Or: Play in VS mode, sacks.

Tonight’s recap is brought to you by Google translator.

Bruce Bochy is that his left-handed left-handed lineup to hit there tonight can not be put,Brett Pill, because it is not a solid outfielder, it completely backfired. He is also the defense of some authorities to have something to hurt you, play it through a giant, but it is not above average outfielder. Too high.

(Bruce Bochy put his lefties can’t hit lefties lineup out there tonight and it totally backfired because Brett Pill is not a solid outfielder. He’s not even an above average outfielder, so having the matchup thing out there over having a COMPETENT DEFENSE hurt the Giants. Too much.) » Continue reading “Giants Recap: Matchups Suck”

(Thomas Hawk/flickr)

The official Giants twitter tweeted some disabled list updates today:

#SFGiants place Eric Surkamp, Dan Runzler and Freddy Sanchez all on DL, retroactive to 3/26. Ryan Vogelsong placed on DL, retro to 3/27

Alex Pavlovic reports that Mike Fontenot has been placed on release waivers:

The Giants placed Mike Fontenot on release waivers Friday, just before his contract was about to become fully guaranteed. The move saves the Giants about $787,000 and all but locks up a roster spot for fellow LSU grad and middle infielder Ryan Theriot.

I can just hear it now: “Starting at second base, Emmanuel Burriss!”

Oh, how great this season will be.

As tweeted by Jayson Stark this morning:

Giants telling teams today they’re shopping Ryan Theriot & Mike Fontenot. Possible fit for Braves & Phillies.

And followed up with a tweet from Alex Pavlovic:

Giants have 6 days until Theriot, Font contracts are fully guaranteed. If they’re shopping them, looks like Burriss will be opening day 2B.

There are so many things wrong with this, I don’t know where to start.

Okay, well, first of all, here’s a mind-numbing number, as tweeted by Julian Levine of Giants Nirvana:

Emmanuell Burriss has a 44 OPS+ in 127 games since 2009.

(If you’re not familiar with OPS+, read Megan Wells’ entry about it on Around the Horn.)

So. A 44 OPS+ in 127 games. Remember that 100 is league average. And any number that creates a huge gap between itself and 100 is generally ugly.

But let’s focus on career numbers that are much more positive, shall we?

» Continue reading “Emmanuel Burriss: Opening Day 2B. Or, Don’t Do This To Us, Giants.”

Ben Nicholson-Smith of MLB Trade Rumors reports:

Giants, Mike Fontenot agree to one-year deal for 2012, avoiding arbitration I have learned.

One more year of Fontenot? FonteYES!

This move also means that Jeff Keppinger will likely be non-tendered.

UPDATE: Andrew Baggarly reports that Jeff Keppinger and Eli Whiteside have been non-tendered.

As reported by Andrew Baggarly, the Giants are out of the running to sign Carlos Beltran. Cody Ross, as well. Though it seemed like a long shot for either to come back, Zack Wheeler is likely still a chilled guy.

Now the organization will have to decide between keeping Jeff Keppinger or Mike Fontenot. On one hand, Keppinger is still Keppinger and Fontenot is on a mission to return the ring to Mordor with his pal Samwise Gamgee.

John Shea reports that the payroll is at $130 million. As Baggarly tweeted, the payroll is already maxed out.

How the rest of the offseason will play out for the Giants will be interesting. However, the #FreeBrandonBelt hashtag will likely have to make a comeback.

Ah, the wonders of the internet during the off-season. Gone are the days when no one knew about deals until they were done an we could all live in blissful ignorance of the potentially stupid moves the front office contemplated. The latest example? Multiple reports today that the Giants are in on Alex Gonzalez.

There is an upside to this potential deal.  He’s an extremely solid defender with a little pop who could platoon with Brandon Crawford, who has struggled seriously against left handed pitching.

That said, Gonzalez made $2.5M last year which, while really a pretty reasonable amount, could easily balloon with the insane way the middle infielder market has gone this Winter. He’s also close to 35 and posted just a 4.6% walk rate in 2011. For a one year deal, the Giants could probably do worse, but it certainly isn’t a move that would be any notable improvement. In fact, looking at the splits, it might also be better to let Mike Fontenot start against lefties, given that he has pretty reasonable left/right splits all things considered.

But hey, it’s all still rumors, obviously. Maybe tomorrow I’ll wake up and find that Sabes and Co. have pulled off some totally reasonable trade to snatch J.J. Hardy from the Orioles. I mean a girl can hope, right?

Sergio Romo’s 21.2 inning scoreless streak, dating back to June, was snapped tonight in the eighth inning by a tragic, meaningless outbreak of a horrible disease on the shores of McCovey Cove — THE WAVE.

Okay, so maybe a bit hyperbolic to draw a correlation there, but both statements are true. Sergio Romo did in fact give up an earned run in the eighth and the entirety of AT&T Park was doing the wave at the time. This is why we can’t have nice things, Giants fans! Let this be a lesson to us all.

In complete seriousness though, in his final start of the season, Ryan Vogelsong pitched another gem, with a final line of 7IP, 4H, 0BB, 4K, 0ER. He had to pitch himself out of a few jams early on, but as has come to be expected, he maintained his composure and did more than keep the Giants in the game.  Sergio Romo and the wave followed in the eighth, followed by Santiago Casilla in to close for Brian Wilson, who according to the post-game press conference is being shut down for the season.

Mike Fontenot gave most of the offensive thump with a two-run triple in the third, which, if you’ve been following this season, is not as bizarre as it sounds, and then scored on a Brett Pill sac fly to erase the run given up in The Great Wave Debacle of 2011.  Pablo Sandoval also laid down a beauty of a bunt, lefty on lefty, after Bochy’s attempted deke by putting DeRosa on deck failed.

The Giants won on a final score of 3-1.

The Giants dodge what would have been an ugly sweep in Houston Sunday.

An extra inning rally to prevent a sweep is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Giants.

Taking down the Astros 6-4 in 11 innings was a nice win for San Francisco, considering they had lost five of their last six before Sunday’s four hour game.

It was ideal. Panda hit a two run homer in the top of the 11^th to break open the tie ball game. That was enough to seal the win and send the G-men back home with only a one and a half game deficit to make up on Arizona for the NL West lead.

The typically mild offense was a bit more potent, in Sunday’s contest, as Brandon Belt launched a shot over the fence for a three run homer in the second. However, the 3-0 lead was not kept for long as Houston rallied in the bottom of the second to tie the game, and then take the lead.

Mike Fontenot hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth to bring Nate Schierholtz across home plate to tie up the game at four a piece.

Most wins like this are very worthwhile to celebrate, especially when they prevent a sweep and stop a losing streak. The unfortunate matter is that this was against Houston. No offense to that franchise, but the defending World Champions had to take the worst team in baseball into extra innings to pull out one win in a three game series.

That really is pathetic. I’m glad the Giants won, they really couldn’t afford to lose, but if it weren’t for the Astros being a little gutsy and pitching to Pablo in the eleventh, San Fran could have easily been swept.

With a long home stand ahead, it is imperative that the Giants take this win and multiply it. Not only do they need to overtake Arizona for the playoff spot, but some momentum and team chemistry sure would be nice as the regular season winds down and the postseason beckons.

With his first at bat, Brandon Belt took his sir-name to heart, belting a solo homerun.

Later in the second inning, fellow youngsters on the team, Brandon Crawford and Madison Bumgarner contributed to the Giants’ scoring efforts. Crawford reached second base on an error by the Dodgers, and with a fielder’s choice managed his way to third base. Starting pitcher and 21 year old Bumgarner had an RBI bunt to bring the rookie short-stop home.

Brandon Belt drove in three runs in the Giants 5-3 win over the Dodgers

The trios’ work gave San Francisco a 2-0 lead over NL West rival the L.A. Dodgers. Unfortunately, the Dodgers answered in the top of the third with three runs taking a 3-2 lead.

Andres Torres made his way around the bases for the G-men as Mike Fontenot’s long single advanced him to third and Pablo Sandoval drove him home with a single up the middle.

With a tie ball game in the bottom of the seventh, it was Belt who took advantage of a bases loaded situation. He doubled, driving in two runs and giving the Giants a 5-3 edge—one they would not relinquish.

The World Series Champions from 2010 were marquee misfits, banded together for one last shot a glory. Many of those Giants remain on the roster, but it seems to be the up and coming athletes making their mark on the franchise.

With players like Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, and Madison Bumgarner producing impressive games regularly the future looks bright for the team by The Bay.

Ryan Vogelsong began the game with two perfect innings, before two batters reached in the third via a walk and an error. That error proved to be costly as Miguel Tejada was taken out of the game because a lower abdominal strain. Brandon Crawford took Tejada’s place in the lineup and no later than one inning after entering the game, he turned a double play that prevented the Dodgers from scoring a run.

The offense was quiet for the first three innings, showing no life and stranding runners in scoring position. However, Pablo Sandoval broke the nil-nil tie in the fourth with a beautiful home run to right center field. Following that sample flash of what could be an offense, a two-out single by Cody Ross was left stranded on base.

Though not as sharp as most would hope, Vogelsong battled through the baserunners and pitching from the stretch to get the outs. The Houdini act Vogelsong pulled can also be attributed to the infield defense, turning key double plays to get out of jams.

» Continue reading “Vogelsong, Defense Best The Dodgers In A True Laugher”