If you're a reasonable fan of the Giants, there's no reason to complain about anything, besides the AT&T Park reaper that "got" Buster Posey, Freddy Sanchez, Bill Hall, and any other player who sustained an injury at home. Okay there's another thing. Looking at this page is a little depressing. (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/sfo/stats?stat_category=mlb.stat_category.1) Looking at the decisions that have been and will have to be made, I'd rather ponder them at night with a World Series ring on my finger. I don't have one, but Brian Sabean does.
So they head into the All-Star break after a couple blowout wins, beating the Metropolitans 3-1 and 4-2. The extra days off serves as a 5 hour energy. Wilson should regain enough arm strength to get some life back on his cutter. Lincecum fixed his mechanics, and really that's all that matters. The only guy who doesn't want to go on a a little vaca? JuggerNate Schierholtz.
Like a year ago, so many stories. The walk-off wins. The injuries. The torture. The random Chris Stewart fist pumps. But surprisingly, nothing gets me more fired up than the Madison Bumgarner story. After game 4 last Halloween, I just remember my mom saying, "I can't believe he's 21. I can't believe he's 21. I can't believe he's 21. I can't believe he's 21. I can't believe he's 21. I can't believe he's 21. I can't believe he's 21. I can't believe he's 21. I can't believe he's 21."
Got it Mom, but I guess she had a point. Matt Cain at that stage of his career had a hard time getting through 6. He only knew how to throw and miss bats. His comfort zone was in the strike out mode. No fault to him, every 20 year-old rookie's that way. And now 5-6 years later, without getting into baseball nerdy stuff, Cain's the man. And now, MadBum in his second big league season is scarying me in an awesome way. How good is he going to be 5-6 years from now? He understands mixing speeds, has 5+ things he can do with the baseball, and he has a redneck, competitive mean streak. You probably know the story, he bought his wife a cow for her birthday or something. I don't know what that means exactly, but that's awesome.
In terms of trades, the big rumor going around is Carlos Beltran, but the best fit I've heard is Michael Bourn. The Astros are going nowhere, he's under team control for the rest of the year plus 2012, and Andres Torres is hitting .220-something. I would think Thomas Neal and Dan Runzler will be enough. Neal is 23, hitting .300+ in AAA, and projects for power. Runzler has swing-and-miss stuff as a southpaw. I can't tell you what a lead-off hitter who actually gets on base and steals bases would do for a lineup that has to struggle for every 90 feet. Bourn can manufacture a run with the best of em, and would be a coup for a team that is already deadly in one-run ballgames.
Lastly, I really don't blame the national media for thinking last year's championship was a fluke. (Case and point, Torres. Sorry I'm beating up on you bro.) I've heard Craig Kimbrel should have made the all-star team over Wilson, Lincecum shouldn't have made it, Cain shouldn't have made it, Vogelsong shouldn't have made it...so that's everyone. So how can you tell Rob Neyer, Jeff Passan, etc. to shove it? Win it all again. A rent-a-player probably needs to happen, and I'm glad Sabean is open to it. October 2011 should be just as interesting as the 2010 edition. This postseason may be filled with agony+torture.
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