Brian Sabean said on KNBR that Freddy Sanches shoulder pain is “nothing major”. He will have a cortisone shot and miss Tuesday nights game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are hoping Sanchez will be in the lineup tonight.
Sanchez Last 16 Games
R 9 HR 4 RBI 10 AVG .353 SB 1
Sanchez Season Stats
R 54 HR 7 RBI 45 AVG .295 SB 3
The San Francisco Giants have been hitting their share of homers lately. They have 12 in their last five games, and 15 in their last seven. A team early in the year that was desperate for some pop seems to have a lot of it right now.
Magic Number 4
It’s a combined number of Padres losses and Giants wins. If the Giants win tonight and the Padres lose. Then the new magic number will be 2.
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle says Freddy Sanchez will undergo an MRI exam today on his right shoulder. Sanchez can still swing the bat, but he’s not able to make any throws. Sanchez did play in yesterday’s game like this, and was able to hit a homerun.
Sanchez said “We’ll see. Obviously, I want to do everything I can to be in there. At the same time, I don’t want to hurt the team in any way if I can’t make a play or turn a double play.”
I asked the Giants Beat writer Chris Haft if he still wants to see Sanchez at second base for his bat, or just have him grab some pine and just pinch hit.Haft said, “Freddy’s swinging the bat so well that it’s tempting to leave him in there. But I think you have to go with Fontenot. If you can’t turn double plays, you’re hurting the team.”
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle says Edgar Renteria might retire after this season. Renteria has had three trips to the disabled list this year. Renteria also acknowledged he didn’t live up to the deal (2-yrs 18.5 Million).
Renteria said, “I’m not proud of what I’ve done. If they pay me to play, I just want to give back, not get injured. that’s me.”
Side Notes
Juan Uribe hit two homers in the same inning. Last time that was done by a Giant was in 2007 by Bengie Molina. Did I forget to mention that one of the homers by Uribe was a grand slam? The last time two homers by a Giants in the same inning and one was a grand slam was hit by Willie McCovey in 1977.
Ann Killion of Sports Illustrated has a piece on Buster Posey that ran this week in the magazine. It’s a very good article for you die hard Posey fans. In the article it says Joe Torre said Posey deserves the award (Rookie of the Year) because of “the position he’s playing and offensively what he’s done.”
I asked Ann how she’s feeling about the Giants chances to make the playoffs.Ann said, “I’m feeling pretty optimistic. Posey is key. The pitching staff seems to righted itself. Will be an exciting week & a half!”
Side Notes
Ed Price of FanHouse.com said (via twitter) the Giants have gone 20 games without allowing more than 4 runs. No team has done that in 21 straight since 1981 A’s. Last team with 22 was the 1972 Cubs.
Torres Updated
Andres Torres is hoping he an return this weekend against the Colorado Rockies. His spark at the top of the Giants lineup is surely missed!
The San Francisco Giants start their final road trip of the season, so I asked Giants Beat writer Chris Haft if he’s worried about the Padres, Rockies or Braves. Haft said he’s “worried” about all the Giants competitors. The Giants need to take care of their own business. If they do that, it doesn’t matter what the Padres, Rockies or Braves do.
Side Notes
Mychael Urban tweets that Jose Guillen is taking throws at first base during batting practice with a first baseman’s glove. Things to think about to get the best bats in the lineup at all times.
Buster Posey has 117 hits so far this season. That’s the most by a Giants rookie since Marvin Benard hit 121 in 1996.
The San Francisco Giants were able to avoid the sweep and take the last game in a 3 game series with the Brewers. Barry Zito picked up his first win since July 16th.
Torres Update
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News said Andres Torres took some swings with a fungo bat off a tee. He said he felt fine and the team expects to clear him to resume taking batting practice on Tuesday in Chicago.
Sandoval’s Offseason
Larry Baer said on KNBR that Pablo Sandoval will be in San Diego during the offseason and will not play winter ball. Sandoval will focus on nutrition this offseason.
Tweetup Happy Hour
Earlier this season, the Giants and Twitter hosted the first official Tweetup at AT&T Park. The event was such a success that they decided to do it again, but this time it’s “Tweetup Happy Hour!”
Playoff Tickets
2010 Potential Division Series Playoff tickets go on sale Tuesday morning at 10am.
I recently had a little conversation with Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (via email), and I asked him if he thinks the San Francisco Giants will end up on top of the NL West when it’s all said and done?
Crasnick said, “I’m starting to like their chances, given the way the pitchers are ramping it up in September. The Padres are on fumes, and the Rockies now have to go on the road, where they haven’t played well all season.”It’s always nice to see the Giants get some love from someone with ESPN. =)
The San Francisco Giants are playing their last game against the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight. The Giants are 9-8 against the Dodgers this year. I’m hoping after tonight it will be 10-8, so we can win the season series, and most importantly tonight’s game!
Key To The Game
Giants are 57-18 when scoring first, so let’s hope Jonathan Sanchez pitches 3 up and 3 down to start the game. Then a leadoff homer sounds like a nice way for us to start off the game offensively. I really don’t care how they score. We just need our bats to wake up, so we don’t have to hope for another outstanding start from our pitching staff.
One For The Record Books
Matt Cain is the first Giants pitcher with 200 IP in 4 consecutive seasons since 1970.
Hurt But Ready To Play!
Jose Guillen had an epidural shot for a bulging disk in his neck. Guillen is expected in the lineup tonight.
The San Francisco Giants are still not sure if they will be starting the season off in Taiwan against the Diamondbacks. If they do it will be a 2 game series. The games will be considered home games for the Diamondbacks and will be held at the end of March. The Giants would then fly back and get in 2 more exhibition games against the A’s, and then continue the season in Los Angeles against the Dodgers on Friday April 1st.
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle says, players would earn $10,000 apiece for going to Taiwan and are negotiating to ensure coaches and other team employees get the same. Now I need to figure out how to be a team employee by the end of March!
David Biderman of The Wall Street Journal says a study was done that a 48% increase in a team’s attendance makes that team score an extra run every game. He said if the Padres had 100% attendance in every home game this season they would have 3.41 additional wins. I guess Giants fans are sure glad they would rather surf instead of going to watch their team play.
