There has been talk that Bruce Bochy is a potential Hall of Fame manager, but any manager is only as good as his players. Now, Giants GM Brian Sabean has to make certain Bochy has the players.
This World Series championship team was much different than the first one just two years ago, which got contributions from players who were either not that good or, in the case of Edgar Renteria, having one last shot in a solid career. That was not a team for the ages.
This one, though, has a chance to remain competitive for the main prize, if Sabean can keep the pieces together.
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Madison Bumgarner channeled his success in the 2010 World Series and the Giants made big plays from spectacular to bizarre to beat the Detroit Tigers 2-0 on Thursday and also take a 2-0 World Series lead back to Detroit.
Now, the Giants will have their two top starters in the postseason, Ryan Vogelsong and Matt Cain, ready to go in games 3 and 4. It’s too early to celebrate, but the Giants are definitely in the driver’s seat.
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The Giants were shoved to the brink of extinction Thursday night by the St. Louis Cardinals and now, trailing 3-1, they trot Barry Zito out.
Oh, my.
There is one tiny ray of hope for the Giants. If they could somehow win today and take the NL Championship Series back to San Francisco, they’d have Ryan Vogelsong and Matt Cain ready for the final two games.
But, have I said they’re starting Barry Zito today?
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Playoff games don’t count in voting for seasonal awards, but Buster Posey certainly looked like an MVP as the Giants completed a remarkable comeback Thursday in Cincinnati, the first National League team to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a division series.
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Despite multiple local examples to the contrary, some writers insist that team chemistry was essential to the Giants success this year.
Really? How then, do you explain the success of the 2002 Giants, who had no “chemistry” at all. Jeff Kent absolutely hated Barry Bonds. We’ll never know what Bonds thought of Kent because he didn’t talk to anybody in the clubhouse, taking up four lockers as he spread out on a couch to ease his aching back. But both Kent and Bonds played their best throughout a World Series the Giants should have won.
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In the end, the horrible missed calls at the end of the “Monday Night Football” game was the best thing that could have happened to the NFL, because it got the attention of league owners and gamblers.
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Manager Bruce Bochy’s decision-making will be vital to the Giants’ chances in the playoffs.
That starts with his decisions on starting pitching because, except for Matt Cain, the starters have all had woeful periods. Cain had his own mini-slump, but he’s come out of it and, given decent run support for the first time in his Giants career, he’s won 15 games, one of them a perfect game. It’s a no-brainer to say he should pitch the first game.
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Even though they went 13-3 in the regular season last year and nearly beat the New York Giants in the NFC Championship Game, the 49ers still don’t get the respect they deserve from the national media.
The whole offseason we saw stories that essentially said the 49ers’ previous season was a fluke, that they wouldn’t be able to go through a season with so few injuries, that they wouldn’t be able to sneak up on teams this season.
And, oh yes, that quarterback Alex Smith was only average, a mere “game manager.” USA Today had him as 17th among NFL quarterbacks.
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It may seem strange to say that a man who stands 6-foot-6 and weighs probably more than 300 pounds is bigger than life, but Don Nelson, who will be inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame today, is exactly that.
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Last year, 49ers fans were happily surprised by the team’s record. This year, the happy surprise will be a revitalized offense.Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman kept the offense basic last season for two reasons: 1) Quarterback Alex Smith was learning a new system — again! and 2) The 49ers didn’t have the receivers to open up the field.
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Beating Nevada might seem a given for the Cal football team in its first game Saturday in its renovated stadium, but not for coach Jeff Tedford. “I remember what happened the last time we played,” Tedford said.
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The Giants pulled off an amazing sweep of the Dodgers in Los Angeles this week, which was a compliment both to their resiliency and the ability of manager Bruce Bochy to make the right decisions.
The first decision came Tuesday night, when Tim Lincecum started struggling in the sixth inning. Bochy has always stayed with his top starters and let them work out of trouble, but Lincecum is not in that category this year.
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May 26, 2011, was a dark day in Giants history, when Buster Posey suffered an injury that ended his season and the Giants’ chances for the postseason. Wednesday will be remembered as an almost equally bad day as the Giants hit the terrible trifecta: Melky Cabrera was suspended for 50 days for taking a banned substance, Tim Lincecum’s struggles continued and the Giants lost their fifth game of the six played against the Washington Nationals, who have the best record in Major League Baseball.
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Al Davis must be spinning in his grave. Raiders practices are open to the public? Horrors, everybody will know our secrets. Rich Gannon is invited to talk to players? That traitor! Assistant coaches are allowed to talk to the media?
The media are our enemies!
Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie played four years for the Raiders, 1985-88, but he had also worked in the Green Bay organization since 1994. It’s clear which model he’s following. There are no more silly slogans. The Raiders are being run like a professional organization.
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Don’t believe the naysayers. The 49ers will have another outstanding year, win the NFL West easily and be in the Super Bowl hunt again. It wouldn’t shock me if they won the Super Bowl for the first time since the dynasty years.
The latest cliche is that the 49ers will have a target on their backs because of their 2011 success. That’s ridiculous. NFL teams look at the team that won the Super Bowl, going over game videos and prepare to beat the champ.
That’s why it’s so difficult to repeat as Super Bowl champions.
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