Progress Report # 1

In late March I invited a group of friends to voice their opinions on a series of predictions pertaining to the San Francisco Giants current baseball season. This took the form of responding to a series of statements with one of three opinions, “under,” “the same” or “over.” As we enter the final third of the season, some of the results are in. I’d like to share them with you now.

“Four Giants will be All Stars.” Every year near the mid-point of the season regular games are stopped so that an All Star game can be held. Often called the mid-summer classic, the game pits the best players from each league in a contest against each other. This year’s game  was played on July 12 in Phoenix, Arizona. The National League All Stars defeated the American League All Stars by a score of 5 to 1. As to the above statement, five people selected “under,” meaning they thought that no more than three Giants would be all-stars. Four people selected “same,” meaning they thought there would be exactly four All Star Giants. The only person who  thought there would be at least five Giants on the All Star team and selected “over” was Neal, who was correct.

“Freddie Sanchez will be on the Disabled List (an administrative tool enabling teams to replace injured players with healthy ones) by May 31st.” Freddy Sanchez, the veteran second baseman the Giants acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 29, 2009, was the topic of the next inquiry. He won the 2006 National League Batting Championship with a mark of .344. He’s suffered some injuries since then, and while his days of hitting at that lusty clip are in all likelihood over, we all agreed that he was still a terrific player. However, there was concern over how long he would remain healthy this year.

How did we fare? Two of us thought he would be injured before and one person thought he would be injured on May 31st. The seven individuals who thought he would be injured after May 31st were correct in their assessment. Sanchez dislocated his right shoulder while diving for a ground ball on June 10th, and hasn’t played since. He is out for the season.

“Buster Posey will hit 30 home runs.” Buster Posey was promoted from the minor league to the Giants in late May, 2010. After a short period alternating between 1st Base and catcher, he became the every day catcher, and immediately became an integral part of the team. At the tender age of 23, Posey was already an assured hitter who hit for a high average and possessed home run power, a superb defensive player and a gifted communicator who called a good game and established excellent relationships with his pitchers. It seemed the sky was the limit for this rookie. His promise was fully realized as the Giants won the World Series Championship and he was voted the National League’s Rookie of the Year.

It was expected that 2011 would bring even greater things for him. Nine of the ten who submitted answers thought he would not hit that many homers. The remaining respondent said he would hit over thirty home runs this season.  The outcome?

Unfortunately, we’ll never know what might have been. Posey experienced a season ending injury on May 25th while blocking the plate in an effort to keep an opposing player from scoring. After a slow start with the bat, he was just beginning to heat up. For the record, however, his home run total for 2011 was four.

“The Giants will win four of their seven games against the Phillies” Last fall, the Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies for the National League Championship, then went on to take the World Series crown by defeating the American League Champion Texas Rangers. As we looked to this season and wondered who would be the National League’s best this time, many of us thought it would once again come down to the Giants and the Phillies. The chatter over which was the best team intensified when we learned the two teams would play seven games against each other late in the season. We all weighed in on this issue. One lonely soul had the Giants winning five or more, five of us went for exactly four wins and the remaining four believed the Giants would win three games or less. Today the seventh game was played, and the Phillies won four of them. The four who get this correct were John “Da Bull,” Juanita, Neal and Steve.

“The bottom line.” The only player whose answers were all correct was Neal. Nice job, Champ. How am I doing? To quote Art Fleming when he hosted Jeopardy, I haven’t quite started (getting the correct answers) yet. If I keep going like this I may have to appoint myself an Honorary 1962 New York Met. I’ll have more results at the end of the season.