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LOOK! A GIANT! I mean...A Look at the Giants: A Preview

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   At first glance, the Giants are a pretty bad baseball team.  They were picked by pretty much everyone but their mothers to finish last (a Giant's mother loves unconditionally) and earlier this week they were 8-13 with a verrry expensive 0-5 ace.  But after a decent showing against Brandon Webb on Tuesday, the light-hitting Giants went into Petco and won two one-run games against the Padres.

It's hard not to think that Harang can handle these guys  Friday night and then we can take our chances with Belisle against their #5 on Saturday and Volquez against that verrry expensive 0-5 ace on Sunday, but stranger things have happened:

Dirk Opalka (whose fox scored 96 of 100 possible points) won best in show at the World Taxidermy Championships in February in Salzburg, Austria, beating over 100 competitors in the art of stretching animal skin over fake bodies so the critters look better than they ever looked alive. The attention to detail was astonishing, according to a dispatch in Der Spiegel, on such features as a stag's nostrils, a hyena's lips, a hamster's whiskers, the neck length of a female peregrine falcon (precisely 5.5 cm), and the proper rosiness of a bat's anus. [Hat tip, NOTW .]

 

FRIDAY 1015pm EST: Harang vs Jonathan O. Sanchez (1-1  4.50) ... last three starts:  16ip  11h  3er(!)  8bb  18k  1hr 

  • 25yrs  6'2"  either 165# or 190#   LHP  #53  [$395K in '08]
  • drafted by SFG 2004 27th round out of Ohio Dominican University (I drove by it just yesterday.)
  • 94+ mph sinking fastball ... good changeup ... can be inconsistent with mechanics ... any other pitches, anyone?
  • career vs CIN:  1 game (Wow. I'd forgotten about Sun Woo Kim.) in 2006: (1-0  1.59)  5.2ip  1er  3h  2bb  7k  0hr
  • He has seemingly settled into a role at the back of the Giants' rotation though he might have just has easily become their 8th inning set-up man.
  • There's not a lot of peripheral stuff out there about him so if you're interested, check out his nice list of ODU records.
  • The 2007 Baseball Prospectus said his top career comparable was our own Kent Mercker. This year BP went ahead an said Sanchez migh trjust be Tug McGraw waiting to happen.  Who's better? Mercker or McGraw?  I dunno.  Then why did I bring it up?  Pretty much just so I could link to a nice picture of Tug's daughter-in-law.
  • ~~~ 

    SATURDAY 9pm EST: Belisle vs Kevin John Correia (1-3  4.21) ... last three starts :  19.2ip  18h  8er  7bb  12k  4hr 

  • 27yrs  6'3"  205#  RHP  #32  [$1.075M in '08]
  • drafted by SFG 2002 4th round 
  • 90+ mph sinking fastball... good changeup ... good slider ... good command and is agressive against righties
  • 2007 vs CIN:  (2 games/1 start)  8ip  4er  8h  4bb  8k  1hr
  • career vs CIN:  23.1ip  11er  24h  13bb  20k  4hr
  • ~~~

    Editor's note: I've had computer issues this afternoon that I cannot (in good conscience) blame on SBNation.  Later tonight I'll have more regarding  Kevin Correia and Barry Zito.  Please check back.