Friday, April 30, 2004

 

Brian Dallimore

Welcome to the big leagues, Brian Dallimore. Grand slam for your first MLB hit? Good work! Here's hoping you stay a while. You have earned this!

Jefferson 8:03 PM

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Wednesday, April 28, 2004

 

Just Plain Awful

The awfulness of the 2004 Giants has overwhelmed my ability or desire to rant in depth. I'll just mention another indication that there's just no hope for this squad:

The Giants have won 8 games this year. In those games, they outscored their opponents by a total of 14 runs. That's an average margin of victory of 1.75 runs.

The Giants have lost 13 games this year. In those game, their opponents have outscored them by a total of 58 runs. That's an average loss by 4.46 runs.

When they win, they barely win; when they lose, they get blown out. Even if they bounce back a little, this is not a recipe for success, unless you count winning 70 games as "success."

Jefferson 11:11 AM

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Saturday, April 24, 2004

 

Ogre Miniatures Back In Stock

Longtime readers of Skaldheim will recall my dismay when Steve Jackson Games closed their miniatures division last August. I predicted a very long hiatus for my favorite line of theirs, Ogre Miniatures.

I'm happy to say that I was wrong.

SJ Games' main sculptor, Richard Kerr, restarted his own company, Grey Cat Productions, and licensed the production of SJ Games' miniatures lines, including Ogre.

Just a few minutes ago I received the following e-mail from Warehouse 23, which is SJ Games' online store:

The following items are back in stock after a prolonged absence:

Ogre Miniatures:
Ranger Heavy Tank - http://www.warehouse23.com/item.cgi?SJG10-0201
Banshee Missile Tank - http://www.warehouse23.com/item.cgi?SJG10-0202
Raptor GEV - http://www.warehouse23.com/item.cgi?SJG10-0203
Combine Infantry - http://www.warehouse23.com/item.cgi?SJG10-0210
Jaeger Heavy Tank - http://www.warehouse23.com/item.cgi?SJG10-0501
Ajax Missile Tank - http://www.warehouse23.com/item.cgi?SJG10-0502
Galahad GEV - http://www.warehouse23.com/item.cgi?SJG10-0503
Cossack LGEV - http://www.warehouse23.com/item.cgi?SJG10-0505
Hammer Light Tank - http://www.warehouse23.com/item.cgi?SJG10-0508
Paneuropean Infantry - http://www.warehouse23.com/item.cgi?SJG10-0510

So Ogre Miniatures are back, and I wish Richard Kerr and Steve Jackson Games success with their new partnership. Many thanks to Paul Chapman for answering the millions of questions disgruntled Ogre fans have posted over the last 8 months.

Jefferson 10:12 AM

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Thursday, April 22, 2004

 

Rock Bottom??

Last night was awful. Unbelievably horrible. Hope seems like a very distant mirage to Giants fans right now. Sometimes, it's just good to wallow a bit. Let's wallow in some of the unlovely totals, as Joe Angel might say:

Last night's score: Padres 11, Giants 0.

Giants' current record: 6-9

Giants' current win %: .400 (12th in NL)

Giants' season record if they finish at .400: 65-97

Giants runs scored: 58 (12th in NL)

Giants runs allowed: 80 (12th in NL)

Giants' Pythagorean win %: .333

Giants' Pythagorean season record: 54-108

Giants team hitting: .252/.333/.394

Giants team OPS: .727 (12th in NL)

Giants team hitting, excluding Bonds: .231/.288/.375

Giants team OPS, excluding Bonds: .663 (15th in NL)

Giants team ERA: 5.18 (13th in NL)

That's enough ugliness.

Is this a decent team having a horrible homestand? Or is this just a bad team? It's too early to say yet, but the evidence is not encouraging. Alfonzo and Pierzynski should hit better as the season goes on. Last night's Schmidt should be an aberration. Aside from that, there's little hope for great improvement. You can't even look to Bonds--he simply won't continue at an OPS of over 2.000. At his very best, he can't carry the 2004 Giants. When he cools down to his normal OPS of 1.300 or so...well, now we're venturing into Lovecraft country.

Knowing Brian Sabean, there will be further massive changes to this team.

Jefferson 11:20 AM

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Sunday, April 18, 2004

 

Now On Deck....Forever....

Funny thing happened at the old ballyard today. Bottom of the ninth inning, Bonds on deck, Giants trailing in a close game. And the guy batting in front him (which was Grissom today) makes the final out, leaving the best hitter on the planet in the on-deck circle.

Again.

That's twice in two days, and at LEAST four times this year. That's four losses this year where Barry could have made a difference, but he never got to the plate. Four plate appearances Barry didn't get because Felipe Alou doesn't seem to understand that the further down the order you put someone, the less he can help your offense.

Alou's refusal to bat Bonds third (or higher) in the lineup has definitely cost the Giants at least one win, at Bonds four plate appearances. Given Bonds' current numbers, that's two or three baserunners he's denied himself.

Considering that the ONLY significant offense the Giants have is coming from Durham, Grissom, and Bonds, wouldn't you want to get them as many at-bats as possible?

Being swept by the Dodgers, at home, losing each game by one run, and TWICE with Bonds left in the on-deck circle, demands a review of the situation.

It doesn't matter that Bonds went 4-for-4 today with two homers and 5 RBI. The Giants lost anyway, maybe because Bonds couldn't get that fifth at-bat. The Giants could have overcome a horrid performance by Brett "Bombko," but they denied themselves the chance. Again.

The mark of a good manager is making the most of what you've got. Alou has crap to work with--and he's not getting the most from it, by any stretch.

Jefferson 8:51 PM

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Friday, April 16, 2004

 

You're Fired!

Sorry, I watched "The Apprentice" last night, which I have to admit has some relation to the Giants roster at the moment. On the 6th, I noted that a lot of the new Giants players would have to prove themselves early on if they wanted to keep their roster spots. Otherwise, The Sabean would wave his hand and scream "you're fired!" The Giants have now played nine games, which is not nearly enough time to get a real handle on any player's value. Right now, Sabean's like a day trader on a Red Bull IV drip. He's trying to catch the wave, any wave, and he'll buy and sell at will until he finds a winner.

Let's take a quick look at the latest batch of "buys":

David Aardsma: 1-0, 2.70 ERA, 3.00 WHIP. 3.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 4 BB vs. 1 K. He's either gotten really lucky or he's been really good pitching out of jams. No way he lasts in the bigs if he keeps putting 3 guys on per inning. For now, he's a budding fan favorite, and he'll be around a couple more weeks at least.

Leo Estrella: 27.00 ERA, 6.75 WHIP. 1.1 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 K. Utter disaster, taken off the 40-man roster. That made room for Jeffrey Hammonds to return from the DL. For four days, the Giants carried 11 pitchers, which would be enough for He's better than this, but he had a horrible week and proved my point.

Wayne Franklin: four innings of scoreless relief, 1 BB vs. 3 K. He's bought himself a longer look in the bullpen. Is Alou smart to keep him in the bullpen, instead of calling him as a fifth starter? Time will tell.

The question of what to do with Franklin has really shaped the first week of Giants transactions. Would they start him? Would they toss him in the pen? It seems like they couldn't really decide. At first, he was a logical candidate to be a fifth starter while Schmidt was on the DL. Since the Giants didn't need a fifth starter the first time through the rotation, Alou used Franklin out of the pen, and just kept on doing it. Thanks to that, Franklin wasn't available to start on Wednesday. Oops. Better call up Cooper, which means someone has to be sent down. Hmmm...who could that be...?

Tony Torcato: 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB. Used mainly in pinch-hitting roles, he was deemed Ensign Expendable when Cooper was called up. Normally, they'd just reverse the transaction after Cooper's start, but in this case they can't. Cooper is out of options, and after throwing a good game, the Giants will want to keep him around. So Torcato is stuck. The Curse of the 12-Man Pitching Staff strikes again, thus saving a roster spot for...

Kevin Walker: 16.20 ERA, 3.00 WHIP. 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, 1 K. Not very good at all, but the team decided it wanted a 12th pitcher instead of Torcato. Walker has an option left, but he's a lefty reliever, so he gets the second chance that Estrella didn't get. Of course, he could be sent down today to make room for Jason Schmidt, who comes off the DL today. (Alternately, they could disable Ray Durham and go with a 13-man pitching staff...)

Are the new guys in Fresno ready to come up? The early results say "no."

Mike Crudale (AAA Fresno): 5.0 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 10.80 ERA.
Deivi Cruz (AAA Fresno): .263/.300/.263 in 19 AB.
Dave Veres (AAA Fresno): 1.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.

Jefferson 9:26 AM

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Thursday, April 15, 2004

 

Gryffyn Hits 30th Level...Millions Yawn

I really need to come up with a little Final Fantasy XI icon for my very occasional posts on the subject.

Last night, in a marathon 7-hour session, I got Gryffyn up to the milestone level 30. He is now eligible to go out and unlock the cool advanced jobs, and thereby start the levelling treadmill all over again. Oh boy!! Levelling can be deadly dull, because it's so repetitious. Also, you have to commit to 3-4 hours straight to make any progress at all. I have to mix it up with solo pursuits like crafting and farming, which I can do by myself in shorter sessions.

I only play once or twice a week at this point. It works out to about 8 hours a week, which sounds like a lot. The average player, though, seems to be on about 30 hours a week. I can't do that many hours. There's just too much real life stuff to do, and too much Vanad'iel stuff to ever keep up with. Here's my current "to do" list for Gryffyn, for instance:

• Obtain the bard and summoner advanced jobs


• Finish the Rank 4 missions for Windurst


• Level his white mage job up to 18th


• Level his black mage job up to 33rd to catch up with my friends Riloth and Dydo


• Start the thief job, level that up to 15th


• Work on fishing and cooking skills


• Earn enough money to afford all the gear for all these jobs and crafts

That list might take me until Christmas. Ack. I will not be levelling again for a couple of weeks, at least. I think I've cast Thunder on mandragoras about 1000 times in the last three weeks. I need to give Gryffyn a vacation where he can run around and do things just for the fun of it.

If it sounds like FF XI is a chore at times, well, it is. Because it's designed for group play, there's a heavy pressure to conform to certain methods of play when you're in a group. Leveling is always done by making a camp, sending a pull to lure a monster back to the camp, and then whacking the heck out of it in a certain way. Everyone goes to the same places to level because you can't get in a group otherwise. It creates its own vicious circle--you can try to do things differently, but it'll take twice as long to convince everyone to try it. At least. So you give up and conform.

I'd love to see more options for viable solo play. For now, I'll play solo by crafting, fishing and farming.

Jefferson 11:17 AM

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

 

So Far, So Good

I'm sorry I didn't join my fellow bloggers in waxing rhapsodic about last night's game, but I, uh, fell asleep in the 3rd inning of the A's game and didn't wake up until morning. Really.

Obviously, I'm pleased about the first two games of the season. Here's a few random observations:

The Giants defense is very good. The defense will keep the team in a lot of games this year.

The new guys (Walker, Estrella, Torcato, Franklin, even Aardsma) are under a lot of pressure to prove themselves quickly. If they don't (Estrella), they'll be soon replaced by guys coming back from the DL (Eyre), or other new guys (Veres). If they do a good job in the first week or two, they could win a permanent spot on the roster. For this reason, the early part of the schedule is more like spring training than usual. Expect to see Alou run guys out here just to get an idea what he has.

I've never seen Neifi play as well as he did tonight. It's enough to raise the glimmer of hope that shortstop won't be a total bust this year.

Barry Bonds looks like he's having fun playing baseball. This is a really good sign. (By the way, his website has his first message to the fans.)

Matt Herges looks like the real deal. I'm at least as comfortable with him closing as I was with Worrell. And kudos to Alou for bringing him in during the 8th.)

I can see why the Giants are so high on David Aarsdma. Good velocity, good movement. Very young, very raw, he has a lot to learn. With that many pitches, he could be a starter, but I'm glad they're starting him in long relief. That will save wear on his arm. Hanging out with veterans might help him learn the art of pitching faster, as well. I know that's not the usual wisdom, but what the hell, I'm not really in charge of anything.

That stupid hill in center field at Houston is the stupidest fake retro feature in any ballpark ever.

Finally: if you're not geeked about watching Bonds vs. Clemens tomorrow, you need a mortician.

Jefferson 8:59 PM

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Sunday, April 04, 2004

 

Rosters and Records

The Giants have set their 25-man roster for the 2004 season. Most remarkable is that David Aardsma has made the club. The Giants are not known for rushing A-ball pitchers to the bigs, at least not unless it's an emergency with lots of injuries to the staff. So in this case, it makes perfect sense. Seriously, though, Aardsma won the spot in the bullpen over new acquisitions Mike Crudale and old hands like Chad Zerbe, who was designated for assignment. Looks like the kid has impressed the hell out of Sabean and Alou; I wish him great success.

When Aardsma pitches in his first game, he will break Henry Aaron's all-time record. No, not the one that Barry Bonds is chasing (though that would explain the quick promotion). No, this is the record that not even Bonds was born to beat. In the all-time alphabetical list of Major League Baseball players, Aaron has long been first. When he enters his first game, though, Aardsma will take his place.

Of course, that Bonds fellow is chasing down Aaron in that somewhat more obscure category of career home runs. While a lot of ink, trees and tears have fallen this winter talking about the legal and pharmaceutical gossip, the actual chase itself has almost been forgotten. Let's reset the situation:

Hank Aaron 755
Babe Ruth 714
Willie Mays 660
Barry Bonds 658

Barry needs only 3 home runs to pass his godfather. He could conceivably do it before the Giants home opener. The Giants open the season in Minute "Made For Homers" Park. Three homers in the first three games? Very possible. Bonds has even been hot in spring training recently. Can you imagine Barry Bonds hitting #661 off of Roger Clemens on Wednesday? That would be amazing.

To join the 700 homer club, Bonds will need to crank 42 home runs this season. In his last four seasons, Bonds has hit 49, 73, 46 and 45 home runs. Hitting 42 would seem almost automatic, but Bonds has to avoid injury and the progression of age. Bonds turns 40 this year. Hitting 42 homers when you're forty years old is nearly unheard of. Of course, Bonds specializes in accomplishing the unheard of.

Could Barry catch the Bambino this year? That would require hitting 56 home runs this year. Possible? I can imagine it, but I would be extremely shocked. It would make for a great story, and a real conundrum for the "Bonds is juicing" crowd.

It's far more reasonable to expect 30-35 home runs this year. Bonds played only 130 games last year. Even though a dozen of those, or thereabouts, were due to personal issues instead of injury, it's not realistic to expect him to play 140-150 games this year. More likely age and injury will reduce his playing time, and his effectiveness.

I would, however, love to be wrong.

Bonds is closing in on a few other statisical milestones. If he scores only 59 more runs this year, he will join the 2000-runs-scored club, which has only six other members, led by the immortal Rickey Henderson. Assuming Rickey does not play this year, Bonds needs only 120 walks to tie him for the career walks crown. He's also 118 RBI away from tying Giants great Mel Ott for 10th in all-time RBI. He might also crack the top 25 in career games played. (That's if he plays in 131 games this year, which would be a good omen for the Giants' season.)

Of course, there are 23 other guys on the roster aside from Aardsma and Bonds. If I don't get sucked into endless hours of Final Fantasy XI today, I'll post some comments about the rest of the squad. Particularly, how April for the 2004 Giants is like extended spring training....

Jefferson 9:29 AM

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Thursday, April 01, 2004

 

Oooh...

If Sabean is making multiple runs to CostCo for pitching, why doesn't he throw in a Milton Bradley while he's at it? I know we already have a million outfielders, but we'll find a spot for a guy with a 900+ OPS.

Put him on the Giants, and the spotlight will be off him. Barry's good for that.

Jefferson 2:42 PM

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Shelby on Woolard & Villanueva

The other day I wrote about the trade that brought Wayne Franklin & Leo Estrella to the Giants. I really didn't know anything about the two prospects the Giants sent to the Brewers to complete the transaction. As I hoped, Stephen Shelby has popped up with a thorough and reassuring analysis of Woolard & Villanueva. It's posted over at Fogball, but here's the key thing for me:

I imagine that most Giants fans are unimpressed with Franklin and Estrella, but they cost relatively little in my opinion: two marginal prospects. I write this partially to answer a question posed by Skaldheim whether the Giants gave up too much to acquire Franklin.

As unimpressive as Franklin and Estrella may be, I think we gave up even less to get them.

Many thanks to Stephen Shelby for the information--I encourage you all to head over to Fogball to read the whole piece.

Jefferson 9:40 AM

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