Art Imitates Life

So I was watching the San Francisco Giants play the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in an unusual day where the Giants offense exploded with 30 hits and 19 runs during a day-night doubleheader, when Miguel Tejada came to bat. Starting the previous sentence with so was a bad idea because a normal sentence became a run on and now I am completely averse to punctuation but that is besides the point so let's get back to baseball and one of the greatest baseball movies ever.

Miguel Tejada crushed a ball to left field and started his home run trot. It landed in the first couple of rows and a very aggressive Cubs fan went after the ball because this was a man on a mission. Possibly a man stuck in 1993, hey it was a great year. It was the year Barry Bonds came to the Giants. I went to Disney World that year. One of the best baseball movies ever came out that year: Rookie of the Year.

First here's the clip of the Cubs fan yesterday throwing the ball back.

I wish I could interview this human. So many questions to ask: Question #1: What was your thought process? Q2: Were you trying to nail Tejada? Q3: Baseball resume? Q4: Is your name Henry Rowengartner? Q5: Did you break your arm recently? Q6: Did you buy that women next to you another alcoholic beverage? Q7: Have you been contacted by the Cubs scouts yet? Q8: Are you related to Bartman? Q9: What is your occupation? Q10: Did you have to ice your arm later that night? Q11: Would you do it again? Q12: Have you ever seen Rookie of the Year? Q13: Who throws harder you or Rowengartner? Q14: Is your go to line "Funky butt lovin'"? That's enough for now.



Let's discuss Rookie of the Year for a bit because I need to point out a couple of interesting connections the Giants have to this movie. The child prodigy pitches for the Chicago Cubs and from what I remember there is a strikeout montage. One of the hitters is a one Barry Lamar Bonds. In a Pirates uniform. The year is 1993. I guess the movie people assumed he would have been on the Pirates still or completely missed that or just didn't watch baseball (which would be ironic). Here's the trailer, look out for Bonds at the end:







I know what you are thinking: how did this not win an Oscar? Quality baseball movies get no respect. Almost exactly 18 years after Rookie of the Year premiered (if they even had a premiere) an over zealous Cubs fan pulls a Rowengartner and throws back a home run ball almost into the away team's dugout. When art imitates life it's never as gracious or magnificent as reality but it's so much more surprising. Anything can happen in movies but you just wouldn't believe it if someone told you what they just saw. Yesterday the phantasmagorical was real.



Kung Fu Pandamonium

Yes he is back. Pablo Sandoval was back in the lineup last night after a strange hamate (blogger doesn't recognize this as a word that's how rare it is) fracture injury. And it looks like Kung Fu Panda has laid off of the Kung Pao Chicken during his time on the DL. In his post-injury debut, Sandoval went 1-4 with an RBI and a walk. He looked comfortable at the plate and in the field.

It's nice to see someone actually coming off the DL than being put on it. Sandoval should be a good morale boost for this battered and bruised roster. As I'm writing this he just hit a single up the middle, thank you Pablo for helping me prove my point. He's now hitting .400 since coming back, small sample size though. And he just scored from second on a single by Huff to left field. Panda was cruising around the bases.

The middle of the lineup has been struggling most of the year and it's nice to see a batting average in the lineup that begins with a three and not a two (or unfortunately a one, not naming names). If Sandoval can continue his offensive performance that he began in the beginning of the season we should have a much better offense going forward. It will take the pressure off Huff and hopefully the hitters around him will see some better pitches ( I was going to mention names but the lineup is different everyday).

With Sandoval back in the swing of things it looks like Tejada and Crawford are going to be splitting time at shortstop. Tejada will most likely be playing third when Bochy decides to rest Panda.

I will leave you with a tutorial on Sandoval's handshakes with his teammates from 2010 Spring training. I never noticed that he has a different handshake with each player. I have to start paying attention to the Pandashakes.

The Walking Wounded

The 2011 San Francisco Giants began their post World Series season injured and then they got a little more injured and then they got even more injured. Baseball no longer feels like a sport in the Bay Area but rather a war. The team is taking casualties and just when some of the soldiers are ready to get back another goes down. This season has been equally unpredictable as the last and yet the Giants are in first place.

If you were presented with the DL list before the season started very few would think that the team would be eight games over .500 and in first place of the NL West. This team is in a better position than it was in 2010 and this is a team without Buster Posey. The 2011 Giants will never be truly healthy with Posey out for the year but have once again proven to be resilient - a resilience Coach Bruce Bochy mentions often in his post-game press conferences. The magic hasn't left China Basin because it's hard to come up with reasons why they are playing so well with so many missing pieces. It would be like playing chess without your queen and bishops and still thinking that you are winning.

The pitching staff has kept this team in almost every game and that makes all the difference on a team that has to fight tooth and nail for every run. Although inconsistent and all-star less, the offense has been clutch and scored when they needed to. The Giants enjoy scoring late and seem to be averse to scoring against starting pitchers, they prefer to score against relievers. Not every team has the stellar bullpen that the Giants do and when they don't the Giants get to work.

Although no one would wish any of the players to get hurt it has given some of the utility and minor league players some major league experience. Here is the list of The Walking Wounded and their current status:

Brandon Belt (Hairline fracture in left wrist) - Belt is hoping to return to this hurting Giants team and to provide some much needed offense. He's on the 15 day DL and is expected to return in July.

Buster Posey (fractured fibula, strained ligaments) - Out for the season. Stewart was brought up from the minors to split time with Whiteside. Neither have really stood out offensively or defensively, leaving the Giants with a catching problem.

Mark DeRosa (torn left wrist tendon) - There are times in baseball when as a fan you witness an injury take place and you can feel the player's pain. There are few times that I can remember feeling as sad for a player than when DeRosa re-injured his wrist. He worked so hard to get back on the field and Bochy gave him his shot when Panda went down. Giants fans hearts dropped when he dropped his bat in pain. DeRosa's baseball career is in jeopardy.

Mike Fontenot (groin) - When the backup gets hurt you know your team is short on bodies. Fontenot is playing in the minors and hopefully will be joining the team soon.

Darren Ford (ankle strain) - The Giants speedster received a cortisone shot this week and is expected to re-join the team in a couple of weeks. The team misses his speed right now.

Freddy Sanchez (dislocated shoulder) - Freddy went down this week when he dove for a ball up the middle. At the time he was the Giants best hitter and so now the team has another player they have to fill in for. Burriss has stepped in when Fontenot got hurt and the Giants just signed Bill Hall. Sanchez has opted for rehab to see if it works - his return is unknown at the moment.

Pablo Sandoval (hamate fracture) - Coming back tomorrow, this is a big deal for the Giants. The team is going to be looking forward to seeing his bat in the lineup and his smile in the dugout. A fan favorite, the team is not the same without Panda.

Barry Zito (foot sprain) - Currently rehabbing in the minors and is working on building his velocity. What does Bochy do when Zito returns? Vogelsong is pitching very well and is sporting a sub 2.00 ERA. Who goes to the bullpen? Who stays in the rotation? Bochy said they will be open to many different options but the decision will upset either the Zito or Vogelsong camps. They both can't win.

Giant Johnnies

The San Francisco Giants have an infrequent yet strong connection to St. John's and this bond was renewed in the 2011 MLB Draft when the team drafted shortstop Joe Panik of the Red Storm in the first round. The most famous St. John's alumnus to don the orange and black is Rich Aurilia.

Born in Brooklyn, Aurilia was a baseball star at St. John's and was later drafted by the Texas Rangers. In 1994, he was traded to the Giants for Burkett and would go on to become the everyday shortstop. Aurilia would end up playing most of his career for the Giants with the exception of three seasons of his 15 year career. His biggest year came in the infamous year of the home run and probably overshadowed by Bonds' 73 home run record. In 2001, Aurilia hit .324 with 37 HR's and 97 RBI's. Let's hope that Panik can follow in his footsteps.

Even though Panik is listed as a shortstop it now seems less likely that he will remain one with the emergence of Brandon Crawford. In a couple years Panik may be the second basemen for the post-Sanchez San Francisco Giants. Here's the scoop on Panik:

He's a native New Yorker and his favorite player is Derek Jeter - we can forgive him for being a Yankees fan. Here are his stats from his junior year at St. John's:

BA .398  OBP .509  SLG .642  HR 10  2B 19  3B 3  RBI 57

Here is a St. John's Baseball video of their journey to the NCAA tourney. Panik is #2.

Every soul is a melody . . .

. . . which needs renewing. This is a 19th century thought by Stephan Mallarme that has been renewed on the 2011 San Francisco Giants team with the emergence of their accidental fifth man in the starting rotation - Ryan Vogelsong.

After today's gem, Vogelsong is now 4-1 with an 1.68 ERA and .214 avg against. He now has the lowest ERA amongst the Giants starting five and is a breath of fresh air after Zito's injury. He is the most unexpected member of the Giants team and is now creating a major problem for management and the coaches. Zito is in the beginning of his minor league rehab assignment and according to the team he is pitching better after the injury than he was before. Zito's velocity is up but can they send the highest paid pitcher to the bullpen?

Bochy and Sabean do give veterans playing time to show that they deserve to be in the lineup and this year some have remained and others have found themselves sitting on the bench more than playing in the field. Pat Burrell started the beginning of the year as the everyday left fielder and now he has been delegated to pinch hitter status after posting poor numbers. Same situation with Huff at the beginning of the season when the Giants decided to give Belt a chance in the majors. Huff's batting average has been in the low 200's for most of the season and is not a quality middle of the lineup hitter right now.

DeRosa was given a chance and couldn't hit above the Mendoza line. Tejada is on borrowed time at this point with the success of Brandon Crawford at shortstop and Pablo Sandoval starting rehab. A healthy Giants team is a crowded Giants team. There will be many roster changes in the coming weeks but there are positives that will come out of this - healthy competition. No one is safe on the Giants team and Sabean/Bochy have proven that it doesn't matter how many zeroes are on your contract.

Back to Vogelsong. Vogel in German means bird and this bird is singing a melody that will earn him a permanent spot in the Giants stellar pitching rotation. Vogelsong's narrative is so typical Giants. He is the ultimate underdog and now after his pitching success is a fan favorite. Watching the Giants is never dull and it is such an easy team to root for with their roster of misfits. As the underdogs continue to over perform, the team is fighting for first place in the weak NL West division.

Going with the underdog theme, here's a Vogelsong for the Giants:

Sabean vs. The World

The Buster Posey collision with Scott Cousins attracted an enormous amount of media attention. All news sources covered the injury and even some brought in medical experts to discuss the surgery and the time or recovery (some used props). There were instant rumors that MLB would review the rules on running over catchers. The reactions were what you would expect from both sides but then as time went on every coach, player, former catcher had to put their two cents in and then Sabean. I will discuss Sabean's controversial comments he made on KNBR, the San Francisco radio station, as well as a summary of many opinions from players/coaches/journalists. There are so many articles right now I thought I would consolidate them and make a list of the peanut gallery.

What Sabean said:

"Why not be hard-nosed?" Sabean said. "If I never hear from Cousins again or he never plays another game in the big leagues, I think we'll all be happy."

"He chose to be a hero in my mind, and if that's his flash of fame, that's as good as it's going to get, pal," Sabean said. "We'll have a long memory. Believe me, we've talked to (former catcher Mike) Matheny about how this game works. You can't be that out-and-out overly aggressive. I'll put it as politically as I can state it: There's no love lost, and there shouldn't be."

What the Giants said today:

This is a very emotional time for the Giants organization and our fans. We lost for the season one of our best players to a serious injury and we are doing everything we can to support Buster Posey through this very difficult time. We appreciate Scott Cousins’ outreach to Buster Posey and to the Giants organization. Brian Sabean’s comments yesterday were said out of frustration and out of true concern for Buster and were not meant to vilify Scott Cousins. Brian has been in contact with Florida Marlins General Manager Larry Beinfest to clarify his comments and to assure him that there is no ill-will toward the player. He has also reached out to Scott Cousins directly. (from San Jose Mercury News)

What I say:

Of course we will never know what Cousins was truly thinking or if he was just acting on his natural baseball instinct to plough through the catcher. In my opinion it was unnecessary (as Sabean said in the now infamous interview) but using the word "malicious" seems to be a bit aggressive. Cousins did reach out to Posey after the game and Posey, needing some space, hasn't responded yet. It's hard to find a reason why it would be malicious especially since the Marlins are not in their division and the Giants don't have any big rivalry with them. Naturally all the Giants fans are upset and want to see consequences and then there are some crazy fans who have threatened the lives of Cousins and his family members. Cousins' family resides in the bay area and he seemed to be worried that Sabean's response to the incident would incite further negative reaction towards him and his family. I agree on this point. Sabean definitely got caught up in the moment and had a momentarily lapse of honesty. Unfortunately, GM's can't always be honest or say what is on their minds. You can't say that Sabean isn't allowed to have an opinion but you can say that as the front office leader he should think twice before attacking players on other teams. (his inner-Steinbrenner came out, his former colleague) Don't get me wrong I am not defending Cousins because I think it was unnecessary and Posey didn't even have the ball. I think the issue needs to be put to rest and let MLB deal with rule changes if necessary.

What everyone else says:

Mike Matheny:

You know what, it wasn’t a dirty play, he didn’t come high spikes, he didn’t come high elbow. But it wasn’t a necessary play. He was hunting. Buster gave him an option and he didn’t take it...I think you just put a mark in the column that that kid took a run at a catcher. To me as a catcher I know the next time I get the ball I’m going to stick it to him

Brad Ausmus

...injuries happen in sports. I'm sorry this happened to Buster Posey. He's an exciting young catcher. He's an exciting young hitter. He's one of the best young players in baseball. But it's part of the game

Mike Scioscia

When something like this happens, it's unfortunate, but I don't know if there's enough there to rewrite the rulebook

Scott Cousins

"I hope and believe that Mr. Sabean's comments were made in the heat of the moment and are based more on his fondness for Buster Posey than on any animosity towards me.
"This situation is still an open wound for many, including myself. As I have stated previously, nobody outside of Buster feels worse about his injury than I do."
"I do believe, however, that the play was clean and totally within the rules of the game,"
"Explaining over and over that I would never intentionally hurt another player for any reason won't change the minds of those who doubt my sincerity or intent.
"I have a responsibility to myself, my teammates, and my organization to play the game hard. This is what has gotten me to the big leagues, and hopefully this is what will keep me here."

Logan Morrison (Cousins' teammate on the Marlins)

"When has he played in the big leagues? When has he played in the minor leagues?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but he's never been in a situation like that. It's terrible.
"Why would you wish anything like that on anybody?" 
 "He's getting death threats from people. This is his hometown, San Francisco. He's worried about his family and his friends that are there. And now (Sabean) is going to make comments like that? It's ignorant, it's inappropriate and he has no idea what the hell he's talking about."

I have to break this up with a personal anecdote about Morrison. I happen to follow him on Twitter and the following occurred. First he had a comment about Cousins:

For the record, I hope Scott plays many more games in the big leagues for us. Very talented ballplayer, great teammate & even better friend!

Then he had the following to say shortly after that:

MILF's love the Marlins!! RT @jacs88 @LoMoMarlins @gabysanchez15 already voted with each of my kids(3) all 25 times, for both of you:)

Enough said. Back to the quotes.

Rob Johnson (Padres catcher)

“For a general manager to go as far as he did with those comments is unacceptable and disrespectful to guys who play the game hard. Those comments were totally uncalled for.
“I thought it was a great baseball play. As catchers, we sign up for that. I respect Cousins. I tip my cap to him. He didn’t go out of his way to injure Posey. I’ve been cleaned out before. It’s part of the game.”

Here's the audio of the KNBR interview with Brian Sabean:

 KNBR - Sabean Interview on Posey Collision

Sources: San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, ESPN.com, Twitter, KNBR

SFG's support LGBT's

The San Francisco Giants have come out as the first professional sports team to support the It Gets Better Project, a non-profit aimed at helping Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender teenagers "imagine a future for themselves." Eyebrow raise, think twice.

The Giants have been very philanthropic of late. The team has heavily promoted and supported The Bryan Stow Fund after a fan was beaten into a coma after an away game in Los Angeles. Lincecum donated $25,000 personally and Barry Bonds offered to pay for the college education of each of Stow's children. Brian Wilson has started a scholarship program at the Air Force academy in honor of his father. Affeldt is always creating awareness about human trafficking and clean water initiatives. It's good to see players giving back and taking leadership off the field.

Is there a place for social causes in baseball? Sure as long as it doesn't get political. It is not a secret that San Francisco has a large gay population and the team decided to give back to a community that doesn't receive a lot of recognition, especially in professional sports. It's a good cause and a smart marketing campaign for the team that is expanding it's fan base. (Not that they need it right now with the home attendance sell outs) I think each player should show off the field leadership and support a cause that is important to them. I almost want to say it's their fiduciary duty as professional athletes to step up to the plate.

The game of baseball is not foreign to social causes and ending social injustices. Jackie Robinson. Although I hate to admit it the Dodgers actually did something right. Brooklyn not LA. In 1947 Branch Rickey asked Robinson to join the Dodgers to become the first African American baseball player in the major leagues. Baseball began desegregation in the 1940s, now tell me that baseball hasn't played an important role in civil issues.

Here's the website for the It Gets Better Project. The Giants video is currently being promoted on the site's homepage. Here it is as well: