SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – After racking up 19 hits in a 10-4 victory capping a season-opening sweep of the Astros, the Giants showed they do have one major weakness – spelling.Reserve utility man Eugenio Velez entered the game as a part of a double-switch in the seventh inning. His grey Giants road jersey spelled out “San Francicsco.”

This past Winter the front office was proactive in upgrading the offense, and it showed in a drubbing of the Astros as the Giants never trailed in the series. But there’s one thing that general manager Brian Sabean and his baseball operations staff was unable to prepare the team for, a fourth-grade spelling bee.

Velez, contacted by phone on the team’s bus played Koi.

“No, no, I didn’t know,” Velez said. “That’s the first I’ve heard.”

No word on how manager Bruce Bochy will handle the lapse, but scouts are suggesting extra homework and flash cards in place of PSPs, laptops, and i-pads during organized team travel.

It’s also possible that a team tudor gets hired for road trips, but currently Sabean is only kicking the tires on a few free-agent English teachers. The fiscally conservative Giants likely won’t be in the market for such talented spellers as the Yankees and Red Sox seem to attract.

This sadly isn’t a one-time issue, it’s a troubling relapse to one of the darker eras of Giants baseball.

In 2006 on Moises Alou bobblehead day, the Giants handed out thousands of misspelled figurines of the veteran outfielder. The doll was sporting a Giants home uniform with the word “GNATS” painted across the front.

As for Wednesday’s error, authorities haven’t ruled out the misspelling being the work of professionals (see below).

This isn’t a new issue to baseball, just last season the Washington Nationals featured error-filled home jerseys that would have had early ’90s card collectors buying wax-packs by the truck load. Ryan Zimmerman and his mates took the field with the word “Natinals” emblazoned on their chests.

In that scenario the jersey manufacturer apologized for the error, and the Nat’s corrected the mistake by the third inning.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has come under fire for turning a blind eye to the performance enhancing drug era. Now Selig is sure to face more questions as people worry about the ramifications this new affliction might have on society. When asked, one former president made it known that he was worried about the kids.

Re-printed with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. Besides his contributions to Examiner.com, the I.J. and Sports Climax, Theo is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™

HOUSTON – At this rate Tim Lincecum will surely win his third-consecutive Cy Young award, Bengie Molina will be the most prodigious 35-year-old catcher in the game, John Bowker will win a gold glove for his outfield defense, and Mark DeRosa will shatter Barry Bonds’ single-season home run record.Oh, the excitement of an Opening Day win.

Exaggeration aside, it was an awfully fine all-around performance for the 2010 vintage of the Giants, as they picked up a crisp 5-2 win over the Astros in Houston on Monday.

Lincecum (1-0) hushed concerns after a less than Tim-like Spring, holding the Astros to four singles over seven shut-out innings. He also fanned seven, walked none, and looked cool in his second Opening Day gig as a big leaguer – he lasted just three innings against Milwaukee on the season opener last April.

“It wasn’t the kind of hyped-upped-ness where you don’t know what’s going on,” Lincecum told reporters. “Obviously Opening Day can be overwhelming, more exciting than a usual game, but I tried not to let it overwhelm me.”

Newly acquired first baseman and clean-up hitter Aubrey Huff had an excellent seat to watch his diminutive teammate.

“Just watching him tonight, I got an idea what it’s all about,” said Huff, who went 1-for-4 with a single and scored a run in the Giants’ three-run second. “He knows how to step it up.”

The Giants’ ace also improved his lifetime record to 34-2 when getting at least three runs of support. As a team in 2009, San Francisco won nearly three-quarters of its games in which they scored three or more runs – a stat that perhaps was the impetus behind the signings of Huff and DeRosa.

Both moves paid dividends Monday, as DeRosa’s first hit as a Giant was a home run off Houston reliever Tim Byrdak in the eighth inning.
But it was a walk DeRosa drew in the second, following Huff’s single, that may have been the bigger at bat. Molina, the re-minted Opening Day catcher, followed DeRosa with one of his two singles scoring Huff. THen, Bowker drilled a single off the top of the Crawford Box in left, bringing home DeRosa, and sending Molina to third. Juan Uribe’s sac-fly to deep right-center scored the slow-footed Molina, making it 3-0 Giants.

“It was nice watching the bats do their thing today,” said Lincecum, who contributed at the plate too by getting down two sac-bunts on first pitches. “… I was definitely excited for this game more than anything. This is where it matters.”

Edgar Renteria added a two-out RBI double in the seventh, and DeRosa’s blast was all the offense the Giants would need.
Sergio Romo came on and pitched a scoreless eighth, but it will likely cost him in kangaroo court, as the eager right-hander bounded off the mound thinking his strike out of Michael Bourn ended the inning. It was only out number two. Romo gave up two hits, but escaped unscathed, other than the embarrassment he’s sure to face from teammates.

“I was just excited,” Romo said. “(I got) caught in the moment on my first Opening Day.”

Brandon Medders coughed up two runs in the ninth, but closer Brian Wilson came on to pick up the final two outs, sealing the win, and earning his first save of the season.

As is the case in nearly every one of Lincecum’s starts, the ‘Franchise’ was the story. But for Giants manager Bruce Bochy, the dominance his starter flaunted isn’t anything out of the ordinary.

“The last couple times in spring training, you could see Timmy getting where he wanted to be, and he took it into tonight’s game,” Bochy said. “He was his normal self.”

Re-printed with permission of the author.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™

President Bush ducked a few shoes that were thrown at him by an Iraqi journalist during a recent trip to Iraq. Here’s the video:

And here’s San Francisco journalist Theo B. Fightmaster’s take on the incident:

The Giants are going to perform their “due diligence” on 29-year-old right hander Muntader al-Zaidi, but team officials say landing the fast-rising star isn’t even “pie in the sky,” but more like “the longest of long shots.

Zaidi came to prominence late last weekend in Iraq where he participated in an open ‘tryout’ in front of numerous anxious reporters.

President Bush, who was in town to deliver a simultaneous press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, offered to catch a bullpen session but was caught off guard upon finding out Zaidi would be throwing his shoes instead of the traditional baseball.

Despite the poor communication between the battery mates, it was obvious to all parties that there was some unique chemistry.

The first pitch appeared to be a ‘fast-shoe’ which actually crossed up Bush, who looked to be expecting a breaking pitch. Bush, wearing his usual number 43, showed the agility of a 25-year-old Edgar Renteria while eluding the high and hard one.

The second pitch was off-speed and as it broke over the head of President Bush it caromed off the backstop of the indoor ‘bullpen’ in Baghdad. A few scouts we spoke with are chalking that up to ‘adrenaline.’

Apparently Zaidi impressed, as it only took him two throws before the secret service gathered around him and transported him to an undisclosed location. However, there has been no confirmation yet as to whether that location was in fact Yankee Stadium.

Boston may already be preparing for a bidding war, much like the one between the two clubs over Cuban defector Jose Contreras which took place several years ago.

Dodgers GM Ned Colletti may too be interested in Maliki after losing out on Sabathia. And, the Dodgers may also kick the tires on ‘Still President Bush’ as they look to get more playing time for Russell Martin at third.

However, the agent for the President wasn’t certain if he could convince his client to wear the conventional catcher’s gear instead of his usual podium.

Theo B. Fightmaster is a San Francisco-based, full-time sports columnist for The Examiner and contributor to Sports Climax. A hard man to impress, the Fightmaster admits that Jay Mariotti is his hero.