I'm not talking about Pujols, Mauer,  and Utley, although they would be nice.

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Yup! Under Bochy's cool calm and collected approach, he cannot get the team up at times when they really need to get hot. In Spring training, the giants hitters had a decent approach and were among the league leaders in dingers.  Bochy declared: "This year the team really needs to get off to a good start", the jinx was on, another crappy first week for the giants.  After a semi-hot streak before the allstar break, which was partially diminished and almost  quashed in the last game prior, as Zito was socked around by the lowly Pads like a saggy piece of meet in the mouth of a pit bull.   Bochy declared: "The team needs to get off to a good start in the second half.". Again, another miserable week.  Minus those two weeks the giants would be right in this thing.  Nevertheless, after showing some spunk in the last series vs the Rockies, the giants have essentially collapsed.   Could they still win the wildcard?  Probably less than a 5% chance.  So its time to post some diversionary topics.  Because the Divisions play a lopsided schedule with each division playing a large portion of games against their own division, I thought it might be a good idea for newspapers, and sports sites to post the league leaders by division.

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Dusty Baker is to Russ Ortiz as Bruce Bochy is to Brandon Medders!

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We all know that the giants did try to re-sign Pedro Feliz 2 years ago, but he thought we low-balled him with dollars and years, so he misjudged the market and signed with the Phillies for less money, and the same number of years. In the meantime the Giants went ahead and signed the tough-nosed centerfielder from the Phillies, coming off of a career year, to a multiple year megabuck contract. 

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I know he is gone, a pirate farmhand, but the break is sudden and he must be followed.   Followed more favorably  than in a Tyler Walker kind of way. Tyler came in to pitch to Hanley Ramirez tonight with the bases loaded.  Ramirez, possibly one of the best hitters in baseball faced  Good old overweight Walker, who  struck him out.   Phillies still lost.  But Alderson, the hope of many who envisioned a Lincy, Cain, Bumgarner, Alderson and (Sanchez/Zito)rotation in 2011is still too emotionally bound to giants fans, that many have just not yet gotten over his departure. .

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Has Ishikawa been demoted to just the defensive back-up dude?

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Ok so it seems like I'm Captain obvious to those who already follow the stats, and being Gramps was a submarine Captain for the U.S. Navy in WWII, maybe I take the term Captain obvious as a compliment. Stop calling me an idiot now, and read on just a few paragraphs more before you make your decision.  God did I give all the would be, and real comedians a major opening.  I will show some stats that fly in the face of AT&T park being a pitchers park, and wonder along with you, why the giants hit so well at home, and so poorly on the road.  Is there a homefield advantage imparted by umpire favoritism?  How does one explain such stark differences in the home/road hitting stats for the giants, while they pitch better at home than on the road.    For comparison of the giants home/road hitting stats I will also show the bums home/road hitting stats.  The conclusion here seems that the giants need to trade for a hitter for road games, but should stand pat for home games.  Is there a great hitter out there who likes to travel, but has an aversion to the BAY area? Or maybe, like the 1951 giants, they are cheating at home, giving them an unfair advantage not related to steroids.  I hear they have above state of the art video equipment. 

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In 1999, Pujols was a late round (13th) draft choice. He was not heavily pursued.  His minor league career was not long, but his numbers were not spectacular.  He came up when he was 21.  He has not stopped hitting since. Pablo Sandoval was undrafted, but at 16, the giants signed him as an undrafted signee.  He was young, so it is hard to say that his numbers reflected little power, (they reflected little power) but as time elapsed he improved and in 2008, when he started the year at 21 years old, he started hitting and never stopped.  He also plays first, and third, as Pujols has done. Pablo who also catches, had the advantage of being ambidextrous, and is a switch hitter.  Both make great and consistent contact at the plate.  Albert so far seems more amenable to taking a walk, but Pablo still has his learning curve and appears willing to take in some wisdom, albeit slowly.

Albert is built like and adonis, while Pablo is built, well, can you say like a slightly bigger Bengie Molina? Unlike Bengie however, Pablo can run a bit.  Both Pablo and Albert are very hard workers.  Both show us that it isn't always the first round draft pick prospect that turns out to be the superstud. Pablo has not stopped hitting since last year.  He raked in Winterball down in Venezuela.  He also won their homerun derby.  He continued to tear it up in Spring training with the highest average for any player with 80 AB's or more.  And, after a slow start he is turning it up, and is among the league leaders in batting. Pujols is the face of the Cards and has been for quite some time. Even though the giants place much emphasis on pitching, it could just be that Pablo will become the face of the giants, with no disrespect meant to "the Freak" or to Matt Cain.  They should be a great tandem for years to come, and if healthy, the giants should do everything they can to keep them through their formidable pitching years.  If they can sign Zito for Bill Gates Dollars,  certainly they should have enough to keep this duo along with Bumgarner, Alderson, Posey, Villalona and  Neal.  Giants also seem to have some additional serious pitching talent in single and double A.

Pujols was a rare find, and many teams passed on him, including our beloved giants. Finally it seems, we have found our luck, crafting this diamond in the rough (BLOB) into the next unlikely hall of famer. Pablo has already become a fan favorite.  Is it too early to say:  Pablo we love you?

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Bochy announced prior to the start of the season "it is important that we get off to a fast start."   Sabean reiterated the same sentiments while being interviewed on the radio.   This is 2009.  This year things will be done the "Giants way".  We are getting a great bullpen in Howry and Affeltd.  These guys wont blow games.  The new youth injected line-up will be invigorating and the team will score more runs.   "The guys really feel like they are true contenders this year."  We got rid of the guys who can't get the ball over the plate.  We will walk a lot less guys this year. Zito will get off to a fast start.  At least Zito will not start the opening game.   Lincecum always wins after a loss.   The line-up this year will be more patient at the plate.  Seems as if almost all of the above is false.  I will still give Affeltd the benefit of the doubt.  But using Howry against lefties, is like using Walker against lefties; its doomed to failure. Is Bochy just dumb, or stupid, or just thick headed?  Ok, its only 8 games.  But wow, are we any better so far then last year?  Do we have the best pitching staff in the league?   The acquistion of Randy Johnson will have a stabilizing effect on the pitching rotation.  Crap, so far except for Matt Cain, the rest of the staff is pitching wore than Kevin Correia.   So I ask you, the Holy McCoven, which is the worst?

Were anabolic steroids banned from baseball in the early 2000's?  You know,  the years that Bonds and ARod supposedly  took anabolic steroids.Were they  banned like the moral indignity called "gambling on baseball games that one manages" ala a certain potential hall of famer?  Getting away somewhat from baseball rules,  anabolic steroids, at least some of them, were/are hormones, available as drugs that were/are legally prescribed by physicians for certain medical indications.   What if some of the players who tested positive in 2003 were prescribed anabolic steroids by their physician as a legit therapy to aid in the healing of a skeletal muscle injury? Would we not hate them so much?   OK, ARod's cousin was/is not a licensed physician, at least not in this country.  It seems that in  the reality described by Jose Conseco,  he somewhat downplays the legit steroid prescription as the preferred method that players obtained these federally controlled performance enhancers.  

We all know that labs like Balco have been accused of making new improved, and probably not legally approved substances which essentially  were/are anabolic steroids.  New drugs must undergo years of research to prove that they are safe and effective before the FDA allows them on the market.  But we still need to know why these substances are banned.

I think there are a few reason's besides the fact that they are usually obtained by less than optimal and legally legit methods.   The drugs have been demonized, righty or wrongly as having terrible side-effects.  Some of those proferred include premature heart attacks,  "Roid rage" ,  cancer,  benign growths in the liver, infertility, scrotal shrinkage, head enlargement, weight gain,  obnoxious behavior, premature death, just to name a few.  Lyle Alzado blamed his disease and his then impending premature demise on anabolic steroids.   Recently, it has been reported that several monstorously large pro-wresters have had some of the worst of these bad effects. 

But how many baseball players so far, have had these horrible effects?  Is one of the bad effects lying to Congress?  These substances have been around for a long time.  Just ask California's  Governor.  Could be some players from as far back as the 1960's or 1970's could have been indulging.  

Maybe its the massive amounts some players take that makes it unsafe.  You know, like taking 2 tylenol can help your fever, or maybe your pain, but taking a bottle full of them can kill you.   Maybe its taking street drugs, because they are so hard to get otherwise that makes them so unsafe.  Are all these baseball players going to be dropping dead soon from these anabolic steroids?  Or have these substances been not as dangerous as we have been led to believe?  I don't know the answer to that, but maybe some folks hanging out in the Cove have some real scientific facts.

One must wonder, if a surgery can enhance your performance, (a legal surgery), why shouldn't a legal drug be able to enhance your performance?  Obviously people aren't getting black market surgeries, but the black market becomes the method of distribution for anabolic steroids precisely because they are banned.  Are surgeons more ethical than pharmacologists?  Ok stupid question, but I get to write pharmacologist.    If normal doses of anabolic steroids are relatively safe: At least as safe as surgery, and may even help a player heal from surgery, why should they be illegal or banned from major league players who are given a true risk assessment and then prescribed the drug by their physician?

Ok, so far I haven't even convinced myself of the above arguments, but they are certainly offered as legit arguments.  Then comes the one argument that says, "What about the kids?"  These players are role models, and kids, (those under 18) might take these substances to basicly cheat, and clearly we do not know the long term effects of these drugs when given to teens or preteens.  We sometimes assume that the pressure on these kids to perform, and be better then the next kid, would make them succumb to taking these anabolic steroids.  This becomes an even greater risk if their MLB baseball hero is also taking steroids.  So baseball bans these drugs as a responsible business to protect the kids. 

So, dangerous side effects, cheating, unfair competitive advantage, black market distribution, and sending a bad message to kids, are all among the reasons baseball bans these substances.  Maybe we also do not like the idea that a little magic pill, or injection can make a baseball player better and cause the resultant player to break records which supposedly otherwise would not have been broken. 

I am very unclear on whether these substances should be banned from baseball if they are legitimately prescibed by a licensed physician for an appropriate medical indication.   On the other hand, if the drugs are obtained on the black market, and are being solely used for the purpose of a competitive advantage, without any otherwise legitimate medical indication for their use,  I would probably go along with the ban.