photo: Dylan Bell, Getty Images
by
Greek Giant
Tonight’s Game: Giants (31-50) VS Pirates (37-42) at Roberto Clemente Park, 7:05 PM
Johnny Cueto (5-7, 4.20) VS Gerritt Cole (6-6, 4.11)
That off day felt like a week. Welcome to the second half of the season. Gerritt Cole is pitching for the Pirates. Per ESPN: “Johnny Cueto has had more success against the Pirates than against any other opponent, going 19-4 with a 2.10 ERA in 29 career starts.”
Five Questions
- Is Roberto Clemente Park the second most beautiful ballfield in the bigs?
- Will Johnny Cueto end up with a winning record this season?
- How should the Giants pitch to Andrew McCutcheon, the Pirates’ hottest hitter?
- Will the day and a half off help the Giants?
- Should the Giants trade Eduardo Nunez?
brekeroni says ownage is ownage.learn em, johnny..
THE Fakeroni, Breckeroni’s cousin says the Giants have a nice interview with BLB25 and his mom Pat Bonds. (somewhere on here)
https://www.facebook.com/Giants/?hc_ref=ADS&fref=nf
SF Giants PreGame Notes
http://mlb.mlb.com/documents/5/3/0/239687530/06.30.17_at_PIT_Game_Notes_p0jg7se9.pdf
No, yes, ins and outs ups and downs strikes, yes, no.
1. Yes, the Pirates play in the 2nd nicest park. Our Bay view outweighs their cool bridge entrance. Yellow and black unis are nearly as good as Orange and Black, too.
2. Cueto has a winning record only if he is traded to a good team. The G’s waste too many of his outings.
3. It is cool to see McCutchen this weekend. I hope he only gets his inevitable hits when there are two outs, and none on.
4. The day off will help the team, but didn’t do the fans riding a 3-game win streak any good!
5. Ah, if only Nunez had handled the outfield better. And, if only he was a little bit easier to keep on the field. I like him, but he seems the best trade chip the Giants have, in terms of being immediately replaceable (Arroyo, Hwang, Gillaspie and so forth).
1) Is Roberto Clemente Park the second most beautiful ball field in the bigs?
* Actually it is AS nice as AT&T (sorry to those who cannot stomach the fact) (one bad draw is the visiting announcers box is above the rim of the stadium)
2) Will Johnny Cueto end up with a winning record this season?
* Yes
3) How should the Giants pitch to Andrew McCutcheon, the Pirates’ hottest hitter?
* Hard stuff In – soft stuff away
4) Will the day and a half off help the Giants?
* History says NO – but in this case – Yes.
5) Should the Giants trade Eduardo Nunez?
* No, but if they do – much closer to the deadline.
(They have not had his overall foot-speed since Darren Ford or Andres Torres)
1. Maybe
2. Yes
3. Pitch McCutch low in the strike zone
4. In this case yes because of the short turn around from the RT, 14 inning game, injuries, and roster dynamic.
5. Offer Nunez a two year no trade contract at $ 5 or $6 million as a utility player otherwise trade if get one quality near mlb ready player, preferably a pitcher.
Cool MiLB names
Las Vegas 51s (Shout out to Vegas Giant Fan)
Southern Illinois Miners
West Virginia Power
Yokohama Baystars
Carolina Mudcats
Charleston Riverdogs
Durham Bulls
Grand Junction Rockies
Mobile Bay Bears
Montgomery Biscuits ***Favorite***
Tennessee Smokies
Hickory Crawdads
Columbus Catfish
Thanks for leaving off the Modesto Nuts
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dd71533f53d6875fe31a092361c5377ad3a289400f095a4cc16d7cd642d60920.png
Looks like Herman Franks on the right.
Deeez nutz!
I needed to see if you were paying attention. How about the Turlock Plums?
I used to haul nuts (almonds) off the slab out of Waterford, Keyes and a bunch of other unknown locations near Turlock. And we’d go to the minor league games in Modesto to watch the Reds (post McCarthy era).
I was the back up PA announcer for the Modesto A’s in the summers during college…at Del Webb Field before the remodel…chicken wire backstop, sitting next to Darrell Phillips of the Modesto Bee. Always excited when the Fresno Giants were in town rather than the Salinas Angels
I think I smell an off-season guest post topic for this blog!
Well, my very first game was a classic, so I’ll shoot something off to Greek this summer
Nice. My wife Diane was a reporter for the Bee from about 1989-1999. Pretty sure she knew him. And also Jardine. As I recall, the entire stadium was made from two by fours or something like that.
Once my brother broke his collarbone in one of those spin your head around the bat routines. Ran right into a fence. I would’ve too but a player stopped me before I fell into the dugout. They’d plied us with free beers, and we’d already had a couple paid for beers. Pretty sure they discontinued that promotion after that..
I went to high school with Jardine…actually played little league against him until his skills faded…so many cool stories from Del Webb. Thanks for sharing yours!
Our Flying Squirrels play the Hartford Yard Goats. Both names are pretty good.
Lansing Lugnuts still around? Always liked that one.
Great MiLB hats for:
Chattanooga Lookouts
Quad City Bandits.
Albuquerque Isotopes another one.
#AAA GAME DAY
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The Dodgers are so stacked they can lead off THEIR Aaron Hill, and he even homers!
Utley and Panik have identical run production rates – both with wRC+ of 98, or just 2% below league average.
If Utley is the Dodgers’ version of Hill, you’ve just highlighted the difference between first place and last place.
Rarely we agree whole heartedly. So, yeah.
Anyone thinks Hill and Utley are anywhere near the same player never saw much of either.
Then I congratulate you on at least getting this one right. Good job.
Thanks.
Leadoff HR! Here we go!
Cool way to start a series.
With energy.
Pirates back to back hits on 1st pitches, what do you think about that .
Ours was a dinger!
That was not the point, Crawfish Joe, gets upset when Giants hitters swing at the 1st pitch, he is MR Try to get Pitchers pitch count up
Oh, yeah, I see.
Happens.
It’s a good thing the Giants got that run.. No one is going to want Cueto
Cueto’s drive to remain a Giant.
If Cueto could maintain quality of 2016, by all means stay a Giant for full contract.
Hard to judge Cueto on the screwed up 2017 season.
Best scenario is that Cueto stays with Giants by not opting out and maintains 2016 quality to end of contract.
That is optimism.
I’m going to say this again for the thousandth time. When these pitchers come into the first inning and need it to complete their pre game warm ups, it’s absolutely bull s****. These guys are pros with big effin egos who think they can get dialed in on 10-15 pitches, then go back to the clubhouse to make sure their hair is in place. It’s disgusting they can’t use the time allotted for pre game bull pen to get dialed in.
You are this expert, wow, the bullpen and the pitchers mound are never the same, and in the bullpen he is not facing hitters , wake up , and get over yourself .
Welcome to the party, Peter. Try to be civil, please.
It’s Friday night. The work week is behind most of us…and we celebrate the 4th in a few. Have an iced tea and enjoy some ball and chat. It’s all good
The mound you warmup on is often a different height and slope than the actual game mound. It takes some pitches to get used to that.
You still get 7.
Sidebar: That’s undoubtedly true, and a ridiculous situation in a major league sport, huh?
No, it’s typical for every team.
It would be good gamesmanship to have the visitor’s mound be quite unlike the real one.
Doesn’t mean it’s not ridiculous. Pretty easy to fix … if they wanted to.
Often pitchers feel they have great stuff in the pen and get whacked. Other times they don’t have it in the pen and pitch a good game.
Even some of the very greatest ever have had such an issue, I know it’s frustrating, but I hardly think it has much to do with mental preparedness. Pitching is art + science + muscles + control + conditions + whothefuckknows
Giants are 18th out of 30 in allowing first inning runs … perhaps better than it has seemed. Of course they are next to last in SCORING first inning runs, so the opposition seems to be ready to go
I didn’t realize Chris Stewart was still playing MLB. He was a good Giant for his role and time.
In a manner he has had a cool career on 6 teams with two stints on the Yankees.
http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/28577/chris-stewart
He was 29 barely hit .200 with the G’s The Gorkys Hernandez of 2011 if you will.
Stewart was an excellent defensive catcher, and the pitching staff loved him…so he was a clear uptick from MyGuy Gorkys
We don’t yet know the whole 2017 story of Gorkys – he’s been a useful player of late.
Agree
Yep. He was very popular with us, and a great story. Can’t hit much, but his defense and pitch framing/calling have kept him in MLB.
Yorvit Torrealba and Hector Sanchez are two more Giant C’s who hung around the bigs.
Torrealba and Sanchez were once thought to have more upside than Stewart. Stewart made the most of his career, like Mathew and TF62 mention. There was never any thought Stewart would be a starter much less a star. I recall Stewart as a popular Giant where any bat was a plus.
Is Torrealba still playing? I know Hector is with the Padres.
I’m talking age and stick. He didn’t look like a guy who would be around another 6 yrs.
Guys like him make a pretty nice living don’t they?
That’s why I said a “cool” career. I bet he is happy about his career too.
Bet he sticks around baseball as a coach or some such when there is no place left for him to play.
No doubt. Pitching coach in waiting.
I still wish we had Stewart instead of Kontos. And I don’t hate Kontos. I just loved Stewart’s defense in 2011. The way he would try and catch people napping on pickoff attempts, he was just fun behind the plate. He raised my spirits after the Posey injury. Best defensive catcher I’d seen on the team since Manwaring.
The double play. A pitchers best friend.
Let it rip on that first pitch fastball
the ground game is working.
Great AB Hunter, great base running, Joey Baseball!
Buster’s not seeing Cole’s pitches at all.
Belt looking again
It was off the plate. Not a strike
it was ball 4 slik.
Ump fucked up again.
Indeed.
That was not a strike. Too often Belt lays off close pitches with two strikes when he should protect. I think maybe umps are starting to push back against that, maybe subconsciously. I think Blue was in “too close to take” mode, and it cost us.
It was ~3 inches outside.
Umps do like to use their punch out move.
I hear ya…the problem I have is that umps are supposed to call the strike zone. I mean, the basic rules are basic. Their abilities are seriously diminished this decade and I don’t know if it’s incompetence, replay petulance, union protection laziness, or authority complex…but they generally suck
Yep …. they don’t get promoted or retained on merit. Not much is clearer in life.
The data, believe it or not, actually shows them doing a better not worse job, with a few exception.
The good are good, the bad are worse. That’s my Mental Data 100 score
Everybody has an opinion, but hose are the numbers. BTW, the strike zone ‘square’ is usually wrong an inch or so among ballfields until they calibrate it for the statcast folks. None of these things are perfect, and probably never will be. But we fans just love the complain.
We fans have eyes….and that pitch was absurd.
Baseball would not be the same without umpires to boo.
That said some wear ass hats to be mild.
I guess the point is, in that situation, he can’t look to walk. Who’s going to drive him in? That’s why he shouldn’t hit 5th. Maybe he got hosed in that AB, but it’s who he is … not a middle of the order hitter.
Crawford was on deck, and has led the team in RBI for 2+ seasons
Right. But he has 20 XBH all year. His trademark sac fly was not in play there. I like Belt, but a two out walk is not what a No. 5 hitter is there to do, so he shouldn’t be there.
So he should swing at everything? The pitch was apparently not that close.
I notice that Belt gets the blame, when Posey could have driven in the tying run with an out, what a F’n Joke .
No blame, and no joke.
Where’s the blame for Posey, he is beyond blame from you guys .
Well, a look at his season to date says there’s a lot to like. I know you dislike him, but he’s having a great year.
Buster is hitting a feminine 340
Look who he does with RISP , is that to hard for you !
Come on Peter be nice to me man I’m your neighbor in Winters
Does Louis Cairo’s still exist in Winters?
Good old fashioned Italian. My favorites as a child was veal parmesan and their garlic bread and that continued to be my order when I became an adult.
I first went there as a child in the late 50s and early 60s with parents as we traveled regularly between Humboldt county and SF Bay Area, It was a stop they probably made before I was born. The stop was just something my family did. This was when the route was HW 99 and we would take a ferry across the Bay at Martinez to get at a family outpost (2nd home for school with my siblings and various relatives or faux relatives for adults) in Danville. I continued to stop at Louis Cairo’s until the 1990s (and haven’t been south of Red Bluff since 2003) or for 5 decades where had 1 or 2 stops most years.
I am about accountability, Your about kissing his ass, his hitting with RISP is bad, and I do not diss like him .I am about the truth !
No Peter, you are about holding a grudge and then being mean spirited. We asked you nicely to work on that, said you would, you haven’t. Sheet gets old, sir.
Your a joke, telling me what to do, you want every body to be, oh shucks we will get them next time, be quiet !
No Peter, I want you to treat everyone here with the same courtesy and respect that you want from us. I didn’t “tell” you to do anything. I’m done with you, thus time for good.
You’re about letting your pissed off moods spill over to the blog where you pigeon-drop on people arbitrarily. Settler the fuck down
I’m exhausted talking about how bad Buster has been too
Buster is great when not in a clutch at bat .
Except against Cincinnati when he hit that bomb in the playoffs
And in 2010, game five NLCS. Plenty of clutch ABs in Buster’s career.
A .248 average, with .649 OPS, Posey’s career Post season numbers !
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P1TVP5OsqZk
That never gets old!
Look up career Playoff numbers, and what about Belt in the 18th vs the Nats .
I was going to say belt also but I don’t like him
Latos said what?
1 at bat out of 206 !
Like Belts against Roark?
Just get over your absurd Posey blind spot. You’re better than that
The difference is Belt gets killed on this blog, and Posey gets excuses for every bad at bat .
When Posey won face of MLB a few years ago, I voted for him about 2000 times, you guys just do not get me, I am harder on players I like, expect more from them, get it high expectations, I am the same on myself as a father a worker a husband, a brother, and a son .
I get you much better than you think. When I push back, it’s because you are grossly antisocial to folks who don’t deserve it
I’m listening on radio so I have no idea if Brandon belt’s call third strike was an actual strike but what bothers me is he’s supposed to be a slugger yet he never slugs now if the pitch was 3 inches outside I can understand that him getting called out but if it was closer than that yet still a ball he should have been swinging that’s all I’m saying
the pitch was 99, up and away. on the replay, everyone thought it was a ball, including the catcher. it absolutely was not a pitch to swing at.
Okay well I sit corrected then
It looked bad in real time, kuip and javi both went –oooh. On replay it was even worse. You would really have to be looking up and away to even foul off 99 in that location.
Got it
He leads this admittedly sad team in HR’s….he just annoys you. That’s all
Lololol
Is that a gargle, or a yodel?
A yogle
Matt your funny that was funny
Dude, I’m that way with Span…we all have our hair triggers…no worries
He was never going to make contact anyway with a 99 MPH FB, 3 inches+ outside. That’s as close to hopeless as you can get I suspect.
That’s a good point I suppose he knows what he can and cannot hit
I was wondering…is the Adam Duvall sample size large enough yet, or are you still waiting for more data?
Maybe he’s adjusting. That was always the hope. No one wanted the kid to fail, but you were way premature.
Maybe he’s just a good player and it’s your view of things that needs to be adjusted? Luck month to lucky year to lucky second year, I guess. You just can’t admit you were wrong, which I like. “Parker could be a monster out there!”
And if you do need a little more data, he just hit a 3 run HR, his 19th.
Go away and annoy someone else. You’re too darn ignorant to argue with.
He started towards first base before a ball/strike call and the umpire felt slighted.
What’s up Slikk? BB9 is BB9 and maybe this is his last year in orange and back.
Hey kiddo I think you’re right I think management has lost patience with this guy
Another ball 4.
Say it ain’t so, Cueto, 3 runs? But nice hit. Hey how about that Span?
I took Span for MyGuy last year, and then took Pence for MyGuy this year. Shows what I know about this game! I wish Span was a little better fielder, but he takes long at bats when leading off, and has a dinger tonight. Good stuff.
I took Pence as well. Moore, too. Eek.
Mine are Pence and Blach. I thought Hunter would have more of a comeback.
Exactly, Pence and Blach. We’re gonna score some points off the latter.
Atta boy Joe!
Atta babe Joe.
There you go Pence! 3 RBIs
HUNTER!!
five straight singles: slappy happy!
Buster’s not seeing Cole well at all.
Not going to let Buster get my blood pressure up
his last at bat was worse~! he doesn’t seem to see Cole well.
I let Cuetos’ first inning get under my skin and it backfired.
a crooked number.
Crooked like Johnnie Bench fingers!!
This ump sucks
Where the hell is Shut Down Johnny when you need him?
Great jump by Span on that one. Neither runner tagged? Excellent catch.
Not to be overlooked, the Giants three-run rally began with two outs and nobody on. Impressive.
I’ll take five 1Bs consecutive any time but with two outs on the road is sublime but not like five 1B followed by a Giant HR.
Keep the line moving is always good.
Belt gets BABIP’d.
Belt hits into the shift a lot.
Lots of base hits on that left side, as you have been saying for years.
OK, I’ve held my tongue too long already. This HPU has 2 completely different strike zones.
Flemming saying it for you. Bunch of folks here, too.
In a surprising turn of events, CC has stats that disagree with our observations.
Go look them up for yourself. They surprised me too.
Osich pitching with this strike zone is going to blow the game open in favor the Pirates.
Javi is so smooth. Players’ language. It’s like you’re sitting on the bench with our guys.
Fleming calling for the pitching change…Bochy is not.
Is Cutch hurt still? That should have been an easy score
He plays hurt a lot. One of the tougher players he is.
Nifty play Hwang.
Great play by Hwang. Inner clock indeed.
Johnny Sanchez Cueto right there
Bochy stuck with him and it paid off.
Bochy still has it.
Or them.
Bochy is Mr he needs to go 5 to get the win, so I will keep him in no matter what .
Pen sucks no one reliable there in that situation.
It’s a crap shoot. He has to display that he has confidence in his starters so as not to upset the fragile balance of his pitchers having confidence or not to work out of the jamb. It’ll be great for Johnny C to get the win.
Wow.
Ditto.
Great job Johnny C. You frustrate the s*** outta me but display your admirable balls when they’re needed the most. Atta babe.
Cueto allows the first hitter to get on base every inning so far this game and makes it through 2-5 without a run (or his best “stuff”).
Johnny! “Dios mio!” Onions!!
Nonetheless, I’m ready for the bullpen now.
So is Cueto, 114 pitches through 5 innings.
Boy, Slater is so good.
Yes. He is.
Seems to be able to hit MLB.
Slater can hit. Hopefully the power will follow.
Cueto still not his old self but he sure has a way of wiggling out of disasters. On the other hand we’ve got 4 innings of bullpen to go through.
Jaso is one ugly looking mfer!!
That’s your opening comment of the evening?
Yup. What did you expect?
You mad, bro?
No, I’m actually enjoying some laphroiag
i had a bottle of that and i’m so glad i finally finished it. ewww.
Not eww but not my kind
I just finished some Glenlivet 18 year old. Very nice. I don’t like the peaty taste in some Scotch.
Hell yes , that’s some good stuff. Imma a Balvenie and Magellan guy myself
what do those taste like? I don’t recall seeing those at Total Wine.
Sorry, Macallan which I’m sure you’ve had
Subtle spices, honecomb, buttery flavors
That’s what i like.
Macallan is great.
Scotch? No idea
Yes, single malt. Peaty and not my style but was a gift. I like the sweeter ones
I’m thinking that I sure hope this blog isn’t about to start rating player’s rear ends again!
Lol, blach
No less
Nice hit Span, but how about that baserunning by Slater? Kid can play
SPAN!!
Span is a goddamn hit machine lately
hitting 296 now
. 310 or bust!
You and I have actually agreed on him.
I was just thinking “Ryan’s gonna troll my ass if Span gets to .300.” I’d deserve it.
Boo yeah! His career batting average is no fluke.
I hope he’s making himself a trade target.
Unlikely with the 15m owed.
Contract extension?
Home plate umpire Brian Gorman’s father Tim Gorman was an NL umpire from 1951-1977.
Bust it open, Hunter.
ROI: run ouched in.
Busta!
Atta babe Buster.
Yeah. Posey was due with the bases loaded.
big time crooked number!
Who are these guys?
Atta babe BB9.
What took so long for them to play this way?!?!
Rosenthals article.
I gotta think Slater finally grabbing an OF job has been a big deal.
Our “New” Giants.
Bet Cueto is relaxed considering.
TO wants to trade everyone. They decided to make it happen
You know what this looks like right now? A good team.
I like this team/lineup out there right now. And Gorkys coming on as the 4th OF.
Let’s not get crazy now, Joe.
Ken Rosenthal made them mad. #RallyMouseTurds
it WAS the stretching holding them back.
Lot of truth to that.
If you remember, they won 8 out of 10 earlier in the season.
When George was in Europe, right? I think the key is that one of the blog authors has to be out of the continental U.S. Surf Maui’s turn next.
Surf Maui seems to always be traveling. Maybe he needs to stay put.
Maybe he bought some more new shoes this week?
BOOM! Hitting therapy.
Hi folks. Since we got to Maui on Monday, the Giants haven’t lost a game. We’re supposed to fly home tomorrow. Thoughts?
STAY THERE!
Might have to take one for the team. Here’s the view from our room on Ka’anapali Beach. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d6f1f9148189fa12a0a3d2aa0b4c3bc3abef7a4a229b14d2158a059eaaa00239.jpg
That’s a lot of ocean.
Yeah, I’d be in no hurry to leave. Beautiful.
You have to have the deep pockets, though.
Yep. We’re on a special promotion at the Hyatt Residence Club. I had to sign in blood that we’d be out by 10 am tomorrow. I might have to sign over my house in California if I want to stay longer.
Fly us out there and let’s continue?
You’re buying the first round of mai tais?
Hell yes
I’ll have a lava flow
You women. Smh
I’ll be taking over for you in a few weeks- honolulu and kauai.
This trip included the Big Island, Maui, and a day trip to Lanai. We pretty much have all the islands covered.
what was Lanai like?
Not much to it unless you want to hang out at a Four Seasons and/or golf. Good snorkeling, though. It was a snorkel cruise.
I just called the Donald. He’s issuing a Mianland Linguist Travel Ban.
Stay and I’ll take your RiverCats tix ; )
Gearrin looking filthy.
He’s got the sneer back.
GOT HIM! Gearrin is giving us some stellar relief.
First of many to come! Congrats Ryder Jones!
Yay Ryder!!
I wish his family could have seen it in person.
Footy in 3, 2, 1…
Heyyyyyy, a hit for the kid!
Time to switch over to MiLB.TV for Bummy. Will report back.
26-pitch first inning. 1 H, 1 HBP, 1 BB, 1 R (sac fly). Stuff looks fine; command shaky. He looked good on the last hitter, getting swing-throughs. He can be shaky in the first inning anyway.
And there it is. Span at .300.
Span is really locked in today.
All month.
Ryder’s on the board
Into the stats he’s born
Into the Giants lore
Ryder’s on the board
A unexpected party.
Gotta feel good for Ryder Jones. That shot of him in the dugout? A little leaguers dream come true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbx6gULYNbc
This is SO much fun, when the guys are swinging it and slinging it and picking it! 🙂
I also had fun at the game on Wednesday, even more so when I realized the Hwang and Hundley HRs were the first I’ve ever seen in person at AT&T, going back to 2010 WS Ring Night 🙂
Span is the man and Matthew can kiss my brown ass!!
Those are mutually exclusive?
I will substitute Beauty. Her sumptuous bottom is much preferred. Win, win.
I’ve no idea for a retort.
Gondola time
This is fun
15!
This a seriously fun Shut Up You Bloggers night in a very tough season.
This the way Giants baseball is supposed to look
Six of the these nine, with energy and momentum into the ASB.
Crawford isn’t having too much fun yet.
Probably helping out his brother-in-law with his ERA and WHIP.
“Letting out some shaft”, eh?
“It looks crooked”?
Oh Kuip, you make this too easy.
They had to have put their hands over the mic after that one.
Why’s he always talking about golf clubs when he’s announcing a baseball game?
Stanford educated …they don’t have a class in Wood Bat Integrity apparently
I ain’t bad messin’ with Caesar…that’s one badass ape
Bet he’d make a mean middle linebacker.
I love Obvious Kuiper Pee Break innings
I’d prefer not to know.
I bet Law would have loved to pitch in this series.
The Pirates would have loved him to pitch too
oh snaaaap
He pitched here previously. Last year, I think. Hometown boy, always good to pitch there.
LOL, did you see the stank eye Bochy gave Osich when he walked a guy with two outs, nobody on, and a seven-run lead? If looks could kill…
Bochy must be wonderingif Chris Ray wants to make a comeback.
Bum’s getting rocked in his rehab up in Sac
He doesn’t look very interested to be honest
I don’t want to see Bum pitch in San Diego after the ASB. That was the first game of the downward spiral last year. The leadership got greedy and pitched him the days before and after theASB. Change the dynamics and put him in the next series.
Even I have accepted the fact that this is not their year. But no need to run him out there too soon.
After a four hit, four run night, I’m OK with a Span rollover to second in his last AB.
We get our first look at Slania here shortly.
I don’t like real fast two hour games, but I hate four hour blowout games.
Atta babe Gorkys. Take one for the team.
16 more games!
Let’s add on!
Sheesh, that guy was throwing gas and had no idea where it was going. He almost took Pence’s head off and did hit Gorkys. It’s good they got him out before he killed someone.
I always liked this guy Hudson. Two TJ, IIRC. Always threw hard.
lol Matt Moore is like: “save some of those runs for me tomorrow.”
The other pitcher tomorrow has almost the same numbers as Moore.
Probably another softball score!
Won’t be enough anyway
Ouch But True
Slania coming in!
It’s a MyGuy party!!!
Slania is a MyGuy.
Lordy, 6 ft. 5 in., 275 lbs…. he’s a big brute, isn’t he?
Wearing the pajamas doesn’t make him look any smaller!
You had him too, yes? Sweet.
Perfect start to a mlb career.
http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/_/id/33929/dan-slania
Jim Thome is pitching!
He does look like him!
Javy is outstanding.
I didn’t know it was possible to sweat through your jersey
In Pittsburgh. It’s a given.
It happened all the time on the old Astroturf fields in places like St. Louis, where it got as high as 140 degrees blazing in waves off the turf! 🙁
The music guy sucks at revving up the fans
Not as bad as whoever does the sound effects in Philly. It was so quiet in one of the innings, we legit thought the person responsible had gone on an extended bathroom break.
It wasn’t that long ago that Philly was the loudest (and usually nastiest) place, for both them and the visitors!
Time to heat up some dinner!
I heated up hot dogs over coals in nothing but swim trunks.
On the grill is the best way to have dogs, burgers, and steak! The O2 does something good to it! 🙂
Ahhh yeah. Ran out of propane recently, switching to coals
The dogs are wearing swim trunks?
I’ve been wearing a dress all day so I didn’t even need to take off my pants!
I love victory lines. Win the first game of a series you take control. Solid tonight. Again.
HAHAHA
How about the top 3 of the lineup, Span, Panik and Pence? A combined 10-14 plus 3 walks and 7 RBI.
Crazy numbers tonight.
Crazy GOOD, for a change! 🙂
Welcome to the MLB Giants Dan Slania..
Now pitch 500 or so 3 up 3 down innings.
Please.
MadBum looks like Teller next to Slania’s Penn.
Too tall.
Dang, Crawford is now down to. 232., even with Belt. Craw and family need a reset on the year. Rough.
The batting average is the least of his problems. Career .251, so at this point he typically has what, 6 more hits on the season? It’s that ugly .274 OBP, .642 OPS, 67 wRC+. Yikes. Rookie year when he was generally accepted as “great glove, zero bat” he had a 68 wRC+.
He’s swinging more often than any season in his career, and he’s missing more often. It’s…not looking good.
Are there any obvious mechanical flaws in his swing that could be corrected?
He misses the ball by a lot at times. I wish he could track the ball to the bat better.
He seems like he’s popping it up more often, but I’m not the one to pick up major differences in swings season to season. I don’t usually notice that stuff unless it’s a big change, like when Belt started standing back more in the box and holding his hands lower.
67 wrc+? Yikes.
Beg to differ. Last two weeks he’s been hitting the ball hard. Some minor adjustments and some BABIP luck and he’s into one of his good streaks. Needs a strong 3-4 weeks out of the break. Big issue–last year he came back ice cold.
He’s been hitting the ball hard all season, he’s just not hitting it as much. His swinging strikes are the highest of his career, his contact is down across the board, he’s walking less than ever, and he’s chasing bad pitches more than any year in his career (O-Swing this year at 36.6%, previous high 33.6%, career 31.6%). Add to that the increase in pop flies and the babip isn’t a total fluke.
Meanwhile, Belt’s on pace for 28-29 HRs and close to 80 RBIs. Not bad after a slow start.
Not bad for a 1B during an HR spike across the league.
That plus a .275/.350/.550 slash line is doable.
Craw’s 2015/2016 seasons created vastly inflated expectations. So we expected the rest of career to live up to those two seasons. You still have to love his glove and even with his hitting travails he’s on pace for 70 RBI this season which is nothing to sneeze at.
Craw leads ths team in RBIs, right now, right.
No, he doesn’t. Belt does.
Kinda forgot about that. Definitely a factor. Young man is going to be there for his lady. Has to take something from his game.
For sure. Had to have really challenged his ability to focus and to lock in.
Don’t expect any help from the Padres tonight.
The Padres, Rockies, and Snakes always flop against the Dodgers!
Yep.
It’s like begging the Rox to beat the Braves just once, in 1993 … 🙁
Ooh, bad memories.
Ball girl in SD makes a great snag on a hard hit fair ball. Saved the Dodgers a run.
My prediction was 20 wins in a row. 16 to go! It won’t be enough but you never know.
Go Giants!!!
I remember. Definitely doable. One game at a time.
It will only happen if you all chip in to keep us in Maui for another few weeks. Giants are 4-0 since we got here!
We’ll get Larry on it….
Belt is having a career year. Do you sell him??
You certainly listen to offers.
I think maybe this #rallymouseturds thing kicks the Brandons into gear.
Career HRs. Obp not so much.
Yes… Most definately.
Bum was pulled after 4.2 innings, having reached his pitch count: 4 R, 7 H, 1 BB, 1 K. Left with a 5-4 lead to a raucous standing ovation and waved to the crowd.
My take: He’ll be ready to go after the ASG, barring health setbacks. He was a bit shaky, but that’s to be expected. He’ll be fine.
Here are a couple photos my friend took from our seats at Raley Field. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/91f0ab8c23b44520a88e9dd8399f6adb0b29c563e69570bde5564cecf4d9f9d1.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4634a5a8d939176400ffb764f61eaf9a8370b3bb89c889f0fe9a44a0062b50cd.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8b97021927d5621523d113f90721bf7beb73bf250cccab9cc0cd8ec859670776.jpg
How was his velocity and movement?
Velocity was low 90s. Movement was great. Command came and went. Kind of like early spring training, which it is for him.
Hopefully he was throwing free and easy!
Thanks for the report and photos. These minor-league re-hab starts can’t always be analyzed by the starts, gotta see the pitcher’s stuff. That’s because these guys are swinging for the fences so they can someday tell their grandkids they got a hit or HR off Bumgarner!
a couple days ago on the K+K pre-game I heard Krukow slip this tidbit in when they were talking about players speaking up to hold each other accountable [ie you are on the DL so you can’t talk]….Kurk essentail said bum had a separated shoulder broken ribs and a punctured lung. This was the first I had heard or read that bum had a lung injury in addition to everything else ! It doesn’t surprise me given the nature of the accident but still — if this is true no wonder there was a “cone of silence” put on his condition !
The Giants can be weirdly misleading about injuries. There are often way more details that don’t come out until long after the public becomes aware of an injury. They handled Cain’s elbow weird, all those times Bochy would say “Pagan should be in the lineup tomorrow” but then 2 weeks later Pagan still wasn’t in the lineup but wasn’t on the DL, the way they said Scutaro was training “in private” but in reality couldn’t actually move, Crawford’s injured finger that was “totally fine” but coincided perfectly with his numbers immediately falling off for the rest of the season, everything involving Huff in 2011/12, covering up the fact that Scutaro threw a ball at Belt’s face without realizing Belt was already fielding a throw from Crawford (in fact not releasing Scutaro had anything to do with it for weeks, making people think Belt was just a doofus for getting hit in the head with a ball), etc. The team is really, really shady when it comes to injuries.
Wow Eric, you’re in danger of having a Giants memory on par with Dr. Lefty. Good knowledge.
They often are limited by the players privacy desires. You wouldn’t like your employer telling the entire world everything about your medical history would you?
Panik had a broken vertabrae that they knew was probably a season ending injury, but we kept hearing “could be back in 2-3 weeks”. I get the competitive angle, but it’s more than a little strange.
I wonder if the part of the sell-out crowd left after Bum left the game?
No sooner than post ASB, I hope. Maybe another week–another two outings–might be good. We are talking about Bum, but still–caution should be the prevailing thought process.
Also, here’s the picture of Slania with Beede about five weeks ago at Raley Field when Crawnik and I met them. Never in a million years saw Slania in the bigs so quickly. Good for him. Nice guy. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f3492292963146402ac1fec6c360aa66c46b6b95b7398f0c9d2977ff5bf1b36.jpg
MyGuy with a perfect ninth tonight. Good for him,
I thought of that photo as soon as I saw him up in the ‘pen. Along with a strong win tonight, we get to see two kids experience great rookie moments. Jones scoring after his first hit and entering the dugout as his teammates congratulated him. Slania and Hundley on the mound to start the ninth, then the big boy in the victory line. Pretty special.
Chris Shaw with two more knocks. Average over 300. Left fielder delight.
Braves pitcher Foltyniecwz (sp?) with a no hitter after eight, in Oakland. 1-0, Braves. Of course it is. Chip Caray is getting lathered up for the ninth.
If it happens, it would be great to humble those A’s fans even more.
Heh. My coworker offered me free tickets to the A’s game tonight. I laughed at her. I don’t do A’s games and I avoid the Coliseum at all costs.
Good for you!
That’s too bad Peachy; I was going to give you a million dollars to go to the A’s game with me, I guess I’ll have to take Brownie instead since he’s a bigger A’s fan than you are.
Well, I’m sure Ray Fosse is gargling cat-eye marbles in his usual unintelligible manner
Fulty!
3-0 Braves.
Olsen homers for the A’s. Folty exits after 119 pitches, no outs in the ninth.
Damn… tired out and grooved one
Big pro debut for young Heliot Ramos–3B & 2B in first two ABs.
Salem-Kaiser or AZ rookie league ?
At 17, he’s got to be in instructional league.
Yeah, I wasn’t sure what we have “below” S-K. So that’s a short season league? Maybe even shorter than S-K?
Arizona rookie league. The AZL Giants beat the AZL A’s 8-3. Here’s the box score, Ramos 3-5:
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2017_06_30_athrok_giarok_1&t=g_box&sid=milb
Thanks 12xu
Congrats, Steph Curry. You earned it.
He was at the eye of the storm that made this team a powerhouse. Of course, KD was and is the MVP. Steph is an amazing talent
(Hopefully, The Oracle can admit this kid is a superstar)
AND we kept Shaun…Iguodala making the rounds.
I was surprised to see that Rudy Gay is the backup plan if Iggy leaves. I’ve never been much of a fan.
I’ll believe that when I see it.
Prolly shoulda said “a” backup plan.
Iggy, he gone….
Iggy loves the Bay. He’s doing a Victory Tour so he can tell Myers how much. If Myers can arrange it, Iggy stays for basketball and business opportunities
You can cling to hope, but the smart money says otherwise….
One way or another he’s going to be over signed. Kerr has coddled him the past three years with games off for rest and only playing him half the game. Someone will overpay for him and feel compelled to play him a lot more and that’s going to be tough for a guy with that much mileage.
And so will come the decline of the Warriors with little pay gap for the rest.
He’s the first super-max, right? That’s how it should be.
I don’t think I ever want to hear about income inequality again when it comes to some teacher or accountant or engineer making $10K more than someone else in the same job. This redistribution of wealth to ultimately inconsequential athletes and TV stars etc is just nuts, can’t be good in the long run for our society. Love Steph but $200 million, really, insanity.
Just for reference. In 2002 Michael Schumaker was paid $85M by Ferrari…. plus they made him his own special car just for him…… IN 2002……Steph is just scratching the surface….the pool is much deeper.
Until the cord-cutting of Americans causes cable income collapse and there’s not enough money to cover these contracts. It’s a trend. Whether it happens or not is another question, but there is potential.
Shot u a note…
No salary Cap in Formula 1, and with endorsements and Salary Steph and KD will make more than that , how much is enough !
Sure it is. Capitalism. (By the way, look at the salaries of Chinese basketball and soccer players…and beyond. )
Sports is playing an oversized role in both democratic and socialist countries. Steph’s contract is outrageous in a vacuum, and perfectly deserved in a world view
45.7 Million in the last year of his deal when he turns 34, that will not be good .
The wonderful ( in my opinion) thing about our local successful franchises is how they show loyalty and repay their superstars for the economic success they have realized because of those very superstars. It drives many fans Nuts, but those same fans would be grateful if their own companies they worked for did the same.
It’s a gamble, but it’s an honorable one. The thought is that other Stars will see how that organization rewards its people, and will thus be drawn to join the party if the opportunity arises.
They will not be able to sign anybody outside the players already on the team for years to come, unless on a minimum deal, they will pay 100s of Millions on taxes, foe being over the cap , doubtful, Klay and Dramond will be with team in 4 years, paying Steph and KD, 90 Million a year between them .
…which is EXACTLY what happened with McGee, West, and Pachulia…signed here because of the chance to win AND the organizations treatment of players
I disagree that it’s perfectly deserved. It’s a quirk, a confluence of ultra rich people owning sports teams as a cool status symbol and driving them around like sports cars and making like it’s Monopoly money and advertisers and TV networks paying absurd sums to promote & broadcast. My parents don’t watch MLB or the Giants but they bank at Wells Fargo and drive a Ford truck and have an AT&T phone so they are helping to pay for Posey or Cueto’s crazy salaries even though they don’t watch. Same with my widowed neighbor who doesn’t watch sports but likes to watch CNN and TV Land and Lifetime – no choice, she has to pay for Comcast Sports and ESPN even though she doesn’t watch those channels.
It’s perfectly deserved within the specific bubble he works in…the rabbit hole of income equality – again whether in a capitalist society that makes no bones about it, or socialist, where they hide the inequality that obviously exists – is not my point, nor is it Curry’s problem. Why does he deserve it? Because of what the other stars of the sport make, and because of the massive amounts of money he has helped cultivate in the entire universe of basketball.
I’m sorry to get “political” , which isn’t my intention…my defense of Curry’s reward seems political to you. The poor in this country, on balance, are richer than the poor in most other countries. The rich are richer, too. It’s an imperfect system. But, I love living in it, and have no issue with Steph making his absurd money. I’ve worked very hard, have been lucky, and I’m comfortable. He worked way harder, was blessed and fortunate and luckier even…and he’s even more comfortable. Good for him. I’m sure he feels it’s more than he needs, and his grace and charity will see him share in many ways
I guess you are more aligned with Mike Scott’s belief that if you get it you deserve it than I am. I just think that a lot of the wealth going their way that is so indirect as in the examples I provided.
No need to apologize for your case, you are thoughtful and respectful, not always the case here when you try to have a discussion.
The POTG was a no-brainer-KT. Even when he doesn’t play, he’s just so clutch. Just holding his bat in the dugout, the other guys see better pitches. The Buc’s pitchers were distracted as they feared the little guy with the compact swing.
The pitcher of the game was another no brainer – Slania, of course. With his numbers in Sacramento I have to wonder why they waited so long to get him.up here. Now they can wait and give MadBum more time- Dan has it covered
OK, back to bed.I just had to share my thoughts on KT and Big Dan. What a start to the Holiday!
I was starting to wonder if the Giants had signed Luis Gonzalez’ kid, Jacob. I never saw the formal announcement and figured the Giants still had to lure him from commitment to TCU with some grande pesos. But then I took a gander at the AZL box score posted by 12xu and lo and behold, Jacob picked up a couple of knocks down in the desert. He was playing 3B. The future is alive and well. You can’t stop the future from happening. It’s a locomotive on the tracks and the present is just a copper, zinc, nickel-whatever penny waiting to get squashed.
I admit I am a LousyFakeGM™ when it comes to trade ideas because I hate to lose anyone that I view as in the Giants Family. But I do see the traffic jam at 1B and wonder what the FO was thinking with Belt/Posey?
Teenagers, years away, Belt and Posey will be either gone are in mid 30s , when they come up with the Giants .
I mean even with Belt and Posey sharing time at 1B while they both have 4 more years on their contracts. Best prospect is Shaw who is a 1B/LF also. It does push you to trade Belt unless you convert him to LF over others.
But then toking at Posey’s Catcher time he actually played there 123 last year; the most in any season for him. Maybe he can stay at C for four more years and I need to stop thinking of 1B for him.
Shaw is a LF period, I am talking about Gonzales that was just drafted .
Just perused another box score, lo and behold, our good friend “deeg” has a relative in the Giants system!
http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t578&player_id=643276#/career/R/pitching/2017/ALL
Hi deeg:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdbTOaRh79U
New music, my brotha. Not finished yet, but well on the way…
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4rkex43kydsua26/01%20Butterfly%20Take%202_2.mp3?dl=0
Whoa – I went for a taste. Gonna dive in later. I hear Yes ! , my brother. Cool.
Yes?? Lol ok… I think you may be picking up on the piano part, bc I can hear some Yes in that. The rest of it is a little like Queen meets Cuba. The bridge is a weird cosmic thing. All in all, I’m psyched to be finishing it. Recorded it 3 years ago. There’s 9 others waiting to be mixed and mastered like this one.
That’s really funny!
You are one creative dude with the way you think and speak (write).
BTW, the step son of one of my teammates got drafted last month. Lefty would recognize this kid’s name, Robert Garcia out of UC Davis. LHP drafted by the Royals. I hope he makes it along with my workmates kid playing in the Cleveland org that we talked about before.
Your league has some great baseball genes! And jeans too, I imagine.
Who is this team and what happened to that awful club that entered this month?
Their first game of June was actually super great! 😉
I was just perusing the Depth Chart and the 25-man roster. It sure looks different from the mess we started the season with. I’m not sure this wouldn’t have been a better team if this had been the 25 from the git-go.
That is the lemonade from the lemons this year right?
With no need to trade for a push to the playoffs they are letting prospects play and seeing glimpses of potential. All too SSS for sure but at least “samples” are being taken to know what you have.
With the exception of Nunny and Bum not being on the current 25, I would have had more confidence in this 25 than the one’s we’ve seen for the last 3 months.
I wonder if the first 80 sent a stringer message to the organization than the vet memories of prior years. Landscapes have changed
I don’t trust Bochy to get to this kind of roster unless somebody puts him in a headlock and threatens his children. Give him the right guys and he may do pretty well. But, then, it’s hard to tell if he is a genius or was in a position where he could no longer screw things up.
I’m not sure who said it here recently, but when Sabean picked Bobby as his stooge, he gained “cover” for many poor choices in OTH personnel.
Just to clear things up. I don’t dislike Evans, it’s just that he’s a transaction-guy and Sabean is a Scout-guy. Both seem bored with the other’s skill-set, just not their “cup of tea.”
Might need a guy with serious wingspan to execute said headlock
How about we start the season over then and look at what their record is for the Second Half? That might be a measure of things to come.
First things first: play 0.500 ball over a month’s spell. July would my first choice for that turn around month.
Good start, they only have to play .495 the rest of the month to end up at .500.
Really it’s just 2 positions, I wouldn’t make too much of it, Slater will obviously stay and then it’s Jones or Hwang when Nunez is back.They almost have to keep Hwang. Or it could be poor KT-
OPTIONS!!!!
This hardly marks the beginning of a new era. We’ll know better in about 3 to 4 weeks.
How good does Pence need to be to keep his job in RF?
Lots of non-tangibles going for him: contract, history, heart.
Man, Span is sure proving you right. Messes up my plan to move him to Fourth OF next year.
He keeps it no matter what.
Slater and Dyson have been the ones with the most impact and Slater needed the time in AAA and Dyson of course was with Texas. KT is a better choice than Hill.
As for the rest, not much statistical impact. And with the exception of KT, they also needed that time in AAA.
Still rather have Law at his best than the unproven Crick.
Perhaps. I just want to limit Bochy’s ability to ad lib with OTH players rather than some young ones. Admittedly, some young ones are still not ready yet.
IF the kid shows promise, Bochy will stick with him. Even Arroyo hiting a .190. But a lot of that is dictated by the Front Office. If they send him a top prospect, the message is obvious: he needs to play everyday until we decide otherwise. If they spend for a vet, the message is let’s see what he’s got left.
Bum was of course an exceptional prospect but nevertheless, Bochy went to the then wet behind the ears 20 yr old in a pivotal moment of game 4 of the 2010 series. I think it’s largely myth that he’s against using young players. Sabean was the one who was heavily criticized for his vet loving ways back int he Bonds era. The farm system was barren in 2006 because he used his prospects as currency.
Law had a great year in 2016 and deserved to make the team. It’s also worth remembering that he was the #1 backup the first time Melancon was on the DL and got 4 saves during what was then, until this week, the only good stretch of baseball they’ve played this season. Not sure what’s happened to him over the last six weeks, but I hope they can fix him. It would be good to have him AND Crick AND Dyson all operating effectively. That could be a nasty bullpen core.
Yeah, agree about the pen next year. Someone said Crick should be tried again as a starter. I dunno. And maybe lil Dan Slania turns it around as a reliever?
I think it could be very interesting to give Crick a nice run in the bullpen this year, have the coaches keep working with him on his full repertoire, and consider having him try starting again next year. At one point he was considered a future top-of-the-rotation starter, and he was fantastic at Augusta and San Jose as an 18-19-year-old.
I don’t really see what they have to lose. If he reverts to the problems he had as a starter in Richmond, they can always switch him right back to the bullpen.
As for Slania, yeah, he had a good run in the minors as a reliever. Not sure what to make of what’s happened this year.
It can happen that AAA is the top. No matter what, Slania had the fortune to have the rested arm on the 40-man after a long game, and got a chance to pitch a scoreless inning in the bigs. A story for his grandkids, and perhaps an incentive to fight through this year’s stuff.
I guess Slater had an injury from winter ball and had a slow start in spring training/AAA. If he’d been fully healthy in spring, I’m guessing he would have been very competitive for a bench spot, considering they started the season with Gorkys and Marrero as the backup outfielders and Parker as the starter.
It was stupid keeping Aaron Hill instead of KT, and we all said so at the time. I get why they wanted to send Hwang to AAA, but he had a nice spring, and I would just as soon have seen him as Gillaspie or Hill on the bench.
I saw that when Jones started in LF the other day, that made the 13th different guy and 11th starter to play there–before June ended. They’ve also had eight different guys play 3B. There you have it.
Not to mention that Hill made 2 mil for making the team. That felt like Bochy making sure a vet gets one last payday, like trying to get Vinny Castilla’s incentives to vest.
I watched Bum pitch last night and although it took some time to get comfortably back in the saddle, by the 3rd and 4th, he looked like he was comfortable on the same old horse he rode in on. Let’s hope there was no “clicking” or pain. He sure looked like the old Bum to me in 3 &4 only lacking a little command sometimes.
Unclear why it’s important that he come back at all, but that’s the mindset. He’s doing a lot of throwing for essentially nothing. Anything he does now, he could do in February and be that much stronger and rested.
Do YOU want to arm wrestle Bum? He wants, nè, needs to get back on his horse and show he screwed up, but that he did not ruin things.
The Giants also need to know if he’s 100% for next year, or whatever the case might be.
I’m in favor of shutting Bum down in September when the rosters expand, to let some of the young guys pitch, and to bribe Bumgarner into the deal by telling him he’s gonna pinch hit every other day.
Granted, but what he does in September has nothing to do with what he does in April. He’ll be doing other dangerous activities between now and then
Isn’t it funny how a person with the handle of live free or die has such a cautious, conservative approach to just about everything? Maybe it means something else entirely.
Non sequitur … freedom isn’t about conservative or reckless … it’s about whatever is right for you. What’s right for the Giants is probably is having a guy who has pitched a ton of innings take a lot of time off. Bum already did what was best for him, and the consequences are whatever they are. We;ve been told over and over that they want to limit his innings … well, now they have every reason to. But looks like they won’t
That was my take, too. Command a little off, especially in the first couple innings; overall, the stuff seemed fine and he looked comfortable. I thought his friendly wave at the crowd when he came out showed that he was feeling good, too.
Curious: You see former Giants like Javier Lopez, Affeldt, Andres Torres and Pat Burrell either rejoining the Giants organization in some facet or attending the home games a lot, but you don’t hear any current Giants connection with former players like Freddy Sanchez, Scutaro and Welleymeyer (the last one was a joke). I’m sure family is the biggest priority as to why we may not see the latter set of players, but I wonder if not just family then what?
I’ve always heard that Scutaro’s such a great guy that he’s sure to be a coach or something at some point. Maybe he’s just enjoying life with his growing family, or maybe his back still is an issue (thanks, Matt Holliday).
As for Freddy Sanchez, he never seemed all that interested in being around. He’d always disappear back to his home in AZ when he was injured. It was so weird the way he suddenly showed up in uniform in the dugout during the 2012 postseason even though he hadn’t played an inning for the Giants since June 2011. I wonder if he got a 2012 World Series ring?
I noticed that too in the 2012 playoff run. Sanchez seemed like a guy who played for himself or for the next big contract. I think he just wanted Baer and Bochy to remember he was still with the team to ensure he would get a WS ring.
I’m sure he did, given the way the Giants roll.
I wonder if Scutaro’s back is still a problem. Even if he is enjoying his family time, you think there must be a reason why he isn’t at spring training sharing his expertise.
An interview with Scutaro would be a pretty cool off-day story idea for Baggs or Pavs. I am really curious why he’s not around, when the Giants are pretty good at bringing their old players back for cameos. Of course, Scoots played for an awful lot of teams, so he might feel kind of a nomad, but his big moment was with the Giants.
The weird one for me is that you never hear about Lincecum. Maybe he’s still planning a comeback and isn’t considered retired? But it’s weird to me that he’s hardly mentioned and has never come back to sit in the booth or do an interview or anything.
I’m curious too, but I hope Timmy is just chillin.
Someone took a stalker photo and posted it on her Instagram of Lincecum attending the Women’s March this past January.
Maybe he’ll be back if they have a home game on 4/20.
Sanchez did not officially retire until December of 2015. There’s an article about him.
He should be the role model for how 2nd is played. He did a lot of things right.
http://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/Sanchez-now-retired-recalls-Giants-stay-fondly-6721923.php
No question about his ability to play baseball, I just wondered where he went even after we just saw a blip of him during the 2012 playoff run. Then nothing after that.
He did. A solid 2B for many years. Huge piece of the 2010 mosaic. That will always be the best one for me.
I remember watching The Franchise, when Freddy was rehabbing while living at home with his family. He’d put in his time, and the Giants owed him another $6 million even if he never played again. I thought “stay home with your family, Freddie.”
Same thing with Scutaro in 2014. He earned that payday.
Joan Gregorio has tested positive for a banned substance. Schulman just broke it on Marty Lurie’s show just now, check Schulman’s Twitter feed for Tweet. Bummer.
Now we can only hope none of the starters in the big club go down. After Beede, I think Gregorio is the next in the “depth” chart?
Leaves Andrew Suarez, and, of course, Stratton as next in line.
Suarez is intriguing. Maybe a homegrown Moore?
What an idiot. In AAA, on the 40-man in a rebuilding year, having a nice season. He was sure to get a call-up at some point.
But it could be why he was having a nice season.
I’m thinking that as well. He probably saw this window as his one and only shot and went for it. I was late to this news but said above “who is coaching or watching these kids?”
Uh oh! No wonder how he got so yoked! Actually, IDK.
Lefty is right, ‘what an idiot’. I should give these guys a small lecture on the power and inevitability of analytic chemistry, right after they sign their first contract with the team.
I like it. But too bad Lucifer is always lecturing on the power of lucre. It never stops.
GC-MS and ppb must be acronyms not covered in the baseball camps that the utes pass through.
The money lies in the RBIs !
Morality aside, for a fringe guy like Gregorio, using is a sensible gamble.
Stanozolol.is useful for pretty much anything that is moderate to severe
MyGuy™ J-Greg … 50-days?
Stratton recalled; Slania optioned. SMH
Cutthroat.
Big Dan will always have Pittsburgh.
He looked very happy.
And medical coverage, by virtue of his two days in the bigs.
How does that work? Is he covered for a longer period based on a couple days in the bigs?
One day gives them lifetime medical.
I’m available to pinch run
Well, it was just timing that Slania was called. Everyone else had pitched recently. But Stratton has already had a few looks as the long guy?
Neither of them belong here, anyway.Maybe Baer gets the frequent flyer miles.
Checking draft picks yesterday I noticed Stratton was a First Rounder.
20th overall in 2012. Stroman was taken two picks later.
Weird. At least Slania got his introduction to MLB. That scene with Hundley and Slania at the start of the ninth was beautiful.
I’m not even going to try to figure this one out; other than the Flying Squirrels are playing in Trenton and it’s a convenience for Giants to fly MyGuy Slania a short distance.
He’s going back to Sacramento. Thus the head-shaking. Plus flying Stratton cross-country when he could have been on the charter two days ago.
The panel had a reasonable take:
Matt Moore. Matt Cain.
A legitimate long man is needed right now because they have no trust in those two starters. Slania isn’t yet that guy.
So, you can question why Slania was called up in the first place (other than to satisfy us MyGuy’s). But the idea of why Stratton is now brought up certainly makes sense.
Shake Moore’s Head
Since the Rangers cut Dyson and installed Matt Bush as closer, Bush has taken a nosedive. Sure seems like they acted precipitously with Dyson. Hopefully their loss is our gain.
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/881191735757549568
When you consider the cost of top relievers, it’s amazing Texas was so quick to dump him. Numbers were gaudy but DL the guy, bring him back in mop up. And where were the other 28 teams? Kudos to G’s for taking a shot.
Too bad Dyson wasn’t on the block this past off season before the Giants signed Melancon. Then again, we wouldn’t have had the Mouse Turd Era, which may be the turning point of this Giants’ season.
I think Dyson will be an absolute steal. One of the bright spots this season. Going into next season. Our bullpen should be rock solid!!
1. Denard Span (L) CF
2. Joe Panik (L) 2B
3. Hunter Pence (R) RF
4. Buster Posey (R) C
5. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
6. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
7. Ryder Jones (L) 3B
8. Austin Slater (R) LF
9. Matt Moore (L) P
Switch Hwang for Jones and I like it. Hwang went hitless, but I think he had some good at bats and didn’t look bad at third. Then again, Bochy probably doesn’t want his rookie to rust on the bench.
Good op for Ry. Lefties are hitting .354 against Kuhl. RH .247
There is a fierce battle between Gorkys and KT, as Gorkys has seized the OPS lead from KT. This may be the one to watch, folks.
I may be partial to the Battle of the Brandons for AVG supremacy, but I like the undercard too.
Why the obsession with batting average, when it doesn’t actually compare who is hitting better?
Foots is American like hot dogs and cherry picks
I compared OPS between Gorkys and KT. It freaks out the KT Fan Club. I have made Kelby the POTG in perpetuity, however,
That’s more of an indictment of Gorkys. Outfielders aren’t supposed to hit like utility infielders.
Gorkys!!!!
Any player should have an OPS more than sub-.600.
I can’t believe that Gork’s wRC+ is “up” to 66. I can’t believe that Crawford’s is at 67. But there’s a pretty startling list of good hitters who are putting up really, REALLY bad numbers this year. Carlos Gonzalez, Alex Gordon, Mike Napoli, Pujols, Rougned Odor. Gordon in particular is slashing .193/.289/.282, which just seems…impossible. He’s basically been Ty Blach.
Don’t see the sense of putting the young bats at the bottom of the order. I’d put Slater between the Brandons.
If he keeps this up much longer, he should be hitting third.
He going have to use his pull side more or they’ll just jam him.I’m sure that he’ll figure out.
I’m just happy they are playing. I hope Hwang gets a good run too.
My newest vinyl is Taj Mahal and Keb Mo….”Tajmo” , which is a new collaboration. https://youtu.be/J4uGGeS3Hqk
Might I suggest each and every one of you give it a listen?
Very nice.
THAT was outstanding. Thank you Matthew!
LUV Keb Mo.
Gregorio busted for steroids. Who’s watching these kids?
Not enough people watching but then better these flaws come out ASAP.
Bummer too as he has always been MyGuy™. But I am a SecondChanceGuy™ so I think he will be back.
His head has been growing faster than my pumpkins.
He went from a 180-lb string bean to a formidable-looking 240-250. I have to admit it crossed my mind to wonder.
Brisbee reports he’s suspended for the entire season – not 50 games?
It’s 80 now.
Must be his 2nd offense, no?
Also – no pesos, correct?
From wiki, no pesos! This is to do with MLB testing,
First positive test result: 80 game suspension
Second positive test result: 162 game suspension (the entire season, including the postseason)
Third positive test result: lifetime ban from MLB
…
All suspensions are without pay.
Man, that HURTS!
Tomorrow’s Gs game is yahoo’s live (free) game of the day.
The Giants have lost a little ground in the reverse standings:
Phillies —
Giants 3
Padres 6
Reds 7.5
A’s 8
White Sox 8.5
Marlins 9
Tigers 9
FirstDraftPickStandings™ may get ruined by this new optimism but winning is always better than losing even if it hurts you.
No, it isn’t. Losing resulted in three World Series wins.
Winning resulted in 3 World Series wins. Those rosters were combinations of reasonably high draft picks, excellent free agent and trade results, and awesome managing.
Lincecum, Bumgarner and Posey. Without those three players, all taken with high picks which resulted from losing seasons, there would’ve been zero World Series wins. You can’t reasonably dispute that.
Those weren’t first picks in the draft, right? I get it, but , again, it was NOT one thing.
Cardinals, Spurs, Patriots, Giants…all have proven there are ways to win, maintain, and never, ever try to tank.
I , and many others, prefer a different method from yours.
I guess yours is the overly emotional method, where every loss in a losing season is a tragedy, and each win is reason for joyous celebration, without any thought given to the bigger picture.
That’s a typical over the top absurd TO claim. So, simply rooting for victories is “overly emotional”.
I can only dream of being as amazingly logical and detached as you, I guess.
Here’s my big picture: I like baseball. I like the drama of sport. I don’t watch today for draft slots. There are no guarantees on draft picks. I’ll let it roll. But, you go ahead and enjoy rooting for losses. That’s just not my deal.
I finally have your highly sought after permission to have my own opinion. I’ve waited so long for this day. Thank you.
Back at ya!
But we didnt have to be the worst team and get the first pick. Lincecum – 10th, Bumgarner – 10th, Panik, 29th, Posey, 5th, Cain – 25th. Not a top 3 in the bunch. Did I miss anyone? So we’re pretty much assured of a good pick regardless. Why hope for losing? We’ll lose plenty and have a good enough pick to make you happy Im sure.
If they’re not going anywhere anyway, why not hope for the best spot?
Is it that much different between the 1st pick and the 3rd pick.?Getting hit by a train or by a truck really doesn’t matter much. So I and most others would prefer not to have such a negative mindset following our team. Regardless.
No one said you had to. Even the first pick is no guarantee of anything.
Exactly my . point
But 78 wins vs. 66 wins is meaningless.
Not to the players.Tanking it for a higher draft pick is a really bad idea.
Not on the dozen days where I am 610x happier than with losing.
If the first pick is no guarantee of anything, and the team has gotten tremendous luck with their 5th picks, I think there is value in feeling good seeing some wins en route. I want the team to get a good draft pick AND I feel good when they win, even in a lost season. I’m sure I’m far from alone in that. The sweep in the grand scheme meant nothing, but I can’t lie that several of us at the ol’ office had a little bounce in our step when we talked about the team after those wins, all while being realistic about the season. If a 5th pick vs. 1st pick means seeing 10-12 more wins, and getting 10-12 more smiles and 10-12 more fun office conversations with people I like, then that’s not meaningless. There’s a vast middle ground between “overly emotional about meaningless wins” and “rooting for failure”.
He’s not gonna stop. As long as you realize that, you can find some comfort.
Am I wrong?
There is a point in there, but you think it’s the only point. That is where you are “wrong”. It wasn’t one thing…it was many.
We aren’t wrong. It’s called opinions. Many of us disagree
It was many things, but without those three players, it would’ve been nothing.
By the end of the year I assume White Sox, Reds and Padres will be higher on that list. Not sure about the others,
What kind of fan are you? Have a little faith in the boys.
Lots of good news for local teams..Jumbo, Pickles and Jones all resigned. DWest and Shaun along with Steph… a few more to go, but a great start to the FA period
Sign Iggy, let Marleau go. Life is good.
Lock step with you…
Teams with Great Legacy as the Giants Do Not Tank (or consider it) cough
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ux1S7-5ZTU
Another reason to applaud how Bob Meyers and the owners run their TEAM. Michael McAdoo at 24 yrs old can make nice money so they gave him their blessing. Ian Clark at 26 will make more money somewhere else – so hugs all the way around.
Losing Andre Iguodala is going to hurt but his 33 yr old knees still feels he is a starter so he is in LA talking to the Rockets and then the Spurs. So now the Dubs are doing their due diligence on Rudy Gay’s full rupture of his left Achilles tendon.
At least TO now knows that Steph was not a selfish punk who shot a lot 3’s.
Someday the “soft” Buster Posey and Selfish Punk Steph Curry can play several rounds of golf together to celebrate their eventual placement in their respective Hall of Fames.
Steph won’t be playing golf with a pauper like Posey.
When did I ever call Curry a “selfish punk?” You could at least be an accurate stalker.
OMG – you’ve described him many times as being a selfish teammate that is only good at shooting from distance. Ask around TO.
You certainly made it clear you thought that when he drained a fantastic 3 late in the clincher…and you have ranted about his errrors when he turns the ball over. So…yeah. There’s that
Marcus Thompson@ThompsonScribe 5m5 minutes ago
Warriors to meet with Andre Iguodala, prepared to offer him a three-year deal, per source https://wp.me/p7ShJJ-jwtL
Grass E Ass
Was that legalized and available in dispensaries? 🙂
Iggy talking to the Dubs today. 3 years/45 mil?
My parents don’t really need one but they are shopping for a new car. It’s gonna be tough, I’m not kidding, my Mom’s sole criterion is; does the vehicle have an open spot between the driver and passenger seats for her purse. Color, size, MPG, safety, appearance, cost, none of that matters, only if there is a place for her purse. Well, apparently 99% of vehicles have a completely occupied center console stretching from the dash to between the seats. She found one but too expensive and big so Dad wouldn’t support it. Now I’m in trouble for agreeing with Dad that that maybe the purse thing shouldn’t be the main selling point. But, she’s dug in, 50% of car drivers have a purse, why can’t they make a place for them that’s not in the back, etc. Good luck Pops.
My Mom insisted on having the automatic transmission shifter be on the steering wheel, not between the seats. That too severely limits one’s options. Funny story!
Hilarious. Thanks for sharing.
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