It was a day with much beauty. It was a day with much sadness. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. There was good, bad, and ugly in the world of the Giants yesterday, so it would make sense to do one o' them good, bad, and ugly formats. Those posts end with the ugly, though, and that wouldn't be appropriate for a day that was mostly positive.
Is it worth it? Let me work it:
The Ugliest
The sixth inning. Blown call, walk, bloop, walk, sac fly, walk, sac fly, HBP, walk, HBP, HBP. The ugliest inning I've ever witnessed, and I'm sure most of you could say the same. It was like the SNL bit with Eddie Murphy in whiteface at the bank: "Go on, Houston, just take the runs. Give them back...or don't. We don't care."
As Zito was struggling through the bases loaded carousel, Bochy did the only imaginable thing he could: He warmed up the reliever with the worst control in the stadium, just in case the bases remained loaded. This isn't revisionist history, as I was screaming at the television the second Sadler's name was uttered. There are relievers to bring in with the bases loaded, and there are relievers to bring in with the bases empty. Sadler, until further notice, should be chained to the latter category.
The Ugly
Randy Johnson. Yes, the sixth inning of last night's game was uglier than Randy Johnson. *shudder*
The Good
Let's just skip right on over to the good. Buster Posey signed. Roger Kieschnick signed. Brandon Crawford signed. In one swell foop, the Giants secured the three remaining top-round holdouts, and gave the organization a total of four players who were expected to be first-rounders before the start of the college season. Kieschnick and Crawford played themselves out of first-round consideration, which was very much to the Giants' benefit.
And even with Madison Bumgarner's K/BB ratio of 12,380/2, I still think Posey is the best prospect in the system. I didn't want to wait until next year's draft for a compensation pick, hoping that the Giants would make another smart pick.
The Downright Super
I didn't have a problem with Jose Castillo finishing up the season with the Giants. Ryan Rohlinger's AA-ball performance wasn't exactly forcing the Giants' hand, so if the Giants wanted to just play out the string, it would have been understandable.
What absolutely terrified me, though, was the idea that Castillo would show up next season -- that, because he was around the same age as Fred Lewis, Castillo was somehow a part of the "let's see if they can play"-youth movement. Yick. Next year's third baseman probably isn't going to be very good either, but it'll be the devil we don't know instead of the hacker we do. I'll take that.
One step back, about thirty steps forward. 'Tis the morning to wear this optimism like a cheap cologne, folks, because there's a chance the team will be swept by the Astros today. Nuts to the short term, though. Yesterday was a good day.