Philadelphia Phillies (65-39) manager Charlie Manuel insists the World Champion San Francisco Giants (61-44) aren't in his team's heads after the Giants took two out of three from the Phillies in Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia this week. To me, his comments sounded like he was insecure. Additionally, he said that Giants pitchers Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain were good, but not great pitchers. Perhaps he thought both men throwing six and seven innings without giving up an earned run to his vaunted lineup was an abberation. Or maybe he's forgotten Cain's seven shutout innings against the Phils in Game 3 of the NLCS last year or Lincecum's Game 1 victory in the same series.
Manuel's statement that greatness comes with consistency (and his assertion that Lincecum and Cain have not yet achieved this) is almost laughable. Lincecum won back-to-back Cy Young Awards and the following year was the MVP of the Postseason while pitching his team to a World Series victory. If that's not consistent, I don't know what is. Cain, on the other hand, didn't surrender even one earned run the entire postseason and has a 3.39 career ERA in five full seasons, including 2.89 in 2009 and 3.14 last year. Cain's ERA is 2.91 this year, Lincecum's is 2.78. Both seem pretty consistent to me. All I'm hearing from Manuel's comments is sour grapes.
The blogging and tweeting will be limited at best until August 7th, when I return from vacation with a flourish.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Beltran looks to be headed to SF
Very sorry about the lack of blogging this month, it has been a crazy month for me (in a good way). Anyway, I thought I would just note that I'm happy to hear that the World Champion San Francisco Giants appear to be close to acquiring right fielder Carlos Beltran from the Mets in exchange for minor league pitcher Zach Wheeler. Wheeler is considered one of the Giants' top prospects. However, I think it's a good deal because Beltran gives the Giants a very realistic chance to repeat as champions -- at that's what it's all about.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Pirates in first in July
Well, it's the first place Pittsburgh Pirates (48-43). On July 15th. This is the latest the Bucs have been in first place in over a dozen years. It's truly remarkable how the Pirates are doing this, as they don't have a lot of players of note. Joel Hanrahan is having a nice season as closer, but even he wouldn't be considered a name outside of Pittsburgh. I think a lot of this success has to be attributed to new manager Clint Hurdle. It has been neat to check out a few Pirates games here and there and see larger crowds at PNC Park; there were times I wondered when I would ever see that. It's a great story and I can only hope for the sake of Pirates fans that it continues -- it has been a long time coming for the Steel City.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
National League wins second straight All-Star Game
The National League defeated the American League tonight 5-1 in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Phoenix. It was the second straight All-Star win for the NL after a long winless streak. Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers (49-43) had the decisive blow with a 3-run home run in the 4th inning. Fielder was a deserving recipient of the game's MVP Award.
I have long felt that baseball has the best of all the All-Star Games in professional sports. The players are competitive and look like they are actually trying to win. This year was no different, with the exception of a few players like Derek Jeter who claimed to be injured and didn't show up despite playing in his team's most recent game. Stuff like that just isn't acceptable; I know I wrote my last blog about Jeter's 3000th hit and what a moment was -- I stand by that, but it doesn't make it right for him to stiff the All-Star Game.
Anyway, the All-Star Game was an impressive display of pitching by the National League. It was cool to see Brian Wilson of the World Champion San Francisco Giants (52-40) get the save and look pretty impressive in doing it. I also enjoyed Pablo Sandoval's RBI double in his first All-Star appearance.
I'm glad the National League won to give it home field advantage for the World Series, particularly for the possibility of my World Champion Giants reaching the Fall Classic for the second straight year. It's dumb that the All-Star Game decides home field advantage, but it will be a plus that I'll be happy to see the Giants have should they advance to the World Series again.
I have long felt that baseball has the best of all the All-Star Games in professional sports. The players are competitive and look like they are actually trying to win. This year was no different, with the exception of a few players like Derek Jeter who claimed to be injured and didn't show up despite playing in his team's most recent game. Stuff like that just isn't acceptable; I know I wrote my last blog about Jeter's 3000th hit and what a moment was -- I stand by that, but it doesn't make it right for him to stiff the All-Star Game.
Anyway, the All-Star Game was an impressive display of pitching by the National League. It was cool to see Brian Wilson of the World Champion San Francisco Giants (52-40) get the save and look pretty impressive in doing it. I also enjoyed Pablo Sandoval's RBI double in his first All-Star appearance.
I'm glad the National League won to give it home field advantage for the World Series, particularly for the possibility of my World Champion Giants reaching the Fall Classic for the second straight year. It's dumb that the All-Star Game decides home field advantage, but it will be a plus that I'll be happy to see the Giants have should they advance to the World Series again.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Jeter picks up 3,000th hit
Derek Jeter picked up his 3,000th career hit today on a home run to left field in the bottom of the 3rd inning at Yankee Stadium. Jeter is only the second player to ever record his iconic 3,000th hit with a home run, and the first to record all 3,000 of his hits with the New York Yankees. Jeter is now surely headed to the Hall of Fame, if he wasn't already assured of that. The Yankees (52-35) defeated the Tampa Bay Rays (49-40) 5-4 thanks to a 5-for-5 effort from Jeter, including the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 8th. I'm not a Yankees fan at all, but it was kind of cool to see Jeter have a big moment like this and have a nice day because he's always seemed like a class act and a good guy to me.
You really couldn't script it any better for Jeter. He has come under a lot of scrutiny lately for his numbers being down. However, I didn't think his numbers were always exactly eye-popping, but they were consistent. And Jeter has always had the it factor. Whatever it is, Jeter has it. He's always been clutch and a leader. And perhaps most importantly, he's just a winner. He's the kind of guy you'd want on your team. I think a lot of the criticism he's taken has been unwarranted. He may not always have been a pure numbers guy, but he has what it takes to be a great baseball player. Now he has the big number that will ensure his place in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
You really couldn't script it any better for Jeter. He has come under a lot of scrutiny lately for his numbers being down. However, I didn't think his numbers were always exactly eye-popping, but they were consistent. And Jeter has always had the it factor. Whatever it is, Jeter has it. He's always been clutch and a leader. And perhaps most importantly, he's just a winner. He's the kind of guy you'd want on your team. I think a lot of the criticism he's taken has been unwarranted. He may not always have been a pure numbers guy, but he has what it takes to be a great baseball player. Now he has the big number that will ensure his place in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Notes on the World Champs, MLB
The World Champion San Francisco Giants (48-39) lost tonight for the second straight day to the San Diego Padres (40-47) at AT&T Park. Tonight's game was by a 5-3 score. The Giants have now lost three straight overall, but still hold a one game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks (47-40) in the National League West.
Miguel Tejada seems to be cranking it up for the Giants, having raised his average by roughly 40 points over where it was a couple of months ago. It may not be much to look at statistically right now, but he seems to be playing well. Hopefully Pat Burrell can get over this foot ailment that has been plaguing him the last few days; he's had successful pinch-hit at-bats off the bench in the last two games anyway.
Padres reliever Chad Qualls spiked the ball after tagging out Giants outfielder Andres Torres to end the 7th inning; Torres was attempting to score on a wild pitch. In my book, Qualls made a total bush league move and I hope the Giants can make him pay for it before too long.
It looks like the Diamondbacks may be sticking around for a while, after all. I'm still skeptical of their bullpen, but the longer they stay in the race, the more confidence they will have. They have won in Milwaukee the last two days, which is remarkably the first time the Brewers (45-42) have lost consecutive home games all season. It's an impressive achievement for the Diamondbacks, here's to hoping the Brewers end that losing streak tomorrow.
Speaking of the NL Central, how about the Pittsburgh Pirates (45-41)? They are only 1.5 games behind the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals (47-40). It looks like the Bucs may be over the .500 mark at the All-Star Break for the first time in almost as long as I can remember. Andrew McCutchen is having another strong year and if you ask me, belongs on the All-Star team. I still like the Brewers in that division, but they need to play better on the road, where they are 16-29 (they are a very impressive 29-13 at home).
Miguel Tejada seems to be cranking it up for the Giants, having raised his average by roughly 40 points over where it was a couple of months ago. It may not be much to look at statistically right now, but he seems to be playing well. Hopefully Pat Burrell can get over this foot ailment that has been plaguing him the last few days; he's had successful pinch-hit at-bats off the bench in the last two games anyway.
Padres reliever Chad Qualls spiked the ball after tagging out Giants outfielder Andres Torres to end the 7th inning; Torres was attempting to score on a wild pitch. In my book, Qualls made a total bush league move and I hope the Giants can make him pay for it before too long.
It looks like the Diamondbacks may be sticking around for a while, after all. I'm still skeptical of their bullpen, but the longer they stay in the race, the more confidence they will have. They have won in Milwaukee the last two days, which is remarkably the first time the Brewers (45-42) have lost consecutive home games all season. It's an impressive achievement for the Diamondbacks, here's to hoping the Brewers end that losing streak tomorrow.
Speaking of the NL Central, how about the Pittsburgh Pirates (45-41)? They are only 1.5 games behind the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals (47-40). It looks like the Bucs may be over the .500 mark at the All-Star Break for the first time in almost as long as I can remember. Andrew McCutchen is having another strong year and if you ask me, belongs on the All-Star team. I still like the Brewers in that division, but they need to play better on the road, where they are 16-29 (they are a very impressive 29-13 at home).
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