Westwood Blues

Posted 5:35 PM by Doug

Dear Idiot Sitting Next to me at a Spring Training Game:

"Why isn't Barry playing today? Why? Why? Why?"

It never ceases to amaze me that some fans are shocked and aghast that Barry Bonds does not play every inning of every spring training game. Barry Bonds, like every other player on every other team in baseball, indeed does not play every minute of every exhibition game before the season starts. That he prefers to play in home games and skip road games is shocking and appalling to casual fans and fans of other teams.

Many of the clueless fans are Sun City octogenarians, so I guess I should just be impressed that they know what day of the week it is and that Barry Bonds plays for the Giants. But yeesh, buy yourself a clue about how spring training works before you whine about Bonds being a slacker.

And by the way, given Bonds' famously intense workout program I doubt that he spends his days off lounging on the couch, sipping margaritas and playing Guitar Hero. He's getting ready for the season one way or the other.

"Why doesn't Barry pinch hit here? Where's Barry?"

Jumping Jesus on a trampoline, he isn't even at the park. Relax, drink your beer and enjoy the beautiful spring weather.

The Nathan J. Schierholtz Award

Each spring, I present a ~~very prestigious~~ meaningless award to the up and comer in the Giants system who most impresses me in the games that I see in Arizona. It's kinda like the Harry S. Jordan award that the Giants organization gives to "the player in his first big league camp whose performance and dedication in Spring Training best exemplifies the San Francisco Giants spirit," except its different. To win the Schierholtz Award, you don't have to be in your first big league camp, you just need to be a promising prospect in the Giants system and impress me in games that I attend. I'm sure Tim Lincecum was awe-inspiring, however I didn't get to see him so he's not eligible.

Previous Nathan J. Schierholtz Award winners:

2004: Nate Schierholtz
2005: Scott Munter
2006: Jonathan Sanchez

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see many youngsters, as Bochy played the regulars a lot more than Felipe Alou did. Also, a fair amount of playing time went to non-prospects like Justin Leone, Tomas De La Rosa, Scott Atchison and Sun-Woo Kim. So this year's winner kinda won by default. Congratulations, Kevin Frandsen - you are the 2007 Nathan J. Schierholtz Award winner.