The Art of Chemisty

Before the All-Star break, I was talking to Aaron Rowand about Juan Uribe. Uribe is such a popular guy in the clubhouse, and I knew almost nothing about him. Rowand and Uribe had played together in Chicago.

"He's always laughing,'' Rowand said. "He likes messing with everybody.''

Rowand was standing in the dugout before batting practice. Pablo Sandoval bounded up the steps past us and onto the field. Then Jeremy Affeldt. And Tim Lincecum. 

"When you look at this team, we have guys who like to have fun,'' Rowand said. "They're there to play baseball, but they know how to fun, too.''

I asked him how important that is. Some people dismiss chemistry as a factor in a team's success. If you have talent, you win, no matter how well or poorly the players got along. Did Rowand think chemistry matters?

"Absolutely,'' he said.

And on this Giants team, he said, the chemistry has been evolving since the start of spring training.

"When you're putting a team together, it's not just about quality players. It's about quality people, too,'' he said. "There's the personality factor. If you don't get along, it's tough to play together on the field. I think unless you've played sports at a high level it might be hard to understand how much (good chemistry) means to playing well on the field. If everyone's going their separate ways, that can't help you play together as a team on the field.

"You've got to give a lot of credit to Brian Sabean for putting the rights guys together. We have guys here who are just coming into their own - Matty, Timmy, Brian Wilson. Then you add in guys who bring intensity, like Randy Johnson.

"He's been wonderful for the guys in here. He's intense but he'll laugh, joke around. He's not what we expected. We're very pleasantly surprised how personable he is with his teammates. We all feel really lucky to part of one of the biggest games of his career.

"There's no measurement for chemistry,'' Rowand said, "but it's big. It's bigger than I think people realize.''

(If you haven't already seen it, look at the story on the front page of USA Today today (July 16) by Jorge Ortiz. It's all about chemistry, in particular how much fun the Giants are having this season.)