Schmiddtie! My man threw a complete, one-hit, shutout tonight in Chicago! He's got his control and velocity back baby! And thirteen strikes out - woohoo. Offensively, our boys have still got to step up (we only scored one run tonight). These days, any win will do, whether it's by one run or a landslide, I'll take it!

Randy Johnson - this man just absolutely DOMINATES when he's on the mound. He pitched a perfect game against Atlanta, of all teams, with thirteen strikeouts and the last batter he faced, struck out on a 96mph cutter! For a 40-year old man, that is serious velocity and power! I was just so happy to see his teammates so excited for him - I feel like our Giants clubhouse just doesn't have that energy right now...

NEWS: Community Gatepath, the largest nonprofit serving individuals with disabilities in San Mateo County, will celebrate Community Night at SBC Park on Wednesday, June 23, when the Giants take on the Dodgers! It's a 7:15pm start time. The Centerfield Bleacher tickets will be sold for $11.00 each. For more info., feel free to contact info@gatepath.com

Sad statistic of the day - giants GIDP for Sunday's game = 2. that brings it to 48 double plays for the year, which is ten more than the total number of games they've played so far. David Bush of sfchronicle.com reports..."they're on pace for 205 - the ML record is 174." We're also the only NL team that has not thrown a shutout.

Nen - Damian Esper, a contributor to mlb.com, reports that Nen, once again, was sent home (S. CA) to take a month off from throwing and rehab. Apparently, he still felt pain in his throwing arm after some throwing/catching sessions. Esper has some cool tidbits in his "Odds and Ends" section... I was particularly scared to read about his report that "the giants have not had consecutive losing months since 96, when they were under .500 in each of the final five months in that season"... yikes.

More about Nen... Henry Schulman, Chronicle Staff Writer reports on Nen's passion for the game... ""It's just the passion for the game. I want to go out and play," he said, adding he will fight "until my body tells me I can't do it anymore."

Brian Murphy of the Chronicle solicited some thoughts about the Giants' pitching rotation in today's Brian Sabean show on KNBR. One of the key things Sabean mentions is how Reuter, Tomko and Hermanson have to get to the point where they can get through 6+ innings. They've consistently been strong for only about 5 innings, which is extremely taxing on our bullpen... Sabean goes on to say that no bullpen, regardless of how strong it is, could handle that load.

Also, Murphy brought up a great point - what do we do about Barry, considering these outstanding numbers: something like 54 walks w/29 intentional this year, so far. Maybe... he should be bumped up to the three-spot and force pitchers to face him in the first inning. Sabean reiterated that regardless of the lineup, Bonds will always be walked, but there may be some flexibility with regards to lining up Grisson, Bonds and Feliz in the future...

My humble opinion... I have always liked Feliz's stuff - his spirit, energy, skills. But, he gets way too 'hungry' with his ABs. It never fails, he will always swing at the first pitch no matter how horrible it looks. The good thing is he absolutely works the count, when he's focused.

Few notes:

I was at last night's game vs. the Phillies - arrived late but in time to see Pedro Feliz's second homerun which came back to earth, past the halfway mark up the LF bleachers! He'll see more ABs this year, as reported by David Bush, an SF Chronicle staff writer. Happy Birthday Felipe Alou!

Also, our winning Ace, Jason Schmidt hit his 3rd career homerun - the last time a giants pitcher hit a homerun was in September 2003 (Russ Ortiz).

Barry needs his rest - he was definitely not his strong imposing self at the plate last night and his swings/approach appeared really odd and off-balance with every AB.

Vida Blue - I was so excited to meet Vida Blue at my office yesterday afternoon! Absolutely a nice, easy-going, casual guy. He was assisting us with our Disabilities Awareness campaign in the public school system. He was an animated reader and was awesome with the 5th graders who were very receptive to our efforts. A big thank you to Vida!

Lucky 8 - I've always appreciated Yorvit Torrealba's energy and everything he brings to the game. For someone who hasn't seen much playtime yet, he was immediately HOT in today's game. He hit his first career grand slam with the first pitch he saw today! Then, goes on to hit the game-winning walk-off double in the 11th against the reigning World Championship Marlins. It was a huge win, all-around. And those pesky Marlins stayed in it, to the very end.

Rich Draper, from MLB.com reports that Bonds has 22 intentional walks this season. ..."Taking the bat out of a super-duper-megaslugger like Bonds does make sense. It's not cheating, not illegal. Besides, given an opportunity to swing this season, he has merely hit .463 with 10 homers, a 1.111 slugging percentage, 22 RBIs and a .526 mark over his last 18 games. Putting his walks into perspective, the second-ranking team in the Majors, Atlanta, has 12 intentional free passes..."

Also, MLB.com radio interviewed Felipe Alou recently. Alou reports that Nen has recently thrown the best he has in the past 18 months. Further, he went on to talk about Barry's mental discipline and recalls a stretch of time last season where Barry only received two hittable pitches within a week, and he sent both of those pitches out of the yard...

Community Gatepath All Stars
We didn't take home the win this past week, but we still looked like WINNERS out there! I'm breaking from tradition, to mention this loss, because I can't keep all this PRIDE to myself!

Highlights:
It was her time to Shine - T.H. brought in 3 runs on 3 hits, with 2RBI - But that's not all - She nearly went for the cycle, hitting a single, a double and triple - If we had one more inning of playtime, I'd bet my money on a homerun, given her hitting pace this season!

Offense:
C.C. hit a powerful single in the 5th inning - so powerful, she had enough time to stare at us in the dugout, and chat us up, BEFORE she safely reached base!
2B: Mitch, Teresa, Alex, Patty, John
3B: Teresa, Alex
*No Homeruns tonight, but our pitcher, A.L., nearly hit one out of the park in Left field (unfortunately, it was beautifully relayed in to home plate, preventing him from scoring a run, by a milli-second!).

Defense:
J.H. showed "mad skillz" as he nearly broke the sound barrier, leaping, fully extended (a witness says he was completely horizontal *he was the witness), into the stratosphere, making the play, catching our opponent’s absolutely mammoth hit out towards left centerfield.

Mitch: 2-4 (2B), 1 run
Teresa: 3-4 (2B, 3B), 3 runs, RBI (2)
Alex: 2-4 (2B, 3B), run, RBI (2)
Patty: 2-4 (2B), 2 runs, RBI (2)
John: 3-4 (2B), run, RBI
Nancy: 2-4, RBI
Chris (Pam’s guest): 2-4, RBI
Pam: Our #1 recruiting agent!
Mark (Pam’s guest): 2-3, run
Cathy: 1-3 (Additional defense notes: our Catcher made two crucial plays at home plate, preventing our opponents from scoring two runs!)

Woohoo - Friday night's 12-9 win over the Marlins was just what we needed! I didn't catch the game at all since I was volunteering at Community Gatepath's Annual Gala fundraiser at the Westin SFO, but rest assured, I was keepin up with the scores via cellphone. Dallimore and Feliz make me a believer again...

Still some concerns, though...sigh...
The Sacramento Bee's Marcos Breton expresses my frustrations well in his article dated Wednesday, 04/28/04, in which he states that the 2004 Giants have been dubbed as "Barry Bonds and the Seven Dwarfs."

"...Ask the Giants about how Bonds is batting near .500 and almost .200 points higher than the next-best hitter in the Giants' lineup, how Bonds' slugging average is higher than that of teammates Neifi Pérez, J.T Snow, Pierzynski and Alfonzo combined, and they get understandably uncomfortable."

Bonds, Bonds, Bonds #668 baby (Bobby Bonds with 332 career HRs + Barry Bonds' 668 career HRs = 1,000).

Paul Lo Duca on intentionally walking Bonds...
"As a fan, you want to say to your grandkid, I saw the best baseball player -- maybe ever -- and I saw him hit an 800-foot home run," L.A. catcher Paul Lo Duca told Dodgers reporters. "But we come to the ballpark to win. If that's what it takes for us to win, we'll do it."

Today was another horrible loss to the reigning World Championship Florida Marlins at SBC Park (Final 4-3, Marlins), but boy was I glad to hear about Bonds 2-2 afternoon (Single, Intentional Walk, HR, Walk)! I love seeing him get pitches.

I was at last night's game, the last in a 3-series game vs. ATL and it was just incredible to witness how our opponents approach Barry's game. Some advances, right before or during Barry's AB, freeing up a base, and there's no doubt about it - no questions asked - he is intentionally walked. Unbelievable.

Later in the game, by sheer luck, a friend of a friend was able to hook us up with two seats down in the Field Club level behind home plate - sec. 112, row J, seat 10 - that's where I was... Absolutley different perspective down there. The Braves' Wise and our own Neifi Perez were dwarfed by the Super-sized likes of Andruw Jones and Barry Bonds. Marcus Giles looked even smaller. It's way different actually hearing the ball hit the catcher's mitt, hearing the crack of the bat when contact is made. My view was lookin right down the 3B line - a well pulled ball by a Rightie, which ordinarily appears to be a straight line-drive, actually works off the spin of the pitch and has a pretty significant curvepath, before it gets toward 3B. Pretty trippy. I can only dream of experiencing that again.

A few observations: Tomko looked good, real good. He pitched into the 7th, facing three batters in that inning. ATL's DeWayne Wise hit a double to right, scoring a run following Michael Hessman's double to right. Then Rafael Furcal hits a rocket single towards Barry and Hessman advances to 3B. At this exact point, I was at the edge of my seat, convinced that Felipe Alou could not only hear me, but sense my pleading heart, to please please please pull Tomko NOW! Remember, at this point, there are still ZERO Outs in the inning, and we're "ONLY" up 10-4 at the moment (usually, that would be a real good cushion to work with, but I know better from what I've experienced so far, this season!); I swear it felt like eternity just watching and waiting for Alou to move that foot from the top step of the dugout onto the field - I was obsessed with his foot movement.

At long last, movement on to the field. I immediately stood up to give Tomko props - those around me said he didn't 'deserve' a standing ovation, but I was pretty enthusiastic on applauding Alou's intuition and workin quickly to get Tomko out of that bad situation.

Tyler Walker was brought in from the bullpen, and he looked good, nice and solid - confident on the mound. He faced only two batters, but they were good battles - he struck out Marcus Giles swinging.

After that, Scott Eyre was brought in to face J.D. Drew - buh bye (flyout to right). Felix Rodriguez and Matt Herges closed it out (Herges gave up a single to Furcal, who scored a run off of Mark DeRosa's following double). Ahhh, a win nonetheless... they're so rare and precious right now.

Tomorrow will be Kevin Correia on the hill vs. Alameda's own Dontrelle Willis of the Florida Marlins - I predict it will be a good battle. I'm still not too confident in Correia's stuff - he seems to get shaken up easily. But... when he's on, he is ON.

Losing my religion... It's been tough staying passionate about watching the games but I have to say, I've got alot of good vibes that inspire me to keep the faith about my boys.

Tonight's 3-2 defeat over the Braves was a great boost. Schmidttie was ON! And as much as I love J.T. Snow, and as equally frustrated as I've been about Alfonzo, I have to say that I would not mind seeing Pedro Feliz playin 3rd (or ANYWHERE, for that matter!) regularly. He looks like he's totally changed his game and approach. He gets a little eager and too hungry, sometimes, at the plate, but you have to totally respect his passion and energy. He looks way more robust and solid than his lean, slick physique of last season.

I know it's politically incorrect to say this, but at the rate things are goin right now, I'm thinkin more of our guys could use a little injection of sumtin sumtin for a boost! They look so flat right now. Every one of them (including Barry - and you can't blame him) look so down! I hate to be harsh, but they seriously need some energy pumped into their game.

I was wondering why Alou kept Jerome Williams in Saturday night's game after that line-drive made solid impact with his pitching arm shoulder blade. But we absolutely needed Williams to eat up as many innings as possible with Hermanson's late scratch for Sunday's game.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...

The Mercury News reported that Victor Conte Jr., the man at the center of a federal steroid investigation, told agents he had furnished steroids to Bonds.

"It's too bad that whoever in the government continues to leak this information is allowed to do it,'' Michael Rains, Bonds' attorney, told the Los Angeles Times. "It indicates to me that this isn't about trying to seek justice. . . . They are still trying to sensationalize the case.''

Bonds has denied taking steroids, as have the other athletes named in the reports. None of them has been charged.

Three words - After sitting through that absolutely horrendous Padres at Giants game tonight, I have only three words - SABEAN, DO SOMETHING! We were shut out for goodness sake. Ok, so my faith in Aardsma didn't pan out - yet. He was sent down to AAA Fresno today. The optimist in me says "...well, atleast, he wasn't sent down to AA..." I'm still faithful as ever to Schmidttie. My confidence in his comeback is still not shaken. But, I am eager to see Nen again. And I know everyone's gettin on J.T. Snow's case but I have to admit I thoroughly enjoy watching his game, from his swing to his defensive prowess - he has such great form. It's always nice to see Jay Witasick again - no longer a giant but I'll always appreciate his fastball. And I've had good vibes about Jake Peavey and still do. ok, onto some Good News...

Community Gatepath All Stars - "Revenge is a dish best served cold"... and SWEET! Yes, it was sweet revenge as the All Stars had a rematch with our Game 1 opponents, the Etrade SKS Sluggers! Our inaugural game was pretty painful, having been our only loss, thus far. But, Tuesday night, we got right into it, with our bats swinging and showin some GLOVE. They had some power-hitters on their team (including two power lefties and a Barry Bondsian rightie!), but we had bigger gloves, keeping them down to three runs, and we were just hitting to all the right places.

We didn't have our regular lineup, but thanks to our well-connected players, our offense didn't suffer one bit (a HUGE thanks to Pam & Teresa for bringing in some big guns!). Our pitcher, Alex Lin, took home the win again - also, going 3-for-4 with an absolutely mammoth Double in our most offensive 2nd inning.

Some other highlights:

E.Y. , a guest player, almost hit an airplane coming into SFO, when he hit a TRIPLE in the top of the 5th inning;
M.H., and J.C., other guest players, had awesome at-bats, going 4-for-4, bringing in 3 runs a piece;

Now back to the regular lineup... It was a crazy RBI-fest for T.H., N.S. and A.L.! (Teresa also used her smart baserunning skills to bring in our first run in the 1st inning; and, she practically owned the 3rd baseline - by the last inning, Etrade's Shortstop was even backing up the 3rd basemen to prepare for Teresa's power line drives!), Our very own C.C., played 2B last night and sustained a minor injury when a well-hit ball took a mad hop right into her ankle - we don't expect any less of her, though (no pressure, Cathy). And J.R.managed to score a run for every time he got on base.

Thanks, again, to our audience - we always appreciate you! And, a HUGE round of applause to Tuesday night's winning lineup:

J.R.
T.H.
A.L.
N.S.
E.Y.
O.M.
M.H.
P.L.
J.C.
C.C.

Final Score: 18-3, CG All Stars in the WIN column! Woohoo!

Sunday, Bloody Sunday - My brother-in-law, Marcus, said it best - "It's a hard time to be a Giants fan". Aside from this last series with the Dodgers, overall, I'm feelin like there's definitely a sense of 'mediocrity' in the 2004 Giants (whew... I said it... I can't believe I said it. I take it back).

The Giants were swept by the Dodgers, in our homefield for goodness' sake, for the first time in four years. Un-freakin-believable. And, in a game where Bonds homers twice - sigh - his past few homers have been so crucial - either tying it up, closing the gap, or bringin us ahead. And for what. Absolutely painful. Tomko took a major beating today and I couldn't help but cower down in shame, on his behalf. Everyone kept sayin "this isn't the same Dodgers team" and that we should "watch out for them," but apparently, we were playin like they were the same ol' beatable Dodgers. They just played smart ball and they were hittin us like crazy. And Dave Roberts... and Beltre, Encarnacion and Bradley... and frickin Gagne (his last pitch to Grissom was a 70mph curveball for heaven's sake) - I just watched the last 3 innings in awe. I was absolutely dumbfounded. Bonds kept gettin us back in the race, with his two homers (followed by his initial at-bat, which scored our first run) and the rest of the team couldn't do anything about it. I know Bonds insists that he is not "carrying the team", but I'm sorry, numbers speak louder than words - I know it's early in the season, but the man currently has a .500 batting average with a .638 OBP.

We're 4 games back of the Dodgers in the NL West. What keeps me hopeful and faithful to my boys - the prospects for Dave Aardsma; Bonds seeing more pitches; Jason Schmidt, Neifi Perez and Pedro Feliz. Oh, and Grissom, Durham, Tucker, Hammonds and Pierzynski. Plus, how could I ever lose faith in J.T. Snow. Wait a minute - that's the whole starting lineup, isn't it! I just gotta believe...

Baseball Trivia: This is the fourth time that Bonds and Sosa have had a multi-HR game on the same day. The last time was in Sept. 2001.

On the homefront - Today was MDQ's Christening and reception. Great fun and as usual, Great Food! Miles looks straightup like his dad! Also, my cousin's wife, Virna, announced that she is currently 8 weeks pregnant with their fourth child due ca. November 19. Congratulations everyone!
-o

Bottom of the 9th, 1 on, 1 out, and it's Gagne vs. Bonds. Absolutely intense. Barry unleashed #662 in Right Centerfield, which was preceded by a mammoth foul ball splash hit into McCovey Cove. I'm just so glad he's seein pitches to hit.

We lost this one by one run (Final 3-2, L.A.), but it was good to see our Ace on the mound again. Props to O. Perez, though. His pitching nearly shut us out. Thank you, Barry!

-o

Schmidttie baby - It's Jason Schmidt's 2004 debut tonight and I'm so excited! We're currently 1 game back in the NL West

Jonathan Okanes of the Contra Costa Times reports: "The Giants treaded water for the first week and a half of the season without Schmidt. He missed only what was equivalent to two starts, and the Giants are 5-4. His return should be a major boost for the Giants, not only because of what he can do on the mound but because of the peace of mind knowing the most lethal weapon in the starting rotation's arsenal is back.

"Everybody is more relaxed with him back, knowing he will be there every five days," Giants manager Felipe Alou said. "The starting rotation grows taller with him. It's not because the other guys will feel better, but because of having a guy of that stature every five days."

S.F. Pitching probables for this weekend vs. the Dodgers include:
Friday, game 1: Jason Schmidt
Saturday, game 2: Kirk "Woody" Reuter
Sunday, game 3: Two sources say either Jerome Williams or Brett Tomko

Community Gatepath All Stars - yesterday night was our softball team's return to regular play in the San Mateo Co-Ed League after two weeks w/o any softball games. I'm still nursing the right calf muscle strain but I'm hopeful in getting some playtime by next week. We played the Fiery Daemons, who have always given us a great competitive game in past seasons. Many of our players have great luck at Joinville Field, and despite having to fill in some last-minute slots with reserve players, it all worked out perfectly. It was the game we all dreamed of - down by 5 in the 4th inning and ultimately tying it up in the bottom of the 6th and closing it out with a huge WIN! Absolutely clutch pitching and hitting with RISP (Runners in scoring position) on our end! Our opponents were pretty solid and consistent, offensively, but were pretty lousy at fielding, which worked to our benefit through many plays. I have to give a shout out to last night's lineup:
J.R., Jr. (SS)
T.H.(LF): 5-5, 3B, 5 Runs, 3RBI
A.L. (P): 3-4, 2B(2)
P.H. (2B): 4-4
J.H. (1B): 1-4 :*with a clutch 2B!
N.S. (3B)
Adam D. (sub) (CF): 4-4 *with awesome speed and defensive prowess, catching six balls bombed way out into CenterField! he made it look so easy...
P.L. (RF): a.k.a. "wheels"...
C.C. (C): 1-4, but... the most absolutely clutch hit in the bottom of the 6th to keep us alive!

Defense Notes:
Smoke was coming out of P's glove when she caught an absolute rocket line-drive right to her at 2B; Adam absolutely owned Centerfield, and then some... some acrobatic moves, precision and power-throwing; Nancy made an absolutely crucial catch giving our opponents a FoulOut.

661 baby... - talk about "kayak karma" out on McCovey Cove - what about Larry Ellison catching both HR balls (660 and 661)!? Good for him. And the Houston Astros and San Diego Padres had better simmah down with their negativity and strong attitudes against the SF Giants request to hold a minor celebration at the plate, incl. Willie Mays, if Barry were to hit #660 at their fields - Willie Mays is a Hall of Famer for goodness sake - Let the man do what he wants to do. Don't hate - Appreciate. They'd better recognize... Bad Karma, is all I'm sayin...

Can't wait for this weekend's L.A. Series! Welcome back, Schmidttie!!! He's expected to start on Friday night's game, which will be preceded by a celebration of Barry's #660 and honoring Willie Mays.

Ouch. I didn't get to finish watching the giants game tonight, but when I saw them bring in Aardsma, I was feelin pretty good & confident that we'd milk Grissom's homer for a sure extra-innings win. I haven't seen enough replays, but from what I did see in the top of the 6th, Bonds was clearly robbed of #660 - props to Payton, though, for the incredible timing (that ball sure looked like it was way above that yellow line, just right off the centerfield fence AND Payton had major air and was fully extended). And what is up with Khalil Greene - craaaazy. I'm definitely gonna keep an eye on that guy. He's definitely gonna give us problems.

A few other Giants tidbits:
- We have got to "unleash" Pedro Feliz and just "let him loose". Mad skills, crazy energy, motivation and enthusiasm, versatility and absolutely clutch ABs;
- I'm still in shock over Neifi Perez's 4-4 night in Houston. He sure is making it easier to be without Rich Aurilia (I still miss Richie, though... Remember, I still miss CF Calvin Murray, #8, from the '01 season. Baseball and sentimentality just don't mesh well);
- I totally called Grissom's homerun. I really feel strongly about him this year - he is gonna shine. Same with Michael Tucker

I've been down and out for the sfgiants and oakland a's opening week, but i was finally able to sit up and watch most of the game yesterday - game 3 vs. houston astros - clemens vs. bonds. I'm still trying to get over the first strike three call on bonds - way on the outside corner and up until that point, the ref. behind the plate was totally NOT designating previous pitches in that exact same location a strike. frustrating, but boy was it good to see the rocket pitch to bonds in his 2nd AB. Unfortunately, (and per Harold Reynold (ESPN), I think he's gonna see an unbelievable amount of intentional BBs again. clemens was absolutely lit. The Astros will seriously give us a good run this year. I also predict the same of the SD Padres.

I didnt' get to see any of it, but I heard about Dave Aardsma's first outing (and WIN, to boot!) on game 2 vs. the Astros. I've had my eyes on him since he retired 15 of 16 batters he faced in the last College World Series. I really didn't think they would've brought him up this quickly, to the BIG GAME, but boy did he fit right in.

Still nursing the muscle sprain on my right calf, but I'm lookin to get some game time with my company's team, the Community Gatepath All Stars, this coming Tuesday. We're in the CoEd Industrial League for the City of San Mateo and had an absolutely awesome Game 2. I'm also signed up with a CoEd League with the SF Presidio Softball League, but was out for most of the season, except for one game. All for now.
-o