They're Giants In Name Only This Year

To me, the Barry Bonds home run record thing (and it's really a 'thing' in the sense of something weird and fantastic and beyond precedent in modern baseball) is a true "good thing" that can't end soon enough.

The Giants, after all, are getting so much attention but they are 15 games under .500 and essentially ended their season as a contending team in their division two months ago. (They were swept by the Padres this weekend, and, although two of the games were close, you had the feeling they wouldn't succeed unless they were five runs up.)

It's been the same case as all the other Giants losses this year...even when they tied a game in the late innings--a rare and wonderful thing--you felt they go on to lose the contest in extra innings.

That's the way the Giants are this year. The bullpen keeps sending out pitchers until one of them finds a way to lose the game. (Usually Randy Messenger, but I'm not just picking on him.) Or Dave Roberts or Randy Wynn gets on base and the middle of the line-up goes cold and/or they get the bases loaded early in the game and some opposing pitcher just up from Triple-A suddenly seemingly turns into a clone of Juan Marichal or Walter "The Big Train" Johnson and makes the G-Men batters look sick up there.

General Manger Peter McGowan--who's over-tanned face has earned him the nickname "Snappy Tom" from my friends Lyle and Pat--now admits recently they may have held on to too many over-40 players and drafted too many young pitchers in lieu of position players and offensive help the last few years.

You think, Pete?! When was the last time the Giants had a major hitter come out of their farm system? Too long.

On the bright side, the Giants have pretty good starting pitching, or at least a lot of potential in their young hurlers Tim Lincecum, Noah Lowry, and Matt Cain. Those three starters are the hope of the team now, along with a younger and more consistent line-up of hitters. It's a hope that won't be fulfilled until at least next year.

Former Oakland A's ace Barry Zito should be the ace of this staff, but he's struggled most of the year. (The Zen-like Zito pitched his first inning of relief last night--it may not be his last if he doesn't find his groove by early next year.)

Frankly, I'll be glad when Barry Bonds just hits that record-breaking 756th homerun, preferably tonight at home against the DC Nationals from our beautiful nation's capital. The constant references to his alleged steroid use in the past, coupled with the hand-wringing from sports reporters about the whole controversy, has gone past grating for me. Please, Barry, just hit the homer soon and let the last-place Giants melt back into obscurity in the National League West for the rest of this year. There is little joy in a record that so many baseball fans view as tainted and no fun watching a team that had high hopes for a run at the Division Playoffs now looks like all 270 million spent on on Mr. Zito and the recruitment of manager Bruce Bochy has so far been almost for naught.

I'm really not a fair-weather fan. I love the Giants, and all the great history this franchise carries with them, all the great players from Christy Mathewson to Mel Ott to Willie Mays to Willie McCovey to Marichal and Gaylord Perry to Bobby Bonds to Will Clark to Jeff Kent and to ,yes, Barry Bonds.

I will be a Giants fan for as long as God will let me hang around to see them. But I want the Lads to be competitive next year and I want the story of the Giants in 2008 to be how well they are doing as a team, not the source of another long-lasting Ethics in Sports Class. Give me baseball that's about what's between the foul lines next year, please!