Go Yankees!?

Well, any hope of our beloved Giants making it to the postseason ended this weekend ... it was a tough season, but in the end you can't win a title with putting band-aids on a huge gash. So while the Giants season is over, we here at the Sons of Johnnie LeMaster will still keep up with the other teams in the postseason, because we still love baseball nevertheless.

So while the other six teams make their march to the World Series, we'll be cheering for the New York Yankees to go the distance. Now, we know what you're thinking ... the Yankees, WTF?! Our interest to the Yankees actually involves our hatred for the Dodgers. Let's go into old Sons of Johnnie LeMaster vault ... in the mid-70s, the Giants were sucking big time, and guess which team always stuck it to us? Yup, the hated ones, the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was during the 1977 World Series, that we ended up hating the Dodgers more, and liking the Yankees even more in the process. Seeing your hometown team not even sniff the postseason kinda forced your hand to have a second favorite team, and ours was the New York Yankees - Reggie, Guidry, Munson, Nettles, Chambliss, Dent, Randolph, Gossage - now that was a team! But it was in that series, that our disdain with Tommy LaSorda grew so it was even easier to root for the Yankees.

Move fast forward, and today with the Giants out of the postseason race, our attention will fall with the Yankees. In some respects, we kinda wish that the Giants would be the Yankees, win at all costs ... some obviously dislike how the Yankees spend endless amounts of cash to "buy" their team, but you gotta love their approach - nothing will stop us to win. Admit it, if the Giants had the same business model, you wouldn't complain, you would embrace it.

Eight in a row ... do you believe?

Four games back of Atlanta for the Wild Card.

Seventh in a row ... do you still believe?

Five games back from Atlanta and Arizona.

Six in a row ... still believin'?

Five games back from Atlanta.

Do you believe?

As we write this blog post, the SF Giants just won their fifth straight game, and now sit 7 games back from Arizona, and 6 games back from Atlanta for the Wild Card. The intriguing thing about this five-game winning streak is that the bats have come to life. Why is that? Is the pressure off of them? Have they found their hitting strokes? Is the mojo back? Whatever the reason, the same question remains ... could they make a miraculous run to win the Wild Card or the NL West?

We thought about that, and found out that four clubs in MLB history were able to make the playoffs despite trailing by six or more games with 20 games remaining. 2007 Phillies, 1995 Mariners, 1964 Cardinals, AND 1951 GIANTS! Of the four teams listed, only one lives in infamy, the team that produced "the shot heard 'round the world." After tying the Brooklyn Dodgers in the regular season, the Giants won a three-game playoff to punch their ticket to the World Series.

So the question remains, DO YOU BELIEVE?

The weekend that wasn't ...

Just returned from our weekend at AT&T Park, and the results were flatout disappointing. Which pretty much describes the last 2.5 months of the SF Giants. I think deep down we knew that the playoffs weren't in the cards for us this year ... just too many injuries to fill, and the "band-aid" approach wasn't going to work for the entire season. 22 games are left on the schedule, and the Giants are 7 games back ... nothing short of a miracle must happen if the Giants are to sneak into the postseason - but I think we all know the season is pretty much done.

So, the question is ... how does the club look for 2012. As we noted earlier ... a number of players aren't returning. Tejada and Rowand are two guys that won't be back next year, but expect a boatload of other players not returning next year either ... think Burrell, DeRosa, Stewart, Ross, Torres, J. Sanchez, Fontenot, et al. Next year's club has the potential to be just a shadow of the 2010 World Series club. I expect some major changes to happen to our 25-man roster. It's been said many times, but our window to win another World Series is small ... the team has to build a potent lineup so that Lincecum, Cain, Vogelsong, and the bullpen don't feel pressured on throwing perfect pitches every single time. Plus, the Giants record when scoring 4 or more runs pretty much guarantees us a win.