Kuzul

When Brian Wilson went down in the first week of the 2012 season, many Giants fans panicked. Some lost hope for the whole year. After all, the Giants didn't have any proven ninth inning options, and the last several World Series champions, including the 2010 Giants, had proven closers. Bruce Bochy didn't make many fans feel better when installing Santiago Casilla as the closer, and after a very good start as closer, Casilla folded and cost the Giants some games. So then, the Giants went to a closer-by-committee format. Why? Because they didn't fully trust Sergio Romo's durability at closer.Eventually, Bochy started giving most of the opportunities for saves to Romo, and he made Bochy's trust pay off in the regular season and in the playoffs. Romo went 1-0 with an 0.84 ERA and four saves with nine games finished in the playoffs, closing out the World Series with three perfect innings (total) ...

Winning two World Series titles puts San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy in some impressive company. In MLB history, 22 managers have won at least two championships. As you would expect, some of them are among baseball's all-time greats. Casey Stengel and Joe McCarthy top the list with seven, Connie Mack has five and Joe Torre and Walter Alston have four apiece. Next up are Sparky Anderson, Miller Huggins, John McGraw and Tony La Russa, who all have three series victories in the Fall Classic. Bochy certainly has an opportunity to win another World Series—perhaps as soon as next year. At 57 years old, he presumably will manage for many seasons to come. Staying in the dugout is surely a much easier decision while he's at the top of his game, leading one of the best franchises in the league and a perennial contender. However, what if Bochy decided to call it a career ...

Leadership is a very difficult thing to write about because it cannot be measured or quantified.That doesn't mean that it isn't significant, or that it doesn't exist.According to Alex Pavlovic of the San Jose Mercury News, Giants manager Bruce Bochy met with the team before the game on Friday to demand more toughness and competitiveness of his troops, particularly from his slumping offense. The Giants went out and responded with a season-high 16 runs.Perhaps the Giants busted out because of Bochy's leadership skills, or, perhaps it had more to do with playing at hitter-friendly Coors Field against one of the worst pitching staffs in the league. It's impossible to say what caused the outburst, but we shouldn't sell Bochy's qualities as a leader of men short.Bochy does several things very well as a manager. His biggest strength is without question his handling of the pitching staff, particularly the bullpen. Since ...

Bruce Bochy, general manager of the San Francisco Giants, is clearly one of the most underrated coaches in all of baseball.  Ranking third in wins among active managers, Bochy has flown under the radar for most of his managerial career, which is absolutely by design. Never seeking the limelight or creating a controversy, Bochy almost always keeps a cool demeanor and level head.  Known as “Boch” (Boach) in baseball circles, he rarely gets kicked out of a game, seldom reacts negatively to a reporter’s questions and doesn’t have the post-game tirade highlights that a lot of his contemporaries are known for. All of this explains how a manager—who ranks 27th in all-time wins and will likely be 23rd behind Earl Weaver by the end of the year—is rarely talked about when discussing the great managers in the game.  The two active managers currently ahead of Bochy are Jim Leyland, already considered one ...

Prior to Saturday’s afternoon game vs. the Texas Rangers at AT&T Park, Giants manager Bruce Bochy was asked numerous questions about Pablo Sandoval.   Affectionately known as the “Panda,” Sandoval was activated from the 15-day disabled list today after missing 35 games while rehabbing from surgery on a fractured hamate bone in his left wrist.  While there were a number of questions surrounding Sandoval’s rehab and availability to hit from both sides, Bochy was asked if he appreciated Sandoval’s recent comments about taking his fitness seriously.  Pulling no punches, Bochy responded immediately, saying, “There comes a time when you don’t want to hear it, you need action, and that’s got to happen now.”  Bochy didn’t stop there, as he elaborated on the weight Sandoval has apparently lost this week, “That has to be consistent, it can’t (just) be for three or four days, or a week, it’s gotta be for the ...

If you want to know why the San Francisco Giants are barely a .500 team, you don't need to look any further then the sixth inning in the Giants' 7-6 loss Friday night to the Miami Marlins. With one out and one run already in to cut the Giants' lead over the Marlins to 3-2, the Marlins had the bases loaded. Tim Lincecum was already over 90 pitches and looked like he had lost it. Then John Buck hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game. Only then did Giants manager Bruce Bochy get the bullpen going. A little late, don't you think? The next batter, Chris Coghlan, hit a three-run homer and the Marlins had blown the game wide open, leading 6-3. By the way, Coghlan had a homer in only five career at-bats against Lincecum.  Bochy pulled Lincecum, but it was way too late for the Giants and ...

I wish I had a dime for every article written about Tim Lincecum lately.  Needless to say, Giants Nation is in full freak-out mode and we're only one-quarter of the way through the 2012 season.  Well, I'm not writing about Timmy.  I've already made my predictions regarding Lincecum and I'm sticking to them.But let's take a look at Bochy.  The good decisions, the questionable decisions and the guiding force that leads him through the season.  The Giants manager is privy to a lot of information that none of us can ever even sniff; I think we can all give him that.Some fans love him, while others want his formidable head on a platter. Here are some reasons Bochy deserves his job more than you do. ExperienceBochy played the game for nearly 10 seasons.  He had 802 at-bats and hit 26 home runs.  He was a decent catcher, and he gets some ...

After watching another pathetic performance by the San Francisco Giants, one that almost put me asleep, I had a thought. This team might not be doing itself much good right now, but boy it's been good to its opponents.As evidence, I give you tonight's opponents, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Before tonight, the Diamondbacks had lost five in a row and seven of their last eight.Giants to the rescue! It doesn't matter that the D'Backs rolled out a guy with a seven-plus ERA; he was still able to shut down the Giants' feeble bats.And the Giants' defense helped again with a couple of errors, along with a misplay in the outfield that opened the door for a three-run inning that undid the Giants. Down 4-1 at that point in the fifth inning, the score might as well have been 16-1 the way the Giants have been hitting. Or I should say not ...

 Aubrey Huff texted in sick, to manager Bruce Bochy before the San Francisco Giants doubleheader with the Mets on April 23.  Apparently a "family emergency" called him urgently back to Florida.Well, in baseball timing is everything and Huff's little excursion certainly raises some eyebrows. Huff is currently hitting .182/.300/.333.  During Huff's last game he was 0-4, but much worse than that was the appalling error he made in the ninth inning that cost the Giants an unearned run in what would be a rather bizarre 5-4 loss.Manager Bruce Bochy said: "He had to go back for personal reasons, personal issues."So how much empathy do we show?  It's a puzzle, isn't it?  Fans can run hot and cold on certain players like Aubrey Huff.  He was adored in 2010.  We all loved him, even when he shoved his hand down his pants in front of Willie Mays and the world.  Now ...

On Monday, it was a trip to Kansas City’s spring training facility to see the Royals and San Francisco. Outside of the Chicago Cubs, the Giants are the biggest draw in the Cactus League and easily had more than half the fans of the 6,243 in attendance. To the delight of much of the crowd, San Francisco won 2-1, as both teams used a mix of regulars and subs for about six innings, before the younger guys with numbers of 60 or higher took over. Last season, the Giants were last in the National League in scoring and 29th in baseball, with a large part of their problem being they swung (and often missed) at more pitches that were out of the strike zone than any other team in the major league. The return of Buster Posey will help, although you don’t go from being the lowest scoring team in your league ...