Feel Good Post

In an effort to balance out my fret-a-thon that is currently taking place in anticipation of Braves-Giants Game One, I wanted to take a break from critiquing rosters and sizing up opponents to move back into the sunshine from Sunday that is still glowing warmly. First, I want to post my favorite picture from Sunday:

What unbridled joy does to people's faces. I can't tell if he just scored on an Aubrey Huff double, or got tazed in his behind. Or maybe he's actually a lemur. Either way, seeing it brings me back to that moment, even two days later. Chills.

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And speaking of pictures I could look at all day...

On a more somber, yet honorable note, on Sunday the Giants quietly honored the memory of the late Rod Beck, former stud closer for the Giants from 1991-97. His career was highlighted by recording a franchise record 48 saves in '93 (including 24 in a row), getting out of a bases-loaded no-out jam against the Dodgers in the Brian Johnson walk-off game in '97 (pitcured above), and an awesome trucker's mustache.

Sadly, Beck passed away in 2007 after being out of baseball for three years. He was only 38.

The Giants brought Stacey Beck, Rod Beck's widow, and their two daughters as guests to the entire Padres series over the weekend. On Sunday, the Beck family not only saw Rod's former team win the division title, but saw current closer Brian Wilson tie Beck's record with his 48th save.

After the game, in a classy move, Wilson called Beck a legend and acknowledged that the saves record belongs to Rod Beck alone; that Wilson can only share a part of it.

Zito and the Playoffs

There's room for 11 pitchers on the post-season roster. That, coupled with the fact that the Giants have the ability to shuffle the roster again should they advance past their first series against the Atlanta Braves, gives all fans the possibility to play mad scientist and create a team perfectly suited to slay this particular beast.

When I go into the lab and look at the five man rotation, a few things stand out. Four actually. Four solid starters. Let's see, that leaves...

Barry Zito, I see you're a big elephant, so you might as well come into the room. Why don't you have a seat so we can pick you and your salary apart?

The current shakiest starter in the rotation is an easy target right now for fans who don't want to see him muttering to himself after giving up early runs. And although before the regular season stretch run I was pleading with the Giants to not mess with success and leave the rotation alone, I am starting to buckle. I think that in a shorter, best of five series we don't need - nor do we want - Zito out there. And when there's Lopez, Affeldt and Runzler to choose from we don't even need him in the bullpen as a lefty.

My "everyone has a couple of bad start now and then" disposition turned sour shortly after the wretched Padres game. I try not to be a fan who judges based only on recent performance, so I looked at Zito's last ten decisions, going back to the beginning of August: (2-8, 47.2 IP, 6.60 ERA, 24 BB, 53 H). That's the kind of skid that makes Tim Lincecum's August look like Tim Lincecum's September. Also mixed into this time period is Zito's relief appearance in the Cincinnati game they almost came back from: Pressure situation, and he gets the loss in that game. It's not a bump in the road - it's a long term slide and the playoffs is not the time to drag yourself out of the quicksand. You need to be fully out to start a playoff game.

I can't quite picture the Giants sitting Zito in real life yet, but he may have finally lost Bochy's trust in that Padres game. I give him about a 50-50 chance for survival, and for a highly paid veteran, that's not good. And it's not just Zito, it's the circumstances. Bumgarner's last start was also during a stretch where every game was a game that the Giants needed to win, and he responded to the pressure. He's good enough to be our Game Four Starter. If he hadn't, or if this were a best of seven series, it would increase Zito's odds to make the roster, but right now, they can afford to sit him. What they can't afford is for him to lay another egg.

We're In!

Finally. A celebration on the mound.

Since Game Three of the 2003 NLDS ended with a loss to the Florida Marlins, I have been looking forward to the day when the Giants could have a celebration on the mound. I've watched 18 bajillion mound celebrations since that gray afternoon in Miami seven years ago and no Giants have been a part of any of them.

I like watching catchers running out to hug pitchers. I like when grown men pour out of the dugout like kids on the last day of school. I like watching guys wearing awkwardly fitting Division Champs t-shirts they just got handed over their uniforms give high fives to geeked up fans. I like seeing someone like Bruce Bochy, who I actually thought was born without the facial muscles required for a human being to smile, smile from ear to ear.

I especially like seeing a guy like Freddy Sanchez - an All Star on last-place Pirates teams who never quite got fully embraced here in San Francisco because of his tendency to streak - streak his way into our hearts with a two out hit that started the scoring, and celebrate his first playoff appearance.

I also like seeing a guy like Aubrey Huff - who received a lot of MVP votes playing on bad Devil Rays and Orioles teams, and arrived in San Francisco to the sound of shrugging shoulders because we thought he was just another aging veteran who was past his prime - hit one into the gap to continue the scoring and celebrate his first playoff appearance.

In a way Huff and Sanchez symbolize the post-Bonds era Giants. Both guys picked up for their offense but nobody really expected much out of them. Aubrey because he was over the hill, Freddy because he wasn't going to repeat his good years. But both guys contributed big time this season, both came through in the most important game in seven years.

Tonight is a night of celebration, but I can't get too gushy yet. There is a huge orchard of post-season moments sprawling out in front of me and I need to save some of this up for that.

Now let's go get those Braves.

One More Win

The Giants seem to be operating on of those rare planes of awesome lately. They recognize how important it is to win right now and they are just doing it. They are willing themselves to win in a way that I haven't seen in maybe 17 years. I'm not including the late-period Bonds years, because there were stretches where Bonds carried the team on his back, and the other players just kind of managed their parts well. Now, they are operating as a team.

And my joy at watching this is only matched by my dread. My dread that it will all just unravel. Realistically, it's not likely to unravel, at least before they win their first NL West title in seven years, but that's the dread. They only have to win one measly game to get in the playoffs. One win. The only way they miss the playoffs is if the Padres sweep them in San Francisco to force the one game playoff, then win the playoff game (basically a four game sweep).

Not likely. These are the same Padres who have gotten shut out twice in the last two games and haven't scored more than three runs in one game since probably the 1984 NLCS (I'm just guessing). In fact, if I were an objective observer, I would look at these Giants, look at these Padres, look at the current playoff odds, and I would conclude that the Giants were probably going to sweep the Padres this weekend.

But it doesn't matter how likely things are. The tortured fan inside me knows better. The tortured fan knows it's not over.

I think the fear is that the Giants will want so much to take care of business Friday night in Game One so they can relax over the weekend, that they will start to expect it to happen. Then they won't be able to score, then a few Padres bloops will fall into the outfield, then a few more, they'll lose the game, the Padres will start to feel like they have a little life in them, the Giants will feel upset things didn't go as planned, then they'll get sloppy on Saturday and Sunday, the Padres will force a playoff, they'll be pumped up beyond belief while Giants will feel on the ropes, and by the time the playoff game comes the whole thing will have snowballed...

It's the same way nightmares are structured. One thing goes wrong, which leads to another, then another, soon everything is going wrong and you can't fix it. I know that nightmares aren't real life. I was expecting a nightmare scenario before the Colorado series and they ended up winning two out of three. Bochy seems to have these guys really focused on the moment. For Giants fans there's a lot to feel good about, and for Padres fans there's not. But you know who else didn't have a lot to feel good about? Angels fans in the seventh inning of Game Six. And 24 hours later they had a championship.

I hate to bring up the '02 Series but it's always a reminder of how nothing is sewn up until it's sewn up, the thread is put away, the cat's inside, the lights are off, and you're in bed.

I'm a Giants fan. My guard is always up.

4 Games to Go...

A lead off home run off the guy for whom we switched the rotation around to get an early start puts fans in kind of a grumpy mood. For this particular fan, it gets me flashing back to game six of the 2002 World Series and the last day of the 1993 season, then mumbling and blinking a lot.

Luckily, the Diamondbacks know how to strand runners. Really, they're just awesome at it. To the point of it being an art form.

And luckily, Pat the Bat, also.

Worried about Lincecum's hiccup to start the game? Or maybe Posey being 1 for his last 10? Or the Giants turning into a team who loses unless they hit a home run? Don't be bothered with such trivialities. Comes with the torture. Just take the win. We only need three more. Take it to go with a side of Padres loss. Oh, they're all out of that? Not a problem, wins are still delicious on their own.

12 Games to Go...

...until I'm either jumping for joy or sitting with my head in my hands. And from the looks of the jam-packed NL west standings, I'm sure I won't know until October 3rd has come and gone.

The bullpen is as solid as I remember it ever being. Every starter seems to have smoothed out his bumpy ride, but the offense's ride is as bumpy as ever. Only one or two bumps a game, actually, if they're lucky. So, as usual, the pitching is carrying things, and there's some buzz lately about whether the rotation should be left alone, or if someone should skip a start so that the best guy is on the mound for the crucial games, such as that last game of the season against San Diego, any of the games in Colorado, the would-be first game of the NLDS, or some weird three-way tie playoff game, if it were to rear its ugly head.

An intriguing question. As it stands now, here is how the rotation would fill out the rest of the season:

9/21 Cain @ Cubs

9/22 Sanchez @ Cubs

9/23 Bumgarner @ Cubs

9/24 Lincecum @ Colorado

9/25 Zito @ Colorado

9/26 Cain @ Colorado

9/27 Off

9/28 Sanchez vs. Arizona

9/29 Bumgarner vs. Arizona

9/30 Lincecum vs. Arizona

10/1 Zito vs. San Diego

10/2 Cain vs. San Diego

10/3 Sanchez vs. San Diego

With everyone kind of peaking, it's hard to make an argument that anything should be changed. In fact, the most compelling argument I've heard either way is that everyone has been solid. That if you mess with the rhythm, disaster may soon follow.

I think the motivation behind tweaking with the rotation is that everyone is secretly afraid of Bumgarner pitching the THIS IS IT game that decides our season. I'll admit that I'm afraid of it. I'm also afraid of one of the hot hitters going into a slump, all of the slumping hitters not finding their way out their slumps, Pablo Sandoval swinging at a pickoff throw to first, Jonathan Sanchez walking the entire opposing lineup in the first inning, Buster Posey collapsing from exhaustion into a pile of bones and peach fuzz, Tim Lincecum melting into a puddle of sweat, Andres Torres somehow having a second appendix which also bursts, and a thousand other things. But the fear of a young pitcher being shouldered with the most important game of the series is thicker, because we are all still traumatized from Salomon Torres' start on the final game of the 1993 season. (Note: This link is for readers who may not be Giants fans or aware of this game. Giants fans proceed with caution. You know what you are clicking on and may not want to relive it).

Fortunately for everyone, this isn't 1993. I'm not looking at college brochures and The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" is no longer playing on the radio 500 times a day, so I'm fairly certain. And the last game of the season might not be the most crucial one. For all we know the THIS IS IT game could be Lincecum's start vs. Arizona. Or the division could be clinched some night while the Giants aren't even on the field. Right now they are all crucial games, or at least they should all be treated as such. We can't leave Bumgarner in some waiting room thumbing through magazines until his "safe" start is available - and I wouldn't want to. He's a much more valuable starter than Torres was and we should be using him.

Other things nobody knows: Who's going to be the hottest pitcher or suddenly have a bad start. Before Sunday's beautiful start against the Brewers would anyone have picked Zito to start the THIS IS IT game? Now Zito suddenly has a ton of backers. Right now, the guy I have the most confidence in would probably be either Sanchez or Cain. But both of those guys are just a bad start away from everyone dreading their next start. The Giants need to trust their rotation, not just 3/5 of 4/5 of it. It's tricky to tweak your way into the playoffs. Winning games is usually much more effective.

Where Credit is Due

1-0? Hit batsman + stolen base on a strikeout + fielder's (bad) choice + double play = only run of the game? This is the kind of game the Padres win, and last night, the Giants out-Padre'd them.

I'm giving credit for this one to a guy who doesn't get a lot of credit, Bruce Bochy. We Giants fans enjoy bemoaning his lineup choices, and sometimes his choices deserve to be moaned. But managing the bullpen is one of his strengths, and he managed it perfectly last night.

It started at the end of the fifth: Not often that a pitcher gets pulled during a one-hit shutout after five, but this was the right call. The reason was Jonathan Sanchez' seven walks. Sanchez has two types of starts: Lots of walks and lots of strikeouts. Although he had a decent four K's, he was brewing a walk-heavy start and it was threatening to stink up the whole kitchen. Perfect time to pull him.

Casilla was a great choice to come in. San Diego was not hitting the ball hard at all, and couldn't have pitched a better 1.1 innings; the Padres couldn't catch up to his heat. After his appearance, Bochy wisely put in Ramirez, another hard-thrower, to finish the seventh.

You know the script to the rest of the game. Romo to start the eighth, Lopez to face the lefty Gonzalez, and one of those nifty five out saves from Brian Wilson.

Kudos, Bruce, for the Padresy win. That had to take some wind out of their sails. Now sink the ship.

Other thoughts on last night's game:

- Where are all these Giants fans in Petco Park coming from? Their presence is leading to some of the most satisfying sounding boo/cheer combos when the Giants do something good.

-Was that the notorious Phil Cuzzi who called Cabrera out at second on a phantom tag from Renteria? Thanks, Phil, while that doesn't make up for you calling Ishikawa out at home in that Mets game, it's a good start.

-Dear Rockies,

Please stop.