by
GreekGiant
Now that’s better. Two wins in a row, all thanks to the Extras Refugees, Greg Papa and no batting practice before the game! One win is one win, two wins in a row and you have dreams of winning the World Series! The Giants timed their hits beautifully and were gifted 6 unearned runs in a bad inning for the Cardinals. It turns out Yadier Molina, one of the greatest defensive catchers of all time, really is human. His throwing error set the table for the big inning that would decide the game on a night the Giants were facing a rookie who struck out the first four batters he faced.
Are the Giants Back?
Here is the question I kept asking myself during the game, in between working in my darkroom: Do the Giants look different tonight? Are they a good team again? Or, is this some kind of tease, a cruel rejoinder to wake us up from the dreamy state of the Golden Era? My answer: I want another mojito… I really don’t know. This has to be one of the strangest and most perplexing baseball teams I have ever watched. What I believe is this team has good players who have not played well. Forget WAR, stats, numbers and trends for a minute… Let’s just analyze the Giants with our gut instincts: Do they look like a championship caliber team? Maybe, Yes…. It all depends.
Bruce Bochy: Motivational Speaker
Matt Moore was Matt Moore: unequal, at times brilliant, like when he steamrolled his way out of trouble in the 4th… but he threw too many pitches and seemed to lose focus too many times. That was some motivational speech Bochy gave him during his mound visit with two outs in the 5th:
Bochy: “What the fuck is wrong with you? Did you forget how to play baseball all of a sudden?”
Moore: “Sorry Skip, that harvest moon was in my eyes.”
Bochy: “This is your last better. Get him out so you can pick up the win or I am shipping you back to St. Petersburg so you can experience the thrill of playing in front of 4,438 ravenous retirees every game in a 1980s circus tent.”
Bottom Line: Giants win a ballgame against a good team. This was a game they had to win to ride that confidence train… A good win indeed and, oh, by the way, Did you see that big beautiful home run Buster Posey lasered over the left center field wall? A good tiding perhaps? Buster we need you. Welcome back!
Good win, great comment threads gang. I enjoyed reading them all. It appears the verdict is thumbs up for the weekly guest posts.
Breckeroni Game Summary
https://twitter.com/AlexPavlovic/status/776992407296421888
Awesome screengrab!
Yes, Alex did good
You did good too, Surf.
Surfs a good man. Was ready to bust out Pablo at Seascape several years ago.
Nice summary, I appreciate it not having watched the game. I did see the last out. What a beauty without giving up a run in the 9th!
Excellent job. I give you an A+.
-Hey, his teammates love him
-You what’s cool? If I ask a question, Lefty gets the answer.Wow, a college professor doing my leg work 😉
-OK,I’m at my limit.
-One more- get within 3 after the Dodger series and we win the West- remember- I’m never wrong
Woke up this morning here in Brittany, a soft early autumn rain drifting down, cradled my cup of coffee and fired up my computer (cautiously), hoping for a 2-game winning streak. That’s what this season hath wrought. And Voila! There it was! Plus, I get a Greek Giant telling me all about it.
OK, you can all get some sleep now. I’ve got the night shift covered. (Plus 9 hours ici)
Cautiously lol lol that’s me too,
Cautiously today. But a sweep of SL would make me haughty as hell (just like in 2010, 2012 and 2014). Ahhh, the haughty daze.
Im cautious that way whenever someone knocks on my damn door!
lemme guess, the coffee was a french roast – I like that dark smoky flavor. It’s CostCo Columbian today as it has been for 2 weeks and 2 weeks more (big bag).
Learn to make cold brew and save your stomach from all that acid.
Free bottle if you come up to see your cousins and we catch a SJGiants game next year?
you got it – someday, I’ll get after the cold brew method.
Oddly, SFB, I drink a 100 percent artisan Arabica called Broceliande. Of course, in the cafes and tabacs, it’s a French espresso (you can’t resist it at 1 euro). However, in my moments in America, a Colombian works just fine.
With Alvise back (Venice) and our GermanGiantsFan (below), this blog has pretty much covered the EU. Too bad about those Brexits.
We could use a rep from Eire though. ;o)
Parents hide your children. Practice is important!
Apparently it isn’t lol.
What did Allen Iverson think of practice again?
Ha ha … true for our (grand)kids but I think most of the Giants-MLB start with 15 years of “practice” so maybe they their brains and muscle-memory are set to go.
Vince Lombardi was credited with saying “perfect practice makes perfect.” Playing home run derby at batting practice probably isn’t as useful for repeating a quality swing as time in the cage with a coach and pitching machine. Then again, regular batting practice is far more entertaining.
I’m sure somebody’s piano teacher said that before the great Vince 🙂
Maybe Sincere says this to his guitar students.
Great post game wrap, GG!
Dark room? Who uses those anymore? We actually have one in our old house – we use it as a walk in closet and I jam on the guitars in there – my wife’s aunt was a photographer. Want some old development chemicals? We got some.
Teenagers in photography class who need a makeout location?
Jeremy Aflac is killing me on the radio side good lord is he bad. Lester Hayes would of been a better call.
Great, now whenever I see or hear him I’m going to picture him qwakking like that insurance duck.
I only heard him briefly but I do think it’s a good idea to have some back up broadcasters available. I like the back and forth better, and Fleming is not so good flying solo.
OK, I am no longer a TWG virgin. Thanks GG, what a great job! I read back, people seem so refreshed and it’s not just because the team miraculously put together two good games in a row and had some big hits.
TheAncientVirgin35
Flem whines too damn much, always crying about something. He’s our Joe Buck.
Give him time, Slikk…he’s good dude, and this is absolutely OJT. Except he has thousands of those pesky “supervisors” on HIS ride along.
Oh i know just venting thats all whenever he speaks i just lower the volume until i think duane is speaking.
I got Michael Scott to say ” fuck you” to me! I doubt Affeldt got you that mad!!
LOL or Jack Squirek.
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL
Or maybe Ray Charles
Terrific job, GG. With several improvements , you should have an above average blog.
Notice how winning changes everything? No, I mean it. That visual of Posey after the silent treatment with his thumbs up in the dugout tells me a few things:
* This team has been very eager for something to help turn the attitudes around and wash off as much of the last two months as possible.
* These players know it’s on them. They had to get things rolling…who has led this charge over these last few weeks? Pence. These last two games? Posey.
* the Cards , in those first two games, look a lot like….late summer Giants. Matheny looks like….Bochy. Cards fans sound like…GE posters.
* Yo, Marge….gotta keep it going tonight. This game reminds me of game 3 in Detroit 2012… Yeah, those first two were great, but we HAVE to keep the momentum.
Uhhh, Game 3, 2012, Detroit. Vogie and Timmy, right? Shutout. OK, tonight, Marge is Vogie, Who plays Timmy? Candidates, choose one:
1. Cain
2. Peavy
3. Strickland
4. Kontos
5. Osich
6. Other
1. & 2. – “shutouts” do not compute
3. – he will get the bump, but likely in the 7th
6. – yes… Romo and Lopez get their time
But, it’s all about Marge, and about the hitters working past the 6pm shadows to crush the pedestrian offerings of Leaky Shingles
OMG. Leaky Shingles. I just spit a significant amount of a fine Medoc out my nose!
Peavy. Cagey vet turns Cards into groundout machines.
Cain and Peavy are very unlikely to see any prime time action. Your analogy requires a starting pitcher to play Timmy, so it’s “other”But I’ll play anyway- Will Smith.
I agree on your “unlikely” action. However, picture Marge laboring through 5 innings (not “unlikely” at all), but holding a 2-0 lead (remember Detroit). Bochy knows it’s going to be a high-stress BP finish. So he throws in Cain hoping for a one inning bridge before the matchup game begins. Cain throws a spotless 6th. He doesn’t bat in the bottom of the 6th and comes out for the 7th. He delivers again, all the way to Romo for the 9th.
C’mon Michael. Don’t ruin it for me.
I like this plan. Matt Cain is a favorite of mine. And I think the last time he appeared (I missed parts of this week, though), seven batters in a row were dispatched.
I’m sorry. Maybe if I drank better coffee the mornings would go better for me.
Stay away from that Target brand coffee called Market Pantry YUK! I now clean my toilet with that stuff.
Nice mirror-imaging of Timmeh – let Cain prove something to everybody.
And the Romo touch is perfect.
Maybe not so fast on Kris Bryant MVP…
Other than HRs, Daniel Murphy has better numbers:
.349/.393/.599, 25 HRs, 104 RBI
vs
.295/.388/.562, 37 HRs, 95 RBI
With Harper having a down year, a strong case can be made that Murphy has shouldered a greater proportion of team’s success. Murphy has the greatest Win Probability Added in the NL – well above Bryant. As was evident in last year’s postseason streak, Murphy can hit. As for the fielding…
So no shoe-in for Haak’s guy, Kris Bryant 😉
I need a stat pull on Q rating and media fawning….Bryant by a mile. Since when have the BBWA cared mostly about performance? This is a popularity contest, and the Cubs are the Hillary Duff’s of the high school class
You are on it. The 88 win Nats are gliding under the radar as are Murphy, Ramos, Scherzer, and the sleeping dragon Harper. Love the Melancon move at the deadline. Look out for Dusty’s guys.
What will (and should) win it for Bryant is his versatility. If you look at their offensive numbers it’s a coin flip, but Bryant has filled in ably at 3B, LF, RF and 1B this season, whereas Murphy has just been a bad 2B. Murphy has had an awesome year and will likely come in 2nd or 3rd in the voting, depending on how the voters feel about Seager (who also has an argument for MVP).
True, true. Rizzo deserves a nod too.
Good call on Rizzo, and I’d also say that Freddie Freeman has had an excellent year on a terrible, terrible team. It’s probably been his best ever season.
Hi all, I’m still alive. Did I miss something the last month? Got my Mac back again today. Doctors forbade wifey to give it to me for a month.
POST OF THE DAYYYYYYYYYYY!
Where the fuck have you been?! You scared us….
Sick bayed, missed the graveyard by inches. Almost S.O. for eternity. But I’m still alive to annoy you all.
Great having you back Alvise and I hope you get well soon. We need you!
Great blog GG. ευχαριστώ για την υπέροχη δουλειά σας.
Aww man. Great to hear that you cheated the great beyond. We are beyond thrilled to have you back. Missed ya, AC.
Thank you Sincere
OK, now I see the reason for the Giants long slump – your wife keeping you away! It is very good to hear from you again.
Thank you
My upvote percentage went down 83 points while you were out. Welcome back- what’s for dinner?
If you were a doctor, what would you give for dinner to a man who had his 4th heart attack a month ago? Don’t even mention food, please. What I’m eating is NOT food for a civil person.
You know, there are better ways to have missed this awful stretch of Giants baseball, maybe gardening or painting or some other hobby would be healthier.
Welcome back, glad you made it through.
I’ve found that hospital food is not too bad if you don’t eat it.
Good to know, I will take thats under “Alvise” next time I’m in the hospital.
I’ve found it too…
Oh, that’s what we were afraid of. Glad you’re still/back with us, and glad you found our new “home.”
I have to thank Paul in p.v. for that. He was so kind to e-mail me the “change of address”.
We were worried. Glad you are recovering and back on line.
Alvise Amigo, you picked a good time to check out. Possibly the worst stretch of Giants baseball in recent memory.
So glad you’re back – you’ve brought good luck back to los Gigantes!
Made a miraculous discovery, a gift from the gods that wasn’t even asked for, something that promises to benefit mankind till the end of time. I tried my TV remote from under a sheet and, wait for it, IT WORKED. No need to thank me or send me money. it’s just another of my great contributions to better living for mankind.
Who says baseball is a non contact sport? Last week we played a DH; I got three hits, a good day for me. First hit, running the bases, slide, forgot my little sleeve thing I wear, tore up my knee, heckuva raspberry. Second hit, clean single to right, RF throws in toward home but it nails me right on the shin, no meat at all, 100% bone, wow did that hurt. Last hit, a Hunter Pence special, swinging bunt toward third, beat it out but the throw from the pitcher or third baseman plugs me right in the back. Three painful hits but I’m not giving them back.
I miss and don’t miss that! My last season in MABL, I got nailed with an HBP in the thigh that morphed from hip to knee fall-colors painting…Beauty had none sympathy. But, the niggling ones were worse…raspberries, bumps, plain old sore. Especially after double headers. Have fun while it lasts. I can’t lean over for grounders any more with my Kershawitis
I will, thanks. I suspect your Beauty and mine would get along just fine.
LOL. Charlie Brown couldn’t do better.
Gamer Dude! Love the PerSpeier MSBL reports!
One more game, then playoffs, then AZ next month. You gotta get back in the swing of it one of these days.
Dr Lefty is absent this morning, she must be on a plane going somewhere.
No, Mr, DL hid all her electronic devices and is secretly filming her for one of those having a breakdown because the Internet is down commercials. Right now she’s typing away furiously on her cutting board wondering why spell check isn’t working.
I see
Post of the decade
Here I am! Thanks for noticing. 🙂
HEY!!!!!
Fellow Refugees, I have a new post up: http://fe0.84e.myftpupload.com/philosophy-of-baseball/the-whiteness-of-baseball/
Don’t go there. Please.
Thank you for being the voice of reason.
Great Win last night. Got home around 3 and checked the score. JUST GET IN TO THE DANCE!!!!