No Respect for the SF Giants
Written by MC Homer, Monday June 15 2009
After all 30 teams finished play on Sunday June 14th, I glanced at the current standings. It was not a big surprise to see the Red Sox and Phillies leading their respective divisions or the Washington Nationals already mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. The mediocre NL Central is, again, the most competitive division is baseball, but please, don’t get that confused with the ‘best’ division in the game. It is surprising to me, to see the LA Dodgers still holding the best record in the game, but what surprised me most is the team that trails them in the division, and leads the NL Wild-Card race (so what if it’s only mid-June?). You may not have heard of them with the lack of air time they get, but the San Francisco Giants are quietly making noise.
If you happened to peruse the Yahoo! Sports MLB website or ESPN.com today, Monday June 15th, you found nothing about the streaking Giants. Being a west coast team that struggles to score runs, that shouldn’t surprise anyone. SF is six games above .500 (34-28) and winners in nine of their last 12 contests. Even with the sixth best record in the game (yes, in MLB, not just the NL), they are still ranked 28th in all of baseball with 248 runs scored, ahead of only the Padres and Mariners. They are dead last with 34 home runs and are tied for 29th in on-base percentage, reaching base at an embarrassing clip of .312 (Oakland holds down the bottom of that category with a .311 OBP). Good thing they can pitch a little bit.
As I mentioned before, I looked at each of the two sports websites mentioned above, and both made note of Chad Billingsley, an LA Dodger, getting his “NL-leading” ninth win. Let’s change that to his “tied for NL-leading” ninth win, shall we? A little known pitcher by the name of Matt Cain, in the little known city of San Francisco, also received his ninth win Sunday and has better numbers this season than does the Dodgers ace. Billingsley threw a fantastic game in a 6-3 win over the AL West-leading Rangers, going seven innings and yielding three runs, only two of which were earned. He is now 9-3 on the year, with a dazzling 2.72 ERA. As great as Billingsley has been, Cain has been even better, but he is not on the team with the best record in baseball, so he gets no respect.
Some might argue that pitching against the Texas offense is a bit tougher than facing the Oakland offense, which has struggled to show any semblance of consistency this season, but the A’s came into the series against the Giants on a hot streak of their own, winning eight of ten prior to being swept by the Giants. ‘The Freak’ Tim Lincecum threw a complete game shutout on Friday night. I know, big surprise right? (yawn) Then the ancient Randy Johnson threw seven strong innings on Saturday night. Cain then followed up those two brilliant outings with a complete game four-hitter, the only blemish coming on a first inning solo homerun by Jack Cust. Matt Cain is now 9-1 with a 2.39 ERA on the year. He also doesn’t pitch for the team with the best offense in baseball (like sir Chad), in fact, it could be argued that he pitches for the worst.
I can completely understand why sports networks fail to cover the San Francisco Giants, you know, besides showing the final score on the scrolling ticker at the bottom of the screen, because nothing that the young, over-achieving Giants do, raises eyebrows, there's no 'wow' factor. The bottom line is they are just getting the job done, no matter what it takes. Their wins are never pretty, especially when closer Brian Wilson enters the game and promptly walks the bases loaded. They are never on any “top plays” lists and most games are extremely boring to watch unless you enjoy a pitchers duel. Oh, and they are on the west coast, and we all know of the east coast bias. This lack of media coverage is the polar opposite of just a few years ago when some guy named Barry Bonds was followed by half of our globe’s population holding clipboards, cameras, and microphones. Maybe it is better this way, flying under the radar so-to-speak.
Listen, I realize the Giants play in the “weak” NL West (although, it’s not the worst division in my humble opinion), but I whole-heartedly believe the sports world, or at least baseball fans everywhere, are missing out. The Giants play baseball, not “mash it 500 feet”-ball. They aren’t shooting up (or maybe they are and it’s just not working) or rubbing the cream and the clear on themselves (anymore), they are playing small ball. However, this is not by choice, but rather by necessity. Great pitching and timely hitting, mixed with speed, is what makes this team go. They will never (ever) comeback from a deficit of more than a couple runs, nor will they relinquish a 3+ run lead (very often). Want to watch baseball the way the game was meant to be played by it's creators? Flip on the boob tube next time San Francisco is in your area (because otherwise you will not know they exist), it’s not the high scoring, merry-go-round system that many teams employ (...oh, what I would give to see my Giants be able to do that…), but their game encapsulates everything good about the game of baseball. It's too bad that fundamentally sound teams who lack the 'flashy' player(s) are shown no respect.
The San Francisco Giants are actually playing good, solid baseball right now. The defensive (and mental) errors are down, the pitching has been stellar thus far, and although the offense leaves a lot (times infinity) to be desired, they are winning, and that’s all that matters. The best word to describe the 2009 Giants is scrappy. They are handed nothing (not even the Mets coughed one up in San Francisco when they visited). They have earned everything, and yet still aren’t being given any respect. If no one is willing to give you respect, then you just have to go out and take it, and that’s what this team is in the process of working towards. It is a long season, with over half of the schedule left to play, so I won't hold my breath quite yet. Just keep on keepin' on guys, and maybe, just maybe, someone will finally show a little respect.
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7 comments
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I like how you tagged all the same things, multiple times. I love the Giants, but I don't think I can respect them if they keep playing Rich Aurilia.
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What run support? How can something that is non-existant, like the Giants scoring runs, fail? Sandoval (absolutely love the guy and he might even be evolving into something special) is beginning to lay off the high stuff, he even took a 4 pitch walk the other night, probably the first one he has ever had and the last, but it's progress. As for Holliday, I don't want him. He's a Boras guy, so there's no way you can re-sign him before his contract ends at the end of this season. I'd rather not make a move than trade a great prospect for a guy who will leave at the end of the season. I'm okay with them missing the playoffs this year, because the Giants are really young and they have some talent in the minors. I'd like to win this year, but I'm not willing to trade any of our blue-chippers for someone unless that someone has year(s) left on his contract. Dunn? Uggla (not sure of his contract situation)? I'd wouldn't even mind DeRosa or Cantu (again, no clue about their contracts). Those are all names I've heard on the radio waves around SF. Wild card is up for grabs, no one is better than anyone else right now. Only the Nats can be ruled out.
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Although that pesky NL Central can't be discounted. The Cards always overachieve (even when they won the World Series), and you can't forget about the Cubs and Brewers. Hmm...
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i don't expect Cain and Lincecum to fail. I expect their run support to fail. When people start realizing that you can throw a ball over Sandoval's head and he'll swing at it, suddenly his bat is less dangerous. We all know Matt Holliday is gone in a couple weeks, so they might as well go after him. Holliday wouldn't have to move any of his crap. And we all know what that guy does in SF whenever he goes (minus the last series). And yes, the Mets will win the Wild Card.
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My idea of boring baseball is not scoring any runs, maybe I should have explained that, my bad. Lewis needs to sit and so does Burriss, he ain't hittin' for sh!t. As for the NL East, who exactly is going to get the wild card? The Mets? Funny. Braves? Riiiight. Oh, maybe you mean the Nationals? Could happen. I'm not saying the Giants are a good team by any stretch of the imagination, but if they add a bat, they automatically become a dangerous team, especially if they make the post season. I still don't expect them to make the playoffs, let alone end the season with a .500 or better record, but for what they have done so far, I think they deserve a little bit of respect. 62 games (when I wrote the article) is roughly 40% of the season, how many more games do they have to play, to be able to play the respect card, 100? As for faltering down the stretch, they've never been in this position before (with a young team), leading the wild card (yes, its still June), so how do we know if it's "no secret" that they will falter? It's not like Cain and lincecum failed in Aug and Sept last year. I'm not asking for the Giants to leadoff on Sportscenter, but I'd like to see them before the 55 minute mark. It's a down year in baseball, there is no truly dominant team (yet), so why not give the Giants some love for preforming better than most?
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It's a little early to ask for the respect card. There have only been like 60 games played so far. It's nice that they're playing well and all that, but it's no secret that without adding a bat they are going to falter down the stretch. The pitching is legit for sure, but Lincecum and Cain can't keep them from losing 2-1 come August. I am rooting for them (since the A's suck so hard), but the Wild Card is destined to come out of the East. Unfortunately.
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Giants games are definitely not high scoring, but they are far from boring. Who would have thought Tim Lincecum would be responsible for starting the three-run rally that put the A's away on Friday? The Giants are fun to watch if you love great pitching and savvy strategy. Now if Boch will just bench Fred Lewis and play Nate Schierholtz everyday, they could actually keep that wild card lead.