The Southpaw south·paw (southpô)
n. Slang
A left-handed person, especially a left-handed baseball pitcher.
Monday, March 31, 2003
Giants WIN!!!!! (still)
Blogger sucked from work, but now it's working from home (I had to edit this double-post of Giants Win!!!). Let's hope that Google will clean these guys' act up (Google recently purchased Blogger). I'd hate to not get to read daily updates from Only Baseball Matters, and I don't like having problems either.
Never mind. Blogger locking up kept me here in time to see Loretta ground into a game-ending double-play.
GIANTS WIN!
GIANTS WIN!
GIANTS WIN!
The Dodgers also won in a double-edge sword game (Nomo pitched a shutout, although I don't know how many innings he threw). Side-A: The Dodgers won; Side-B: Nomo's on my fantasy team. I might have to dump him soon, since I hate rooting for Dodgers in any way/shape/form.
Tim Worrell will come in to close it out for the Giants, not Rob Nen.
Bonds had a 2-on, 2-out situation in the Top of the 9th and struck out. I wonder how many Padre fans were holding their breath during that at bat.
Well, I'm outta here. I'm hoping to catch the last few outs on the radio on the way home. If anything happens, I'll take full responsibility as a fan for leaving my post at the computer.
After Snow's blast, Grissom singles to center and Alou pinch-hits another monster (Niefi Perez) for Felix Rodriguez who in turn sac-bunts Grissom over to third.
Does this mean that Nen will make an appearance on Opening Day? I would think that Felix could have attempted the bunt if they didn't have Nen ready, but reading the game over GameCast makes it difficult to predict who's warming up in the Pen.
Well, after a Ray Durham K, Jose Cruz singles in Grissom on a single to right. I guess it worked out in the end (they got another insurance run).
Three pitches into the 9th inning, and the Giants have opened up a 4-2 lead on the Padres.
The surprise wasn't Santiago knocking one out on the second pitch of the inning . . . it was J.T. SNOW hitting a dinger on one pitch! Did they set the tee up for him? Maybe all that work this offseason actually HAS paid off . . . or perhaps it's one of his 8 HRs this season.
In a continuing effort to make the Starting 9 (or so) "blog only" - or at least "primarily" - I have bumped Peter Gammons and "The Sports Guy" Bill Simmons onto the bench. In their place I have bumped up the remaining blogs and added our two new Giants blogs to the bottom of the order.
Sorry to anyone already riding the pine, but Giants fans get favoritism with The Southpaw . . . and besides, I don't get enough hits to REALLY make or break your site, so I'm sure you're not really concerned.
I got an e-mail from not one but two new Giants bloggers (well, technically three).
The first was sent to me some time ago, but as I've been out of the loop I just saw it the other day. His name is Grant and he's started Waiting for Boof, which to me sounds like a Teen Wolf reference, so I'm either with it or WAY off. He's got a good site and laces it with humor, something that is tried to various degrees of success here at The Southpaw.
The next site is called The New Giant Thrill, which is a great play of words by-the-way - referring to my favorite Giant growing up, Will "The Thrill" Clark. This site is run by not one but two fans, Josh and Matt (no, not Matt "The Southpaw"). Ironically, they just found this site through Waiting for Boof! Talk about networking!
As I always have felt, there can never be too many blogs out there, and I'm very excited to have some new blood talking about the Giants . . . now I'll have someone else to talk about in addition to my "Blogfather", John J. Perricone (from Only Baseball Matters).
Keep up the great work guys!
In addition to those who have contacted me regarding their sites, I have also noticed that both of the above listed sites have a link to EEEEEE!, "A Newsletter by and for annoyed San Francisco Giants fans". That looks worth checking out as well.
Look for new links to be added to the 25-man roster soon. And keep those e-mails coming!
Many say that a team's first at bat will set the tone for the entire season. If this is the case, then the Giants are once again on the path to glory.
Ray Durham, in his San Francisco Giants regular-season debut took a 1-2 pitch deep to right to start off the Giants season with a HOME RUN.
As I write this they are tied with the Padres 2-2 (after leading 2-0) in the Bottom of the 6th Inning in San Diego. Many thanks to ESPN for their MLB GameCast, so I can keep up with the Giants action even when I don't have a radio available to listen to the game.
Speaking of which, does anyone know why KNBR's website won't stream the game online? It just loops "KNBR.com" adds. All I can guess is that with the MLB radio package they can't stream games or something.
The Twins Geek has 2003 American League award predictions, so I'm going to jump in with mine. NOTE: I couldn't find a perminant link to the article, so I'll look again later.
MVP
AL: A-Rod. Many considered him snubbed last year, so unless Texas goes further south or he gets seriously injured, he's got to be the front-runner going into the season.
NL: Bonds, Barry Bonds. With a younger, quicker lineup, Barry will not fall from grace after losing The Motorcycle Man himself, Jeff Kent.
CY YOUNG
AL: Pedro Martinez if healthy, should take this award. He almost won it last year with injuries, and actually could have. If he gets hurt again, you have to like the Oaktown Trio of Zito, Mulder, and Huddy. The A's could easily be the AL version of the 90's Braves . . . someone's always in contention.
NL: I like Schilling, but it's tough to go against The Big Unit. The fact that they're on the same team makes it tougher and easier at the same time. They've got the same lineups, but face different quality starters (opponents 1 vs. 2).
ROOOKIE OF THE YEAR:
AL: Matsui. He's really a veteran, so he's got the advantage already. The interesting race will be for second.
NL: Kurt Ainsworth or Jesse Foppert. Hee Seop Choi gets a lot of press, but I don't know enough about pretty much any of the NL rookies this year to make an educated decision, so I'll stick with the Giants young arms. I expect them to surprise a lot of people, but maybe not quite enough for this award. But speaking of rookies, here's an interesting All-Rookie Team from ESPN.com.
And remember, all predictions are for entertainment purposes only, unless I'm right . . . in which case I'll probably brag about it in this space (where not many will see it).
Tim Kurkjian has nothing but good things to say about USC alum and #2 Overall pick Mark Prior. And neither do I.
Here's what Kurkjian had to say:
Prior has made only 19 major-league starts. But if you saw him, there's little doubt he's a future Cy Young Award winner.
I saw Prior at USC, where he led them to the College World Series, and almost willed them to the Championship. He's the best pitcher to come out of SC since Barry Zito, and if Wood can stay healthy they'll make a tremendous duo for YEARS to come.
I still can't believe that Twins passed him up. Are you telling me that he makes more then a Free Agent pitcher on the market? He was looking for a lot of money to sign, but he was towering over the draft and is starting in the Majors at 22 years old! He even had the ability to be a call-up right after he was drafted! (Although admittedly that would probably have been a huge mistake). I just don't see why they were so scared. They're contenders now, and Prior would have only solidified that.
"I think there's an upside in this trade. He pitches a lot of innings. Let's hope they're quality innings." - Expos GM Omar Minaya
Did he mention the upside yet?
"Hernandez is a guy we will miss regardless of his record. He always made his starts and kept us in games." - Giants GM Brian Sabean
The problem is that he kept them in games too.
And then there's the one, two, three articles about the trade from MLB.com.
Some noteworthy quotes:
the club had an option for $6 million in 2004 which automatically kicks in if the right-hander pitches 217 innings this season
Good thing he's gone, or he could have been here TWO more years.
"Obviously Ainsworth is ready in our minds to pitch immediately in the big leagues. We needed to pay attention to that. And Foppert has come so fast. More and more it was important to clarify what direction we wanted to go in." - Giants GM Brian Sabean
I'd say that direction would be FORWARD.
Three other teams also had talks with the Giants, but Sabean reported Expos GM Omar Minaya was anxious to make it happen, especially with injuries to starters Javier Vazquez and "El Duque" Hernandez
This was, of course, after they had called me to see if I'd move to Montreal first . . . but I think it all worked out in the end.
And, from the moment the trade was announced, there was much rejoicing among Giants fans.
It's better than releasing him, when they'd get absolutely no one in return. And that seemed to be the next step.
Good. I thought that their next step was to just let him play out the season, in which he may have hit his 217 innings and been locked into another year. And that would have been horrid for Giants fans everywhere.
11:20 AM
Maybe now I'll finally get back in the mix
If anyone out there has tried to check this site, only to find NOTHING for almost a month. I appologise. Finally back to work, so my schedule has been very hectic. I'm in a fantasy baseball league with some other bloggers, which is nothing short of exciting (aside from the fact that I don't really have a Catcher to speak of).
Opening day is upon us, so there's LOTS of great baseball talk out there. I'm posting a bunch of links to interesting stories today, and we'll see what else I can come up with for any passers-by or die-hard Southpaw fans (if there are any).
I've been wanting to address some Jeff Kent post-SFG issues for a while, and haven't quite known how to start.
This article over at mlb.com has a lot to say about Kent in his new situation in Houston where he's quoted as saying that Biggio is a better athlete then him or else he (meaning Kent) would be playing CF this year.
He also talks about how you can not compare last year's Giants team with this season's version. Who should you compare it to then?
Here's a long quote that I need to show you:
This team (the Astros) has the best option, I think, to get back to the World Series. It can consistently play good throughout the year. Last year I had a chance to go to the World Series with a great team in San Francisco. I'm bitter because we lost. I'm near the end of my career, too, so you do everything you can to get back to the Series, put yourself in that position. And I think coming here allows me a better chance than anywhere else. That's why I chose to come here.
Notice the phrase "back to the World Series". Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember the Astros ever getting to the World Series . . . so how would they go back? And if he's simply talking about himself getting back to the Series, then he's crazy. I don't know offhand how many people have the 'Stros as their NL favorites to go to the Series, but I don't think it's that many.
Another thing that I wanted to touch on is the Sportscenter segment on Kent a few days ago. He said that Barry would miss him and that he (meaning Barry) played better because Kent got in his face all the time. Then he took some shots indirectly by saying it was great to join the Astros because they had established leaders in their clubhouse. What a bitter man. The sad part is that he could have stayed for relatively the same amount of money. I hope (sort of) that it doesn't end up biting him in the ass, but then again if Alfonso and Cruz have career years - and/or Kent stumbles - it could really be good for a Free Agent next season wanting to play with Superman.
Kent also talked about how he's not a fan of baseball, and basically how he won't even talk about it. He said something to the extent of 'if you want to talk about hunting or motorcross, then we'll get along just fine'. These are the kinds of things that you try to overlook when a player is on your team, but really look bad as soon as they're not. I always hated Kent talk about how much he "wasn't" a fan of baseball.
For all of Barry's off-field criticisms, he loves to talk about the game. The best always have. Even Peter Gammons mentioned how A-Rod stayed up until 4 in the morning on his wedding day talking baseball with Cal Ripkin, Jr. and Scott Boras. And he's the only player that you could resonably compare to Superman.
player, position
david aardsma, rhp roger whitaker, rhp jeffery jennings, c nathan schierholtz, 3b brian buscher, 3b brooks mcniven, rhp mike wagner, lf william sadler, rhp patrick misch, lhp timothy hutting, ss kellen ludwig, rhp jesse schmidt, of
jeffery peterson, rhp ryan sadowski, rhp nick conte, c sean martin, rhp j thurmond, rhp michael mooney, of marcus sanders, ss patrick dobson, of jonathan coutlangus, cf raul rodriguez, c
sean watson, rhp nathan fogle, rhp michael kunes, lhp brian wilson, rhp nolan mulligan, rhp douglas coon, lhp omar aguilar, rhp roberto gonzalez, cf daniel desouza, cf derek barrow, 3b
eduardo baeza, rhp oscar gonzalez, cf travis nesmith, lhp cody mcallister, rhp tyson brummett, rhp timothy alvarez, lhp shannon wirth, rhp jordan hafer, 1b michael price, c dylan gonzalez, rhp
michael johnston, lhp luis martinez, c mike bell, c john odom, rhp james braden, rhp brandon federici, lhp thomas correa, ss matthew berezay, of douglas fister, rhp james popp, rhp
