I’m in between a couple of STAT-y posts, so I’m going to go the easy route today and just share some Giants related news.
Hot out of the oven!
~ A couple of pieces of information on SFGiants.com. First, the Giants have trimmed their ST roster by five players. Pat Misch, Ronnie Ray, Todd Jennings, Ramon Ortiz, and Josh Phelps have all been either optioned to the minors or moved to the minor league camp. Poor Josh Phelps just can’t get a break. He only got 8 at-bats with the Giants this ST, but his career line of: .273/.343/.472 would make him the best hitter since Barry Bonds*! You’ve got to feel for Phelps. He’s obviously got a major league bat, but he just can’t seem to get consistent work.
*slight hyperbole
Second, the Giants have discovered that, for their pitchers, walking everyone in the universe is a bad thing. Best quote from this article goes to Barry Zito:
“Obviously, I could do without the walks,” Zito said.
Obviously.
~ Baggs has some new info on A-U-Hay-Knee-Oh Velez. The Giants are hoping that he can help to spell Rowand in CF from time to time during the regular season.
The Giants gave Velez a few innings there earlier this spring, but he hasn’t seen anything close to regular time at the position in his career. A half-season there in 2007, mostly at Double-A, and that’s about it.
Interesting. Velez sure has enough speed to play CF, but his metal glove of defensive comedy might not play as well. It seems the only position that’s left for Velez to play is catcher and first base. Can you imagine the days in the minors when he was a shortstop? I wish I could have seen that spectacle.
~ ST Recap: The Giants rolled the Brewers 8-6 in an exciting — as far as ST goes — game. Juan Uribe and John Bowker hit back-to-back home runs in the 6th and Ryan Rohlinger hit a walk-off 3-run HR in the bottom of the 9th. Zito tossed 4 innings and gave up 2 earned runs.
~ Blogmates RMC, are talking some Fred Lewis and his new role as “#3 hitter”. Nice read from one of the better Giants blogs out there.
~ Fellow BtB writer, Graham Goldbeck, has some really interesting plots based on batter swings outside of the strike zone. Can you guess who he plotted? Follow the link to find out!