Posted 2:23 PM by Floyd

Just got done watching the Florida Marlins eliminate the San Francisco Giants. I am an A's fan, but I like to see the Giants do well. That said, I have never seen a team more richly deserve to lose a series. If you follow baseball you've heard about Jose Cruz Jr's two boots in right field -- one an easy fly ball. You've seen that the Giants committed seven errors in four games. You know that the Giants left a division-record-breaking 18 men on base in game 3.

A lot of horrible actions by the Giants didn't make it into the box scores:

• Watching the 9th inning Giants batters hack at everything in sight I asked myself, "Okay, what's the previous record for fewest pitches seen per batter in a divisional playoff?" From the box score: 32 batters for the Giants saw 126 pitches, which is 3.94 pitches per batter. 34 Marlins batters saw 155 pitches, 4.56 per batter.


• In the eighth inning, "Pudge" Rodriguez ran to home plate as Yorbit Torrealba caught a two-bounce throw from Cruz. They collided, Torrealba didn't have a good grip on the ball, and it popped out about fifteen feet on the first base side of home. No one backed up the play, so by the time Torrealba found the ball another run -- the winning run-- had scored.


• And just why was Torrealba playing in place of the Giants' star defensive catcher, Benito Santiago? I know the guy's 38 years old, but Jesus, it's a must-win game. Cowboy up, as the Red Sox like to say.


• Speaking of other people who mystified me by their presence: In the 9th inning Giants coach Felipe Alou sent Pedro Feliz to bat for Yorvit Torrealba. Feliz has a .278 on-base percentage. Do you think saber is a kind of sword?