Sunday, August 31, 2014

Your 2014 GIants: September Call-Ups

The Giants announced their call-ups (at least initial) today.  Congrats to:

  • Juan Perez, OF, who has been yo-yo-ing all season long.  He'll get a fair number of late game substitution with Morse going out for defensive purposes.
  • Chris Dominguez, 3B and 1B, his first time in the majors as he was not on the 40-man roster previously.  Ehire Adrianza was moved to the 60-day DL to make space on the 40-man.
  • Guillermo Quiroz, C, got the call-up today, mainly, I think, because the Giants want to have three catchers available and Hector Sanchez is out for the season (and his future is uncertain too).  He probably would not have gotten the call if not for that, but at least he adds to his MLB pension with service days added.  Hanchez got moved to the 60-day DL to allow Quiroz onto the 40-man.
  • Mike Kickham, LHP, was no surprise, he provides starting depth on roster and becomes the long relief pitcher on the team with Petit in the rotation and Lincecum focused on figuring out his kinks (not so good today, so more work to go).  If Petit should end up back at long relief, Kickham might see some regular middle relief work, and might get an appearance anyway, here and there, to stay sharp.
  • Hunter Strickland, RHP, was the biggest addition for me because the Giants had previously noted that he could be a future closer.  It will be exciting to see how quickly Bochy gives him a chance to throw some leveraged outs, how much leeway he gives our possible future closer, important given that Romo will be a free agent after the season.  This could be Strickland's audition to get a role in next season's bullpen, which I frankly expect him to be in contention for in spring training, he hardly walked anyone this season (0.8 BB/9) and struck out a large amount (12.8 K/9) both of which bode well for success in the majors for him.  

Congrats and good luck to all the call-ups, hopefully they will be part of an exciting run to the playoffs.

Go Giants!


Your 2014 Giants: 27th and 28th Rotation Turn

The Giants 27th Rotation PQS analysis, and since it's late, 28th together.

Friday, August 29, 2014

2014 AFL Giants Roster

The Giants announced the players from their farm system who will be playing in the AFL:

  • Matt Duffy, SS/2B
  • Steven Okert, LHP
  • Hunter Strickland, RHP
  • Clayton Blackburn, RHP
  • Blake Miller, MI
  • Daniel Carbonell, CF
  • Erik Cordier, RHP

ogc thoughts

I think that Giants Potential has a great post on this:  https://sfgiantpotential.squarespace.com/home/2014/8/27/giants-select-seven-for-arizona-fall-league-roster

I left a comment there about Strickland and his future role.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Your 2014 Giants: Beating the Better Teams

One thing I've been seeing in the media lately is "the Giants got to start beating the winning teams."  Thought I would look into that.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Off Topic: Robin Williams RIP

I had to write this.  And, it touches the Giants tangentially since he was a Giants fan and showed up at games and in the clubhouse.

I loved his humor and his performances.  Rest In Peace.  At least he's reunited with Jonathan Winters and going crazy with his partner in comedy joking around in the afterlife.  Condolences to his family, friends, and his many, many, many fans.

Thursday, August 07, 2014

Truisms: Is the Eastern League A Pitcher's League?

One of the truisms I've come across in following the Giants is that the Eastern League is a pitcher's league.   The reasoning I've seen before is that with the California League a hitter's league and the PCL another hitter's league, seeing how poorly our hitters do in the EL makes that league a pitcher's league.  Given some discussions I have had in the ether, I thought I would examine that truism.

Wednesday, August 06, 2014

2014 Giants: July PQS

This post has the Giants Pure Quality Start scores for the month of July 2014, PQS as defined in Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster annual book and they published the details here (unfortunately, they removed the article; this link gets you at least to the PQS definition, read down to middle for details). I wrote on this first in 2006 and have compiled their stats on a regular basis, so I'm continuing it this season for continuity and historical comparison (there is the "PQS" label that you can click to see the old posts on this). Regular readers can skip to the next section.

This is the Quality Start with a sabermetric DIPS twist, and it gets really easy to calculate once you get used to it. I don't think it's the end all or be all, but then nothing really is that. It is, as I like to say, another piece of the puzzle. A dominating start is scored a 4 or 5 and a disaster start is scored a 0 or 1. DOM% is the percentage of starts that are dominating, DIS% is the percentage of starts that are disasters (any start under 5.0 IP is automatically a 0, or disaster).

Tuesday, August 05, 2014

One Last Time in Candlestick

San Francisco's Park and Rec opened up Candlestick one last time for fans on Sunday, August 3rd.  A tour of the locker rooms used by the Giants and 49ers was offered, and there were a variety of carnival-type rides available as well, and food trucks galore.  In addition, the field was open for autographs with some minor Giants and 49er celebrities (Bill Laskey, not sure 49ers, Dennis Brown?, though I did see Dave Dravecky getting interviewed, wish I could see that video), as well as the 49er's Gold Rush girls.  Lou Seal was there and so was the 49er Miner.  No Crazy Crab for one last performance, unfortunately.  People could try to kick a field goal, and there was a section of seats, which can be bought with autographs from Giants and 49er greats, up front where people could get selfies of themselves in seats one last time.

ogc thoughts

My wife was very thoughtful to get tickets for the family.  But teenagers being what they are, they grumbled until they got out of it, so it was my wife and I on a date to see Candlestick one last time.

Memories of The Stick

Since it it is being torn down, we thought it would be nice to see the place one last time before it's gone forever.  When we entered, they gave away pins that said "The Stick".  That evokes word association with another SF landmark, "The Rock," perhaps that was intentional since Alcatraz, or "The Rock", was a federal prison on an island.  I was happy as they will now go with my Croix de Candlesticks I have on my hat.  Then we got the "selfie" (well, there were a lot of kind volunteers taking pictures for people, but some took selfies) and went in.  Here are some of my Candlestick memories.

First Time at the Stick

I don't recall my first game there or any details, other than it was against Pittsburgh, a coincidence with the future, as we'll see.  Must not have had any exciting action or conclusion, I'm sure I would have remembered if any of the players I liked in the period did anything memorable.  My Dad took me there and I thought it would be the first of many, as I already loved baseball, but fate had other plans, as he passed away before my 16th birthday.

First and only football game at the Stick

This one was memorable for a number of reasons.  My uncle is a huge 49ers fan, he and his group of friends had shared tickets for probably 50-60 years before age caught up with them.  He happened to have an extra ticket and asked me to go with him.  As you'll see, it is easy for me to find the date, even though I don't remember the date:  it was 1984, the Niners were charging hard to win the Super Bowl again (which they did, Go Niners!), and it was against Pittsburgh.

But that is not why it was easy to find:  it was the only loss the Niners had in the season, they went 15-1 before winning each playoff game and then winning the Super Bowl.  I took that as an omen, being a superstitious sports fan, and never tried to make another football game, and perhaps my uncle might have thought the same, as he never asked me to another game.

My First Date at the Stick

I had met this girl at a picnic - our mutual friends arranged for each of us to be the third wheel - and when I finally got her number from my friend (long story), I asked her to go to a Giants game (I regularly got quarter season tickets) as our first date, which I realize now, I had no idea whether she was interested in sports or not.  Because it was clear during the game that she was kind of lost and I had to explain things to her.

The game was kind of a bummer too, with the Dodgers whumping us, scoring 7 runs in the first three innings, and soon it was the bottom of the ninth, and we were down 7-3.  And just like that, the Giants went on an offensive outburst, each hitter got on base, getting some sort of hit, and before you knew it, exciting finish to the game, the Giants won 8-7, not even one out recorded.  When the screaming started, she was wondering what was happening and I told her that we won the game!

As I was looking at her in the excitement, I thought about what it would be like to be with her forever.  And ultimately, I didn't need to wonder, we continued dating, got married, and we have two wonderful kids!  Still F-ing happy after all these years...

My First World Series Game at the Stick

After all those years of futility, my Giants finally made the World Series, and I made sure to get tickets.  I also went out and bought a handheld portable TV so that I could watch the game (and replays) while sitting in the stands.  I decided to ask my brother, even though he has never been a sports fan, and honestly, I didn't expect him to accept, but he surprised me (as he often does) and chose to go.  He reasoned, rightly, what are the odds of another Bay Area World Series game, so he had to go, but little did he know how rare it would be.

Yes, we went to the Earthquake game.   I drove us to my special park spot - long walk to the park, but it was the first ones just before the gate, as I figured out soon after buying quarter season tickets, that it don't matter how much walking you do before the game, but it did matter where you parked when you tried to leave when 50,000 of your closest friends wanted to leave too.  If you park close to the park, basically, you have to wait out for every aisle to let cars in, making your exit about as slow as can be.  But if you park close to the gate, with your car pointed at the gate, backed into the spot, you can drive straight out of the park, with very little waiting for other cars to take their turn in front of you, as I could find a small opening and dart in and then quickly out the gate, and on my way back home.   However, today, it didn't matter, ultimately.

We got to our seats, upper deck (I normally had lower reserve seats, straight walk from car, down center lane, into gate, straight up escalator, through the doors, and then I sit down, very efficient), right side of this huge windowed area, I'm guessing that is where the media sat.  I set up my portable handheld radio, got myself comfy, and we waited for the game to start.

Then suddenly, it hit, and the entire stadium shook for what seemed to be a long time.  A few light fixtures overhead broke loose and dangled, but the stadium looked OK.  I stood up like an idiot and gave out a loud war yell, like we had triumphed over the earthquake, because the place was still standing.

Soon, it hit us how severe the earthquake was.  I think we were told to stay where we were.  Players were all hanging out on the field with their families.  Some fans came in and said that the parking lot liquified, as the earthquake hit, a Porsche rolled on a wave of asphalt and rose above the large truck next to it.  Others talked about damage in certain parts of the park.

I used my handheld TV to watch the news and see what was happening.  I saw the freeway collapse in Oakland and my blood froze.   I drove that part of the freeway frequently, headed to SF, and knew that at that time of day, it would be bumper to bumper there; I thought of all the carnage that would be there and my heart sunk.  Heck, if it wasn't for the World Series, I (me, myself, and I) probably would have been on that part of the highway at that time, but I wanted to get there early and get there before the crowds.

I also thought about my family's safety at that point.  We lived on what I thought was landfill and if the earthquake did that to the freeway, what did it to my home, my family?  With no cellphones back then, my brother and I could only wait and worry (he was also worried about his girlfriend, who lived in the area; and I was wondering and worried about the girl I had my first date with not that long ago).

Many people eventually left once we were allowed to leave the stadium.  The news were filled with stories of the death and destruction happening across the Bay Area, particularly the freeway collapse and the fires and damage in the SF Marina, and eventually the damage to the Bay Bridge (oddly enough, I had a dream before that of something similar happening, and I thought then, what a crazy dream, that will never happen...), and so people wanted to get to their loved ones.

My brother and I decided to wait out the traffic.  I don't recall exactly why, besides not wanting to fight the traffic getting out and then home.  Perhaps we figured that whatever had happened, has happened, and our rushing to get home would not change anything.  If we would wait and head home without the added stress of fighting our way back home, we felt that would be better.

It was a kind of eerie ride back home.  It was dark and pretty empty.  We first went to his girlfriend's house and we very happy to see that nothing much happened.  Then we got home and found that despite all my Mom's knickknacks that she had all over the house, not even one of them fell down and broke, there was shaking but no damage.  I called my eventual wife and she also did not have any problems.

I ended up seeing that game with my brother, then the second game with my younger brother.  I had promised game 5 to my Uncle, but the earthquake screwed up the rotation order and the baseball commissioner stupidly allowed the A's to restart their two ace starters and we had no chance, so there was never a game 5, so I didn't get to take my Uncle to the World Series.  I blame he commish for me not being able to do that, I knew the Giants didn't have a great chance of winning the World Series, but I thought that we had some good chance of winning either game 3 or 4, which would force a game 5 and then I could bring my Uncle.   But facing their aces back to back to back to back like that, we got swept.  There would be no Will Clark heroics to save the day.

My First Tour of the Locker Rooms

We got to go through the locker rooms.  We were promised a view of Willie Mays, Will Clark, and another Giant whose name escapes me in the locker room area, but there was no mention nor any name plate for them, so that was disappointing.  Equally disappointing was hardly any Giants related memories in the locker rooms, they could have put up some name plates, pictures or something.  At least there were equal representation out on the field as we exited the locker rooms.

I did get a picture of Kaepernick's name plate, then in the hallway leading out to the field, I got a picture with a plaque commemorating Bill Walsh and naming the field in his honor.

Out on the field, I got a picture of Dave Dravecky getting interviewed.  I understand the lack of celebrity for a free event, but you would have thought the Giants would have at least allow some of their ambassadors out to sign autographs, like JT Snow or Rich Aurilia, somebody from their Wall of Fame at least.

They had a field goal kicking opportunity there, so that was nice.  I probably would have tried that if the singer singing in there wasn't so loud and distracting.  A batting practice area would have been nice too, in one corner.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience but I felt that it could have been more.  Still, I got to go back one more time to a place with a lot of memories for me.  I saw my old seat area that I would straightline from car to seat.  I saw where I sat for the World Series.  Especially, I saw the seat area where I had my first date with my eventual wife.  Despite all the football stuff (which I understand), I could picture in my mind's eye the playing field.  All things in life has it's time and Candlestick's is nearly over, with just a Paul McCartney concert as a final coda (wish I could see that one).  Good bye old friend!

Friday, August 01, 2014

Your 2014 Giants: Say Beane And ...

The Trade deadline went and passed and the Giants chose to do no trade, though they did do a few moves:  after DFAing Colvin (original report was option; he must have asked for his release) and Uggla, the Giants brought up Matt Duffy (SS, but been playing some 2B and 3B, has hit at every level so far, got some speed too) and Jarrett Parker (OF, strikes out way too much;  but so did Goldschmidt when he was called up).

Meanwhile, Beane pulls off mega-deal, acquiring Lester and Gomes for Cespedes, then acquiring Fuld for Milone.

ogc thoughts

Many multitudes of Giants fans are angry at Sabean.  Good for them:  I would estimate that 95% of them were angry at Sabean for the past five or so seasons, and that everything bad that they are saying about him and the Giants are virtually the same they were saying during that time.  They have just never understood.

For those who are angry that Sabean didn't do anything, a little history that some fans seem to forget.  For a long, long time, Sabean didn't do anything with Cain, Lincecum, Sandoval, Bumgarner, Posey, Belt, he kept them.  That's because Sabean so far has been excellent at knowing what he has in hand and who to keep.  So if he didn't make a move, perhaps he's trying to keep the next young stud-to-be.

Out of all the prospects that Giants fans have cried over losing, none have ever broke out to be a star, at least so far.  Liriano has come the closest to being that, but injuries deadened the impact he has had on baseball, and if anything, he wasted too many of Mauer's and Morneau's prime years for the Twins than contributed.  There certainly have been good players traded or release, such as Foulke, Howry, Villanueva, Correia, and now Wheeler threatens to be the best one traded, but none I would call the All-Stars that teams want to build around as part of their core team.  That is exactly what you would like your GM to do:  identify the talent and then keep them.

When You Eat Too Much Beane, You Get A Lot of Hot Air

And despite the fawning that follows Beane after he makes a move, Sabean's record is light years better than what Beane has done.  Sure, Beane has been handicapped by his smaller budget.  But he has made a fair number of substantial mistakes that makes anything Sabean has done pale in comparison.

Let's start off with the first thing that any GM of limited means should follow:  Thou Shalt Not Trade Away Good Prospects.   And not only that, but make sure the trade makes sense in terms of net present value, where you get a lot in the present while deferring the future benefits, it's a balance.  Beane has failed in two significant instances:  Ethier and CarGon.

In Ethier's case, it was pretty egregious:  while the acquired player did do well for the A's (Milton Bradley), Ethier, in that exact same season that the A's acquired Bradley to help push to the playoffs, produced more WAR than Bradley did.  So it did not take years to determine how bad the deal was, it was pretty much evident that first season and it ended up with Ethier producing more, meaning that Beane would have been infinitely better off keeping Ethier, getting more production, having another 5 years of cost-efficient control of a young player, and a great trade asset at some point in that 5 years.

In CarGon's case, it was not as clear immediately, but it busted just as badly within one season:  while Bradley at least produced, Holliday was horrible for the A's, creating a trade chain that just spiraled in a death spiral before smashing into the ground and nothingness.  Meanwhile, CarGon had a breakout in the second half of the season and soon proved to be worthy of a giant extension, PLUS, the A's had also traded Street, who has continued to be a very reliable closer for years, as well as other players who provided some value.   Basically, in this trade, Beane threw out a good player, a good closer, and some other players with trade value, and got essentially nothing in return.

Or how about this:  signing the wrong player to a large long-term contract while getting draft picks for free agents.  Beane had the chance to sign or trade Chavez, Giambi, and Tejada at the end of his first reign of competitiveness.   It was Chavez who he signed to a long-term deal, and his injuries basically made that contract a huge long-term waste.

Meanwhile, he let Giambi and Tejada go for draft picks.  As my draft research showed, draft picks become good players at very low success rates for the types of picks awarded for players even as good as Giambi and Tejada.  In addition, such picks typically take years to develop and be useful.

Here, at least Beane learned his lesson, which is that if you are going to burn down the house at some point in the near future, trade away valuable assets beforehand in order to get top rated prospects in return.  They are more likely to become something good in the near-term than any draft pick, if you trade right.

And that is where Billy has been good at, trading for good players, though part of me wonders if that is a matter of if you make enough trades, and throw enough Jell-O on the wall, you will get something that sticks.  He succeeded with the Mulder trade, but got spanked by the Hudson trade, not one player of any substance from that trade.  But his recent success in rebuilding shows that he is a good GM:  just not as saintly as sabers seem to think he is.

Let's Say We Have GM A's and GM B....

Some have accused me of being a Sabean apologist because of my support over the years.  If that means appreciating his good points being ignored by the vast majority of Giants fans while understanding the difficulties of being a GM regarding his bad points, sure, that's me.  But it seems to me that the Saber blogosphere is a Beane apologist.

Look at all the fawning posts that have come out over the years regarding Beane's moves.  I've yet to read one negative post, no one dares to point out the Emperor's new clothes, ever.

Let's take a look at the recent moves for an example.  Writers were falling over each other to talk about how brilliant Beane was in trading first for the Shark (sorry, can't spell the guy's name even with a gun to my head) and Hammel.   Now they are doing likewise with Lester.  And even the trade for Fuld has its adherents, playing up how he now has a surplus of starters and trade from strength.

If Sabean had made those moves, here is what I think would have been written instead.

If he had traded our top prospect (and we are talking Posey, Bumgarner, and Belt level prospect, not Crick or Escobar) for an upcoming free agent who we may or may not be able to sign long-term and another pitcher who could be having a career year, but otherwise has been a journeyman pitcher, instead of being lauded for being proactive, as Beane was, in upgrading our rotation in light of the fact that some of the current starters might not be able to pitch effectively late in the season due to their lack of experience, Sabean would have been hung and burned in effigy for trading away our future, blamed for not accounting for these potential lack of performance late in the season, and excoriated for various bad past deeds, depending on the complainer.

Then, if he traded away our young star who is the face of the team (but not long for the team potentially because of pending free agency) for a great starter who has already said that he wants to return to his old team so it's OK to trade him and get something now, so the odds are low on an extension, and an OK replacement who is really a platoon player, Sabean would be pillored for selling off the one face that the fans recognize and have a major crush on, screwing up on the Hammel trade, which forced the team to strongly consider upgrading to Lester, and for not dealing with this in the off-season, when they clearly had a need to upgrade the rotation in this fashion, with all the injured starters and back rotation guys like Milone.

Or even trading for Fuld.  That was greeted with validating statements about trading from strength, because he now has so much pitching.  But Sabean would be challenged for waiting until now to fix a problem area, that he should have planned ahead in the off-season and taken care of it.  In addition, he would be questioned for overstocking on pitchers, and again, why didn't he take care of this during the off-season.

State of the Giants Nation

Some are upset about Sabean's statements, as well as inaction.  Well, it is what it is, as Sabean might say.

Do you want Sabean to sell off the future, accepting lesser present value to prop up this season, only to find that once Belt and Pagan returns, the Giants take no prisoners and sprints to the division title, making the trades moot and wasteful?  That is a very possible consequence of the action demanded by some fans, as Pagan's return last September showed.  And Belt has been a good hitter and any lineup is improved with him returning.  So you do what Sabean did, have substantial talks, and when the demands were too much, have the strength and courage to walk away from the table instead of taking a deal that you don't think is of good value to the team.  

Some have complained that the 2B situation should have been dealt with in the off-season, since Scutaro was looking so bad already.   As we saw in the first two plus months of the season, the team won pretty well even with spotty contributions from 2B.  Hicks did nicely the first month or so, but 2B has been a black hole offensively since then, except when Adrianza was healthy and playing in June and July, where he hit pretty nicely and Panik has hit well in spots, while keeping up peripherals that suggest that once he gets accustomed to MLB pitching, he'll be a nice hitter in the vein of Scutaro:  low K's, high BB/K, which usually leads to good BA and OBP.   They went 19-9 in May with Hicks hitting .549 OPS at 2B, so it wasn't 2B that was our problem over the last two months or so.

Plus, we know the Giants like to keep one spot quasi-open when prospects are nearing the big show.  They did it for Frandsen, Sandoval, Bumgarner, Bowker, Schierholtz, Niekro, among others, employing a journeyman vet to do the job instead of signing a significantly better player.   I view 2B as that open spot for 2014.   If Scutaro was healthy great, but if not, that gives Arias and Adrianza an opportunity to show off what they can do with regular starts, plus that would open up a spot to look at other prospects.  Hicks won the first tryout, Panik got the second, and now, with his surprise promotion, Matt Duffy is getting his tires kicked.  Plus Arias and Adrianza has gotten a number of chances, and if Adrianza didn't suffer his two hamstring pulls and get placed on the 15-day DL, he might have won the job, since June 1st, he has hit .327/.389/.408/.797, with 9 K's and 4 walks in 49 AB for a 82% contact rate (OK) and 0.44 BB/K ratio which is not bad either, and close to getting good (same for contact rate).

Sabean got the most pressing need, in my opinion, which was a replacement for Cain.  As Sabean noted, the Giants didn't know when they might be able to count on him for a while now.  Especially with his arm getting that shot and yet it has not improved since then.  Cain said that he's been battling the chips for ten years now, and he's been able to get through the pain until now.  This is perhaps the elbow soreness that kept him out of action in his first pro season.

Cain has gotten three opinions, including that of famous Dr. Andrews of Tommy John fame, and he said his ulnar is fine (which is probably the best news), but still all agreed that he should get an operation to remove the bone chips  They should be operating on his arm soon then he should be able to follow his normal off-season routine, according to reports, with a 3 month rehab.   Cain should be ready and healthy when spring training comes.

Meanwhile, Peavy has actually been pretty good the past few seasons, just a bit unlucky.  He had DOM% of 75% in 2012 and 74% in 2013, which were elite, only his results didn't show that.  He is down to 50% DOM this season, but has been incredibly unlucky with homers so far, so he should regress back towards the 70's pitching in AT&T.  I'm sad that Cain is out and all, but I'm really excited to get him in our rotation.  Assuming Cain's surgery and recovery goes well, and generally they do more times than not, and we sign up Peavy instead of Vogelsong, we could have a rotation of Bumgarner, Cain, Hudson, Peavy, Lincecum.   And I just finished a video of a Morse interview where he talked about Peavy's leadership and "mind-blowing" what he brings to the team in terms of positivity and character, and Bochy talked about how he's the pitching version of Pence, "Full Throttle" as a starting pitcher.

Deadline is not Deadline, It's Not Right Now-line

And there have been plenty of deals made in August by Sabean to pick up the necessary pieces.  Once we get deeper into mid-August, it should be pretty clear whether Pagan or Belt are returning to the team or not.  There will be players placed on the waiver wire and the Giants will undoubtedly pick them up (and the Dodgers can't block any right now).   

Whether it is now or later, as I noted, it really depends on when Pagan and Belt returns and if they can get back to their career norms.  If both are still on the DL, I don't think that there's anyone we could get who would help us overcome that, I didn't see that many good names out there for hitters, it was mostly pitchers.

In any case, I'm excited to see what Susac, Panik, Duffy, and Parker can do for the team.  I don't expect a lot out of them, but sometimes you do catch lightening in a bottle, like Herndon or Gladden long ago.   I like what I've seen of Susac and Panik so far, it gives me good feelings about their future in the majors, but we are a long way from that.  For now, let's enjoy them for what they are, young prospects trying to live the major league life for the first time, and hopefully somebody gets hot and give the team a jolt.

And at some time, they will have to go back into the box, and return to the minors.  Right now, Parker seems to be the guy gone once Belt returns, Susac once Sanchez returns, and either Panik or Duffy once Pagan returns.

And while the starting pitching has had a bad week, it has mostly been great for most of the season, and so I expect it to continue to do so for the rest of the season, especially with Peavy now the 5th starter and not Petit.  And the bullpen has been great again, after a few hiccups in June and July, they look pretty good.

Now it's time to make up 3.5 games, Go Giants!

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