Sully Baseball Daily Podcast - July 9, 2013

This photo is a picture of my dad, reacting to the Giants' miserable offense and defense during the gut wrenching 16 inning loss to the Mets last night.

How did the defending World Champs get to the point where they are 8 games under .500 approaching mid July? A little bit of arrogance was a factor.

I discuss that on today's episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.


Zack Grienke, Bartolo Colon, Victor Martinez and yes Buster Posey all owned baseball on July 8, 2013.


To see the up to date tally of "Who Owns Baseball?," click HERE.
 Subscribe on iTunes HERE.

Sully Baseball Daily Podcast - July 9, 2013

Melky's suspension is denying us dual M. Cabrera Batting Titles

Melky Cabrera is off the Giants. He will not be on the playoff roster. He will probably not be back with San Francisco next year. And his wonderful break through season will forever be tainted by his P.E.D. suspension and that whole weird website thing.

That's not what I am lamenting.

I like strange things in baseball. And the minute Melky Cabrera did what Bud Selig did not have the guts to do and remove himself from the batting race, the game was made better by that moment of accountability.

But history was denied a strange coincidence.

Here are the current batting standings, which include Cabrera:

It's a double take.

But the American League and the National League have M. Cabrera as the batting leader. Miguel in the American League and Melky in the National League.

Seriously, I demand to know the odds of that.

That does not happen where the batting leader of both leagues have the same last name and the same first initial. And for two guys who are not brothers!

There was no William Boggs winning batting titles in the 1980s for the National League.

Nobody named Tiberius Williams won no titles in the National League.

I do not recall anyone named Randolph Carew or Thaddeus Gwynn or Horatio Wagner or Simon Musial winning a batting crown.

This would have been a first.

And would it be worth having a caught PED user win the batting title to have this kind of coincidence in the history books?

I'm not so certain that I know the answer to that.

Sure punishing those who do wrong and teaching our kids a lesson is great.
But so are oddities like this.




 

Giants Magic Number is 36

It is not just Gaylord Perry's retired number. It is the Giants goal.
Any combination of Giants wins and Dodgers losses will give the Giants the Division.

Remember all the hand wringing when Melky Cabrera got suspended.
My dad was depressed.
My Giants friends were saying the season was done.
It was doom and gloom going into L.A.

Then the Giants found a novel solution.
Win games.
Out pitch the opposition.

In other words QUIT YER WHINING!

This is the Giants Division to win.

They just turned a 1/2 game hole to a 2 1/2 game lead.

Melky who?


 

Melky Cabrera Suspension for PED Use Casts a Pall on Giants Season - A Bleacher Report Article

Well the PED era isn't over, evidently.
Neither are the problems surrounding Giants left fielders.

Oy vey.

In my latest for Bleacher Report, I talk about Melky Cabrera, PEDs and the Giants moving forward.

You can read the whole article HERE.



 

I think I figured out how they pick an All Star MVP

I think a few media members quickly get together at the end of the game and ask one question.
"Did anyone on the winning team hit a home run?"

If the answer is yes, then that person is the automatic MVP.

Pablo Sandoval hits the bases clearing triple that blows the game open early.
Matt Cain throws the two shutout innings that sets the tone for the National League's dominance.

But they give the award to Melky Cabrera because he hit a home run when the National League already had a comfortable lead?

Yeah.
That makes sense.

Melky Cabrera to the Giants Has Been the Best Offseason Move so Far - A Bleacher Report Article

The Giants trading Jonathan Sanchez for Melky Cabrera didn't get the most publicity this off season. But it is paying off in ways that even the most optimistic Giants fan couldn't have pictured.

I wrote about it in Bleacher Report.

You can read the article HERE.



   

Now THAT was a ballgame!

9 shutout innings by Cain.
10 by Cliff Lee.
The Giants bullpen perfectly wiggled out of a jam.
And as John Sterling would say about Melky Cabrera "The Melk Man Delivered!"

Folks, regular season games don't get better than that!

My brilliant analysis of the Royals and Giants trade

The Royals sent Melky Cabrera to the Giants for Jonathan Sanchez and minor league left hander Ryan Verdugo.

Now I have many Giants fan readers (and not just my dad.) And I got a lot of e mails and text messages asking "What do you think of the deal?" or "Why haven't you talked about the trade?"

I guess with a few days to think about it, I have to supply my amazing and insightful breakdown of the deal.

I have no clue.

Seriously. How can ANYONE have a clue if this was a good trade?

Jonathan Sanchez? Sure he has talent. He's left handed. He's under 30. He won 13 games a few years ago and threw a no hitter a few years before that.

He also has had a grand total of one, count em, ONE noteworthy season as a big league pitcher. And even THAT season he could be agonizingly inconsistent. And only once did he post an ERA below 4.

And he did that in one of the best pitchers ballparks in the game. I felt the Giants should have traded him after the 2010 World Series when his value was at its peak and Bumgarner could take his spot in the rotation.

Instead Sanchez had an injury plagued 2011 and they HAD to deal him now or else they'd have nothing. 30 year old injury plagued pitchers don't fetch what 29 year old injury plagued pitchers get on the market.

Will he pitch well for the Royals? Or was he a flash in the pan?

I don't know. Neither do you.

They got Melky Cabrera who is better than anyone else in the Giants outfield. He had career highs in homers, RBI, stolen bases, batting average, OPS, OPS+ games played and plate appearances. He was OK with the Yankees for 4 years, lousy with the Braves for one before flourishing with the Royals.

Did he find himself?

Did he have a fluke good year?

Is he well suited for Kansas City?

Who can honestly say?

But he IS going from the American League and their many hitters parks to the worst hitters park in the game. Will that derail him? Or will he launch drives into the gap and stretch them to triples?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Thrown in for good measure is Ryan Verdugo. He had two very good seasons in the Giants farm system as a relief pitcher. So naturally everyone thought he'd make a great starting pitcher. (Classic Joba Chamberlain syndrome.)

He was eh as a starter for the Double A Flying Squirrels of Richmond. So naturally the Royals will probably keep him in the rotation. He's 24, left handed and has a pulse, so he will pitch for the next 20 years.

Basically this is a team swapping question marks. The Royals needed an arm. The Giants needed a bat.

Who got the best of this?

Who got the worst?

No clue.

And it is hard hitting analysis like THIS that you can only find on Sully Baseball!

If Vazquez is a horse, you had better call the glue factory

Another game for Javy Vazquez… another day the Yankees bullpen needs to work in overtime.

The Yankees have 6 losses this year and three were thrown by Vazquez.

Remember him? The guy who people were saying was a horse. The guy people kept saying was a Cy Young candidate?

He has an ERA of 9.00 so far.
That’s an earned run an inning.
And he also averages 5 innings a start. Wasn’t he a bulldog innings eater?

As of this writing, an average Vazquez start is leaving after 5 innings with 5 runs on the board.

The Yankees needed to trade away Melky Cabrera and prospect Arodys Vizcaino for that? How could signing Jarrod Washburn be worse?

This trade stunk in December, it stunk in spring training and it stinks now for the Yankees.

And I get a certain amount of glee pointing that out.

Does Brian Cashman realize that this is the SAME Javier Vazquez?

The other day the Yankees, showing their commitment to developing their own players, shipped off Melky Cabrera to Atlanta for Javier Vazquez.

Now this is undeniably positive for all of baseball because that means we will be spared hearing John Sterling say "The Melkman Delivers!" and THEN say "It's the Melky Way!"

That was too much to bear.

But the deal is unusual for another reason...

Vazquez was in the Bronx before. In fact his last game was kind of a big one in the history of the Yankees and of the Red Sox as well.

Do you think Cashman knows that this is the same guy?

Did Atlanta GM Frank Wren keep that little nugget of information from him?

CASHMAN: Man, I am really excited to get this great pitcher Javy Vazquez from you guys. The guy was a Cy Young candidate!

WREN: Yeah. He's great.

CASHMAN: Man, it is strange. We used to have a pitcher who had the same name.

WREN: You don't say.

CASHMAN: Yeah. He had a world of talent but he folded like a lawn chair when the pressure of New York got to him.

WREN: No kidding.

CASHMAN: Yeah, he was supposed to be our young ace. He started off OK but then by the time the playoffs came around he was in the bullpen.

WREN: That doesn't sound good.

CASHMAN: You don't know the half of it. In Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS, we brought him in to stop the bleeding because Kevin Brown was leaving a stain in the bed that matched his last name.

WREN: How did YOUR Vazquez do?

CASHMAN: First pitch he threw to Johnny Damon was a grand slam. And 2 innings later he let up ANOTHER homer to Johnny Damon... killed our pennant chances.

WREN: Wow. He sounds like he was a terrible fit in New York.

CASHMAN: Yeah. But your guy sounds like a bulldog.

WREN: Oh yeah. It's a totally different guy. He'll do fine in New York.


I've already equated Javier Vazquez with a comic who is coasting on a good early set.

But now he's going back to a comedy club where he bombed big time.

And the Yankees oddly are going back to the well of bringing in NL pitchers, because that worked so well with Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright... and oh yeah Javier Vazquez!

Of course this trade opens up left field and a chance to bring back Johnny Damon (you know... because they are trying to get younger and more athletic.)

If Damon comes back, do you think he'll chat much with Vazquez?

"Hey Javy? Remember when you served those two meatballs to me in the '04 ALCS? Thanks!"

Cashman would interrupt him.

"You are wrong Johnny... it's a totally different guy. Frank Wren told me so."

Hey John Sterling

Look John, I know you are going to make a lot of puns during a game... but do us all a favor:

Limit yourself to one pun per home run.

Melky Cabrera just clocked a homer.

Sterling said "The Melkman Delivers... It's the Melky Way!"

Seriously... one or the other. The human body can only handle so many puns before going into a diabetic coma.