Giants need Bateman, Presence

Special for Giant Matters by Max Knoblauch



With their tenth win in eleven games, the Giants stand like a Colossus astride the NL West. Strangely unsatisfied--like a pack of rabid dogs--in tonights victory against LA they tried their luck instead at starting a fight. It was a tame affair, with Jeff Weaver besting Michael Tucker over who would get to talk to Bip Roberts after the game.

Now a miraculous eight games over .500, Felipe Alou's men have exploited their weaker opponents with ease both surprising and, at times, clinical. The offense has turned tight ballgames into blowouts, and the starting pitching, led by Jason Schmidt, has elevated. The Giants have won in six of Dustin Hermanson's last seven outings, while Kirk Rueter's ERA is 3.53 over his last eight, and Jerome Williams is quietly fortifying his future in the game's elite, as he puts together both innings and victories.

The bullpen meanwhile lacks both character and focus. Ask Scott Eyre, who suffers from ADD. He says he picks a spot, and stares at it. Nice one. Matt Herges on the other hand is a Collins ballad just waiting to happen. Don't get me wrong: In Too Deep is a Bateman favorite, but will it help you throw strikes? Of course Herges enters his critical game situations not to the haunting tones of Silent Running, but instead to the diabolical muzak of Rush. Herges, not one to be outdone, reassured the media in May that he checked the lyrics "To see if they weren't dirty, or nothin'." As usual, he was half right.

But it's not just Itchy and Scratchy in this 'pen that suffer from afflictions of the brain. Opposing teams are starting to realise that the oafish Giants rabble who resemble relief only in name are, from man to man, the very same pitcher. Tyler, Jason, Wayne and Jim all too throw the same pedestrian garbage. Someone should throw in Paul Allen's corpse to make matters a little cheerier. Even Felix "Down the Pipe" Rodriguez looks alarmingly like his would-be bullpen friends (they really don't like him), as he suffers stoically--as they do--from the same crippling nervousness. Intimidation has long run dry in this camp. It will have a part to play along the road ahead--just as, no doubt, will Throwing it all Away.