Giants Mess; Madden and the Raiders; OPD Update--The Friday File
The Giants are reeling--not exactly big news, but the manner in which they played on their winless sojourn in Southern California is cause for major concern.
Look, on the face of it, Bruce Bochy can't be the sole reason why this team is so awful. Bochy is not a particularly passionate, emotional, "chew 'em out" kind-of guy, nevertheless the lackadaisical performance by the players is on his watch.
Then again, it isn't Bochy's fault, for example, that Edgar Renteria appears to be a major flop nine games into the season, nor can he be responsible for the worst free-agent signing in the history of professional sports that is Barry Zito.
That falls on the lap of GM Brian Sabean, who made the brilliant $18 million Renteria deal, and vastly overpaid two marginal relief pitchers.
Bottom line? Clearly, this isn't a very good team and the personnel is nowhere near the talent level of the Dodgers, or even Arizona for that matter--I mean, if they were 6-3 and the pitching was decent, you'd still have to be cautious. But 2-7? Six-game losing streak? Randy Johnson looking positively lousy? The tepid hitting? Hello.
And a quick aside to Zito--when you continue to perform like the gawd-awful doofus you've become, stay off the post-game twitter account. Hide Barry, hide.
SHARKS UPDATE: The sky has fallen. The Sharks were shut out in Game 1 of their best-of-seven opening NHL playoff series with the Anaheim Ducks. 'Puck that!
John Madden to consult for the Raiders? Not necessarily as 'out-of-the-question' as one may think--Madden knows football; after all, he did coach for ten years and win a Super Bowl-- a 15-20 hour consulting gig with Al Davis every now and then is perfectly possible. I mean, it's not as if he has to work for a living.
The A's raised nearly $200,000 last weekend for the families of the four slain Oakland Police officers. Speaking of the OPD, I had a chance to schmooze with Dom Arotzarena, President of the police officer's union, at Pican last night. He said the outpouring of support from the public has been phenomenal. I asked him about morale. "Much better--we need it".
Indeed.
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Fake Giants fan.
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