Tuesday, October 26, 2010

A Degree of Separation

Cody Ross' is the winner of the NLCS-MVP award, and it was all because of...John Bowker.

Bowker, after underwhelming the G-Men in 2008-09, lit up the Arizona sky during the past spring, launching longballs and even driving home seven runs in one pre-season match. He got the starting nod on Opening Day, out-battling Nate Schierholtz, who was favored to win the position.

Well, we all know that spring knocks don't necessarily carry over into the regular season, and they didn't for Bowker. He hit .207, Schierholtz got the job he was slotted for, and all was according to plan San Fran.

Except that Schierholtz didn't particularly smack the horsehide much better than Bowker, hitting .242 with three home runs in 137 games.

So the Giants' FO went fishing just like Neal Huntington likes to do. They landed Cody Ross, claiming him off waivers from Florida on August 22nd. On the 31st, they moved third-wheel Bowker, along with Joe Martinez, to the Bucs for Javier Lopez.

Bowker spent September in right field for Pittsburgh; Ross is spending October in right field for the Giants. And doing pretty well, too.

Ross is batting .324 through his first two playoff series with eight RBI and four home runs. He's four wins away from helping the G-Men to their first title since the Say-Hey days of 1954.

And it's all because John Bowker couldn't hang on to the starting job in San Francisco.

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