Flippin' over Felipe

Is there any better managerial magician than Felipe Alou? I think not.

Alou's Giants are 14-11 this season with a starting staff that has gone 7-10 with a 5.09 ERA. In addition, he's been without Bonds and he lost his closer.

His regular lineup consists of Omar Vizquel, Pedro Feliz, Edgardo Alfonzo, Marquis Grissom, Ray Durham, Mike Matheny, J.T. Snow and Michael Tucker.

The key here might be Feliz, who at 30 finally seems to be blossoming into a fine hitter. He was .276-22-84 last year and is .284-4-22 so far this season. Fonzie, who really hasn't put up bad numbers since arriving in SF, also has been a key contributor (.356-2-16) as well as ageless Omar, who is batting .299 and has 7 SB.

Prior to getting to SF in 2003, Grissom's previous best year was in 1993 (.298 - 19 HR - 95 RBI - 53 SB) while with the Expos. Tucker had his most productive year in 2004, his first in SF.

Alou, for whatever reason, seems to get the best from his players. He is 896-860 in his career, which is incredible considering he spent 10 years in Montreal.

Heck, his Giants won 100 games in 2003 with a team that had nobody drive in more than 90 runs -- Bonds led with 90 -- and only Bonds scored more than 90 runs. He had 10 pitchers make at least 5 starts that season (including household names like Kevin Correia, Damian Moss, and Jesse Foppert) and used 13 starters total.