We Got a Runner

S'BORO~1t.JPG.jpg If, like us, you were driving around the city last night hearing weird sort of booms in the air it was because it was Fireworks Night at the Phonebooth. Now fireworks night at the ballpark can occasionally be sort of a weird thing, an obvious marketing ploy that can on the wrong night and with the wrong team be all that more disconnected from reality. Hey, our team is going nowhere, our front office is run by a bunch of cheapskates, and we'll never come close to the playoffs, but look at the shiny rockets exploding in the air!

But not last night. Nope, fireworks seemed fitting as the Giants have now gone where they haven't gone before -- four game winning streak. How mediocre has this team been? They haven't been able to win more than three games a season. But tonight, they beat the Pads for their fourth game in a row, crushing them once again by a final score of 8-2. For the second night in a row, a Giants starting pitcher had a shutout going until the night inning, this time it being Matt Cain to the previous night's Noah Lowry. The Giants are now 1/2 game behind the Padres for first place in the NL West and tied for first in the Wild Card race. Are we now at the start of the Big Run? And once again, the question is raised: who are these guys and what you done with the Giants?

But there's more reason to celebrate as the Giants pulled off their patented second half trade-a-prospect-for-a-playoff-run move, trading Jeremy Accardo for Shea Hillenbrand and pitcher Vinnie Chulk from the Jays. Hillenbrand is a career .300 hitter with some power, has even worse patience at the plate than Pedro, and is not known for being great with the glove. He is also known as a bit of a douche having earned his trade for a season of bitching and whining, topped off by his writing "This Ship is Sinking" on the Jays chalkboard one day and getting challenged to a fight by the Jays manager. Chulk is an arm.

As for whether the trade is a good one or not, the debate is not on whether or not Hillenbrand is good but rather whether losing Accardo is too much. There is a bit of a robbing Peter to give to Paul element to the trade-- weakening the sketchy bullpen to help the sketchy 1b situation-- but holes in the bullpen can be covered up better than holes in the lineup. And if Armando is finally healthy....

There are two other complaints about the trade. The first is that Accardo is a young arm and could be someone to build around when the team gets blown up and rebuilt at the end of the year. True dat. But relievers do not make cornerstones of teams unless they are really, really good. The jury is out on Accardo. Which brings up the second complaint about the trade, the fact we traded a young reliever for a player known as a bit of a jackass, something that makes Giants fans immediately start gagging and break into cold sweats, otherwise known as the AJ Pierzynski Syndrome. Not every trade is going to turn out to be that God-awful and we don’t think this one will be. But what do we know?

The way we see it is that on paper, this looks to help the team in the here and now. We know have a pretty good 1-8 and the one big huge, gaping wound of a problem at 1b. We like Sweeney, but we like Sweeney as a part time hitter. Bringing in Shea does what deep down every Giants fan wants, helps the team get to the playoffs. As much as we want some sign that there's a plan to build a halfway decent team in '07, that will all be forgotten if at some point champagne gets popped this season.

In other words, bring on the fireworks.