By
Dr Lefty
Tonight’s Game: Marlins (39-46) at Giants (34-54), 7:05 pm at AT & T Park
Chris O’Grady (0-0, — ERA) vs Jeff Samardzija (4-9, 4.54 ERA)
Big Mac Attack
To my surprise, it was Mac Williamson, not Jarrett Parker, who was called up to take Austin Slater’s spot after Slater’s unfortunate injury last night. Mac’s a lucky guy. Not only are his fading career prospects getting another unexpected chance, but he gets to avoid playing a doubleheader in Sacramento (104 degrees at game time).
The first game in Sacramento is a suspended game from April 7, which was supposed to be Opening Night for the River Cats but was rained out. As a result, the box score is a mind-bending time shift (see below).
Check it out: Tomlinson, Hwang, and Slater are with the Giants. Arroyo is injured and out for awhile. Ruggiano, Calixte, and Federowicz, like Arroyo, have come and gone with the Giants already this season. Kyle Blanks is no longer with the organization. And Chris Stratton, who threw 106 pitches in Detroit barely 48 hours ago, is most assuredly not the starting pitcher. But that’s how things were on April 7, so…
Shark’s Snow Globe Night
Last year MadBum had a bobblehead night to commemorate his winning the Silver Slugger award, and he was the starting pitcher. Tonight, with Samardzija on the bump, it’s “Shark Snow Globe Giveaway Night,” which, I’m not gonna lie, seems just a tad random to me. But these days, a Shark start is one of the few things to look forward to, so hopefully he has a great night and doesn’t get shaken up by the potent Marlins lineup (“shaken up” like a snow globe, get it?).
Barry’s Finally on the Wall of Fame
Right now we’re in our hotel room about a 10-minute walk from AT & T, between seeing Spider-Man on the IMAX at the Metreon and going off for our evening plans. Mr. L is streaming the Wall of Fame ceremony for Barry Bonds, going on right now. Although we could have gone, we decided not to fight the crowds. But congrats to Barry; it’s obviously deserved and long overdue. We went to the Jeff Kent Wall ceremony in 2009, and it was pretty fun. A lot more of those to come, as so many recent Giants are eligible (5 years + All-Star or 9 years as a Giant). So in the years ahead, we should have Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner, Posey, Sandoval, Wilson, Romo, Pence, Crawford, and Belt. Did I forget anyone? Yes, Vogelsong!
It’s nice to remember the good moments, and I hope there are more tonight. You couldn’t ask for more beautiful July weather here in San Francisco. Here are the lineups, and I’ll be back tomorrow morning with a wrap-up.
Greetings, Deeg.
Nick Deeg, the ballplayer with the Volcanoes?
Hope the homestead is doing fine after the Quake.
Loved the big boy smack over the RF wall by Stanton.
Lefty doing the Footy-influenced Snoopy Dance!
Let’s win one for the Slater
Welcome back Mac indeed! What about Parker? His 20-day rehab stint has to be near completion. Can’t see us DFA Gorkys at this point, so…Gomez?
Roster shuffle big time this season.
Attn: PJ, re: earlier thread
There was no confusion about where that quote came from (Sanchez or Vogelsong). Here’s the article in question, with the quote. It was Sanchez, made in a pre-Vogelsong year.
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/giants/2011/11/07/jonathan-sanchez-is-gone-but-not-soon-forgotten-thoughts-on-cabreras-breakout-season-etc/
The facts are he was wild , he is wrong if he thought he was not, well I read it and he was delusional , and that and his wildness was why his career was so short .
Well, we skipped the RiverCats DH today in the furnace that is West Sacramento for a much cooler climate. Mrs. Crawnik and myself are at the Giants game. Shark snow globe night and BB25 got his Wall of Fame plaque. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/55e46d8bb5389eb31dfaae596f82a0c388e292f94276342b63357493aad072ae.jpg
Dude! You guys are baseball junkies. I love it!
Pavlovic quotes Bochy as saying he’ll “mix and match” this weekend, but then wants to give Williamson “lots of time.” Why wait?
Togive you something to bitch about.
Post of the week
In place of Gorkys? Sr. En Fuego?!?! I don’t THINK so
Gorkys Hernandez, cornerstone of the future.
Anybody at last nights game or watching it on TV notice the oranges and tomatoe and tennis ball being hurled at Stanton? Top notch AT&T security busted the guy. Don’t know the details if he/she was arrested and had to spend the weekend in jail or escorted from the park.
I would like to think that assault would be an arrestable offense.
Yeah. I remember seeing on tv Stanton pick up a tennis ball and toss it to the ball dude. I also heard once security was notified of the assault, the person was busted within 15 minutes.
In 1976, I threw a tennis ball into the outfield from the upper deck at Candlestick. Gary Mathews picked it up. I was never brought to justice.
Chris Shaw just went deep, did the Giants call up the wrong LF, I hope the reason Shaw was not called up , has nothing to do with he is not on the 40 man, are they do not want to start his arb clock, play the best players period .
It’s probably because he’s striking out at a 5:1 clip and would still get cut to ribbons by major league pitching/parks. He’ll be up when he’s ready.
No, Williamson strikesout more, and strikeouts mean nothing, Posey best year he had his most strikeouts 96, I thought you were a Belt fan , he is 2nd in Giants history in strikesout in a season, and the player that is 1st was a multiple All Star, and top 5 MVP .
Shaw is striking out as much in AAA as Belt did in his highest MLB season. And Belt never dips below a 2:1 K/BB ratio. Shaw is at 5:1 in AAA. That’s not going to get better at the big level. Strikeouts mean nothing…as long as you’re balancing them with walks.
Strikeouts mean shit, as long as you make big damage when you make contact .
If you make more outs than the average player, strikeouts mean a lot. Outs are really bad.
Shaw is hitting .300
With a .323 OBP in a league where the average is .342.
Shaw’s OBP and OPS veritably SCREAM “bring him up!!!” and they’ve done so for a few years.
Mac sucks so don’t exoect much from him. Yes, Shaw should be here sooner than later.
Now Now, lose that east coast chip on your shoulder Effie,
no chip, you know I’m right. Mac is never going to be starter in this league, and with all the younger OF talent on the way, he’s not long for the team. The time to move on will be soon.
Maybe that’s exactly why he’s here…MLB level showcase. Which is a risk….
Long overdue celebration about everything Bonds at the stadium that he is more responsible than anyone in the organization to get built. The Giants ownership built an amazing complex and were financially sound from the jump on the back of Bond’s HR chase and 5 MVPs.
About time the ingrates showed some appreciation, specially with all the money they have made since.
Bonds should be in the HOF. Baseball players are not squeaky clean if the writers have a problem with that, they need to pull their heads outta their ass and take a closer look at the game. Get off your high horse damn it.
He’ll be in shortly.
You could be BLB’s long lost cousin Effie from San Carlos CA
Yes yes yes.
http://www.knbr.com/2017/07/07/austin-slater-headed-to-disabled-list-with-hip-flexor-injury/
The hip bone’s connected to the . . .
How aiming at the SS provides improved hitting.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/freddie-freemans-strange-bp-technique/
This Bud might be for you
Hey, kids…that’s what hustle can do…
Even if it’s once in a lifetime.
“Yelich reminds me of Von Hayes”
Von Hayes: best athlete I ever played against in my life….we all knew . The ball just sounded different off his bat
Stockton boy. Yeah, he could hit. We knew he’d get to the big leagues.
St. Mary’s always kicked our ass.
Brent Adams said before our first game ” I’m blowing him away with fastballs”…mmmmmmright.
Laser shots.
Yep. They usually beat us, too. They were VOL, we (AA Stagg) were CCC, but we’d play them at least once a year. Always had good teams.
The Marge Defense is already in full effect
They didn’t hit the ball hard, except for Yelich. Get those two back, guys. Start now.
What’s up with the Giants uniforms tonight?
They do these on Saturday nights now. Revenue generation at its finest
Very true.. Thanks
Wait…..did Amy G just drop a bomb quietly?
“Matt Cain will work out if the bullpen…” and the guys just let it dissipate into mist.
WHAT?!?!
My honest first thought was that you were calling her out for pulling a Machi.
Do you mean dropping an air biscuit?
She gets the goods, that Amy G.
I think Cain gives the team a little better chance of winning than Moore right now, but we’ve reached the point where Cain only has a half-season of contract to eat. It is probably for the best to see if Moore can get unmoored. Maybe we’ll get double-Matt games in August?
He’s a walking unmoored
Giants got Moored last night.
Again…
I think she meant just for tomorrow, but who knows? All day I was thinking about that Laskey/Estes nonsense that Blach and not Moore gets replaced by Bum. Idiocy. Shark and Blach are the only ones giving us quality starts!
Bum is pitching on the 15th, right? I guess that is when we truly find out
Probably depends on exactly what happens in his rehab start, and how his shoulder goes. The 15th is the goal, but ???
More like the 18th or 19th.
I hope not. Why rush him?
7/13
Jose Mijares Blues (ode to a fireman)
I’m ready for the lefty, I’m ready for the righty
I’m ready for you
Boch can put me in, or he can take me out
I’ll spin the ball and make the hitters shout
My location’s good, velocity fair
Last night I see em swing at nothing but air
Oh oh uh oh a oh a oh uh oh a huh huh
So, I’m ready for the lefty, I’m ready for the righty
I’m ready for you
Padres had em loaded, couldn’t hit the ball
Doubtful Jean Machi could ever hit me at all
But he sure can stink it up
That was a set of lyrics I wrote that fortunately never became a song. But is that what Eric referred to?
Crawford is really fighting it. Then he goes home and helps his family deal with the tragic loss of Jaylynne’s sister. Stay strong, Craw.
Neukom. You have to wonder: what if they’d let him work his plan? Seemed pretty sound to me.
Maybe if that Giant Way process had taken hold, we wouldn’t be begging for system OFs.
Gotta love Bowtie Bill… first WS championship in the franchise’s SF history.
What’s with the Brillo pad on Reuter’s head??
Woody was a great Giant. Shoulda started game 7, 2002 WS.
Agree.
“If you can hit it past Gorkys Hernandez, then you’ve really accomplished something.” Whatever you say, Krukow.
Krukow being the homer he is. He’s really bad this year trying to sugar coat how bad the Giants are in almost every aspect.
It doesn’t matter if the Marlins are good or bad, it doesn’t matter if the Giants are World champs or last place…the Marlins kick our ass
Atta babe BB9. About damn time somebody got a hit. WTF. First starts for opposing pitchers are not kind to us. Unbelievable.
Well, at least Belt didn’t get tagged out at second like he did last night… :- |
He seems to get 1 or 2 of those every season.
3 for 31, things are looking up.
Right now, he’s 1 for 1 with a RBI. That’s really looking up.
Atta babe BC35. Bout damn time somebody got an RBI.
Nice to have the good things caused by Brandons, too.
Yep.
Well on the bright side, we cut the lead by 33.34%. We’ll be fine. We got this.
Oh look, over the head of Hernandez, again.
No human catches that, though
I know it’s just amusing from earlier when they made it seem like it’s a feat when things go past Gorky.
Krukow’s Rainbow Barf is contagious in the booth
1990s Barry Bonds catches that.
He wasn’t human
I hate that they never show highlights of his defense. Guy was the most graceful LF I’ve ever seen. But you’d never know it by the highlights.
Early on, definitely. After he bulked up his defense wasn’t Gold Glove caliber any longer, but he could still play a decent LF.
The thing is, that “early on” lasted 13 years of his career. He was amazing out there.
nice play by Gorkys.
Of course they have a smell. Throw indoor BP and you need a respirator.
Gorkys nails him at the plate.
NO ONE runs on Denard Spa…..
Wait….
EVERYONE runs on Denard Span!!
It is in the book. Tracking arm chart section.
Dude couldn’t bruise a baby’s lips with a throw from 5 feet away
Ouch.
Of course they’re running on Span’s arm. His “bullet” to the plate bounces about 20 feet past the pitcher’s mound on its way to the plate.
This kid has really average stuff
Does O’Grady still feel like he’s pitching to a AA team?
Apparently the bright lights and big city does not phase him. Probably pissed it took him this long to get here. Pitching with a chip on his shoulder. Seen it before. We got no chance.
Does Span throw with a chip on his shoulder?
Rotator cuff issues maybe.
‘Here come’s Span’s throw to the plate’ – as if there’s a snowball’s chance in hell – and of course he misses the cutoff man (Belt). so ____ takes 2nd.
But, ‘Hernandez is not afraid to take a 2nd strike’ – then whiff on the 3rd pitch.
Jaysus, I’m tired of watching these bums. They are not ML players, period.
A tiny bit frustrated there, Paulie?! Hang in there!!! We’re only 4 or 5 years away from a stellar outfield!
I’m just a few DFAs away form happiness, Mateo! ;o)
Don’t mess with my Gorkys
Put him in Sacramento, and I’ll leave him alone.
You know the feeling, Mateo. So do I. We’re going through the motions, it seems. That usually means a manager change, but not us.
His top fastball velocity is 88MPH. 88!!
The Giants can not take advantage because they have no sluggers, bunch of 97 lbs weaklings .
Objects in the Giants mirror are faster than they appear?
Just the right speed to get hitters out front. Most pros are geared to hit 90+. A really good pitching coach once told me you need to throw harder or softer to a hitters bat speed. O’grady is throwing just a tad slower than our bat speed. Effectively.
Didn’t Realmutto make the all-star team? Thought I heard that.
O’Grady just got added….
4 innings, 3 hits -not bad.
Make that 5 innings…
He’s a catcher that has hit leadoff and has base stealing speed. Hits too apparently.
He did not. My mistake.
Pitchers vs hitters is such a cat and mouse game in a war zone.
We’re the mice
And the cheeses we’re looking for doesn’t exist.
This is quite a Marlins lineup. #jealous
O’Grady will absolutely get shelled in his next start. Cy Young against the only the Giants
We’ve yet to make an adjustment to this off speed borderline thumber.
I just tried looking up Cy Young’s record against the Giants. No luck.
RINGING double
A seeing eye pop up. Atta babe Buster.
Fair ball!!!
That’s more like it
O’Grady pitches his gonads off. Thanks Mattingly. Just what the Giants needed. We got a chance now.
Those Kona commercials are not convincing me to drink Kona. I must be the wrong demographic.
One life, Peachy. Don’t blow it
Mattingly still looks weird in the Marlins gear
He only looked good in pinstripes, hitting .330 @ 1B.
Dude, he looks weird without a MUSTACHE
Heads up play by Hwang. Definitely.
He was absolutely safe
Ugh…..
Never mind. Great call by the ump
Can someone teach Crawford how to touch first base?
And the Gorkys love is dwindling away, at least over on this side of the bar.
Not a lot of role players are going to come through in that situation. That was BCraw’s job to drive em in
Gorkys was impatient on that AB. Looking to lift and drive the ball instead of just putting it in play with a runner on third. Pop up.
AAAA.
These kids these days just don’t know the meaning of an honest effort. SMH
Gorkys has been around awhile. You have to put the ball in play. A pop up is not in play.
That was a clear bunt attempt on the 1-0 pitch…ump was asleep. So was Kuiper
Sin dout.
I wish we had one guy that swung the bat with the violence of Stanton.
Gotta admire that power.
Nice dig BB9.
Underappreciated.
This could finally be his year for the Gold Glove.
I think so too
This would be a good pre ASB W for us…
I was a big Yelich fan when he was with Team USA. Actually a fan of every player. Yelich gave a pretty cool interview one evening before a game.
That was the problem with the WBC, I grew to like some of the other guys.
Atta babe Smarge.
Samardzija is a battler…Such a huge contrast to Moore
He’s honest in his effort.
There’s not a ton of guys like him on the team this year
Exactly!!
A Warrior.
Word.
C’mon, boys. Devour this breakfast danish
Ryan said earlier he was jealous of this lineup. Given the state of this franchise, many of these players could be in play sometime soon. Others can have Stanton; I’d take Yelich, Orzuna, Realmutto, Bour…they have some players.
I wish we had gotten Ozuna when the idiot Marlins owner was trying to give him away!
Yelich would be sufficient.
I like him, but he throws like Span…I’d rather have Ozuna myself
Me too. Dude has 22 HRs with all around good numbers. But Yelich would be a nice consolation prize.
Yelich sure sounds good to me. But they are being sold soon and maybe new ownership can keep it together.
Come on, you gray beard pasta arm…get the runner over
Man in scoring position, heart of the order up…you need to score here
Either I’m a fucking Jinx or this team sucks.
Wait. Both.
AYUP!
Im gonna take a 1/2 inning break and go visit my dogs. They could care less about this game. If they could talk, they’d tell me I’m nuts for letting this shit show get to me.
LMAO!
This is your Just For Lefty pitching change, sponsored by Fireworks Night!
He’s gonna kill the bull mascot
Posey, Belt, Hwang, BCraw due up. This is the inning.
10 pitch inning and not a single batter gets on base. They all stink. Buster now 5-for-30.
You would think. Posey and Hwang hit it hard, but…
BCraw in the 9th – I ain’t giving up.
Gotta be a scoreless top 9th first
4 sure.
“Can Span get there?”
I assume this is rhetorical question by now.
That was awful. And another year of this…?
I’ll admit that he’s had a decent stretch at the plate, but he is an unmitigated disaster as a major league centerfielder. He is a pitching staff killer.
This can’t continue in 2018.
It can.
Kontos was obviously impressed.
That’s pretty funny, peachy. Sadly.
Outfielders. What a concept
Goddamn it
He has since April
Just once, I hope Krukow slips up and says “wild hair up his ass”
Big spot for the AA kid.
The way they are playing, we’ll all need AA
The bartenders are enjoying this season.
Especially Baldy McPeachstalker
Tell you what, he doesn’t like seeing very many pitches… just like Pablo
Water shot, bowl legged trot. Do it, Waffle Wing
Waffle Wing…LOL!
Don’t be the last out
Joltin Joe Jr. Atta babe.
Moonshot over the CF wall
Sweet hit, Joe Panik. Need you here, Hunter.
Guess that Span run hurt a bit….
So did the ball getting by Posey.
You are correct.
But where were you all night? Hiding in the weeds? Glad I gave you an opening, stalker
I guess that was a joke?
Of course.
Wouldn’t have mattered if Span had caught up with that drive.
Loss should be charged to Kontos
Always felt the pitcher of record who gave up the run in relation to the score at end should get the loss in the losing result.
Weak assed crap of a game.
Dogs OK?
They’re awesome.
Wow. Bochys post game presser doesn’t have the cringe I was expecting it to have. Whew. I feel better about this ugly loss now.
I’ll say this about Smarge, he rarely tanks really early and we did get 7 innings out of him tonight. He kept us within striking distance. That was a pleasant departure from some of the early Cain/Moore blowups. He continued to fight with less than his best stuff. I would love to see someone hit a 3-run dinger for Smarge. He’s way better than his 4-10 record.
Believe it or not, if there’s a disparity between our pitching and our hitting, it’s our hitting that’s killing us. We had 5 hits last night and 7 tonight. Our homers, what little we get, often seem to be meaningless like Span’s last night. We’re 9th in pitching in the NL but 13th in hitting. The biggest problem is that we can’t make the most of what team BA we have because we don’t get enough XBH, especially HR’s. Bring up any and all power hitters like Shaw. They’re badly needed.
Sometimes it’s the hitting, and sometimes it’s the pitching. Neither is consistently good, which is why they’re a bad team.
Hitting has been consistently bad as it was last year in the second half. The pitching has been worse than the second half of last year. Final result a worse record in the first half of this year than the second half of last year.
Do you see a trend?
Which is why the Giants owners need to buy the Marlins and construct a super-team. It’s the best idea I’ve had in a while. Boom. Get it done.
You’re an entertaining spaghetti chef
… and sometimes it’s the fielding…
…and sometimes its just flat out being outgunned by a more talented team.
The Giants lack the 22 to 26 year old “stars” that are on the top tier and up and coming teams.
The Giants have aged and regressed compounded by using retreads and never were older players where younger players could have tried and equally failed but also maybe progressed. We will never know.
Yup…in the good years, those areas always did enough to win on a given night…now they do enough to lose.
You’re absolutely right. Being middling to bad in pitching doesn’t blend well with weak hitting. Bottom line is right … they’re not a good team.
9th in pitching ( I suppose you’re going by ERA or R/G ) with ATT as the home yard probably translates to 13th with park adjustment. The bright side is that 13th in hitting probably translates to 9th!
It doesn’t have to be power hitters. Just good hitters that will put up good ABs.
Miguel Gomez–an AA player thrust upon the big stage–flails at three curveballs and strikes out in a key situation. Span strikes out in an essential RISP AB. Pence whiffs on a pitch out of the strike zone to end the game.
Those three ABs negate three great ABs by Crawford, Gillaspie and Panik.
We are terrible in both pitching and hitting. It’s all bleak.
There are two teams to always watch before the first pitch + the score begins 0 to 0.
Be a fan of the game – not just one team.
I guess when things are going good, everybody has fun as in LA. The flashing Granny
https://dodgerblue.com/dodgers-video-elderly-woman-flashes-crowd-at-dodger-stadium/2017/07/09/
Nick Cafardo may not exactly have his finger on the pulse of the Giants front office or the team infirmary , but he seems to have a good feel for the macro-economics. Lots of supply, probably a good season to buy. Could a last place team be opportunistic and aim to acquire big league assets? Says the debt ridden Marlins would be open to moving all assets.
“The Giants have come to the conclusion — as much as they resisted it — that the time has come to break it up and start from scratch on the next dynasty. Other than Buster Posey, the Giants are open to any deals that might include third baseman Eduardo Nunez, right fielder Hunter Pence, shortstop Brandon Crawford, first baseman Brandon Belt, second baseman Joe Panik, starters Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, and closer Mark Melancon. Belt and Panik will be hard to get.”
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2017/07/08/expect-more-supply-than-demand-trade-deadline/H7rT7VBLdcVwpSAnZGb41M/story.html?p1=Team_LeadArticle
He’s been talking to the groundskeeper again?
Crawford full no trade clause, Pence full no trade clause, Melancon full no trade clause, Belt and Samardzija partial no trade clauses, all of these guys are having very bad years except maybe Belt and the Shark, and are owed a combined 300 Million Dollars. I doubt they could trade many of them , and selling low would be bad business, would get little in return .
Sounds like you have your finger on the pulse as well as a solid grasp of the economics and contract provisions.
All you have to do is goggle Giants contracts, but people talking on the radio and writing seem to lazy to do so, they just want to blow it up, not knowing the facts .
If you like Dingers, Belt is the only bright spot. The problem is that comes with s .240 average and his tendency to K way to much.
It’s great to read an objective analysis of the current paralysis on this team. Sometimes you have to get 3,000 miles away from the organizational malarkey
to clearly see things for what they are.
You may be on to something. Distance = objectivity. Proximity = grand delusions.
Have we ever been so collectively ready for an All Star break?
What a difference a year makes.
Last year the Giants had the best record in baseball going into the All Star break.
The organization needs to relearn how to win and have a culture of winning from the lowest minors to San Francisco.
Other teams have improved while the Giants have regressed.
The Giants minor league teams are just as bad as the Big Club. Sure, some talent, but little actual winning of ballgames. It’s like the other clubs are crunching data with the latest from Intel, and the Giants are down in the basement with a vacuum tube behemoth from IBM.
And so it goes…
I have never, ever worried about winning percentage of minor league teams. There is one goal for all of them: develop. That means playing guys in spots they may not be best at; that may mean making moves in tight games that are to analyze how a guy reacts; that may mean telling a guy to hitbitvto the opposite field for the next week; that may mean telling a pitcher to throw 75% cutters…
Just my opinion. But the angst over the minors can be about if there are enough good players being developed. But not about wins
I don’t think you’ve spent much time having any concern over any personnel in the minor leagues. Haak’s My Guy has been a boon to the farm awareness of many. Thank you, Haak.
Huh? You mean because I don’t study the players?
Mention this before but the Giants would have a bigger development talent pool if they had more rookie level teams than two. More than 2/3s of organizations have three or four (Dodgers) rookie level teams. Also more international specifically Caribbean would be more competitive. Also more signing of undrafted high school and community college players and the room to give them experience.
No, Baseball is a companion sport, and the only weekday sport going, since Summer league NBA is not my thing, are Soccer, so a boring week without Baseball games to follow and to debate over .
Good point. I’m debated out and need a commercial break
Remember Coach McKay’s epic quote when asked about his team’s execution on the field after suffering epic losses?
“I’m in favor of it.”
He was speaking of the offensive line.
Does that mean it is not relevant to anything here?
OK, Never mind.
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