Monday, May 07, 2007

Sneaky Giants Go After Opponents When No One Else Is Looking

Once again, the Giants are using all means necessary, including underhanded methods like sabotage, to try and beat up on other teams (case in point, Juan Marichal taking a bat to the head of Dodger catcher Johnny Roseboro). This time, stil smarting from a nationally televised loss registered by their prospect Tim Lincecum, the Giants sought retribution by injuring starter Freddy Garcia of the Phillies:

The Phillies righthander opened the season on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right biceps and is 1-2 with a 6.05 ERA in his first four starts. Then yesterday during batting practice at AT&T Park, he ran into a maintenance cart that had stopped unexpectedly on the warning track and suffered a bruised left shin.

There is some doubt as to whether Garcia will make tonight's scheduled start against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix.

"I'll see how I feel tomorrow, but right now I feel better," Garcia said after last night's 8-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants. "Who expects to get hit by a cart during batting practice?"

Who expects to get hit by a cart, period?

"There's no fracture of any kind," Phillies general manager Pat Gillick said. "We've got him iced down. We just think we'll have to wait and see how he feels after the game and how he feels tomorrow. Basically, it could stiffen up overnight and get sore overnight, so we'll have to see how much soreness is there tomorrow."

The injury isn't serious enough to land Garcia on the disabled list. If he can't start tonight, manager Charlie Manuel and pitching coach Rich Dubee will have to get creative.

"I wouldn't say I'm upset, but I'm kind of curious why it was out there while we had the field," Gillick said of the maintenance cart.

"The guy stopped the cart right in front of him," Manuel said. "Damn, use that head for something besides a hat rack."

No word as to whether the person driving the cart was Barry Bonds, who spent the day resting anyway. However, if it was Bonds, SoSG wants to note that would be one very large, swollen hat rack.

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