Tag: San Francisco Giants (Page 6 of 38)

      Pablo Sandoval to miss 4-6 weeks due to wrist injury

      April 30, 2011 /
      San Francisco Giants batter Pablo Sandoval reacts after failing to get a hit during the fifth inning of his MLB National League baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in San Francisco, California, April 11, 2011. REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      The baseball gods are making up for last year as it pertains to injuries and the San Francisco Giants.

      After not suffering one major injury on their way to winning the World Series last season, the Giants will be without their best hitter (at least currently) for the next 4-6 weeks this year as Pablo Sandoval fractured his hamate bone in his right wrist. It’s a major blow for a lineup that has been filthy bad for the past week or so.

      Ryan Rohlinger has been called up from Triple-A, although manager Bruce Bochy has already stated that Miguel Tejada and Mike Fontenot will see plenty of time at third base and shortstop, respectively. In other words, Bochy has managed to make an already struggling lineup, much, much worse.

      Some people will point out that the Giants won the World Series last year with Sandoval on the bench. But they also had a versatile Juan Uribe (now with the Dodgers) and Sandoval is the only hitter who is doing anything for the Giants currently. Make no mistake: This is a massive blow to the defending champs.

      Maybe the Giants will get lucky and either Manny Burriss or Rohlinger will start hitting. If not, it’s going to be a long 4-6 weeks watching Miguel Tejada and Mike Fontenot play every day.

      External Sports, MLB

      Giants’ Brandon Belt running out of time to prove himself in the majors?

      April 16, 2011 /
      San Francisco Giants’ Brandon Belt autographs baseballs before his MLB National League baseball game in San Francisco, California, April 8, 2011. REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      Brandon Belt has been a nice story thus far in San Francisco, but that “nice story” could turn into a cautionary one soon if the young man doesn’t start hitting.

      Despite many believing he would start the year at Triple-A Fresno, the 22-year-old Belt made the Giants’ roster after a great spring. San Francisco management believed that he made the club better and with outfielder Cody Ross set to start the year on the DL, it was easy to make room for Belt after designating 1B Travis Ishikawa for assignment.

      But since then, Aubrey Huff (who had to move to right field because Belt took his job at first) has been somewhat of a circus act in the outfield and Aaron Rowand (despite a bad night in Arizona on Friday) is hot after taking over for Andres Torres (15-day DL) in centerfield. Once Torres comes off the DL on April 26, the Giants will have a decision to make, which could mean sending Belt back down to Triple-A.

      Granted, that wouldn’t be the worst thing for Belt, who has started to find his stroke at the plate of late, but who still is only hitting .200 with one home run. Ironing out the kinks in the minors now may actually help him later and it’s not as if his career is over if he’s sent down in two weeks. Far from it, in fact: he is the Giants’ first baseman of the future.

      That said, no player wants to spend any amount of time in the minors and if he wants to stick around, Belt better start heating up. After showing some frustration at the plate earlier in the season, he’s starting to take better at bats and a hot-streak could be right around the corner. At 6’5” and 210 pounds, opposing pitchers have been hammering him on his hands inside. But after struggling with the pitch for about a week, Belt lined an inside pitch from Daniel Hudson into right field last night for a clean base hit. Thus, maybe he’s starting to come around.

      Currently, the Giants have a great blend of young (Belt, Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval) and veteran (Huff, Torres, Ross, Rowand, Freddy Sanchez and Miguel Tejada) talent among their position players. But it would be much easier to send Belt down to the minors then designate someone like Nate Schierholtz for assignment, or flat out release a player like Rowand or Pat Burrell. So just as Belt did in spring training, he might have to force Giants’ management to keep him on the roster by finding his stroke.

      External Sports, MLB

      Forget his column, John Steigerwald’s opinion on jerseys is just flat out stupid

      April 14, 2011 /
      Los Angeles Dodgers fans lineup outside Dodger Stadium before their Opening Day MLB National League baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in Los Angeles, California March 31, 2011. REUTERS/Alex Gallardo (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      John Steigerwald is the Pittsburgh-area columnist who caused a stir earlier this week for a column he wrote about Bryan Stow, the 42-year-old Giants fan who is still in a coma after being beaten by two thugs outside of Dodger Stadium on Opening Weekend. I responded to the garbage that Steigerwald wrote yesterday, but since then he has taken to his blog (as well as TV and radio) to defend his stance.

      This was from an entry entitled “THANKS FOR NOT TAKING IT PERSONALLY:”

      I don’t apologize for the column but I do apologize to the Stow family if this nonsense has reached them and in any way added to their pain. I don’t, for one second, blame Brian Stow for the beating he took. I do blame the ever increasing out of control, out of perspective behavior by fans, too many of whom are no longer satisfied with going to their stadiums and cheering for their teams. And I sure as hell don’t think –as some hysterical posters have claimed –that Bryan “had it coming.”

      If you read the entire entry, Steigerwald again comes off like an ass and almost seems to think that he’s the victim of “hysterical” readers. But he came back with another piece called “MOVING ON,” which came across much better in my eyes.

      I wrote what I wrote and I stand by it, but at the same time, I understand why so many people interpreted some of what I wrote as being insensitive to Bryan Stow’s situation. I made the mistake of assuming that the tragedy of the situation spoke for itself and that I didn’t need to point out how terrible it was for Stow and his family. When I wrote ” Maybe somebody can ask Stow, if he ever comes out of his coma, why he thought it was a good idea to wear Giants gear to a Dodgers’ home opener when there was a history of out of control drunkenness and arrests at that event going back several years”, I can see by the responses that that came across as flippant and insensitive. That was not my intent. If I had it to do over again, I would write it differently. I know what I felt in my heart when I wrote it and it was anger over what had happened to this guy over a stupid jersey. That’s why I spent a good part of the column expressing my feelings about the jersey phenomenon. I don’t get it. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think everybody has the right to wear what they want to a game.

      Much better, John. You’re still way, way off base and your original column should still be used as toilet paper but at least you actually took the time to see what all the outrage was about.

      As I wrote yesterday (although not in so many words), I think Steigerwald’s point is pretty freaking stupid. Let’s put Bryan Stow’s situation aside for a moment and focus on what Steigerwald was trying to say in his original column: that grown men shouldn’t wear jerseys to a game because a) the players can’t see you and even if they could, they don’t draw inspiration from you or your jersey, b) you’re not a kid anymore and c) the jersey may contribute to “the new mob mentality that seems to exist in the stands these days.”

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      External Sports, MLB

      Writer: Beaten Giants fan should have known not to wear jersey

      April 13, 2011 /
      San Francisco Giants fans root for their team in the eighth inning during Game 1 of the Major League Baseball (MLB)’s World Series against the Texas Rangers in San Francisco, October 27, 2010. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      I’ve seen plenty of crap writing in my day but John Steigerwald of the Observer-Reporter has taken bad journalism to a whole new level.

      I actually read this piece yesterday but I wanted to let my opinions marinate overnight. I like to play devil’s advocate as much as possible and give writers the benefit of the doubt if I can at least see where they were coming from. But after reading Steigerwald’s article again this morning, it’s pretty clear that this guy doesn’t have a point.

      Steigerwald’s column is about Bryan Stow, the 42-year-old paramedic and lifelong Giants fan who is now in a coma because a pair of thugs beat him to within an inch of his life outside of Dodger Stadium on Opening Weekend. Steigerwald suggests that Stow (whom Steigerwald apparently called “Snow” until he was corrected in the comments section of the piece) should have known not to wear his Giants jersey to the park that night.

      Maybe someone can ask Stow, if he ever comes out of his coma, why he thought it was a good idea to wear Giants’ gear to a Dodgers’ home opener when there was a history of out-of-control drunkenness and arrests at that event going back several years.

      If he ever comes out of his coma? You’re kidding me right? How insensitive can you get?

      Nobody needs to ask Stow why he wore his Giants’ “gear”: He was supporting his team at a ballgame. It’s not like he went to the beach dressed in an Eskimo suit.

      Are there really 40-something men who think that wearing the jersey makes them part of the team? It was cute when a 10-year-old kid got that feeling by showing up at Three Rivers Stadium in a Pirates jersey, but when did little boys stop growing out of that?

      Here’s tip for you if you actually think that wearing your team’s jersey makes you a part of the team:

      It doesn’t.

      Is this now a cautionary tale that Steigerwald is writing or is he badgering a man in a coma? I’m confused.

      Continue reading »

      External Sports, MLB

      Five teams that could come up short in 2011

      March 30, 2011 /
      Philadelphia Phillies starter Roy Halladay pitches against the Boston Red Sox during the fourth inning of a MLB spring training game at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Florida, March 21, 2011. REUTERS/Steve Nesius (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      It’s the start of a new year and you know what that means: Expectations are running high for every club not named the Pirates and Royals. (Or Astros, Cubs, Mariners, Diamondbacks, Nationals or Indians for that matter.)

      But what postseason contenders are most likely to fall short of expectations in 2011? I’ve highlighted five below.

      Philadelphia Phillies
      When a team is hyped for an entire offseason, it almost becomes cliché to say that they’ll fall short of expectations. But in the case of the Phillies, there’s some major concern here. It’s impossible to replace Chase Utley’s production in the lineup and this is an aging roster. Yes, the Halladay/Lee/Oswalt/Hamels/Blanton combination will keep most opposing batters up at night and yes, the Phillies will probably win the NL East. But the Braves aren’t too far behind talent-wise and Philadelphia has become a club that starts off slow only to pick it up in the second half. If Atlanta comes out of the gates hot and the Phillies suffer some early-season hiccups without Utley, the Braves might be able to build a decent lead that they can ride throughout the season. Barring injury to Halladay or Lee, I can’t imagine a scenario in which the Phillies don’t make the playoffs this year. But without Utley, the playing field has definitely been leveled in the National League.

      San Francisco Giants
      This is an easy one. It’s been 10-straight years since the last time any team was able to repeat as World Series champions. And while the G-Men aren’t considered the favorites to win this year’s Fall Classic (that would be the Phillies or Red Sox), many pundits believe that, at the very least, they’ll win the NL West again. A World Series hangover is the Giants’ biggest concern, because this club is better now than it was a year ago. They’ll get a full year out of Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner, the energetic Andres Torres will serve as the leadoff hitter from Day 1 (instead of the highly unproductive Aaron Rowand), Pablo Sandoval looks like he’s ready for a big bounce back campaign, top prospect Brandon Belt might start the year with the big league club after dominating this spring, and Mark DeRosa, Mike Fontenot and Pat Burrell strengthen the bench. But it’s a different game for the Giants now. They’re going to be the hunted instead of the hunters, at least in the NL West. Can this fun-loving team recapture the same magic it had in September and October last year? Or will all of those extra innings that Bumgarner, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez endured in the postseason last year eventually catch up with this team?

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      External Sports, MLB

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