When It’s Time For a Change

The Giants really tried to squeeze an entire season into the last week.

There was a historical milestone in Omar Vizquel breaking Luis Apparicio’s mark for most games played at shortstop, a sweep of NL West leaders Arizona (including victories over Randy Johnson and Dan Haren), a triple play, a 13-inning game and the Annexation of Puerto Rico.

But in the end it seems unfulfilling. The team sandwiched that sweep – one of the best moments of the young season – between a pair of losses to the Marlins and the Padres. They were unable to win the day Omar broke Aparicio’s record or the day they honored it.

One of the things I love about baseball can be the most maddening. With 162 games there are just as many opportunities for spectacular moments, tiny glimpses that can make almost any team seem just a step away from taking over the league. As great as the Diamondbacks sweep was one game, albeit a 13-inning killer, can make it all seem like it happened months ago.

Bad teams are most often inconsistent, and we’ve seen that with the Giants. As great as some times have been, stretches where it seems like 2009 could be better than we think it will, there are games where the only team with a worse record in the NL West can take it all away.

May’s now over, ending a month where the Giants bats seemed to wake up to some extent. Their .269/.333/.422 slash over the month was good for a 105 OPS+, meaning this team was actually above-average the whole month. That’s with this past week, which saw the team post a .245/.317/.381.

That jump has come fortunately from veterans such as Ray Durham (127 OPS+ in May), Aaron Rowand and Benjie Molina, I say fortuntely becuase as the months now start with ‘J’ it’s time to start thinking about getting anything we can to build forward.

With that in mind maybe this week wasn’t so bad. If there’s anytime to try to live a lifetime in a week it’s just before the trade deadline, when every little thing gets so blown out of proportion players such as Durham and Molina can seem valuable to a contender. So yeah, Giants, keep on living like there is no tomorrow. Becuase hopefully for a few, there isn’t. At least not in San Francisco.