Tuesday, July 12, 2011

A Giant Story, by Casey Mitchell

At the end of last year a lot of people thought that the Giants pitching staff couldn't be any better and their hitting couldn't be any worse.... Well, those people are wrong. At the All-Star break last year San Francisco had a team batting average of .254 and a team ERA of 3.59, this year their batting average is .243 and their ERA is 3.19. In 2011 the Giants are sending Brain Wilson, Matt Cain, Pablo Sandoval, Tim Lincecum, and Ryan Vogelsong to Arizona for the All-Star Game. That's five people compared to sending only two people last year ( Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson). After being drafted in 1998 and spending three years in Japan, an injury to Barry Zito landed Vogelsong a spot on the Giants starting rotation. In 2010 Vogelsong admitted he was ready to call it quits, and he thought he would be nothing more than just a Minor League pitcher. After sticking with it and not giving up, he is 6-1 with a 2.17 ERA in 91.1 innings of work. If Vogelsong had pitched 92 innings he would qualify for the 2nd best ERA in the Majors. In an interview on Wednesday about being an All-Star he said, " I feel like I belong here.... My teammates have always picked me up when I was down, and that's the reason I'm here." Hopefully Vogey can get a World Series Title to go along with his All-Star appearance!

With Deron Williams heading to Europe if the NBA lockout doesn't get settled, I feel like this could be a sign of what is to come for the NBA. Kobe Bryant has still not commented on whether or not he would be willing to travel overseas this fall to play basketball somewhere else, but Dwayne Wade has stated that he is open to playing in another country for this upcoming basketball season. Makes me wonder if the other 2 will join Wade and could win 4, 5 or maybe even 6 Championships in Turkey? It's possible. Players like Amare Stoudemire have already said, the only place they will be playing basketball this year is in America. So how about they just settle the lockout and none of this will matter come this November.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice work Casey. Go Giants!!

I really doubt Kobe and Wade would even consider playing in Europe...

Maybe Mexico?

I could see it now though....Lebron on ESPN Deportes...."I'm taking my talents to South Chihuahua!"

Just kidding....

SJ

Steve Tannen said...

Tell ya what! It becomes obvious the NBA season ain't happening and some of these guys can jump a plane, experience a new culture and pocket 5-6 mil, then we'll see.
As for the Giants, a yaer ago they were 4th, 4 behind the Pads. 4 solid teams in the NL West. Now San Fran looks like the class of the division. See how they play on the lead.