Tuesday's Giants lineup

And now for the lineups

Torres CF
Sanchez 2B
Huff 1B
Burrell LF
Guillen RF
Posey C
Sandoval 3B
Uribe SS
Bumgarner LHP

Good teams win those games, Giants are clearly not a good team

By now we all have seen/heard about last night's loss.  That loss pretty much sums up the season.  I know it is cliche to say it but those are the games that good teams win and well the Giants are not a good team.

What makes the whole thing worse is that we have been waiting all season for the Padres to falter and for the Giants to then take advantage of their losing streak.  Well, the Padres are faltering and the Giants are failing to take advantage.  The Padres have lost five games in a row while the Giants have gone 1-4 in their last five games.

It is unlikely the Padres will continue this downturn as they are in the middle of a series with the Diamondbacks and then go back home for a 10-game home-stand where they face the Rockies, Dodgers, and Giants.

The Giants on the other hand seem to be collapsing more and more and I am not sure how we can expect them to make a push into the playoffs when they can't beat an awful team like the Diamondbacks and are playing their worst baseball, maybe all season.

With all that said, even during this horrendous streak they are still just 1.5 games back in the Wild Card and 5 games back of the Padres.  If they have a hope of going to the playoffs they will need to come back alive real soon.  They have an important road series against L.A., Arizona, and San Diego where they must win all three series.

Lineups coming shortly....

Raiders could win the NFC West? Not likely.....

I was perusing the ESPN NFL Blog and happened to run upon a debate between blogger's Mike Sando and Bill Williamson.  The debate was on whether if in the NFC West that the Raiders could win that division.  I found it to be a rather interesting debate but there is no way that I could agree with Williamson's stance that the Raiders are better than the 49ers and I am not really sure the Raiders are better than the NFC West's number two team, the Seahawks.

The Raiders have done well to improve their team in the past off-season with the addition of Jason Campbell, the drafting of Rolando McClain and Lamarr Houston, as well as getting rid of JaMarcus Russell but that does not put them in a winning the division status.  As a matter of fact, I don't even see how they win more than 8 games.  After looking at their schedule, my guess is they finish the season 7-9.

Although they have improved the run defense with the additions of McClain and Houston they still cannot seem to stop the run.  In the past two preseason games (I know its preseason) both the 49ers (165 rushing yards) and the Bears (174 rushing yards) have rushed for over 150 yards and the majority of those yards came against the Raiders first team defense.

Raiders cut four--roster at 76, Campbell back at practice

With roster cuts looming the Raiders made some moves to get down close to the roster limit of 75.  They waived four players; TE Tony Stewart, WR Paul Hubbard, G Allen Smith, and FB Chane Moline.

This leaves them with 76 players so one more cut will happen before the deadline of Tuesday.

***

One day after Tom Cable made it seem like Campbell's injury was more serious, well Campbell was back at practice throwing.  It is still doubtful that he will play in the final pre-season game but with the ways injury news is back and forth with the Raiders it is possible he could play.

Monday's Giants lineup

The Giants start the game 5 games back of the Padres in the NL West and 1.5 games back in the Wild Card race.  The Padres are currently up on the D-backs, the Cards are losing to the Astros, and the Phillies kick off with the Dodgers at 7:10pm.

Here are the lineups...after the jump

Raiders injury news

Here's some news from Tom Cable's conference call today with the media:

-It looks like that Jason Campbell's injury was a bit serious than expected.  He is supposed to be re-evaluated this week after getting an MRI and x-ray's today.  He will not play Thursday in the final preseason game.

-Michael Bush will have surgery done on his thumb and could possibly play in the season opener on Sept. 12 against Tennessee.

-Chaz Schilens is out 3-6 weeks and should be able to be back by mid-season.  If the Raiders hope to have a successful season they will need Schilens back sooner than later.

Michael Bush breaks thumb, Campbell injury less serious

The good news for Raider fans is that the Jason Campbell injury does not appear to be serious.  He left the game after being hit by 49ers linebacker Travis LaBoy.  By all accounts the injury was just a stinger and he should be available for the season opener.

Somehow, I doubt he plays next week in the final preseason game.

Michael Bush's injury however is much more serious.  Bush fractured his thumb and his status is not yet known.  He is supposed to meet with a hand specialist today and we should know more then.

49ers cut three before Tuesday's deadline, no cuts yet for the Raiders

And the roster cuts have begun.  With cutdown day looming on Tuesday where teams have to get to 75 players the 49ers already made their moves.  Today they waived receiver Bakari Grant and cornerback Patrick Stoudamire.  They also waived injured linebacker Brandon Long.

The Raiders have not announced any cuts yet.

The next cutdown day will be Sep. 4th when teams have to get to 53 players.

Sunday Giants lineup

Buster Posey is not in the lineup again for the second day in the row.

CF Torres
2B Sanchez
1B Huff
RF Guillen
3B Sandoval
LF Ross
SS Uribe
C Whiteside
P Cain

Tuesday's Giants lineup

The Jekyll & Hyde is on the mound for the Giants tonight against left-hander Travis Wood. With a lefty on the mound, Cody Ross get’s his first opportunity to start as a Giant.



CF Torres
C Posey
1B Huff
LF Burrell
RF Ross
3B Sandoval
SS Uribe
2B F. Sanchez
P J. Sanchez

From one Davis to another Davis

We all remember week 6 of the 2008 NFL season, when interim head coach Mike Singletary did something which changed the career of one young and immature player, Vernon Davis.


That was the day that the famous “I want winners” speech was born and led Singletary into his first official head coaching job and made Vernon Davis an All-Pro.

That day, Mike Singletary kicked Vernon Davis off the field and was lambasted in the media for kicking a player off the field and then calling him out in a post-game press conference. Almost everyone thought Singletary would lose the team for sure.

That’s not exactly what happened.

In the following season Vernon Davis became the best tight end in football and broke the 49ers tight end touchdown record and tied the all-time touchdown record for a tight end in the NFL, which is currently held by Antonio Gates.

Mike Singletary’s reaching into the old bag of tricks again with another player with the surname Davis.

Cody Ross enters the game

Update:  Also, forgot to mention that the Giants designated Matt Downs for assignment this morning in order to make room for Ross on the 40-man roster.  

Downs has had a very down second half of the season, so it is very likely that he could make it back down to Fresno and not get picked up by another team.

It's top of the 7th and the defensive outfield is now in the game.  Andres Torres has moved to left field, Cody Ross is in at center, and Nate Schierholtz in right.  As Kruk and Kuip said on the broadcast, this outfield can definitely cover some ground.

In related news, the Giants put Guillermo Mota on the disable list with something called a fake injury.....errr I mean "IT band syndrome."

Rumors: Giants looking at Cody Ross and Brad Hawpe

The front office of the Giants did absolutely nothing inspiring before the July 31^st trade deadline except pick up two average relievers.  Their only success this year has seemed to come from picking up players that are were cut and placed on waivers. 

The first and foremost example of course is Pat Burrell. 

Well that trend is seemingly continuing.  They picked up Jose Guillen after he was cut by the Royals for some cash and a player to be named later, which by all signs appears to be a very low level prospect.  They also acquired Mike Fontenot from the Cubs after he cleared waivers for Evan Crawford. 

Well it does not appear that Sabean and the front office is done with the waiver wire just yet. 

Whether the motive was to block the Padres, or actually acquire the player, the Giants were awarded the waiver claim on Cody Ross, the center fielder for the Marlins.  With such a crowded outfield and another two weeks before rosters expand it is unlikely that they want to actually trade for him.  All signs show that this was a move to block the Padres from acquiring him since they are in desperate need for some outfield help after Tony Gwynn Jr. broke his hand.

An unlikely hero

Baseball's a funny game and fans can be just as funny.  24 hours ago every Giants fan was ready to call the season off.  The season was over and let's get ready for football season.  Look at any Giants fan blog, the comments section of any Giants message board, or listen to KNBR and everyone was saying the Giants are done.  Season ticket invoices had just went out and the idea of purchasing playoff tickets was the last thing Giants fans were thinking about.  

The Giants had just lost two straight from Philadelphia on the road and 2 out of 3 from the NL West leading Padres in San Francisco.  They were doomed.  To say the starting rotation was floundering would have been an understatement.

The last time a starting pitcher had got a win was Jonathan Sanchez on August 3rd.  That was 15 days and 14 games without a win for the starter.  The most unlikely stopper of the 14-game winless starter skid was set to pitch today.

Not to say that he would likely get blown up by the Phillies but he has been known to get a lead and then give it all back.  It wouldn't be out of the realm for him to leave the game in the 5th inning with the game tied.

49ers sign Brian Westbrook to one-year deal

Glen Coffee turned in his retirement papers and the same day the 49ers have inked former Eagle RB Brian Westbrook to a one-year deal. He will likely be the primary backup behind Frank Gore and it allows sixth round pick, Anthony Dixon, learn behind two proven veterans.


Westbrook spent eight years with the Eagles but recently has had some health issues. He has been struck with concussion issues and has only played in an 11 games in the past two seasons.

The signing of the 30-year old Westbrook makes what had been a disastrous week, by losing Coffee and having no real backup, into something salvageable.

There is a press conference scheduled for 5pm in Santa Clara.

Glen Coffee submits paperwork to retire, Balmer traded to Seahawks

I talked with an acquaintance over the weekend who argued with me that Glen Coffee was not going to retire and would be coming back to the 49ers. His argument was that Coffee could not afford to give up part of his signing bonus back to the 49ers if he retired and would decide just to come back.

My thought through this whole story is that Mike Singletary would not let a player who is not 100% dedicated to football back on the team. I also have some doubts that the 49ers would even go after Coffee for the $600k that he would owe them if he did retire. Based on the circumstances and the way he handled the situation I bet they let him keep the money.

Well, it looks like he has officially retired.

Giants finally beat the Padres!!!!

Who knew it.  The Giants can actually beat the Padres, they are now 2-8 against the Friars this year.  

The good news is that the Giants managed to hang in there against Mat Latos, despite the home plate umpire doing his best to screw the Giants.  

Latos, who by the way may be a jerk, but no doubt is legit.  He is going to be a big pain in the ass for the Giants in the years to come.  This season, against the Giants, he has a 0.96 ERA.  in four starts and that includes today's game.

Back to the home plate umpire.  I'm not sure if he is from San Diego but he may of called the worst game I've seen all season.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, he called out Andres Torres on a third strike that was so far off the plate.  It had to be at least a foot outside.  If Torres would have been hitting left-handed it would of hit him.  As you can see from the screenshot of my MLB app from my iPhone that actually none of the strikes were actually strikes.

Either way, the Giants overcame the questionable calls and won the game with his legs.  After catching eleven innings, Buster Posey got a lead off double in the bottom of the 11th and then Pablo Sandoval got his second intentional walk of the game.  Then Juan Uribe came up and hit a single that allowed the hustling Posey to score from second.  GAME OVER!!

Saturday Giants lineup

Jose Guillen is in the ballpark and been added to the 25 man roster. That means that IF Emmanuel Burriss has been sent back down to Fresno.


Torres CF
Fontenot 2B
Huff RF
Burrell LF
Posey C
Sandoval 3B
Uribe SS
Ishikawa 1B
Bumgarner P

A look at Brandon Belt by ESPN

Now that Buster Posey has been called up, Giants fans have attached themselves to the next top offensive prospect, Brandon Belt.  I thought that with September callups and the fact that most people don’t have insider this would be as good as time of any to relay the info.

Jason Grey of ESPN has broken down Brandon Belt and suggests that he is the next real star first baseman.  So much for Buster Posey moving to first.

Belt has quick hands and good bat speed. A more upright, open stance helps keep him from getting his long levers jammed on the inner half of the plate and lets him get his arms extended more often, and he has incorporated a little more loft in his swing to turn more of his good raw power into game power, yet still allowing his zone to stay in the bat a long time. (Too much of an uppercut stroke makes your bat get out of the zone too quickly for consistent, hard contact.) He’s still mostly a line-drive hitter who squares balls up to the gaps, but he now gets better hip turn and doesn’t cut himself off as much, which gets him more carry on the ball. Belt also references being able to see the ball a bit better, and thus far he has demonstrated an ability to handle the strike zone well, walking almost as many times as he has struck out. He also has solid pitch recognition. Scouting reports say he stays back on offspeed stuff well.

Giants close to getting Jose Guillen

According to ESPN, the Giants are close to acquiring Kansas City Royals’ outfielder Jose Guillen. There is no word who the Giants are giving up in exchange but it is expected that the Royals will be taking on some of the salary. If the trade gets finalized today, Guillen will be in uniform tonight for the Giants.

This is a curious move by Brian Sabean because they already have a group of outfielders fighting for three spots.


The only way this move makes sense is if the Giants plan on putting Aubrey Huff back at first. That could move Ishikawa back to the bench where he was very successful as a pinch-hitter off the bench.

Guillen’s numbers are not overly impressive this year but neither was Pat Burrell and as most Giants’ fans will tell you that move was definitely worth it.

If nothing else, Guillen gives the Giants a right-handed bat with pop off the bench which they will need for their playoff run.

Now if we can get Panda back to normal then that would be the trade the Giants needed to make.

Wednesday Giants lineup

RF Torres
2B F. Sanchez
1B Huff
C Posey
LF Burrell
SS Uribe
3B Sandoval
CF Rowand
P Zito

Giants acquire Mike Fontenot

The Giants have acquired Cubs IF Mike Fontenot in exchange for minor leaguer Evan Crawford.
Fontenot, who is currently batting .284 and has 20 RBIs, will not have to travel far because the Cubs are in town playing the Giants.

The Giants are short-handed for infielders with Edgar Renteria hurt and Freddie Sanchez in a serious slump. Fontenot will give the Giants a IF off the bench and could allow Bochy to spell Uribe a bit. This likely will cause Emmanuel Burriss to be sent back down to AAA.

Balmer AWOL from practice, Singletary not happy

As you probably know by now, Kentwan Balmer has been AWOL.  According to the 49ers, he has been dealing with some “personal issues” and his absences had been excused.  Until today….


Singletary asked Balmer to be back at practice today.

"Let me say this… I talked about… I talked to Kentwan and as simple as I can put it, I asked him to be here. He’s not here. Yes he is under contract. And the fact that he’s not here, that speaks to me. What it says, I really don’t know, to him.But to us, all I know is he’s not here. Fine. We’re practicing, we’re doing what we have to do, and we’re going to move forward."

The Mercury News was able to get an interview with Balmer by going and knocking on his door and was able to talk to Balmer about his possible return.

"That’s the plan."

When asked about the personal issues Balmer did not want to discuss them.

"People are making a big deal about of nothing, I feel like the 49ers could do a better job of saying that, but it’s not my place to say."

Injuries plaguing the 49ers, Davis & Iupati named starters for now

The start of the NFL season is soon approaching with the first pre-season game this weekend. The 49ers have already had some pretty devastating injuries in training camp that could have a huge impact on how they start the season.

First and foremost they lost their starting center, Eric Heitmann, for six to eight weeks with a broken leg. David Baas, another lineman, got a concussion during the Nutcracker drills but appears to be back and is the 49ers best option at center while Heitmann is out.

Ahmad Brooks, the up and coming rushing linebacker, for the 49ers whom had very high expectations of is also injured. His injury, a lacerated kidney, will likely not keep him out as long as Heitmann but like Heitmann he could miss the start of the season.

Emmanuel Burriss gets called up, Giants lineup tonight

Giants fans finally got what they wanted.  After not being able to record an out in yesterday’s game Todd Wellemeyer has been designated for assignment and Emmanuel Burriss has been called up from AAA-Fresno.  This is a move that clearly needed to be made.  With 13 pitchers and only 4 players on the bench, Bochy had to use Matt Cain to pinch-hit in what could have been an important spot in the game.

I doubt that Burriss will play tonight but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him at some point this series with the struggles of both Freddy Sanchez and Edgar Renteria.

July is over, Giants back with no offense

Here we go again. After fooling everyone into thinking they actually had an offense in the month of July, the Giants roll out the month of August by basically get swept.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Billy Wagner is still a piece of crap they would have went 1-5 on this road trip.  The Giants offense was completely awful in the series against the Braves and subpar against the Rockies. They were 1 for 32 with runners in scoring position.

What makes it worse is that this series was suppose to tell Giants fans if the Giants were actually playoff contenders. If the season ended today the Giants would win the wild card and would be facing the Braves in the first round.  Not good for the Giants about what they just did there in the past four days.

After watching that series I have very little faith the Giants could get past the first round if they have to face the Braves.

Let’s be positive and think about if the Giants did actually make the playoffs and face the Braves.  How does Bochy set up the pitching rotation?  Personally I would consider a rotation of Cain, Zito, and Lincecum in that order if the weather is hot like it has been in Atlanta. That would give Timmy the first game at home in more conducive weather for his success.