Does Omar Vizquel have 201 hits left in him?

Omar Vizquel is going to be 44 next season… and he has a contract to play for the White Sox.

He will be a mentor to the talented young infielders with Chicago. Gordon Beckham at second, Alexei Ramirez at short and Dayan Viciedo at third could be as talented a collection of infielders as you will see in the bigs… and each can learn a little from the master.

Vizquel will always be considered one of the great defensive shortstops in history. And a few years ago I made the case that he belongs in the Hall of Fame regardless of his offensive short comings. He was a good hitter, but his defense and the number of hits and runs he took away I felt put him over the top.

If he can get 201 more hits, that won’t be an issue.
He sits at 2,799 career hits. 201 more gives him 3,000 and the issue is closed. No using his 11 Gold Gloves as his resume highlight.

Obviously he isn’t going to get 201 in 2011 unless he suddenly becomes Ichiro.
But if he gets around 95 hits like he did this past season in Chicago, then it will almost be a foregone conclusion that he will play in 2012 and make a run at it.

He’s played 22 seasons already and if he got 10 more hits each of those years, he’d be past 3,000 already. This reminds me of the Harold Baines dilemma and how close HE came to 3,000 and Cooperstown. But unlike Baines, who by the end of his career didn’t need to OWN a glove, Vizquel remained the gold standard (literally) BECAUSE of his glove, adding to his trophy case as recently as 2006.

The only thing with more range than his defense is the time that Omar stretched across in baseball.

He was a rookie in 1989 with the Seattle Mariners. That was the same year that another rookie named Ken Griffey Jr. made the squad and a minor leaguer named Randy Johnson came over from Montreal. Could that team have had three Hall of Famers on the roster?

Hall of Famers such as George Brett, Nolan Ryan, Carlton Fisk, Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and Jim Rice were all still active when he broke in… as were names from another era like Fred Lynn, Dwight Evans, Dave Parker, Keith Hernandez, Chet Lemon and Tommy John.



He was a teammate with Ken Griffey Sr on the Mariners… and with Tim Lineccum, Matt Cain, Brian Wilson and Pablo Sandoval on the Giants... and with Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Neftali Feliz and C. J. Wilson on the Giants... connecting both 2010 World Series teams with the Big Red Machine.

And was as vital a part of the great Cleveland revival in 1995 as any of the (probably juiced up) sluggers.

He already has more hits than Ozzie Smith, the other standard of shortstop wizardry.

Stick around Omar. Stay in shape. (Clearly Vizquel wasn’t on the juice!) And get 201 more hits… then rehearse that Cooperstown speech.

Yes we Cain

Going into the World Series, I felt that if the Giants could be tied 2-2 after four games, they would be in terrific shape. So after last night's stunning offensive output, The Hum Babies are almost at the point where 2-2 would be the worst case scenario after 4 games.

All it takes is a kick ass Matt Cain outing (because we ALL know the Giants aren't scoring 11 runs again.)

Hands up if you would have taken 2-2 after four games, Giant fans.

Have Cain win today and you will be playing with house money.

(And I can't be the only person who thinks of Cains Mayonnaise when I hear Matt Cain's name. Maybe I am.)

Giants fans... this glass is HALF FULL

Before Giants fans go all nuts about losing that game the other day, let's pull a Superman and spin the world backwards and go back in time.

Let's spin in alllllll the way back ONE WEEK!

If I told you as the NLCS was about to start that the Giants would be still alive after 5 games, I am guessing you would have ALL TAKEN THAT, right?

Most experts, including me, had the Giants losing in 5 games. So being ALIVE after 5 should be feeling pretty good.

If I told you the Giants would only need to win ONE game in Philadelphia, you'd all take that too.

If I told you Sanchez and Cain would be on full rest, you'd take that in a heart beat.

And if I told you that Roy Halladay would not be starting EITHER of the last 2 games, you'd probably thought your soul was sold.

The Giants are AHEAD of schedule.
Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, thought the Giants would be up 3-1 in this series.

Keep proper perspective. The Giants, if they win, will have pulled off one of the great upsets in recent baseball history. Don't act upset that it could take longer then 5 games to pull it off!

Were there four games played last night?

It really felt like there were more than 2 games played, didn’t there?

The Reds and the Phillies played two games yesterday… in the first game the Reds showed some serious guts. They came right out swinging, homering in the first at bat.

Bronson Arroyo was in control, Roy Oswalt was faltering, Chase Utley was a mess in the field and the mighty Phillies were vulnerable.

Then they played ANOTHER game in Philadelphia. In this one the Phillies bats were clutch, the calls went against the Reds and the defense would have made Lupus hide his face.

They played 2 games in San Francisco as well. In the first game, the bats were cooking and Matt Cain was dealing. The Braves looked dead from the neck up and AT&T Park was rocking.

In the second game, the Braves got the key hits, made all the right pitches and made the right plays. Meanwhile the Giants pitching nibbled too much and could not get in sync. Eventually it was a Braves shot into McCovey Cove that was the difference.

The problem for the Reds and Giants? They only played one game each today. And now both teams are facing a dire situation in Game 3.

The Reds are staring down elimination.
The Giants have to face Tim Hudson.

If only those first games could have counted!

I wish there was a New York Post like sports section in San Francisco

The Giants won a must win, titanic game in San Diego (in front of empty seats). Everything worked. They got homers... they got timely hits... they took the crowd (as it was) out of it and they got a terrific performance from Matt Cain who pitched into the 9th inning.



Now I like the sports sections in the Bay Area... the Sporting Green... the Mercury News... they are all good. But you just don't have that great tabloid headline that you would have in New York for such a big game.



It was always something I would cherish walking in New York. I'd stop and check the back page headlines... and if they made me laugh, boom... you've got my 50 cents.



A big game like the Giants win, which carries them to within 1 game of both the Division and the Wild Card, I am sure there would be some good ones.







YES WE CAIN!

CAIN IS ABLE!

KEEP PRAYING, PADRES!

WE'LL HUFF.... AND PUFF... AND BLOW YOUR LEAD IN! (Picture of Aubrey Huff.)

DIRTY SANCHEZ (Shot of Freddy Sanchez stealing a base.)



Shame on anyone who gets the last one.