by Rick Braverman
Ain't it always our luck: a couple o' measly games decides if we go postseason or go home
Another season, another parade gone by. And the sinking feeling remains.
Damned if this rite of autumn doesn't reek of consistency, let alone conspiracy. Are the cards stacked against us? Will somebody please check the dice? I mean, what miracle will it take for 'em to roll in the Giants' favor?
Here we are, eight years after we lost out to Atlanta (then of the NL "West"), who barely beat us out of one of our finest seasons, and now this year we finish two games ahead of the Braves, who get to the postseason by now leading the NL Least. At the same time, we wind up two games short to a new NL West leader who, for the luck of the draw, played their interleague games against the almighty Tigers and the Royals; yeah, while we, in somebody's scheduling wisdom, faced contests against our "natural" rivals: Oakland and Seattle.
I mean, c'mon.... Who's running the MLB asylum anyhow?
And ain't it always our luck: a couple o' measly games decides if we go postseason or go home.
We were there... only to unravel with the Sept. 11 MLB postponement... a notion which seems trivial, given that we be alive and well enough to pursue any of this in the first place.
So, go play with the winds of fate. Can you imagine trying to actually run a ballclub under such conditions? With your money... or managing it for your boss? What is the latest figure on how much the Yankees spent to field their so-called dynasty? Or Los Dodgers? How much did it cost for Arizona's winning ways? Merely $81 million dollars -- much of this sum based on extended credit and deferred player salaries.
Can you imagine? What's become of this game?
One could conclude that had the front office gone into hock for an additional $10 or $20 million, the team on the field might very well have been two or more wins better. 'Tis a pity the Giants be forced to address silly realities such as economic sanity.
It's like when you were a kid, you might have asked: "How come Uncle Jerry's kids get to play with all those expensive (purple, no less) toys, and I have to make do with what Mom 'n' Pop can afford?"
If any of this seems fishy, take a whiff of the 1997 Marlins -- they who won it all.
Being that the sole positive note of that travesty of baseball justice was that we landed Hernandez and Nen from that very World Champion, the question may soon be, "What do we get when Colangelo's number is up? Craig Counsell?"
Back to the idea of Contention. There's another thing to consider in these so-called Modern Times. That is, having made the playoffs, what next? A best-three-outta-five, followed by a couple o' best-four-outta-sevens... against the best of the rest... meaning that regardless of how you qualify, you next have to win eleven more games to be crowned World Champs. Such is the postseason, and as things are, it seems wishful thinking that the Giants, we of the "mid-range" payroll, could ever scale that Himalaya. Now, the real pity of this is that we all know, deep in our hearts, that we could beat Arizona. Hell, sweep 'em, if need be! Oh, to have had the chance to battle those Yankees.…
What to do? Damned if I know. Enjoy what we have, acknowledging that -- as the 2001 season unfolded -- the right moves were made? Too bad we couldn't squeeze another season outta those old guys, who will be missed. They were gamers when it counted. However, we remain blessed with the likes of Rich Aurilia, who had one of the best years one could ever envision receiving from a shortstop. If it weren't for the year our left fielder had, we would be astounded by Aurilia. I believe it safe to assume, given good heath, he will continue to shine. Man, I do hope we will able to afford him for awhile.
Now, the perennial question: where to find a leadoff hitter who understands the importance of OBP?
I have no qualms with what is being tried re: Giants' fielding, knowing that unlike other clubs, the answers are not to be found in available Vinnys and Ricos. Jeff Kent has still got game. Pray that our other infield corners can step up. We will always need all the offense we can muster.
Lastly, though perhaps foremost, our pitching needs upgrading. Fingers were perpetually crossed until Jason Schmidt agreed to remain with the club.
And in 2002, will the Ainsworth kid be ready? If so, maybe Shawn Estes can be traded for something we need -- you'd have thought. True, Estes did the job, but in my heart I feel that when it matters he is not the Big-Game Pitcher we hoped he would be. So, who's available?
To my mind, the saving grace of the 2001 season was that we got to witness a piece of baseball history unfold. Truly, never in our wildest dreams did we anticipate Barry Bonds' Ruthian performance. The pinnacle of all-time offensive contribution by a ballplayer in a single season has forever been solely the Babe's, when he had a combined slugging percentage and on-base percentage of 1.379. Bonds finished the year with a combined 1.378... and that's by rounding off miniscule numbers.
Barry Bonds went out and matched Babe Ruth. Period. Wow! Oh, yeah, and the home runs. Stuck at how many, we were saying? If that wasn't the single greatest season a ballplayer ever had, then what was? Again, naysayers will point to "Yeah, but the team didn't W-I-N."
Which brings us back to: Win what? The chance to be in the right division at the right time? Or have the good fortune to go against less-than-"natural" rivals in that inanity called interleague play? Or be blessed with extra-deep pockets, so that we can afford a Chan Ho Brown?
It is what it is... additional bucks and luck wouldn't hurt this ballclub. But we forever come up short on both. And now we gotta face the fact that after the 2001 season, our best player earned the right to do whatever he wants. That could've meant that he was destined to be wearing pinstripes in 2002, replacing Chuck Knoblauch in left; or earning himself finger jewelry in Seattle; or perhaps he could've been the missing piece of the puzzle for "America's Team," the ones that air nationally on TBS; and please, oh please, don't even bring up signing with the Mets. Bleh!
Given : Citizen Boras gets his cut, no matter what. That we know. If Barry hungers for a ring, you'd think an adios was obvious, no? Luckily, no. And that one last ounce of optimism in me said that maybe, just maybe, Barry Bonds is happy in San Francisco.
You see, it's one thing to pass Paul Bunyan. And rightly it's another to match the Bambino. But what if you are driven by the idea of being as great -- and being recognized as great -- as the legendary Willie Mays? What if that's your guiding light? Seeing how you've finally shown everybody what you really can do in 162 games, how do you take it further?
For, if you believe that the Giants are just as valid as any of these so-called postseason "winners" -- but for twists of fate, and a couple of personnel changes, how do you elevate the whole shebang and achieve Giants immortality? For one thing, you don't necessarily get that ring by following the money, as we have seen, deep in the heart of Texas. As Dorothy learned: "There's no place like home." (Repeat when necessary).
By now it is obvious what needs fixing on the field, and my hunch has been that Giant contract negotiations would focus on this. After all is said 'n' done, in MacGowan and Sabean we trust.
Rick Braverman had the Giants at 60:1 to win the World Series in '93, and instead of collecting, left the country, and now suffers by following baseball from distant shores. He also once intended to save Tanya from clutches of the SLA, but he couldn't get decent odds.