MVN - Most Valuable Network

First-Half Awards on a Lazy Sunday

With the vanquishing of the Athletics, the Giants cap off a nine game roadtrip with a blow-out in which they score 11 times as many runs as they did on Saturday. Color me optimistic about the Giants’ chances in the NL West, as they pulled within five games of the .500 D-Backs. In any other division, you can bet that there wouldn’t be any other talk of such ridiculous notions as a division title, but things being the way they are, this squad is right in the middle of one of the uglier races for the NL West I’ve ever been fortunate enough to see.

With the Giants one game over the halfway mark for the season, I’m going to hand out some first-half awards to our boys in orange…

• Best Quote: “I don’t need to lose weight” –Bengie Molina

Not much to be said here.

• The Rod Beck Award for Coolest Facial Hair: Sergio Romo

Romo’s moustache wins this one narrowly over Jonathan Sanchez’ meticulously manicured pseudo-goatee, and Brian Wilson’s enormous soul patch, while Tim Lincecum doesn’t qualify, as he has yet to grow stubble. Also given consideration were Randy Winn and Aaron Rowand.

• The Pedro Feliz Trophy for Best Job At Not Being Pedro Feliz: Jose Castillo

Sure he hits into a ton of double plays and doesn’t take that many walks, but for whatever reason I find myself not feeling the same frustration for him as I did for Feliz in his time with the Giants. Maybe it’s the post-Feliz hangover, but I’m OK ignoring the nearly identical slash stats of Pedro and Castillo (.264/.315 /.428 vs. .266/.319/.429 respectively). The fact that we’re paying Jose much less helps a little too.

• The Robb Nen Award for Best Reliever: Brian Wilson

Wilson’s appearances rarely ever fail to induce worry, but in the end he gets the job done, going 21 for 23 in save opps. This makes him our first legitimate close since the Nen Era, only much more…ahem…adventurous.

There’ll be more awards to come as I think of them, so feel free to make suggestions in the comments section. Giants-Cubs up next starting tomorrow so cross your fingers, close your eyes, and mutter to yourself; a position that I affectionately like to call the Giants Fan.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 29th, 2008 at 5:06 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.