For fans of the AA-and-below set... news of the latest round of cuts.

For longtime readers of Steve S's Minor Lines reports on here, you've got some familiar names.   The Giants have finally given up on Marcus Sanders' shoulder.  Will Thompson and Joey Dyche depart, too, after having tough seasons.

http://sfgiants.scout.com/2/740004.html

http://www.sjgiants.com/ArDisplay.aspx?ID=1146&SecID=27

No surprises, but I'll admit I'm sad for Sanders.  If memory serves, I  got to see him leg out his only triple in San Jose, and dang, he's fast.  Too bad no one employs an all-speed DH.

San Jose beat Lake Elsinore 7-1 to clinch the California League championship, as mentioned earlier.  Congratulations to the Little Giants, who did it without Fred Lewis (injured) but got back Travis Denker (yay).

It's great to see how much this means to the players.  Guys went hog wild after Sergio Romo struck out Sean Kazmar, swinging, to end it. Equipment flew everywhere -- gloves and caps all over the field, caps and batting gloves flying into the stands.  Pablo Sandoval was jumping up and down like a little kid, hamming it up with the fans.  No wonder he's my kids' favorite.

Giants held Lake Elsinore to TWO hits -- one a leadoff homer, the other a single that was erased with a double play.  No walks.  No baserunners after the 3rd inning.

Adam Cowart threw 3 innings in relief and ... oh my god, now that I've actually seen him, he really does look like he's gonna hurt himself throwing like that.

Throughout these last three games, Lake Elsinore players complained about the called strikes.  I was never sitting in a good spot to judge... maybe they had a point, maybe not.  The Giants did rack up the Ks, though -- 11 in this game, 3 of them on a called strike three.

I saw four playoff games this year, during which the opposition scored two runs combined.  Giants pitching just smothered these guys.

And Travis Ishikawa, who looked awful throughout, got a nice, solid home run for his last AB of the season.  C'mon, Giants, let's give him a crack at Fresno ... I know his stats weren't there this year, but maybe the desert environs would do him good.

Series MVP: Mark Minicozzi, hitting .424 with a homer tonight.  I thought Travis Denker would have been a valid pick too, although not playing probably hurts one's MVP chances.  Note also a stunning three-run homer by Brian Bocock, the Adam Everett of the organization, which really put the game out of reach.

Congrats, Giants.  And thanks for a fun season.

Barry Bonds' record-setting home run ball has auctioned off for $752,467.

The online bidding had a quirky rule I wasn't aware of.  Sotheby's continues the bidding well after the "deadline," until 30 minutes go by without another bid.  At deadline, the price was just $300K, but the real heavy hitters apparently waited and chimed in later, exploiting the 30-minute rule.

It makes you think about the memorabilia business in general.  Maybe not home run balls, necessarily, but the littler stuff -- autographs, baseball cards.  What's supposed to be a kids' pastime has been infected with big money, as we all know.  Maybe I'm just old and nostalgic, but I think that's a shame.  Once something becomes all about the money, it's changed forever.

Of course, we all knew that, and it's hardly anything new.  Just seems worthwhile to reflect on how the game used to be fun in a different, more innocent way.

Well, he doesn't actually say "dude," but his is so much the SoCal boy. Here's a link to Travis Denker's interview during the SJ Giants pre-game webcast Sunday night, conducted by Joe Ritzo.  

I happened to record it, and figured Denker was interesting enough to share.

It's 7 mins. 33 seconds long.  Denker starts off talking about the Game One homer against Visailia.  Around the 3-minute mark, he tells describes how he received the news about getting traded.  (Background: Denker lives in Brea, in Orange County, and had to commute to San Bernardino, way east of L.A.: 45 minutes of freeway traffic and strip malls.)

Will I get to see Denker here in San Jose next year?  Tempting to think he'll be promoted, but we're talking small sample size and a level that he's repeating ... maybe Minicozzi deserves another shot at AA first (starting over Wald, Webb, or McMains) while Denker works on defense yet again under Lenn Sakata.  

Anyway, Denker's future got discussed, with Brian Bocock as a reference point, here.  I'm afraid Anticon23 makes a lot of sense when he says Denker is destined for LF ... and 15-20 HR from a left fielder just isn't that special.  But like I've said before, it's hard not to root for Denker.

There's an apocryphal report over at the CSTV site that says Andrew Bailey has been promoted to AAA and will start for the Sacramento Rivercats tonight (Monday).

Continue reading this post »

... Would you be so excited about Hank Aaron's record falling?  Or would you be crying out for an asterisk in the books?

... Would you feel the same way about steroids as you do now?  Or would they be a vestige of those cheating L.A. ways?

... Would you be so upset about the media's coverage of Balco?  Or would you be standing on the rooftops joyously shouting First Amendment proclamations?

I know, I know, you're all going to answer, "Yes, I'd feel exactly the same way I do now."  But think about it.

There are plenty of reasons to like Bonds. (Full disclosure: I don't, but that predates the steroids scandal.)  There's certainly reason even for non-Giants fans to be excited about his accomplishments.

But with the support comes a lot of rationalization:  Barry must be in the right, therefore the media must be on an unfair crusade against him, and steroids must be so overblown as an issue, and fans around the country must be getting tired of Bonds being so crucified.  It's just not that black and white, though.

I'm not trying to call you all out here.  I'm just curious.  Consider this a friendly challenge over a virtual beer, and please be honest.  If Barry had spent his career in Dodger blue, would your conclusions be any different?

Avid scorekeepers (and you KNOW you're out there): Any recommendations on where to pick up a good scorebook?  

The nearby Big 5 has started carrying a different scorebook format that's very softball-minded: room for only 4 pitchers, for example (so it'd be good for about 1/3 of a Cardinals game).

A quick Web scan turned up some options -- I like the approach of the guy at ilovetoscore.com (and won't it be special when my wife finds that URL in the history file), but the book costs $19 including shipping for just 40 games.  Hm.

Any other recommendations?

With apologies to those who disagree...

I hate interleague play.

I hate what it does to the schedule.   The Yankees come to Oakland only once all year?? Come on!

I hate the "rivalries" it forces.  Sure, it's fun for NY and Chicago, but Colorado vs. Kansas City isn't setting anyone's hair on fire.

I hate the non-sequitur matchups that have to happen after the "natural rivalries" are done.  Gee, look, the Giants play the Blue Jays and Red Sox in June.  Hold me back.

I hate that it's that much less special to see the World Series matchup.  I used to enjoy seeing two teams that hadn't faced each other during the season.

(While i'm at it: I hate that the All-Star game counts for something.  I don't ever want to see an intentional walk during the All-Star game.  Thanks for making that possible, Mr. Selig.)

If you must have interleague play, then hold it only every third or fourth year.  Make it last for just two weekends -- each team plays the same opponent, once at home, once away -- and stick to the geographic rivalries; drop the idea of everybody playing everybody.

This would keep interleague play novel -- important because, IMHO, the novelty is a critical element to interleague play's popularity.  By allowing the idea to eat up so much of the schedule, MLB is killing that novelty and harming the rivalries that should be fostered. A's-Yankees comes to mind.

That would appease me, although it still wouldn't convince me.  I hate interleague play.

"Open Link" because all I've got are two dumb things not worth their own diaries.  Well, one, maybe.

Mark Sweeney is coming off the DL soon, which means crunch time:  Do you DFA Sweeney or Niekro?  (Or go with some insane proposal like dumping Vizquel, putting Aurilia at SS, building a death ray to conquer the world, etc etc.)

(Oh yeah, and the link has something else about Bonds wanting to get 3,000 hits.  He might be joking, who knows.)

In lesser news, Yamid Haad has a job again.  (Scroll down.  It's not exactly headline news.)

From the Sun-Sentinal this a.m. comes speculation that the Marlins
may still want Benitez back.  It's a topic we'd all discussed back in January.

It's all speculation, mind you, fueled by the presence of two Marlins scouts at Benitez's last appearance.

If the Marlins are still willing to send Yusemeiro Petit over here for Benitez, and eat some of his salary ... can you say hook, line, and sinker?  That's a no-brainer positive win-win glass-half-full and any other cliches you want to throw in there.

BruteSentiment had noted reservations about Petit's role, given the Giants have pretty much filled up the rotation, if you include a place-saver for Lincecum (and that's before Russ Ortiz showed up).  So be it; Petit could be trade bait, then, or maybe Ortiz could be, if he turns in a good first half.

Maybe I'm just blinded by my raging need to see Benitez go away, but the chance to unload him and get anything back seems too good to pass up.  I don't know if a better offer than this will come around.  One hopes Brian Sabean is doing everything he can to keep the Marlins, uh, on the hook.  Did I really just use the same awful pun twice?