On the Giants

Here are some thoughts I have on the Giants this season:

The season can be summed up nicely, if I may steal from KNBR's Damon Bruce's show last night: Giants baseball - brought to you by Purgatory. Not Heaven. Not Hell. Just sort of.....who the hell knows. It's late August, and still we are saying, "wait and see." The criticle stretch of 19 games in a row against only division opponents that was supposed to show us what the Giants were made of, one way or the other, just ended. The results? 10-9. What does that tell us? Just about nothing. The stretch featured both a 5 game losing streak, for which afterwards the Giants were "done for," and then a 5 game win streak, which put them "right back in it." Currently they reside at the bottom of the NL West, which is the definition of mediocre. No team that scares you, no team that is absolutely horrible. 4.5 games out - certainly doable. If their starting pitching continues to shine, the bats pick it up a bit, and something is done about the closer situation, this team could make the playoffs.

Therein lies the problem, however. I've already seen the Giants in the playoffs. I've already seen them in the World Series. I want to see them WIN. And barring multiple miracles, this team is not a world champion team. I just don't see them getting past the Mets and whoever the AL team is (most likely the Yankees, White Sox, or Tigers. I doubt the A's or Angles would make it past the divisional series, and the Red Sox, who scare me, probably wont make the playoffs). There are just so many flaws to this Giants team. They are very old, and very slow. They have not hit in the clutch. Barry Bonds is about 1/5 the player he used to be. Steve Finley and Randy Winn are performing below expectations. Moises Alou is hurt all the time. The bullpen sucks.

Speaking of which, Armondo Benitez is quickly climbing the ladder of Bad Giants (see a future post for a definition and list of Good and Bad Giants). Saving two thirds of save opportunities does not cut it as a closer, especially when you are getting paid like 7 million dollars. And, to add insult (literally) to injury (figuratively), the comments he has made are justification for him to get drowned in McCovey Cove. "I did my job" after a blown save? (in reference to Ray Durham misplaying a ground ball). "We're running like babies" after a blown save? (in reference to Steve Finley slipping on the basepaths). Come on, Armondo. Take responsibility for the fact that you put a fastball down Main Street on an 0-2 count. We know you've "been on better teams than this," but that doesn't mean you are better than the team. In fact, you are quite worse. If you actually had actually earned your money this year, the Giants would probably be in first place.
And I have to say I don't like the way the Giants have handled the situation. The only good thing about a Benitez blown save is the fact that I can hear Ralph Barbieri (my favorite KNBR personality) rant about him. His interviews with Brian Sabean are priceless and spot on. Sabean answers the questions about Benitez in a diplomatic way, which is all you would expect, but that does not mean the situation cannot be dealt with. Yes, the team has a lot of flaws. That doesn't mean you shouldn't deal with the most glaring one. And what's crazy is that Ralph's worst fears have been realized, exactly how he said it would happen. Benitez accidently successfully saves a couple games, and Felipe Alou says "we've got our guy for the 9th inning back." WHAT? First of all, back to what? He's never been good for the Giants. Secondly, to keep trotting Benitez out there is one of the worst moves I've ever seen a manager make. He has got to go after this season is done as well. He’s old and dry and boring. He never argues calls. He’s got to light a fire. I don’t think he is getting the most out of his players.

Anyway, the point is this: Since the All Star Break (and really the whole season), the Giants have been little more than a tease. The highpoint was after they had beaten the Padres 3 in a row and had taken over 1st place. They were all ready to win the 4th game and sweep, and then embark on a week of games against the worst teams in the NL. But then Benitez blew the save and they immediately transitioned into the lowpoint: a 9 game losing streak...against the worst teams in the NL.

But hey, they're not out of it.