Haven't been on outsports for a while, but when I finally came back today, I was surprised to see there was no Giants thread. I'm probably the last person who should start one, but I'll do it anyway.

I think the Giants are much more interesting to watch this year than for at least the past 2 seasons. My fav Omar is as good as ever, Steve Finley is playing great, and the team's cuteness factor is definitely higher than in several years. Travis Ishikawa & Eliezer Alfonzo came up from AAA and made HUGE contributions.

Can't help but worry about Mike Matheny's concussion. Lance Niekro has turned out to be a bust so far this season. Won't rehash the stupidity of trading J.T. Snow. (BRING BACK ISHIKAWA! BRING BACK J.T. Oh, right, that would be TOO smart.) Remind me again why the Giants put Matt Morris and Armando Benitez on the payroll (but don't tell me how much they are getting paid, please).

As for Barry Bonds - can't wait until they trade him at the end of the season and spend the money on some players who will actually do the team some good.

Thoughts?

Here's an interesting article about the Giants.

[ June 11, 2006, 07:10 PM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

Bonds is at the end of his contract so if he leaves it'll be as a free agent (assuming he doesn't retire). I don't know why the Giants would let him go, though, unless he's determined to go to the American League and be a DH. Without him crowds at the ballpark would be at least somewhat smaller.

The crowds will shrivel up like Bonds' nads.

Agree and disagree about the crowds viewpoint. Giants baseball in SF is unique - the new field attracts all the tourist and corporate interests, so the team/business will probably always sell tickets, in the same way that the Cubs and Red Sox have always sold tickets.

The problem with MLB is that it has priced itself out. Good grief - offering multimillion-dollar contracts in order to MAKE money? How stupid is that? Well, corporate America has done it since the 1980s. But, if anyone had read the fine print he would know that it was only a scheme to make more money for the investors. It's called Reaganomics.

MLB would do itself a world of good by cutting salaries and ticket prices and remembering why fans were interested to begin with. It won't do that anytime soon, until there really is a financial crisis. I actually believe that about 80% of the players want to continue playing for the love of baseball, not the money. Am I naive?

The Giants have made a deal with the devil in order to pay Barry Bonds's salary. It was a pathetic and typical corporate attempt to make more money, not win games. The organization has paid the price with team it has gotten - nothing against any of the other players.

Please - trade BB at the earliest possible opportunity.

R

[ June 12, 2006, 08:51 PM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

Maybe a little. wink

The Cubs and Red Sox sell well because their venues are legendary places -- baseball shrines, really. Camden Yards in Baltimore opened and crowds were strong for quite a while, but in the last few years have dropped off. It's easy to get a ticket to an Orioles game now. Teams in newer parks -- Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Milwaukee -- have all seen dropoffs in attendance after the first year the new park opened.

Really, a new park by itself isn't enough to drive ticket sales any more, after the first year. The Giants do well now because of Bonds. When he's out of the picture, unless they win a championship, their crowds will drop off.

Hey guys,

Thanks for writing. I was worried about starting a thread and having no one respond.

Why are the Giants such a love/hate team? Love the players (except for a couple), hate the management. Seems they have Yankee-envy -- "if we spend enough money we'll win a world series." Wow, that worked .... hmmm

So, waiting until next season (again) when the Giants don't have Bonds and Benitez on the payroll and might be able to pay for players who will do the team some good.

As for Felipe Alou... guess he went to therapy or something for his obsessive micromanaging tendancies as regards the pitchers. Will there be a change?

[ June 14, 2006, 09:26 PM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

Jeezus Chris! Get a grip girl. I hope Bonds stays until he passes Aaron despite the expense. He's a legend and to do it with the Giants is huge!

Get over it!

This is bound to happen. There are plenty of threads that get very few or no responses. You can't do anything about it. My suggestion is that if you have something interesting to say, just put it out there.

Agreed!

If we can't get Bonds in Oakland, then I'd rather see him finish his career in San Francisco and break the record as a Giant.

Giants lost again today: Bonds 4 AB, 3 SO.

I'm thinking the Giants need Eliezer Alfonzo more than Bonds at the moment.

YAWN.

Thoughts on recent games?

Sorry, have to keep drumming: the Giants will be a team when BB is traded and a new manager is hired. The Giants have been a typical corporation - they gambled on BB to sell tickets. They have succeeded in doing that. They still haven't won a world series - in fact, they haven't even been in the running for 4 years.

If anyone ever bothers to look at world series winners, he will discover that at TEAM has won the series - not a STAR.

Off my soapbox:

What happened to Travis? Another stupid money decision? OY!

At least Benitez has managed to do something recently. $22million worth? You decide....

Now you know why I shouldn't have started this thread: I find it impossible to be a fan of this organization/corporation.

Still...I love going to games.
R

[ June 23, 2006, 07:58 PM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

YAWN! Dissing Bonds and Benitez.... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

We should meet for a pregame drink/beer and really argue this out

Wow! I can't believe the Giants swept the 3-game series against the Rangers. They sure can use some more series like this.

For all the shit Bonds has taken, his OBP is .485 in 2006. He's not getting hits, but he's getting on base and scoring. During the first 2 games of the Rangers series he had 3 AB, 2 R, 1 H, and 5 BB. Those are awesome numbers.

The Giants are a potential division champ but that's it IMO. The post Barry era is hard for me to envision...I've been a Giants fan since I was 5 or 6, and Barry has been there for 2/3 of that time. It should be interesting to see where he ends up next year and how the team (and fans) will respond without him if he leaves.

The thing is, I'm not sure there's many teams out there that are going to want to pay what Barry demands. I mean, his left-field playing days are numbered due to his horrible knees. If you watch him play in person at AT&T Park, you can just see him wince with pain at about every movement.

And, if he continues at his current HR pace, he's just not nearly as attractive as one might think, even given his OBP. Pretty soon, if he doesn't start smacking them out of the park on a regular basis, pitchers and coaches aren't going to be so quick to decide to walk him.

Latest rumour I heard is that Seattle is VERY interested in Barry as a DH...

Anyone read anything more about the possibility of J.T. Snow returning to SF?

Aside: why is every Yankees game 8 hours long? Are they trying to milk the television advertising revenue? I'm watching Yankees/Mets and after 3hrs 15min they are still only in the 4th inning. Golf is more interesting than this.

HELLO?

No gay Giants fans wanting to argue/debate/support?

Wow, this is a pathetic thread. Where are the rabid fans?

It's true, the Giants are the quintessential SF Bay area/corporate team. It's all sushi and white wine and bored yuppies and their children at games. Or NOT?

I'm loving the Giants at the moment, although I was shocked at the Jeremy Accardo trade. Given the Giants' history of stupid trades, I'm less than optimistic. It's probably my soft spot for Accardo. Was at his SF Giants debut. Besides - he's cute!

Anyway, who would have believed the Giants would have a winning streak this season? Go Giants!

Respond?

[ July 22, 2006, 09:17 PM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

The Giants just moved into 1st place in the NL West winning three straight against the Padres.
great games too.

In game one, Noah Lowry pitched a shutout into the bottom of the 9th, but then gave up 2 runs. The 2nd game, Matt Cain did the exact same thing.

Also in game one, the Giants had 4 back-to-back home runs!

Tomorrow's game, which I will be at, is the annual "Until There's a Cure Day", always a tear jerker as both teams move to the outfield to form the aids ribbon. Let's hope the Giants manage to pull off the 4-game sweep!

By the way, I thought the acquisition of Shea Hillenbrand was just great. There's always several setup pitchers to replace Accardo and we needed an everyday 1st baseman - who can hit - in a major way. As much as I miss cutie JT Snow and his great defensive moves, he still hit like a pitcher...

[ July 22, 2006, 11:11 PM: Message edited by: billsf ]

Wow - today looks as though it was a heartbreaker. Hope this doesn't mean Benitez is back to his losing ways again.

(BTW, not to dampen your enthusiasm, but at Thursday night's game the Giants hit 3 consecutive home runs.)

Anybody watching the Red Sox/As the next couple of nights?

[ July 23, 2006, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

I went to Sat's game against the Padres. Got to enjoy the gm from one of the luxury boxes above homeplate. What an incredible experience! That's how a ball game should be watched.

I haven't been following the Giants that much recently, so I was a little baffled by Schmidt's struggles early on. I was going to say something good about Benitez until he blew the save on Sunday...

I'll be in LA to see them duke it out with the Dodgers in a couple weeks.

I was surprised too, as he's been one of the better relievers in a not-that-stellar bullpen. A friend who used to live in Boston had this to say about Hillenbrand:

(a) he's the proverbial "clubhouse cancer", and

( he's a loudmouthed homophobe who loves to throw the word "faggot" around.

Anyone in one of his former cities who'd care to comment?

Now what's going on with the Giants? Geez!

God, Benitez sucks! He just surrendered a home run in the bottom of the 9th, allowing the Pirates to tie the game 1-1. He always screws up like this. Please get rid of him.

Well, they went 2-10 against the two Pennsylvania teams this season...which, considering the state of the two Pennsylvania teams, is pretty bad.

...and Bonds, Morris, both Alous...

It's just not much fun being a Giants fan this season. Wonder if any trade miracles are going to happen before the deadline tomorrow.

good ol' fatmando!!!

different uniform, same results!

Until the SF Giants owner gets over his dick competition with the Yankees owner, the Giants will never have a team.

Could some enlightened person come along who didn't wish to make the Giants the Yankees-West? Hoping...

[QUOTE]Originally posted by weirdblackdog:
[QB] Until the SF Giants owner gets over his dick competition with the Yankees owner, the Giants will never have a team.

Waiting for the Giants to get over the Yankees-west envy...

I don't think the Giants are trying to compete with the Yankees. They don't spend nearly as much money (granted, they probably don't have nearly as much money to spend) and they haven't had a fraction of the Yankees' success.

It's a miracle! The Giants are winning!

That was cynical.

The Giants have been playing well, despite their losses. Even Bonds is playing hard - think he feels he has to earn his salary for a change? I doubt it (cynicism speaking again).

Still holding out hope...for what? I don't know.

When the media does it's Bonds worship thing I want to vomit. The Fox announcer just made a big deal about Bonds being up to bat.

Wake up ALICE! Bonds is the past.

xo

P.S. Ever wonder if the pitchers see the Viagra ad that appears about 5th/6th inning behind home plate?

p.s.s.

Ever wonder if the tv announcers are drunk...they are always slurring words and misprouncing names about 7th inning... except for the young suck-up announcer...he's the scott hamilton of baseball announcing.

[ August 14, 2006, 09:34 PM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

LOL! - I hear you there, WBD! Ever listen to Bob Griese during an NCAA football game? He sounds downright sloshed at times!

Now what do we think of the Giants?

[Still...feeling...the...weight...of...barry's...ssalary...]

Personally, I don't think they're good enough to make the playoffs. But they're only a game and a half out so who knows? Ten teams within 5 games; 6 teams within 2 and a half. Who knows?

Surprised the Giants haven't hired Karl Rove - the last desparate resort of a losing venture.

I've started watching the A's - it's a real team.

[ September 01, 2006, 08:18 PM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

Kind of a strange thing to say about the player having the best offensive 2006 of any Giant (or, at worst, in a dead heat with Ray Durham).

Hey Bill W:

Have you checked the batting stats?

Rob

...last...gasp...

20?

...changing channels...there must be law&order reruns or ANYTHING else on...

[ September 19, 2006, 08:47 AM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

Too bad the Rockies missed the extra point.

Anyone else hoping to run into Mark Sweeney at the Folsom Street Fair?

[ September 22, 2006, 09:37 PM: Message edited by: weirdblackdog ]

Barry Bonds will file for free agency after the World Series according to a report on ESPN.com.


http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2641065

One time Giants closer Rod Beck found dead at 38.

This year is NOT looking good for the Giants. People wanted to see how the team would do without Bonds...and they're going to get it.

Over/under for me is 95 losses.

My one request is that they get rid of Ray Durham as soon as possible. They probably blew their shot at getting decent talent for him or Roberts last year but I just want them gone.