playing shortstop. I know that my mom, for instance, had it in her mind for years that she'd once seen Mays pitch, but that didn't happen; what it probably was is that he played first base in the days when that was extremely rare for him to do. However, I wouldn't be surprised if she'd seen the game Alou pitched.
"I was shocked to see that coming into this season, Neifi Perez's lifetime batting average against the Giants was only .225," says Jack V. "I can't believe that. This guy seems to be a given for three hits a game vs. the Giants. Maybe it's just at Coors, and he consistently goes 0-for-San Francisco."
Either way, I'm sick of the guy. I'll let you know if I ever forgive him for that Nen-beating home run on closing day in 1998 that led to the horrific wild-card playoff loss against the Cubs.
"Some random thoughts in regards to the Giants here: Anyone else really getting sick of the Giants' inability to really kick a team when it's down? Granted, Coors Field is a complete joke and you throw conventional wisdom out the window there, but the Giants seem to often build big early leads, lay down and die, and then allow the other team to get back into the game. There have been unforgettable and inexcusable gag jobs in St. Louis, Milwaukee [and Denver] this season. It just seems that Ted Robinson has been saying, 'Well, as has been the case for the Giants this year, this one is not going to be easy,' for the last three years. It's gotten old: the Giants can't stomp on the dog's throat when they have their foot on it. (A Merton Hanks quote from 1995).
"Also, much has been made of the fact that Dusty Baker often allows Livan Hernandez to throw well over 120 pitches a game. There's no question that that is not in Hernandez's best interests, which means that it's not in the organization's best interests considering they gave him a four-year contract before the season started. The 'pitcher abuse' complaints are certainly warranted as far as I'm concerned. But has anyone in the Giants' hierarchy ever questioned why Hernandez, who is not a power pitcher, has to throw 110-120 pitches over seven or eight innings? He has a tendency to get a little too fine at times, in my opinion.
"Does anyone really doubt they're going to gag this game away? I swear, this has been the Giants most frustrating season in years. Right when you think they will finally turn the corner and get on a serious roll, they go into hibernation for three or four games. They are incapable of putting together a sustained stretch of good baseball, and I have no confidence in their ability to win games on the road, two things that started in the second half of last season. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Therapeutic."
"After Russ Davis hit the home run to put the Giants up 11-5 in the fourth inning [in Denver], I thought 'Okay, if the Giants can just score one run each inning for the rest of the game, that'll give them 16 runs, and that should just about do it,'" says Tobias. "(Just about, but not quite, as it turned out.) Anyway, when the Giants failed to score in the fifth, I knew they were done for. It was as if they seemed to think that the 11 runs would be enough. With the Giants' bullpen, combined with Coors Field, I'm not sure that 20 would be enough.
"I think you're right that Hernandez nibbles too much. But enough about his weight (rim shot). But I don't think [his start against in Coors] is necessarily a fair example. Pitching in a ballpark like Coors has to mess with a pitcher's head, and cause him to question his approach to getting guys out. That in turn makes a pitcher lose confidence and start nibbling. After his successful outing at Enron, Livan talked about how all he had to do was keep the ball down. Very quickly, he found out that the Rockies will hit any and all pitches in the air. And at Coors, pitches hit in the air very often either leave the yard or find wide-open expanses of outfield. The pitch that Jeff Cirillo hit for the first of his three home runs was a good, low pitch. Watching Cirillo simply golf it over the fence must have made Livan think, 'Good grief! What's a guy have to do to get a break around here?'"
"(Of course, he probably thought that in Spanish. Hey, Gregg! Should I fire up Babelfish for this? Okay, according to Babelfish, Livan was thinking, 'Buena pena! Cu‡l es un individuo tiene que hacer para conseguir una rotura alrededor aqu’?' In English, that translates to, 'Good pain! Which is an individual must make to obtain a breakage around here?' Yes, I'm quite sure that's the exact thought that must've gone through Livan's mind.)
"For some reason, I still had a few molecules of hope that somehow the Giants would find a way to actually get Rockies hitters out. Ha ha ha... no, just kidding, I didn't actually think that! What kind of fool do you take me for? No, I actually had some vestige of hope that maybe the Giants' bats would reawaken, and they'd find a way to outscore the Rockies. I know, even that is patently silly, but for some reason, I just have these tiny little, self-sufficient, one-celled 'hope' organisms that live on within my being. They are impervious to any and all attempts to crush them or extinguish them. And the Giants have done their best to do so for many, many years. Somehow, though, my hope that the Giants will emerge victorious each day, and each year lives on. Doggedly surviving, like the cockroach after nuclear holocaust, or like the political career (and life, I suppose) of Strom Thurmond.
"Last night the Giants jumped all over Brian Bohanon along with our old buddy, Julian Tavarez, putting up 11 runs in four innings. Things were looking good. Unfortunately, the Giants could only muster two more runs over the final five innings. Why? Simple! The Rockies are using the 'Rope-a-Dope' strategy at Coors Field to tire their opponents out early, only to overtake and obliterate them in the end.
"How does it work? Well, the Rockies start out with some horrible pitcher like Brian Bohanon, Kevin Jarvis, or Rolando Arrojo. Then, when those guys inevitably get hammered all over Coors Field, they bring in a BP reliever like Scott Karl or Julian Tavarez to take a further pounding. All the while, the Rockies hitters are chipping away with runs of their own, keeping the score close (at Coors, anything within 12 runs is 'close').
"The brilliance of the Rockies' Rope-A-Dope is twofold:
"Okay, I apologize for being silly, but I'm sorry, these games at Coors Field demand no less of a response. What we're watching is not baseball, it is softball.
"About the only other thing I can say is, if the Giants want to win, [their pitchers] had better develop a thick skin, and not worry too much about giving up 10 runs in four innings. And the Giants had better plan on scoring at least 20 runs. Remember, it's softball! Pace yourselves, guys! Don't wear yourselves out. Try to score at least one run every inning. Oh, and Armando Rios and Ramon E. Martinez might want to go ahead and start loosening up down in the bullpen...."
"With all this said," says Jon R., "why oh why do the Rockies get such a home field advantage? For instance, this year they have a speedy, good-hitting-with-little-power team and they have a great record at home. In the past they've had basically big power teams, but those teams still had a better home record at a percentage higher than most typical home field advantages around the league. So these two types of Rockies teams are the polar opposite of one another. So how is it that they manage to get such a radical home field advantage no matter what type of team they put together? Admittedly the team this year has exhibited a bit more than the previous power teams, but those teams still had a home field record much more unbalanced than most every other team in the league.
"How can the field be suited for both diametrically opposed types of Rockies teams? And why does it happen? The atmosphere, environment and stadium are the same for the opposing teams."
"It's not really the ballpark, it's the location," says Dave F. "Bill James warned about the potential problems with putting a major league franchise in Denver years before there Rockies existed. Move the fences in, there are too many home runs. Move the fences out, the outfielders cannot cover the space. The ball just carries too well at the high altitude. The solution is to move the fences out, and let each team play 10 to a side -- four outfielders."
"There are actually three better solutions," offers Greg L.:
"All right, I admit three is ridiculous, but it was a thought."
"The Rockies do seem do get a slightly larger home boost than most teams, but even the players themselves can't seem to explain why that is, relying instead on brain-dead stuff like 'Coors just seems to lift our spirits' and whatnot," says Tjames. "And their own manager doesn't seem to have any idea how to use Coors, either; witness Cirillo's bunt with nobody out in the seventh in today's game. I think it's either dumb luck or Colorado players make unconscious adjustments there that visiting teams don't or can't. They seem to pay for it on the road in spades, so it all equals out eventually."
"But the numbers don't lie, Coors field is a joke," says Chris A.
"You know, if they turned out the lights or something when the visiting team came to bat, I'd agree with you, but I just don't see why it's that big of a deal to most people," Tjames says. "Do the adjustments in your head, and games are won and lost at Coors the same as any other park. You score more runs than the other team, you win."
A lot of what's going on is probably attitude-related -- even if you don't believe in that sort of stuff. Maybe "approach-related" would be a better phrase. The Astros, at various times, used to believe that they couldn't lose in the Astrodome, so maybe the Rockies are in that mode, too. I don't know to what extent their success this year could have to do with "knowing how to play there" better than other teams, but I sure as hell don't blame the park for the Giants' lack of success there this year. Even if Buddy Bell is pretty iffy as far as in-game strategy goes... well, we've got one of those, too, so that's a wash. I think a lot of the Rockies' success must have to do with the notion that the team's built more around speed and doubles now than in the past -- or at least that's my take.
Plus, throughout the series, Mike Krukow was talking about how all the Rockies batters seemed to be in two-strike mode all the time. Maybe that was bunk, but maybe also the mindset is, "Hit the ball, and something good will probably happen." I dunno.
But my sense there is that the Giants lost three of four in Coors just now because the Rockies have a better knowledge of how to play there.
Rob W. considers "Fear and loathing in the minds of visiting pitching staffs" to be a prime factor. "Pitchers know they will be hammered there, so preparing to pitch there includes dealing with all the negative outcomes that came before and are yet to come. At the major league level of play the game is mostly mental, so I say fit the pitching staff with some brain implants, maybe like the one Reagan wore while he was president, and feed them information while they are in the bullpen and on the mound. Kind of like when John Smoltz had his shrink sit behind home plate in the early '90s. He even had him wear a certain color shirt so he would know he was there. Hey, whatever it takes. Wayne [who is a doctor] can perform the implant operations and I'll be in charge of positive energy/thought transmission. It may be the start of a new industry. We'll cut all you guys in for stock options. Short of something like that, I don't have a clue what to do about the physics of playing a sea-level game at that altitude."
"At high [altitudes] the body of folks who are acclimated produce excess erythropoeitin from the kidney," says Wayne. "This in turn produces a mild polycythemia. In other words, the high altitude allows them to increase their red blood cell count and not tire in Denver. Visiting teams from lower altitudes have players whose bodies do not make the adjustment, in later innings the players from lower altitudes will tire almost inexplicably. Assuming the Rockies have a team that is basically competitive, one would expect a huge late-inning advantage in games. Even when they come back from a road trip, the adjustment back to high altitude is much quicker."
What Wayne's describing sounds a lot like the "Plato's Stepchildren" episode of the original Star Trek. The loathsome Parmen and his ilk have some cool telekinetic powers, thanks to the indigenous foods, and they can make Captain Kirk et al. do any damn fool thing they want... until the Good Guys become acclimated to their surroundings and acquire those powers, too. I recommend the same approach for the Giants -- not the "becoming used to the altitude" part; picking up cool telekinetic powers.
"I'm not sure why this makes them play so poorly on the road," Wayne continues, "except that maybe that they are not really that good a team, but the physiological advantages of high altitude, or maybe moreso the physiological disadvantages to visiting teams, should be real. It would be interesting to see home and road records of other Denver teams against teams from lower altitudes. The Olympic Committee has always thought that high-altitude training was advantageous. Some folks may actually get ill (high-altitude sickness, pulmonary edema, and other significant symptoms which may require hospitalization) when they suddenly are moved into a high-altitude environment. All of that being true, the Denver outfield has a larger dimension than most ballparks, and a big advantage goes to a team who has a better-fielding outfield. As far as the mental thing, I suspect that fatigue will set in, and mentally the players will feel as if they are dragging. Of course the Rockies will lose some games, especially when the opposing pitcher has beaten the high altitude blahs. I have been to Denver several times, and coming from sea level, I find myself getting very tired, very early in Denver. Maybe we shouldn't just destroy Coors, maybe we should level the entire, beautiful city."
"Well, if you wanted to minimize scoring in Denver, you could do lots of things," suggests Jonathan:
"This would seem to help slightly," says Tobias. "But the problem of the ball carrying over fences and into gaps on line drives would still not be corrected, and I think that may be a greater part of the problem than grounders getting through."
"This would be the simplest thing to do, and it would help," Tobias says. "As for the doubles, allow balls that are caught directly off the wall to be outs! (Kidding!)"
"Ha! Yeah, hand out all-white T-shirts to every center-field bleacher ticket holder as they enter the stadium. Have ushers stationed at the top of the aisles to make sure that ticket holders put them on before they are allowed to take their seats. Then, have ushers patrolling the center field bleachers to make sure fans are leaving their shirts on and not taking them off to reveal black T-shirts when the Rockies bat. Have signs posted: 'Anyone removing their white T-shirt during play will be immediately ejected for the stadium!'
"You know, it wouldn't be a bad idea to just install a white, 'non-hitting' background to replace the usual dark-green 'hitters'' background."
"Probably too late for that now...."
In any case, you can understand our extreme lack of disappointment in the recent four-game sweep of the Rockies at Pacific Bell -- which, incredibly, gave the Giants a 7-6 edge in the season series.
"I took a late lunch and walked down to Pac Bell from work and got there just right before Marvin hit his homer to give the Giants a 1-0 lead," says Jon R. "I was watching from the free area in right field. This is the third time the Giants have homered just as soon as I've arrived at the free area during a lunch break. I think all three times the game was either scoreless or tied right before the homers were hit. I am a freakin' catalyst. Other than that, and the ability to complain endlessly, I am totally talentless."
Oh, I don't know. Jon tells a good story.
"But I digress: this was just a minor part of it. As soon as Marvin hit the homer, the free area cleared out a bit and I was able to get my favorite spot: First row, leaning on the metal police barricades right in front of the chain-link fencing, at the spot where the right-field foul lines dead-ends into the wall. From there you can still see the batter but can look to your right and see the entire outfield as well. Nice.
"When the Rockies were mounting their two-run rally, they pinch-hit for Pedro Astacio and I saw Stan Belinda warming up in the bullpen. From where I stood, I was directly behind him (40 to 50 feet away, I think) and I could see all his pitches while he was getting ready. I thought, 'this guy's stuff looks sort of mediocre today... I think I sense a weakness.' So I did a little voodoo dance, stared at his back, and put a hex on Stan.
"The next inning, as soon as he entered the game, he gave up a single (to Murray) and then Aurilia hit the two-run shot. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am!
"I feel honored to and privileged to have seen two Rockies games in two days (I was in the stands at the day game yesterday), where Neifi 'Effin'' Perez made the final out of the game. As soon as my voodoo skills improve, I'm going to fix that little shithead for life. He's going to pay for hitting that game winning homer against Nen in Curse Field during the last game of the '98 season."
See, folks? It isn't just me.
"OK, I'll give you credit," Gunman tells Jon. "I was going to take it as I let my ticket go so my sister and her boyfriend could see the game. All of us make sacrifices. Some of us are blessed.
"Now I have to admit that I listened to the Real Audio broadcasts of the Diamondbacks-Astros game and the Dodgers-Padres game [that night]. When I dialed them up, both the Astros and Padres were ahead. Despite the fact that the Astros and Padres suck, I take responsibility for both those teams coughing up big leads tonight. Please forgive me, oh newsgroup."
The series against the Rockies started with a Fourth of July doubleheader -- a day/night doubleheader, yet. Livan Hernandez held the Rockies hitless through six. According Jack Etkin of the Denver Rocky Mountain News (who, incidentally, has some interesting pieces in the 1990 Bill James Baseball Book, which I'm reading these days), "In the sixth inning Tuesday, manager Dusty Baker left the San Francisco Giants bench to use the bathroom. He passed the indoor batting cage, where reliever Alan Embree was sitting.
"At the time, Livan Hernandez was throwing a no-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies. Baker asked Embree what he was doing, and Embree answered, 'I can't move.'
"It's a baseball superstition that when a pitcher is throwing a no-hitter, no one talks to him on the bench. And no one switches places or does anything that in any small way can disrupt the karma, luck or positive flow of energy.
"Baker looked at Embree, stationed in the batting cage and saying he couldn't move, and drew his own conclusion that Embree felt he had to stay there to somehow help Hernandez."
Nick says, "So Dusty going for a crap was the reason for Livan not throwing the Giants' first no-hitter since The Count [John Montefusco] in '76. Shame on him. He should learn to clench his buttocks."
However, none of us is complaining, especially after the series ended with a dramatic, game-winning double off the bat of Jeff Kent, who nearly hit one out. "Something I've never heard," says Grant: "'It's off the top of the wall... it's off the top of the car, and rolling back towards the infield!'"
That's Jon Miller's call of the event. The "car" is the idiot Chevron icon, the top of which exceeds the height of the fence down the left-field line and obscures the vision of the poor sod who buys a ticket to sit behind it in the bleachers.
J.T. Snow had just botched a sacrifice bunt -- in fact, the Rockies nearly turned a double play, except that Rockies pitcher Mike Myers was ruled to have obstructed Snow in his long, slow trek toward first base. Then Kent worked his magic.
"Jeff Kent is the MAN BABY!!!" says an unidentified poster in the Giants newsgroup.
"Do man babies wear diapers?" wonders JVV. "Depends," offers Ben F.
"This is my alt.sports.baseball.sf-giants replay of the week," says Richard.
"As I did during the Wednesday game," says Jon, "I put another voodoo hex on Stan Belinda as he was warming up; he promptly gave up the game-ending hit to Kent. His stuff looked lame while he was warming up in the bullpen and he definitely looked like I could get to him with my limited powers."
Apparently they're not so limited.
"I didn't start walking down to the game until very late; it was 4-4. By the time I arrived, the Schlockies were up 5-4. [The Giants had been down 4-0 previously. -- GP] But I got there in the bottom of the eighth with Burks on first base. The first pitch I saw resulted in the passed ball that sent Burks down to second. Shortly thereafter, Aurilia hit him in... tie game! This is about the fourth time or fifth time I went to a game with the Giants either tied or slightly behind and they ended up starting a rally or a series of rallies to tie the game and then going on to win it. As soon as I get there they start to rally!
"I'm not particularly religious in the traditional sense, but if I was, then I would consider this right field free area my church, my sanctuary, where I have power over the Baseball Gods. While I am in this space, they cannot hurt me. I'm not saying I can control them... it's just that they can't screw with me. When I am in there, the Giants are not the bumbling underdogs that almost get there but never do. They are the embodiment of all the positive attributes of the '87, '89, '93, and '97 teams.
"I just knew that with another voodoo curse the Giants would get the go-ahead run in the final inning. I did, however, have to sit outside on one of the benches and eat my sandwich while Nen was pitching; the vibes weren't right for me to watch Nen.
"I almost didn't show up, and if the Giants had lost I would have had to blame my irritating co-workers. While working with my Walkman's headphones on (during the beginning of the game), they kept interrupting me with questions over and over again while I was trying to listen to the game. The nerve... if I'm that important, why don't I make more money? [Jon, here, insists on killing me softly with his song. -- GP] I managed to hear the first inning and stopped listening after the third inning; was very surprised to hear that the Giants had tied it up 4-4 when I checked in a bit later. After that there was this strange, weird force compelling me to leave the office and go down there. [I get that every day. However, I work at Stanford; it'd be too long a walk. -- GP] I hadn't even eaten lunch yet, so I grabbed a sandwich at a place around the corner and headed down Third Street in a trance.
"Man, I don't want to go Costas on you guys or start sounding like that stiff George Will, but hanging out in this free area during lunch, going down there on a whim, is one of the most pure, exhilarating baseball experiences I have ever had... it is always a kick. At one point, while finishing my sandwich on one of the benches on the walkway, while Nen was getting done, I got up and stood and finished eating while leaning against the railing along the walkway while looking into the free area from just outside of it. At that vantage point you sort of have to look through two 'layers' of walls to see the field. But it was surreal... here I am leaning against a railing, eating a sandwich, along the bay, looking at the backside of a great ballpark, with the people up on the arcade, seeing the people in the free area, the field and the people in the stands. Amazing... it's like taking a walk around your neighborhood and stumbling across a high school baseball game and stopping to watch -- except it's the Giants."
"Since I have to scrape and save and connive in order to leave the tall timber and beautiful vistas of the Oregon Coast to see my four or five Giant games each year, I am filled with envy, pure unadulterated envy," says Rob W. "What a great thing for you folks. Did you ever dream it would be as fine as it sounds like it is?"
No. I mean, I believed that it had to be all hype and fluff, but it's not. I still can't believe that my team is playing there.
We had a few laughs at the expense of Tracy Ringolsby of the Denver Rocky Mountain News. Now, I had perceived in past years that he was reasonably well respected -- Bill James seemed to talk about him a lot, for one thing -- but his stuff over the past several years leaves me wondering why.
"Stan Belinda came in to face Burks," Ringolsby writes, "but his first pitch went off the left-field wall for a game-ending double. It came barely 24 hours after Belinda had given up the go-ahead home run to Rich Aurilia in a 4-2 loss Wednesday and a week after he struck out the side against the Giants with the bases loaded at Coors Field."
"Now I'm all for making allowances for the other guy's perspective," says Clayton, "but I draw the line at replacing Kent with Burks."
Good thing Jeff Kent doesn't care about stats or publicity, or you'd think he'd be in a snit over this....
"That'd be a thing Rick Aurilia would do," Grant says, goofing on another Ringolsby error. (Good one, Trace. Typo or indifference?)
An important thing to know, if Grant and Ringolsby were talking about Rich, here, is that evidently his entire family calls him "Dickie," which sort of rings a bell 'cause more than once, Chronicle columnist Glenn Dickey has also misspelled Richie's name.
"I was talking about the rookie wunderkind shortstop Rick Aurilliillalila, who won the game for us on Wednesday."
Oh, her!
The article starts with, "The Colorado Rockies have run out of ways to explain what happens to them when they step on the field at Pacific Bell Park.
"Fortunately, the Rockies can forget about it until next season. A 6-5 loss to San Francisco on Thursday summed up their what-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong existence in the Giants' new home and left them 0-for-2000 in the city by the Bay."
So... was Ringolsby quite this sympathetic during the Giants' jaunts to Denver?
"What can go wrong outside of Coors Field is as follows," says Grant: "Darren Bragg, Neifi Perez, Brian Hunter, Brent Mayne. People ask why they can't hit on the road; I ask how the hell do they hit at home? Only Cirillo's road splits surprise me."
That's what's so damn funny. Anybody else remember this one? Years ago -- like, 1973 or so -- Sacramento fielded the PCL Solons. They played at Whatever Whacko Sacto Field, where the dimensions were ridiculous, along the lines of 250 down the left-field line or something. The Solons weren't particularly good, if I remember right, but they had these insane home run numbers. The two guys I remember, unless I'm wrong, are Jim Fairey (the former Dodger and Expo) and Bill McNulty (the once-big-time A's prospect) -- I'm pretty sure they hit 50 home runs each.
Seth doubts me. "Former Dodger and Expo, huh?" he says. "Don't you mean our old pal Ron Fairly?"
No, indeed I do not. Fairey was one of his teammates. Trust me. Look 'im up. I have at least one Jim Fairey baseball card. And probably way too many Fairlys.
Fairey's major league career lasted from 1968 through 1973, or parts thereof. He started and ended with the Dodgers, and never batted more than 211 times in a season with the Expos in the interim. He hit seven lifetime home runs and sported a .235 lifetime batting average and a .317 slugging percentage. He did, however, lead the league in 1972 with 55 pinch-hit at-bats. He got 10 hits.
In any case, Fairey told the story of his contract negotiation for the next year: "But I hit 54 home runs!" "Yes, Jim, but 50 of those were at home." "Well, I drove in 160 runs!" "Yes, Jim, but you only drove in 30 of those on the road."
Ringolsby writes, "The Rockies went from the emotional high of believing J.T. Snow bunted into a double play to the reality Snow was ruled safe by home plate umpire Chris Guccione. Guccione added to the confusion by waiting until the play was over and pointing at first base umpire Richard Rieker before ruling Myers had obstructed Snow on his way to first, even though a replay seemed to show Snow veered onto the grass directly at Myers."
Them umps -- always screwin' the Rox!
"The only camera angle for the replay was the Giants in-house camera," says Grant. "The camera was focused on second base during the collision. You couldn't tell a thing from the replay."
This is interesting. Now, does "only" mean "only," or "only available"? If the former, how would we know? I just wonder if Trace had access to something Grant didn't. (I didn't see the game.)
"I'm assuming, because the game wasn't televised anywhere, the in-house camera footage ESPN used was the only available footage," says Grant. "I doubt ESPN would go with ambiguity unless it was their only choice."
I don't know. Recently I heard Dan Patrick say something about their rigorous ambiguity courses for newcomers. (Okay, I think I'm lying.)
Grant denies my assertion that Ringolsby used to be pretty good. Well, not "assertion" so much as "supposition."
"A couple of years ago he was the president of the Dante Bichette Is The Best Run Producer In The Free World Brigade," Grant says. "'He'll smell those RBI's and flip those hits into right field,' was an actual quote."
Oh, kerbarfaloo.
Which reminds me that local renowned baseball expert Tom Tolbert of KNBR recently espoused the opinion that there are too many statistics in baseball, and that the only ones that really matter are runs and RBIs for hitters and wins and saves for pitchers.
Gunman says, "I was tempted to call in and say, 'I agree Tom, there are too many statistics in baseball for those who are too stupid to understand them.' But that wouldn't have been gentlemanly behavior, so I desisted."
And Gunman is, among his other fine and notable qualities, a gentleman first.
During Tolbert's tirade (or "diatribe," as print journalists call it when you say something they don't like) I kept thinking "Joe Morgan." Tommy damn near echoed Morgan's autobiography.
Ringolsby's July 6 piece is funnier, in many ways. A quote: "'You want my explanation?' Rockies first baseman Todd Helton said. 'The people all wear dark clothing. It's the Gothic scene. It brings you down. Nobody is happy around here.'" I hope that was a "quip" more than a quote, though.
"Ain't nuttin there in Friscy but a bunch of folks wearin black," says Jon O., adopting Helton's persona. "I went to a bar and ever'body was drinkin these fancy-pantsy drinks outta these fancy-pants glasses, and I asked if they had any Old Milwaukee, cause I like Old Milwaukee, see, and next thing I knew they done threw me out, some big guy wearin all black -- he musta been into that Gothic scene or whatever....' Haven't been down to Larimer Street lately, have you, Toddy? Please."
"Either Helton is a funny, funny dude, or he is astoundingly dumb," says Grant. "I think he was making a joke. I hope he was making a joke. Either way, I'm gonna throw die-cast vampire figurines at him next year."
Ringolsby quotes Rockies right fielder Jeffrey Hammonds as saying, "No secret. They play well in their home yard, just like we play well in our home yard. They keep you close, and then late in the game, they get you, just like we do at Coors (Field)."
He continues: "'We scored two (in the top of the seventh), and they came back and scored three in the bottom,' Hammonds said. 'Single, home run, double. They just feel good about themselves here, like we do when we're in our place.'"
Way more reasonable. No excuses... and hey, maybe he's right.
One of Ringolsby's passages goes like this: "But the Rockies did have a lead, the only one they have had in their five games in the glorified spring-training ballpark the Giants moved into this season."
"Yeah," says Grant, "it's us with the joke of a ballpark."
Good call.
Helton, via Ringolsby, winds up as follows: "The only way we're going to win here is score five, six runs in the first two innings. It seems their game is to hold you close until late and then find a way to win. It's the same thing we do at home. I thank God we only play one more game here."
"That's the problem," says Grant. "God isn't acknowledged 'round these parts. We all worship the deity Azazuel while dancing in black capes."
If you want to call that dancing.
Jon O.'s offering:
Leaves and baseballs fly
in post-Rockies thinness high
over young Joe's head
"Ahhh, a good haiku always soothes the soul," says Tobias.
What about a bad haiku?
Clearly the Giants --
-- it's so nice to be insane --
Are psyched out in Coors.
"Hmmm... let me check...," says Tobias. "Nope. Soul not soothed. Anyway, I wouldn't call yours a 'bad' haiku. More like a 'true' haiku. At least the first and third lines are true. I wouldn't necessarily know about the second. A 'bad haiku' is what I offered up earlier this week."
Hmmm. What's frightening is that while I'm perfectly capable of writing badly when I don't mean to, I have trouble doing it on purpose. Still:
When Kevin Elster
And the Dodgers come to town
It's "Bye-bye baby."
Well, that's more depressing than just plain bad.
"Thanks for not making me say so," says Tobias.
Which doesn't mean it's not just plain bad.
In the stagnant pool
Putrescent, bloated herons
Reek and teem with bugs.
Better? Not relevant, of course, but better?
"Oh, much better!" insists Tobias. "Maybe not relevant to Giants' baseball, but certainly relevant to life in Florida."
Well, plus you could look at it metaphorically, if you felt you must.
"Apparently, you've been here! And your haiku, although certainly not soothing to the soul, does contain a nature setting. Excellent! Now that's what I call good haiku!"
Except for that pesky part about it being in English, I guess.
He's talking about the call on Bobby Estalella's bases-loaded shot over the right-field wall, which was ruled not to have traveled that far.
"But the game did get me thinking about something. When I was a kid, the Giants played in a game in which the final score was 16-15, or something like that.
If it's the one I'm thinking of, it was in 1970 against the Padres -- who won it in, I believe, extra innings on a home run by Steve Huntz. I think that was the first game I ever scored, or maybe the second.
"My friends and I talked about that game for weeks. In 1993, the Giants had that incredible game early in the year against the Braves in which they won, I think, 16-13. I was riveted by every twist and turn of that game.
"Last night, while the runs were just piling up, my heart never speeded up once, even during the stretch when the Giants were racking it up. Someone has scored over ten runs in every Giants-Rockies game in Coors this year. Those games have stopped being interesting or special.
"Regardless of whether the Giants are winning or losing, I don't enjoy those games. Maybe it would be better if Arizona stayed and Colorado left the division. The games in Coors Field aren't meaningful; I would probably be happier if they didn't take place at all."
I don't know why they can't just change the park to reflect something a little more human. Not that I know how it should or could be changed.
My friend Greg Spira, another Baseball Prospectus writer, read some park-effect numbers off to me over the phone. Said that Coors has inflated offense by approximately 40% -- i.e., 40% more scoring -- over the rest of the league over the first couple months of the season... and that Pac Bell scoring is below league average -- i.e., Coors was, like, a 138 in whatever index they use, and Pac Bell was at 92, which I gather is pretty much like the 'Stick.
Greg did say he wasn't prepared to view these figures as "carved in stone" after only a couple of months, but he did make the following great point: Simply citing "smaller parks" as the cause of the offensive explosion (not that we're necessarily doing that here) doesn't wash, because places like Wrigley, Coors, and Fenway would thus start to drop toward the middle of the pack... but they don't.
"Out of curiosity, what was Candlestick's rating?" says Tobias.
"As I recall, it was usually at around 90 or a little below," says Paul L.
Surely the 2000 data, to date, all goes against what I was pretty sure about before the season started, namely that Pac Bell would probably be more than an average hitter's park, but not much... but that it would be so hitterish by comparison to the 'Stick that it would seem very hitterish, period.
"Well, you certainly weren't alone in that opinion, although I'm sure more people thought it would be even more of a hitter's park," says Paul.
Oh, hey, I thought I was being conservative. My take was that just about everyone figured this place'd be Coors By the Bay.
"Right. But I think the point everyone misses is that even if it had turned out as an extreme hitter's park, it would still be nowhere near Coors."
Well, it coulda, if the fences were 10% shorter or something. Then again, Coors does seem to be more about doubles.
"Simply put, at sea level, you just can't have anything near Coors (well, unless you have 200-foot fences and leave a bunch of kid's toys strewn around the outfield).
"I wonder why it's playing as a pitcher's park, so far; admittedly, since only 35 games have been played there so far, it's a bit early to draw conclusions, but the evidence so far is pretty conclusive."
Well, too, two-thirds of the games were in "relatively colder" weather, so we'll see what June's and July's numbers point to. Then again, I'm not sure I would expect the place to move significantly in one direction or the other from this point.
"I feel obligated to point out that June and July won't necessarily be warmer. But that said, I would expect some regression towards normal, at least."
Maybe not warmer than April and May, but certainly warmer than the 'Stick. It still amazes me how you can sit in the upper deck at Pac Bell and watch (and hear) the flags whipping around... but not actually feel the wind yourself.
By the way, in case you have no idea what we're talking about with our 138's and 92's, Paul explains: "Park factors are normally presented as just a percentage (although, for some reason, the percent sign is never included). So, 100 is a neutral park, 120 would be a park in which offense was 120% of normal (that is, 20% higher than normal), 85 would be a park in which offense was 85% of normal (that is, 15% lower), and so forth.
"Most parks lie in the 90-110 range; that is, within 10% of neutral. Coors has consistently been in the 140-150 range ever since it opened; the effect there just dwarfs anything else. For all the talk about Enron, it's only increased offense by about 3% total this year (according to Nelson Lu's rankings), and, yes, Pac Bell Park so far this year is a surprisingly low 86, which places it well into the 'pitcher's park' category.
"It just goes to show you that you can't really predict how a park will play until you actually see it play."
And for more than a couple months, too.
"Let's face it," says one of the newsgroup folks -- I can't tell who -- "Sabean filled in the gaps of several players for one star at the time and some minor players. And Kent probably was a little underrated, but as far as Kent playing so well, Sabean is more lucky on this one than brilliant. I hope his luck and brilliance continues."
"I've [examined] the San Francisco paper reactions to the trade to this group in the past," says JVV, "and most writers thought that Tavarez was the key to the trade, and Kent and Vizcaino were loser throw-ins."
"And Bruce Jenkins blamed Barry Bonds for making so much money that the Giants could not keep Williams," says Richard.
"Hey, Barry has to idly finger $100 bills or his thumb breaks (or something)," says JVV.
Bonds was voted onto the team as well, but in reporting that Kent had achieved this honor, none of the Giants broadcasters mentioned that Bonds had, too. Hell, he certainly deserves it. He's no longer leading the league in home runs, but he's had a monster year.
However, Henry Schulman of the Chronicle fills in some of the details on Bonds' injury: "The first X-rays showed nothing more than a deep bruise in his right thumb. This being Barry Bonds, however, the Giants' medical staff decided to examine it more closely. On Sunday, a more specialized X-ray revealed a small stress fracture that explains the intense pain Bonds has felt."
"The good news for the Giants," Henry continues: "Head trainer Stan Conte said the fracture is already 75 percent healed. Conte said he thought Bonds might be able to play by this weekend's series in St. Louis."
Well, that was sort of true -- he pinch-hit once, then substituted for before he got a chance to pinch-hit again.
AVG OBP SP AB HR RBI R TB BB
Benard .280 .351 .418 282 7 32 57 118 30
Mueller .280 .337 .392 293 6 35 49 115 23
"Benard beats Mueller in every category except RBIs, but Mueller has had more at-bats. And here we were asking for Benard's head on a platter. I never knew Mueller had such a weak OBP."
"Well done, Marvin," says Nick. "I just thought I'd say it seen as no one else has. He deserves some credit after all the crap that was said about him earlier in the season."
"All that crap Benard got early in the season was deserved," says Ben F. "Okay, he is doing fine now, but why did it take 11 weeks before he got started? (I am sure playing in hitter's parks like Enron, Busch, and Coors has something to do with getting out of a slump). I still say Baker should have played the hot hand and Calvin Murray was hot at the time. In those first 11 weeks Benard was rarely any help to the team at all. There were many missed opportunities early on and I believe Murray could have help win a few of those games the Giants lost. If Benard needed to work things out, he should have done it in the minors."
"Ballplayers all go through unfortunate periods in time when they struggle in one phase of the game or another," says Rob W. "Benard is no different than anyone else. What I saw was a team that was suffering some tough luck and having a hard time getting started in the glare of the spotlight focused on their new playpen. The fans needed a scapegoat and since Marvin's funk was deeper than any one else on the team, he became it. Send him to the minors? Nah! I could see it if he was some kid who had just made his first major league team out of spring training."
"I'm not making excuses for Mueller, but he has been in a horrible slump for the last three weeks," says Gunman. "Three weeks ago, Benard was well behind Mueller in nearly all of the categories you cite. I think it isn't particularly helpful to slice into the season at an arbitrary point and say, 'See, my guy is better than your guy.' Particularly since Mueller and Benard are both 'our guys.'
"Mueller's OBP has been a concern of mine this year, as he hasn't taken near the number of pitches per at-bat that he has taken over the past few years. Also, Mueller hasn't turned around the scouting report as quickly as he has in past seasons. He isn't turning on the inside fastball from righthanders; if you bust him in on the hands, he hits a routine fly to left. It's disturbing.
"Having said that, by the end of the year I would expect that both Benard and Mueller would end up around their career averages in OBP, if not better. Both have shown a great ability to adjust. Then again, neither will ever be stars, so both may collapse this year and never be able to hit outside of AAA."
Well, whether these guys are hitting the way they should or not, the Giants' offense has been little less than spectacular. "Doing a little fishing around in the baseball record books while waiting for a server to reboot started me thinking about this year's offense," says Jon O. "Here's what I found out:
"The NL record for most runs in a season in away games is 492 by the Cubs in 1929. So far, the Giants have scored 326 in 40 road games. They are not on pace to break the record. They are on pace to utterly obliterate the record.
"Some thoughts:
"I think a hitting first baseman wouldn't hurt either," says Ben.
"But he's not horrific, and neither is Benard, or Aurilia despite his lousy start," says Jonathan. "The 'bad' half of the catcher duo is pretty good, and a lot of the spare parts -- Martinez, Lowery (oops) -- have been nice. The pitchers are hitting.
"I think what all that says is that they're not quite that great a hitting team; it's an excellent hitting team having everything break right for them."
"I think about a great leadoff hitter, and we would be unbelievable offensively," says Wayne. "Our pen is not the only pen struggling, and it cannot just be the ballparks. Clearly the ball must be quite different. Apparently it affects some pitchers a lot more than others, but the ball clearly is tighter than ever, with less give. Pitchers who like to indent the ball with their fingers or fingernails find that they cannot do that this year. It is even worse than last year. If your stats are accurate, they are truly amazing. Thanks for the interesting analysis."
"You know, my first inclinations were "Of course this isn't one of the best offensive teams ever," says Jon. But, on the other hand, they have scored more runs than any American League team -- in fewer games, too! So (and I realize that this is only a half season we're talking about) I thought it would be interesting to see how this team compares to some of the other Greatest Offenses. Let's take the 1927 New York Yankees, Murderers Row, and compare them to the 2000 Giants, the, uh..., Butchers By the Bay.
"We'll use OPS for simplicity's sake. And we'll switch Kent and Snow, since Kent hits more like a first baseman and J.T. hits more like a second baseman. Fair enough?
rf Ruth 1259 lf Bonds 1169"It's hard to top Ruth, even if you are named Bonds.
"Advantage: Murderers.
1b Gehrig 1239 2b Kent 1103"It's hard to top Gehrig, either.
"Advantage: Murderers.
of Earl Combs 925 of Ellis Burks 983"Slight edge to Burks, could be a push if you figure that Rios takes a good chunk of Burks' at-bats.
"Advantage: Butchers.
of Bob Muesel 903 of Marvin Benard 739"This is where a great leadoff hitter could make the difference -- Muesel had a .393 OBP.
"Advantage: Murderers.
2b Lazeri 865 1b JT Snow 827"Wow, 4-1. Nice argument, Jon. But hey, we're about to catch up....
"Advantage: Murderers.
c Pat Collins 825 c Bobby Estalella 1007"And Mirabelli has a much higher OPS than either of Collins' backups. Huge edge to the Giants.
"Advantage: Butchers.
3b Joe Dugan 683 3b Mueller 754"I take it that's why I'd never heard of Joe Dugan before.
"Advantage: Butchers
ss Mark Koenig 702 ss Rich Aurilia 717"I expect Rich to raise this to near 800 by the end of the year. But we can't assume that.
"Advantage: Push.
"I don't have time to figure out the combined OPS of the 1927 Yanks' bench -- You'll have to take my word for it that Martinez, Crespo, Rios, Murray, et al. have been far better than the '27 Yanks' bench. If I were to take a ballpark guess by eyeballing the numbers I'd say that the Yanks' bench OPS was around 750 whereas the Giants' bench would be around 825.
"Advantage: Butchers.
"So... 4-4. Not a bad showing against what many consider to be the best offense of the last century.
"Now, take the pitching staff, please...."
I wonder how our pitchers stack up against theirs -- on offense.
"When things turn bleak and depressing, it's always good to focus on obscure, meaningless stats," says Tobias. "To wit: With Joe Nathan's recent home run (his second of the year [in consecutive starts]), Giants pitchers now have four for the season and are well on their way to breaking their season record for pitchers' home runs (five)."
You're supposed to say "on pace."
"Dang!" says Tobias. "I knew I was forgetting something. Back to Remedial Sportswriting class for me."
Doesn't sound like it would be worth traveling to Phoenix.
(By the way, the homer-hitting pitchers for the Giants this year are Estes, Hernandez, and Nathan.)
"Giants' pitchers have hit five home runs three times since 1958:
"Nathan is also in range of the San Francisco Giants record for pitchers' home runs in a season: Don Robinson (1989), Jim Gott (1985), and Jack Sanford (1961) had three each."
Last year we saw Ortiz, Gardner, and Felix Rodriguez go deep. I keep thinking there was at least one other. Evidently, though, no more than four.
"The only other thing I'd like to know is, has there ever been another time in San Francisco Giants history when Giants pitchers have hit home runs in consecutive games? I'm guessing 'no.'"
A great guess, and the first thing that crossed my mind when Nathan did it. I can't remember the last pitcher to do it, period. Has to be somebody after Ken Brett....
The Giants' success in this realm, though, is sort of encouraging, given how awful the Giants' pitchers had been at the plate in recent years.
"Hey, you take encouragement wherever you can find it," Tobias says.
(I'll try: "Our uniforms aren't pink and plaid! Our uniforms aren't pink and plaid!")
Tobias provides the following list, "because every Giants fan should know":
Career Home Runs by S.F. Giants Pitchers:
1. Don Robinson (7)
2. Bob Bolin (5)
3. Mike McCormick, Juan Marichal, John Montefusco, Jim Gott (4)
7. Johnny Antonelli, Jack Sanford, Ray Sadecki, Gaylord Perry, Ed Halicki, Vida Blue, Mike Krukow (3)
14. Rich Robertson, Tom Griffin, Mike LaCoss, Trevor Wilson, Russ Ortiz, Shawn Estes, Joe Nathan (2)
21. Jim Duffalo, Frank Linzy, Skip Pitlock, Jim Willoughby, Jim Barr, John D'Acquisto, Bob Knepper, Rich Gale, Greg Minton, Steve Carlton, Scott Garrelts, William VanLandingham, Terry Mulholland, Pat Rapp, Felix Rodriguez, Mark Gardner, Livan Hernandez (1)
"That's 37 in all. Johnny Antonelli hit the first three, in '58 and '59."
Good work, Tobes.
"My vote for most obscure name on the list goes to Skip Pitlock, who I've always best remembered for allowing himself to get spiked in his Achilles' tendon, while attempting to cover first base on a ground ball in 1970. That was it for his career as a Giant, and nearly for his major league career. He did manage to turn up with the Chicago White Sox, four years later, though."
Not only that, but his dinger was an inside-the-park job. I remember hearing it. (It happened!)
"Every time I see the name Ray Sadecki, I'm reminded of my long-desired dream of compiling my 'Least Favorite San Francisco Giants No-Stars Team' some day. This wouldn't be a team made up of the worst Giants, necesarily. Just the ones whose respective tenures were the most disappointing to me personally. Sadecki would nose out Salomon Torres for the starting pitcher slot. Although, I guess there could be a lefty starter, and a righty starter."
It's just such a huge list.
"That's why I keep putting it off. The job of choosing just 10 or 11 is so overwhelming."
Pretty much why the San Francisco Giants Tweaks Hall of Fame has never undergone its official opening. So many tweaks... so little space....
"I am so impressed with our hitting! We are leading the majors! And we're in the NL! Even our pitchers are hitting. I absolutely love it. Every batter has a chance, in my mind, to get the job done, and they frequently do. It's such a switch from the old days, and it is so nice, so welcome. What a pleasure to be a fan of this team's hitters."
Especially given that Pac Bell Park is not a bastion of offensive production. I virtually guarantee you, though -- I say "virtually" to give myself an out if I'm wrong -- that some scribe (cough Tracy Ringolsby cough) will moan that it never woulda happened if they still played at the 'Stick instead of at some ludicrous hitter's park like Pac Bell.
"Besides that, our starters are panning out. These are young pitchers who are coming into their own in Giants uniforms! Unheard of.... And Nen is very sharp now, and relatively rested heading into the second half. Rodriguez has been great -- he is developing into a reliable bullpen linchpin, if not a closer. The way things are looking now, I hope we don't trade either Nen or Felix, although I still toy with the idea of Nen and Burks for Drew and Veres, or Drew and Morris. These are probably not realistic, though, and it's probably for the better. Don't upset the apple cart. May be we can address the middle relief problem with Russ Ortiz in the pen, or with a minor leaguer. Ainsworth, anyone?"
More of that ilk from around here:
Current local nicknames include, apparently, "Snowball" for J.T. Snow (and I'm assuming he's unaware of one of the ruder connotations -- ever see Clerks?). I've been calling him "Jate," somewhat derisively, since he joined the team -- kind of a play on "Nice catch, Jage!" when 49er J.J. Stokes would drop a pass. Along the same lines, F.P. Santangelo was "Efp," but now he's a Dodger, so he's nothing. Last year Edwards Guzman was, naturally, "Eds." Many in the Giants newsgroup have been calling Felix Rodriguez "F-Rod," but last year I simply called him "Frod," because he seemed to be one. Many in the group call Jeff Kent "Quotron" because he's a sound-bite machine. Kirk Rueter's pretty commonly called "Woody" because of his supposed resemblance to the lead in "Toy Story."
Some of the better, stupider, or at least more colorful Giants nicknames have included:
I often called Glenallen Hill "Barney" because, like the horrible purple dinosaur, he annoyed me to the point where I'd clench my fists and grind my teeth involuntarily.
The main point is, there really aren't enough interesting ballplayer nicknames anymore, public or private.
Copyright ©2000 by Gregg Pearlman
Last updated 7/11/00 Gregg Pearlman, gregg@EEEEEEgp.com