the giants, the giants . . . . . the bondsless wonders. lots of teeth gnashed by the bay this summer, but it's all so very simple: take bonds outta that lineup and the team's no good.
still, they're one of the more interesting franchises and definitely one of the better blogged ones --- cyberliterate fan base and all that. the giants' SB Nation affiliate is called McCovey Chronicles, penned with the bitter fatalism of 19th-century russian fiction. read, enjoy, then go slit wrists. then there's the fiery el lefty malo, who posted recently about mike matheney's unexpected power surge --- am i the only one who didn't know matheney had 9 dingers and 42 rbis in the 1st half, with a slugging pct of .450? another very good read: only baseball matters, which has covered the steroids controversy all year and the giants' disintegration all season. last week he compared the giants' trajectory to that of the cardinals since the two teams met in the 2002 playoffs: "The Cards got younger, faster, and better. The Giants got older, slower and worse." no, i don't think that's it. like i keep saying: bonds, bonds, bonds.
here's an article about the trade market for eddie guardado, seattle's lh relief specialist. and here's tonight's matchup. two erstwhile aces, mulder and schmidt; if you watch the game, take note of how many swinging strikes mulder gets --- and whether they come on pitches in or out of the strike zone.