SF Examiner: Vogelsong, lineup step up when San Francisco Giants need it most

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

He walked toward the dugout with his head down, but there was nothing symbolic about his posture.

That’s the way pitchers are supposed to appear as they leave the mound to a standing ovation, which on this very significant Wednesday afternoon, Ryan Vogelsong and the Giants deserved entirely.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Is it time to take pity on the LA Dodgers?

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Oh, how it’s changed. There are the Giants, wildly successful, in the standings and at the box office. And then there are the Dodgers, despised as much by their own fans as they once were by San Francisco — bankrupt, literally and emotionally. The applicable word is unbelievable.

L.A., where the stadium always was as full as Tommy Lasorda’s belly ...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: American Sports Take Beating in Britain

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

HASTINGS, England — What's with the English? Every other person seems to be wearing a New York Yankees hat. But just try to find one word about baseball in the dailies. A word that is not discouraging.

Not too long ago, you could pick up a copy of the Times of London, which for the record printed edition No. 70,305 on Thursday, and in the agate type find the ball scores. Not the "football'' scores, soccer, their game. Baseball, our game.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Blame game over for Zito, for now

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Goodbye, June. Hello, Barry. The idea (blush) the Giants, figuratively had gone south when in actuality they went east across the Bay Bridge? Sorry.

Journalists, like infielders, botch easy ones. Make that E-C, as in error, columnist.

Oh ye of little faith. Oh me of little faith.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: San Francisco Giants mired in offensive slump

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

This isn’t a June Swoon, it’s an “Oh gawd, how do we get back to last October?”

It’s a season of Murphy’s Law baseball, with the people who aren’t getting injured unable to get out of slumps.

“It’s going to have to pick up,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We know it.”

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: San Francisco Giants find a way to persevere

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

“You move on because you have to.”

Bruce Bochy, the philosopher, said that Saturday. And later, when the Giants were smacked around by the Cincinnati Reds 10-2, you sensed the only place they were moving was down.

It was so bad ...

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Scrappy Giants getting by with what they've got

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

A veritable laugher by those offensively challenged Giants. A win with only a few grimaces. A win manager Bruce Bochy said was “important.” A win without anybody in the lineup batting higher than .290. A win because of that old, reliable pitching.

Every day is a party at AT&T Park, where the stands are full — Wednesday was the 27th consecutive sellout of 2011 — the games are torture and the town’s team is almost immune to the consequences.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Bad breaks are piling up for the San Francisco Giants

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

June has arrived with promise and reminders. June rhymes with moon, spoon, loon and, as those who remember the Giants’ bad old days, swoon. A tradition presumably abandoned.

After a May in which San Francisco lost its star catcher and six games during the final eight days, the new month couldn’t be as troublesome as the past when a quick start became a sudden decline.

Read the full story  here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Giants in Shock Over Loss of Posey

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — The fog melted away Thursday, but not the gloom. Buster Posey is gone for at least two months, most likely for the season, and the reality hit the San Francisco Giants with the force and impact Scott Cousins of the Florida Marlins hit Posey.

That happened Wednesday night in the 12th inning of a game that will live in infamy on the shores of the Bay. Cousins and a throw from Nate Schierholtz arrived at home plate at almost the same moment of a tie game.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Bonds steps up to plate for Stow family

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Is it permissible to say something positive about Barry Bonds? Thank you. Bonds pledged to pay for the college education of Bryan Stow’s two children. That’s a splash hit of another sort.

Barry’s taken a lot of knocks, some of them deserved, certainly. So how about some praise? How about a high-five for someone who can use a few compliments?

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Bay Area sports limping along

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The Bay Area blues: The Warriors can’t catch a break. The A’s can’t catch on. The Giants can’t catch a ground ball — or if they do, can’t throw it properly to first base.


Dare we mention the Sharks, who until proven differently, remain the only major league franchise in the region yet to win their sport’s championship?



Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Bruce Bochy is the brain behind the San Francisco Giants

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

He’s as cool as an evening at AT&T Park, as reliable as the Pacific tide. Bruce Bochy is a motivator, a moderator, and it should be apparent, one of the finest managers in baseball. He is someone with a relentless confidence in his players and a deep understanding of baseball.

He doesn’t throw tantrums, but on occasion, will throw caution to those San Francisco winds. He never embarrasses an athlete, a journalist or the game, although he did go after Jonathan Sanchez’s lack of focus.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: No. 24 Reaches Birthday No. 80

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — He described his skills in such clear, unpretentious terms. "They throw the ball,'' Willie Mays once said. "I hit it. They hit it. I catch it."



What he hits today is a milestone. Number 24 has reached birthday Number 80. And if we actually needed another reason to revel in the glory of arguably the finest baseball player ever, well, there it is.

"There have been only two geniuses in the world, Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare,'' said ...

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Giants, A’s sharing same woes at the plate

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

At least A’s manager Bob Geren hasn’t felt the need to say of his team, “We’re awful,” which is specifically what Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of his team’s offense of late, even though they are not.

What they are is disappointing. So are the A’s.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Dodgers: From Brilliance to Desperation

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — They were the great Dodgers, a sporting model, the franchise that once drew 93,000 for a game, the franchise of Koufax, Scully and Lasorda, the franchise of Frank Sinatra, the franchise that did everything right, while here in the city of faults the Giants seemed to do everything wrong.



The Dodgers made Northern California paranoid. The Dodgers made Northern California jealous. The chant, even to this day, is "Beat L.A.'' by people who'd practically rather have the Dodgers lose than the Giants win.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: A's lineup needs more pop to back pitching

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Say this for the Oakland A’s. The commissioner of baseball hasn’t felt the need to commandeer them, as he did the Los Angeles Dodgers.

At least the people who run the A’s still are controlling their direction. Or misdirection.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Red Sox Nation Invades Oakland

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND — The old Mausoleum wasn't so empty or quiet Tuesday night. The exes were there, as in expatriates, as in Red Sox fans who wouldn't go back to New England for all the tea once dumped into Boston Harbor, but for reasons you don't want to hear cling preciously to the old ball club.

It's an interesting matchup when the Bosox, as the headlines in the old Sporting News called them, show up in Oakland. An interesting contrast too.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: For Bonds, No Jail, No Hall

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Feel safer now? The feds got Barry Lamar Bonds. Barely. They took their money, which is our money, and spent it in an attempt to show that Bonds had lied, which he may have done but also which the feds were unable to prove.

No perjury, which is lying under oath. Just obstruction, which ironically in baseball allows the runner to go to the next base.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Defense is Giants' No. 1 concern

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

So right field has turned into the Magical Mystery Tour. And as with last year, the offense seems to be a mystery of its own. Still, the season is not quite two weeks old, and if Giants fans seek a sense of perspective they are urged to check out the disaster that is the Boston Red Sox.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Despite scandal, slugger Barry Bonds' legacy remains fully intact

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The numbers are not going to change, and neither are most opinions. Barry Bonds will keep the home run records he set, even if everyone from Cooperstown to Candlestick knows he used performance-enhancing drugs.

What everyone didn’t know was he could be convicted for previously testifying before a grand jury that, in effect, he was a celebrity child. That was his defense 7½ years ago.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company