The Giants GM Brian Sabbean has been sending out the following letter to season ticket holders. There is reason for optimism finally (if not for this season).

From: “Brian Sabean” <tixoffice@sfgiants.com >  Subject: From the Desk of Brian Sabean  Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 09:06:44 -0700

Dear Chris,

First and foremost, I share with you the disappointments we’ve all felt this season. From the fans, to the front office and those on the field, we have not even come close to the expectations we all had entering Spring Training. Sitting in fourth place on September 1 is not something we’re accustomed to over the last eight years and is not acceptable.

There’s no question that the team has clearly missed the presence of Barry Bonds and his seven MVPs in the middle of our lineup. Unfortunately, Armando Benitez’ injury put our bullpen in flux for a good portion of the first half of the campaign. While you can never control injuries, I can’t tell you how disappointed I was with the performance of our starting pitching at the beginning of the year.

Ironically, due to the lack of a club running away with our division, we still have a chance. I can assure you that this team will battle until the final day of the season. As we make our final push, I want to outline for you some reasons for optimism as we head into September and the 2006 season:    * We’re trying to compete in our division now, while also preparing our young players for the future. We improved our team from within by using the young talent from our farm system. The average age of our Opening Day roster was almost 32 years old, while the club as it is constituted today now averages out to 29 years old.

* We have a chance to climb back into the race in the National League West in September when we play 19 of our final 30 games against teams ahead of us in the division standings. This is largely due to the much improved starting pitching and a solidified bullpen over the last month or so.

* Our pitching staff now has seven homegrown players, with the likes of Matt Cain, Noah Lowry, Brad Hennessey, Kevin Correia, Jeremy Accardo, Scott Munter and Jack Taschner. The young arms have played major roles in the team posting the second-best ERA in the National League during the month of August (3.25).

* The rotation has rounded into form in the second half of the season, posting the fourth-best ERA in the National League following the All-Star Break (3.70).

* Noah Lowry has come into his own after his early season struggles and paced the majors in both wins (5) and ERA (0.69) during August. He’s also been one of the top pitchers in the National League following the All-Star Break, going 6-2 with a 1.41 ERA.

* Jason Schmidt has returned to his form of the last few seasons over his last 14 starts, tallying an 8-3 record with a 3.04 ERA. He’s a veteran who we’re looking to build our rotation around with our young players and some veterans we might add over the winter.

* Our free agent acquisitions have played major roles on this year’s team.    * Moises Alou is arguably our biggest offensive force this season, ranking second on the team in both home runs and RBI despite two different stints on the Disabled List. He also became just the second player ever to make the All-Star team with five different teams, when he represented the Giants at the Mid-Summer Classic in Detroit.

* Omar Vizquel, who arguably could have made this year’s All-Star team, has made a very strong case to win his 10th Gold Glove Award at shortstop. While possessing the top fielding percentage among the game’s shortstops this year, he also ranks second on the team in runs scored and is the first Giant to steal 20 bases since 2000.

* Mike Matheny has continued his exceptional defense behind the plate, while helping our pitching staff improve immensely in the second half. He’s also produced extremely well at the plate, on pace to eclipse his career best for RBI while ranking among the NL’s top catchers in both home runs and RBI.

* While Armando Benitez missed a majority of the season, he’s earned everyone’s respect by beating the odds and the timetable on returning to the mound following his torn hamstring. He’s converted each of his five save opportunities since coming off the Disabled List two weeks ago.

* Randy Winn has been a welcome addition to the top of the lineup and has brought stability to our outfield defense since we acquired him from Seattle. Since his acquisition, he’s led the team in runs scored while also becoming the 21st player in franchise history to hit for the cycle.

* After much anticipation, we were all able to see a glimpse of our future when Matt Cain made his Major League debut Monday night. While he did not emerge victorious, in my estimation he served notice that he will contend for a spot in our starting rotation for the foreseeable future.

* After struggling during the early part of the year, our bullpen has been transformed over the course of the season to one of the biggest strengths on our team. The return of Benitez to a core group of Tyler Walker, Scott Eyre and LaTroy Hawkins, along with the additions of rookies Scott Munter, Jeremy Accardo and Jack Taschner, gives us a solid group of power arms to help win and save ballgames both in September and potentially next year.

* LaTroy Hawkins has become the eighth-inning stalwart we envisioned when we acquired him from the Cubs since he came off the Disabled List at the beginning of July. In 27 outings since his activation from the DL, he has posted a 1.90 ERA and limited opponents to an impressive .211 average.

* While I’ve spoken about the young arms which we’ve brought up over the course of the season, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the contributions of some of our other rookies this season. The trio of Jason Ellison, Todd Linden and Lance Niekro have played integral roles throughout the season, with each of the three providing valuable offensive contributions at different points throughout the season.

While this year has been a challenging season in the win-loss column, I want you to know that I share your frustration. However, I think that we have taken steps to address our shortcomings and I look forward to seeing how our mixture of youth and our experienced players pull together over the season’s final month to make things interesting in September. We are fully committed to making this team younger, healthier and more talented overall now and into the future.

As always, I want to thank you for bearing with us during some admittedly rough spots this season. While I’ve heard from many of you about your disappointments this season, I look at that as a sign that our fans are passionate about our team. I respect that and it drives my staff and me to continue to fix our club and get it back to the level that we’ve all been accustomed to over the last eight years.

Respectfully,

Brian R. Sabean  Senior Vice President and General Manager  San Francisco Giants

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It has been over a week and I am remiss in saying good bye to Kirk Rueter with whom the Giants have parted ways . Kirk was never overpowering but when he was pitching well you had better get your hotdog before going to your seat because Kirk was going to pitch fast and he was going to pitch strikes and if you lingered at the concessions you could easily miss the first inning. Rueter’s won 105 games that way, which is the third-most in San Francisco history (behind Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry). Part of the problem this year has been that Reuter to be Reuter needs a strong defense behind him because when he pitches the other team will put the ball in play. So Kirk may have lost something this year, but not all of what he lost was on the mound.

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A while back I wrote about Henrico county (new Richmond) Virginia that was selling off old iBooks for $50. People talked about flying across the country to get an iBook at that price. The county limited the sale to people who lived in the county, and move the sale to a race track where they thought they could control the crowds. They also apparently hired some (but not enough) security. One thing that did not do was RAISE THE PRICE! Here are some stories about what happened:

from The Unofficial Apple Weblog :

No, you aren’t reading The Onion. Yes, there really was a stampede. No one was seriously injured, but this morning’s $50 iBook sale was an insane mob scene by all accounts. Lines of parked cars started to form around 1:30am and by 7:00am, when the sale was to begin, the line was said to be more than a 1/2 mile long, while thousands of people rushed the gate for an opportunity to spend $50 on a 4-year old iBook that stood a good chance of barely being worth even that little. There are reports of baby strollers being tipped over and mangled and one old man in a walker was reportedly trampled to the ground! More after the jump…

One of our readers, Jason Coleman, sent us this first-hand account of the scene:

“My wife and I just came from the Henrico County iBook sale. It was absolutely insane. The estimate was that about 12,000 people showed up. There were a number of people injured when people rushed the gates.”

“We left after 4 hours of baking in the sun, empty-handed. There were some rumors that the actual number was something less than 1,000, but I couldn’t say for sure. However many, there were many times that in people who wanted one and the crowd control… well it wasn’t being controlled really. Just the police shouting at people to keep backing up, even though there was no where to go. Insane. Your readers should be very glad that they didn’t come. Just wait and buy one for cheap on eBay next week.”

from News.com :

To ensure you could purchase an Apple laptop that had survived four years in a classroom, would you:

urinate in your pants;
toss a chair to keep others from cutting in front of you;
throw an elderly man to the ground;
stomp on a baby’s stroller;
or drive your car through a crowd?

Actually, all of the above occurred Tuesday (by different people) when the Henrico County school system in Virginia offered 1,000 slightly abused iBooks to county residents at $50 bucks each, according to this story from the Associated Press.

from Fox News :
  Seventeen people suffered minor injuries, with four requiring hospital treatment, Henrico County Battalion Chief Steve Wood said. There were no arrests.

Jesse Sandler said he was one of the people pushing forward, using a folding chair he had brought with him to beat back people who tried to cut in front of him.  “I took my chair here and I threw it over my shoulder and I went, ‘Bam,”‘ the 20-year-old said nonchalantly, his eyes glued to the screen of his new iBook, as he tapped away on the keyboard at a testing station.  “They were getting in front of me and I was there a lot earlier than them, so I thought that it was just,” he said.

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In case you missed the story in USA Today :

A woman gave birth on a flight from Trinidad to New York with the help of flight attendants and a midwife who was a passenger, an airline official said Wednesday.

The baby boy was born about 10 minutes before flight BW500 landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport early Tuesday, BWIA airlines spokeswoman Dionne Ligoure said.

Paramedics took the mother and baby to a hospital, where they were in good health, Ligoure said.

The mother was identified as Candy Midtlyng, a Trinidad-born U.S. resident. The baby would be entitled to apply for U.S. citizenship, said Shawn Saucier, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

And you thought sitting next to the crying baby was bad.

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To the Woman and her kids who sat behind me at the Giants game last night:

• Yes, Alou is doing well when he is batting .304
• Yes, that does mean he gets a hit less than half the time
• No, SBC does not own the ballpark, they only paid to have their name on it
• No, AT&T does not own SBC, not yet (and it is SBC who is to acquire AT&T)
• No, Cingular did not acquire AT&T, just part of it - AT&T wireless
• So No, Cingular does not get a deal on advertising at SBC park
• The Washington baseball team is not the Senators or the Wizards, it is the Nationals
• The Angels are now the Los Angeles Angels not The Anaheim Angels (but a lot of people don’t know that yet)
• And yes, they did intentionally walk the catcher to get to the pitcher

Does that answer all your questions?

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