Giants Clinch NL West Tie

UPDATE: The Giants have now swept the Diamondbacks, clinching at least a tie for the NL West. This means that the sinking Padres would have to beat the surging Giants 4 times in a row in order to knock them out.

Now, even if the Giants hold off the D-Backs and win, and the Cubs take care of business vs. the Pads tonight and the magic number drops to 1, the division, again, is not necessarily theirs. The Giants will have to finish the season off against the Padres, and the Pads could still take the West with a sweep this weekend. And let's not forget that the Padres really have owned the Giants throughout 2010 up until the Giants took their most recent 4-game set. Prior to that series, the Giants were 2-10 vs. San Diego this year and have really been having problems with them over the last few seasons. However, this really is a different Giants ball-club than what the Padres have seen for much of the last 3 or 4 years, and they're really doing what they need to be doing in order to clinch this division. They're on the verge of sweeping the D-Backs, as they once again scored 3+ runs in each game, and that's really been the magic number for the Giants offense. If they can just get to 3 runs, and hopefully within the first 5 innings of the game, then 95% of the time, they're going to win those games. Especially now that this bullpen has really toughened up and made this complete pitching staff the best in the NL in my opinion. It didn't seem like much at the time, but those moves Sabean made for Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez at the deadline have really paid off. Five Giants relievers (Lopez, Ramirez, Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla carry ERA's at 2.28 or lower, which gives you an idea on just how effective the Giants 'bully has been recently.

It's not just the bullpen and the starting pitching though, the offense looks like they're finally hitting with at least some consistency, but mostly, they're using the long ball to put runs on the board, something which hasn't really been done here since the days Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent. Home runs accounted for all 4 of the Giants runs Thursday, as Pablo Sandoval and Andres Torres each had solo jobs, and Buster Posey hit a 2-run jack to give him 17 on the year. The Giants have all the sudden become a team that can, and will beat you with the "3-run homer", as they say. Nobody on the team is necessarily having a huge home run year, but just about everyone in the lineup has home run power. Bringing in Aubrey Huff this offseason was a start, as he's ended up being one of the best bargains of 2010 hitting .290 with 26 hr and 87 RBI heading into the season's final weekend. Juan Uribe is second on the team with 23, then there's Pat Burrell and Buster Posey, who have 18 and 17 respectively, but neither player has gotten close to a full-season's worth of at-bats. Burrell has hit his 18 bombs over the course of just 275 at-bats with San Francisco. Posey wasn't called up until the very end of May, and wasn't a full-timer right off the bat, so his 17 home runs in 389 rookie at-bats have been mighty impressive. Lead-off man Andres Torres is 5th on the team with 16 hr's in his surprising break-out 2010 season. Also in the everyday lineup is newcomer Jose Guillen, who has hit only 3 jacks in his 120 at-bats in SF, but had 16 with KC which would puts him at 19 for the year. Pablo Sandoval, who hit 25 last season, has had an off-year with only 13 in 2010, but absolutely brings that threat to the batters box, and may erupt at any time.

Pitching Match-Ups for SD Series: With the way the Giants rotation lines up, will be Matty Cain going Friday (in the potential division clincher), followed by Barry Zito Saturday, then Jonathan Sanchez Sunday. However, if the Padres manage to win the first 2 games of the series, it wouldn't surprise me the least to see Bochy start Lincecum in the finale on 3-days rest. If that's what it came down to, I think that's the day Padres' young ace Mat Latos is next scheduled to start, so that could be one for the ages. Let's hope it doesn't get to that though.

Giants In Drivers Seat for Final Week

The final week of the regular season is officially upon us, and it's now do or die time for all teams scurrying to make that last postseason push. The Giants start a 3-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday night before returning home to host the Padres the final 3-game set of the year, and the one that should ultimately decide the fates of both teams.

As we stand now though, the Giants have a 1 game lead on the Padres as we start play Tuesday, so they, in essence, control their own destiny. They send Jonathan Sanchez to the mound against the D-Backs' Rodrigo Lopez in a pitching match which heavily favors the Giants. Sanchez has been an in absolute groove lately too, as he's allowed just 3 runs over his last 5 starts. Unfortunately, he's still battling some wildness, which is spiking his pitch count early, and forcing him out of games in the 6th and 7th innings, even when he's throwing shutout or 1-run baseball. But as all Giants fans know, it's not necessarily the pitching that any one's worried about. As they've showed throughout most of September, when they score runs, they win, and they don't generally have to score a bunch either. Outside of that wacky game in Colorado Saturday, the Giants don't really have trouble beating teams when they score 3 or more runs. In fact, that game in Colorado has been the only one all month in which the Giants have scored 3 or more runs and have lost the game. The pitching is on right now, both the starters and the bullpen. Rookie Buster Posey hit the nail on the head this weekend when he was quoted as saying "If we give this staff a little run support, we're going to be tough". The hitters know they hold the key to this thing, and right now, they're responding.

In effort to ensure that ever so important offense is clicking on all cylinders, the Giants activated Andres Torres from the DL about 7-10 days quicker than the earliest anyone had been anticipating. Torres started Saturday's game and homered in his return to the top of the lineup. The Giants have been getting some good performances out of Cody Ross lately too, and he's been one of the hottest bats on the team over the last week. Over his last 4 games, Ross is 6-14 with 3 homers and 5 RBI. He's now given Bruce Bochy a solid back-up plan in-case Torres is not quite ready for everyday duty, and if he keeps it up, he may force himself into a full-on platoon situation with Torres in center field. Right fielder Jose Guillen has also gone a bit cold over the last week (no homers or RBI since September 19th), and Ross could find himself out in right field against arms that Guillen isn't familiar with. Guillen has been solid since his arrival from Kansas City, hitting .289, but he just hasn't quite been the run producer the Giants were hoping they'd get. Still, he is very streaky though, and he's about due for another 2-3 homer, 10-RBI series, so let's hope he's saving it for San Diego.

Joe Torre Returning to the Cardinals?

 

Is Joe Torre interested in returning to the Cardinals? Sometime last week Peter Gammons reported that the decision of Torre stepping down was based on LaRussa possibly not returning to the Cardinals. LaRussa has commented that he does have two weeks after the season to decide if he returns or not, and he doesn't see himself signing a three to five year contract with someone else. Most speculate he will return to the Cardinals. I find it interesting that the Cardinals have a short list of possible managers for 2011 already in hand.  I my opinion TLR could very well retire, which could lead to a very wild offseason for the Cardinals.

Joe Torre has been known as a player's manager. Torre's fifteen year history with the Yankees has led the team to five World Series. Torre's five year stint with the Cardinals only got him into 2nd place in 1991. Joe did have some pretty good teams with the likes of Todd Zeile, Ozzie Smith, and Lee Smith. His pitchers he carried where Bryn Smith, Bob Tewksbury, Ken Hill and Omar Olivares which all had over 10 wins in 1991. So is Torre looking for a new start in an old town that which sparked his baseball career. As a Cardinal Torre became MVP in 1971 and appeared in four All-Star games from 1970 to 73. Joe Torre has a great history here but does he have what it takes to manage Albert Pujols, Colby Rasmus and Yadier Molina. The 2010 Cardinals had a lot going for them at the start of the season but like last year fizzled out at the end. There has been disgruntled players and those that show no motivation at all. Could Torre turn this ball club around? Only time can tell. We have to wait to see if LaRussa stays or fade into the sunset.

Texas Rangers AL West Champions!!

The Texas Rangers clinched the American League West division title and booked their first Major League Baseball playoff berth in 11 years on Saturday with a 4-3 victory over Oakland. Jorge Cantu delivered the tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning.
After closing pitcher Neftali Feliz retired Cliff Penningtonon a fly ball for the last out of the game, players poured out of the Rangers dugout to celebrate.
Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton, who has been sidelined for three weeks with broken ribs, embraced teammates and jumped up and down near third base.
The Rangers became the second team to secure a major league playoff berth, joining American League Central champions Minnesota.
Texas is the only current major league club never to win a playoff series. The Rangers won three AL West crowns from 1996-99, but they lost to the New York Yankees in the first round each time.
Cantu's solo homer in the eighth was his first home run since he was traded from Florida to Texas in July.

Giants' Offense Puts Them Back on Top

First off, sorry for the sporadic posting schedule over the last few weeks, I was a little under the weather for a few days and then left town early this week to attend a wedding. I'll be back in town on Monday, and will resume normal posting schedules. We'll also be posting something everyday during that final week of the regular season, so do stay tuned to see if the Giants will be playing October baseball for the first time since 2003.

That said, the seesaw battle for first place in the NL West is looking more and more like it's going to carry into the final weekend of the season, when the Giants square off with the Padres at AT&T Park. That series is just 7 days away, as MLB gets set to play it's last week of regular season baseball. It's officially "crunch time" or "do or die" time, or whatever you want to call it, for all clubs pushing for playoff spots, including your San Francisco Giants, and the Giants sure answered the bell on Thursday night in Chicago. The Giants took the rubber match of the 3-game series with the Cubbies, by pounding Cubs pitching and putting up 13 runs in support of Madison Bumgarner's 7 shutout innings. Bumgarner allowed just 7 baserunners, en route to striking out 9 Cub hitters as he just continues to grow out there on the mound. Over 8 of his last 9 starts, Bumgarner has allowed 2 or less runs and his overall season numbers are starting to look a little more appropriate compared to how he's thrown. His era now sits at 3.06 (2nd lowest in Giants' rotation) and it just looks like the kid has arrived and believes he belongs now when he's out there on the mound. I think at times during spring training and early in the year in Fresno, he was trying to do too much in order to make the team, now he's relaxed, adjusted and has begun to dealt. What makes it even more impressive is that he's doing it in the midst of a pennant race.

As I said though, Bumgarner got plenty of help on Thursday as well, contrary to how things went in the first two games of the series in Chicago. The only run the Giants scored in the first two games of this series came on a Buster Posey solo shot on Tuesday night that provided all the offense needed for Matt Cain and the Giants bullpen. Wednesday night, they were just shut down by Randy Wells, allowing him to look like a young Greg Maddux as he held the Giants scoreless through 7 2/3 and spoiled a nice outing from Jonathan Sanchez, Chris Ray and Santiago Casilla. Finally on Thursday though, the bats all showed up, as pounded out 19 hits and scored 13 runs against Ryan Dempster and Co. Everyone in the Giants starting lineup reached base, and everyone in the lineup besides Aubrey Huff crossed home plate. Juan Uribe had the biggest night of all, hitting 2 bombs while driving in 6 runs, giving him 22 homers and 84 RBI's on the year (both 2nd on team). Buster Posey and Cody Ross also left the yard, and Freddy Sanchez had another multi-hit game with 4 knocks. The leadoff hitter of the night was Mike Fontenot, as he got the start at third with Pablo Sandoval resting, and he collected 2-hits. That leadoff spot continues to be the one real question mark for the Giants over this last week as they've yet to find an everyday replacement since Andres Torres went down 2 weeks back. As I said in the last post here, the Giants' playoff hopes lye on their offense, as they know they're going to get enough pitching, and that leadoff spot as about as crucial to a lineup as any.

Molina to have MRI

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina returned to St. Louis Wednesday to have an MRI taken on his sore right knee.

The Gold Glove catcher has played with pain and soreness in the knee for several weeks but has repeatedly downplayed the injury when questioned by reporters.

Molina will rejoin the Cardinals Friday in Chicago but his availability for the remainder of the season will determine on the results of Thursday’s MRI.

“Last night he was limping a little bit and the trainers just thought for precautionary purposes, we had better make sure we know what’s going on in there,” General Manager John Mozeliak told Jim Hayes in Pittsburgh on the Fox Sports Midwest pregame show. “Obviously if you do an MRI it might reveal something, but there is a sense of optimism that he will be OK.”

Molina, who is hitting .262 with six home runs and a career-high 62 RBIs, had arthroscopic surgery on the same knee following the 2007 season.  Thursday’s MRI should tell the Cardinals if he will need any additional surgery following this season.

Molina originally injured the knee when the Cardinals were in Washington in late August and missed two games before returning. The All-Star starter is having another stellar year defensively and will likely win his third-straight Gold Glove award.

Rookie Matt Pagnozzi started Wednesday night in Molina’s place.

B.J Rains

Felipe Lopez Released

Cardinals infielder Felipe Lopez was released Tuesday, a day after he was late arriving for a game against Florida.

Lopez, a former Red, accompanied the Cardinals to Pittsburgh to begin a three-game series, but was told before Tuesday’s game by manager Tony La Russa and general manager John Mozeliak that he was being let go.
"He’s healthy. He’s just not going to get starts and not going to come off the bench,” La Russa said. “He was told and he said, OK.’ There was no reason for him to be around, so ...”
Mozeliak said Lopez arrived late at the stadium for Monday’s game at Florida, a makeup of a previous rainout.
“He was late, and it was not the first time,” Mozeliak said. “When you think about what we’re trying to accomplish here, we brought up a lot of young players with our September callups, and we wanted to make sure they understand the message we want heard. It really came down to a tipping point and it was either just not play him or allow him to go home.”

Lopez’s lateness was beginning to wear on the team’s staff, especially with the Cardinals fighting the perception that some players have already given up on the season.

The Cardinals are nearing elimination by Cincinnati in an NL Central race they led as late as Aug. 14.

“It was one thing, I think, the coaching staff had been very tolerant of, and they came to a point where they’d had enough,” Mozeliak said. “Obviously with two weeks left in the season you would prefer not to have to make these kind of decisions or react in this way, but I understand why we did it. I think it really sends a strong message to the younger players on what our expectations are.”

Lopez, signed during the offseason as a utility player, hit .231 with seven homers and 36 RBI in 109 games, making 89 starts. He filled in for two months as the starting third baseman when David Freese was hurt, but his playing time was cut after Pedro Feliz was acquired from Houston on Aug. 19.

Lopez’s salary was $1,000,000.

“He’s had a tough year,” La Russa said. “And I was his biggest advocate.”

Alan Robinson

Jason LaRue Calls It Quits

The McBrayer-Baseball Blog has just learned that Jason LaRue told the St.Louis Post Dispatch that his career is over due to Johnny Cueto's feet during Aug. 10 brawl against the Reds. He has also told the Post Dispatch that he had suffered many concussions since his days as a high school football player till now. LaRue has also suffered headaches and nausea since the brawl. He has been unable to cook or even drive a car. So LaRue is retiring after this season. LaRue has spent 12 years playing major league baseball. LaRue will be missed and hopefully the Cardinals will offer a proper celebration in regards to his career here with the Cardinals. You will be missed.

Giants Must Handle Brewers, Cubs

The Giants and Padres are dead-locked right now in a tie for first place in the NL West, although the Giants do have a slight advantage in their winning percentage. With only 2 weeks left, every game from here on out is huge, and the Giants must take advantage of their light schedule over the next week.

First off, they need to take care of business vs. the Brewers, who they where shut out by on Friday night. Randy Wolfe threw a complete game, 3-hitter, and the Giants lost brief hold atop the NL West. The Giants must right the ship on Saturday evening, and they have the right man taking the hill in the red hot Tim Lincecum. The Brewers are 10 games below .500, and the Giants are fighting for their playoff hopes, and because they were unable to come up with any runs and just 3 hits on Friday night, it's got to be a little bit discouraging for the team as a whole. The Brewers aren't a very good team, and the Giants had been on fire coming into the series, so hopefully Friday night's loss was the lone hiccup and these last 2 games. It's very important the Giants start taking advantage of these teams that they're better than, because they have another 3-game set with the same type of team coming up next. After the Brewers series, the Giants head to Chicago to face the 68-81 Cubs. If the Giants were truly playing with a sense of urgency, and are determined to be playing baseball well into October, they really should go 5-0 over their next 5 games, or at the very least, 4-1.

In order to do that, the Giants are going to need just a little more consistency out of their offense. Once again, they showed their roller-coaster offense over the last 2 nights, putting up a 10 spot with 8 extra-base hits (3 homers) on Thursday night against Ted Lilly, only to be absolutely shut down by Randy Wolf, who pitching style is identical to Lilly's. Over the last 2 games, Bruce Bochy has also slotted in a new leadoff hitter, as the never-ending search to replace Andres Torres' bat continues. Edgar Renteria has been the latest trial, and he answered the bell big time Thursday with a 4-hit night, but then went 0-4 in the same spot Friday. Without Torres, the Giants have no real leadoff hitter, and don't even really have anybody that somewhat resembles a leadoff guy. Renteria is probably the closest thing to that on the roster, but he's not really an everyday guy right now, as he splits time with Juan Uribe. Freddy Sanchez might be an option, but he's really solidified the 2-spot and the Giants do need to keep some sort of cohesion going in the lineup. That leaves the man I mentioned in last post, Cody Ross, still as the best candidate by default. He's got a little patience, got some speed, got some pop and wouldn't disrupt the lineup by shuffling a bunch of hitters. When Renteria plays, Boch should lead him off, but when he doesn't, my pick is Ross. If the Giants can't get some kind of consistant production from that spot though, I have a hard time seeing the earning a playoff spot.

Social Media Night

Had a great night Thursday while attending Social Media Night. For attending this gathering I received four tickets from the Cardinals and enjoyed a win over the Padres. Before the game John Mozeliak field questions from online tweeters and bloggers from the audience. Here are some noteworthy comments Mo had replied from the questions. He did mention that LaRussa has a time limit of two weeks once the World Series is over to decide if he is coming back as the manager or not. If not he will be looking into a new manager for the team. He also talked about looking into a new shortstop and second baseman for the 2011 season. Does this mean good bye to Brendan Ryan? and Skip Schumacher? He also mentioned that payroll should go up for 2011-12-13 and Rasmus will not be traded. He also mentioned how Pujols, Molina, Holiday and Rasmus are the core players of this team. With the payroll increase it sounds as if this will cover Pujols new contract and sign a free agent for the short stop position or second base. It was a blast to be there to know that my blog is being recognized. Little did I know that my ramblings and baseball news reporting is a focal point in this huge blogosphere,

Ryan Franklin May Not Retire

Ryan Franklin's latest visit with Bruce Sutter has him thinking about not retiring at this moment. Franklin's contract runs out at the end of 2011 season. Sutter told Ryan if you still have the capability to play don't give up. So this has Ryan to rethink about if he should retire or not. This will be a family decision. Ryan will return tonight with the team after taking some personal time off in regards to his family.

My Top Seven Cardinal Prospects

My first overall prospect pick is the tall Texan Shelby Miller. This first round prospect throws his fast-balls up to 90-92mph. In 2010 he spent time with the Quad Cities River Bandits where his record was 7-2 with a 3.62 ERA. He pitched 104.1 innings and gave up 54 hits and 7 home runs. Shelby is projected to make the major league team in 2013. He is currently 19 and shows a lot of promise in being a part of a five man rotation with the St.Louis Cardinals. With a lot of time and patience this free and easy pitcher will be a dominate force in the Cardinal rotation in the near future.

                                                                                 
My second prospect is 2009's Cardinals Organizational Pitcher of the Year Lance Lynn, after going up three levels during his first year with the Cardinals Minor League System. Lance is also projected to join the big team in 2013. While with the Memphis Redbirds this year(2010) he had a 13-10 record with a 4.77 ERA. He pitched 164 innings and had a whip of 1.378. Lance is a mover and shows a lot of upside. Look for him soon in the rotation.

                                                                                
My third prospect is Daryl Jones, a fast wheeling outfielder I would love to see playing in the bigs pretty soon. An exciting player to watch that has old fashion speed. Whitey Herzog would love Daryl Jones. He has above average contact and will hit to right center. Still needs to work on arm strength and defensive footwork. He would make a good Left-fielder.

                                   My Bottom Four

                                                                 Heir Apparent to Molina?
                                                                        Robert Stock

                                                               Mozeliak's Favorite Pitcher   
                                                                      Eduardo Sanchez  

                                                           Up and Coming Second baseman   
                                                                        Daniel Descalso

                                                     Best Third Baseman in the Cardinals System
                                                                              Zach Cox