With no games over the weekend, there are only a couple of things to consider for discussion topics:
- How the lack of Giants games forced me out of the sports book and into the casinos. Ask me how that went.
- How the lack of Giants games to bet on forced me to put money on the Devil Rays. Ask me how that went.
- Russ Ortiz looking like an actual pitcher.
For the first part, it wasn't a bloodbath; the losses stayed in double digits. I bring it up only because there's a slight Giants reference to go with it. Roulette is a stupid game for stupid people. There's zero skill involved, and the odds are obviously in favor of the house. Only morons play roulette. So, I'm playing roulette, and I continue my tradition of always putting at least one chip on "22." I do that half because it's Will Clark's number, and half because it's what Bogie tells the kid to play in Casablanca. Will Clark failed me this weekend. I'd like to think it was he was using his powers to help someone needier than myself, but he was probably just enjoying a particularly delicious beer and was far to busy to astrally project his powers to help my night of gambling. I can live with that.
Or maybe I should stop relying on a Casablanca reference now that one of the screenwriter's grandkids is GM of the Red Sox. Whatever. Roulette is for morons.
There's an explanation for the second one, too. Sidney Ponson was pitching for the Twins, and the Devil Rays were still heavy underdogs. He did okay, though, and the Twins won. Maybe Ponson was doctoring the ball with some sort of foreign substance. I'd guess "gravy", but that would just be rude. I'm so above that kind of joke.
So, number three. Ortiz is becoming a great story on a couple of different levels. I've always thought of him as a good Giant, so it would be great to see him succeed as a Giant. He also has a chance to make the dogmatic statheads -- the 5% of statheads who really can't get their nose out of books to watch a game -- look like tools. I'm most fervently pro-Ortiz, however, with regard to his trade value if he continues to pitch well. With Tim Lincecum behind Ortiz, it isn't as if the Giants would need to be in last place to consider trading, either.
If the Giants are in it and Lincecum continues to dominate, it would be ridiculous to not consider trading Ortiz for offensive help. And if Ortiz really is pitching well, say an ERA under 4.40, he could have the most trade value of any player the Giants would be willing to trade. It's probably a little early to start thinking about it, but there are reasons to pull for an Ortiz renaissance other than the obvious on-field reasons.
Comment starter: Ortiz or gambling. It was kind of the same topic in February, but diverging with each start.