Idiots Write About Sports

As the season wore on, I wrote less and less about the 2004 Giants. Partially that was because of things going on in my own personal and professional life, including the birth of my son. But partially because the Giants weren’t a very interesting team this year.

Actually, they were painful to watch. Double plays, untimely hitting, a screwed up starting rotation, and to top it all off, a terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible bullpen.

The fact that this year’s Giants were eliminated with less than six innings remaining in their season is staggering. It says a lot, and not just about the Giants. It says a lot about the two teams that were presumptive favorites a month ago, but dealt with the pressure by collapsing. The Cubs fell apart and stayed apart. Have a nice off-season getting needled by the media, Manager Thin-Skin. The Dodgers imploded and then used a series of self-immolations by the heinous Colorado Rockies and their idiot manager to keep their wreckage afloat, gain some momentum, and squeak in with a divisional victory.

Think about this: Were it not for the miraculous revival of the Astros, the Giants would most likely be playing (and being swept by) the St. Louis Cardinals this week. If you’d like to draw any parallels between Jack McKeon and Phil Garner, you may go ahead. I would not bet against the Astros, despite the seeming power of the Cardinals, because they’re the NL team going into the postseason with the most momentum. They’ve got a real Florida vibe to them.

Although I might complain about Felipe Alou’s terrible, terrible overuse of bullpen match-ups — one of the reasons the Giants are painful to watch without a generous TiVo buffer — I can’t complain with his results. These Giants have won 90 games. (And barring a collapse of, um, yesterday proportions, it looks like it’ll be 91.) This is a 90-win team? Baseball Prospectus’ adjusted standings would tell you that the Giants (and the Dodgers) are more realistically in the 85-86-game range. So thumbs up to Alou for getting more out of these guys than any of us really deserved. Even if we had to see Wayne Franklin swapped for Scott Eyre swapped for Matt Herges swapped for Jason Christiansen more times than anyone would want.

In the next day or so I’ll join Phil and make my postseason picks. I’ll be honest — I am a little relieved that the Giants didn’t squeak in. The last couple of years, October has been a high-stress time. I am looking forward to a postseason that won’t give me acid reflux (unless the Yankees win it, of course). I think Phil is, too.

As for next year, I’m actually optimistic about the Giants right now. The young starting pitching really gives me some hope. The everyday lineup has some interesting pieces, but the lack of a solid player to bat behind Bonds needs to be addressed. Of course, Bonds isn’t getting any younger, and one of these years he is going to begin a precipitous decline. But if the Giants make some appropriate line-up moves (resolving the Feliz-Alfonzo-Snow logjam, coming up with three true starting outfielders, simplifying the catcher situation) and, most importantly, find a way to reconstruct the bullpen, they’ll have a shot.

But, given the strength of San Diego and Los Angeles, only a shot. Let’s hope they take it.

Until then, I will watch the postseason with relief, enjoy the high-definition NFL broadcasts, and pray that the Cal Bears can keep the good times rolling.

As I’ve taught my two-year-old daughter to say, Go Giants! And so we close the door.

Are you a Cal alumni? Theyre doing great right now. USC should be fun

Went to grad school there, but the more salient point is that my family has had the same four season tickets on the 35 yard line (section FF, row 19!) since before I was born. My parents had them before me, and now I have them.

So far, this is a GOOD time to be a Cal fan. But I've been there in the J Torchio days...

That's awesome. What did you major in?

Graduate School of Journalism, then taught there for a few years afterward... but my heart will always belong to Section FF row 19.

Jason says:
"So far, this is a GOOD time to be a Cal fan."

Indeed it is. Around my neck of the woods, however, your team gets referred to as "Those People who ruined Boxing Day."

Well, one of us refers to it that way, anyway. But when I'm not holding a grudge, it's interesting to observe the team getting better and better.

Post a comment