Why you shouldn’t post personal stuff on the internet, example #439567182.

1. After a nice victory on Saturday where you get the save, go out to celebrate a little.
2. Have a bit of trouble with some folks at the bar, but it’s no big deal, you resolve it.
3. Twitter about it after you get back to your hotel room late.
4. Wake up for day game the next day. Blow the save that would have given the Giants a sweep of the D-backs, and a winning record. Make your manager empty out the bullpen in what eventually becomes a come-from-ahead loss in extra innings.
5. Deny that you were out late the night before. Delete all of your Twitter posts. Add a disclaimer that all your posts are “made-up stories that reflect my sense of humor”
6. When asked about it, deny everything.
7. Come in the next game against the archrival Dodgers, strike out the side to get the save.
8. Show some semblance of remorse (without admitting anything) in the post-game interview.

Do I think Brian Wilson was partying on Saturday night? Probably.

Was he covering things up? He pretty much had no choice but to do what damage control he did.

Should I care what baseball players do on their spare time?  It matters if it affects your performance the next day.

Did he redeem himself on Monday? Heck yeah.

As Mike Krukow mentioned during the telecast, closers can’t apologize for messing up- they just have to go out the next day, get back on the horse again, and do their job. Hopefully this was chalked up to the indiscretion of youth and a lesson learned.

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The hardy few who read this blog may be aware of the @giantsquotes Twitter featured here- basically whenever I hear something cool from Kruk and Kuip on the radio or TV, I enter the quote there. I think the witticisms of Kruk and Kuip are well worth recording, and Twitter seemed a convenient way to do that.

Kind of like how MySpace has become a place for bands, Twitter has now become the thing to do for individual celebrities. Among the Giants who are using Twitter are Brian Wilson (@BrianWilson38) and Barry Zito (@BarryZito).

Barry Zito’s has some interesting quotes that show his reputation as a man of many layers:

“I’m not portrayed in moneyball, but if I had a choice I’d have Christian Bale play me. haha”

“Seriously guys, is anything ever going to be cooler than Voltron?”

“Just sang [Eric] byrnes a ballad and he got emotional, now he’s scowling at me for tweating this”

“Sleeping next to a fish tank reminds me of being a kid, except as an adult salt water fish are more doable, thus seahorses.. ahhhh”

Brian Wilson’s tweets show an interest in UFC, Rock Band (the video game), and foods he likes to eat. I also get the impression that he listened to a lot of House of Pain when he was younger, and probably owned a Celtics Starter jacket. Here are a few of his more memorable quotes:

“Nothing beats dogpiling on the baseball mound-other sports have too many weird man hugs that turn into awkward spurts of close talking”

On the secret to his fastball:

“For those about to rock(we salute you)”-i call no man out, i simply say Rockband is the recipe for throwing smoke-end of story

He calls Barry Zito “Baron Von Zitenhowsen”. Wonder if that’s an inside joke of some kid.

Interestingly enough, the two teammates don’t follow each other.

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The Pablo-as-backup-catcher experiement didn’t last long. After Tuesday night’s game, Alex Hinshaw’s been sent down and Steve Holm was called up.  I think having the backup catcher provides much more flexibility than having 12 pitchers- there were several situations over this homestand where Bengie Molina got on base late in the game but they couldn’t pinch run for him. Well, now they can. If the starting pitching can remain consistent, I think they can get by with 11 pitchers.

While on the subject of pitching, the Giants also adjusted the pitching rotation to a slightly modified five-man format. With the two off days this week, Jonathan Sanchez will be skipped and be available for long relief.

So this weekend against Arizona, instead of Sanchez/Lincecum/Johnson, it will be Lincecum/Johnson/Cain.  Sanchez presumably will rejoin the rotation with the second Dodgers game on 4/28. I think this is a good move for a few reasons:

• Sanchez has pitched relief before so it shouldn’t be a big deal
• Lincecum can now pitch the last game against the Dodgers on 4/29
• The pitch counts for the starters have been relatively low thus far
• Any chance you get to give your top starters an extra start while still giving them normal rest, you gotta do it.

So, good move, Bruce Bochy- hope it works out.

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Well, that was a craptastic road trip. But it’s over now.

Here’s an unlikely cross promotion I thought I’d never see at a baseball game: Monday, April 27, the first home game against the Dodgers, is  Star Trek Movie Night, complete with a giveaway of “live long and prosper” foam fingers and a Star Trek-themed costume contest. Talk about “thinking outside the box”.

Read the press release

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With the spring training games all but over, the Giants roster is now pretty much set. I’m not sure how long the “no backup catchers other than Pablo Sandoval” thing will work out. However I think the rest of the bench is pretty solid.

The bullpen is…different. I’m not convinced yet it’s better, but we shall see. Hope Travis Ishikawa is not next in the Giants’ long recent line of AAAA hitters. Hope Pablo Sandoval isn’t a complete train wreck at third base.

If these hopes are realized, then I think the Giants have a good chance at, say, 80 or so wins this year.

In related news, was curious to see how some of the recent former Giants have fared this spring training. Here’s a quick summary:

Read More…

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Jesse Foppert, the once highly regarded, but oft-injured prospect who was traded (with Yorvit Torrealba) by the Giants for Randy Winn and then re-signed after being released by the Mariners, is recovering from his latest injury (knee) and expects to resume playing in either AA or AAA. He’s in the minor league camp and his fastball has been clocked at 93 mph, so that’s a very encouraging sign considering he hasn’t pitched much these past four years and is still rebuilding his arm strength. Hope he can make it back and help the Giants.

Read the full article

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Nice feature article today on ESPN.com about Pablo Sandoval. That’s really high praise, Willie McCovey comparing him to Alberto Pujols. While I wouldn’t go quite that far yet, it should be noted that Pujols was not exactly a highly regarded prospect either. The other comparisons mentioned included Bobby Bonilla, Terry Pendleton, and (the young) Mo Vaughn. It’ll be interesting to see if the “Kung Fu Panda” moniker given by his teammates sticks.

I don’t really agree with the observation itself, but I actually like the Dodger comment about Pablo being “cocky”. First of all, anything that annoys the Dodgers is fine by me. Second, it’s been awhile since we’ve heard that about a Giants player.

Read the full article

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