EDITOR'S NOTE 3:00PM - Thanks to MeSoKrabby for posting this FanPost.  And thanks to those who submitted their 100 word pieces.  The NY Times folks told me they were some of the best they'd received this year.  We'll be doing this again for the Jets game so hopefully we'll get some more entries.
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The 100 word pieces submitted are up on the NYT's football blog, the Fifth Down.

I never knew so many other McCovey Chronicles regulars were also crossover stars at Niners Nation. I will say that the projections were a little more competitive than I expect to see. Nolan, 3-15 on on the east coast as HC. NYG's #1 rushing attack vs. Aubrayo Franklin and Justin Smith. The way the defense has been covering the deep ball. I'm thinking 34-10 or something similar. Not pretty.

The analysts all agree. The 49ers defense can’t get off the field on 3rd down. It’s a big reason the team has gone from an optimistic 2-1 to a depressing 2-4. Since we’ve already opened the wound, let’s dig around inside a bit. On the season, the 49ers defense ranks 26th overall with opponents converting 43% of the time on 3rd down. The pass defense has been average on 3rd downs with opponents converting 39% of the time. Run defense on 3rd down has been outright horrible. Opponents have converted 52% of 3rd down rushing attempt, but even more distressing is the 3rd down short yardage rush defense. The 49ers have not been able to stuff opponents rushing attacks on 3rd and three or less yards, allowing an appalling 71% conversion rate on those short tries. Say what you will, but I think this is evidence of how much Bryant Young meant to the team. Isaac Sopoaga and Ron Fields just aren’t getting the job done on the inside. They don’t demand double teams, and that frees offensive lineman to get to the next level and block the 49er LBs. Kentwan Balmer is only a rookie and not a high impact rookie, either. So, I’ll use this time to launch the “Sign Albert Haynesworth, No Matter the Cost" or “Free P-Willy!” campaigns now because I don’t see any large improvement on the horizon with the current cast.

Livan is listed at 245

B-Money is listed at 225(yeah right!)

Lil'Money listed at 246

If you want to throw in Ianneta catching, he's listed at 225.

That's a tough group to beat. You'd have to check all Prince and Cecil's back to back jobs...Mo Vaughn's....and see if Sabathia has given up  back to backers, but I think we got'em beat tonight. Go Giants!

Full Disclosure: I'm a Warriors fan.

Before I start spewing outrageous trade offers that would never happen,  like when you go to another team's blog and you see "How about we trade Speedy Claxton for Brandon Roy?",  I wanted to check with actual Blazer fans that could offer insight into my thinking before I take the road to Wackoland.

Portland now has Steve Blake, Sergio Rodrigues, Jerryd Bayless and Petteri Koponen at the 1, correct? Would the Blazers be willing to trade Blake/Koponen/Rodrigues? What would they cost? I'm primaily interested in Koponen because he seems to have the fringiest roster spot, summer league performance not withstanding, and he's Finnish, like me.

So, true Blazer fans, what can you tell me about your PG situation and do you think you can spare some dimes?

Could you use Al Harrington? (I know, but I have to ask)

There's a nice article about Jonathan Sanchez at Beyond the Boxscore (SB Nation Plug) and what perfect timing. He's starting today! So, let's say he keeps up his relative good stuff through most of the year, do the Giants trade him for porspects? Cain for prospects? Lincecum for all the gold in Fort Knox? Hold on to all three like a toothless prospector fending off claimjumpers? What's yer favorite old tymie saying?

Grant's quest for global domination  is gaining speed like a meatball rolling off a plate of spaghetti. Who do we have to thank for this?  Barry Zito's suckitude . Deadspin also gives a shoutout to us lowly commenters, but failed to cite the author...Smotheredinhugs  

So Barry is good for something. Just think, only 5 more years of Zito. I don't know if this has been brought up, but a six man rotation would mean more days between Zito starts and less starts overall for him? Glass = Half Full

Buster Olney's lead in his daily MLB blog is about Johnny Blaze. I think you have to be an "insider" to view the whole thing. What if you're an outsider?

Here you go:

As John Bowker rode into his first day in the major leagues Saturday, he kept doing a mental equipment check, double-checking in his mind that he had, indeed, packed everything he would need. Rookies who show up in the big leagues without their gloves or bats or spikes are a cliché. "I can definitely see how that can happen," Bowker said Monday afternoon, from San Francisco.

 

There was so much to do and so little time to do it. Bowker had been in Fresno Friday night, playing for the Giants' Triple-A affiliate, and just after the Grizzlies completed a wild comeback victory, Fresno manager Dan Rohn summoned Bowker into his office. Bowker had seen other players make this trip before, and he knew what that had to mean: He was being called up to the big leagues.

He needed to be at the Fresno ballpark the next morning at 7:30 a.m., Rohn told him, to meet a car service that would take him to San Francisco for the Giants' afternoon game. Bowker went to dinner, packed, got to sleep at 3 a.m. and was up at 5 a.m., throwing together his stuff before meeting the car; he got another hour of sleep during the drive.

He arrived at the ballpark at 10:30 a.m., and 10 minutes later, he took batting practice. The anxiety and nervousness that he felt was overwhelmed by the requirements of his job: He had to get his work done. Carney Lansford, the Giants' hitting coach, pulled him aside and mentioned that he had some videotape of Todd Wellemeyer, the starting pitcher for the Cardinals that day; Bowker learned what he needed -- that Wellemeyer was a fastball-slider type of guy, and that he threw a changeup as well -- and before Bowker knew it, he was standing in the box against the St. Louis right-hander. "I think with everything going on, it didn't give me any time to be really nervous," said Bowker.

 

He singled in his first at-bat, later homered, and then, on Sunday, slammed another homer. In Bowker's first six at-bats in the big leagues, he has seven RBIs and two homers among his four hits. "Now you probably think it's pretty easy," Aaron Rowand joked to him.

 

Bowker has been besieged by e-mails and text messages and phone messages -- "non-stop," he said -- including one from former college teammate Troy Tulowitzki. Within this notebook, there is word that Bowker is working out at first base.

If Bowker isn't starting today, where are we meeting to riot?

Matthew Pouliot breaks down the top prosepects for each team in the NL West. Here's a link to the Giants Prospect page: Rotoworld Giants Prospect Breakdown

#1 is, obviously, Villalona. Money line:"He doesn't take wild swings at breaking balls, and he shows some willingness to take pitches the other way."

A disciplined hitter? In the Giants farm system?

 #2-4 are Sosa, Alderson, Bumgarner, followed by Noonan and Schierholtz.

For some reason Velez is number seven even though he's with the big club. If you take him out Tanner would be #10.

This San Francisco 2008 Giants sesaon is the type of season that weeds out "phony" fans from "real" fans. I use quotation marks to highlight the underlying snobbery of fandom. 2008 San Francisco Giants baseball, will anything be rememebred? "Gamers" may hang around into next season, but it doesn't have any real staying power. So, in an attempt to achieve some rooting interest besides some thing called winning(?), I present the following from Buster Olney:

Some numbers to keep in mind as we watched the punchless Giants this season: The fewest runs scored by any NL team in a 162-game season stands at 464, by the Houston Colt .45s in 1963.

Grant, with your all-encompassing wisdom and undeniable pun-ablities can you incoporate a running tally of Giants runs scored on the season side by side the 464 of the Colt .45s on the main page?

 Despite the overwheling pessimism unfolding from all corners of the baseball universe about our beloved Giants of 2008, it's almost impossible that they will be feebler(more feeble, for you grammar lovers) than the 1995 St. Louis Cardinals infiled as indicated by Zenbitz in an earlier MCC post:

Here's the bottom 10 (bottom 23 goes down to a 6 way tie with 78)
These are ranked by sOBS+, which is the OPS+ relative to other infields of that year/league. By comparsion the 2007 Giants clocked in at 81, the 1985 Giants at 80, and the 1981 Cubs at 83.

1995 STL 66
1982 OAK 71
2003 DET 71
1999 ANA 74
1977 OAK 75
2002 DET 75 (two years in a row this low)
1972 TEX 76
1979 SDP 76
1981 TOR 76
1989 ATL 76

Much thanks to Chris Jaffe at Hardball times who mentioned the 1981 Cubs in this article [from Hardball Times: Worst. Infield. Ever. ]

And looked these up in his database for me.

I think 66 is probably out of reach, even for this putrid squad. Low 70s seems quite doable if Ray-Ray continues where he left off in 07, and Velez/Frandsen/Ortmeier all flop. 

2008 Giants Baseball, how bad could it be?

It's from Rotoworld and it's only about Bengie Molina batting cleanup, but it somehow captures the agony Giants fans will endure every half inning when it's the Giant's turn to bat.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he likes the idea of Bengie Molina replacing Barry Bonds in the cleanup spot this year.

Even as pathetic as the bottom half of the Giants lineup is going to be, Molina might actually score more than 45 runs for the first time since 2000 if he spends all year hitting fourth. Molina likely will drive in a fair number of runs again. Still, hitting fourth for the Giants isn't going to be any better than hitting sixth for an average team. We feel bad for the No. 5 hitter, whether it's Aaron Rowand or a lesser player like Rich Aurilia. Molina had a disgusting .298 OBP last season and is one of the five slowest position players in baseball.

Find the swagger Bengie, I'm begging you to find the swagger!

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