Is Ishikawa The One?

The Giants recently said that they might keep an additional position player instead of a 12th pitcher because the starters have been good about pitching long. It just struck me: could they keep up Ishikawa and return Hennessey to start in the minors when Niekro return from the DL on Tuesday.

Obviously they like him enough to call him up twice now. Plus today he gets the start when Sweeney could have started, or even (sigh) Vizcaino, since the starter is a tough lefty. Given Bonds need for rest and Alou out on DL, Sweeney has been getting those starts in LF, forcing the Giants to have to play Vizcaino at 1B. It's better to give prospects experience than to play an old retread middle infielder out of position at 1B, but I know I'm preaching to the choir here.

Another reason to keep Ishikawa is, frankly, Niekro's tendencies. One is his tendency for injuries. If Ishikawa is sent down, the Giants must wait 10 days to get him back, if they wanted him. What if Niekro's injury recurs or isn't quite healed fully yet, he also tends to linger in his injuries. Another tendency is he tends to not come back so fast when he gets off the DL. By keeping Ishikawa now, particularly while the bullpen is well rested - who knows if this continues or happens again - the Giants could platoon him and Niekro, easing Niekro back into the flow, giving him more time to heal, while maximizing his ABs by starting him only against LHP, which he murders. By the time they need bullpen help again, hopefully Niekro is back to the way he was hitting before the injury and the Giants can option Ishikawa down.

However, Ishikawa was not the one called up when Niekro initially went on the DL. They instead called up Frandsen, essentially to take Vizcaino's place, since the Giants plan was for Vizcaino to share 1B with Sweeney and playing frequently. So there was some reason why they chose to do that first.

But there could have been good (for Ishikawa) reasons for the initial snub. One could have been the strong pitching at St. Louis vs. the youngsters that Colorado will be throwing out. So that would be a good reason. Another could have been they thought Vizcaino would have been OK on a temporary basis but found that it wasn't working. That would be another good reason. Of course, it could be that the Giants were not sure he was ready and didn't want to rush him up again, but Vizcaino's poor hitting forced them to at least try.

Whatever the reason, good or bad, I am glad that they are giving him another shot up here and that they are starting him this time. He's obviously making the most of his chances, he went 3-4 tonight with his first extra-base hit (double) and his first RBI and had 3 RBI for the game. That's on top of going 1-2 previously. Plus he did this against a left-handed pitcher, which was odd since he's a lefty, but I'm taking it.

I am hoping he is the future of the Giants and the sooner we can get him up and running, the sooner the post-Bonds era can start because who says that it can't start with Bonds still around, maybe they can give the team a boost with their youthful energy. Niekro kills LHP, Ishikawa probably kills RHP, I love the long ball and Ishikawa can crush them, I saw one he hit at San Jose just fly off his bat for a long homerun, he has a lot of power, despite what the announcers (Flem and Jon) said about his power just developing last season, he was hitting them in 2004 as well. That would give us good power off the bench, depending on who is starting, plus Ishikawa is a good defensive 1B.

And what a game today, Giants win 9-0, plus hit their best hitter, Holliday after Bonds was plunked earlier. I don't want people hurt but they are asking for it. This is baseball, dang it! Go Giants!!!