Game Recap: ATL 3, SF 2

Shame on the Giants for misleading us. Andres Torres led off the game with a single. Freddy Sanchez then doubled, and Huff grounded out to bring Torres home. Three batters in, the Giants had a 1-0 lead. Then in the 2nd inning, Torres doubled to score Aaron Rowand. 2-0 Giants. Looking good, right? Wrong. That was all for the offense. They did manage to scatter 8 hits, but were just 1-for-10 with RISP.

Tim Lincecum had an okay start. He didn't go to deep into the game, just 6 1/3 innings, and all of his 3 ER scored on home runs. There's a big perception that he does pitch well when it's hot and humid, which was the case in Atlanta tonight, and I'm not sure how that affected him. Early in the game he was a little wild, giving up a couple of 4-pitch walks, but he seemed to settle down and ended with 7 K's. Good, not great start from Timmy.

I'll say one last thing. The Giants had a great July. They went 20-8, but they didn't play any first place teams during that entire span. I like to be optimistic, but it's important to be objectively optimistic. I'd love if the Giants were as good as their July, but we can't know that yet. August is going to be a good test. Playing Atlanta, San Diego, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Cincinnati will tell us where this team really is. I know I've said it before, but I still think we need another hitter. I think people are saying Pablo Sandoval is back mostly because they WANT him to be back, but there aren't really any signs that he's going to re-gain his 2009 form. I'd maybe even be able to accept signing Jose Guillen if we couldn't get anyone better and he was used only in PH situations. I have a feeling Bochy would give him a few starts though, which I'm not really in favor of. The Giants are much better than last year, and I do think they can be a playoff team, but to be a GREAT team, improvements still need to be made.

Player Profile: Aubrey Huff

All Giants fans are aware of the fact that Aubrey Huff is having a very good season. There's a little more to it than that, though. Aubrey Huff is quietly having a season worthy of MVP consideration. A lot of you might think that that's a bit of an exaggeration, that he's been good, but not THAT good. And maybe it is, he's not going to win the MVP unless unforeseen things happen, but he will get some votes and don't be surprised if he finishes in the top 10 or maaaybe even the top 5.

Aubrey Huff won't win the MVP for many reasons. First of all, he doesn't get any recognition. Even though All-Star voting is pointless, it is still telling that Huff's numbers weren't "good enough" to be noticed by fans, managers, or players. His lack of recognition, however sad it is, means he has no chance at winning the award. Also, right now Joey Votto is having a great season, an even better season than Huff. Vottto leads the league in AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, and wOBA and is second in HR and 5th in RBIs. So unless he self-destructs he's going to win it. But another reason Huff won't get much consideration is that his HR and RBI numbers don't look too impressive. Right now his 20 HRs are 13th in the NL and his 65 RBI are good for 16th. We all know that voters still care about those statistics a lot more than they should.

That doesn't mean we can't look at how great Huff has been. If you look at some more important stats, Huff has extremely impressive numbers. He's 3rd in the league in OBP behind Votto and Pujols, 7th in slugging, 3rd in OPS behind Votto and Pujols again, and 2nd in wOBA behind just Votto. What's even more impressive is that Huff is 5th in the NL with a 4.3 WAR, better than guys like Adrian Gonzalez, Prince Fielder, and Hanley Ramirez. A real argument could be made that Huff has been a top 5 player in the National League this year.

The fact that he's even in a discussion about the top players in the league is pretty amazing. I mean, Huff had a .694 OPS last year! And if you told me that you liked this signing in the offseason, you're a liar and I will never believe anything you say. He was only signed for $3 million, and still, no one liked the deal. I even heard someone say, "I have a lot more confidence in our hitters this year. Especially DeRosa, not really Huff." That might've been me, but that's not the point! He wasn't even the front office's first choice. Brian Sabean would've rather signed Nick Johnson or Adam LaRoche. Not to mention the fact that no other team wanted him. Playing for the Giants was Huff's only choice.He's been so much more valuable than Johnson and LaRoche, and the signing has worked out for both the Giants and Aubrey Huff. According to FanGraphs he's been worth $17.2 million this year. That's crazy good money.

League MVP or not, Aubrey Huff has been the Giants MVP. Andres Torres is definitely the co-MVP, but Huff has also brought so many other things to this team. Besides his play this year, he's been versatile. When the organization decided that Bengie Molina needed to be in the lineup everyday, so Buster Posey had to play first base, Huff went to left field. When Pat Burrell was signed, Huff moved over to right field. And he's played good defense at all 3 positions. He's been a great guy to have in the clubhouse, too. You can tell that he's so excited to be in a playoff race and his attitude and sense of humor are infectious. All you need to do is look at his face after Pat Burrell hit that 2-run homer to know that. And for a look into his sense of humor, check out Huff's road trip adventures (Thanks to FireSabean for the heads up). So he's very, very good at baseball, he's versatile, and he's funny. What more could you ask for?

Game Recap: COL 6, SF 1

You can't win 'em all, and the Giants were never close to winning this one.

The offense never got going. Against Ubaldo Jimenez, it seemed like they were just going through the motions. Maybe they resigned themselves to the fact that they couldn't beat Jimenez. That doesn't make too much sense, though, because so far in the 2nd half he has a 6.41 ERA and 1.744 WHIP. Anyway, they managed to get just 5 hits, most of them with no runners on and 2 outs or something like that. Any hit they got just didn't come in an important spot. This says it all: Andres Torres was 0-for-4 with 4 K's. That's just not normal. The offense did one thing right, when Buster Posey doubled to score Aubrey Huff, but...that was all. Nothing more. I guess they were too tired from scoring 10 runs a night ago. Sure would've been nice to save some of those runs for today.

Madison Bumgarner also wasn't very sharp. He threw lots of strikes and maybe too many. He never fooled anyone while allowing 9 H and 4 ER with just 3 K's. It was bad. Everything was bad. I don't want to talk about it anymore.

I can't help myself though. I like feeling depressed. So here's something else. Denny Bautista came in and was...you guessed it, terrible. He hit 2 batters and gave up 2 HRs in his 1 2/3 IP. He's gone pretty soon right? I really don't know. We've said it before, but Bochy seems to like him, which should tell you a lot about Bruce Bochy.

Buster Posey won the NL Player of the Month, by the way. That's something to be happy about. Congratulations to him, he deserves it. He is a manchild.

Like I said, the offense just looked tired and unenergized today, just the 2nd game after a day off. We are on an unbelievable hot streak right now, but it doesn't mean we'll never lose. I'm not worried about that. I just hope we don't look this sluggish in Atlanta against a very good Braves team.

Game Recap: SF 10,000,000 COL 0

When we look back at the amazing, unlikely, and heroic career of Brett Favre, we are reminded that even the most improbable of dreams can come true. In light of the reports today of Brett's surprising and somewhat premature retirement today from the National Football League, we at 8thInningWeirdness thought it was finally time to show you the side of Brett that so few know. What is that side, you ask? It's not Brett the quintessential quarterback, but Brett the son, brother, and father. So now, the story of how a scrawny kid from Kiln, Mississippi made it all the way to the Super Bowl and beyond, but never forgot where he came from.

When Irvin and Bonita Favre learned that they would be having a 2nd child...

I'm sure by now everyone is screaming "We get the joke, Reza, get on with it!" Okay, here's the recap.

The Giants could still really benefit from acquiring another bat via the waiver wire, but today was a great day for everyone in the lineup not named Edgar. I wonder when Renteria will don the costume of Tom O'Bedlam (King Lear, anybody? Anybody?) The Giants did their best Freddy Sanchez impersonation in the 1st inning, scoring 4 runs with singles and walks. Freddy Sanchez himself hit a flyball to left, which turned into his 12th extra base hit of the season when God helped it get over the wall. Pat Burrell and Andres Torres also homered. All starters other than Renteria and pitcher Jonathan Sanchez had 2 or more hits, with the Giants totaling 19 hits and 10 runs. It was a good day.

Jonathan Sanchez tied a franchise record by striking out 7 Rockies hitters in a row. The other Giant to do it? Juan Marichal of course. And while Sanchez was very good tonight, he only went 6 innings, so let's stop it with all the "would have been a mistake to trade him" nonsense. If the right offer had been out there (not Jose Bautista), it would have been perfectly justifiable to trade Jonathan Sanchez. The Giants will probably not add a bat to this offense, and we'll see how it goes. Just don't let one night in Denver make you think we're all set for October.

The Waiver Wire

So the Trade Deadline is over, it's gone. But you can still make trades. Mack, please will you tell us more? Why, I'd love to!

Now, trades have to be done through the waiver wire, but it's a little more complicated than usual. Teams have to claim players, good teams have to wait their turn behind the bad teams to claim, and there's a time limit for completing the trade. Also, if a player from the National League is put on waivers, the NL teams have a chance to claim him before the AL, and vice versa. Oh, and if no team claims a player through waivers, that player can be traded to any team. I won't completely describe it to you, because you can read Schulman's pretty clear description right here.

I'm sure you know the player everyone talks about the Giants claiming: Adam Dunn. Supposedly, he's already been put on waivers, so a trade would have to happen sometime in the next 3 days. It makes a lot of sense. The Giants reportedly had interest in Dunn before the non-waiver Trade Deadline and even though they are the second best team in the NL, they could have a good shot at claiming him. No other NL team was linked to him as much as the Giants, so I'm not sure any other contenders would all of a sudden have interest in him. Maybe the Dodgers would want to claim him to block him from getting to the Giants, but then they'd run the risk of having to take on his salary, something they won't want to do while their owners are going through an ugly divorce.

Here's the thing, even if the Giants get to claim Dunn, I'm not sure I see it happening. The Nationals were asking for a huge package for him, which is ridiculous considering he's a free agent after this year. I doubt they would be willing to take a lesser offer now; they seem intent on trying to sign him to an extension in the offseason or letting him go and taking the draft picks. I don't think they'd all of a sudden just want to get rid of his salary. And even though I said the Giants might have a good shot at claiming Dunn, you never know. There will be 14 teams with a chance to claim him before the Giants.

If the Giants don't get Dunn I'm afraid Sabean will try to improve the offense by claiming someone like Jose Guillen and the Royals would just let us take him. Gross. I don't mean to be a downer, but it's difficult to see the Giants getting Dunn. But, let's humor ourselves for a second. What if the Nats were willing to take back less because they wanted to get rid of Dunn's salary? What would you give up? I'd say no to including Belt, Wheeler, or any of the major league rotation at this point, but I'd consider a deal centered around Thomas Neal. I know some people don't like Dunn because of his defense and wouldn't want to give up a prospect like Neal for him. But Dunn's defense is actually pretty average at first base and I'm just not convinced Neal is going to be more than an OK player. But tell us what you'd give up or talk about anything else from this post in the comments section. Nothing better than a little rosterbation.

Adam Dunn is disgusted that he has to play for the Nationals and not the Giants.

Game Recap: SF 2, LA 0

We all know that Matt Cain is one of the most underrated pitchers in the game. Being overshadowed by Tim Lincecum doesn't help, and neither does Cain's quiet, calm personality. He never gets any attention, yet he'd be the ace on a lot of teams. To prove my point, I present to you:

This picture breaks my heart every time I see it. Matt Cain deserves more respect, and hopefully he got some tonight on ESPN. Cain looked close to as good as he's been all year, and that fact that it was on national TV just makes it even sweeter. Tonight he went 7 2/3 IP, gave up just 4 H, 1 BB and struck out 7 Dodgers. It was just a beautiful, beautiful outing from Cain.

There wasn't too much offense, but only one big hit was needed and it came from Edgar Renteria. After the Dodgers walked Aaron Rowand to get to Renteria (why?), there were runners on 1st and 2nd. Renteria made them pay by lining a triple into the left-center gap, scoring both runners.

Sweeping the Dodgers is always delicious, and this was the first time it's happened since 2004. Now the Giants need to take this momentum on the road to Coors Field. That place has never been too friendly to the Giants, so winning at least 2 of 3 would be nice.

2010 Trade Deadline Recap

So much for this.

The 2010 trade deadline came and went, and Brian Sabean may have helped the team a bit, and probably didn't hurt it much at all, but once again failed to be one thing: creative. In fact, Sabean hasn't been creative since the Matt Williams/Jeff Kent trade. When I say creative, I mean pulling off a trade like the Dodgers did in 2008 when they acquired Manny Ramirez for Andy LaRoche, a move that sent them to the NLCS that year. Or perhaps a trade like the Padres pulled off today, getting Ryan Ludwick for a couple minor leaguers. Both of these moves have in common the fact that they were 3 team deals. It certainly seems like if you want to get proven talent for cheap, 3 team deals are the way to go. In the Dodgers case, they were able to get Manny Ramirez for Jason Bay's trade value, because Pittsburgh sent Bay to the Boston. San Diego, meanwhile, took advantage of a very strange move by the Cardinals. More on that later. The Giants were rumored to be in a possible 3 team trade with the Blue Jays and D Backs today, but nothing ever came of it, and it makes you wonder if "possible" means a lonely phone was ringing in Brian Sabean's office, begging to be answered.

What did the Giants end up doing, since they didn't get Jose Bautista, Adam Dunn, or Jayson Werth? They got Javier Lopez, a sidearm lefty-specialist. Also Ramon Ramirez, some relief guy from Boston. That's it. A couple "whatever" acquisitions.

To get Javier Lopez, the Giants sent Joe Martinez and John Bowker to Pittsburgh. I could care less about Joe Martinez. He's got a 2 WHIP in the big leagues, albeit in very limited innings. John Bowker's major league numbers are also pretty dismal, but his AAA numbers the past 2 years are fantastic. Taking into consideration that he plays in the Pacific Coast League, a notoriously easy league to hit in, Bowker's numbers in Fresno are still appealing. That doesn't mean I think he is going to hit in the big leagues. But I feel his trade value could have been much better used as the 3rd part in a package for a big hitter, as opposed to half a package for an average at best reliever.

Javier Lopez's left arm coming out of the bullpen could definitely help this team, but I don't see him as the reliever that the Giants needed. His ERA looks nice, but we know that ERA is a ludicrous stat to use to judge a relief pitcher. His WHIP, 1.48, is not good. Neither is his K/BB ratio, which is under 1.5. Lopez doesn't strike me as a pitcher that Bruce Bochy is gonna give a lot of innings to. It's going to be strictly a lefty specialist role. In that case, Lopez DOESN'T replace Jeremy Affeldt or Dan Runzler while they are on the DL. So what was point of getting him exactly?

Ramon Ramirez was gotten for minor leaguer Daniel Turpen, a player I know nothing about and will not speak of. Ramirez has been in the Boston pen the last couple years. Earlier he was in Kansas City. In those 3 years, he put up some okay numbers. But is he really more talented than soon-to-be-gone Denny Bautista or Santiago Casilla? He has just as much a chance of causing 8th inning weirdness as they do. Well, maybe he's a little better. He has been pitching in the AL East the past 2 years. It's an okay pickup, but it doesn't change much.

The Padres and Dodgers were a lot more active at the deadline. The Padres acquired Miguel Tejada, a meaningless pickup, getting a player who just can't hit or field well anymore. But then they were able to get outfielder Ryan Ludwick from the Cardinals, in a 2 team deal with the Indians, in which the Padres sent prospects to Cleveland and St. Louis, and St. Louis got starter Jake Westbrook. San Diego got a good hitter in Ludwick, with an OPS of .827 this year, just below his career average. But we'll see how he hits in Petco Park without Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday in the lineup.

The Dodgers made 3 trades before the deadline. They got Scott Podsednik to play left field while Manny Ramirez is injured. Okay. Scott Podsednik is having an okay year, but he's old and he sucks. In short, he's Dave Roberts. The Dodgers also picked up Octavio Dotel for their bullpen, in exchange for James McDonald and Andrew Lambo. Kind of a "whatever" move. Dodger fans, actually, are disappointed to see James McDonald go. The most interesting trade they made was giving Chicago Blake DeWitt and a pair of minor leaguers for Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot. On the surface, it looks like a good deal, to get a 2 month rental of a good lefty starting pitcher, for a 2nd baseman that wasn't really doing anything all year. But one visit to this dodgers blog tells us the other side of the story. The Dodgers got a good pitcher, but one they probably didn't need, and they downgraded at 2nd base to do it. Blake DeWitt isn't great at all, but he's only 24, and has okay minor league numbers. Ryan Theriot is 32, he's gonna cost some money next year, and he's TERRIBLE. Dodger fans seem to view this trade deadline not as the team improving for a run to the playoffs, but getting older and worse for next season. Sounds pretty good to me.