I completely forgot that the first half of summer and the end of the school year is just crazy and bizarre and finding time to write is nearly impossible. Anyway, though it is past the middle of the season, I'm still going to write, and I am back -- for good.
Obviously, a lot has happened since I went MIA. For instance, there has been a good number of videos posted online showing children looking incredibly distressed after they are robbed of a foul ball souvenir by some older mister sitting in the row in front of him. Others show compassionate fans giving their own souvenirs away to smaller children.
But that's not really what I'm trying to get at. While I was battling my way through thick forests and jungles and the awful Boston drivers, the Giants pulled ahead in their division and now lead the unexpected contender, the Arizona Diamond backs by four games.
In the AL East, The Red Sox are just barely leading the Yankees. The Red Sox are having a stellar season so far. The offense for the most part is on. While Carl Crawford spent some time on the DL, he is expected to come back. He hasn't produced very much to benefit the Red Sox, and I hope to see more of what he can do, since we paid SO MUCH MONEY for him.
Adrian Gonzalez on the other hand is living up to and beyond expectations. While Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 24 games last night, Adrian Gonzalez, who is without a hitting streak, has been solid and consistent and proved to be an excellent power hitter. The first basement has proven himself at both first base, and at the plate, as well as in the dug out, serving as a leader for the rest of the team.
Josh Beckett has rebounded from a tough season last year which was plagued with numerous injuries. Injuries still seem to be an issue for the Sox. Dice-K was put on the long term DL early this season after getting surgery in his elbow and was out for the rest of the season. Clay Buchholz, while recovering slowly, is still struggling to come back into the rotation. Jon Lester went onto the DL before making his return last week.
It seems that despite not having their starting rotation from the beginning of the season, the team seems to be doing alright, mostly thanks to sufficient run support.
With the injuries to the starting rotation, Tim Wakefield has gotten his chance to start just like he did last year for the injured Josh Beckett. Wakefield is currently going for his 200th win with the Red Sox, which presumably will set some sort of Red Sox record.
After intense negotiation and a crazy number of rumors circulating around, Carlos Beltran finally negotiated a deal with the Giants, and came over Wednesday to play his first game in Giants uniform against the Cincinnati Reds. Beltran says he was looking to play for a contender, and the Giants, leading the NL West division is certainly a contender. The Giants were looking to put a little more "pop" in the line up, which is very important since our line-up has kind of decided that they don't really wanna hit very much and high scoring games are boring.
It might be a good thing to have low scoring games and just pitching duels because that way it'll scare away all the rich season ticket holders and ticket prices will go back down to a more affordable price.
The Reds came to town right after the Giants took the series (two out of three games) from the Phillies. When the Phillies came into town, the Giants had something to prove, that they can out pitch the best rotation in the majors, and they did not win the NLCS out of luck.
Thankfully for us, the baseball gods were on our side, and we genuinely played well enough to deserve the series.
The one thing I've loved about the Giants this season is their ability to put up a fight. Last year, if we were losing in the bottom of the 7th at home, we were bound to lose the game. This year, the Giants have decided to put up a fight up until the very last minute. The battle lasts into extra-innings and we have generated more walk-off wins than any other Giants season I can remember.
On a sadder note, rookie catcher Buster Posey was side-lined for the rest of the season when he fractured his leg during a collision at home plate with Scott Cousins of the Florida Marlins during an extra inning game. The Marlins won on Cousins safe slide home where he knocked the ball out of Posey's glove on what appeared to be a groundout. Posey was on the ground, cringing in pain, and was not able to stand up. There were debates on whether or not to change the policy so that catchers were not vulnerable to such injuries, but it was ultimately decided that it was part of the game, and catchers, and all other position players put themselves in a position to potentially get hurt just by playing the sport.
The worst part is that Posey is in his prime right now; he should be out there playing his best, but instead he is benched until next season. The Giants made Eli Whiteside their main catcher, but also called up Chris Stewart from the minors to be back up catcher. Since the Giants are in first, despite the lack of hitting, the lack of runs scoring, and our injured star catcher...I can't complain too much.
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