Scott Work Cube Day 2

Well, the sweep didn’t quite happen. Tim Lincecum did his thing and the Dodgers bullpen just couldn’t hold out long enough.

I was checking in on the game since it was during work and knew it would come down to the end. It was tied when I left work and I told my Giant fan co-worker, “You better hope they put Broxton in so you have a chance…” It ended up that they didn’t need Broxton, Mota did just fine. I knew he was in trouble with that first walk.

No sweep, but the Dodgers still showed why they are in 1st place.

What was interesting tonight was in listening to the talk shows after the game. Let’s just say the fans and talk show host were livid. I mean livid. Livid first at the umpires, livid second at the Giants for having no offense, and livid third at Brian Sabean for getting them into this mess.

I’ll be the first to say the umpires had a bad series. Literally one fan called in and thought the Giants probably would have gotten better calls down in LA. Those calls did affect the game, so I can see their disdain.

The offense though of the Giants is weak. As the talk show host said it, “when you have to depend on Juan Uribe to be your walk off homerun guy…you’re in trouble.”   Enough said.

Even more, as much as I think Brian Sabean has done a pretty good job this year with what the Giants have, this talk show host felt he should be fired now. He found real fault that the Giants went into the year planning on Bengie Molina being an acceptable clean up hitter. He felt that all the veterans (including Molina) should be canned and the young guys should take the team where it needs to go.

I see where he was going, but it was a bit extreme. The Giants are way better than expected already, so the comments are pretty harsh. I think the real problem is that the plan was never to win the World Series, just to compete this year. I think the fans have gotten a taste of the wildcard and now have expected that this was the potential all along. It never was.   They still have a chance at the wild card and that should be the goal to be realistic.

Anyway – the highlight of the day was this morning listening to the talk shows. They played the sound clip of Manny Ramirez hitting his homerun last night and in the background they also played someone throwing up. It was the most realistic throw up sound clip I’ve ever heard and it was hilarious to hear it next to Manny’s homerun. High points to the Murph and Mac show (click here) on KNBR for really funny radio.  I’m totally biased because I love Giants fans wanting to barf at Manny’s success, but it was great.  If anyone can find the sound bite, send it to me and I’ll post it to the next post.

Special thanks again to all the extra hits over this series.  Keep the comments coming. 

Coming up next – a response to a few of the comments from the last few days.  The biggest one being – how far is too far in terms of rivalry gloating?  More specifically when is the rivalry fun, versus mean?  Most Giants fans up here actually wish the rivalry were meaner like it was in the old days at Candlestick Park.  What do you think – is the Dodgers/Giants rivalry too soft, or too hard?  Let me know and I’ll compose the comments in the next post.

Freddy Sanchez - Jed Jacobsohn - Getty Images

As you saw in my last Spy Game, the big question last week was whether the Giants would make a splash at the trade deadline.

Let’s just say they put away all questions very quickly.  First, they picked up Ryan Garko from the Indians and then Freddy Sanchez from the Pirates.  As one Giants fan I know said, he really liked this trade because they weren’t just renting players for this year, they have both of them through 2010.

Ryan Garko adds pop to first base, and Freddy Sanchez definitely upgrades offense and defense.  It was an obvious change from going all young talent, to bringing in some veterans to go for the playoffs.

Honestly, I think these were great pickups for the Giants.  I think the Giants did more to help their team this deadline than the Dodgers did.  The Giants quietly added more offense to their already good pitching.  The Dodgers added relief pitching, but they didn’t get the starting pitching they will probably need.

The only thing that Giants fans didn’t like about the Sanchez trade was the giving up of Tim Alderson from the minors.  This guy was a stud pitcher in the minors and a lot of people wondered if he would be another star in the majors.  Obviously the Giants management felt differently, but not every Giants fan agreed with the trade.  The mark of Brian Sabean, the Giants GM, is to draft pitching and then trade it.  He did it here and I think it was a good move.  Brian is trying to save his job after this year and I think he has already done it.

The Dodgers play the Giants next week in San Francisco.  The Giants already look very different than last time, so it should be a good battle.

Edgar Renteria from Mlb.com

So as the off-season started, the Giant’s seemed to be the only team working.  They quickly grabbed two relievers and then Edgar Renteria.  I actually think the reliever strategy is a good one.  Just ask the Tampa Bay Rays how important it is to re-stock with relievers.  It’s what gets you to your closer, and it’s what got them to the post-season.  With the Dodgers losing Biemel and Saito, I’m actually a little concerned about the Dodger’s bullpen at this point.

Honestly, I don’t know much about the relievers they got, but their numbers are decent, so it should be a help.  The pick up of Renteria is a good one though.  He consistently did good in the National League, and he should instantly help their offense.  He will play decent defense, and even though he won’t be as slick as Omar Vizquel, he will be good.

It was funny up here to see Brian Sabean’s reaction to the whole Sabathia signing.  It came across that the Giant’s were in the mix, but really they weren’t.  Apparently as a GM, he was mad that the fans were mislead.  Fair enough, but it was unlikely anyway since they have pitching and just recently signed Zito.

Given relievers and Renteria, they are only 1 or 2 bats away from really being good.  I thought they should go hard after Teixeira, but apparently he wanted the East Coast.  Burrell might be a good option for them, despite their want to go younger.  If they really wanted to spur on the rivalry, they could go for Manny, but that again doesn’t make sense with their want to go younger.