So the Giants went to extra-innings against the A's, again, and in the bottom-of-the-tenth, the Giants...uh...made some plays. The Athletics also made some plays. A ball was thrown. There was much rejoicing, unless the game ended in a tie.
Stupid TiVo. Yes, you can set the options to allow for longer games or extra innings. I forgot. If I have my science fiction correct, the computer hardware inside the TiVo box should have evolved into a sentient being by now, and should have known the game was going into extra-innings. It can become evil and make us all question the uneasy relationship between man and machine later, but knowing when the game ends is a simple enough start.
Before the magic box conked out:
- It is apparent why the Giants didn't want to lose Scott Munter in the Rule 5 draft, and put him on the 40-man roster. That is a filthy, naughty, bad, dirty sinker. Into the confession booth, all of you, just for leering at it. Well, the sinker was that nasty only about 10% of the time. He was leaving some fat pitches up in the strike zone last night, but every so often he would sling a Kevin Brown/Brandon Webb sinker with some serious fuzz on it.
He likely isn't ready for the majors, but you can see why the Giants were scared another team was going to try and hide him in the back of the bullpen for a season. If he starts pitching with better command, the low strikeout rate shouldn't be a reason to ignore him.
- Lance Niekro started his professional career hitting .362 in Salem-Keizer, and that was the definite high point in his career. His problems since then have been threefold: lack of patience, lack of power, and trouble staying healthy. Niekro seems like the type who will never have great walk numbers, mostly because he makes too much contact. His health is a concern, but that isn't something we can comfortably predict at this point.
Ah, but his power. We can dream about his power, can't we? Niekro seems like he's the product of Tony Torcato, Pedro Feliz, a little too much wine, and a medical miracle. Niekro set highs in every power category last season, though Baseball Prospectus' eyeglass through the fabric of time, PECOTA, doesn't see much in his immediate future. Right now, he has a good chance to be a guy who hits for a decent, but competely empty, batting average. If the power spike is for real, he'll eventually make Feliz redundant.
Oh, and to tie this into the game like planned, his homer last night was encouraging.