There's going to be that scene in the disaster movie where people are somewhere remote, dining on frozen tubes of toothpaste, using a couple of Elle magazines for blankets, and trying to start a fire using wet matches and hair spray. After the last match sputters out, if the cliché holds true, someone is going to start laughing hysterically. Another person will angrily say, "Hey, what's so funny?", and then another person will start laughing. Soon, all of the wretched survivors will start to giggle uncontrollably, even the person who was initially angry. This setup is one of the first things they teach you in both Cub Scouts and Navy SEAL training.
In a year of organ-twisting losses, Sunday's was the funniest. The freshly-anointed closer-to-stay blew a three run lead in the bottom of the ninth, after receiving the lead courtesy of a dramatic three-run homer by a rookie. A winning road trip for this team, at this time, would have set off all sorts of cataclysmic events. Land becoming sea, a blood-red moon of omen; it was probably for the best that Tyler Walker coughed it up when he did. The Giants passed the Tigers on the escalator down to terrible, which says a whole bunch more about the Giants than it does the Tigers. And if you weren't laughing, you were just setting yourself up for a trip to the emergency room.
Quick notes:
- The Giants started an all rookie outfield on Sunday, which has to have been the first time that happened since 1996. The Giants system has long been chastised for failing to develop any position players, so the playing time given to Lance Niekro, Todd Linden, and Jason Ellison is a bit of a departure from what were expecting from the Giants. Are these young players better than they were given credit for, or are the Giants in trouble if they have to count on them for more than utility roles? My answer: yes.
- Comment starter: I'm going to try and work up an article on what should be considered the foundation of the team for the rebuildtending project of the present and future, trying to figure out what areas are going to definitely have to come from outside the organization. Your thoughts, if you would.