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The "Rap" .......
About Baseball & More......
by Tom Cole
© 2005
September 5, 2005
The Strange Saga Continues-
A Season That Has Truly Been a 'Long, Strange Trip'
| The strange saga continues in the NL West as the San Francisco Giants passed yet another team in the standings and find themselves looking directly up at the San Diego Padres. With only one team in front of them, suddenly the impossible hopes of management, players and the fickle fan base in the Bay Area have been buoyed. What seemed impossible a week ago, improbable just three days before is now coming into sharp focus as an attainable goal - the NL West title. | Picked by most of the pundits to return to the playoffs, the Giants have more than floundered but since the waving of the white flag, the departure of Michael Tucker and the promotion of a bevy of players from Triple A Fresno, the Giants have won five straight games and are making a case to be taken seriously. Forget the fact they are 11 games under .500, the division leading Padres are playing .500 ball for the season and underachieving in spite of their young and very talented pitching staff led by Jake Peavy. |
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Young Matt Cain, doing what he is NOT paid to do, attempting to lay down a sacrifice bunt, in vain.
(AP Photo/Roy Dabner). |
| Matt Cain powered through the Diamondback lineup for seven innings yesterday, yielding but two hits and four strikeouts, but perhaps more interesting and of some long term concern, all but two of the putouts made in the field were flyballs, some of them quite deep to the extremely spacious outfield at Bank One Ballpark. Manager Alou acknowledged Cain's learning curve, pointing out that other pitches aside from a 95 mph fastball would enter the young pitcher's repertoire later. Inconsistency with the breaking ball and lack of confidence in a yet to be perfected change up accounted for the preponderance of hard | stuff thrown at the D-Back lineup, one missing Troy Glaus due to injury. Randy Winn apparently likes the spacious outfield in Phoenix, hitting safely in 8 of 13 plate appearances, adding the spark to the lineup as Sabean had envisioned when he traded his only back up catcher, Yorvit Torrealba, and former rookie sensation, rhp Jesse Foppert, to Seattle. Winn nudged his batting average up to .300 and his switch hitting ability and prowess in the field (something that was considered,suspect, at the very least, in all the scouting reports) has proven Sabean's judgement correct. |
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His second stint with the team this season has been much more pleasant , for both him and the fans.
(AP Photo/Roy Dabner).
| But the rigors of a major league season are relentless, as the Giants move on to Chavez Ravine to play their traditional rivals from LA. All those familiar with the Giants/Dodger rivalry know that destroying the pennant hopes of one team is sweet consolation in the absence of contending themselves. With the Dodgers scuffling, having lost three straight in Colorado, they will be anxious to right themselves at home in LA, with the seasoned veteran, Derek Lowe taking the mound against the cool and collected 1st year player, Brad Hennessey. The specter of Barry Bond actually re-joining the team for something more than batting practice looms, preying on the minds of their opponents and pleasantly pervading the dreams of the Giant front office and manager Felipe Alou. With only 27 games left in the season and a 5 1/2 game deficit to the Padres, |
there would be nothing sweeter for the Giants than to welcome the aloof superstar back into the clubhouse and dugout. The prospect of even a late inning pinch hitting appearance might further lift the already high spirits of the Giants players as well as give opposing managers something else to think about as no one doubts that Bonds, whether he can run or not, play the field or not, can still hit and will hit if he is healthy enough and given the chance. Naturally, the Giants management wants to see him perform for a number of reasons, primarily to confirm in their minds that if they retain him for next year that he can perform up to a certain standard, as the prospect of an absence from baseball related activitiesof more than one full years is rather daunting when contemplating the future of the team that has been so inextricably connected to arguably the greatest player of this generation. |
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| The Giants have made it interesting, yet again, as only the most foolhardy fan would have predicted. The next three days in LA should be interesting, and depending on the fate of the Padres at home against the recently tough Rockies team, it might even get exciting again for the die hard SF faithful. |