A blog featuring the musings of a San Francisco Giants fan living trapped in LA.
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Words of Wisdom
"A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings" -- Earl Wilson
Westwood Blues Testimonials
"Either you graduated from the Muser Hollywood Upstairs Baseball
College or you're not a Giants fan." - Danny
"Ding ding ding. You win the wooden donut." - "Crispix Attacks"
"If there's only one good thing to come out of Baseball Primer, it's
the remarkable Joe Morgan mimicry skills, polished to a frighteningly
accurate degree, by a handful of Primates. Creepy." - SKP
"Why the Neifi hate?!?" - Tom
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* "Its only spring training. Its only spring training. Its only spring training." I've repeated that mantra to myself 10,000 times. I've breathed into a paper bag. I've even meditated. But is it ok to be a little concerned about Noah Lowry? His stats from the spring are ugly. Moreover, he just didn't *look* sharp at all. His location and command were poor.
The good news is he still some time to get sharp and work out some of his problems. Hopefully my concerns will be all for naught. After all, its only spring training.
* Joe Bateman is my new favorite sleeper prospect. This is mostly because I'm a sucker for relievers with funky deliveries. Ok, its pretty much entirely because I'm a sucker for relievers with funky deliveries. It will be fun to monitor his progress throughout the year.
* Feel free to beat me over the head with fielding stats that show Steve Finley to be a poor defender. I don't care. Finley looked very good defensively in CF. He made several nice plays in the outfield including a running catch in the gap where I thought off the crack of the bat that he had no chance to make the play.
Yes, Finley's League-Adjusted Park Neutral Real Ultimate Enhanced Zone Field Rating last year was -70. That's -70! I know.
I'm not convinced that Finley's offense will sufficiently rebound, but the dude can still cover some ground in CF.
The Nathan J. Schierholtz Award
Taking inspiration from the Harry S. Jordan Award, which the Giants organization awards to the best prospect playing in his first major league camp, Westwood Blues awards the Nathan J. Schierholtz Award to the young player in camp who most impresses me.
Previous winners:
2004: Nate Schierholtz
2005: Scott Munter
The winner of the 2006 Nathan J. Schierholtz Award is ... (drumroll) ... Jonathan Sanchez!
This is the first time I've seen him in person and he lives up to the hype. His delivery is smooth and he's got some nice zip on his fastball. As with any young pitcher, a gazillion disclaimers apply. Its no secret that young pitchers flame out with maddening regularity. He still has a loooonnngg way to go before making an impact at the major league level.
If nothing else, Sanchez could be an intriguing trading chip at the July trading deadline.
Update 11:05 PM: Hank from Giants Jottings has the scoop on Noah's most recent start:
"Noah Lowry started the game and had his best game of the spring. He threw 5 shutout innings before running into trouble in the 6th. Noah ended up pitching 5 2/3 innings, giving up 3 hits, 2 walks and 2 runs. Through 5 innings he was spotting his fastball well and both the change and the curve were working well as evidenced by his 5 strikeouts. He lost his location in the 6th, but when he left the game, only 1 run had scored."Good news.
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Matt Cain Walking to His Car:
There's a fine line between passionate sports fan and maniacal stalker. I like to think that I'm just a passionate sports fan.
I'll post pictures from the 18th and 19th later in the week. In the meantime:
Webshots Photo Album
And Barry:
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I'm back in Arizona. My internet connection here isn't the greatest, so I won't be able to add any photos to my Webshots photo album until I'm back in LA next week. Here are some photos from today's game in Surprise vs. the Rangers.
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Photos can be found here at my Webshots photo album. Enjoy!
For more photos visit Giants Jottings.
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Greetings from Arizona. My internet connection here is sketchy, so write-ups and pictures will most likely have to wait until I get home next week. In the meantime, check out Giants Jottings for Spring Training photos and updates. And enjoy this photo of Giants farmhand Todd Jennings.
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