Tim McG

I never thought of that, but you're dead on! My mom and I were sharing a laugh at Rowand's stance during a game earlier this season. Looks constipated up there! Don't give him a pitch to drive, though. You know, I hadn't noticed that, but Rowand's stance does resemble that of Ron Cey. Oh and BTW, Rowand's hitting last night was key in the Giants' win over the Rocks. Just thought I'd share Well...I'm OK with that

Huh? You're having some serious math problems up there. As a Giant he's averaged 5.83 innings a start - in other words he makes it into the 6th. I'm not saying he was a good signing for the price, but it's not a 2 IP per start average. Good catch, Quincy. My math skill is virtually nonexistant....I appreciate you setting it right. However, it is a rare day when Zito makes it past the 5th inning. Statistically, those rare occasions he does pitch in the later innings will skew the actuality of the sad fact that as a starter, he is only good for half a game at most. He's usually done an inning or two before the 5th.

Lenny Williams Tony Williams Joe Williams

Peter Magowan is the reason why that Zito albatross is hanging around the Giants' necks. Magown is also the reason why the Giants lost the 2002 World Series.

say what you want but his life time record when he get 4 runs or more is 19-2 in the orange and black, and 104-6 in his 10-year career. look at any box score from any night and a lot of teams can manage 4 runs. Well...not exactly. Zito has 41 losses against only 29 wins....in his 2 1/2 [seems like 50] years with the Giants. He has given up 291 runs, 507 hits, pitched an average of 174 innings in only 91 games [that's two innings a game on average] and has been behind in runs before the third inning this year 8 times out of his 11 losses against a 4.29 ERA. In short: Zito sucks Schierholtz is batting .301 in only 216 ABs and 85 games for an average of only two ABs per game. Dude, that is not an everyday player. He is platooned in RF.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writ...l#ixzz0OgHjd7IS Put me down as agreeing with Dan on this one about Rowand, he is not having a good year and his fielding is getting worse as the season goes on, even Duane Kuiper & Mike Krukow were getting on Rowand's case about the poor job he was doing in center during the Mets series. I watch the Giants a lot, and Rowand just never seems to get a good jump on the ball, I'm in the not impressed column on Rowand right now. Only two errors and a near flawless fielding percentage trumps one bad series with the Mets. He has been a sparkplug on a team in desperate need of a leader. Rowand provides just that. You know, I remember hearing the very same complaints when Marvin Benard was on the team. Same with Robby Thompson. I guess you just can't please some people. IMHO: Bengie Molina is the leader of this Giant team -- he's a true gamer. The future, in terms of leadership, is very promising for the Giants. I see the big leaders being Panda, Lincecum, and Nate Scheirholtz (who could turn out to be a great player). The Giants will be a very interesting team to watch in the years to come, that old Dodger/Giant rivalry might get very intense after it's all said and done. I agree. Molina leads by what he says and by his professionalism on and off the field. However, Rowand leads by example. A great combo for the young guys to be associated with, IMHO. Panda and Lincecum need some seasoning before they can take on a leadership role...especially Lincecum; too kid-like just yet. But what a fire plug that guy is! Scheirholtz needs to be more consistant in his play...an every day player he is not, right now. If he can dial it up a notch and stop being sent down to the Triple-A club in Fresno, then you're right, he could be a great player.

You're tied with about 42 games left, so now every game matters. I looked at the Rangers schedule the other day and they have a pretty favorable one. The last three games against the Angels may be gimmes if the Angels have clinched and they want to rest players. Much better than last year for you, right? No doubt about it: no one expected the Rangers to be this good this deep into the season (much less at all!). Still, aside from the inconsistent bats, the Rangers' biggest problem has been their inability to beat the so-called "easy" teams: they can take care of the Angels and the Red Sox with the greatest of ease, but the Twins? How in the name of the baseball gods can a team be this good, yet blow five-run leads for two consecutive games and lose to a team that is where the Rangers usually are this time of year? That's baseball, I guess... Big Al, Didn't you hear on ESPN that the Twins are part of the most exciting division race in the major leagues? There only 5 games back, they could go all the way. There should be a law that any team under 500 should not be considered a playoff contender, at least get to a game over 500 first. Dan, Since your post above was SFW I will agree with you on Rowan and I will check out that link. Rentieria and Zito should be on that list also. In Zito's defense if you throw out the W-L record he has been quite good this year and has the best ERA on the Giants post all star break. Poor guy has had 9 starts this year where his team got shut out. Obviously though the Zito contract was still horrible. That one is more the fault of the previous owner Magowen and not the GM. Zito is a head case. Those nine games you speak of, Zito had the Giants in the hole before the National Anthem stopped echoing in the stadium. The odds will be stacked against you if you make your team have to play catch-up everytime out. However, the Giants' pitching staff has the best ERA in the league right now....all they need is some hitting. Maybe the Giants pitching staff could team up with the [hated] Dodgers line-up. Now that would be one kick-ass team!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writ...l#ixzz0OgHjd7IS Put me down as agreeing with Dan on this one about Rowand, he is not having a good year and his fielding is getting worse as the season goes on, even Duane Kuiper & Mike Krukow were getting on Rowand's case about the poor job he was doing in center during the Mets series. I watch the Giants a lot, and Rowand just never seems to get a good jump on the ball, I'm in the not impressed column on Rowand right now. Only two errors and a near flawless fielding percentage trumps one bad series with the Mets. He has been a sparkplug on a team in desperate need of a leader. Rowand provides just that. You know, I remember hearing the very same complaints when Marvin Benard was on the team. Same with Robby Thompson. I guess you just can't please some people.

Aaron Rowand is batting .272 right now with a career BA of .282. OBP .341 SLG .451 OPS .792 This year he has 10HRs, 48 RBIs, 4SB, 23BB while SO 93 times. Not a great year, but not in the dumper either. Career-wise, he isn't the weak hitter some folks here make him out to be. Like I said...just an off-season is all. Now then...any complaints about his fielding? Here ya go: A career .989 FLDPCT/.991 this year and only 2 errors all season. ************************************************************** Now will somebody PLEASE beat the damn Rockies?!? Grrrrr

Excellent article, WB3. But this still begs the question: Where would the A's go? The San Jose market is owned by the Giants as they have a farm team well established in SJ. I suppose the Single A team could move, but where would they go...further south to Gilroy? Sacramento and Modesto both have teams and I don't know that the North Bay [or the Concord/Pittsburg/Antioch areas do either] has a fan base to support the SJ Giants. But it does appear that chasing off the fans is their goal. Reminds me of the Charlie O. daze when there were no radio or TV broadcasts and fewer than 800 fans showed up to the games. Weird.

This seems like a self-defeating argument. To use your words: Why do you pretend that the very same evidence you blast Ortiz with isn't the same reason we can assume Bonds was on steroids? Now granted, the evidence against each seems to be quite different, in both scale and possibly substance, but you don't make that distinction in your question. It's late. Just asking. Of course these are two different cases with a different set of circumstances to go along with them. All I'm saying is you can't assume one set of circumstances to be any more valid than the other without the substatiated evidence to back it up. In that instance...they are both circumstantial. Assumption, no matter how many times Danny will try and make people believe otherwise, is not fact. And if I may quote Wm. Shakespeare: Ay...there's the rub.

Grandma Moses Moses Malone Karl Malone

Fred Lewis needs to go away, no doubt. But Randy Winn? Nah. Just a rough year is all for him and Rowand. Rowand makes around 12 mil, for that money he isn't entitled to back to back rough years. I love his heart and the dude will run through a wall and play hurt but right now he is stinking it up to high heaven at the plate. At least Wynn's contract runs out this winter. Check out Bruce Jenkins today, not only did the A's screw themselves but also the Giants by getting rid of Houston Street and Carlos Gonalez for Matt Holiday. I dunno. Rowand had a fairly decent year last season, but his fielding is nothing less than superb. I mean, you have to have a guy like Rowand with his take-no-prisoners attitude to spark up the dugout and shake the doldrums. They are actually playing with some fire this season. I'm guessing Winn will be trade bait if the Gigantes decide not to keep him. Got to get something for him, right? The Jenkins column isn't on the SF Gate website today [usually a day or so lag before we see it; we can't get the Chron out my way for some reason] but what intrigues me is why the Rockies would trade off Holliday. Seemed crazy to me. Though Street with his 100th career save is a boon for the Rocks. And what's the deal with the A's? Man, it's like they just don't want to win. I know the small market is always their hue and cry, but you won't fill the stadium with Holliday....especially now that he's with the Cards. Another dumb move. Giambi should have taught them that much. It seemed that when the Fremont stadium deal died, so did the team.

Fred Lewis needs to go away, no doubt. But Randy Winn? Nah. Just a rough year is all for him and Rowand.

You aren't very consistent, dude! Um. You're kidding, right? Purposely trying to injure or end a guy's career is a WAY different thing than just plunking him, Aggie. The baseball "code' is if you hit one of our guys with a pitch, we will hit one of your guys. That has absolutely nothing at all to do with trying to bean someone with the purpose of causing undo bodily injury, end of career hurt or death. OK? No disrespect intended, but I seriously wonder if you actually understand the game.

John Madden John stewart Steve Colbert

Man...a wicked line drive off his forehead. Yeow! I would never be glad a player got injured. Even a Dodger. But I was happy they lost

JJ Johnson Bob Brookmeyer Steve Turre

Robert Plant [singer, Honeydrippers] Jimmy Paige John Bonham

Right now? PGA Championship.

Brian Wilson does this "X" thing after every win/save to honor his family and his faith in God. Casey Blake was mocking him during the Giants' last visit to LaLa Land. What a jackass. Wilson's display, despite what he claims it means to him, is going to be taken as showing up the batter. The display doesn't come with a spelled out disclaimer that he's "honoring his family and his faith in God," and doing it in a celebratory manner in the wake of a win/save makes that excuse for it not only lame but disingenuous. I would agree with you Noj....if Wilson was turned towards the plate or up in somebody's face doing it. But he isn't. Fact is, he turns away and toward centerfeild and looks up to and points to the sky. I seriously do not know how anyone could see it as anything else. Would you say the same about a player who crosses himself before batting? How about when [and this is quite common throughout the MLB] that same batter hits a HR and points to the sky as he crosses homeplate? No my friend, there is no mistaking what Wilson is doing after a win/save. Besides, and here's my point, nobody else in the entire league is mocking Wilson except for Blake. Hence, Casey Blake is a jackass. Brian Wilson does this "X" thing after every win/save to honor his family and his faith in God. Casey Blake was mocking him during the Giants' last visit to LaLa Land. What a jackass. Wilson's display, despite what he claims it means to him, is going to be taken as showing up the batter. The display doesn't come with a spelled out disclaimer that he's "honoring his family and his faith in God," and doing it in a celebratory manner in the wake of a win/save makes that excuse for it not only lame but disingenuous. Even though I am a huge Dodger hater I completely agree. Scroll up to my response to Noj...then tell me if you still feel the same. And Casey Blake is still a jackass. Grrrrr I understand where your coming from on this but lets remember that Blake also apologized after he he was told why Wilson does what he does. I don't think the Giants or Wilson are upset about it at all. I think Giants fans are over reacting a bit by being upset about it. Back in Gibson and Drysdale era none of this watching home runs at home plate till the ball cleared the fence and flipping the bat or relievers making gestures after big outs would fly. K-Rod for the Mets is way over the top compared to Wilson buts we are in the TV-ESPN Sports Center era. It was it is. Speaking of getting thrown at, I know you have to protect your guys and all but twice in the last couple weeks Giants pitchers came close to hitting Victorino and today hit David Wright in the head where is was obvious it was nothing more than complete lack of control. Yes it's not cool to throw at peoples heads but looking that replays its was obvious that neither were lets hit the batter situations. Luckily it cost the Mets today as Pedro went deep after the brush back (forward in this case). Hopefully David Wright is ok as that looked very scary but no way in hell was Cain tying to hit him. I hope Wright is OK, too. Just a very bad pitch as far as I'm concerned. I mean, if Cain was 4-12 it would make more sense. However, he's a 12-4 dead solid pitcher this year. What reason would he have to plunk a guy....especially early in the game? But let's be clear on this: The [hated] Dodgers have taken to throwing at opposing team hitters. I say, everybody needs to start throwing at the [hated] Dodgers hitters. Let's start with Casey "jackass" Blake. As to Blake's apology...he's still a [hated] Dodger, right? I don't believe the sincerity any more than I think the fans cheering Mannywood is justified after all their Barry Bonds hate. In short: Fuck the Dodgers.

Wilbur Fern Templeton Templeton Crocker [the reason why Templeton, CA is called what it is] Chris Crocker Chris Cross

Brian Wilson does this "X" thing after every win/save to honor his family and his faith in God. Casey Blake was mocking him during the Giants' last visit to LaLa Land. What a jackass. Wilson's display, despite what he claims it means to him, is going to be taken as showing up the batter. The display doesn't come with a spelled out disclaimer that he's "honoring his family and his faith in God," and doing it in a celebratory manner in the wake of a win/save makes that excuse for it not only lame but disingenuous. I would agree with you Noj....if Wilson was turned towards the plate or up in somebody's face doing it. But he isn't. Fact is, he turns away and toward centerfeild and looks up to and points to the sky. I seriously do not know how anyone could see it as anything else. Would you say the same about a player who crosses himself before batting? How about when [and this is quite common throughout the MLB] that same batter hits a HR and points to the sky as he crosses homeplate? No my friend, there is no mistaking what Wilson is doing after a win/save. Besides, and here's my point, nobody else in the entire league is mocking Wilson except for Blake. Hence, Casey Blake is a jackass. Brian Wilson does this "X" thing after every win/save to honor his family and his faith in God. Casey Blake was mocking him during the Giants' last visit to LaLa Land. What a jackass. Wilson's display, despite what he claims it means to him, is going to be taken as showing up the batter. The display doesn't come with a spelled out disclaimer that he's "honoring his family and his faith in God," and doing it in a celebratory manner in the wake of a win/save makes that excuse for it not only lame but disingenuous. Even though I am a huge Dodger hater I completely agree. Scroll up to my response to Noj...then tell me if you still feel the same. And Casey Blake is still a jackass. Grrrrr

With four batting titles totalling seven awards. Yet you pick at trivial details. Ortiz was juicing, Danny. Why do you pretend that the very same evidence you blast Bonds with isn't the same reason we can assume Ortiz was on steroids? Because he's your guy? Because to do so would leave you with egg on your face? Because it would mean that the BoSox cheated to get those WS rings? It's multiple choice, you see Right. That would be like proving to Orly Taitz that a certain politician was born in Hawaii... Good point.

Brian Wilson does this "X" thing after every win/save to honor his family and his faith in God. Casey Blake was mocking him during the Giants' last visit to LaLa Land. What a jackass. Since the [hated] Dodgers have taken to throwing at people, especially in the late innings, I sincerely hope somebody makes him kiss the dirt then just screws one up under his rib cage. The bastard. Grrrrr