Thoughts, lists and other compulsive bits about baseball from comedian filmmaker television producer/Red Sox fan Paul Francis Sullivan....
feel free to call him “Sully.”
The Blue Jays need to get their act together, the Padres should let people in for free and Bruce Bochy should win manager of the year.
All of those topics and more onn today's edition of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
CC Sabathia, Chris Dickerson, Jonathan LuCroy and Johnny Cueto all owned baseball on May 30, 2013.
To see the up to date tally of "Who Owns Baseball?," click HERE.
Continuing the Why Each Team's Potential World Championship Would Be Good For The Game series, we move on to the Defending World Champion San Francisco Giants.
Now earlier I wrote posts for the Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Indians knowing that their time as contenders wouldn’t be long. I never expected to throw the Champs into the “Quick before they fall out” pile.
But here we are. In the month since acquiring Carlos Beltran the Giants have gone 10 games in the wrong direction. They have turned a 4 game lead into a 6 game deficit. And with a showdown against the Diamondbacks looming, their season could startlingly be over in early September.
Their losing ways have been against lowly teams like the Padres, Cubs and Astros. A year after being unlikely Cinderella champs, they are the targets for teams with spoiling a pennant on their mind.
Then again, a strong September could catapult them right back into the playoffs, playing their patented brand of heart attack inducing baseball.
Yesterday they let go of Aaron Rowand and Miguel Tejada, thus ending a "Third ring for Rowand" and "Win a Ring for Tejada" motivation.
But Madison Bumgarner won and who knows? The champs could defend their crown
Now with the Giants, I am not going to make the reasons to support them winning a title personal. They are my dad's team, my son's team and my favorite National League team. But every team has fans and every team has someone's dad rooting for them
These are for fans everywhere.
10 Reasons why the
San Francisco Giants
winning the 2011 World Series
would be good for baseball
1. Another World Series title could put Bruce Bochy into the Hall of Fame.
He's borderline as it is. He took a Padres team that, save for 1984, was a consistent non factor and in short order led them to the 1996 post season. Then he won the 1998 pennant in San Diego. That team was dismantled but he put together Division winners in 2005 and 2006 in PetCo Park. Then he won the first ever World Series title in San Francisco with one of the worst offenses on paper for a fall classic.
He is a classic old school manager who gets respect throughout the league. AND he is already tied with Earl Weaver, Bobby Cox and Leo Durocher for World Series titles.
Another one would make the conversation very interesting.
2. Another title could help confirm Tim Lincecum's greatness
Isn't it fun to see greatness unfold? Sometimes aces can start off wonderfully and even become World Series heroes and Cy Young winners and then fade out from injuries or ineffectiveness. (Think Bret Saberhagen, Fernando Valenzuela and Dwight Gooden.)
I hope Linecum has a Tom Seaver, Greg Maddux or Tom Glavine type of career. He already is a multiple Cy Young Award winner and was a legit post season ace, winning the clincher.
He should be one of the great faces in baseball and a player to market the league around. Having him win MORE in October will make that possible.
3. Maybe there can be real closure with the Bonds era.
I have been a defender of Bonds despite thinking he used tons of steroids.
I honestly think that time will be kind on him. His new trial will happen soon and inevitably it will end with, at worst, a slap on the wrist.
The Giants have clearly moved on from the Bonds years (#25 jerseys were oddly absent the last time I went to the Giants dugout.) The team has built a World Champion without him.
Eventually I hope he will return to the Giants in some capacity. If Mark McGwire can return as a hitting coach, why can't Bonds? Look, EVERY team had players who were on juice. It was the era. And now the era is passing. Another title in San Francisco might help put it a little further back and Bonds wouldn't have to talk about the past. (Oh sorry. That's McGwire's line.)
4. More October calls from the best announcers in the game
Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow are the best play by play men in the game. They are knowledgeable, funny, classy and have a sincere style to calling the game. They aren't prepackaged or playing a part. And when they get into a game, it means some GREAT calls.
Meanwhile Jon Miller also calls games for the Giants and he is the Gold Standard.
But best of all listen to Dave Flemmings' call of Edgar Renteria's eventual World Series winning home run. The way his voice cracked meant he was speaking for Giants fans everywhere who couldn't believe their eyes when the ball left the park. This October needs more calls like that.
5. Another Championship would mean more celebrating with Willie Mays
The greatest player in baseball history is Willie Mays.
Willie Mays is still with us.
Willie Mays still has all of his faculties.
Willie Mays must be celebrated for as long as he is on this Earth.
6. The Giants - Phillies rivalry needs to be cultivated!
The Giants and Phillies could be a great post season rivalry in this decade. They have stockpiled aces. They played a wonderful series last year. AND there seems to be bad blood between them.
The Giants would inevitably have to go through Philly.
A laid back West Coast city and a wound tight East Coast city each with recent World Series titles could make for many great Octobers for years to come.
7. Carlos Beltran could get redemption for the "Called Third Strike."
Baseball is great for redemption stories. And right now, despite putting up great numbers in his limited post season experience, Carlos Beltran's best known highlight is looking at a called third strike to end the 2006 NLCS.
A base hit would have tied the game. A double would have won the pennant for the Mets. Instead it was St. Louis who won.
He may never get redemption in the eyes of Mets fans, but a little peace for Carlos would go a long way (and help him collect this winter as a Free Agent.)
8. Brian Wilson in the spotlight can only be a good thing for baseball.
If Zach Galifianakis was a baseball player, who would be be?
OK, probably Brody Stevens, but that's not the point. The point is Wilson has the great closer stuff and the All Star resume and the clinching the World Series highlight on his reel to give him substance.
And his style is so bizarre and legitimately funny that it can only bring attention to baseball from people who normally wouldn't watch.
Also it could spark a renaissance of awesome facial hair on closers and more goofiness. There is a place for a stoic Mariano Rivera. But it's nice to have a pitcher look like Rasputin on the mound.
9. A Repeat World Series title would give the Showtime show a great ending!
I thought it was going to have a great finale with a return to October. If thye come they erase a 6 game hole and make the post season and win it all... the show might win the Emmy.
It would be GREAT TV!
10. The Giants becoming the fun championship caliber team will help lead MLB into the 21st century!
As I said in a Sully Baseball video, the Giants are the fun marquee team to root for. They don't have the pompousness of the Yankees nor the annoying elements of Red Sox Nation. Fans who think they dominated the past decade (winning 2 World Series each between 2000 and 2009 plus consistently being in the playoffs will do that) have a new option. The Giants have a sense of humor that many of the Northeastern teams don't have. But that sense of humor is meaningless without consistently winning.
Bandwagons are healthy for sports. People have jumped on Steeler and Cowboy bandwagons for generations. Same with the Celtics and Lakers. And every once in a while a team with a truly unique personality becomes a trendy favorite. Think of the Raiders in the 70s and 80s. The Bulls of the 90s.
The Giants should be one of those teams. But they can't be that if they are one win and done. Baseball needs to expand its brand to a younger audience. And the Giants should be that team.
It's tough to do that when they are playing golf in October.
I thought for sure the National League West was a slam dunk. I didn't think the Diamondbacks would be a factor.
But here we are. The Defending Champs and the team that should be a flagship franchise for baseball are fighting for their playoff lives.
If they come back and win it all, the 2011 season DVD will be amazing!
If you liked this then go ahead and read the entries for the other teams.
Look, the heart stopping wins are great, Giants. But it is getting a bit rough on my dad. EVERY SINGLE NIGHT he has to watch a great pitcher, like Bumgarner tonight, throw a gem with zero wiggle room and wait for late game heroics.
Sandoval's go ahead double was amazing and Crawford's game ending double play was the coolest play of the year because I was convinced it was a game winning walk off hit for the Tigers.
But understand my dad watches every inning. And tonight he was mumbling things like "We should harness the wind caused by our bats and we'd solve the energy crisis" and kept saying that Bochy has been SENTENCED to the job of Giants manager.
The Giants are defending their World Series title in as exciting a manner as I can remember. But we have guests coming over this weekend. I'd like to see my dad relax a little.
Don't laugh... Bruce Bochy already has a pretty amazing resume as a manager. If he wins 4 more games as a manager this year, it might be time to start whispering his name around Cooperstown.
Don't believe me? Well first of all he has already padded his resume with some solid credentials.
He took over a Padres team after the 1994/1995 strike/lockout.
Remember the Padres were a team lost in the woods after the 1984 pennant. They went through managers (Larry Bowa... Jack McKeon... Steve Boros... Jim Riggleman) and philosophies (We're all about our deep farm... no wait, we're all about signing free agents like Bruce Hurst and Jack Clark... no we're keeping our prospects... no we're trading them for Joe Carter... no we're trading Joe Carter and Robbie Alomar away...)
In his second season (1996) and just three years removed from the 1993 101 loss firesale debacle, Bruce Bochy had the Padres back in the post season as National League West Champions, beating the defending Division Champion Dodgers on the last day of the season.
We won manager of the year that year.
In his fourth season, 1998, he beat out two 100 win teams in the post season (the Astros and the Braves) and stormed into the second World Series in the history of the franchise. Granted, beating the 114 win Yankees was a BIT too much to ask, but he became a World Series manager.
The Padres dismantled again, running off 5 straight losing seasons and making Bochy's future uncertain. But the Padres and Bochy stuck together and by 2004 they were winners again.
By 2005 he had the Padres back in the playoffs (granted with the single worst post season team I have EVER seen). In 2006 they were legit and had home field advantage in the Division Series as back to back champs.
Only Trevor Hoffman played on all four division winners for Bochy. The turnover of talent from 1996 to 1998 was tremendous... as was the turn over from 2005 to 2006. Bochy remained the steady force.
He came over to the Giants, a team whose philosophy seemed to be "Hey! People are showing up to see Barry... so why bother putting a good team on the field?"
He had nothing to work with, especially after Bonds retired after 2007. But by 2009 they were winners again... and now, counting his two rebuildings in San Diego, has built his third division champion from the ground up.
Manager of the year... turns teams around... multiple playoff trips... pennants with two different franchises...
That sounds like a GREAT manager's resume. All he is missing is the ring.
If he wins a World Series title this year... and do what teams featuring Mays, McCovey, Marichal, Perry and Bonds could never do... and do it with a cut and paste line up... do it defeating the much heralded Phillies... then what else does he have to prove?
Yes you can point to a sub .500 career record. But also remember that he managed the Padres who had firesales under his watch... and took over a rudderless Giants team that was looking to shake off their Bonds identity.
Bochy could be giving them the identity they've been seeking since they played at Seals Stadium: World Series Champion.
And then the consideration for Cooperstown will need some good long thought.
On August 11th, I wrote about how the Giants had about as good a chance as any to win the NL Pennant assuming they made the post season.
None of the other NL Teams were powerhouses and San Francisco could steamroll them through the NLCS.
The Giants have dropped 4 of the next 6 games including the brutal first few games of the Phillies series.
So now the Giants have fallen out of a playoff spot... they look lost and even my dad, the biggest Giants fan I know declared them dead.
But guess what? They looked dead in 1951 as well.
While I wrote about the Giants hopes on August 11th this year, on August 11th 1951 the Giants were 13 1/2 games behind the Dodgers before they completed the Miracle at Coogan's Bluff and Bobby Thomson hit the Shot Heard 'Round The World.
Thomson passed away this week and while that was nearly 60 years ago, the home run still resonates in baseball lore and should be looked on as hope for the current Giants club.
OK, there's no Willie Mays or Monte Irvin on this squad. And yeah, their starting pitching is in a huge slump.
There's no 13 1/2 deficit to overcome. In fact if the Giants and Jonathan Sanchez can beat the Phillies and Cole Hamels this evening, they'll be only 2 games back in the loss column with 40 games to play.
Making up 2 games in 40 games isn't a miracle. It's focus.
Come on Giants. You can still win the Pennant! You can still win the Pennant!
The Padres are being dismantled. That's what you do when your team loses 99 games and are filled with veterans. I am sure they can lose 99 games with kids.
And long time Padre closer Trevor Hoffman is being set loose and the staff here at Sully Baseball believes he will land with the San Francisco Giants.
It would be a reunion with manager Bruce Bochy from 1995 until the end of the 2006 playoffs. And a team filled with young pitchers including a Cy Young award winner in Tim Lincecum and an All Star closer in Bryan Wilson would welcome the All Time Saves leader to steady that bullpen and all of a sudden the Giants pitching staff would be set to take on the NL West.
Ohhhh boy. Have we learned nothing from Trevor Hoffman? So we still are under the delusion that he is a Hall of Famer? This guy is the ultimate save compiler but when the games matter, his uniform bottom turns browner than the Padres uniforms from the 1970s. Need to review the sorrow he has brought Padre fans over the past decade or so? Read it and weep.
The 96 playoffs, the 98 playoffs and World Series, dragging out the dreadful '05 pennant chase, almost single handedly ending the Padres '07 playoff hopes.
2. Another title could help confirm Tim Lincecum's greatness
4. More October calls from the best announcers in the game
5. Another Championship would mean more celebrating with Willie Mays
6. The Giants - Phillies rivalry needs to be cultivated!
7. Carlos Beltran could get redemption for the "Called Third Strike."
8. Brian Wilson in the spotlight can only be a good thing for baseball.
9. A Repeat World Series title would give the Showtime show a great ending!
10. The Giants becoming the fun championship caliber team will help lead MLB into the 21st century!
The Padres dismantled again, running off 5 straight losing seasons and making Bochy's future uncertain. But the Padres and Bochy stuck together and by 2004 they were winners again.
This guy is the ultimate save compiler but when the games matter, his uniform bottom turns browner than the Padres uniforms from the 1970s.
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