Let the Pac-10 season begin. Pac-10 football has been painful!

http://tinyurl.com/yfysl2

Sabean is so terrible.

If anyone is interested in joining me for any games of the Pac-10 basketball tournament, drop me an e-mail.

It's March 7-10 and you usually can get decent seats at Staples for some of the early sessions. Or we can split up an all sessions package. Nothing is more exciting than the 7 vs. 10 game!

Rob Neyer: The ONLY thing this deal does is make the Giants look ridiculous. Granted, Zito's ERA will get a boost from the National League and the Giants' home ballpark. And this one isn't as dumb as the Mike Hampton deal with the Rockies. But based on the facts at hand, this looks to me like one of the dumber free-agent signings ever. Zito just isn't very good. And if he's worth $18 million per season, Santana's worth $25 million.

High school, a bunch of times.

at least they're winning the football game.

Is letting him do so more positive than taking a knee so the opposing coach will feel better losing by 7 fewer points? Yes.

In the end the Cal coach cared more about himself than his players. Other than that it is a big thank you Cal for finally getting a Pac10 win in a Bowl game this season.

He is a redshirt freshman, not a senior.

Now that the Giants have spent $126M on one player does that encourage Colletti to trade for AROD to again match his thinking with his old boss?

Each one is bigger than David Eckstein.

Presently, UCLA and Wazzu are tied at 45.

USC at UCLA (Wayne Carlander era?)
Lakers at Cleveland (Norm Nixon era?)

I believe two of the overtimes in that game had no scoring. One of them may have had just 2 points for each time.

Had to watch on TiVo. Nice end to a nice season.

Now on to NCAA hoops - that's going to be a long one for CAL.

Their offense stinks. They play in a pitcher's park. If they're going to do anything this year, it has to be with pitching, a la San Diego. Picking up one bat wouldn't have helped much. So getting teh best pitcher still available (however overpriced and overrated) was probably smart. Alongside Cain and Lowry, they'll be in most games.

Still, Zito is not as good as Schmidt (at least for the first couple years), and they didn't go anywhere last year with Schmidt, so, well, I'm just glad I'm not a Giants fan.

Runs Scored: SF(16th), Oak(24th)
HRs: SF(30th), Oak(24th)
Hits: SF(20th), Oak(18th)
2Bs: SF(7th), Oak(8th)
3Bs: SF(14th), Oak(17th)
BBs: SF(17th), Oak(27th)

Two things first. I am not sure how walks are affected by the park and if it includes intentional walks or not. Secondly, are there a different set of park factors dependent on if you are a left or right handed pitchers. I know there is for hitters. Of course Zito gets an automatic lift from going to the NL, especially when he faces a pitcher for a couple of at bats per night, plus the NL West isn't really murderers row, not that the AL West was either. :) From the park factors it looks like Zito will get a break in the HRs but could see his walk rate increase (if walks really are park related). The hits, doubles and triples are pretty much the same but runs favors pitchers pitching in Oakland over pitching in SF. Not sure what to think on this one. vr, Xei

My guess given the same number of innings pitched would be. His rates go from...
2006/2007
HR: 27/22
Ks: 151/165
BBs: 99/??
Hits: 211/200

First, a more forgiving park might lead pitchers to challenge hitters more, figuring that fewer mistakes will end up as HRs.

Second, lots of foul territory ends at-bats early. Less foul territory means longer ABs, some of which will end as walks.

Third (I know, I said two), in Colorado, curve balls don't curve, but that's pretty specific.

The Giants' top brass — including owner Peter Magowan, executive vice president Larry Baer, Sabean and new manager Bruce Bochy — had a long dinner with the 28-year-old and his agent, Scott Boras, at the Peninsula hotel in Beverly Hills on Nov. 26.

Eating with Boras would be like eating Greek poutine (fries with feta and vinaigrette).

"I know he told me that when he met with the ownership of the Giants, he was really taken aback. Even the initial hello meeting, he really liked everybody," Joe Zito said.

Translation: MacGowan and Sabean were stuffing hundreds in Barry's pockets at dinner.

http://tinyurl.com/ylmdjo

Excerpts:

"And that was just a few years after convincing the Los Angeles Dodgers to make Kevin Brown (rhymes with breaking down) baseball's first $100-million player."

"In what would prove to be an indicator of his bargaining skills, he then talked the Cubs into picking up his tuition bills at law school."

"Exactly what makes Boras such a formidable negotiator is something only major league owners know, and embarrassment has so far restrained them from sharing the information. He's well spoken, doesn't yell a lot and the booklets he's become famous for preparing rarely contain anything beyond a player's stats and Boras' wildly optimistic predictions about the future."

"On the other hand, if he wins 18 games every season over the life of the deal, Zito is still costing the Giants $1 million for each one. And it's far from a certainty. Since the start of divisional play in 1969, an even dozen pitchers have won at least 126 games over a seven-year span and here are a few of them: Steve Carlton, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Jim Palmer and Tom Seaver. One pitcher who didn't come close: Brown, who went 72-45 over the seven years of his deal."

Did I mention they're glossy...? Nee, very glossy...?

kind of becoming the same old story...