It is over in the National League
West. The San Francisco Giants
have won it. The Arizona Diamond-
backs have seven games left
with the Giants and the
Los Angeles Dodgers six.
Both teams will have to beat
the Giants in all those games
and then play .800 ball to be
there tied with Giants at
end of September.
And yes, at the same time
the Giants would have to
collapse. What are the
chances ? Easier for
Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown
to announce next week
the building of a new ballpark
in downtown Oakland for the
A’S.

By Amaury Pi-González
San FranciscoSellouts and more sellouts during
the ‘dog days’ of summer at
Pac Bell Park and people
are enjoying this team as
much as any Giants team
in recent memory.

Sidney Ponson has a great
sinker. His first outing he
got introduced to the team
his teammates and to the
fans. Sidney lost the game
but pitched well enough
to win it and that is all
you can hope for.
The Pirates win a game
once-in-a-while and Ponson’s
first game with Giants
was that game for the
Pirates.

Very soon I will be receiving
my Playoff and World Series
tickets from the Giants like
during the past few seasons.
Last year they made it to
the World Series as a
wild card team this year
they won the West and
might have to battle
Atlanta, maybe Houston
to make it to the October
Classic.

I wrote in this column very
early this season about the
“something” that I could not
describe that this Giants
team had and that the
Dodgers did not. Remember?
I am not coming back here
today to cash my chips, but
just to remind you that
Felipe Alou has this Giants
team playing very hard and
although they might not
scare anybody with their
pitching,great defense and
adecuate hitting, they do
manage to win and that is
the bottom line.

Pedro Feliz could be an excellent
hitter is he waited more for
his pitch and Edgardo Alfonzo
is providing the leadership
at third base. Neifi Pérez
will do a great job at short
while Rich Aurilia is out
with a bad groin injury
(both of my shortstops
have same injury, in
Seattle is Carlos Guillen
and ex-Giants Rey Sanchez
is also doing an outstanding
job at short).

If KR returns the Giants
pitching should be very good
and they could get hot during
Playoffs and advance again
to the World Series. I would
not bet against these Giros !
Look, I am not a homer but
I can tell you that this bunch
have a lot of “cojones”and
that combined with Schilling
and Randy hurt most of the
first half was enough to
give the Giants the Western
Division.

Oh well, so what they will
not clinch it until like the
18th of September ? Big deal,
there is no race here folks.
What, Padres are not
mathematically eliminated
yet ?
In San Diego there is a
bumper-sticker that read
PRAY FOR THE PADRES.

In Denver their is no
hope for the Rockies in
Arizona they are marketing
for the 2004 season and
in LA..LA..LAND, well, they
fired Jack Clark their hitting
coach let’s just watch
how much they will hit now !
Dodger problem is not
a hitting coach is a lack
of 6 or 7 hitters !
Ted Williams, Stan Musial,
Ty Cobb and Barry Bonds
could not make Cesar Izturis
hit over .220 even with
personal instructions.

So kids, get ready for
the Postseason again at
Pac Bell Park. Yes, the
scalpers, the tourist, the
Giants fans predicting
a World Series and
the traffic jams around
wonderful Pac Bell Park.
And some even more
daring predictions like
a Bay Series World Series.
I would not like that, since
we might have another
Earthquake.

See you there !
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