The New York Mets have fired General Manager Omar Minaya and Manager Jerry Manuel, ushering in the team's radically new managerial philosophy. "We've decided to test the competency waters to see if that's a good fit for us," Mets owner Fred Wilpon cautiously stated to a group of reporters Monday. 

In announcing the firings, team executives also unveiled the new Mets motto: “Losing with Dignity”, and displayed the newly redesigned team flag for reporters, which shows a turkey with orange and blue feathers falling off the Chrysler Building.

Replacements for Minaya and Manuel have not been announced, but sources close to Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon say that former British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward is a leading candidate for the GM position, and outgoing New York Governor David Paterson is on the team’s short list for manager. “We need to get better in the front office,” stated a high placed executive with the team, “and there’s no question these candidates would be a dramatic improvement.”

Outgoing GM Minaya was inexplicibly signed to a second long-term contract by the team in 2009, just after the Mets lost 92 games. Minaya, who is still owed some $2.2 million by the team, was offered another position in the Mets organization, but declined when he discovered the job would basically consist of standing in a corner of the Met’s front office with a “Before” sign around his neck. “I’ve decided I need to spend more time with my $2.2 million dollars,” stated Minaya.

The Mets were 70-92 in 2009, and finished the 2010 season with a 79-83 record; the team's 2009 payroll was an incredible $149 million.The Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that, as Mets GM, Omar Minaya set at least one all-time record: Most Idiotic Three-Year MLB Contract: Pitcher Oliver Perez, $36 million.

In a sense, this 2010 Mets team is a perfect fit for their hideous new $800 million ballpark, Citi Field. Like the team, the Met’s ball yard is a situated on a concrete island in the middle of a sea of parking lots, the playing field frequently awash in garbage. “This is us,” stated COO Wilpon, “this is who we are.” Recent team family activities included Mets reliever Francisco Rodriguez's August 11, 2010 assault on his girlfriend’s father outside the Citi Field family lounge.

Plans for the Queens neighborhood surrounding Citi Field include adding more chop-shop corrugated auto repair businesses, and enticing additional unlicensed oil change garages into the immediate area.

Outgoing Mets Manager Jerry Manuel stated he has no immediate plans for the next 15 years, other than to “try and spend more time with Omar Minaya and his $2.2 million dollars.” The two fired Mets managers have tentative plans to contact a major film company and pitch a remake of the 1987 film “Ishtar”.

In the end, San Francisco Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez and five relievers shutout the San Diego Padres 3-0 at home to clinch the National League West. Sanchez got the win, closer Brian Wilson tied the franchise record with his 48th save, and Buster Posey hit a home run in his last at bat of the season.

But the Giants last game of the 2010 regular season on Sunday October 3, 2010, was anything but an easy win. Sanchez had trouble with finding the handle on his pitches, matching his five strike-outs with five walks before he was pulled by Manager Bruce Bochy after five+ innings. The Giants hit Padre starter Mat Latos hard to start the game, but every line drive was a glove magnet. The Giants scored their first two runs in the third the old fashioned way: a triple by pitcher Sanchez, a two-out single by second baseman Freddie Sanchez and a two out double from first-bagger Aubrey Huff.

Along the way five Giants relievers threw four innings, giving up no runs, 1 hit, and no walks. The Padres had a number of scoring chances, leaving nine runners on base, but only managed to hit four singles the entire game.

The Giants used relentless pitching, sharp defense and timely hitting in a game that demanded relentless pitching, sharp defense and timely hitting. To seal the win in the 8th inning, Buster Posey hit his 18th home run of the year, which capped off his historic rookie season as a Giant.

Now the Giants will face the NL Wild Card winning Atlanta Braves in the best of five Division Series:

Games 1 & 2 - at San Francisco
Thu       Oct 7   6:30PM PST  TBS
Fri          Oct 8   6:30PM PST  TBS

Games 3 & 4 - at Atlanta
Sun       Oct 10  1:30PM PST  TBS
Mon       Oct 11  5:30PM PST  TBS

Game 5 - at San Francisco
Wed      Oct 13  6:30PM PST  TBS

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The morning after the Giants lost the first game of the deciding three game weekend series with the San Diego Padres, the Giants clubhouse was anything but quiet or uptight. Reports were that Aubrey Huff was touring the locker room in his signature red thong to the driving sounds of the Bee Gees' "Stayin Alive". This team is loose and this team is having some fun.

Prior to Friday's 6-4 loss, emotions ran high on the field as the San Francisco Giants conducted the 30th annual Willie Mac Awards. Named for Giants icon Willie McCovey, this "most inspirational" award is in a sense the most prestigious award a player can receive because the votes are caste by fellow Giant teammates. It was not surprising that Giants center fielder Andres Torres took the 2010 Willie Mac; Torres fought through personal health problems and years in the minor leagues just to make the Giants team as a back-up outfielder last year. That Torres further emerged as the Giants' 2010 dominant lead-off batter and center fielder is miraculous (16 home runs, 84 runs scored, 63 RBIs).

Most amazing, Andres Torres was knocked down by a September emergency removal of his appendix and somehow returned to the field 13 days later (one day earlier than doctors normally allow the start of minimal activity). The award was presented by the seventy-two year old Willie McCovey from a wheelchair, himself recovering from serious back surgery weeks ago. There was a run on Kleenex in the stands as the whole tableau became the emotional moment of the season for many Giants fans.

After starter Matt Cain's 3-0/2.19 September mojo went up in smoke Friday night, the Giants are looking at a variety of scenarios depending on what happens Saturday and Sunday. If the Pads sweep the Giants, a one game playoff is scheduled for Monday October 4th to determine the NL West victor. If Atlanta also sweeps the Phillies, the loser of the Giants-Pads Monday playoff will play Atlanta in a one game playoff Tuesday October 5th to determine the NL Wildcard winner. Of course, should the Giants win either their Saturday or Sunday game, there will be no one game playoff for anyone.

This is the edge of baseball history for the 2010 Giants; after seven years of not making the National League playoffs, after finally distancing themselves from the Bonds era once and for all, these last two games are everything.

I know there's a better way to do this, but today I'm doing it this way. A live set of commentaries on the Thursday September 30, 2010 MLB game between the San Francisco Giants and the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday September 30, 2010 at 12:45PM PST.
You will need to refresh this page frequently to follow.

After stopping Colorado two out of three last weekeknd, the Giants had six left to play with a one game NL West lead over the San Diego Padres. The Giants beat Arizona Tuesday, and the Padres lost, and both teams won on Wednesday. So the Giants start this game two up over the Pads, and have a magic number of 3.

The big news is that Freddie Sanchez (after injuring his arm last weekend) is back at second base and batting second in the line-up. SF Manager Bruce Bochy continues to play Pablo Sandoval at third, so Mike Fontenot sits. And so does the infield defense. But it must bother the Panda that he's batting 8th in the line-up.

1st inning
Giants starter Madison Bumgarner is looking for his first win at AT&T Park. Lead-off Snake's batter, Stephen Drew, goes down on strikes. Then, whadda know, a great foul pop-up catch by....  Pablo Sandoval. With Chris Young up, a hard grounder to Sandoval, who makes a good throw to Huff at first. OK, ok, Pablo's glove is on today. Arizona 2nd baseman Kelly Johnson has a nice .369 OBP.

Great to have Andres Torres back at lead-off everyday (and playing center). Torres a base hit to right. This Giants line-up is unlike the sub-par line-up of the past six years, and very different from the championship line-ups of the early 2000s. In the first case, every batter (literally every batter) is a threat to hit the ball. In the second case, a line-up not built around one a single superstar (Bonds, of course).

Stolen base Torres. Aubrey Huff a walk. Huff has an amazing .383 OBP-- the man absolutely knows what to do at the plate. Buster Posey up; where would the Giants be right now if they had brought Posey up in April and relagted Bengie Molina to back-up status during his 2010 retirement year? Posey's groundball not a DP because Bochy sent both runners. Second and third, two out, Burrell up. Another great OBP for Burrell - .367. And a strikeout.

2nd inning
The cliche about MLB pitchers applies so well to Bumgarner: he is a strike-thrower. All his pitches are around the plate almost all the time. Adam LaRoche continues his year-long torment of Giant pitchers with a double off the left field wall. See my first blog of 2010-- LaRoche gave up several million dollars and a multi-year deal to sign with Arizona (and not San Francisco). LaRoche will never recoup that money-- there are innumerable free agent first basemen in 2011, and LaRoche will be in the bottom third of that group (.260/.320./464). And we are thankful for that-- because the Giants got Huff and he has proven to be a leader and an RBI creator. More great pitching from Bumgarner, Snakes out, LaRoche does not score.

Home run Pablo Panda!!! Splash hit solo homer, Giants 1-0. I knew they should play him today instead of Fontenot.

Smart play by the Giants not messing with Lincecum's and Cain's pitching routine. When the team gave Lincecum a couple of extra days' rest in August, he got shelled. This weekend against the Pads: Cain Friday, Zito Saturday, Sanchez Sunday-- an absolutely overwhelming pitching attack.

3rd inning
Two hits for Arizona after one out. Now the big boys are up, Kelly Johnson, Chris Young, Adam LaRoche. Strikeout Johnson-- great pitches to a batter trying to hit a bomb. And strikeout Young.... looking! The Arizona braintrust must still be reeling at how badly and quickly this team has fallen apart this season. Not only a new manager and General Manager, they need to come up with a long-term plan to pull this team out of the mudhole. It will not be easy in the extremely competitive NL Western Division.

Arizona's best chips to deal in the off-season are SS Stephen Drew, and baggage carrier 3rd baseman Mark Reynolds. If some hitting coach can increase Reynolds' contact percentage at the plate, he could be a monster RBI machine for some team.

4rd inning
LaRoche a strikeout off Bumgarner's fantastic breaking ball. Six stikeouts in 3.2 innings. Walk to Reynolds, hit by catcher John Hestor, Cole Gillespie hit by a pitch-- bases loaded 1 out. Arizona pitcher Barry Enright is hitting .250! Sacrifice to RF by Enright-- tied at 1-1. SS Drew ground out. Tied 1-1.

Buster Posey now 0-2, and the average is slowly going down the past several weeks-- currently .309. Burrell flyout. Guillen a single. Jose Guillen is a player who could loom huge in the playoffs; if his bat gets hot in a short series, he can absolutely carry a team's offense. Uribe out.

5th inning
This is the 55th anniversay of actor James Dean's 1955 death in a car accident at a solitary crossroads 28 miles east of Paso Robles, CA, where CA 41 and 46 meet at Chalome. It looks pretty much the same today, even though the highway has been slightly rerouted and the crash crossroads has been modernized. Dean was 24 years old, he would have been 79 today.

After Ryal grounded out, Kelly Johnson and Chris Young both singled. A critical point in the game for Bumgarner. Strikeout out LaRoche on another tremendous Bumgarner breaking ball. Mark Reynolds a groundout to Uribe at short. Great comeback by Bumgarner!

After two out, the incredible Andres Torres hits a solo home run to right-center field, 2-1 Giants. Number 16. Hopefully the team goes easy on the hugs/slaps/pummels. Sanchez the third out.

There are a number of myths about Dean's accident, the most popular being that Dean was speeding excessively. A National Geographic reconstruction of the crash determined that Dean was going a reasonable 60-65 MPH as he sped westbound on highway 46. But the other car, going east on 46, stopped on the highway to make a left turn across Dean's lane to go down Highway 41. In the twilight just as the sun was setting, the other driver did not see Dean's car and turned right in front of him.

6th inning
Santiago Casilla relieves Bumgarner. Three quick outs, with a SO. Bumgarner went 5 innings, 7 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO. He had hit 85 pitches, which is likely the reason for pulling him.

Aubrey Huff leads off with a tough walk after taking 2 strikes. Posey at 3 balls, 1 strike; Giant batters are working the counts. Strike two as Huff steals his 7th base of the year (no caught stealing). Posey a two-run homer to deep centerfield! He absolutely drove the hell out of that pitch. 4-1 Giants on Posey's 17th homer of the year.

Arizona starter Barry Enright is out, reliever Blaine Boyer in the game. Boyer is 2-2 with a 4.34 ERA. Boyer has 5 holds, and 29 SO and 29 BB in 59 innings pitched. Burrell poped out, Guillen grounded out, Uribe up. You know, the Uribe chants are getting old; and most crowds just don't do the name cheer very well. Uribe grounds out. Good job by Boyer to put out the fire.

7th inning
The 7th inning Giants defense alignment has been put in place: Nate Schierholtz replaces Guillen in right, Cody Ross replaces Pat Burrell in left. All is now right and correct in the defensive world.   

Casilla still pitching. Stephen Drew ground out, left fielder Rusty Ryal strikeout. Next up-- the Snakes big three (K. Johnson, C. Young, A. LaRoche). Johnson, a walk. Young flies out. Maybe the last time to face Arizona's best hitters.

Pablo Panda up. A hot shot to Reynolds at third-- Pablo has been all over the ball all game. Travis Ishikawa pinch hits for Casilla and grounds out. Ishikawa hitting .268. Torres lines out to SS.

8th inning
Sergio Romo starts the 8th. Romo: 2.28 ERA, .99 WHIP, 19 holds, 66 SO in 59 innings, 5-3 record. Wow. Adam LaRoche grounds out-- Giants pitching has really handled LaRoche well this game. Mark Reynolds strikes out-- that's 208 strikeouts this season for Reynolds! Romo strikes out pinch hitter Miguel Montero. 4-1 Giants.

 Leo Rosales comes in to pitch for the Snakes, Miguel Montero stays in at catcher. Freddie Sanchez grounds out quickly. Huff lines out. Buster up......    typically working the count 2-1. Then a base hit. Posey is on top of those pitches again and driving the ball, his average back up to .313. Schierholtz grounds out. Will Wilson come in to close... again?

9th inning
No. Ramon Ramirez comes in to start the ninth inning. Wilson has been worked hard the past week, including a 5 out save Tuesday, and a save last night. A good move by Bochy. Fontenot takes over at second for Freddie Sanchez. Another good move. Great Giant defense on the field right now. Geraldo Parra pinch hits for Gillespie and flies out. Ryan Church pinch hits for the pitcher Rosales. Strikeout. Two out in the 9th. Stephen Drew up...  3-2 count on Drew...  fly out to Andres Torres! 

Giants win 4-1. Winning pitcher: Madison Bumgarner 7-6 with a 3.00 ERA. Ramon Ramirez gets the save. Attendance: 37,261. Three home runs from the Giants, and Pablo's home run is the 55th splash hit in AT&T history.

The Giants pick up 1/2 game on San Diego. Their magic number is now 2! The Padres play the Cubs at San Diego at 3:35pm PST-- in 20 minutes. The Giants sweep Arizona at home as they storm the National League West to take the Division flag.

Live Blog Alert!
The Giants Cove will be conducting a live game blog today at 12:30PM PST, featuring the San Francisco Giants (not surprising) and the Arizona Diamondbacks. I have not done this before, so there's always a possibility of interruptions (a friend comes by with some messy pork ribs and a 2008 Clos Des Ambres Meursault), or distractions (Miss Brazil's limo breaks down in front of the house), or a potential computer failure (17 Mbps?, dammit, I know I paid for the 19 Mbps upgrade).

But, what the hell, we'll take a few of those long-haul truck driver medications and see if we can get that load all the way to Bakersfield on time.

Coveroo Alert!
On another front, I am pleased to announce the first joint venture project between the Giants Cove and Coveroo, Incorporated. You might ask, just who or what is "Coveroo"? Coveroo is an international provider of goods and services you do not have and badly need.

Until I received the Coveroo Platinum Package, I was wandering aimlessly up and down the West Coast desperately seeking answers. Now, I am again allowed to live within 200 yards of any elementary school in America, and the majority of those frivolous stay-away orders have finally been rescinded by the courts.

Coveroo not only manufactures excellent products, their customer service and tech support is outrageously good. When you call Coveroo with a product problem, they do not route you to a crowded call center in mid-town Bombay; they will actually fly you and a friend to Bombay, where your product issue will be discussed with a trained technician over hot curry and gin and tonics. (Coveroo legal disclaimer: Return flight not included; must transport a securly wrapped package for drop-off at a Bombay International Airport unisex restroom; actual product problems rarely resolved to customer's satisfaction).

But back to the alert. All kidding aside, Coveroo is in reality a wonderful company that customizes personal cell phones with a choice of over 2,000 great professional designs, or with custom art work you provide. Coveroo cell phone designs include MLB and NBA teams, The Simpsons, Family Guy and a lot more. And they are awesome.

Check out their site at www.coveroo.com (and at www.coveroo.com/giants).

With Coveroo, you don't need to send your phone anywhere to have it customized. Almost all phones now have a easy to remove faceplate, and Coveroo will mail you the high quality engraved design you choose on a new faceplate. All major phone brands are supported including Blackberry. 

Now, Coveroo is offering loyal Giants Cove readers a great free offer: Send me an email with your name and full mailing address, and tell me what Buster Posey's real first name is. If your email is chosen, you will receive the free Coveroo phone cover of your choice!

Send your emails to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  by Monday October 25, 2010 at 12:00pm PST. Tell me Buster's real first name, and you may be a winner (for once). I will number each correct entry, and convince a bikini-clad female friend to use an on-line random number generator to pick two (2) winners. Unless the age of consent laws in West Virginia have changed, I will publish a photo of the actual Giants Cove drawing.


Check out Coveroo and send me your entry, or continue to be an MLB chump.

Two Giants Cove/Coveroo winners will be announced prior to the first 2010 World Series game on Wednesday October 27, 2010. Don't delay, send me your email today!

For the first time during the Giants' amazing 2010 season, I actually enthusiastically anticipated and welcomed outfielder Aaron Rowand being brought into a ballgame. It was a singular moment, and I checked my pulse to make sure I hadn't died and turned into a zombie. A baseball zombie who roams the earth with an irrational desire to see Aaron Rowand play baseball.

Anyway, I waited for Giants manager Bruce Bochy to bring Aaron Rowand into the game and put him in centerfield for defensive purposes. Only it didn't happen.

The Saturday September 25th contest between Giants and the Rockies was a slugfest appropriate for an epic race to the playoffs: 9-7 San Francisco in the 8th, when Giants closer Brian Wilson was brought in with two on and two outs to face Troy Tulowitzki. The Rockies star shortstop doubled in both runs before Wilson got Melvin Mora on a come backer to the mound.

After a scoreless 9th, closer Wilson was still on the mound for the start of the 10th. But there was a problem. The Giants did not have their best defensive alignment on the field. Defensive specialist Nate Schierholtz had replaced Jose Guillen in right field, but Pat Burrell was still in left. Burrell has a power bat, but his lack of speed and weak arm make him a liability in the outfield even when the score isn't tied in the bottom of the 10th inning. The smart move, and a move that had been made numerous times in the same scenario, would have been to move center fielder Cody Ross to left and bring in Rowand to patrol center.

So it was that after Rockies slugger Carlos Gonzalez hit an infield single, Troy Tulowitzki's double found Burrell in left. Burrell went for the ball, slipped, and threw low to cutoff man Juan Uribe. Gonzalez scored from first base, beating the throw home by maybe two steps. Rockies win, Giants fall to second place in the NL West.

And Aaron Rowand watched the bottom of the 10th from the Giants dugout.

Luckily, this Giants team has not let a big loss distract them all season long. They have the mental focus and the veteran presence to forget about yesterday and concentrate on today. That make-up has served them well, and it will serve them well against the Rockies on Sunday.

In a media interview shortly after the Giants’ 1-0 win against the Cubs on Tuesday, to start a three game set in Chicago, twenty-three year old rookie catcher Buster Posey corrected the post-game television reporter on a critical point. When asked about the importance of winning the first game of a series, Posey looked at the reporter and said that, with less than two weeks to go in the season, it’s about winning each game each day. There is no series, no game two or game three; every game is now game one.

Just when you think Buster Posey has provided ample examples of how focused and mature he has been since he played his first 2010 game on May 29th, the kid puts another one on the table. Posey had just finished catching a two-hit shut-out by Matt Cain and three relievers, throwing out a base stealer at second, and hitting the game winning home run.

From now until the final game of the season (against San Diego on Sunday October 3, 2010) every game, every inning, and each at bat is an unfolding series of huge moments that will ultimately lead to the playoffs and greater stories, or to unspeakable bitter disappointment.

Giants pre-game/post-game radio broadcaster Marty Lurie put it best last weekend when he described the Giants’ final two weeks as a “Fifteen game World Series”. And that’s what this amazing game can give us that nothing else possibly can; real, live drama that depends on personal and team performance at the highest levels. And, right now, it’s all in front of us.

The numbers can run chills up your spine. Eleven games to go; San Francisco in first by a half game over the Padres; Colorado’s momentum stumbling the last two games, but they’re still 6-4 over the last ten and only 2½ out; and the Atlanta Braves (86-66) remain one game ahead of the Giants (85-66) in the win column should the NL Wild Card become a critical factor. And scoreboard watching, once something we pretended was unimportant, now becomes as mandatory as filing tax returns and having milk with chocolate chip cookies.

From this point on, a wild ride will be the daily commute for all San Francisco Giants fans.
                                                                         
The last eleven games: 2 at Chicago Cubs, 3 at Colorado, 3 at home with Arizona, 3 at home with San Diego to finish the season.

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When it finally happened, when after a long, tough 2010 season the Giants finally clawed and fought their way into first place in the National League West, there was a brief clubhouse celebration. Then it was back to business. The beach had been taken, now it was time to move inland and secure the objectives that will win the war: a first place finish in the West, the National League Pennant, and on to the 2010 World Series.

Absolutely nothing has been handed to this gritty team all year. As the season started, the team survived a haunting lack of offense reminiscent of the past five losing seasons; they survived several high paid starters who crashed and burned along the way; the front office was literally forced to trade their starting catcher and grudgingly bring up a rookie to handle perhaps the best starting rotation in baseball; and after losing the only two lefties in their bullpen to month-long injuries at mid-season, the worst news of the year hit last week when they lost their star lead-off hitter and center fielder.

But Manager Bruce Bochy's crafty player juggling, the front office going out and picking up several bats and a left handed reliever, and the amazing offensive performances of Aubrey Huff, Buster Posey, Juan Uribe, and Andres Torres have brought this team to the top of a very large mountain.

The September 16, 2010 10-2 win over the appropriately loathed Los Angeles Dodgers was a moment to savor in the maelstrom still to come. LA starter Ted Lilly, a rare beam of light in the nightmare of the Dodgers' catastrophic 2010 campaign, lost for only the third time in nine LA starts. It was also Lilly's shortest outing of the season: he only lasted 3 1/3 innings, coughing up six earned runs. Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff and catcher Buster Posey went back to back HRs in the third inning, the 7th time Giant hitters have doubled up home runs in 2010.

But with the Giants, as always, it all comes back to pitching. A brilliant start for Jonathan Sanchez, who gave up one earned run in seven innings and hit double-digit strikeouts for the seventh time in his short career and the fourth time this season. SF relievers Santiago Casilla and Chris Ray mopped up the final two innings without allowing a hit, walk or run.

And we can't close this great moment without mention of the end of days currently being experienced by the San Diego Padres.

The San Diegos initially surprised me by dominating the National League for most of the year, and they surprised me again when they hit a brick wall that looked suspiciously like a ten game losing streak. But the tough times continue for the Friars at St. Louis' Busch Stadium, where yesterday the Pads chalked up their 10th straight defeat in St. Louis, going back to 2007.

Thursday's game was also the third shutout tossed against San Diego in the last 18 games, a frustrating follow-up to their three game series with Colorado earlier this week, in which Padre hitters put up 19 runs and 34 hits. Manager Bud Black now has his hands full righting his team and, amazingly, chasing the San Francisco Giants.

And doesn't that sound sweet.

If anyone doubts that Giants lead-off batter and center fielder Andres Torres' recent season-ending inflamed appendix might also be season-ending for the San Francisco Giants, they should consider Manager Bruce Bochy's reaction. Bochy is a man who lives with veteran players and would prefer to die with veteran players. Just last Christmas, he wrote to the North Pole asking Santa for a veteran player, and he recently joined  Facebook's I-like-Veteran-Baseball-Players Group.

For validation of this assertion, just ask the range-deficient, anti-run-producing, AARP-ready Edgar Renteria, who, during his two year $19 million contract with the Giants, received 691 more at-bats than he should have (and, yes, Renteria has 691 Giant at bats to date). But Bochy loves the veterans. Just check with $12 million a year Giant Aaron Rowand, who had one great year with Philadelphia in 2007 (his free agency year), but who has been garden compost ever since. But Bochy dotes on the veterans: the grizzled manager batted Rowand lead-off most of last year, and into June of this year before grudgingly admitting Rowand's .229 batting average and .282 OBP was absolutely killing the team.

(And Giants fans, remember to keep purchasing those season tickets, garlic fries, and $10 beers-- the team owes Rowand $12 million in 2011, and another $12 million in 2012. So drink up.)

But the veteran-addicted Bruce Bochy recently did something remarkable in response to Aaron Rowand's predictable 0-5 debut as Torres' replacement in the leadoff spot Sunday September 12th, and veteran Cody Ross' 1-4 effort  in the same role on Tuesday September 14th: the next day he actually started rookie Triple A outfielder Eugenio Velez in left field (Ross played center) and batted Velez lead-off. Velez went 0 for 3 with a walk, but the Giants downed the Dodgers 2-1 and moved to a half game out of first place in the NL West.

Now don't go selling your GM stock for Eugenio Velez baseball cards and memorabilia. Bochy made himself drive that psychedelic bus around the block once, and absent Velez going 5 for 5 with three runs scored and two stolen bases, expect to see the Rowand-Ross show from now until October 3rd. But the appearance of Velez at lead-off and Ross in center means the Giants skipper is willing to roll the dice to shake things up at a time when the Giants are not only driving for the NL West title, they are so close they can taste it.

This is also an opportunity to run the Cody Ross mobile around the block and see how it performs; Ross could very well be a starting outfielder on the 2011 Giants. As for Velez, he has been a confusing conundrum of contradictions the past two years: a speedy runner with a rocket throwing arm, clumsy on the bases at all the wrong times and known to flat out drop baseballs that badly want to land in his glove.

The configuration of Cody Ross in center field and Velez leading off is the best possible solution to the Torres problem, but a very smart baseball mind is currently running all SF Giant field operations. We'll defer to Mr. Bochy's wisdom as we sit back, ingest excessive adult beverages and, in the words of Pete Townshend, get on our knees and pray we don't get fooled again...

After taking two out of three from the Los Angeles Dodgers this past weekend, the San Francisco Giants rollercoasting road show hit Phoenix, Arizona to take on the D-Snakes Monday September 6th. The Giants' twenty-one year old rookie starter Madison Bumgarner went 7.1 innings, giving up five hits, one walk, no runs, and striking out seven batters.

Usually enough to win, but not today. It took six additional pitchers from the Giants' bullpen to throw another 3.2 innings of no hit baseball before Giant right fielder Nate Schierholtz ended the cliff dweller by tripling to right center field with two outs and two on. Closer Brian Wilson got his 41st save in the bottom of the eleventh inning to seal the 2-0 win.

Giants pitchers allowed a total of five hits and four walks in eleven innings, with 14 strikeouts.

Later that night, the National League West leading San Diego Padres finally broke their historic ten game losing streak at home against the looking-more-hapless-every-day Los Angeles Dodgers, taking the game 4-2 in regulation play.

The Giants, who are seemingly on a mission to run the Padres to ground in the NL West, have gone 6-4 in their last ten games despite hitting slumps by RBI leader Aubrey Huff (77) and lead-off ace Andres Torres (79 runs scored). Injuries, and a slump by Padre starters Wade LeBlanc (8-12) Kevin Correia (10-10), contributed to that team's recent 10 game skid.

When the Giants travel San Diego this weekend for a critical four game series, Padre pitchers will see a revamped Giants offense, and Padre hitters will face San Francisco's four best starters (Matt Cain on Thursday, Jonathan Sanchez on Friday, Madison Bumgarner on Saturday, and Tim Lincecum on Sunday). It should be incredible September baseball. 

And to add some spice to an already intense 2010 National League West race, the Colorado Rockies have won seven of their last ten games and are only four games out of first place.