Marty; When a team loses 14 out of it’s latest 16 games, when five of those games, in six tries, are lost to the likes of Cleveland and Kansas City, it should be clear to management that changes of a drastic nature are called for. Good teams never suffer such a dismal stretch. Apparently, Sabean has now figured this out.

Click below for more!
[Read more →]

Batter Up June 12, 2005

For years the most vulnerable person on a major league baseball team has been the manager when the team hits the skids.

Times have changed.

As soon as a teams record dips more than ten games below .500 the coaches become the scapegoats. If hitting is the problem, the batting coach goes. If pitching is the culprit, then the pitching coach is held accountable.

Click below for more! [Read more →]

They say baseball is the most
historic of sports and this weekend
we will see sort of history when
the Cleveland Indians make their
first visit to San Francisco.

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]

The NFL has it, college basketball toys with it, baseball certainly doesn’t need it.

It’s instant replay.

Regardless of the controversy surrounding a blown call in the Phillies Giants game this week, baseball gets along just fine without “further review” from the booth.

Who needs to see the umpires huddling in foul territory watching a television monitor as they try to figure out if a ball was trapped or caught?

If four umpires can’t figure out what happened on the field between themselves there is something wrong with the umpires, not the system.

The human element has always been a charming part of baseball.

I like yelling at the ump when I think he blows a call.

Let’s keep it that way.

Interleague play starts again this week.

Click below for more!

[Read more →]

Let’s stop this hypocrisy and come to the conclusion that these players are adults and
if they took steroids most people could care
less. Baseball is part of the entertainment
world and the average family/household
in this country has much more important
issues than to worry if one of their favorite
players took steroids.

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez [Read more →]

Marty; For the past more than two years this column has been written from the point of view of a traditional fan who has been a follower of this ball club since Polo Grounds days, whose memory goes back to the 1934 World Series when Carl Hubbell took care of the Washington Senators. There is no opportunity here to talk with management or the players, as a beat writer for the press does.

One is not privy to inside information. On the surface, this may appear to be a disadvantage. However, there is something to be said for approaching a team’s problems without being beholden to those who have a self interest in putting the best face on past actions. Not having a stake in decision making, having a fan’s independence, may add a degree of reliability to one’s judgement.

Having said that, let’s take a look at the latest effort by Sabean to turn a club which is going nowhere into a playoff contender.

Click below for more from Ed Stern. [Read more →]

Glenn Dickey

IN THEIR UNSPOKEN but very real cross-bay rivalry with the A’s, the Giants have important advantages: The history of being here first; a much superior park; much better radio contract, as KNBR not only broadcasts the games but promotes the team relentlessly at all times; and a significantly higher payroll, which may be the most important of all.

Everything is relative. The Giants and A’s payroll combined is only about two-thirds that of the Yankees, who should be embarrassed that they don’t go 162-0. But the Giants payroll, about $85 million this year, gives them a flexibility that the A’s lack with their $60 million payroll. [Read more →]

The A’s have bad pitching and even worse hitting. The season is lost before the May has officially ended. Come’ on. Relax.

Click below to read the rest of the article. [Read more →]

Batter up May 29th

“Sports Illustrated” tells us this week that the number of home runs hit this season in the majors has fallen dramatically. The implication being that drug testing has taken the power out of the game and that pitching is back.

I don’t buy it. The number of home runs will be right back on the upswing once the weather warms up and the pitchers get tired. Happens every summer.

The late esteemed Hall of Fame baseball writer Leonard Koppett was correct when he said that you can’t judge any baseball statistic until you see a full season’s worth of games.

The weather hasn’t even heated up in Texas yet, but the way the Rangers are hitting home runs, they might cure the power drought by themselves.

Click Below for More! [Read more →]

Marty; It is time to get realistic about this Giants’ club and, while we’re at it, a very brief word about the A’s.

The A’s are a very bad ball club. Their hitting is deplorable, their fielding is abominable and their pitching leaves a great deal to be desired. Is there anything which hasn’t been covered? There is small reason to anticipate a remarkable turn around this year.

Click Below for Ed’s analysis of the Giants.

[Read more →]