giantsontherise

Las Vegas is known for glitz and glamor, but for two weeks in July it is more than a hedonistic escape. It is where 22 teams of hungry players come to make a name for themselves in the pros, execs come for business and the occasional All-Star drops in to check out the talent. This year, faces in the crowd included Paul Pierce, Chris Paul, James Posey, Kevin Durant, Ryan Gomes, Antawn Jamison, Sebastian Telfair, Rudy Gay and Kevin Love.

10:02 p.m. Sunday update: I was out all day. Late referral: Monte Poole’s strong column highlighting that free agent prefer to avoid weird W’s. My add: Shaky ownership, strange front office, erratic coach, history of feuding with best players.. Gee, why would players think poorly of W’s? Well, at least they got Corey Maggette last year for $17M more than Ron Artest just took from the Lakers.

To the surprise of no one, the Giants’ co-aces Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain were named to the National League All-Star team on Sunday. Infielder Pablo Sandoval still has a chance as part of a “Final Five’‘ fan vote. A’s closer Andrew Bailey was named to the American League squad. “Those two were no-brainers,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said of Lincecum and Cain, who are ranked second and third, respectively, in the league in ERA and are tied for second in the league with nine wins each.

Winning behind their ace was one thing, destroying the opponents’ ace was quite another. The Giants have done both here. They followed Tim Lincecum’s two-hit shutout by mauling Chris Carpenter for six runs in five innings and beating the Cardinals 6-3 on Tuesday night.With their eighth win in 11 games, the Giants moved a season-high eight over .500 (42-34), assured no worse than a .500 trip and completed a rousing June (17-10) that establishes them among the elites in a league short on dominating teams.

The cavalry might come galloping to assist the Giants’ offense, but don’t expect to hear reveille any time soon.Before watching his lineup struggle in road grays yet again Monday night in a 5-1 loss to the A’s, Giants General Manager Brian Sabean said he didn’t expect any deals for bats to develop until the days leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

(06-22) 20:12 PDT — As the Giants work to sign this year’s top draft pick, high school pitcher Zach Wheeler, last year’s first-rounder might be making a big move soon.General manager Brian Sabean said Monday that team executives Dick Tidrow and Bobby Evans are discussing a promotion soon for catcher Buster Posey, who might jump from Class A San Jose directly to Triple-A Fresno, bypassing Double-A Connecticut.

There’s that little workout scheduling quirk that Tim describes which makes you wonder about the interest in Holiday. But who really knows if that means anything come draft day. The Warriors worked out Patrick O’Bryant right before the 2006 NBA Draft (turned out great didn’t it?). They also never brought Brandan Wright in for a workout and they were willing to expedite the destruction of WE BELIEVE to make that trade for him.

Turns out the rehab running Michael Crabtree did on Monday wasn’t exactly the first time he’s hoofed it since his March foot surgery. “I remember the first day we came out here for a minicamp (in May), and he was over there running routes,” Mike Singletary said today of his rookie wideout. “I said, ‘What the heck are you doing? You’re not supposed to be out here. Who told you to come out here?’ And we got that straight, but he was almost in tears.