Ok. So if this was the presidential election, the Giants would be raked over the coals for being Wishy Washy. Talk about a Flip Flop.

The Giants announced the re-signing of Jose Uribe and now Bengie Molina.  Apparently Bengie didn’t get the length or money he wanted from the Mets, so he decided playing for the Giants wouldn’t be that bad.  It is only one year, so he can go seek a longer deal after.  It is good for the Giants as it will give Buster Posey a little more time in the minors, but also because they got their cleanup hitter back….

This news isn’t great for Dodger fans because Jose Uribe and Bengie Molina both had their number last year, so there could be more disappointments this year.

The Giants also recently added Aubrey Huff.  This one made the fans up here kind of scratch their heads.  He will play 1st base (which they have a rookie for), and can hit, but he definitely wasn’t the big bat the fans were hoping for.  

I talked to a Giants fan this week who had an interesting perspective on this year.  Molina and Huff are signed only for one year as well as Jonathan Sanchez.  Aaron Rowand and Edgar Renteria also only have one year left.  This means that in one year 5 of 9 position players (when Sanchez pitches) will be gone.  This signifies that the Giants are really “going for it” this year, or they are just trying to ”get through” this year until next year when they can clear payroll, get some veterans and bring up the rookies.  Given that Aubrey Huff and Mark DeRosa are not star hitters…I lean towards the “get through” approach.  They will have more power, but not that much.

What do you think – Wishy Washy or just frugal?  I’m going to take Wishy Washy and rub it in to Giants fans as long as I can.

Matt Cain - AP - Ben Margot

With the All-Star Game this week, there isn’t a lot to report specific to the Giants.  Tim Lincecum started the All-Star game and was roughed up.  Having said that, there was a little buzz at the end of the week as the Giants played the Pirates.  “Played” is the key word.  I should better say “lost” to the Pirates.  They lost in extra innings, and then got beat again yesterday.  The “concern” has been the sudden loss of the Giants offense against a last place team.  Before the All-Star game their offense seemed to be in high gear.  Aaron Rowand was leading off, Pablo Sandoval was hitting third and hitting jacks, and Edgar Renteria was hitting 5 or 6 and starting to get back to form.  They were doing so well that they were in the top wild card spot and their was rumors of extending the deals of Brian Sabean the GM and Bruce Bochy the manager.

Now after the All-Star game and the loss of the offense, there’s the silence of hoping it is just an anomoly, rather than a real trend.  The truth is everyone’s guess, so we’ll see.  Matt Cain goes today, to try and take one win in the series.

Most Giants fans I talk to don’t think they will make any major moves before the trade deadline.  Apparently the new owner wants to build for the future and everyone knows this team has already exceeded expectations.  Even more, they will have more money at the end of this year, so they can wait.  I still don’t think the Giants have enough to get deep into the playoffs, but maybe that isn’t the goal.  Even just to make the playoffs excites the fans.  Until next week…

Randy Johnson - Haraz N. Ghanbari - AP

Congrats to the Big Unit for winning game 300 this week against the Nationals.  They had a number of rain delays, and his game was even pushed back a day, but he got the 2-1 win.  He even had a diving throw to first which was pretty cool to watch.  He now joins a select 24 pitchers in history who have 300 wins. 

His win was definitely all the talk up here the last few days.  I heard a great radio show this morning that the fans up here really started to get into it.  At the beginning of the season they weren’t sure if they would connect with him because 295 of his wins came for different teams.  Yet, as he was on the verge of history, it became all the more intriguing.  I personally found this to be the same way.  I don’t know that I would have followed it as much had he gone to say New York, or Florida.  But since he was in the Bay Area, I checked up on him a lot and was hopeful that he could get the record. 

I liked one of his quotes yesterday too that he wasn’t as interested in the record, just as much as he could prove that he could do it.  At 45, he still wanted to prove he could play the game and win.  I think that’s what starts to happen in life.  We get older.  We think we can do all that we did when we were young.  We finally realize we really can’t do it as well, and then we spend the rest of the time trying to prove we really can still do it.  High points to you Randy for reaching your own goal and taking us along for the ride.

I did hear a funny thing though this morning on the Giants talk radio.  They felt that the umpire was extremely generous to Brian Wilson (The Giants closer) when he got the 3rd strike call at the end of the game with the bases loaded.  I saw the pitch too, and it did look low.  As they said, it was close enough that the batter should have tried to swing, but it was definitely a low strike.  Had that been a ball, a run would have walked home, and Randy would have lost the chance at 300.  The umpire called it a strike, and the rest is history.

The only other real thing for my Spy Game this week is Aaron Rowand.  He was picked up last year by the Giants at a premium, and he hasn’t been the power hitter they expected.  Actually, he hasn’t even been a very good 7 or 8 hitter.  They switched him to the leadoff spot, and he seems to have found his niche.  I’m not sure what happened, but he has now hit in 15 straight games and raised his average to over .294.  The Giants are playing over .500 ball, and even though they are well behind the Dodgers, they are a lot more respectable than people thought.

Do you like the Spy Game segment?  Let me know if there are certain other things you want me to focus on.  Until next week – Go Blue.

Manny Ramirez - Matt York/AP

So one of the benefits of living in Giants Territory is that I do get a good window of what Giants fans are thinking.  This issue of Manny has really tripped them up.

The Dodgers would be equally torn if they were looking at him for the first time.  But since he came in and basically was the MVP for the end of the year, they can look past all of his faults.

Manny is still all the talk on the talk shows up here.  I’m heard a lot of good arguments up here, most of which are really valid.  There are definitely too camps.

The first camp says take him now and pay the money.  They believe that with their strong pitching rotation (the Dodgers can only dream of a rotation that deep right now), that they just need one bat to really contend.  Many analysts feel that getting Manny would put them favored in the division, bring in ticket sales and make them a winning team for the first time in 6 years.  (Yeah – 6 losing seasons and the natives are definitely restless.)

The other camp says that Manny would not be worth the cost.  Not just in actual dollars, but in what would happen once he got there.  The Giants don’t have a strong hitters lineup.  They have Aaron Rowand and Benjie Molina, but no one that could really protect Manny.  Because of this they feel adding Manny will just be like Bonds a few years ago, where every team just  walks him to get to the weaker better.  Honestly, I think they are totally right.  Not that the Dodgers are a ton better, but they definitely are stronger than the Giants in terms of pop in the lineup.  Adding Manny to the Giants would not be the same as adding him to the Dodgers because he just wouldn’t have the protection or leadoff guys to support Manny.

Even more, if they add Manny, it would be for a long term deal, which goes against their rebuilding with youth.  I heard Dwayne Kieper (Giants radio announcer) on the air yesterday saying that they figured last year would be the worst, this year would hopefully bring a winning record, and next year they would be in the playoffs.  Adding Manny short circuits this, but also adds an aging outfielder they have to maintain and deal with.

It is interesting too all of the rumors on how Manny is in the clubhouse.  Most ball players and announcers like him, but the Red Sox players agreed to dump him last year, so who really knows.  I’m sure he’s a driven athlete (he has to be to be Hall of Fame caliber), but he does polarize, and his baggage of faking injuries speaks loudly.

I still don’t think the Giants are major players unless it is a 1-2 year deal.  Even then, I would think the Dodgers could easily outbid them for that length of a contract.

I will say this, as much as I don’t want Manny to be Giant (it would be horrible up here), I would at least have a lot to blog about for many years.  Let me know your thoughts on Manny being walked…