The Giants Baseball Blog

Matt Morris got traded Tuesday, just as everyone had suspected, but I don't know if anyone could have told you he would have been going to the Pittsburgh Pirates. When I first saw the headline, "Morris A Pirate", I thought maybe, just maybe the Giants could have pulled something off here and stolen one of the Pirates many up and coming bats such as Adam LaRoche or Xavier Nady, but then I remembered that this is Brian Sabean and not John Shuerholtz . Instead of a solid young bat, or even a promising prospect, the Giants got a guy who is a little too old to be dubbed a prospect and hasn't done anything at the big league level. Rajai Davis has always been a speedster as he's swiped 40 or more bags in his 4 full seasons he's spent in the minors, but has showed little else. Sounds to me a lot like Freddie Lewis without the bat. I know the whole objective was to get rid of Matt Morris' salary and try and get what you can in return, but I just can't stop t...

The Giants won their 3rd straight game on Friday and overcame another bad outing by their overpaid, so called ace. Nobody was talking about the win after the game though. Barry Bonds is now one home run away from claiming a share of the Major League Baseball home run record. Bonds hit a long jack in the first inning of Friday nights and then was walked 4 consecutive times after that. I think it's pretty apparent that nobody on that Florida staff wanted to be the one to give up number 755 and I don't really blame them. Barry looks locked in and focused on not just breaking the record, but trying to turn this season around a bit for the Giants. I think it's going to be very interesting to see how pitchers go about pitching Bonds now that every home run he hits' from here on out will be part of history. This is one of the most (if not the most) recognized record in all of sports and I'm sure no pitcher in the game wants to have his name in the record books as being the...

The Giants where shut down by the Braves for 8 2/3 innings on Tuesday night before finally breaking through in the 9th inning by scoring 4 runs to send the game to extra innings. Even though they went on to loose in extra innings, the team showed some life in that ninth inning that I haven't really seen with this bunch all year. Matt Morris also turned in his best start of July (which didn't take much) going 6 innings and giving up 4 runs on 8 hits and maybe put a little stock back in his trade value. It has been widely mentioned throughout the internet sites and sports media that Matt Morris is one of the top starting pitchers available on the market and the other names available don't come close to Morris' talent and experience, especially postseason experience. The other names being thrown out there are guys like Kyle Lohse, Jose Contrares and Steve Trachsel. If Dontrelle Willis isn't put on the block by Florida, which seems the most logical move, than Morris wil...

The Giants two best pitchers at the moment helped them to a series win in Milwaukee over the weekend. Noah Lowry won his 10th game on Friday as he turned in another solid, quality start. Tim Lincecum turned in his 5th straight quality start on Saturday and he did it in impressive fashion going 8 shutout innings while striking out 8 and only allowing 5 baserunners against one of the best lineups in the National League. Those who had their questions about whether Tim Lincecum should be sent back down to triple A or be sent to the bullpen when he was struggling a few weeks back are now seeing the answer. The rook has now turned his season around in a few short starts as he's knocked about 2 points off his era in the last month while continuing to strike out over a batter per inning. Lincecum is really starting to find his groove. With the season pretty much all but over as far as contending for the playoffs, I like focusing on the young players, and I'm definitely looking forward ...

Just when you thought he was fading away, and some questioning whether he would ever get to 756, Barry Bonds had his best day in about 10 weeks. Bonds went 3-5 with 2 jacks and 6 RBI's in Thursday's loss to the Cubs. Barry Bonds is not the Bonds of a 5-10 years ago, but he can still get hot and if he does, he can hit 5 home runs in a week. He's now moved to within 2 home runs of Hank Aaron and is 3 away from holding the record all by himself. It looks like things are setting up so he'll be in position to either do it in Milwaukee (where Aaron played the majority of his career) or back in the bay in San Francisco. I have tickets to Tuesday nights' Braves game so I am hoping to have a chance to see either 755 or 756 in person. It's too bad this can't be a more celebrated time as far as the Giants go. You know your going bad as a team when your best player plays his best game of the season, and you still can't pull it out. Matt Morris turned in another abys...

The Giants kicked off the un -official second half of their season much like they played the first half. The age on this team is really catching up with them. A few of the players on this team are on line to have their worst season in their careers, and if the Giant's brass haven't already written this season off, I think it's time to do so. This should be the first summer in over a decade where the Giants sell at the deadline rather than stand pat or add to their roster. I just wish they would have gotten to business a little bit earlier. I mentioned in a few posts back in early May that the Giants should seriously consider dealing Matt Morris at that point because of how well he was pitching. I wasn't the only one who felt this way. I knew it was only a matter of time before Morris came back to earth and now he's looking more like the Morris of 2006 than ever. I did see some reasons to keep Morris, he was the teams ace and seemed like the Giants would win every ti...

The All-Star break is officially underway and it's time to take a look back at how the Giants fared in the first half of the 2007 season. Lineup: There are a couple of guys hitting the ball well at the moment, but only Bengie Molina and Barry Bonds seemed to stay healthy and somewhat consistent throughout the half. Bonds went on about a 6 week cold stretch in May and June, but has rebounded well and is on pace for another Barry Bonds type year, even at age 43. Molina has arguably been the best Giant pickup of the offseason as he's worked well with the staff and has come up with one clutch hit after another. The rest of the bunch has been anywhere from below average to dismal. Pedro Feliz, Rich Aurilia and Omar Vizquel seem to hurt the offense more then they help and Ray Durham is not coming anywhere close to matching his career year last season. Ryan Klesko and Randy Winn have been serviceable. With a consistent offense, this team would be at least .500. Overall Grade: D Rot...

Freddie Lewis has been red hot since coming off the disabled list. He started with an excellent rehab assignment period in Fresno in which he hit close to .400 with 2 home runs and had 8 rbi in about a weeks time. In his two starts since being called back up with the big squad, he is 5-8, with 1 home run, 4 rbi , and 4 runs scored. I know Lewis has been inconsistent at times this year, and he has shown some inexperience in the outfield, but he is the only Giants youngster who can really fill out a stat sheet. Kevin Frandsen , Dan Ortmeier and Nate Schierholtz all have shown some glimpses of being able to stick, but Lewis sticks out a little bit from them in my eyes. It's obvious that he can fly and with time should become an above average base stealer, but the spot that separates Lewis from the others is his plate discipline. He also has a little bit more pop than the other 3 Giant rookies. Granted he's only had 99 at-bat's (118 plate appearances) he does carry a .790 O...

Two things surprised regarding the Giants and the All-Star game selections. I cannot believe Barry Bonds made up the 120,000 votes he needed to beat out Alfonso Soriano to start in the outfield and he did it in the final 72 hours of voting. When it comes down to the numbers, Bonds deserved the spot over Soriano , but with all the hatred most baseball fans have towards him, I was surprised to see him gain that many votes in that little time. There was no question he was going to make the team in some, but most people, including myself, did not expect to see him in the starting lineup, just for the simple fact that the fans choose the starters All-Star team. Let's face it, outside of San Francisco, Bonds is baseball's most hated ballplayer, and he still somehow gained enough votes to crack the starting lineup. I'm sure that having the game in San Francisco had something to do with it and I wouldn't be surprised if there were some strings pulled that enabled Bonds to star...