Kuzul

The 2002 World Series Loss Still StingsWinning World Series titles in 2010 and 2012 should have pushed any lingering pain of the San Francisco Giants 2002 World Series loss far into the stratosphere—especially since I was among the million at the purely joyous 2010 parade.Laying eyes upon a villain from that 2002 series, however, proved I'm not fully healed—at all. Most of those Los Angeles Angels are long retired. As the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind.The pain quickly flooded back Wednesday when the CSN camera locked on Toronto's starter—Ramon Ortiz, 40 years young, back in MLB after a two-year absence. He was the winning pitcher in Game 3 of that World Series (thanks to run support, it should be noted).Just seeing his face brought it all back. Some folks lead very successful adult lives and still withdraw upon spotting an old high school bully at a reunion. ...

Marco Scutaro was a vital piece of the San Francisco Giants' World Series run in 2012, and it appears that he's being rewarded for his efforts.According to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal, the Giants have signed the veteran shortstop to a multi-year deal: Source: Scutaro in agreement with #SFGiants, $20 million for three years.— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 5, 2012  Forget that Scutaro will be 37 years old by the time this deal is up—he was too big in the postseason to not be retained. Danny Knobler of CBS Sports mentioned on Tuesday that the Cardinals and Yankees were also said to be interested, but Scutaro decided to return anyway.Acquired from the Colorado Rockies before the trade deadline in July, Scutaro turned into a new player. He hit .362 in 61 games, which is completely out of character for the career .276 hitter.Once the playoffs came around, things changed again. He was injured ...

San Francisco is still relishing the aura of earning championship glory for the second time in three seasons as the offseason hot stove is about to start up. The Giants have adopted a wait-and-see approach in relation to potentially resigning outfielder Angel Pagan and infielder Marco Scutaro. GM Brian Sabean has publicly stated that the World Champions have prioritized bringing back the two catalysts that solidified the top of the order in 2012, but both free agents are commanding significant value in the market, and it remains unknown how much the Giants are willing to spend on player payroll entering the 2013 season. The market should heat-up when MLB Winter Meetings commence in Nashville, Tennessee on December 3rd, although the Giants have until midnight EST of November 30th to tender contracts to Pagan and Scutaro before the exclusive signing period ends. It doesn't seem likely that either free agent will ink a contract before that date, ...

The San Francisco Giants went through the first half of last season with a platoon at second base that consisted of the light-hitting Ryan Theriot and the non-hitting Emmanuel Burriss.Theriot hit .270/.316/.321 in 384 plate appearances, and Burriss hit .213/.270/.221 in 150 plate appearances. They combined for just 17 doubles, one triple and no home runs.The midseason acquisition of Marco Scutaro turned the position from a weakness into a giant strength. Scutaro hit .362/.385/.473 in 61 regular-season games after the trade, and .328/.377/.391 during the postseason. He earned NLCS MVP honors and delivered the game-winning hit during the clinching game of the World Series.Burriss has been outrighted to Triple-A, while Scutaro and Theriot are both free agents. The Giants want to bring Scutaro back, but if he does get away, they'll have some other options in the free-agent market this winter. However, unlike the robust outfield market, the pickings are ...

The Hot Stove is still in simmer mode, but offseason activity is beginning to pick up around the majors. About the only movement in San Francisco so far has been the Giants' commitment to offering Hunter Pence arbitration.But this should be a busy winter for the Giants, with nine free agents from this past season's 40-man roster, an arbitration-eligible closer coming off Tommy John Surgery, and a need for another power bat in the lineup.Here is a look at four players from the 2012 World Series champions who could be on the move this offseason.Begin Slideshow

Was Matt Holliday's slide into Marco Scutaro in the first inning of Game 2 of the NLCS a dirty play?While Holliday's intent was almost assuredly not to injure Scutaro, the fact is that Scutaro did have to eventually leave the game because of the collision. Scutaro's status is in question for Game 3 as he deals with a hip strain and sore knee suffered from the collision.Still, even though Holliday slid late and hurt Scutaro, he doesn't come across as a dirty player, and the Giants players and coaches didn't think it was a dirty play.Holliday said that he wished he had started his slide earlier, and Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt, Holliday's former teammate in Colorado, vouched for Holliday's character after the game.So, the question of whether it was a dirty play really comes down to your judgment on Holliday's intent. Based on everything I've read, it seems that Holliday ...

The San Francisco Giants didn't need extra motivation to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. They knew the series would be shifting to St. Louis for Game 3, and they wanted to make sure things were all even at a game apiece before it did.Perhaps just to make things a little more interesting, the Cardinals gave the Giants a little extra motivation anyway.We all saw what happened at second base in the top of the first inning at AT&T Park on Monday night. Allen Craig bounced a tailor-made double-play ball to Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, but Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday broke up the would-be twin killing with a hard slide into second baseman Marco Scutaro.It was a very hard slide.Like, hard enough to be well past the point of it being a "dirty" slide.There's really no arguing that Holliday's slide wasn't dirty. It's true ...

The San Francisco Giants got a scare when second baseman Marco Scutaro had to come out of Game 2 of the National League Championship Series with an injured hip after St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday slid into him. Alex Pavlovic of the San Jose Mercury News reported some good news on Tuesday, as Scutaro's X-Rays came back negative.  Bochy: Scutaro had x-rays, they were negative. Said he was pretty sore. Will be evaluated tomorrow.— Alex Pavlovic (@AlexPavlovic) October 16, 2012 The fact that Scutaro is sore should come as no surprise. Holliday's slide was ugly and bent Scutaro's right leg and hip in a way that they shouldn't. But the best news for Scutaro and the Giants is that it happened on Monday. Since the two teams traveled to St. Louis after the game, the schedule works out well for the Giants. They have an off-day on Tuesday before going back to the ...

Marco Scutaro delivered a clutch walk-off hit for the San Francisco Giants on Monday, and such heroics are nothing new for the second baseman.There were a number of reasons why I was a huge fan of the Giants' midseason acquisition of Scutaro from the Colorado Rockies.While Rome was burning in Boston last September, Scutaro did his best to hold the team together by hitting .387/.438/.581 down the stretch.Besides his clutch performance during the Red Sox's historic collapse, Scutaro has always been an extreme contact hitter—striking out in only 11 percent of his career plate appearances while walking nearly nine percent of the time. He's a patient hitter who rarely swings at the first pitch, works the count well and doesn't expand the strike zone too often. Though Scutaro doesn't have much power, he's hit line drives over 20 percent of the time that he's made contact during his career, and that ...

According to Andrew Baggerly of CSN Bay Area, Pablo Sandoval will return to the San Francisco Giants' infield sometime in the middle of next week. Bruce Bochy said trainers tell him Pablo Sandoval is a week away from activation. He's eligible Thursday.— Andrew Baggarly (@CSNBaggs) August 5, 2012 Make no mistake, Sandoval will play third base when he returns. Bruce Bochy doesn't want to see a repeat of Sandoval's hamstring pull in a stretch at first base, so the Panda will return to his familiar hot corner. That's certainly good news for the Giants' offense.But it's probably also bad news for Brandon Crawford because Marco Scutaro, who's been manning third base since he came over from Colorado, can play his position.Crawford has been one of baseball's worst shortstops this season—literally. Crawford is dead last among starting shortstops in OPS. It's been a disappointing year for Crawford, who the Giants didn't exactly expect ...