Goodbye, Jonathan Sanchez

The question of "What if?" is endemic to sports. What if Scott Cousins had slid around Buster Posey, rather than through him? What if the Germans had been penalized for a handball on the goal line in the 2002 World Cup Quarterfinal against the United States? What if spokesmen for Frank McCourt, lame duck owner of the Dodgers, had not subtly blamed Brian Stow for being beaten into a coma outside of Dodger Stadium?

What if Jonathan Sanchez had not been hurt this year? What if his control had improved, turning his mercurial flashes of brilliance into a steady glow, as his potential had always promised to produce? Would the Giants have traded him to Kansas City for Melky Cabrera yesterday?

I am sorry to see Jonathan go, because I would have loved to see the core of young talent that came up together stay in SF in perpetuity. Any time a local hero is moved on, you hear the cliche that 'it's a business,' uttered with varying degrees of bitterness. And it's true: baseball, like any business, is about managing one's resources, and diversifying one's strengths. I'm generally opposed to corporate culture, but I'm not going to launch an OccupyAT&TPark movement over this trade, for several reasons:

1) The Giants won the World Series in 2010. That is something to feed on for a while, like a bear feeds on stored fat while hibernating.

2) The Giants desperately need an injection of offense, and you can't get something without giving something in return. Well, you can, but it's called theft, and it is generally frowned upon. Plus, you can't really steal a player from one team and make him play for yours; it's called kidnapping, it would be noticed, and it is not looked on favorably.

3) Bolstering the lineup means the Giants might have a shot at re-signing Carlos Beltran, and I would love to see what he could do over a full year in San Francisco. Swapping the contract of Jonathan Sanchez for the contract of Melky Cabrera means that the Giants didn't have to spend more money to bring in a bat; they just reallocated funds from pitching to offense, and pitching is a source of strength.

4) The Giants won the World Series in 2010. Did I mention that already? We've met the goal, the young core took charge, and that can never be taken away from the players or the fans. Jonathan Sanchez had some wonderful moments; I will never forget turning on SportsCenter from a motel in Volcano, Hawaii, in June of 2009, just in time to see highlights from the first no-hitter for the Giants in more than 30 years. No matter what happens, he has been on top of the world in SF.

Of course, now that we have won the championship once in my life, we need to win it at least one more time so that my team will have won as many times as my best friend Vaughn's favorite team, the Minnesota Twins. It's called equality, and frankly, that's a goal everyone should support. Improving the offense gives us a better shot of making the playoffs next year.

So yes, there are many business reasons for making a trade like this. The better the team, the more money you can make from ticket sales, post-season revenue, merchandise, etc. But a sports team is clearly more complex than just a business. It is not just a question of the economics of exchanging resources to strengthen your team. It is a chess match, a narrative, and for many of us, a source of a sense of identity. And hey, as a source for self-identification, sports have produced fewer crusades than religion.

So good luck, Jonathan. I was so happy that your dad got to see your no-hitter, and I loved your strong pitching that got us where we needed to go. You will be missed.

And welcome, Melky. Show us what you've got.

Just Wait 'Til Last Year

Repeating as a champion in a professional sports league is difficult, especially in the age of salary caps and parity. The Giants hardly entered the year as favorites, but they have been battling all year, despite meager offensive production. Now, though, things are beginning to fade at the wrong time.

My natural tendency is to be a pessimist, so I will fight that and not yet write off the season. But there are enough factors to make me think it is almost time to say "Just Wait 'Til Last Year"--by which I mean time to watch the souvenir DVD from last season. And then look forward to spring, and spring training, and the chance to start over.

For one thing, come the spring, we won't be as decimated by injuries. Seriously, all the injuries we avoided last year seem to be coming this year on top of the normal allotment. First Buster Posey is lost for the season, and then Freddy Sanchez. Barry Zito and Jonathan Sanchez both struggle with injuries which may have impacted their performances. Pablo Sandoval started off on a tear, and then got hurt for a month. We trade a top prospect for Carlos Beltran, essentially a two month rental, and now he is hurt and may be going on the DL. Sergio Romo, our setup man, also may be headed for the DL. And Pablo left today's game after fouling a ball off his foot.

As a side note, I had my hesitations about trading a top pitching prospect for a rental, especially since we won last year. I didn't feel as desperate a need to win now. But I can see why Brian Sabean made the deal; you do want to take every chance to win and excite the loyal fan base--that's a crucial confluence of the business side and the passion side of baseball. So even though Beltran is injured at perhaps the most critical stage of the pennant race, when we are struggling to keep up with Arizona in the division and Atlanta in the playoff race, I don't blame him for the trade, even though no one expects Beltran to play in SF next season.

The nagging feeling I can't escape, though, is that the reality TV show on Showtime, "The Franchise," was a bit of a mistake. I have to wonder if it is not a distraction for the team. But that could just be a matter of my own bias. I HATE reality TV, which in general I find sleazy and stupid.

It would be one thing if it was talent-based, like So You Think You Can Dance or Project Runway. You know, make it So You Think You Can Pitch or Project Basepath. If only there was something like that for the Giants.

Oh, that's right, there is. It's called Major League Baseball, and what's the Giants are playing every day.

Maybe the injuries and the slumps are karma for being on reality TV.

Oh well. I still love us. And by us, I mean the Giants. We aren't the Yankees. Or the Red Sox. Or the Phillies.

The Art Of Not Being Noticed

Refereeing soccer is a thankless job. The ideal is not to earn plaudits, but to go essentially unnoticed, managing the game, being in the right position, keeping things flowing. There will always be missed or controversial calls, but the game should roll on. For referee Paul Ward, tonight's match between San Jose and Colorado will be one he won't want to remember.

San Jose was enjoying the best possession and looked dynamic with a 1-0 lead late in the first half when Colorado's Pablo Mastroeni made a run to the end line to cross the ball into the box. San Jose's Sam Cronin was in pursuit and slid to try to get in the path of the ball. Mastroeni's cross was low and angled back behind Cronin, deflecting against Cronin's trailing arm and going out of bounds. Everyone was prepared to line up for a corner kick, but Mastroeni angrily appealed to the Assistant Referee, saying it was a hand ball in the box. After a moment's consultation, Ward pointed to the spot, to the shock of the Earthquakes. Mastroeni was attempting to influence the referee's decision, and it worked. It is a part of the game, but a cynical one. The referee should have been stronger, because that was not a good call, but Mastroeni lost the respect I had for him from his days with the national team.

Technically, the ball did hit Cronin's arm, but it was more like the ball played the arm, not the other way around. It was certainly not intentional. Furthermore, it was not denying a clear goal scoring opportunity, with plenty of defenders in the middle. It was a very harsh decision to award a penalty.

The Earthquakes would feel hard done by again in the second half, when Cronin was sent off with a red card in controversial fashion. A sliding tackle took the ball away from Mastroeni, who went down in a heap over Cronin's legs. The camera angle was not entirely conclusive, but again, it looked like a harsh decision.

This again interrupted a flow of creative, attacking play by San Jose, and when Colorado later scored a goal to go ahead, the wind was out of the Earthquake's sails, as their long streak without a win continued.

To be fair, the referee cannot be blamed for San Jose not scoring when Chris Wondolowski blazed one over the top from 8 yards out, and the referee cannot be blamed for San Jose conceding a silly foul just outside their penalty area which lead to the winning goal. Nevertheless, the referee did not have the best of days, and that is a shame.

Knocking The Ball Around

There's been a lot of bad news in the world of late. Today, in particular. Which is why I will disregard all of that and talk about soccer.

The Premier League kicks off a week from today, and Major League Soccer is heading towards the final stretch of the season.

Looking at the San Jose Earthquakes, the excitement I felt at the beginning of the year has dissipated. The announcers on Comcast can be slightly biased as much as they want to be--and they want it a lot, encouraging the sideline reporter to taunt the opposing goalie--but the fact remains that no, Portland was not offside on the goal tonight, not even close, and furthermore, this was one more example where the Earthquakes' defense was just not good enough. For all the offensive futility San Jose has experienced this year--about as bad as that of the Giants--their defense has always seemed the shakiest aspect of the team for me.

The Premier League is back, and that will be very exciting. Liverpool seems to possibly re-loaded; Newcastle has signed some intriguing young French players, and will possibly add Gabriel Obertan from Manchester United, and I have seen flashes of quality from him, so that is encouraging. Will Arsenal fade further this year? They have seemed on the downward arc lately, threatening to follow Liverpool out of the elite as Tottenham and Manchester City have surged. Manchester City, though, they just buy players, so I really can't root for them, especially since it looks like Tevez might be on his way out, and he was always a player I loved to watch for them. Tottenham signed Brad Friedel, and one of my friends in the UK is a huge Tottenham fan, so I wish them well; Rafael Van der Vaart is a key man on my fantasy team this year, FC Buster Posey. Still, if Newcastle and Liverpool are not to win it all, I would still pull for Arsenal.

Just like that, Alan Gordon gets a head on a great cross and ties the match for San Jose! Hope blooms like the taste of shiraz and chocolate chip cookies.

A new season, new possibilities. A sign of stability in an unstable world, for now. It's why we love sports.

Soccer: Beautiful Game, Ugly Games

This week, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution endorsing rights for gay, lesbian and transgender persons. Russia voted against it. How can you be on the "Human Rights Council" and vote against rights for humans? Obviously, because the Human Rights Council is wrapped up in politics, but that's not my focus today.

Russia voted against these rights. Russia was recently awarded the 2018 World Cup. Anyone else see a problem here?

Sepp Blatter has talked about soccer and the World Cup being separate from the issue of global politics, that it should not be predicated on a country's position on key issues. Diplomacy through sport, connecting countries with blemishes to the rest of the world--and the possibility therein of moderating societies which the rest of us would like to see moderated. This is reasonable, and it is why Saudi Arabia, for instance, with its primitive tradition of not allowing women to drive, will still be allowed to compete for a place in the World Cup. We'll just have to hope for their incompetence as a team to prevent them from World Cup glory. We'll hope for the same for Russia.

So yes, this notion of soccer diplomacy, but it appears more and more that FIFA is not in the business of diplomacy through sport, but solely in the business of . . . business.

Say what you will about the qualifications of Qatar as a host for the World Cup in 2022, the fact that multiple members of the FIFA executive committee appear to have accepted bribes in connection to that election leaves the result in a dubious light.

Then you have the fact that FIFA has the power to investigate ethics claims against itself.

Then you have the fact that Mohammed Bin Hammam, from Qatar, in running against Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidential election earlier this month, demanded an investigation in ethics violations on the part of Sepp Blatter. (This is nothing new. Corruption charges against Blatter have been around since at least 2002.

Then you have the fact that similar charges were filed against Bin Hammam, forcing him to drop out of the presidential race, leaving Blatter to run uncontested. It turned into quite the sideshow.

It all seems very sketchy, and distracts from the point of soccer, which is the game itself, and not the monetary elements that drive the global presentation. We will see if Blatter lives up to his promises to reform the controversial aspects of FIFA's governance and the World Cup host selection process. In the meantime, I'll watch the US play Jamaica today in the Gold Cup, and let myself believe the point of the game is indeed the game itself.

Small Steps

It is fascinating how so many small details in baseball become truly pivotal. In tonight's Giants victory over Arizona, with two outs and the Giants leading 4-0, Cody Ross was on third base, Brandon Crawford was on first. The Diamondbacks caught Brandon stealing and had him dead to rights at second base; however, Crawford stopped halfway, forced Arizona to chase him to get the third out of the inning, and Ross alertly ran home for a fifth run of the game.

When the Diamondbacks pulled within one run later on a three run home run off Matt Cain, that bit of smart baserunning by Cody Ross became so much more important, considering we ended up with a 6-5 victory. Not only was it an extra run in a one run victory, it also prevented the Diamondbacks from actually tying the Giants at any point, which meant that Matt Cain earned his sixth victory of the year. Morale is boosted by such statistical means.

On the flip side, consider how much one small miscall might have changed things. In the ninth, when Arizona runners tried to advance on a ball dropped by the catcher, Pablo Sandoval took a strong throw from Eli Whiteside and applied a tag. The umpire called the runner safe, even though Pablo's left foot actually blocked the bag and prevented the Diamondback from tagging the base before Pablo tagged him. Replays showed this clearly. Such a small call, but it could have be disastrous. Fortunately, Brian Wilson remained indomitable and struck out the final batter to win the first game of a three game series in Arizona, against the Diamondbacks who are now 1 1/2 games behind us in the division.

Subtleties like that make baseball fascinating from an intellectual level, I think, even for those who are not particularly fans.

Weekend Of Happiness!

A good weekend, in honor of Marina's new nephew. The Giants put on some magic, with two walk-off wins--scoring a run in the bottom of the ninth at home to end the game--and a solid 3-0 Sunday victory to sweep the Rockies at AT & T Park, and Newcastle United earned a 2-1 win over Birmingham to clinch survival and another season in the Premier League, armed with the 35 million pounds from the sale of Andy Carroll with which to reinforce their squad.

One of those weekends where the results may not seem momentous in the big picture, but they add up to a satisfying backdrop. Today, for instance, I was driving back from Chico and got stuck in an I-80 quagmire between El Cerrito and the Bay Bridge--it took me an hour to traverse that short distance. But the fact that the Giants were on the radio made it more palatable than it might have been otherwise, and it distracted me from the paucity of driving skills and ethics among my fellow road-prisoners.

There is something soothing about baseball on the radio; the gentle rhythm of the game and the conversation of the announcers, interspersed with the roar of the crowd and the crack of the bat, all add up to a perfect Sunday outing.