Around the Bay: Giants Lose to Minor Leaguers

Read the headline one more time, take a deep breath, and lower your expectations. Please, everyone, resign yourself to the fact that this Giants season may feature the worst team in Bay Area sports history. On their way home from Spring Training, the Giants stopped in the Central Valley to play their Triple-A affiliate, the Fresno Grizzlies. Zito was tagged for 4 runs in 6 2/3 innings, and after the game Coach Bochy acknowledged that his Opening Day starter is still having trouble with his location. More notes here - injuries, possible lineups, etc. In news of the not-too-surprising, the Chronicle reports that demand for Giants tickets is plummeting for the upcoming season. Ownership is optimistic that numbers will not be down too much, but revenues for ticket brokers are down 25%. Moral of the story: if you can stomach the product on the field, it's a great time to buy.

Lots of great Stanford coverage floating around on the eve of the Cardinal's first Sweet Sixteen appearance since 2001. Sports Illustrated has a great profile of the Lopez twins, who are apparently every bit as weird off the court as they are on it. The Mercury News has one piece discussing the many faces of Trent Johnson and another exploring why Johnson's coaching style may be better suited for tournament success than Mike Montgomery's.

And it's taken a while, but Bill Simmons has fallen in love with the Lopez twins. I agree with his against-the-grain assertion that Robin is a better pro prospect than Brook, despite the fact that Brook will be drafted higher.

The Merc also makes the point that losing a 5th round pick might not hurt the Niners all that much, publishing a list of the last 10 years of San Francisco 5th rounders. The only contributors from those ten years? Ronald Fields and Parys Haralson, not exactly world-beaters.

With Brandon Roy and the Blazers coming to town tonight, take a look at what Mullin, Nellie, Baron, and Captain Jack have to say about why the Warriors are comfortable with their record-setting pace in 3-point attempts.

Bay Area Sports Today (all times Pacific)

7:15pm - Mariners vs. Giants

7:30pm (TNT) - Blazers (38-34, 10th West) vs. Warriors (43-27, 8th West)

National TV Highlights

4:30pm (CBS) - NCAA East Regional Semifinal: #4 Washington St (26-8, 3rd Pac-10) vs. #1 North Carolina (34-2, ACC Champ)
Wazzu has struggled against teams with great interior offense (0-5 against UCLA & Stanford), and UNC is one of 4 teams (along with UCLA, Memphis, & Texas) that have a chance to win it all. Hope springs eternal, though, and the Cougs looked dominant last weekend against Winthrop & Notre Dame. Go Pac-10! If you get a chance, read this Sports Illustrated article on WSU point guard Taylor Rochestie. Good stuff.

7pm (CBS) - NCAA East Regional Semifinal: #3 Louisville (26-8, 2nd Big East) vs. #2 Tennessee (31-4, SEC Champ)