Countdown to Scottsdale #31: Chris Ray, RP

I sing the song of Chris Ray, who didn't allow a run over his first five appearances in orange and black after the trade that brought him to the eventual World Series Champs and sent longtime backstop Bengie "Big Money" Molina to the eventual American League Champs, setting up what turned out to be an anticlimactic showdown some four months later. Though he didn't toe the rubber in October — or November, for that matter — Mr. Ray will long be remembered as a footnote in the verbose chapter of Giants lore that will one day pertain to one Gerald "Buster" Posey. Prior to the July 1st trade, the Giants were 40-38 and floundering in fourth place in the West, 5.5 games back of the Padres. From that day on, with Posey as the everyday catcher, los Gigantes went 52-32. When you're chewing on those numbers, does it really matter that Chris Ray posted a double-digit ERA during the dog days of August? Or that he's tied with Matt Cain for the shortest name on the 2010 club? Or that he could've been a hero on the second-to-last day of the season, when he tossed 2.1 scoreless in relief of an ineffective Barry Zito in a game the Giants nearly stole to clinch the West? Nope. Not a damn bit.

Thanks, Chris.