The Big Dawg Squad

So I was thinking about who my perfect team would be today and realized I never really had a complete one but just figured it out. There’s always arguments for each position on who’s the best but for this it’s as much who you think is the best as it is who you just enjoy watching. My team would go as follows:

C – Joe Mauer
1st – Miguel Cabrera
2nd – Brandon Phillips
3rd – Pablo Sandoval
SS – Hanley Ramirez
LF – Carl Crawford
CF – Torii Hunter
RF – Matt Kemp

SP – Tim Lincecum
CL – Brian Wilson

There you go, there’s my team. Again there are plenty of options for a lot of those positions but this is team Mustache Ride. A lot of youth, speed, defense, power and clubhouse guys there.

LinceKum and the P-Blo strike!

The Braves had a little over 4 hours to raise the white flag before todays game due to rain but they insisted on taking on the punishment.

There was no mistake in how I spelled Timmy’s name, I’m just changing it since he should just change it to have a K in it. It has a hard Ka sound to it so might as well, I mean the guy see’s the letter K lined up more often then any other pitcher or racially driven southern group in the states. After giving up a 2 run homer to McCann Tim went into FREAK mode. He racked up 10 K’s and of course got himself another win thanks to another solid night of run support.

Then there’s Pablo aka P-Blo or to the common folk, Kung-Fu Panda. He has been consistent with bringing a decent bat so far but tonight hopefully is the beginning of a solid season. In the process of being a double short of the cycle he hit a bomb to deep right center and helped push the Giants away for their 5th win and second time winning a series. With his bat and the way the guys have been fighting we are definitely a team to be feared right now. Sure there is still a lack of power and consistency from a true veteran in the lineup but each day someone is willing to step up and bring home the W.

As for Mr. Heyward, that guy has got some big potential. Although he did strike out 5 times against us he also hit 2 homers against us as well. I’d like to see him face more lefties before I say he is Ryan Howard 2.0 but he definitely is on his way there.

Was good while it lasted

Well as I predicted, the Giants lost last night for the first time… But it wasn’t that ba if a showing by Wellemeyer. In all honesty he was pitching a great game and I think was only up to 75 pitches after 6 innings while Lowe was up to 88 or something around there. Unfortunately his luck ran up and it all fell apart from there, wasn’t pretty. Considering how good the bullpen has been they have to slip up here and there and not to mention there were a few defenssive mishaps.

As for the rival, they were looking good the last two games but today’s game has to be a heart breaker. They doubled the amount of hits compared to their runs while the Marlins had 5 hits with 6 runs to win it by one! Rough way to end what could have been a great series and confidence booster to them. Thank goodness because now they’re like that girl that’s been abused and then felt better about herself to then be pushed down the stairs again. So now they need someone to comfort them but the Giants are just going to really spank them around and leave them naked and useless in front of their own family after this next weekend.

Barry Zito is still Dy-No-Miiitee!

For those of you that still like to hold onto the argument that Barry Zito is a big waste of money, I just wanted to point something out to you. Sure he hasn’t been that productive as a Giant overall, I wouldn’t necessarily argue with that BUT… he’s either found some fountain of youth sports drink or decided to show up finally as of last years All-Star game. Since July 18th (his 1st start after the All-Star break) Zito’s line looks like this:

16 starts – (6-4) 2.64 ERA, 79 k’s [SO/9 (7.7)], .233 AVG

Here’s some Cy Young type players to compare him to since that date as well

Felix Hernandez
18 start – (10-2) 2.54 ERA, 105 k’s [SO/9 (7.4)], .225 AVG

Roy Halladay
16 starts – (8-7) 2.63 ERA, 111 K’s [SO/9 (8.1)], .258 AVG

Justin Verlander
17 starts – (9-5) 3.67 ERA, 126 K’s [SO/9 (9.2)], .252 AVG

Chad Billingsley
15 starts – (4-7) 4.95 ERA, 67 K’s [SO/9 (7.9)], .270

Joshua Sacco does my taxes…

and he knows how to give a great pep talk, worked for the Red Sox since they came back and won this game all because they never forgot what Josh told them before the game.

Giants first walk off!

What a home opener that was! Jerry Rice and Steve Young started us off reliving their glory days when they turned the first pitch into a corner post route in the infield. Luckily this wasn’t going to be the only time we’d see grown men running around happily on the field.

Sanchez, our young fiery Latino slinger had a typical game. He can strike out practicaly anyone but he just has moments where control becomes lost in translation or something. Still he lasted enough for us and gave me plenty of heart attacks along the way. Meanwhile Hudson was just nasty with his pitch selections. He was punching guys out but he had them enough on their heels to get them to keep popping out.

Still though our bullpen held it together and carried us through after my guy Billy Wagner blew it much to my dissapointment but also pleasure. I pleaded in an early post that he takes it easy on the Black and Orange when they come to town and… Well… I guess he listened cause he threw a hanging curve over the middle for Renteria to extend his hot streak right over the left center wall in the bottom of the 9th.

A controversial missed call in the bottom of the 13th left us setup to allow Aaron Rowand to beat out a soft single head first into first while Uribe scored from third. What a game!

So we sit undefeated, wasn’t the best looking win but we did fight back and held on longer then the other guys. Saturdays game should be interesting. I’d much rather risk Bumgarner then Wellemeyer as a starter but we’ll see!

*side note* Jason “The Chosen One” Heyward went 0-5 with 4 k’s! Wooo! They made him look silly! Pretty sure he has a hard time against lefties and offspeed pitches cause they had him buckling at the knees on a lot of those strikeouts.

Billy Wagner has a gun… And he’s not afraid to use it!

Believe it or not the 38 year old has got a golden arm… Still. It took him having to break his arm as a kid to try throwing fastballs at the side of the barn to realize he’s better left handed. Now it’s taken him having to tear ligaments and get Tommy John surgery to realize he still can hit the 420 mark in saves, hit 100 on the gun and have a chance to be a key asset to a world series team. As long as he can stay healthy, he should be a closer to be feared this year. Billy boy is not only hitting triple digits but he’s also practically throwing strikes every time. Be kind to my giants in the next series Billy, please.

Sammy Gervacio scares children

For those of you that don’t know who he is, be sure to watch him if he comes to a ballpark near you. He is one of the Houston Astro’s young relief pitchers that actually has some pretty good movement and speed to his pitches. The interesting thing about him though is how he goes about his delivery. I really don’t know how to explain it other then just linking this video to it, enjoy.

Sweep…

As much as all the Dodger fans hate to allow me to say this, the G-men are now undefeated and have been the first to sweep a team in 2010. Cain was looking like a stud pretty much the whole game but faltered a little in the end, Affeldt is still dealin like he was last year and oddly enough Mota is still showing he can sling it. I figure old man Mota would be a good guy to help out the young pitchers and maybe throw a few good games here and there but if he can pitch like he did today then I can forget the fact that he used to be a Bum. Gotta love the fact that we had 19 hits today and scored 6 runs after giving up the lead in the 7th. Of course its the beginning of the season and then theres the baby’s out there crying that the Astro’s arent even that good but lets face it, theres a reason why the Giants had the best record in the Cactus League.

On a side note apparently Eugenio Velez wore a jersey today that had San Francisco spelled “FranciCsco” on the front. He came in as a defensive replacement in the 7th and no one noticed until well after the game.

The Matsui Snuggie Cult Member #2,337

The Giants are now 2-0 thanks to a still red hot Barry Zito. Glad to see he is still bringing it since the second half of last season. I would have to say the one I would be most scared of is out of the way and now that our big boy Matt Cain is on the mound tomorrow I feel very confident we can be the first to sweep a team in 2010. Then again, I may be jinxing myself right now but with the way our pitching and defense is looking I don’t see the G-men losing.

Two nice game winners as well in the league tonight… keep your eye out for Dallas Braden on the Oakland A’s. There is a reason why no one really ever questions Billy Beane, or at least they didn’t Apparently the hitters aren’t feeling the love from their beloved big cheese but the pitchers are thats for sure. Braden has been someone he has been big on for awhile and he proved why he’s his gem tonight after throwin 10 k’s in 6 innings.

On a side note I attended the big Matsui Snuggie night in Anaheim tonight and that was quite the scene. It looked like a cult to see every person in that stadium wear a red robe and stand for 5 minutes. Everyone had to keep it on for 5 minutes so that way it was recorded as a Guinness book record for most people to wear snuggies at a venue. As it counted down I felt like we were suppose to take a drink of the magic kool-aid and then end the moment with one of the biggest mass suicides as well… I survived, the angels offense did not.