Tagged: Randy Winn

Key Additions and Key Losses

Hey Giants fans, and non Giants fans. I guess I’m just saying hey to who ever is reading this. Just wanted to put up a quick post today. I will be adding more insight on these players in the next couple of posts here and at SF Giants Rumors.

 

Key Additions

 

  • Aubrey Huff
  • Mark DeRosa
  • Bengie Molina
  • Juan Uribe

 

Key Losses

 

  • Randy Winn (New York Yankees)
  • Brad Penny (ST. Louis Cardinals)
  • Bob Howry (Arizona Diamondbacks)
  • Randy Johnson (Retired)
  • Rich Aurilia (Free Agent)
  • Ryan Garko (Seattle Mariners)

 

Just wanted to pass on this information for the Giants fans that wanted to know who is where right now, and so you can see who’s in and who’s out.

 

Click here for the latest Tim Lincecum Arbitration update. 

 

~King of Cali

Thoughts On Giants Weekend In Los Angeles

Giants fans couldn’t have asked for a better weekend in Los Angeles. Well we could have took some brooms to Dodgers stadium, but were happy with winning 2 games and taking the series. Barry Zito finally got a win and had another nice outing. He’s pitched 4 good games in a row. This is the Zito that the Giants thought they signed.
 
The Giants still are trying to do whatever they can to get a run. They are probably the best team in baseball at getting bases loaded and finding a way to at least scrape 1 run across. lol Although yesterday Randy Winn did get a double to give the Giants the 7-5 lead in the top of the 13th.
 
Emmanuel Burris is very hotttttt right now. This guy started the season off in a very big slump. He was batting .161 and then has been on a tear in the past 10 games. He has had multiple hits in 8 out of the last 10 games. His AVG is now .287, and hopefully he keeps the hot swing going.
 

Side Notes
 
Brian Wilson struck out Casey Blake friday night with bases loaded. Then Sunday Blake hits a home run to tie the game in the bottom of the 12th off of Wilson. Blake then sat in the Dodgers dugout and mocked Wilson’s religious cross-arm gesture. Wilson and the rest of the Giants are now heated. Giants will not face the Dodgers again until August.
 
 


blake_wilson.jpg 
Up Next
 
Randy Johnson gets the start tonight against the Washington Nationals. Johnson is looking for win #298. Johnson is also coming off a bad outing in Colorado, so he’s due to pitch a gem today. He’s been outstanding at AT&T Park this year, and also has pitched really well every other game. Which means my money is on a gem from Johnson tonight. Go Giants!
 
~ King of Cali

Giants Opening Day

Let me start off by telling you that no one thought the Giants and Brewers were going to get this game in today. It was raining all morning and didn’t seem like it would let up at all. We did get word that there would be a break in the rain around game time. Turns out they were right and the game started on time.. I woke up this morning and got ready. I put on my Black and Orange Nike Air Force 1’s and my Cy Young Tim Lincecum shirt on. Just ran some errands and came home to watch the game. I took the day off so I can see it on TV. I probably won’t be doing many blogs with this much information about the game in them. I’m just home and on the computer while I’m watching the game.

 

Giants only have 3 players starting that were on the 2008 Opening Day starting lineup. Those 3 players are Randy Winn, Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand.

 

The Giants take the field with 3 players who have proved they can play “D”. Edgar Renteria, Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand have each won the Gold Glove Award in the past.

 

The Giants will have 5 homegrown players starting in today’s Opening Day Lineup. Those players are Travis Ishikawa, Emmanuel Burriss, Pablo Sandoval, Fred Lewis and Tim Lincecum.

 

Giants will have their first homegrown pitcher pitch opening day since 1998 when Shawn Estes got the start.

 

The three players that I heard get the loudest ovation was Pablo Sandoval, Randy Johnson and Tim Lincecum.

 

The weather is cold and damp so they think the weather is perfect for Lincecum, because it’s Seattle weather.

 

Lincecum is the 13th  pitcher to win the Cy Young award on a losing team. Lincecum is also the 2nd San Francisco Giants pitcher to win the Cy Young Award.

 

Lincecum is looking a little to pumped in the first inning. He doesn’t have a good feel for his fastball. It’s going everywhere but the strike zone. Lincecum threw 23 pitches, but does get out of his first inning jam.

 

Giants load the bases in the bottom of the 1st for Ishikawa. He then hits a bomb to the deepest part of the ball park. He hits it to the 421 sign on the brick wall for a 2 out three run triple. After 1 inning it’s the Giants 3 and the Brewers 0.

 

Brewers get on the board with a 2 out double by Jeff Suppan. Rickie Weeks then hits a RBI double. After 1 ½ innings it’s the Giants 3 and the Brewers 2.

 

In the bottom of the 2nd the Giants hit and run with Lincecum at the plate. Brewers 3rd baseman Bill Hall was crashing hard when Lincecum was showing bunt, so he pulled the bat back. He then slapped it right by the 3rd baseman Bill Hall. Randy Winn then hit a sacrifice fly to score Burriss. After 2 innings its 4-2 Giants.

 

Mike Cameron hits a 2 out RBI infield single to make the score 4-3 Giants in the 3rd inning. The Giants go 3 up and 3 down in the bottom of the 3rd inning.

 

Tim Lincecum only pitches 3 innings in the game. Joe Martinez makes his Major League debut taking over for Lincecum in the 4th inning. Brewers tie the game with a hit by Corey Hart and a throwing error by Fred Lewis. Prince Fielder hits a RBI single o score Hart. Brewers take a 5-4 lead over the Giants in the top of the 4th.

 

Ishikawa starts the bottom of the 4th with an infield single. Then the guy that has been in a slump all spring (Aaron Rowand) comes up. He hits a 2 run home run (monster shot) to leftfield to get the Giants back on top 6-5 over the Brewers.

 

Fred Lewis starts the bottom of the 5th with a walk and then Bengie Molina hits a ball off the wall to set up runners at 1st and 3rd.  Sandoval then strikes out and Ishikawa hits an infield pop up to the 3rd baseman. Rowand then walks to load the bases for Burriss. Burriss walks on 4 straight pitches and the Giants get a run. Nate Schierholtz steps to the plate and he grounds out to end the inning. After 5 innings its 7-5 Giants.

 

Brandon Medders shuts the Brewers down in order. They go 3 up and 3 down in the 6th. The Giants also go 3 up and 3 down in the bottom of the 6th. After 6 innings it’s the Giants 7 and the Brewers 5.

 

Prince Fielder starts the 7th off with a double off of Jeremy Affeldt. Hardy grounds out to move Fielder to 3rd base. Cameron then walks to set up 1st and 3rd with one out for Hall. Affeldt gets Hall to ground into a double play to end the inning. Bengie Molina starts the bottom of the 7th with a solo home run to left field. Sandoval follows that up with a stand-up double. Rowand hit a RBI questionable double down 3rd baseline. Scoring on the play was Pablo Sandoval. After 7 innings it’s 9-5 Giants.

 

Howry  lets the Brewers get two guys on but does strike out the side to get out of the jam in the 8th. Randy Winn gets his first hit of the season with a solo home run to a very deep part of the ball park in the bottom of the 8th. The Brewers can’t get any runs across in the 9th. Giants win 10-6 over the Brewers.

 

Highlights

 

Every Giants starter scored a run.

 

Multi Hit Game

 

The Giants have 4 players to have a multi hit game.

 

  • Bengie Molina went 2-5 with 1 RBI and scoring 1 run.
  • Pablo Sandoval went 2-4 and scored 2 runs.
  • Travis Ishikawa went 2-5 with 3 RBI’s and scored 1 run.
  • Aaron Rowand went 2-3 with 3 RBI’s and scored 1 run.
  •  

Home Runs

 

  • Bengie Molina
  • Aaron Rowand
  • Randy Winn 

 

~ King of Cali

Should The Giants Snag Sheffield?

I have been thinking if the Giants should go out and get Gary Sheffield. They would only have to pay him $400,000. The Tigers will have to pay him his $14 Million for this year. He would be a good bat to put in the middle of the
garysheffield.jpglineup. He might not be able to play everyday which would be fine to get other guys playing time. I’m just not sure who I would sit down to get him in the game. Randy Winn is the most consistent player we have had. Aaron Rowand plays center and the Giants want Fred Lewis in left. I think I might just keep moving Winn around and whatever outfielder gets a day off that’s where I would put Winn. I’m still not sold on if I were the Giants if I would do it. It’s just hard to pass up on a power bat like Sheffield’s that’s available for only $400,000. I’m sure he will be signed soon. Just not sure what team will jump out there and snag him.
 
~ King of Cali

White Sox vs. Giants recap.. Today in Baseball History!

Matt Cain gets the start for the San Francisco Giants. Cain was the #1 pick by the Giants in 2002. Owens gets the game started for the White Sox with a lead off walk and then steals 2nd base. Jermaine Dye hits a RBI double. Nate Schierholtz tried to make a diving catch in left field but didn’t come up with the ball. Paul Konerko follows up Dye and also hits a RBI double. Giving the White Sox a 2-0 leading going into the bottom of the 1st. John Danks gets the start for the White Sox. He does give up a lead off single to Randy Winn. Danks gets himself out of the inning by striking out Edgar Renteria and getting Aurilia to ground into a inning ending double play. The White Sox do not score in the top of the 2nd. Giants go 3 up and 3 down in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Carlos Quentin hit his first home run of the spring in the top of the 3rd inning off Cain. After 2 1/2 innings it’s White Sox 3 and the Giants 0. No offense for either team since the White Sox scored their 3 runs. Heading into the 6th it’s the White Sox 3 and the Giants 0. Paul Konerko hits a home run off of Cain in the 6th inning to give the White Sox a 4 run lead. Nate Schierholtz hits a RBI double to get the Giants on the scoreboard. Emmanuel Burriss scores on the hit. Giants now have runners on 3rd and 2nd with 2 outs. The Giants only get the 1 run. The Giants do score again in the bottom of the 7th on a RBI double by Velez. After 7 innings it’s the White Sox 4 and the Giants 2. Merkin Valdez gets the White Sox 3 up and 3 down in the top of the 8th inning. Giants continue to chip away at the lead in the bottom of the 8th. Scott McClain gets a RBI single scoring Ryan Rohlinger. The Giants now have bases loaded with 1 out. Jesus Guzman hits a ground ball to the 3rd baseman but he throws the ball away trying to turn a double play. The Giants score 2 runs on the play. The White Sox do get Frandsen out at 2nd base. Guzman does get 1 RBI out of the play. The Giants take a 6-4 lead over the White Sox. The Giants once again get bases loaded after Burriss getting hit by a pitch. Rohlinger does strike out with bases loaded to end the inning. The visiting White Sox are now down to their final 3 outs. Jeremy Affeldt comes in to try to close out the game. Jesus Guzman makes a diving play at first base to end the game. If the ball would have got by him the White Sox would have tied the game. Final score is White Sox 4 and the Giants 6.
 
White Sox score 4 runs on 8 hits and 1 error. Giants score 6 runs on 11 hits and 0 errors.
 
There is only 1 Giants player with a multi hit game. Randy Winn went 2-3 with 0 RBI’s and 0 runs scored.
 
 
Side Notes
 
Barry Zito will pitch tomorrow for the Giants against the White Sox. Yes the Giants and White Sox play again tomorrow. They have a home and home series these two days.
 
 
Today in Baseball History
 
1989 – Hoping to replace the injured Dave Winfield, the Yankees trade catcher Joel Skinner and a minor leaguer to the Indians for outfielder Mel Hall. The future Hall of Fame outfielder will miss the entire season due to back surgery.
 
~ King of Cali

Giants vs. Cubs recap.. Today in Baseball History

Today’s line up for the Giants might possibly be their opening day starting line up. The big question right now is who will win the starting 2nd base job. It will either be Burriss or Frandsen.
 
Randy Winn
Edgar Renteria
Fred Lewis
Bengie Molina
Pablo Sandoval
Travis Ishikawa
Aaron Rowand
Emmanuel Burriss
Tim Lincecum
 
Ryan Dempster gets the start for the Cubs and Tim Lincecum for the Giants. Randy Winn starts the game off with a single. Fred Lewis who is making his first back to back start of the spring then walks. Giants now have runners on 1st and 2nd. Bengie Molina helps the Cubs get out of the inning by hitting into a double play. Lincecum’s first pitched is hit for a home run by Alfonso (on my fantasy team) Soriano. That’s the first home run or any run for that matter that Lincecum has given up so far this spring. Lincecum then walks the next guy on 5 pitches. This is his 2nd walk of the spring. Doesn’t seem like a typical Lincecum start. Lincecum also walked the next batter Ramirez. Bengie Molina got the first out of the inning by throwing out Theriot who was trying to steal 3rd base. Hoffpauir the Cubs first baseman hit a RBI triple. Fontenot then followed that up with a RBI single up the middle giving the Cubs a 3 run lead. The Giants go 3 up and 3 down in the top of the 2nd inning. Lincecum starts the bottom of the 2nd off by walking the first guy he faces. In the game against Japan Lincecum did walk 3 guys, but those stats do not count on the spring stats. Soriano did get another hit off of Lincecum, but he did get thrown out by Bengie Molina trying to steal 2nd base. No runs scored for the Cubs.
 
Burriss does lead the top of the 3rd inning with a single and moves up to 2nd on a Lincecum sacrifice bunt. Dempster then got the next two guys out to keep the Giants scoreless. Lincecum holds the Cubs scoreless in the 3rd. Sandoval gets a single in the 4th but no other excitement in the inning for the Giants. The Cubs knock Lincecum out of the game in the 4th inning. The did score one more run off of him. Making the score 4-0 Cubs. The Cubs get one more run in the bottom of the 5th. The Giants finally get on the scoreboard in the top of the 6th inning. Bocock and Lewis score for the Giants to cut into the lead. Going into the bottom of the 6th it’s the Cubs 5 and the Giants 2.
 
In the 7th inning the Giants would tack on another run. Jesus Guzman is as hot as they get and doesn’t seem to be cooling off. He hit a solo shot to make the score 5-3 Cubs. Nothing for the Cubs in the bottom of the 7th inning. No runs for the Giants or Cubs in the 8th inning. Velez does hit a ball off the wall to get the speedy Velez a triple. Uribe comes in to pinch hit. He gets a RBI single scoring Velez. Torres gets a single to set up runners at 1st and 2nd for pinch hitter Buster Posey. Posey did get hit by the pitch and now bases are loaded for 19 year old Nick Noonan. Nick Noonan has given the Giants an 8-5 lead with a grand slam with 2 outs in the top of the 9th inning. The Cubs start a rally in the bottom of the 9th, but were only able to get 1 run out of it. Ending the game with bases loaded. The final score is Giants 8 and the Cubs 6.
 
The Giants get 8 runs on 11 hits and 0 errors. The Cubs get 6 runs on 13 hits and 0 errors.
 
Highlights
 
The only Giants player to have a multi hit game is the hot hitting Jesus Guzman. This guy is forcing the Giants to find him a spot on the opening day roster. Guzman went 2-3 with a home run, 1 RBI and scoring 1 run.
 
Tim Lincecum went 3.2 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs, 4 walks and 6 strike outs.
 
Side Notes
 
Cubs announce the #31 will be retired on May 3rd. It’s being retired for two former Cubs players Maddux and Jenkins.
 
Randy Johnson had an MRI and it shows that the his arm is fine. He’s only going to miss one start. Johnson is expected to make his next start Monday against Seattle.
 
Today in Baseball History
 
1985 – Commissioner Peter Ueberroth reinstates Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. The two Hall of Famers had been banned from associating with major league baseball due to their employment with Atlantic City casinos.
 
~ King of Cali

Thoughts on the Giants Spring Training

The Giants have two players right now that are battling it out to be the Giants starting 2nd baseman. Emmanuel Burris and Kevin Frandsen are both stepping up to try to win the starting job. Burriss was the projected short stop until he was having fielding problems in winter league. The Giants then decided to go out and get a short stop and have Burriss compete for the 2nd base job with Kevin Frandsen.
 
Burriss this spring has played 11 games. He’s batting .370, with 10 hits in 27 AB’s.Frandsen is bating .318 with 7 hits in 22 AB’s. He has hit one home run so far, and that’s what the Giants need. They need some home run pop. The Giants do have 19 home runs already this spring. Only 3 players have multiple home runs. Giants infielder Travis Ishikawa is the only projected starter that has multiple home runs. He has 2 home runs in 29 AB’s and is batting .345.
 
Three veteran players are off to a slow start. Bengie Molina, Aaron Rowand and Randy Winn are still trying to get the rust off. Molina is hitting .261in 23 AB’s and has 1 home run. Rowand is hitting .208 in 24 AB’s with 1 home run. Winn is hitting .077 and has 2 hits in 26 AB’s. He just got his 2nd hit snapping his 1-23 streak. I’m not worried about these three guys. These guys are gamers and will be ready to play when it counts. Randy Winn has been the most reliable Giant the past couple of seasons.
 
~King of Cali

If you were a GM what realistic moves would you make for your team this off-season?

Its funny cause I wrote this topic down and was going to post a blog about it.
Thumbnail image for TimLincecum-1.jpgThen I actually found another blog with something similar. It was about the Giants and what they would do if they were the GM. I do give the guy credit because he did put a lot of time and thought into it, but it just wasn’t realistic. What realistic moves would you make with your team. Trades, free agent signings or whatever you can think of. You can’t change any of the teams your team has already made this off-season. Starting today….
 
If I was Brian Sabean I would trade some pitching for a bat. I would trade Jonathan Sanchez to the Florida Marlins for Jorge Cantu. He hit .277 with 29 home runs and 95 RBI’s. That would be the corner infielder they were looking for. He can play 3rd base and then Pablo Sandoval can play first base.
 
Then I would make a hard push for Manny Ramirez. He would be another great bat that would be in the middle of the lineup. Then the Giants would be the favorite in the NL West. They would have a very decent lineup with a great starting rotation.
 
If by any chance the Giants are out of it by trading deadline. Then I would trade Bengie Molina since he’s in his last year of his contact. No need to re-sign him with Buster Posey ready to come up by the end of the season. Posey was drafted by the Giants with the 5th overall pick in the 2008 draft. Randy Winn would like to stay a Giant. He’s been a good Giant too. I would re-sign him if he doesn’t demand a lot of money. If he’s not signed before the trading deadline. I would also trade him as well. To get some minor league player or players. No sense in letting him walk at the end of the season and get nothing in return.

 
~King of Cali

Manny a Giant???

The word on Manny Ramirez right now is that him and Scott Boras are considering an offer
Manny.jpgfrom the Giants. The offer is 3 years and a club option for the 4th year. I have not been able to find out how much per year.

 

Manny make perfect sense for the Giants. They will get their number 4 hitter that they have been looking for. This is a guy that would be able to change the outlook of game by himself. With the good starting pitching that the Giants have. They should pay the money for Manny Ramirez. Like they said on MLB Network. “Manny is a division changer. With the pitching and Manny the Giants will be the favorites in the NL West.

 

The outfield is already set with Aaron Rowand, Randy Winn and Fred Lewis. Fred Lewis will move to the bench and Manny will be in Left Field. Fred Lewis would still be getting a lot of playing time. He can play all 3 outfield positions. He can also come in for defense in the late innings. Now it’s time to play the waiting game and see what Manny decides to do. I’m sure he will want to go back to the Dodgers. AT&T park is not a hitter friendly park.

 

-King of Cali