IT's OFFICIAL ACCORDING TO CSN's Mychael Urban

MOLINA HAS BEEN TRADED TO THE TEXAS RANGERS FOR CHRIS RAY rhp relief pitcher.

(KOOL AND THE GANG CELEBRATE MUSIC GOING LOUD IN THE BACKGROUND as is THE SOUND OF CORKS POPPING)

RUMORS

We don't discuss Rumors here at the GIANTS CAFE. But hopefully tomorrow we will have GREAT NEWS to RELAY.

TEAM MORALE

Sometimes called "Esprit de Corps" , Morale is something that is reflective not created. You can create the conditions for good MORALE and certainly you can destroy MORALE but you can't create MORALE. When they say happiness comes from within, it means you're happy because there is nothing stopping your happiness from being the dominate feeling in your life. How many people have said: "I've given you everything in life you want; Why aren't you happy"? Without getting all new age on you, lets say good MORALE comes from being in harmonic vibration with your surroundings? (please, don't sing Kum-by-yah)

Good vibrations - Excitations

From May 29th to June 15th the GIANTS had "good, good, good, .......Good Vibrations! Yes GOOD,GOOD,GOOD........ GOOD VIBRATIONS!!!!!! Nsw naw naw naw naw etc.......

The only Buzz kill in the line up was Bengie the Burrito Belly. When the camera would do close ups on Molina after the NKOTB came up you would see "fear", "anger", disgust", "shame", "envy" and above all "Jealousy". Even though playing Molina moved Posey to first and Huff to a corner outfield position, smiles still shined in the the San Francisco dugout. Except for Bengie who went through a horrific 4 for 59 slump.

With Huff in the outfield, the other collateral damages included Aaron Rowand and Nate Shierholz. Instead of one guy being a starter, he became the 4th outfielder while the 4th outfielder became the 5th outfielder. But to their credit, Rowand and Shierholz didn't complain.

I think the Streak was highlighted by Aubrey Huff saying, this is the most fun I've had playing Baseball.

June 15th ! Edgar Renteria comes back from the DL. Ya know Wally Pip wasn't a bad guy. He was actually a pretty good 1st baseman. But he never played first base again after Lou Gehrig took his place. But you see, Edgar DID complain. I believe the exact words were: "How come I'm not starting"? Bochy caves in the historic June 16th t0 June 30th SWUNE, SLIDE, SLUMP, LOSING STREAK BEGINS.

Same camera in the GIANTS dugout shows everyone with BENGIE MOLINA FACES. Renteria who's found NEW WAYS to hit into double plays has caused more outs than At-Bats. It was noticeable that first week after Renteria's return that both Panda and Uribe were nervous. They each bobbled easy routine grounders. Both started swinging for the fences. (which usually results in a K or a pop out)

NO MORE GOOD VIBRATIONS, EXCITATIONS or CELEBRATIONS.

Bochy was forced to make someone that was contributing Big in the first 2 weeks of June feel like a square peg in a round hole. Buster Posey who was the Catalyst of the WIN STREAK seems to be taking it for the team. But it seemed apparent to sportscasters, talk show hosts and 40,000 Giant fans that Buster Posey was the spark the GIANTS needed. The shot in the arm that gave the GIANTS a NEW LOOK. In a word LEGITIMACY.

Buster Posey was like SAGE SMOKE vanishing the evil lingering presence of the DARK STEROIDAL OVERLORD and his *Home run record with his born again innocence. He gave GIANT fans a REAL REASON TO BE PROUD. They wouldn't take us for fools any more. We're a team damn it, and not just the Fat Head's back up band.

People were calling Posey "THE TRUTH". Some at KNBR even called him "THE MESSIAH". But the seeds of failure were planted in this organization when Molina was given 4.5 million Burritos and a starting job out of training camp and the front office didn't have the huevos to tell Edgar Renteria to shut up and sit down.

CHEMISTRY V 2 The 1988 Dodgers vs. 2010 GIANTS

On paper, the GIANTS have what appears to be a very dominating crew in this match up. In the 88 World Series, The Oakland A's had one of the mightiest Teams in the History of Baseball. But with all the HGH and forearm bashing that went on, The 88 Bums had Orel Hershiser, John Tudor, Ramon Martinez, Tim Belcher and a bunch of little punks named Micky, Franklin, Sharpie and guys that will never make the hall of fame except of course one Kirk Gibson.

The 88 Dodgers had exceptional pitching. The 2010 Giants have better pitching. The 88 Dodgers had a better manager and pitching coach. The 2010 Giants have position players that can go deep. So there's no need for talk about trades for more expensive meat. In fact, the GIANTS could do better with less. Have you ever had to much of something and you had to just hack part of it off and throw it in the freezer? I'm going to take the GIANTS during their recent productive stretch and compare that line up to the 88 World "Series" Champions.

Pitching is a draw

88 Dodgers vs 2010 GIANTS

Mike Scioscia vs. Buster Posey..... advantage DRAW

Franklin Stubbs vs Aubrey Huff ..... advantage GIANTS

Steve Sax vs Freddy Sanchez .......advantage GIANTS

Alfredo Griffin vs Juan Uribe.......... advantage GIANTS

Mike Hamilton vs Pablo Sandoval....advantage GIANTS

Micky Hatcher vs. Pat Burrell.......... No Contest GIANTS

John Shelby vs. Aaron Rowand........advantage DODGERS

Mike Marshall vs Andres Torres.... advantage GIANTS

*The Dodgers did have an injured Kirk Gibson who would have comped to Pat Burrell in leftfield.

With an obvious position player advantage and equal if not better pitching, you can see why I say there is no need for the GIANTS to make a foolish trade. It does however; make good sense to find new homes for Edgar Renteria and Bengie Molina.

The Yankee organization (love them or hate them) has been successful over the years because it forced it's starters to help the new guys. The Yankees put a priority on winning and didn't care who played where or how they got it done. Wally Pip actually taught Lou Gehrig how to play first base. Jerry Coleman took Billy Martin aside and taught him how to play 2nd base.

It wasn't until personalities got involved that the Yankees started losing. Reggie Jackson vs. Dave Winfield. Billy Martin vs. George Steinbrenner. And of course the most obvious being AROD vs. Jeter.

In Baseball more so than any other sport, the team that plays together stays together. It's about having players that give their best; as opposed to having the "best" players.

BTW, for those of you too young to remember the 1988 world Series, The A's had Jose Canseco - 42 homeruns, Mark McGwire - 32 homeruns, Dave Henderson - 24 home runs, Dave Parker - 12 homeruns in 377 abs and Terry Steinbach- 9 homeruns in 350 abs.

The Dodgers "Series" team only had Mike Marshall with 20 homeruns. Everybody else (except Kirk Gibson-25) had less than 10 homeruns. This team had no power and no .300 hitters (again Gibson who was injured for the Series only hit .290)

The 1988 A's won 104 games. Yet lost to the Dodgers in 5 games in the World Series.

If I were a betting man and the 1988 Dodgers (the weak playoff team) played the 2010 GIANTS I would not hesitate to take the Bums because they did it by working together. As I said earlier, the 2010 GIANTS are playing like the cast of "Survivor". They're worried about who's going to get voted off the Island. The 1988 Dodgers were playing like a bunch of kids playing "Sandlot" ball. They were having fun.

When Young Arms Go Bad

Any pitcher that's had Tommy John Surgery (MCL/UCL elbow reconstruction) has as good a chance if not better than the virgin elbow that is drafted out of Highschool. This is one reason there is a premium on College pitching. College pitcher are drafted between the ages of 21 and 22.

Most pitchers break into the Major League level at the age of 25. The human body is mature at the age of 25. In fact, the body begins to reverse and deteriorate at the age of 25. Everything from spinal disc degeneration to Male pattern hair loss begins around or at the age of 25.

When a professional pitcher with high velocity comes up at the age of 20-24;he runs a very high risk of tearing or avulsing (ripping off) his MCL or UCL ligament. It's a piece of soft tissue that holds the forearm to the elbow joint. It also stabilizes the two bones (ulnar/radius) in the forearm.

Little League Elbow. A recent study showed that 40% of kids between the ages of 9 and 12 suffer from an MCL tear or inflammation. This symptom is known as Little leaguers elbow. One of the major culprits of the symptom is a child learning to throw a hammer before his MCL matures. In fact, the MCL is often one of the slowest ligaments to mature. There's a period when young boys appear quite "Gangly" this is because their skeletal growth exceeds there soft tissue growth. These are real "Growing Pains".

Major League Baseball has a recent history of recognizing this and certain educated franchises have been quick to shut down young arms. One perfect example would be Felix Hernandez in Seattle. The King was brought up at the age of 20. However;as he was putting up incredible minor league numbers as a "teenager" in 2005 he developed shoulder bursitis and was put on the DL. After his inflammation subsided, he was called up and America saw the newest AL phenom at the age of 20. Following the Twins practice with Johan Santana, the Mariners let Hernandez work briefly his first year. In the following two years, Hernandez proved that he could own most American league batters. He possessed a 90 mph slider that was unhittable. It was also unsustainable for a 21 year old. Seattle wisely not only shut Felix down after his first bout of elbow pain, but took away his slider for 2 years. Felix who is now 25 is finally leaving the danger zone for pitchers.

But for every young arm that is shown this kind of attention, there are hundreds that get flat out "ABUSED". We saw in 1981 Billy Martin take 5 of the brightest pitchers in Baseball, Steve McCatty, Brian Kingman, Mike Norris,Rick Langford and Matt Keough and brutalize their arms all in one season. The group of pitchers made baseball history by setting the record for a pitching staff in complete games.(94)
By 1982 the "Class of 81" became the orthopedic ward of 82 leading the A's to a 5th place finish and the firing of Billy Martin as Manager and GM. None of the A's 81 staff ever came close to repeating their 81 performance.

In 2003 another Rookie phenom was brought up in Chicago. Mark Prior who was drafted as a 20 year old was brought up at the age of 22. 2003 was the year that made Major League clubs take a serious look at pitch counts. In 2003 the Rookie was averaging 113.4 Pitches per start during the regular season. In September Prior's pitch count went up to 126. Both Prior and Kerri Wood (Chicago Heat) would continue to work with high pitch counts thru the 2003 season. Prior would never repeat his Rookie year performance as a collision with Marcus Giles in 2004 would put him on the DL for what would be his primary residence for the rest of his MLB career. In 2004 while on the DL for an "Achilles strain" there were documented reports that Prior needed Tommy John Surgery. Both Prior and the Cubs denied this. Prior would return for short periods then return to the DL for pitching arm related injuries including a concussion fracture from a Brad Hawpe Line Drive.

Kerri Wood who DID have TJ surgery in 1999 came back in 2003 setting a career high in strike outs (266) and made the all-star team. In 2004 Wood sat out 2 months with a "Strained Triceps muscle". Wood's career would never recover from the punishment he took in 2003.

In Tim Lincecums first two full years of work he pitched 452.1 innings. By comparison; Felix Hernandez thru 381.1 in his first 2 full years at the Major league level. The additional 70 innings thrown by Lincecum averages out to 1050 pitches or an extra 525 pitches a season. In Hernandez's first year he thru 84.1 innings as opposed to Tim's 146.1 innings. Again, in their rookie seasons, Lincecum would throw almost 1000 pitches more than Felix.






STEPHEN STRASBURG was called up in June of this year. Washington has already said that they will INCLUDE the 21 year old Strasburg's minor league pitch count in his 2010 season and shut him down accordingly.


Tim Lincecum's recent problems come as no surprise to anyone who has been watching his usage by Bruce Bochy (who took the Giant's helm in 2007, Lincecum's rookie year)

The 2010 Barnstorming Victory Tour....and Implosion

I'm never one to head hunt the manager. It's simply to easy to blame one person. Bochy did a fine job in San Diego in the first part of the decade, it's hard to believe this is the same skipper that turned around the Padres.

In May the Giants were offensively anemic. However strangely enough, things started falling into place for the Orange and Noir with the May 29th call up of "mega-prospect" Buster Posey. On the night of Posey's 2010 debute he put on a hitting clinic. He took 0-2 counts to the opposite field like an 8 year veteran. Then in a controversial yet serendipitous move, the Giants landed Pat Burrell. Burrell was seeing the ball well and hitting with authority. This had a synergistic effect on Aubrey Huff who transformed into the ghost of Lou Gehrig. With Edgar Renteria on the DL; Juan Uribe became the sweetheart shortstop of the national league. It was not uncommon for the Giants to have back to back home run production out of the 3/4 spots occupied by Huff and Uribe. Between May 29th and June 15th the Giants won all but 5 games including a sweep of the cross bay rivals in Oakland who were in 1st place and had earlier swept the Giants.

June 15. Edgar Renteria returns from the DL. The party literally ended. San Francisco has not won a series since Renteria's return.

Chemistry. During the Giants barnstorming victory tour; Bengie Molina was experiencing a 4 for 57 slump. The effects of Buster Posey on Bengie Molina (who stopped blogging on June 2nd) can be seen on everyone Renteria is having an effect on. Molina caused a domino reaction. Bochy made catching time for Molina and played Posey out of position at first base. Aubrey Huff (an excellent DH)was put in the weak out field corner. (strong RH line up, Aubrey plays RF and etc...) Bochy even went so far as to swap multi-tasking superstar Andre Torres with Huff when ever a pinch hitter came up and the game was on the line.

With a catcher playing first,it caused the first baseman to take a position normally held by an outfielder. The Giant clubhouse was already filled with disgruntled out of work outfielders. Back to June 15th. Renteria returns but sits as the Giants would win the last game of their 2010 Barnstorm Victory tour. On June 16th, Renteria went into Bruce Bochy's office and asked why he wasn't playing. The first report was Bochy saying something like "We've got a good thing going; I'll play you when I need you". It was said that Renteria turned and walked out of Bochy's office without saying a word.

This writer questions those reports as Renteria was back in the line up in Toronto and the 2010 version of the June Swoon began. Giants lose 2/3 to Toronto. They lose 2/3 to Houston (WTF?) Ah the home stand. Giants lose 2/3 to Boston.

All I can say is Heads need to roll. It sounds to me like agents are involved and calling the shots. If Bochy is being userped; then Sabean needs to intervene. If he's not Bochy needs to be fired. If Sabean is trying to make everyone happy; Sabean needs to be fired. The bottom line is, The Victory tour will not come to your town again until Renteria, Molina and possibly Aaron Rowand have found new employers.

POSEY 3 for 4

Buster Posey dispelled any rumors of a sore wrist by going 3/4 against Boston in the home opener. Tonight at 4:00 PM PST Watch Buster catch Madison Bumgarner in his 2010 Major League Debut.