San Francisco Giants

It would also be a huge help to the Giants if defensive tackle Chris Canty and linebacker Michael Boley can return to the lineup. Coughlin has billed this as the game of the season for the Giants. I think he wants to see more of a sense of urgency from his team. Perhaps Rouse will help deliver that a...

By Aaron Liebman The Giants, although dealing with injuries, have been able to overcome them, especially during their Super Bowl year. Another striking similarity is that the Giants will move into a new stadium next season like the Cowboys did this year. That does make a difference in the eyes of fans who ha...

By Eric Stashin Early on, the Giants’ Steve Smith appeared to be the breakout player of the season.  By Week Four he had already amassed 34 catches and four touchdowns including a pair of 134-yard performances. In his last four games, just as the Giants have begun to fade, Smith has fallen off to 19 catches an...

By Jeffrey Boswell It's time for the Giants to get back to what they do best—running the ball first and allowing Manning to throw wobbly passes into single coverage later. Rivers will keep the Chargers close by taking advantage of the Giants' defensive backfield, which lately has shown less coverage than a f...

By Paulie(p_rice41@hotmail.com) Tim Lincecum today was busted for being in possession of marijuana after being pulled over for speeding in his home state of Washington. Lincecum, a long-haired, laid-back guy from the Pacific Northwest, a pot smoker? I'm shocked...shocked, I tell you!

By wrigleyville ESPN blogger Buster Olney (on ESPN Insider) ran a list of overpaid players who might interest the Cubs, many of whome have been mentioned like Aaron Rowand and Barry Zito. But he also mentions pitchers like Oliver Perez, Dontrelle Willis and Derek Lowe.

By Chris Moderately big news item: Freddy Sanchez has signed a two-year contract with the Giants valued at $12M. After trading RHP Tim Alderson for Sanchez at the deadline, Freddy never really hit for the Giants. Or played much, either. Sanchez appeared in just 25 games with the Giants and hit a disap...

By Administrator In 1974, Mike Marshall became the first relief pitcher to win the Cy Young Award… the ‘Iron Man’ set major league records for relievers in innings pitched (206), appearances (106), consecutive games (14) and games finished (83) . In 1984, Tigers closer Willie Hernandez was named AL MVP… h...

By rich-ocallaghan There are a lot of Giants fans who are sick over the past three games, and I am surely one of them. The Giants have been terrible in three straight losses, and the play calling has been terrible on both sides of the ball. Eli Manning looks like a totally different quarterback since his amazing pe...

By obsessivegiantscompulsive(noreply@blogger.com) I have challenged all to point out teams that have successfully rebuilt without acquiring a veteran at market value to help them in their rebuilding process. Even the Tampa Bay Rays, which some have pointed out, signed Pat Burrell last off-season to help with taking the next step forward a...

By Thomas Jackson The Giants must have prepared for the usual Reid diet of 45 passes and 15 runs, because they looked lost on coverage for most of the afternoon. Again, I don’t want to get too high off this win, because maybe it really was more about the Giants not being at their best on this particular Sunday.

Related articles from ESPN, Bleacher Report.

Coughlin 2. Tom Coughlin, Giants head coach: I started to single out defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan, but Coughlin's the guy who has to be accountable for this three-game losing streak. The Giants have been a good bounce-back team under Coughlin, but they are reeling. There's no way in...

By Jeff Shull One thing that was very frustrating in every loss so far is that the Giants have blitzed just about as much as the other teams, but the opposing QBs are finding the receivers wide open, and Manning is making the wrong decision nearly every single time.

By Grant We are excited to promote someone of Hensley's baseball background to the big league club," Sabean said. "He will be a great asset to the team as we look to improve our run scoring production with both our existing major league hitters as well as the young talent we have coming up from our mino...

By obsessivegiantscompulsive(noreply@blogger.com) Announced late Friday, the Giants signed Freddy Sanchez to a reported (Chron's Schulman then Merc, based on what sfgiants.com's Haft wrote), 2 years, $12M contract. Reports from sfgiants.com, Chronicle, and Merc. As a side note, Noah Lowry (unsurprisingly), Justin Miller, and Kelvin Pi...

Rich Gabrielson/Icon SMI Jay Ratliff could be key to the success of the Cowboys' pass rush on Sunday. Eli Manning has to do a better job managing this offense on Sunday. I thought he was really bad against the Cardinals -- and I'm not simply talking about the interceptions. He's at his best whe...

By Michael Fitzpatrick Two years ago, the Giants went 10-6 during the regular season before going on to defeat the undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. The most concerning issue facing the Giants right now is their young, inexperienced receiving core.

By Saulo Padua Week Seven is gone and the Giants are now 5-2. Not a bad record at all, however, the fact that Big Blue lost two in a row is a disappointing and gut wrenching one to all Giants fans. The Giants' next games are not going to be easy, as they face the arch rival Philadelphia Eagles (twice), the San Dieg...

By Chris According to a post on MLBTR, the Giants could be in the running to sign 16-year-old Dominican prospect Wagner Mateo. For the Giants, picking up Mateo at a discount could be a nice addition to a farm system that’s had some graduations and set-backs. More to come as details emerge.

By giantsbaseballblog@yahoo.com (Trevor Cole) It's no secret that Sabean has made big time mistakes over the past couple of years through free-agency. He signed Aaron Rowand and Barry Zito to multi-year deals that will ultimately pay the two under-achievers nearly 200 million dollars before their time in San Francisco is up. Then capp...

By Will Osgood RB  Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell, Reggie Bush, & Heath Evans—B To hold Steve Smith to 44 yards, when the Giants' only chance is to throw the ball, is just incredible. No doubt, this secondary has grown up and improved from a season ago. And it's done it in a hurry.

I think the Giants will move defensive end Justin Tuck inside even more than usual Sunday. The Giants want to bring pressure up the middle in an effort to force Brees out of the pocket. He can move around a little bit, but it's not as if he's great at throwing on the run. I also think you'll see the Gi...

By Jeff Shull The moment all NFL fans have been waiting for has finally arrived—the New York Giants first real test of the season.  You'll see what I mean when Dallas comes to New York—barring any major injuries to the Giants. Edge—Even Edge—Giants Edge—Giants (only slightly)

By Richard Resch In conclusion, while the NFL’s instant replay system needs some work, it’s still better than the joke that is Major League Baseball’s “we only review home runs because no other play is important in determining the outcome of a game” policy.

By Jordan Schwartz 1. (1) New York Giants (4-0) 14. (16) Pittsburgh Steelers (2-2) 15. (7) San Diego Chargers (2-2) San Diego's defense surrendered 6.8 yards every time Pittsburgh snapped the football. 16. (17) San Francisco 49ers (3-1) 18. (19) Arizona Cardinals (1-2)

By obsessivegiantscompulsive(noreply@blogger.com) As most Giants fans know, the news have come out, first from John Shea of the Chronicle, then confirmed by Andy Baggarly at his great Extra Baggs blog. As Andy noted, "Contract length and other terms are being negotiated presently," and "it's expected he'll [Sabean] sign a multiyear contr...

By Grant Giants Brass: Uh. The first one? Giants Brass: But Renteria makes $9M. He has to start. Giants Brass: I'm pretty sure we'll find a way to keep Freddy Sanchez. He hit .284 for us! McC: ... Giants Brass: Vrrrrrrrooom! McC: ... Giants Brass: Vrrrrrroooom!

By Ari Kramer Adios, Cain. I was a firm advocate of that statement until I calculated how many runs the Giants score when Lincecum takes the mound. In 30 Lincecum starts, the Giants have produced an average of 4.57 runs per game, which is 0.14 runs better than the NL average of 4.43 rpg. Lincecum, hit the showers.

This is New York's final season at Giants Stadium before opening up a new facility in 2010. In 1976, the Giants' first home game was against the Cowboys. The stadium was considered enormous at the time, but it definitely began to show its age in recent years.

By Andrew Baggarly But simply put, aside from Pablo Sandoval, the Giants dont have a single hitter who is good enough to not be able to get a bunt down. I wonder if those same fans told Bruce Bochy that they came all the way from France. Or if they yelled “Roll Tide” to Matt Cain.

By Chris After the last soul-crushing defeat, the Giants needed this game. Matt Cain chipped in 7 innings of 2 run baseball and Travis Ishikawa belted a 3-run HR in the 8th inning to break a 2-2 tie. Something that I’ve noticed about Cain this year is that his K/9 has dropped by almost 1 full strikeout [...]

By E.L.M. So that means, come August, the Giants will either have to trade second-tier non-40–man guys (Thomas Neal, Scott Barnes, Kevin Pucetas) or major league veterans whose contracts no one wants. That’s not the recipe for bringing back an impact bat, and Sabean probably knows it.

By Grant If the Giants consider themselves "buyers" at the trade deadline, they should make three trades: one for a second baseman, one for a first baseman, and one for a corner outfielder with power (and on-base skillz, of course) whose defense doesn’t make him a liability. Stipulation #1: Matt C...

By Andy Bensch The two men in question are Giants manager Bruce Bochy and General Manager Brian Sabean. I'll start with the latter. Even with the Giants' most exciting offensive player Pablo Sandoval tied for third in the National League with a .336 average, the Giants are just as offensively inept as they...

By Grant There could probably be a series on potential roster moves. Jonathan Sanchez or Other? Kevin Frandsen or Matt Downs? Rich Aurilia's gold watch: 14k or 18k? The one that fascinates me, though, is the glut of mid-20s, kinda interesting outfielders who may or may not be a part of the Giants' fu...

By Grant I was tired enough to write it, but not tired enough to let the mangled syntax slip through without comment. That’s one ugly, ugly sentence. But danged if there isn’t a "sprinkle of giddy" regarding a sub-.500 team. The Giants are throwing money around in the Dominican Republic again, Keith La...

By noreply@blogger.com (Trevor) Q: Many Giants fans wanted the team to draft a big time power hitter like Justin Smoak or Yonder Alonso. Gordon Beckham was another guy who was on Giants radar as well. Do you think Posey will end up being a better major league hitter than those guys? Q: How do you grade the Giants 2008 draft?

By Grant Barr also went out of his way on KNBR (the .mp3 is here) to bring up Matusz. This leads me to think the Giants’ draft board looks something like this: 1. Tim Beckham or Pedro Alvarez 2. Tim Beckham or Pedro Alvarez 3. Buster Posey 4. Just one of Justin Smoak, Yonder Alonso, or Gordon Beckham

Only Baseball Matters author John Perricone thinks so. In an unexpected chat with The Pitch’s go-to Giants aficionado, Perricone puts the spotlight on the gaping holes in the team’s ‘08 lineup and track record for managing payroll ineffectively. Even with the freedom from the Barry Bond...

By Jeff Kallman Besides, asked teammate Omar Vizquel, after saying what a treat it was to watch Bonds chase the bomb squad, how many guys could say they’d showered with Barry Bonds? Pedro Feliz is hitting eighteen points better but with no home runs all August. Rich Aurilia can’t keep from getting injured.

By Dave Powers When They Might Be Giants released their first children’s album No! in 2002, it wasn’t such a surprising career move. After all, their brand of oddball indie pop had always been pretty playful, silly and sometimes even educational. The band released a more traditional album in 2004, but re...

By John Ryder This weekend the Giants set a record by having the oldest starting outfield ever. As good as Bonds/Finley/Alou might be, do we really want to be associated with this kind of thing? Think of the jokes. When the Giants go into opposing ballparks, they'll be fodder for fans yelling out On Golden...

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) Regardless of the Giants sitting at 13 games below .500 going into play Tuesday, they still have a shot at in the beleaguered NL West. Join Lance Williams in the latest edition of 1954 and Counting as he discusses the last few series against the Dodgers and the Cubs. Things haven’t gone the Gian...

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) Also, Lance talks about the huge upcoming series’ with the Dodgers and Padres. the Giants are going to need the young starters (Kevin Corriea, Brad Hennessey, Matt Cain) to step it up like Noah Lowry has. These next 2 weeks will decide the season.

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) He’s gone and done it now– Larry Kreuger, a voice on KNBR, the flagship station of the Giants, was quoted as saying on the air that the Giants are a bunch of “brain dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly.” He also directed a personal comment at manager Felipe Alou, comparing his mind t...

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) Although Lance refuses to dance naked ballets for his wife (though he does love her very much!!!), he has no problem in evaluating the myriad of stories concerning Barry’s return to baseball. Barry says he won’t play for the rest of the season, but Lance gives his take on when/ if Barry will p...

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) Settle in, baseball fans, for a marathon edition of 1954 & Counting! The Rafeal Palmeiro steroids bust garners much attention; hear Lance and David Pinto of baseballmusings.com break it down Raffi and the MLB trade deadline. Is Raffi’s legacy tainted forever? Thoughts of Randy Winn...

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) Whether you’re at a bar mitzvah, eating a piece of cake, or listening to 50 Cent, any time is the right time to listen to 1954 & Counting, My Sports Radio’s PODCAST OF THE WEEK. Join Lance as he discusses the Giants series Vs. the Marlins, and unloads this week’s Power Rankings. Find out what...

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) After commenting on the “red hot & cooking” New York Yankee lineup (VOTE PULSE!), Lance launches into a segment on Moises Alou and reveals Moises’ secret to keeping his hands rough for play. (Hint: You might want to wear a glove if you plan on shaking hands with him.)

By info@mysportsradio.com (MSR - MySportsRadio.com) A Top 5 Finalist for best sports podcast at the People’s Choice Podcast Awards, 1954 & Counting brings you the latest information and commentary on the San Francisco Giants and Major League Baseball. Right now, everyone’s talking about Barry Bonds: will he be back this season? Will h...