Bridge Ball

Do Nothing Giants
The trading deadline comes and goes and the Giants pretty much stayed pat. Well, actually they said goodbye to Felix Rodriguez, the man of the power arm and the weak head. That's not actually fair. But F-Rod could never consistently throw his fastball inside to get guys off the plate to make his sloppy slider more effective. I guess when you've got a 97 mph heater, throwing inside could be considered a dangerous weapon. And F-Rod never really seems like he had appetite to maim, unlike say, Kyle Farnsworth.

At any rate, the Giants have the third worst bullpen in the league and it's getting worse. Subtracting one of the few effective relievers from the team (for another spare-part outfielder) doesn't help much. This weekend, the bullpen couldn't hold a lead on Friday, barely held onto one on Saturday and couldn't keep the Cards within stalking distance on Sunday. The total for the bullpen: 11.1 innings pitched, 23 hits, 15 runs, 11.91 ERA. Of course this is to be expected when you're facing the best offense in the world. However it doesn't exactly show the league that you've made the adjustments necessary after the deadline.

GM Brian Sabean could have helped the team considerably by trading for Tigers' closer Ugueth Urbina, but the price was too high. He wouldn't give up Matt Cain, Jerome Williams or Merkin Valdez for Uggie.

The Merkin Man made his major league debut on Sunday. Playing the role of F-Rod, Valdez had problems consistently locating his fastball. But what a fastball. Clocking in at 97 mph with movement, Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen were both very late on the heater. But since they're Pujols and Rolen, they both battled. Phat Albert got his hands on top of a in-the-zone change and poked it to the bricks in right for a double, then Rolen battled Valdez in an eight pitch at-bat before finally lining out to right. Valdez probably won't face a tougher duo to than Pujols and Rolen this year, and to hold his own in his debut is impressive. What is less impressive are his bullpen compatriots. Alou went to the Scott Eyre to get Jim Edmonds, who promptly singled in Pujols to tag Valdez with his first earned run.

Welcome to the Giants, Merkie. You'd better do it yourself next time.