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Around the San Francisco Giants' stadium, fans and players still wear black fluffy beards because of a relief pitcher named Brian Wilson. His artificially blackened, overly long beard became the symbol of the Giants' run to the world championship three years ago, and again last year even though he couldn't play due to injury. Until the Giants opted not to re-sign Wilson for this season, he was the personality of the team. The quintessential Giants guy that LA fans loathed.
Now he is a Dodger.
LA signed Wilson today, after seeing him work out at UCLA, and sent him to the minors to continue coming back from Tommy John elbow surgery. It's expected he will be called up the Dodgers soon. It's not quite like when the Dodgers signed the hated ex-Giant Juan Marichal in the 1970s, but it's close. (Minus the felony assault. And the, you know, Hall of Fame.) Wilson will look out of place in a Dodger blue uniform instead of in Giants black and orange — San Francisco is the only team he has played for up to now. Of course, the Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti is a former Giants official, and he has brought in just about every active ex-Giant from his era to play at least a few games for the Dodgers. Wilson might actually be good, though. He was the Giants closer for four seasons and has 171 lifetime saves. He was hurt at the start of last season and has not pitched in the majors since April 12, 2012. He gives the Dodgers bullpen depth. I wonder if the Giants' relief pitchers will finally do away with their beards.
Noted: The Dodgers beat the Yankees tonight 3-2, on a walk-off single by Mark Ellis in the 9th inning. Recap
Regarding the rivalry, Mike Petriello at the Dodgers blog Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness urges fans not to hate him anymore:
Now before we discuss the merits of any possible signing, we probably should discuss the elephant in the room: you hate him. Of course you do. He was a Giant, and not only was he a Giant, he was a huge part of their 2010 World Series title, even getting the final out. He’s a big weirdo with a giant, annoying, beard. He got into that thing with Casey Blake. He was in those tremendously irritating “Black Ops” Taco Bell ads. If Taco Bell was a place I would ever go to eat, ever, those ads would be enough to put a stop to that. I’M BLACK OPS.
If there’s such a thing as “good and evil” in the Dodgers / Giants rivalry these days, Wilson is probably the defining face of it. You can’t hate Buster Posey or Matt Cain, who are both outstanding players and reportedly solid people. You can’t hate Tim Lincecum, especially now that he’s a shell of himself, because he’s just too goofy. Hunter Pence? Maybe, but he’s been there for barely a year. Barry Zito? It’s too much fun to laugh at his contract. Pablo Sandoval? Sergio Romo? I guess? No, if there’s a recent villain of this rivalry, it’s Wilson.So you hate Wilson, and I can’t really expect that any self-respecting Dodger fan would think otherwise, especially after we’ve been burned by years of Ned Colletti’s ex-Giants from Jason Schmidt to Juan Uribe to Eugenio Velez to Russ Ortiz to probably dozens more.
But know this: you hate him because he’s not been on your team. If Wilson did all the same things but had been on the Dodgers, you’d treat him like a folk hero. If Yasiel Puig was wearing black & orange while tossing bats and sliding into the plate on home runs, you’d despise him. It’s the way the sports world works, and that’s okay. Let’s just not pretend it’s anything otherwise.
Besides, if you're named Brian Wilson, you belong in LA. This from Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
Wilson, 31, is another in a long line of former Giants acquired by Colletti, himself a former Giants exec, who said he met with Wilson after the Sunday workout and was assured he could handle a lesser role than closer.
"He's watched our club and he knows the team inside and out," Colletti said. "He said he just wants to help any way he can, whatever you need. He said he wants nothing given to him, he'll earn what he gets."The right-handed Wilson could join former All-Star closers Brandon League and Carlos Marmol, along with Ronald Belisario, to support current closer Kenley Jansen, who has been dominant since replacing League in May.
Wilson gives the Dodgers another interesting character, if nothing else:
