by
Greek Giant
Oh what bliss to watch the beginning of the legend of MadBum. Remember Game 4? After the Giants lost game 3, the first contest of the 2010 World Series in Arlington, Texas, our collective nerves were on edge. We were resting our dreams in the tender care of a 21 year-old and baby-faced North Carolinian named Madison Bumgarner…
When Freddy Sanchez came to bat in the top of the third inning the Giants were batting .406 with runners in scoring position. He would ground out then Aubrey Huff came to the plate and pounced on a first pitch fastball blasting out down the right field line. The homer would send the Giants on their way. Buster Posey would also homer later in the game. There was no doubt from that point on.
Edgar Renteria had three hits. Madbum would end up pitching eight shoutout innings and begin his October dominance in one of the biggest games in San Francisco Giants history.
The Giants were rolling and we all know what happened in game 5. This game 4 took place on Halloween exactly 6 years ago today! It seems like it was only yesterday.
The Full Game
I just love Ozzie Guillen’s outfit…
Breckeroni is a fan of the oral story tradition.
Cannonball approves of Breckeroni and vice versa. Meanwhile JoBu has been drunk since the end of the last game the Giants played. JoBu is heading to CLE.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ca3a3d72e463257281ecd742ef22aaa1f1a4c70ed65c4a9d1c657d90f3982f54.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/919726ab20122dd59dc0f3a4b5201b5366f85ee6bae20ae2db4ea0213dc8e456.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5626115e0d750d694416b4dff22482eef7ca683ac95415f24cff7d55d862d588.jpg
Frank was a SF Giant fan and a Fan of Jobu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9ZGKALMMuc
http://www.12up.com/posts/3471969-video-indians-make-hilarious-sacrifice-to-jobu-to-help-end-player-s-slump
I remember how upset Hunter was at being taken out. It was definitely during this game that I was allowing myself to think it might happen… Young Madison was as cool as could be, Huff had shown his mates how to be a DH…and the players seemed to be buying into the fact that they were rolling…
This was a magical game. Dads taking their kids trick-or-treating were stopping in to catch some of the game. I was floating in a place that didn’t feel anything like 2002, or 1989…this felt like these guys were steamrolling all the doubters.
Cool post. YOU need to write a Guest Post …
What? Nobody has condemned Strick_9 yet on his hunting proclivities? LOL 🙂
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMIGL_ugi2K/
He’s been bagged and tagged by an instagram follower or two with a .307.
He can shoot all the damn feral hogs he wants. The sooner the better.
Darn, what does one do with a feral hog after it is dead?
Pig tastes good. As long as he eats it.
This Halloween treat goes out to Matthew – think of this as All Hallow’s Eve at Downton Abbey.
And for Anti-Lasodra, who said should the Giants miss out on Melancon, then it’s time to find a new set of rosary beads. How about finding a new pentacled altar???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDVLMS_Yhe4
Atta babe! Thanks, Cuz.
Getting ready for Operation Van Drop in the ‘hood since we have all the cool scary old houses and all the legit candy. It helps that I love kids!!
I’ll report back on the Best Mom Costume later….
Heh Best Mom Costume …. wondering what the criteria is for the winner …
Simple…if it elicits a Dick Enberg Honorary “Oh, my”, it’s a finalist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhXAhrN-c2w
Early results had the polling favorite, Noah’s mom, well in the lead. Noah was a fireman, his sister Paige was a Princess….Mom the financial planner was full Cowgirl….
Yippee-Kai-Aye…
(I forget what Dad was….)
One of my guys. Sabean was so tired of me nagging to go out and get this guy, that he finally did it.
He could hit.
http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/86302860-freddy-sanchez-of-the-pittsburgh-pirates-bats-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QRduNofAuN7%2B8HvBEJYtXaUWBjymZnBT2wm9LNRixT7YNDWMPZFy6%2F23vH7Ogf4r0Q%3D%3D
Lifetime .297 hitter. Won batting title in 2006 with .344 avg.
He had a great game defensively in this MadBum gem, and he was the spark off Cliff Lee in Game 1. Even with him breaking down like Humpty Dumpty the next year, that was a great Sabean trade. Tim Alderson looked like a top pitching prospect, but he was a bust.
I was at the game when he hurt his shoulder…and it basically marked the end.
When it happened, I had thought he broke his wrist the way he had rolled over. It ended up being his shoulder.
Nate got a walk off line drive single to left center that night, like he seemed to do every few games early that season….and then THAT marriage dissolved as well.
That was a very difficult year.
I was at a concert in Sacramento that night and I remember my brother texting me: “Maybe the Giants really are cursed this year. They’re helping Freddy Sanchez off the field.” This was maybe two weeks after Buster’s awful injury. Freddy was having a great year and there was talk of Bochy putting him on the All-Star team. And that was it–he never set foot on a major league field again as a player. Very sad.
We happened to go to the game the next day, and I remember it felt like a funeral–of the Giants’ hopes of defending their title.
Three (really 4) straight doubles broke Lee’s back.
p.s. Can’t ever forget that hit in Game 3 of the Braves series (the Conrad Game) with TWO STRIKES AND TWO OUTS in the 9th after Ish walked. The Gints were on life-support when he got that single. And that was 2010, when nobody expected anything from los Cucarachas.
I wanted one year HERE with him and his buddy Jack Wilson …
I hope he gets another guy that used to where a Pirates uniform in a closing role…and maybe…perhaps…take a certain OFer (rumored to be available) off the Pirates hands
I hear that reliever guy is from Arizona, makes home in Colorado, and loves all things Western. So maybe Bobby Evans can lasso him and tie him to the back of his mule.
As for the other guy – whoa nellie, Bobby Evans is rumbling, bumbling, stumbling trying to put together the prospects for that deal. Can he punch it into the endzone? one more defender to beat… 🙂
Crooked foot Freddy!
Covering Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hApQJ_n447A
and then https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnVXIUyshng
Get up in the morning, look in the mirror
I’m worn as a toothbrush hanging in the stand, yeah (*One less toothbrush hanging?)
My face ain’t looking any younger
Now I can see love’s taken a toll on me
Popular Pence costume https://twitter.com/calihats/status/793168055345872896
What made that title so special to me were the guys who were better than they ever had been and better than they would ever be.Maybe it was chemistry or perhaps the Vulcan mind meld but those guys seemed to be as one. I may admire the greats but it’s the “little guys” who inspire.
The ‘gal’ on the far right has major pipes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWH21CMzWs4
What I remember about this game was stellar leather by Freddy Sanchez. The Sanchez acquisition felt like the beginning of The Run. It was when the Giants began moving top farm pieces for proven ML talent.
He and Rentaria turned a couple difficult DPs for sure.
Remember his walk underneath the stadium from one clubhouse to the other? I know he was sad to leave the only team he knew, but you could also sense the utter joy and good fortune he was feeling.
The Bucs got Tim Alderson, a 1st round pick in 2007. Tim never made it to MLB. He was still at it this year, for the Independent league Sugar Land Skeeters.Dreams can die hard.
Sabean of course had dealt prospects for ML talent before 2010…ie; Nenn, Livan, Winn Schmidt…AJ….
That acquisition absolutely kicked off the beginning of the run. Freddy Sanchez was a Mensch.
Ishi and Nate had been valuable role players that year so Bochy wanted them to have a start in a World Series game. This was the one. Just one of the many reasons that Bochy is known as player’s manager. Scott McClain, as we know, had been a career minor leaguer, one of the great “AAAA” sluggers of his time. But he had never had a real shot in the bigs and never had hit a home run up here. in 2007 he came up in September, had a few ABs, but he was still “Homer-less”. Back up in 2008 and Boch really wanted him to get his first one. And that he did. What every player dreams of- his first silent treatment. Just took awhile 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8wQbfvfhxE
Bum had a ton of life on his fastball that night. Was flying thru the zone.
Barry Zito has let himself go…. I still adore him though! https://www.facebook.com/BarryZitoMusic/posts/10154976731283888:0
Check the photo on the left with the guitar, think he’ll meet your lofty standards
Ha, I was being sarcastic. He more than meets my standards. 😉
Not baseball, but a national issue seems to be about tobreak. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/10/was_a_server_registered_to_the_trump_organization_communicating_with_russia.html
Velly intelesting, and very credible. Of course, too detailed for “the news” to digest.
Renteria certainly earned his $m in that series. For his career, .333, 21 for 63, 2 hr’s, 11rbi’s in 16 WS games.
On the other hand, there’s Pat the bat, a guy so key to getting there. He struck out before Renteria’s 3 run shot. Ended the series 0-13, w/11k’s. Finished his career 1/27, 16k’s in 9 WS games
Burrell struck out swinging on a nasty 3-2 pitch. I remember him saying to the umpire “Strike”? –and the umpire nodding yes. Burrell said “Wow.”
Lee was naaaasssty and had a ridiculous postseason resume before he ran into the 2010 Giants…and they beat him twice.
The TV guys couldn’t believe why Edgar wasn’t walked so Lee could face Rowand. Lee didn’t even pitch around him.The take then was Cliff’s hubris got in the way.
Renteria rounded the bases as if this was just another day in the life.
Shameless rerun:
This Day in Giants’ World Series History, 2014 (plus 10 days), 10.21.14:
This will be short, since it’s limited to the first game of that year’s Series. We were on an extended trip thru Europe, just after the demise of the late great Snorkel Evans: Amsterdam, a boat trip up the Rhine, a week in Prague, another boat trip from Athens to Istanbul, ending with 2 weeks in Florence and Tuscany. We had limited internet access on the boats and some of the apartments we rented, and I had ZERO expectation that I would need it at the start of the trip, given the Boyz’ second-place Wild Card draw, so I missed most of the games. I’ll try to make up for it with photos.
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On Oct. 2, on the Greek isle of Syros (bonita!) I popped into the dial-up internet lounge of our barge to read about the 8-0 demolition of the Pirates (gracias, Craw!) (and Bum!), and thought, something’s afoot. As we floated and flew and drove along our journey – Ephesus, Istanbul, Bologna, Florence, Sienna and Tuscany, los Cucurachas kept emerging victorious from one microwave after another (Brian Sabean terminology), for sure due to the channeling of Snorkel’s spirit, and they made it to the W/S just as we pulled into Montepulciano, Italy on Oct. 21.
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We had a lovely apt. off the plaza, with NO INTERNET. But, being a shy and resourceful tourist, I got the wifi code of the only restaurant open that night (awning in this photo), right across from the steps of the duomo. AND THEY LEFT IT ON ALL NIGHT!!!
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After carefully setting up an altar in the apt. with the lucky red die I found in Delphi (really), Giants paraphernalia, and Jameson, I mosied over to the plaza before 1am, and set up in front of the door to the lower right. Altho my travel diary says the it was a mild day, it got down to 40*F that night, and I had the time zones screwed up, so the game finally started @ 2am, Italian time. Right away this happened:
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Pence 2-run HR in the top of the 1st – Bum gives up 3 hits and a meaningless HR, Gints win 7-1. Around 6 am I went back to the apt., cold and happy as a clam.
The only other game I could catch on the trip was Oct. 29 in a Schipol (Amsterdam) airport hotel, the night before we returned. Another all-nighter, but at least I was warm. You know how it went:
http://www.baseball-reference….
At 6am that morning I was freaked out. We headed to KLM an hour later for our Happy Flight home.
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(The ‘thumbnails’ refer to photos in the previous thread.)
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Hunter and Alexis tonight https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/68292b1563a496ae027f9be264190504aaaad1546a8fd8391a9e1e60528bf4ac.jpg
I fu€%ing LOVE Hunter Pence
How about Brandon Crawford? This is one ridiculously cute family.
https://twitter.com/jalynnec35/status/793298665880358912
Halloween’s about the only day of the year I miss having little kids. I actually enjoyed them a lot more as teenagers, believe it or not. But Halloween was fun!
Delivering goods in downtown Davis yesterday was a drag as they had streets blocked off for the kiddies!!
Well, of COURSE I love Brandon Crawford!!!!
Beauty and I totally enjoy handing out candy to all of these young families. So cute. Like you said before: we miss those days, but still dig handing out candy.
Our 85-year-old neighbor Ilsa, her daughter Liz, and Beauty were sipping vodka tonics through it all this year….too fun
Beyond Awesome….!!!!
It took a costume for him to shave that beard!
Something tells me that was the preference for wedding photos.
Those two just crack me up. If you haven’t done so already, look up Lexi on the web and you’ll see links to her videos. The ones with Hunter will make you smile. These two are truly in love with each other. It’s nice to see and I bet finding “the one” was never on Hunter’s mind, when he was traded here in 2012.
It is a good thing those 2 found each other.
I saw this pic on facebook yesterday and had zero idea it was Hunter and his honey.
Maybe it’s Alex and ‘her’ honey?
Happy Halloween TWG! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0a9e9b2d408ca44d11133833ace5241c041d212091414016c958a97252b1900e.jpg
Beauty took the late shift, which is usually teens flying in groups….we ran out of candy. Bonus.
I watched parts of the game…
Huff’s homer was so nice…Buck called Posey’s HR like he was under hair plug sedation….MadBum was MadBum way back when… In the 7th, with the tying run at the plate, and Casilla warm, Bruce stuck with Madison. Whew….Boy, Wilson had nasty stuff….
Great memories, Greek. Thank you.
Handed out the last of the Exlax brownies, lousy football tonight, no Buckball this evening. So it’s off to bed.
OT
Jonathan Jones wrote today on The Guardian:
“If I have not even visited this Benedictine abbey church, why am I sad? Because it epitomises everything wonderful about Italy. Nowhere else has quite the same artistic and historical richness as the Italian peninsula. In towns up and down the country, layers of time intersect, and artistic treasures are part of everyday life……
Itay’s cultural greatness defies its geological instability. From the cathedral of Orvieto, high above the Umbrian plain, to the narrow, steep streets of Siena, this is a land of people who have built into the sides of hills, mountains and precipices. Wherever you go in the country you will find staircases up steep hills and churches clinging to cliffs….
Natural disaster is not new in Italy. Urban civilisation in this geologically turbulent region has always lived with risk. Pompeii and Herculaneum are preserved as archaeological wonders because they were buried by Vesuvius in AD79. People are still living on the slopes of Vesuvius, hoping that nothing will go wrong….
From Pompeii to Florence to Norcia, the people of Italy have lived with disaster for millennia. Out of that instability they created beauty. Any loss of that great human fabric is a loss for us all.”
Link to the full article: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2016/oct/31/italy-earthquake-norcia-basilica-st-benedict
Very sad.
Giants prospects in action down in Arizona…
Chris Stratton gets in his 4 innings of work: 6 H, 1 ER, BB, 5 K.
Ryder Jones hits a 3 run bomb, finishes 2 for 4 and batting a cool .300 in AFL.
Hunter Cole and Aramis Garcia each 0 for 3 with a K, Cole with a sac fly.
Not a bad day for this cohort of Giants C+ prospects.
Stratton was named the starter of the Fall Stars game. Tyler Rogers was named to the team, too.
Old guy, 26, Stratton mixing it up with the kids…
A whole 2 mos older than Blach.
2 year aaa vet sharpening teeth on hitters out of A+ and AA…
Giants crack me up, all their supposed “next arms in the farm” guys are older than Bum lolz
Good morning SFB. Don’t forget the fact that Stratton threw 76 pitches in those 4 innings; 47 for strikes. A control issue? Too many foul balls? He did walk one as you mentioned.
Is it hot stove yet???
as soon as the World Series ends…
Scout never turns off his pilot light….
True! Hahahaha!
When the pilot goes out, it smells like gas.
Not soon enough.
Hope the Indians finish it off tonight.
I need some Giant rumors…. even if most are bs.
It will be 54 years before they’re in another world series.
Then you can watch it from down below
It’s Hot Stove League whenever one wants it to be.As even a causal perusal of the comments here, it began sometime in July.
Give it about 10 hours and it will be.
It’s interesting how I’m letting my annoyance about the Cubs decide my rooting interest. I still honestly think the Cubs are a superior team. But, I’m on Cublove overload. I still think Maddon is a fantastic manager. But, his too cool style is bothering me (to be fair to him, he’s always this way, but the media is lapping it up like a dog re-eating its barfed breakfast).I relate to the Cubs fans who haven’t felt the joy of a World Series victory, but feel the same for the Indians.
So, it’s become all about MY emotional reaction to the coverage. As I look at the situation, I can see tonight as a game of epic proportions in deciding it all…Duh, if Cleveland wins…blah, blah (and I want them to)…but Chicago seems itching to bust loose.
I’m pulling Indians all the way, but also realize the Cubs are the superior team.
That being said, I think Cueto would have taken them out in game 5.
The Giants are the poster boys for a team that is hot winning, not necessarily the best team overall.
More often than not, the “best” team does not win it all. This is hardly breaking news.
I’m on cub loving media complaining overload…
Ymmv
You’re on a plain above it all, Cuz…we’re down here in the Valley of the Flooded (not Curt)
Great to relieve the past memories of course, but now once this series is done, time to focus our attention on wht the Giants are going to do next:
– Will Evan’s get off his ass and actually but some real thinking this off season? It was easy to open the bank and get the next two pitchers in line after Lester said no. A monkey could have made those moves. The Span signing? Out of need but no real strategy in getting a guy that was aging fast AND coming off an injury. Money would have been better spent on a one year rental and spread to another mid level reliever.
– Will we have a 13 man staff for the 3rd year in a row, straining the rest of the team? Will the Timmy Factor bite us in the ass again?
– Is our bench once again going to be once of the worst in the league for the third straight year, since it will basically be one man short and have Kelby and the some AAAA players?
– who will be the new 1B / 3B coaches?
– Will there be some help with the hitting coaching? Has the team maxed out it’s potential with Meulens? Sometimes a change in philosophy is good.
More to come, hold on to your seats boys and girls.
Is this a “Who Would Have Guesst Post”?
lol, that’s in the works btw.
It may incinerate this blog
I think Sabean’s attitude resembles yours close enough that he will direct Evans to do some pretty dramatic things
Let’s hope, this team really does need a shake up, has gotten a bit stale, needs some energized talent to shake up the strong core.
Yikes, I actually agree with that. 🙂
I do not understand how you can claim the team has gotten stale and needs a shakeup to bring enegized talent.
Staleness comes with age and duration with a team. They have 4 position players that were in 2 of the 3 WS teams. The only players from the 2012 team is Posey, Crawford, Pence and Belt of the position players. From the starting rotation Bum and Cain is left. Lopez and Romo both thought to be gone this year are the only ones from the Pen. No one suggests Posey and Crawford are stale or that Bum is stale.
It looks more like a talent issue in the BP and maybe the outfield on the downside decline of their careers.
Between last winter and the trade deadline July 31, Cueto, Span, Smarge, Smith, Moore, and Nunez were added.Pretty good work for a monkey.Having those last three for a full year is a huge upgrade over the beginning of this year. Don’t even start on Span bashing. Anyone who doesn’t have a Whipping Boy fetish loses the argument every time.
if you want to take an oversimplified POV sure go with that.
However I don’t group the FA acquisitions with the in season moves that were necessitated by the exact failure to complete the process out of spring training and starting the season with an incomplete roster.
I’ll win the argument if you engage in intelligent discourse.
Instead of critiquing afterward, why don’t you draw upon your incredible knowledge and let us know ahead of time exactly what they should do?
sorta hard to critique before or during making moves no? There were obvious flaws that needed to be patched and they made some and basically ignored others.
There biggest weakness last off season was the starting pitching, which their off season moves addressed and turned into a strength. During the season, they made trades that helped the team, at least for 2016. They were let down by their bullpen, and their manager and second baseman had unexpectedly poor seasons. Their HOF catcher also had a down year. None of those things were the fault of the front office.
He will somehow tie it in to “weak drafts”
Potential HOF catcher. He has 5.5 years under his belt in 7 seasons and needs to be 9-10 of excellence. So far he has 1 batting crown, 1 MVP and Zero gold gloves. That is not over stellar. He needs to bag a couple GG to be acknowledged hall worthy as a catcher. He has not been an RBI or HR machine and his game calling is not all that great as this year the PEN sucked under his calling and last year the starters sucked under his game calling.
When you find a stat that says Buster called a pitch…and the pitcher hit the spot where the pitch was called..and it was the wrong call…come back again with your assessment of his pitch calling.
Bumgarner had his best season to date (with some improvement still needed). Samardzija had an improved season. Cueto had his best winning % ever.
The rest of the starting staff and the bullpen can be directly attributed to guys not having it anymore or youth. If a pitcher can’t execute the called pitch, that’s not on the catcher. Baseball people regularly comment on what a great game caller (and pitch framer) Buster is. Heck…even with all the crap, the Giants pitching comes out to be like the 4th best in the NL.
Even in Game #4 of the NLDS, the only questionable game-calling that “might” be on Buster (assuming bench didn’t make the call) was Strickland throwing fastballs to Baez; when we all know he has trouble with breaking stuff.
As far as HOF goes, let’s look at Buster against Yadier…who should be in the HOF no problem.
Seasons (Buster = 8, Yadier = 13)
ROY (Buster = YES, Yadier = NO)
MVP ( Buster = 1, Yadier = 0)
Batting Crown (Buster = 1, Yadier = 0)
Silver Slugger (Buster = 3, Yadier = 1)
All – Star (Buster = 4, Yadier = 7)
GG (Buster = 0, Yadier = 8) Buster was finalist last 2 seasons
WS Wins (Buster = 3, Yadier = 2)
** This doesn’t count 2016 SS or GG…which has yet to be announced.
Buster also caught three no-hitters, which is kind of cool. I think the record is four(?). If Hector Sanchez hadn’t been catching Lincecum’s second no-no, it could have been four.
Buster came up in 2010. That is only 7 seasons of which he basically missed a year due to injury.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/poseybu01.shtml
You’re right, but I went off of this…which says 8. It’s really 6, when you take into account that missed year you’re talking about.
But wasn’t your original diatribe an “oversimplified POV”?
your point makes no sense. Go read some fart articles with Oracle.
Sure it does, E! “Evans The Monkey” made informed decisions before the season…they didn’t all work perfectly, but many did.
LOL. real loud.
At least you are speaking English today.
Sometimes “simple” says it best- lose your FO bashing and even you can see that a full year of the guys that we traded for at the deadline will make us better in 2017. Simply put: Good job, Bobby.
Note- I didn’t like the deals for Moore and Smith- I was wrong.
Now I’m looking forward to game 6 of the World Serious tonight.You?
I agree. One great starting pitcher, two solid starters who are going to get better, zero Greinke/Price/etc. failures. Span played a lot better in the 2nd half of the season after a lot of people made up their minds about him (and check out what he did in game 3 of the NLCS again, if the Giants had one the series it would have been Span who led the comeback), Smith was fantastic 3/4 of the time he was on the Giants, it wasn’t his fault Bochy didn’t use him how he should have, Nunez was a pleasant surprise, really can’t complain about the acquisitions.
I think Evans deserves a lot of credit for completely rebuilding the rotation in less than a year. It went from being the biggest weakness of the team to its biggest strength. I THINK Smith is going to turn out to be a great pickup as well. I’m not convinced about Span or Nunez yet. But there’s more to be done, and I’m interested to see what he pulls off.
21! I don’t want to remember what I was like as a 21 year old!
21 can generally be a hard year to remember anyway 🙂
Good morning all. Let’s end this series tonight. Pitchers and catchers report in 107 days.
The two of the 3 games in Chicago have been great ones and the coverage has been fair, any bias has been here, not on Fox. Go Indians!
No. it’s been so biased and unfair. Fox hasn’t mentioned Bumgarner enough.
I don’t think it’s been biased/unfair. But Fox (and, I’m sure, any network) typically has a narrative or a spin they want to emphasize for entertainment’s sake. I remember in that last NLCS game in 2014, all they talked about for 8 innings was Adam Wainwright’s gutty performance to save his team’s season. Then, poof, Morse hit the tying HR and Ishikawa hit the walk-off and they had to scramble for the “Ishikawa narrative” at the last minute. The fact that the Giants’ ace also pitched eight solid innings (and was named the series MVP after the game) was barely mentioned.
I don’t know that I’d call it “biased,” but I wish the coverage would just let the story be the story rather than trying to prewrite it. For this year’s World Series, if the story ends up being that Cleveland wins its first championship in nearly 70 years behind brilliant string-pulling by their future HOF manager and amazing performances by Kluber, Miller et al., well, that’s a great narrative. Why try to force it into being about the Cubs if it turns out to not be really about the Cubs?
Of course they have an angle, and of course it’s the Cubs. They are the biggest losers in sports history. More than a century without a title is an amazing. William Howard Taft was the President the last time it happened. If the Cubs were to win, it would obviously be huge, but the Cubs losing the World Series is still a bigger and better story than the Indians winning.
The Cub’s fans that we see in the stands are ringers. The real Cub’s fans are in church, praying for an Indians victory.
You think your funny? You clearly are not quite ready for prime time and certainly not even up for the Second City…..
You can get off your knees now. I won’t tell.
EXACTLY…the issue is the utter lack of flexibility and adjustment by the crew. I understand that, for national based teams, they have to rely on history and trends…they think.
What i wish is that these crews would let the GAME tell the story…not them. It’s a tough balance.
In rewatching Game 4 2010, you see that same trend/problem: they knew Texas had Lee, Hamilton, Guerrero, etc…they weren’t as familiar with these upstart kids from SF. In fairness, how would they? But, they needed to LET THE GAME/SERIES TELL THE STORY.
Maybe it’s that simple
Maybe some here can take your advice- there’s more bitching about Buck than there is about the game itself.
I exchanged tweets with Buck a couple months ago. Someone asked him if he was playing in some golf tournament up in Tahoe, and he said no, he was afraid the Giants fans would heckle him. I replied “I would never heckle you. My happiest Giants memories are all associated with the sound of your voice.” He liked that. 🙂
Nice post. Mikey liked it.
Such a lovable curmudgeon
Don’t insult me, I am not lovable.
You can’t hold out…C’mon, give the cat a hug
Another great example. Game 4 of the 2010 World Series was an amazing story. A 21-year-old rookie shutting out the best offense in baseball for eight innings, caught by a 23-year-old rookie who hit his first World Series home run to seal the deal. Aubrey Huff, local boy, hits a bomb to get it started.
To me the stories that write themselves are the best ones.
It’s good to see that Tito has come back from his disaster in Boston in 2011.That is a REAL good narrative if truth be told.
Just last game put Bumgarner as one of only 3 players with 8 outs or more for a save in the WS.
no no no no
You’d turn down two more days of baseball to adjourn early for months of irrelevant mental masturbation. Are you daft?
Okay, CC, it looks like we’re getting a Game 7. I just would’ve liked it if Cleveland won it tonight.
Having said that, I really didn’t take too kindly of your comment. I mean, what the F did I ever say or do to you?
I’m kind of new on the GE/TWG blog, and this is how you treat newcomers or just everyone in general?
Not cool.
I had been boycotting Deadspin, because they’re rabidly anti-police, but I just can’t continue to deny myself stories like this:
http://gizmodo.com/fart-blamed-for-causing-a-fire-during-surgery-at-a-toky-1788414929
Who would give you up if your fetish continued in private?
In order to answer that question, I’d have to first understand it.
You didn’t have to deny yourself. Who would know about your devastating boycott had you kept it private.
I’m pretty sure my boycott didn’t devastate anyone. I’m not as important to everyone else as I am to you.
Here I try to summon up sympathy for you’re crisis, and you deny it’s authenticity and importance. I wounded and forlorn, but I’ll grieve quietly, no matter.
I’ll interrupt you fellas with a link to the story in the St. Pioneer Press after my sister-in-law passed away last week- she was one of the many “good” cops.
http://www.twincities.com/2016/10/24/st-paul-police-commander-who-fought-crime-cancer-loses-her-battle/
I read that story last week, but obviously had no idea there was a connection. It sounds like she was a great person.
Very Sophomoric but I am used to it by now.
Hope that is some closure someday on the Sierra LaMar case …
“SWING AND A MISS! AND THAT’S IT…THE GIANTS ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!”
Six years ago tonight Christmas came early.
http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/0/v12948715
One nice thing about this otherwise depressing postseason is that it’s become clear that the Cubs’ hitter can be stopped just about completely with curves, curves, and more curves–not only do they have the lowest contact rate in the majors on curves (32.1%), they also have the lowest exit velocity in the majors when they do manage to hit a curve (84.3 mph). And the Giants have three of the best curve ball pitchers in the majors in Bumgarner, Moore, and Samardzija. They’re pretty well set to shut them down if Samardzija can just have the sense to throw the curve the first time through the order.
An important nuance to your comment is that Indian’s pitchers are throwing not just any curveball, for the most part, but so called spike curve balls of the sort Burt Hooton used years ago with the Dodgers and the Philly’s. I read an interview a couple days ago with a young pitcher who went into some detail about why he liked it. First, the sharp, late break… but also it’s thrown with the same grip as the silder except a finger, nail down, is put on the seam that would be flat against the seam were it a slider. In a funny kind of way, it’s a changeup thrown off the slider (~5-10 mph slower than the slider) and not the fastball. It, for example, was added by A. J. Burnett when he moved to the Pirates and revitalized his career.
Thanks for the post. As a Cub fan, Hooton came up with what was called a knuckle curve. I just looked up the spiike curve and it is indeed the same grip. I noticed 1 curve that one of the Cleveland pitchers threw. It looked as if it was a 1 finger curve where the Index finger was being held off the ball during the delivery.
Folks forget Hooton came up with the Cubs. I saw him in a couple of SW Conference road games, and you couldn’t hit his curveball with a tennis racket. And in that wind, it ‘fluttered’ when it broke. Just weird looking. He went 30-40 and 3 with the longhorns, I think. BTW, he was almost a Met, until his Dad put a stop to their courtship.
http://www.wacotrib.com/sports/texas-ex-burt-hooton-found-way-to-mound-as-pitcher/article_dd9aac9a-5970-5763-a7a9-9b86f7c92766.html
Ya know the G’s acvtually have 2 pitcher on staff that throw that curve ball.
Matt Moore…. and the other…..
Santiago Casillia. Maybe he could have gotten through game 4.
LOL. Maybe that’s the mojo Casilla misplaced. I remember that 12-6 curve ball he used when he first took Romo’s spot against the Reds. He made Joey Votto look like a little leaguer that day when he struck him out.
Tore a nail maybe?
Well it looks like over the course of the season the Cubs seem to have trouble against any kind of a curve. The important thing is throw it a lot.
I think Clint Eastwood made a movie about them….. Had that fake ginger in it.
I checked and the cubs had no record in the regular season against knuckle curves. So their miserable record was entirely against non-knuckle curves
The Giants issue was not their starting pitching. It was their pathetic offense. As the Cubs and Giants have both showed, if you can’t score runs you generally do not win.
Well they had a lot of fixing up to do and they fixed up a lot. The starting pitchers were a wreck and look at where they are now. Can’t fix everything in one year.
The comment was related to 2016. 2015 was not a good year all around.
Is that you, Philip?
It’s all making sense now.
I think canned chili companies should be made to list exit velocity on the nutritional panel
Good one.
For the Umps.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/11/world-series-indians-cubs-umpires-umpiring-is-super-hard-mlb
Some tools to help folks get past any tools in the Fox booth that you just can’t stand anymore.
First, the mute button. See image.
http://amyruthwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/mute.jpg
Second, great radio broadcasts on WTAM, I really enjoyed their work during the ALCS. Very enthusiastic and professional homers if you want to get more Cleveland slant in your broadcast.
http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/mediacenter/?c_id=cle
Lastly, perhaps you can find some radio delay/syncing software on the interwebs.
https://showmore.com/sync-audio-and-video.html
Enjoy the game! Cheers.
I sync Dan Sculman and Aaron Boone on radio = Fab U Lous
agree…listened to game 3 and they were incredibly good
They *must* be fair:
Buck: ” Great performance by Chapman. But we here at Fox Sports always strive to put these in things in perspective and not overlook any performances that might be as good or better than that what we witnessed tonight.The research has found that since 1960 alone that there have been at least 47 closer outings in a World Series game 3 or later that have been better than Chapman’s outing. These examples and the details have been provided to us by an independent research firm in no way affiliated with Fox Sports..After the break.John will list them all .In order to be comprehensive and not offend the fans of any team, this will take awhile.We’ll cut to your local news after he’s done….”
Look what I just came across again, from The Dean of baseball writers:
http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/best
“I don’t know what it felt like watching Mathewson pitch, but watching Bumgarner is like feeling an expertly administered epidural nip in between a couple of vertebrae and deliver bliss: it’s a gliding, almost eventless slide through the innings, with accumulating fly-ball outs and low-count K’s marking the passing scenery. It’s twilight sleep; an Ambien catnap; an evening voyage on a Watteau barge. Bumgarner is composed out there, his expression mournful, almost apologetic, even while delivering his wide-wing, slinging stuff. Sorry, guys: this is how it goes. Over soon.”
And he drives a bitchin’ truck, too..
Angell was 90 when he wrote that:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/02/17/old-man-3
A real gent.
p.s. I forgot how profound this essay is. Lots of tears too, but also laughs:
“Nowadays, I pop a pink beta-blocker and a white statin at breakfast, along with several lesser pills, and head off to my human-wreckage gym, and it’s been a couple of years since the last showing.”
You can take it to a nice steakhouse!
Nice story http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/11/world-series-indians-cubs-umpires-umpiring-is-super-hard-mlb
Emmett Ashford https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2016/04/11/mlbs-first-black-umpire-broke-the-color-barrier-on-opening-day-in-d-c-50-years-ago/
And the great Nestor Chylak said: “They expect an umpire to be perfect on Opening Day and to improve as the season goes on.”
Most people expect umpires to suck, and they are rarely disappointed.
That’s pretty much a job hazard if you’re charged with interpreting and enforcing the rules. One would think you’d have a sense of sympatico with their thankless job.
It is a tough job, but they shouldn’t be fighting against turning balls and strikes over to technology. It’s been proven that humans aren’t really up to the task.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxnGDftauAg
I disagree. Expectations now a days with all the P/fx and all us experts here make it difficult. I have seen many good umpires.
1) They Stay consistent
2) Stay in Shape
3) Good Nutrition etc
The bad ones stick out.
The Mets’ closer, Jeurys Familia, was arrested for domestic violence (he’s married with a young child). Of course, we already know the Mets are fine with that, since they had no problem signing Jose Reyes (People shouldn’t hold his “mistake” against him, said Sandy Alderson.)
Are all these closers roided out or what?
(My wife despises Chapman now.)
Their previous closer, Jennry Mejia, is now under a lifetime ban after three failed drug tests.
Good thing Wheezy stayed single.
As I’ve said before, it might be a good idea to wait for some details. Domestic violence laws err on the side of arrest. Many domestic violence arrests don’t result in any charges.
I am well aware. I’m also aware that whether or not there are charges or even a MLB suspension (which is based on their own determination, not the justice system), that doesn’t mean any team will take it seriously. Reyes and Chapman have jobs, and Familia will, too.
How long should they be banned?
I would be in favor of any player with serious evidence against them of DV being permanently banned. I’d also say the same about driving any vehicle under the influence. I think the league should make a statement that those are serious societal problems and we don’t want people like that representing our sport/business. I bet a zero tolerance policy would lower the incidents.
“Serious evidence” would have to be carefully defined, but it couldn’t be just whether or not there was a criminal conviction. Reyes, for example, put his wife in the hospital, but she wouldn’t press charges. That didn’t mean he didn’t do it.
You realize that’s a dead end solution unless you’re seriously arguing employers are supposed to enforce domestic law. It may give you a moment of positive, or negative, reinforcement to your POV, but it won’t change anything. The proof…look at the POTUS race.
It’s not about “enforcing.” The law either enforces or it doesn’t. There isn’t a constitutional right to play for a major league baseball team. Teams and leagues can choose who they allow to represent them. It’s about making a statement to your fans about what kind of organization you want to be.
IMO, that approach is futile, if not counterproductive. It isn’t that they should be lauded or condemned, it’s about who should be doing it. About all that would make a difference is something like public fan shaming, community judgement. The reason a team does things like that is automatically assigned to some cynical protect the bottom line motive, not condemnation of the act. If 8-10,000 fans were to lob a tomato or two at a game, then you’ve made a statement that means something.
Yes, waiting for all the information is wise. Which is funny coming from you since you tried and convicted Jose Fernandez for killing two people despite all the evidence not being in and someone saying the other day he didn’t think Fernandez was driving the boat since he was on the phone with him and heard Jose giving directions. But, no matter. You’ve already assigned him the villain label.
Whatever Familia did, he didn’t kill anyone. He may well have done something bad, but all anyone’s read so far is that he was arrested. On the other hand, there is much more information available about what Fernandez did. The claim that he wasn’t driving came from his friend, lawyer and mouthpiece, as he attempts to prepare for the civil suits that are sure to come from the families of Fernandez’s friends. Hardly shocking.
Bingo: In the I row – I-26
Kap was doing some heavy lifting down in San Jose. Marcus Thompson wrote a good column.
http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/10/29/on-49ers-bye-week-colin-kaepernick-puts-in-meaningful-work/
Welcome the world we live in. This where we’ve been, and hopefully, not where we’re going.
Ken Rosenthal posted an article earlier today answering this question: “Why does baseball allow players who are suspended during the regular season for domestic violence to participate in the playoffs but not players banned for performance-enhancing drugs?”
A: The use of PEDs is regarded as work-related. “An act of domestic violence, while a far more serious offense in the view of the average person, is not work-related. Both baseball and the union regard it as an off-the field matter.”
Wonder if this will eventually change?
http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/why-mlb-allows-players-suspended-for-domestic-violence-to-play-in-postseason-110116
No. It’s $$$.
Why would anybody ever want to coach baseball again at the College level and below? This is pure garbage.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/sports/6240668-181/srjc-baseball-coach-damon-neidlinger?artslide=0
Giants only have one more coaching hire to replace Billy Hayes as they have filled Roberto’s outfield shoes with renown outfield coach Kent Murphy. Kent is leaving a former law practice to join Bochy’s staff. He comes highly recommended by MLBSF and Carmot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OMQPJhPqm8
Since I watched Game Four in its entirety last night, I decided to watch the last 4 innings of the 2010 clincher this morning. Someone said last nite (Lefty) how foolish it was for Lee to pitch to Renteria in the 7th with first base open and Rowand on deck. This was obviously true but I had forgotten that he fell behind 2-0 to Edgar. Pretty inconceivable he just decided to try and pump a letter high fastball by him. Had also forgotten what an absolutely miserable WS Pat the Bat had. 11 K’s in 13 AB’s for Burrell. Jesus. That’s tough to do. I found the MVP presentation cuz I wanted to re-watch that as well, and most definitely forgot this tidbit: Renteria was only the 4th player with two WS clinching hits. The others? Gehrig, DiMaggio and Yogi Berra.
What was ultimately foolish, was shaking Molina off to get to the fastball the Renteria deposited for him.
That speaks to what I said about Lee’s hubris. It was well known that he’d rather bathe in hot tar than pitch around anybody.
”’Someone said last nite (Lefty) how foolish it was for Lee to pitch to Renteria in the 7th with first base open and Rowand on deck.”
It was not Lefty who said that.It was the incredibly perceptive me me me
“The TV guys couldn’t believe why Edgar wasn’t walked so Lee could face Rowand. Lee didn’t even pitch around him.The take then was Cliff’s hubris got in the way.
Renteria rounded the bases as if this was just another day in the life.”
Lefty spoke in general about Pat’s bad series and how we beat Lee twice in the series.Lefty’s comments are great enough on their own, she doesn’t need to be credited (or ‘Debited”) for what she didn’t say.
Chef, I don’t know how I could have been so erroneous and I pledge to do better in the future.
Too bad if that sounded petty, but that comment shed some real light on how the game winner came to be.
I do know a little bit about the game, I’m not just a pretty face.
The Fox guys were commenting on it extensively both before and after Renteria hit the homer. Tim McCarver thought they should have walked him to get to Rowand, especially once he got to 2-0 on Renteria. After the homer, he brought it up again, as a second guess.
See Lefty’s comment below.Last night I just added the “why” that Lee wouldn’t walk or pitch around Edgar. So his ego lost them any chance to win the series. Maybe the boyz in the booth didn’t want ruffle any feathers.
Last week I was pitching in a game (father & son in Phoenix, more on that later including pics for dgg) and might have invented a new pitch. I’m a righty throwing to a righty and threw a sidearm split finger change up. Fell off a table and flabergasted the hitter who missed it by a foot. Funny, he asked “what was that?” I jokingly told him it was my heater. So I threw him a fastball and of course he lined it to left for a hit but now I got me a new pitch to work on with Ryan next time I am in Fresno.
I’d say 99% of the damage I did to my elbow occurred with me throwing sidearm curveballs with a tennis ball, thinking I was Kent Tekulve.
New Post: http://fe0.84e.myftpupload.com/giants-history/great-moments-in-giants-postseason-history-game-5-of-the-2010-world-series/