Game Recap: SF 7, ARI 4

The sleeping Giant awoke from his light slumber, as Aubrey Huff hit two HR's, raising his season total to 19. But the big hit in the game came in the 7th inning, when the best leadoff hitter in the NL, Andres Torres hit a booming triple that gave the Giants the Giants a 6-4 lead, a huge momentum change after the bullpen gave up the lead in the bottom of the 6th. In the top of the 9th, the Huff-Torres tandem gave the Giants an extra run, when Torres hit a double that was scored an error, and Huff singled him in. That, and a couple of Travis Ishikawa hits, accounted for pretty much all the offense tonight. Congratulations, Giants. You managed to survive without Posey in the lineup.

Jonathan Sanchez ended up only with one earned run in 5 innings, but this was not a pretty start. Sure, he struck out 10, but also walked 5 while giving up 4 hits, and was constantly in trouble. Santiago Casilla was no better, giving up the Giants' 3-1 lead. Chris Ray was able to get out of the 6th inning, and Sergio Romo, while a little shaky, didn't give up any runs. Brian Wilson got another 4 out save to end the game.

During the game tonight, we learned from Henry Schulman that the Giants may have been very close to acquiring David DeJesus before he injured himself. This potential deal apparently didn't involve Jonathan Sanchez. Knowing that, I have to say I'm a little disappointed that DeJesus got hurt. For some unproven minor league outfielders, it would have been really nice to have DeJesus replace Freddy Sanchez as the Number 2 hitter in the lineup. Looks like now the Giants are going to focus on strengthening their bullpen before the deadline.

Lastly, I'll say without shame that I was overjoyed when Miguel Montero cluelessly threw Kelly Johnson's "cycle ball" into the stands. He must understand, deep down in his unconscious, how silly the cycle is.

Don't Try Calling Brian Sabean Because He Won't Call You Back

Yeah, that's right, according to Buster Olney of ESPN (Insider), who did a survey of MLB GMs, Brian Sabean is the most difficult GM to deal with simply because he doesn't answer the phone. Sabean says it is absolutely untrue and that not enough GMs were polled, but still, at least several GMs have claimed that Sabean doesn't return their calls. When you think about it, it kind of makes you laugh. I can imagine Sabean hearing the phone ring and seeing that it's a rival GM and thinking, "You know, if I don't answer the phone...maybe they'll think I'm playing hard to get so they'll want to talk to me even more and I still won't answer the phone and then to get me to answer the phone they offer me a player who hits over .300! Genius! No wonder I'm the longest tenured GM in the game..." And when I think about it some more, it makes me angry because it is absolutely ridiculous. If this is true, Brian Sabean is essentially not doing his job. His job is too converse back and forth with general managers in order to find the best ways to improve the Giants. But he just refuses to answer the phone? Why? Is he busy meeting with Bochy to discuss their plan to ruin the Giants before they are both eventually fired? That must be it. By not listening to other teams he's just limiting his options. It just makes no sense, and the notion that a Major League Baseball GM wouldn't answer phone calls from other teams is just...unbelievable.

Here are a few other notes from the last couple of days:

A little while ago in this post, Reza outlined the Giants' possible interest in David DeJesus. Here, Dave Cameron of Fangraphs explains why he's the perfect fit for the Giants.

Apparently, Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy believe some of their struggles can be attributed to the team being too right-handed. The article says they'll begin using more platoons against right-handed pitchers to get more lefties in the lineup. I'm not so sure Travis Ishikawa and Nate Schierholtz will make much of a difference.

It was assumed that with Molina gone, Posey would become the everyday catcher. Not so fast. The Giants want to ease him into being the everyday guy, so at least for now, Whiteside will get a lot of starts at catcher. I guess it makes some sense, but it's still a little disappointing.

Brandon Belt has been promoted to Double-A Richmond. Belt was absolutely dominating in San Jose with a line of .380/.488/.624 with a 1.112 OPS. Time to see how he does in the much tougher Eastern League.

Giants Interested In DeJesus

The Giants have interest in KC Royals outfielder David DeJesus, according to Fox Sports' Jon Paul Morosi. However, there haven't been any "serious talks". The fact that the Giants are thinking of trading for an outfielder when all 3 of their current outfielders are mashing, means either they have no idea what they are doing, or Bengie Molina is about to be benched for Posey, and Huff is going to move back to first base. Of course, that will never happen, so it's safe to assume the Giants don't know what they are doing.

I think DeJesus is good, good enough that he might cost too much. In 5 seasons in Kansas City, he has a career OPS of .791, and he's having his best year so far, .328/.400/.492. As far as I know, he's good defensively, and he'd certainly be an improvement over Burrell or Huff. He might end up requiring too good of a prospect, especially because the Royals don't really have any need to trade him right now. I do think this team needs another hitter, and if it's an outfielder who's presence will set in motion the tectonic movement required to shift Molina permanently to the bench, then DeJesus is a great option, especially if he can be gotten relatively cheap. Neither is likely though.