Sunday Giants lineup

Padres are back in first with the San Francisco Giants a .5 game back of first place.  There is no way they can get swept by the Brewers at their house. 

Brewers pitcher Chris Narveson has been pretty impressive in his past 4 starts not giving up more than 2 runs.

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

Week 2 NFL Picks

Hopefully I can do better this week than I did last week.  To recap, I went 7-8-1 against the spread and 10-6 straight up.

Here are my picks, what are yours?

Kansas City at Cleveland (-3) - The Chiefs looked impressive against the Chargers and the Browns are without their starting quarterback, Jake Delhomme.  Chiefs 28-10

Buffalo at Green Bay (-12.5) - Buffalo has no chance in this game.  The game will get out of hand early even without a good offensive line or running back for Green Bay.  Aaron Rodgers throws for 400 yards and Packers win.  Packers 41-7

Baltimore (-2.5) at Cincinnati - This is a pretty good matchup.  Last week the Patriots put the Bengals got worked by the Patriots.  The score was not very indicative of how the game was played out.  I think the Bengals will make a better showing and win.  Bengals 13-10

Pittsburgh at Tennessee (-5) - Steelers are likely without nose tackle Casey Hampton and they go against the Titans who have Chris Johnson and the Titans defense.  Titans 17-6

Philadelphia (-6.5) at Detroit - Kolb is out this week with the concussion and Michael Vick is starting.  Vick should have a good game against the weak Lions defense.  Eagles 15-3

Chicago at Dallas (-7) - The Cowboys offensive woes are still troubling but I will take the Cowboys to win. Cowboys 17-14

Tampa Bay at Carolina (-3) - Carolina owns Tampa Bay and with their excellent run game they will win easy.  Panthers 28-10

Arizona at Atlanta (-6.5) - The Cardinals had trouble beating the Rams last week and now travel to play a good Falcons team.  Falcons will look to recover from their overtime last to Pittsburgh last week.  Falcons win easy.  Falcons 35-17

Miami at Minnesota (-5.5) - Dolphins had trouble putting the Bills away last week and Vikings looked inept offensively against the Saints.  Brett Favre may be regretting his decision to come back.  Dolphins 24-20

St. Louis at Oakland (-3) - The Raiders had trouble protecting Jason Campbell last week and its not going to be much easier this week with Rams defensive line.  Having said that, I think they Raiders defense shuts down the Rams.  Raiders 21-17

Seattle at Denver (-3) - Seahawks looked good last week against the 49ers and they should keep on a roll against the Broncos.  Seahawks 17-10

Houston (-3) at Washington - Texans defense was impressive last week against the Colts and so was their run the game.  Texans looks to open up the passing game.  Texans 28-24

Jacksonville at San Diego (-7) - Chargers offense will improve this week but they still will not cover the spread.  Chargers 14-10

New England Patriots (-3) at NY Jets - Can Revis shut down the "slouch" Randy Moss.  It will be a tough day for Tom Brady against the Jets but the Patriots are a better team and prevail.  Patriots 17-10

NY Giants at Indianapolis (-4.5) - Offense will be a premium for this game.  There is no way the Colts go 0-2.  Colts 35-27

New Orleans (-5.5) at San Francisco - There is problems in San Francisco and they probably are not fixed.  Singletary is slowing losing this team with their failures on the offensive side of the ball.  49ers defense will slow down the Saints but not enough to win the game.  Saints 42-14

Saturday Giants Lineup vs. Brewers

Bruce Bochy has made some serious changes to his lineup.  Pablo Sandoval is back in with Yovani Gallardo on the mound for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Fontenot 2B
Uribe SS
Huff 1B
Posey C
Burrell LF
Sandoval 3B
Guillen RF
Ross CF
Lincecum RHP

Week 2: Saints @ 49ers Final Injury Report

Cornerback Phillip Adams is a game time decision to whether he plays.  If he does not play that could cause some problems for the 49ers in the return game and the secondary.  If William James does not go and Adams cannot play then the 49ers only have three true corners and you would likely see some safeties like Reggie Smith in the cornerback position.

The Adams decision also affects the return game, if he could not go then we would likely see a rotation for Delanie Walker, Dominique Zeigler, and Josh Morgan.

Injury Report:

New Orleans

Out: RB Chris Ivory (knee), OT Zach Strief (knee), LB Anthony Waters (hamstring)

Probable: LB Jonathan Vilma (groin)

San Francisco

Out: OC Eric Heitmann (fibula)

Doubtful: WR Ted Ginn (knee), CB William James (ankle), WR Kyle Williams (ankle), OG Chilo Rachal (stinger)

Questionable: CB Phillip Adams (hamstring)

Probable: LB Patrick Willis (knee, thumb), LB Ahmad Brooks (elbow), OG Adam Snyder (illness), OT Alex Boone (calf)

Monta Ellis grows up and makes amends with Stephen Curry

As the Golden State Warriors media day slowly approaches we know one thing that has changed.  Monta Ellis now see's that he can play with Stephen Curry in the backcourt and they can win.

In an excellent sit-down interview with Sam Amick from FanHouse, Ellis admits that he was wrong when he said last year that the two guards could not play together and the Warriors be successful at winning games.

"Us together? No," Ellis said. "Can't. We just can't. ... Just can't."

Ellis also admits that his wife told him he was wrong right after he said it.

"She told me as soon as I said it that it was wrong.  I didn't let her know at the time that she was right, but she always told me, 'You and Steph can do it. Y'all can do it. Just play together and don't let the outside world destroy y'all because you can win if they put pieces around you.'"

I am sure part of Ellis' excitement is the change in ownership as well.  It's no surprise for him to admit in the story that his relationship with the ownership has been somewhat strenuous.

For the first time in a long time it appears that this training camp may not be as newsworthy as they have been in the past and if your a fan of the Warriors that is good news for you.

Unless, the the new ownership takes over and sends a certain head coach back to Maui.

Week 2: Saints @ 49ers Friday Injury Report

Very interesting that CB Phillip Adams was added onto the injury report.  Hopefully, his hamstring does not get worse before the Monday night game.  There is no way the 49ers can afford for him to not play especially with all those 4 WR sets that the Saints roll out.


Injury Report:

New Orleans
Did Not Participate: RB Chris Ivory (knee), OT Zach Strief (knee), LB Anthony Waters (hamstring)
Full Participation: LB Jonathan Vilma (groin)

San Francisco
Out: OC Eric Heitmann (fibula)
Did Not Participate: WR Ted Ginn (knee), CB William James (ankle), OG Chilo Rachal (stinger), TE Delanie Walker (personal reasons)
Limited Participation: WR Kyle Williams (ankle), LB Patrick Willis (knee, thumb), CB Phillip Adams (hamstring), LB Ahmad Brooks (elbow)
Full Participation: OG Adam Snyder (illness), OT Alex Boone (calf)

Week 2: Rams @ Raiders Injury Report

Good news for the Raiders is that Michael Bush will likely play according to their injury report.  The not so good news is that the already questionable offensive line will lose a starter likely, with Robert Gallery listed as doubtful.


Injury Report:


St. Louis

Out: LB Chris Chamberlain (toe), Michael Hoomanawanui (ankle), Josh Hull (knee)
Doubtful: CB Kevin Dockery (hamstring)
Questionable: DT Clifton Ryan (migraines), CB Justin King (hamstring)
Probable: RB Steven Jackson (knee), DT Fred Robbins (foot), WR Laurent Robinson (ankle), DT Darell Scott (knee)

Oakland

Out: LB Travis Goethel (back), CB Walter McFadden (hamstring), WR Chaz Schilens (knee)
Doubtful: G Robert Gallery (hamstring)
Probable: DE Richard Seymour (hamstring), RB Michael Bush (thumb), S Hiram Eugene (hamstring), CB Chris Johnson (neck), DT Desmond Bryant (elbow), CB Nnamdi Asomugha (groin)

Preview: Milwaukee Brewers (67-78) @ San Francisco Giants (83-64)

The San Francisco Giants are now in first place!! They made their way from fourth place in the division to first place. This is the first time that they have been in first place this season since May 6th. Amazingly, the last time the Giants were in first place by themselves in the month of September was in 2003, which was incidentally the last time they made the playoffs.

It is the Giants division to take and after an impressive three game series with Los Angeles Dodgers in which pitching was the recipe for success they will need to keep the pitching on a roll and bring the offense that showed up in the final game of the series.

The Giants pitching staff only allowed four runs during the three game series with the Dodgers in which the Giants won 2 out of 3. Interestingly enough, the loss came in the first game of the series where Barry Zito threw a one-hitter and did not give up an earned run.

Although, Zito’s one-hitter was one of the best pitching performances we have seen out of him in a while it does not compare to what happened last night, the third game of the series.

Jonathan Sanchez showed why Brian Sabean and the Giants have been reluctant to trade him even though fans have been clamoring for it to happen, me included, for the past two years. Sanchez threw seven innings with zero walks, yeah I said zero, and had 12 strikeouts. The only other pitcher with more strikeouts in a single game was Tim Lincecum who had 13 on May 4th against the Florida Marlins.

Let’s not forget about Matt Cain who was pretty impressive in his win in game two when he took on the Giant-killer, Chad Billingsley. Cain went seven innings and gave up only three hits. Cain probably could have gone longer but was pinch-hit for in the seventh by Travis Ishikawa who came up with a big hit. Ishikawa was pinch-run for by Emmanuel Burriss who later scored on a Mike Fontenot blooper.

Those three games was probably the best pitching I have seen from the Giants in a long time. The month of September has been pretty impressive too. 14 games into the month of September the pitching staff, including bullpen, has an ERA of 1.94 with a WHIP of 0.863. Compare that to August, when the ERA was at 5.13.

San Francisco Giants Friday lineup

After a 4 for 5 last night with a triple Edgar Renteria is back in the leadoff spot against the Milwaukee Brewers. Hopefully, that his success was a sign of good things to come.

Madison Bumgarner is on the hill to face the Brewers for the second time this year.  The last time he faced the Brewers he went 8 innings with 5 strikeouts and gave up 0 runs in a 6-1 Giants win.


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

Vernon Davis Contract Details

Thanks to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com we now have the contract details for Vernon Davis’ contract. The deal is a five-year extension that includes $23 million in guaranteed money with a $10 million signing bonus.

2010: $3.874 million (guaranteed)
2011: $4.708 million (guaranteed)
2012: $5.751 million (guaranteed)
2013: $6.072 million (not guaranteed)
2014: $4.7 million (not guaranteed)
2015: $4.35 million (not guaranteed)

There are also bonuses to be had throughout the contract. From 2011-2015 Davis can get a $200,000 workout bonus and in 2010 he can get $100,000. Also, through 2011-2015 he is eligible for a $400,000 per game ($25,000) roster bonus.

Raiders cut Yamon Figurs, home opener to be blacked out

Who would have thought that the Oakland Raiders would have less drama than the San Francisco 49ers.  The only news coming out of Oakland is a few roster moves and injuries.  So here's the most interesting things going on in Raider land.

• The Raiders have cut kickoff/punt returner Yamon Figurs after he looked pretty bad in those duties against the Tennessee Titans.  Head coach Tom Cable said that both Johnnie Lee Higgins and Jacoby Ford would take over those duties.
• Offensive linemen Robert Gallery and cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha sat out today's practice with injuries but it looks like both will play in Sunday's game along with running back Michael Bush who was back participating in practice.
• It's official, the Raiders first home game will be blacked out in the local markets.  It's the first home opener to be blacked out since the 2004 season.

Has Mike Singletary lost control?

A buddy of mine called me today to give me his "conspiracy theory" that the players of the San Francisco 49ers threw Sunday's game against the Seattle Seahawks to show Mike Singletary that they are tired of being average and want a change.  This request for a change started supposedly around last years Green Bay where they wanted to run the spread offense.


According to the Yahoo Sports article, players again approached coach "Singletary in the offseason to complain about Jimmy Raye and the overall situation."  Changes were made to have quaterbacks coach Mike Johnson take the call from Raye, but not to the actual playcaller, which was and still is Jimmy Raye, who seems to be the problem.


It has also been suggested that many of the quarterbacks in fact like working with Johnson rather than Raye and would rather Johnson be the playcaller.  There is also a rumor out there that Johnson had been alienated from offensive coaches meetings because he was a fan of Nate Davis and Singletary and Raye did not agree with that assessment. 


Today Singletary let it be known how upset he was with the article and the unnamed sources.

"If a man has something to say, he's going to come out and find a way to tell you.  But I don't want to deal with a rat."

It is very important to Singletary to control the information that is outside of the team but even this display seems a bit strange.

He made it clear he was less than thrilled to be spending the day talking about the Yahoo article that stated Jimmy Raye has a hard time making the offensive calls and getting them in on time.


In his weekly KPIX interview with Dennis O'Donnell, the details we thank David White for, he is less than interested in continuing to talk about the article and Jimmy Raye.  In fact, he almost gets to the "I Want Winners" Singletary.

Singletary: The point I'm trying to make is I don't want to talk about the Yahoo deal. It really pisses me off now that I sit here and think about it. We just talked today and I had a press conference today. I don't want to talk about the Yahoo thing anymore. Whoever said it, I don't care who said it, it's over. I want to move forward.

O'Donnell: So there's no truth to it?

Singletary: I want to move forward.

O'Donnell: Let's talk about Alex moving forward into Monday night. In situations where maybe he's not getting a play by a certain amount of time, if he can see ...

Singletary: Alex will be fine Monday night. Watch the game and you will see that Alex will be fine. I don't want to talk about time. I don't want to talk about clock. I don't want to talk about any of that. I want to talk about New Orleans if you want to talk about that.

Then O'Donnell asked Singletary how they planned to try and stop Drew Brees and how they were going to try and move the ball on offense.  Apparently, they are not going to try, they are just going to do.

O'Donnell: OK. Let's talk about trying to stop Drew Brees. 

Singletary: We will not try to stop Drew Brees. We will stop Drew Brees. Next question. 

O'Donnell: Let's talk about trying to move the ball against the New Orleans defense ... 

Singletary: We will not try to move the ball against the New Orleans defense. We will move the ball and we will score.

You know what Singletary, "don't tell me, show me."

San Francisco Giants Thursday Lineup, the water buffalo's are roaming

The "Water Buffalo Defense" is in full effect with tonight's lineup.  It will be interesting to see how Aaron Rowand can handle covering so much ground.  He's no Andres Torres who had a tough enough time covering for the "Water Buffalo's."

Another interesting move is too see Edgar Renteria in leadoff.  Not exactly the speed that you are looking for at the top of the lineup.

Is this lineup really given Jonathan Sanchez the best chance to win?

Renteria SS
F. Sanchez 2B
Huff 1B
Posey C
Burrell LF
Uribe 3B
Guillen RF
Rowand CF
J. Sanchez LHP

Clinton Portis and Darnell Dockett on Ines Sainz

Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis has been known to be quite the character.  In the past, he has dressed like....well I don't know how to describe it but it's not normal.  He has also been known to open his mouth to the media give some unnecessary commentary.

But, that was supposedly going to end.  Portis had said to NBC's Sunday Night Football crew that he has enjoyed staying out of the spotlight and not having so much attention on him.

That did not take long to end.

Tuesday morning, on Clinton Portis' radio show he decided to broach the New York Jets and Ines Sainz scandal.

"You know man, I think you put women reporters in the locker room in positions to see guys walking around naked, and you sit in the locker room with 53 guys, and all of the sudden you see a nice woman in the locker room, I think men are gonna tend to turn and look and want to say something to that woman. For the woman, I think they make it so much that you can't interact and you can't be involved with athletes, you can't talk to these guys, you can't interact with these guys.

"And I mean, you put a woman and you give her a choice of 53 athletes, somebody got to be appealing to her. You know, somebody got to spark her interest, or she's gonna want somebody. I don't know what kind of woman won't, if you get to go and look at 53 men's packages. And you're just sitting here, saying 'Oh, none of this is attractive to me.' I know you're doing a job, but at the same time, the same way I'm gonna cut my eye if I see somebody worth talking to, I'm sure they do the same thing."

 Since these comments the NFL has issued a statement on his comments and Portis has apologized for his remarks.

"I was wrong to make the comments I did, and I apologize. I respect the job that all reporters do. It is a tough job and we all have to work and act in a professional manner. I understand and support the team on these issues."

Darnell Dockett, defensive tackle for the Arizona Cardinals, and one not to be outdone by Clinton Portis decided to get involved as well via his Twitter page.

"All I can do is LOL at the jets Female Reporter! She walks into a locker room full of men and think some one not gonna say nothing LMFAO!!!"

"I don't know what was said to her or whatever but u just have to know u going into a TEAM LOCKEROOM, andif its that serious WOMEN STAY OUT!" 

 Ines Sainz, the reporter, has also come out to "defend" herself and the outfit she is wearing.  Probably should have not leaked a picture of what she was wearing.

Wednesday Giants Lineup

Interesting lineup in against Chad Billingsley.  It appears manager Bruce Bochy is tired of seeing his team embarrassed against Billingsley who has ownage on the San Francisco Giants.  In 2010, Billingsley is 2-0 with a 0.61  ERA.

Now for the lineups:

Velez LF
Fontenot 2B
Huff 1B
Posey C
Uribe SS
Sandoval 3B
Ross CF
Schierholtz RF
Cain RHP

Evaluating Week 1 NFL Picks

Not my best week that I have ever had.  I definitely thought that the San Francisco 49ers would beat the Seattle Seahawks, and the San Diego Chargers to beat the Kansas City Chiefs.  Other than those, no real other surprises.

Against the spread: 7-8-1
Straight up: 10-6

Lineups: Los Angeles Dodgers @ San Francisco Giants - Game 1

I guess Bochy isn't willing to risk his career over Aaron Rowand being successful at the leadoff.  Bochy realizes that if he doesn't get the Giants to the playoffs he is out of here.


Giants:

Ross RF
Sanchez 2B
Huff 1B
Posey C
Burrell LF
Uribe SS
Sandoval 3B
Rowand CF
Zito LHP

Dodgers:

Furcal SS
Etheir RF
Blake 3B
Kemp CF
Gibbons 1B
Barajas C
Carroll 2B
Johnson LF
Kershaw LHP

Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers (71-73) @ San Francisco Giants (81-63)

For some reason, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants series has been happening all year at a critical point in the season for the Giants. They have been the type of games that are labeled as “must wins” for the Giants and that moniker has never been truer statement at this point of the season.

The Colorado Rockies are 9-1 in their last 10 games and prior to last night’s game they had won 10 in a row. They are now in process of making their annual push to the playoffs.

What a bunch of jerks for not just laying down like the lowly Dodgers.

The San Diego Padres meanwhile are imploding; they should have run away with this division but in the interest of making things interesting for the month of September they decided to lose 10 games in a row. The Padres are now 5-5 in their last 10 games and could be in the process of losing their chance to make the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Giants are 7-3 in their last 10 games and just took 3 out of 4 from the Padres in San Diego and now sits a half a game behind the Padres. While the Rockies and the Padres are beating each other the Giants will need to walk all over the Dodgers and hopefully take sole control of first place.

But, that is easier said than done.

With Ted Ginn out, 49ers sign Jason Hill

The injury to wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. appears to be more serious than originally thought.  Ginn sprained his MCL during the Seahawks game on Sunday and is expected to miss the Monday night game and more.  With Ginn not playing that would have given the 49ers only healthy three wide receivers (Michael Crabtree, Josh Morgan, Dominique Ziegler).  The 49ers fifth wide receiver, Kyle Williams is also injured and will not play.

With the injury to Ginn the 49ers made a move.  They signed Jason Hill, a receiver who drafted by the 49ers in 2007 and recently cut by the 49ers.  They also had to cut cornerback Tramaine Brock from the 53-man roster to make room for Hill and they cut linebacker Bruce Davis from the practice squad in hopes of signing Brock to the practice squad.  

With Ginn not able to play Mike Singletary will likely have cornerback Phillip Adams return punts and have wide receiver Josh Morgan return kicks.

Tom Cable Press Conference

Thanks to Jerry McDonald below is a transcript of Cable's press conference with the local media.  The transcript is after the jump.

The largest issue for the Raiders was their offensive line. The o-line was unable to give Jason Campbell anytime as well as some issues between Jared Veldheer and Jason Campbell on the shotgun snap. Cable seemed to suggest that their could be changes coming on the line.

Cable didn't give any update on running back Michael Bush but did say that he would info on Wednesday.

Changing Jimmy Raye's location will not change anything

Even though the theme of the 49ers training camp this offseason was getting better it seems that the follow through on that idea has failed.  Not only did the 49ers not look better than they finished the season last year, they possibly even looked worse.

The 49ers offensive coaches have made what is possibly the easiest thing today in coaching, the hardest.  More than once in yesterday's game Jimmy Raye and Mike Johnson were having trouble getting the play call to Alex Smith which caused Smith to have to burn three timeouts early in the first half of which two were on the same drive in crucial third down situations.  On the second field goal drive the 49ers had a delay-of-game penalty on a 4th and 1 play.  This was the play where head coach Mike Singletary had chosen to go for it but after the delay of game decided to kick a field goal.

These type of issues are ones that happen in pre-season and should be cleared up by Week 1 and these are not the type of issues that a playoff team has.

Singletary said, in today's press conference, that they will look at the situation and make changes if necessary.  Some of those changes could include bringing Jimmy Raye down to the field so that he can call the plays directly to Alex Smith and they could avoid having the middle man, quarterbacks coach Mike Johnson.

"We will take a look at it and we will have an answer for it..."

What's to take a look at?  Your offensive coordinator is completely failing at the easiest part of his job and definitely failing at calling plays.

Having Jimmy Raye on the sideline is not going to solve the problem.  If he is not calling the plays quickly enought this issue will still prevent itself and will be a continual story-line.  Many teams have their offensive coordinator in the booth but somehow manage to get the plays called in a timely manner.

49ers are not NFC West champs yet

The 49ers were expected to run away with the NFC West, possibly the worse division in the NFL this year. Apparently, someone forgot to tell the Seahawks about this.

The Seahawks showed up and embarrassed the 49ers. It sure did not look like the 49ers had 11 defensive starters that were in their fourth year of playing together and that Alex Smith was in his second year of the same offensive system. In fact, it looked like Alex Smith was a rookie quarterback and that he was in a new offensive system. Not a system that he was supposed to be comfortable with.

Lately, we all have been told that Smith was finally maturing as a quarterback and felt comfortable with the playbook. Also, we were being told how he had built rapport with his wide receivers in the offseason.

Yesterday's game sure didn't look like that.

Smith was obviously not on the same page with star wideout Michael Crabtree. Twice Smith threw to Crabtree and the results were two interceptions, one for a touchdown. Whether it was Crabtree's or Smith's fault is anybody's guess and the answer depends on who you ask.

Smith threw for 225 yards with a passer rating of 52.5 but just like last year he seems to be only to put up yards when offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye gives up on the run game and puts Alex in the spread offense.

That plan is not going to work if you want to be a smash mouth team like Singletary suggests. Smith is going to have to be under center for Frank Gore to be the runner that they need.

The coaching still seems to be the issue and the question now for 49ers fans is if Mike Singletary is the right guy. It seems he has said all the right things to have the players and the fans believe but can he get the results.

Could Singletary be in over his head?

Successful NFL head coaches do not have to worry about the play 49erscall getting to the quarterback on time.

It is week 1 and even the best teams have trouble and that is why the Monday night game against the Saints is so huge. It is unlikely that the 49ers win but if they can put up a good showing then the fans will likely be back in Singletary and Smith's corner.

If they don't have a good showing it will be hard to see how they can beat what looks like a good Chiefs team on the road. After the Chiefs, then they play the Falcons on the road, the Eagles and Raiders at home. We could be talking about a 1-6 team if Singletary doesn't get this turned around.

That would likely be the end of his tenure as the 49ers head coach and the end of Alex Smith's chances as a starting quarterback.

Warriors sign Louis Amundson to two-year deal

According to multiple reports, the Warriors have finally come to agreement with power forward Louis Amundson. There had been much speculation that they were looking to add Amundson but finally the move has been made.

The deal is estimated to be a two-year deal worth about $5 million.

This is a good deal for the Warriors who get an energy guy to come off the bench and get rebounds which was lacking in last year’s team. Amundson can also shoot a bit and should be able to do pretty well in a Don Nelson system. Amundson will likely be the third big man off the bench behind Brandan Wright and Dan Gadzuric.

Amundson has played for Utah (1 game), Philly (26 games), and been with Phoenix for the past two seasons and played almost every game. In his career he averaged 4.0 points and 3.6 rebounds a game.

Torres out 10-14 days

Going into Sunday’s game the Giants were ready to take three out of four from the Padres and leave San Diego in a tie with the Padres for the NL West division lead. What they didn’t plan was to find out that their leadoff hitter and possible Gold Glove recipient, Andres Torres would be put on the DL and out possibly for the rest of the regular season.


Torres had to have emergency appendectomy surgery on Sunday and will miss at least 10 days.


This leaves a huge whole for the Giants. Torres was their leadoff hitter and only speed guy on a team of slow aging veterans. The only other option they have to use as a leadoff hitter, besides Aaron Rowand, is speedster Darren Ford but he was not brought up to do anything but serve as a pinch runner.


Torres also allowed manager Bruce Bochy to play both Jose Guillen in right field and Pat Burrell in left field as he could cover some serious ground.


Rowand does not give that same opportunity.


So far Bruce Bochy hasn’t decided what he is going to do to replace Torres’ offense and defense but their options at outfielder definitely do not offer what they had in Torres. Bochy could go with Cody Ross who is a very good defensive outfielder that could play all three positions but his hitting has not been impressive. Another option is September callup Darren Ford but it is likely that Bochy does not trust him. Aaron Rowand is another option but his numbers have been awful since he was hit in the head by Dodger pitcher Vincente Padilla and is not an improvement over Ford or Ross so it’s hard to see how he becomes the starter.

Giants/Padres Sunday lineup

Andres Torres gets the day off and that means Aaron Rowand is in the leadoff spot.  At this point, I would rather see Darren Ford start over Rowand.

Giants

Rowand CF
Sanchez 2B
Huff 1B
Posey C
Guillen RF
Burrell LF
Sandoval 3B
Uribe SS
Lincecum RHP

Padres

Durango CF
Eckstein 2B
Tejeda SS
Gonzalez 1B
Torrealba C
Headley 3B
Ludwick RF
Venable LF
Latos RHP