A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

As much as I want to be mad about the ending it really was simply an incredible game. The Toronto manager came up ANT small with a couple of decisions including bringing in his average closer for a 4 out save. That was a decision he made to not get judged later–it was the safe call. I hate managers like that. Giving away an out when you’re down to your last 3 in the entire season was another lame decision.

It’s that time of the year again gents. Time to shut ‘er down. I honestly never know if I am going to re-start the Flap again come springtime. Right now I’d say “no” but I’ve changed my mind before. Eh, nothing lasts forever and if this is it we had a grand old ride here didn’t we?

This has really been a wild ride of a World Series. I’m headed down to Del Mar for the weekend and would love to see Toronto finish them off. It’s been awesome to see them fight back after that gut-wrenching Freeman game.

It’s hard for me to hate greatness and that’s what we watched last night. Ohtani coming through. Freddie Freeman ending it the way he did. I will always hate LA but god damn what a game.

It’s also fairly deflating to see greatness come through the way it did. We love to celebrate the Dodgers when their absurd bloated payroll loses. But when it hits all we can do is sadly look at the gap between us and then. San Dawg has been talking about this for years.

It is now upon us…..

I wanted Seattle but man that felt good watching Toronto take LA out to the woodshed. How glorious would it be if our old friend Gausman called on all his powers and delivered them another beat down. Heading to LA up 2-0 would be fantastic.

I’ve got no idea how Tony Vitello is going to do as our new manager. I’ve never heard of him, I don’t watch college baseball anymore, hell they don’t even use the same equipment or have the same rules as MLB. But what I do know is this: I love that Buster didn’t hire another old man re-tread (like Melvin was and like Bochy is). The Giants need to try something different and I can get behind trying something like this. The Dodgers have just gotten too far in front of them. A manager won’t change everything that’s needed but it could be a good start. My gut feeling is that this is going to work out.

Let’s see what Tony’s got…..

Disappointed to see Seattle leaving the party. I hate the Seahawks but it’s been really easy to root for the Mariners. And as much as I can’t stand the pompous “12th Man” it’s been refreshing to see the Mariner fans explode and enjoy themselves in so much delirium. I try not to think about the fact that those people are, you know, the same people.

Anyway, I guess I’d like to see Toronto win but just because they’re facing LA. I don’t really care for the Blue Jays team too much.

Once again the Niners stepped up and showed me something. A defense missing it’s best players going against probably the best running back in the league. I was shocked to see them as 1.5 point favorites. But they got it done and while this team has too many injuries and holes to fill to get excited about in January I am damn proud of how hard they play. As a fan that’s about all you can ask for from your guys.

I get these NYT shorties every morning, thought this one was worth passing on.

Good morning, everyone. Or should I say, “Good morning to everyone except fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers.”

Every morning is a good morning for Dodger fans. The rest of us who love baseball are out here hoping to enjoy the magic of October, yearning for the suspense and surprises of playoff baseball. But these darn Dodgers keep winning. And not just winning. This team looks unstoppable and almost superhuman.

They’re like the Goldman Sachs of baseball, with a payroll almost triple the size of the team they crushed in the National League championship, the Milwaukee Brewers. Even as the city of Los Angeles falters, its entertainment industry shrinking and its civic identity shaken, the Dodgers appear more exorbitant and unbeatable than ever.

As a lifelong baseball fan, I’m pleased to see postseason viewership at its highest in 15 years. I love the game for many reasons, but one is how it reveals a certain vulnerability. Baseball players are not as gigantic or as classically athletic as the stars of other professional sports. There’s an imperfection to them: They can be short, skinny, kind of chubby or kind of slow.

And they’re not covered in armor and headgear. We can see their expressions — pride, embarrassment, anger or elation — after a miraculous play or a humiliating stumble. That makes us feel as if we know them. It makes baseball’s characters, subplots and soap operas irresistible.

It’s why I’ve been so captivated by Pat Murphy, the Brewers’ manager. He’s a former boxer who has been married three times, survived a heart attack and alcohol addiction, and has Bruce Springsteen lyrics tattooed on his body.

It’s why I root for Cal Raleigh, the Seattle Mariners catcher. He’s nicknamed “the Big Dumper” for his oversized derrière, and is so tough and so determined that he once broke a tooth biting into a sandwich, then played a full nine innings through the pain and even hit a home run.

And it’s why I got goose bumps Thursday watching the Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer, who is 41 years old and coming off yet another injury, loudly and profanely refusing to come out of the game when his manager approached the mound. Scherzer promptly struck out the next Mariners batter and got the win.

I’m a Red Sox fan. So I’ve had a lifetime of roller-coaster Octobers. And of course I was gutted to see the Sox eliminated by the Yankees (again) earlier this month.

But I love the game enough to appreciate other teams, too. I love the Dodgers’ history and defining personalities, especially Sandy Koufax and Jackie Robinson. I applaud their talent and I admire their fans, who are knowledgeable and loyal.

These Dodgers, though, lack vulnerability. They seem inevitable. Invincible. They have Shohei Ohtani, who may just be the best in the game since Babe Ruth. He looked the part on Friday night, when he pitched six scoreless innings, struck out 10 batters and hit three home runs. The Athletic’s Jayson Stark called it “the single greatest game any human has ever had on a baseball field.”

These Dodgers have five All Stars and an ace-filled pitching staff. And everything seems to fall into place for them. When they moved their sidelined rookie starter, Roki Sasaki, to the role of closer this postseason, suddenly he, too, was perfect.

October baseball, at its best, is about nail-biters and unpredictable outcomes. It’s about extra innings and unsung utility players stealing a base and changing the arc of a series.

The World Series starts this week, with the Dodgers facing Seattle or Toronto, depending on who wins the American League championship. For the sake of the fans and the sake of the game, let’s hope it will offer a bit more drama and much-needed diversion. And that the Dodgers will get a bit of competition instead of what seems like certain coronation.

I’m not going to go so far as to say Ohtani had the greatest game of all time. It might have been. But those 2 games back to back, with the oppo grand salami to save Seattle AND THEN Ohtani doing what he did, those have to be the 2 most exciting back to back games in post season history.

And if I was being honest, yes, that is the best game any major leaguer has ever played considering the stakes of the game and what he did.

Hey guys….just giving you a baseball thread if you’re watching these games. I’m following it loosely. Still not giving up on the Niners despite all these injuries….

Dodgers kinda reminding me of the Warriors on a couple of their championship runs—just kind of bide their time in the regular season only to turn it on when it matters most in the post season. They look pretty good right now. But a Seattle upset would be oh so sweet…..

I’m not going to go so far as to say I’m happy for Moody because he’s burned every bridge surrounding me. But this wasn’t a surprise. I said many times he needed to get out of SF and get a fresh start somewhere else. That leg is strong but his soul is weak and he wasn’t going to be able to handle it mentally in SF. That goes for the SF fans, too. Mentally we couldn’t keep doing this with that guy.

So, good for him. Redemption stories are always great.

Just disgusted and heartbroken with yet another critical Niner player who has been lost. It’s really hard to get so invested into your NFL team just to watch all the best players on the team get taken out, one by one.

Nice to see the Mariners advance. They are an easy team to like and to root for to make it past Toronto. I don’t really care who faces LA but probably am rooting a little harder for the Brewers tonight.

What a gross way for LA to advance. Philly sucks. But the flip side is that Phootball Philly lost to the Giants lol. Love it. Philly losing, no matter the sport, will always be preferred.

Also, it’s my dad’s birthday. Happy 88th my man! See you in a few hours.

Nice to see the Phillies wake up a little and watching Kershaw get shoved around is always a tasty treat. Sad to see the Yankees as I know it made Georgie Boy bummed for yet another year. But what do I know, maybe they don’t have years in heaven.

I’m cutting the Niners D some slack on Stafford carving them up. Stafford is one of the best QB’s of his generation and he had multiple weapons racing all over the field all night. What I’m worried about is that at this point in their careers Baker is probably better than Stafford right now. And I have no idea how we are going to run on the Tampa D. Of course, we’ve run on no one so far so…..

Nice to see the Yankees come back and get one. I bet that made George happy up in heaven.

Who’s worried about the Niners in Tampa? #metoo. That one seems like an L waiting to happen. I couldn’t believe how good Baker Mayfield looked in Seattle.

It’s funny, we talk about how much coaching matters or doesn’t matter in baseball. But when it comes to being an NFL QB I’m not sure if there’s anything that matters more than a coach. Think about it. Look at what Mac is doing in SF. Or Baker after he got out of Cleveland. Darnold with us a few years ago. Daniel Jones in Indy right now.

Well the Phillies almost pulled off a pretty great comeback. In the end they were bitches and that disappointed me. At least KC lost. Loo, they are my mortal enemy for life after taking 2 SB’s from us. Two SB’s we should have won. Had Montana been at the helm under Bill Walsh’s watchful eye I’m positive we’d have 7 right now……

Would like to see the Phillies man-up today. Don’t really care about the Brewers game. Still don’t know how Milwaukee wins so many games but I guess they’re good. They just don’t look like a championship team to me.

I still don’t get why MLB didn’t have a single game going on the one day this week they wouldn’t be competing with collage football or the NFL.

Four goodies today though. I’m gonna go Cubs, Toronto, LA and Sea win today.

Whenever things look the bleakest in the NFL that’s probably the time to be the most confident. We had Mac, a gaggle of castoffs, no Bosa, we’re in their yard…..yeah, we had them right where we wanted them.

I love Big Cock Brock. He’s my quarterback. But when I saw Mac Jones dry heaving on the sideline and gobbling down bananas and shit I beamed with pride. THAT is a guy you want leading your football team! For however long he leads it, they will follow…..

Missed all those games. The Skubal line looked very “lincecum-esque”. Reds are probably overmatched, aye?

I know everyone is worried about Ally Kat but I’m not really sure how to find out about him short of driving by his house and knocking on the door. And that’s not really Big Flavor’s modus operandi. I’m more stealth than that.

There’s no obit’s out there for him if that does anything for ya.

What a maddening season. We missed the playoffs by 2 games. I didn’t look it up but didn’t Walker blow like 7 games in the second half? The Giants have obvious holes starting with a shredded bullpen and a pitching staff that is completely out of gas. They need to look at how and why that happened since it didn’t seem to happen to any of the teams that made the post season….

At least they got to 81 wins. Goddamn did I talk about that enough over the last 2 months? lol. I fist pumped that final K pretty hard and in that moment it felt like we’d won something. That was fun and satisfying.

And finally it is here. Number One Hundred and Sixty Two. It has been a long road. One that I’m not really interested in traveling again.

But it’s a beautiful day and I get to go to the yard so everything is perfect. Just checked StubHub, all the tickets available are significantly less than the $160 each we paid for ours.

If the Giants are winning by a run in the 9th and they bring Ryan Walker in there’s a chance I’ll storm the field and wring his chicken neck. They need to be up by 9 runs or more for Walker to be allowed onto the field.

I’ll keep the Flap humming through the post season then I’ll shut her down for the Winter and then…you know the drill.

Well, all I REALLY need is for them to win today then it makes tomorrow a little more exciting for me. Verlander and Webby going against one of the shittiest teams in the history of the league. Some how I just know the Giants are going to fuck this up for me, lol.

Win today and then tomorrow is doubly fun. Then win tomorrow and I slide on into 58 Social to catch the last half of the Niner game. Pretty good weekend set up, eh?

Also, congrats to Adames. He came in, played hard, WILL end up hitting 30 bombs, he deserves that Willie Mac Award. Just ditch the stupid Gatorade dunks and he’d be nearly perfect.

Ok boys, one final series to wrap an absolutely dreadful season. No other way to describe it after they got our hopes up with such a good first half. And I guess there were a couple of unreal games mixed in that we’ll never forget. At the end of the season though it’s just another disappointing loser season with no post season.

We always knew we’d have to answer to the devil at some point for the #3In5 and I guess we’re in the thick of that answer right now….

Ok with the playoffs toast there’s still the #questfor81. Do I think it’s gonna happen? No. But we do have my boy McDonald, Verlander and Webby lined up against one of the worst teams in the history of the NL. And all I really want is for the chance on Sunday since I’ll be at the game. Paying $160 for that seat is still having to me do a slow burn. That would take a little of the sting out of it.

If you guys aren’t watching the Tigers epic collapse you’re really missing out. Chris has fallen apart. Not like the old days but this video at least has one of his massive meltdowns somewhere in the middle of it. He needs to chill. It’s just a game……

I’m starting to think that Ryan Walker isn’t a very reliable closer….lol.

This year was brutal. 10 games over, trade for Devers, go 15 games under the rest of the way. Outrageous.

Irritating loss but they’re -190 tonight, a very strong favorite. Win today and tomorrow and then we just need to take 2 of 3 vs the lowliest of Rox. Still doable. And I’d love to be at the game they “clinch” 81 so this could all still get wrapped up with me in attendance.

I honestly can’t believe they won that game. After golf, Diggity and I went to have insane tacos at a place I can’t currently remember the name. Blue Something. While we scarfed and settled up our golf bets we watched Sheehan lay waste to our feeble hitters. Watching his K total tick upwards was like watching the National Debt calculator in real time.

And yet some how some way the 8th inning happened and now there is at least a door open to getting to 81. Who’s with me?

Well, that one was predictable, aye? Had a great dinner with San Dawg at Original Joe’s. Ran into my new bestie Jim Gray, he promised to work on getting Barry into the HOF. Heading over to Lincoln Park now….

Why not? With a 0.2% chance of making the playoffs it’s time for our boys to go on one of their patented stress-free runs. 81 wins is still on the table but it’s getting more and more unlikely. Good time for Adames to knock out 29 and 30…..

Dinner with San Dawg at Original Joe’s tonight and then golf at Lincoln Park on Sunday.

We worked 10 walks and scored 1 run. That is patently repulsive. And of course Kershaw announces his retirement the day before his final start. LOL good luck tonight, gents. There is literally no way they win tonight (or possibly ever again).

After all the shit Verlander took this season, some of it deserved, it’s wild to now consider that he’s been our best pitcher in September. 42 years old and absolutely slayin’ it down the stretch. How does he do it? Why can’t our other much younger pitchers do this?

Oh well, I guess we are back to pining our hope for success this year on the Giants winning 81 games. Theoretically they could sweep the final home stand with 6 against the lowly Cards and even lower Rox but come on, they suck at home. Maybe they get 2 wins against each? That means they need to some how win 2 more in the final 2 vs AZ and 4 vs LA. Yikes. The Dodgers are gonna have to fall asleep or get swept up by ICE or something for that to happen…….

I’m trying to remember a time when we had Timmy and Cain lined up for 2 critical games. Or Bumgarner and Voggy. Or even Schmidt and Woody. And they came up ANT FUCKING SMALL.

Anyway, I can’t remember that ever happening. I guess I’ll have this past weekend as a reference point for that going forward…..

Did they say after the game if there’s something wrong with Webb? That’s 2 starts in a row he’s pitched like shit. They all gave up runs (except Rod Beck). So maybe it just wasn’t our night. But still, Webb falling apart in September will torpedo any chance of the Giants making the last week of the season interesting.

Sure enough, all our worst fears for that game came true. Conforto with a bomb. Our hitters cobbling together a whopping THREE hits in 10 innings. And then Bailey does that thing he always does in the last inning.

I woke up marveling at pitching. What makes a guy like Verlander so successful for so long? Even at 42 years old he’s still pitching great. How is he so remarkably different from guys like Seymour or Brebbia or freaking Mike LaCoss. LaCoss won 98 games in his career and all I remember about him is fuming over his starts and calling him Mike LaLoss.

All these guys make it to the major leagues, the highest of the the highs in their field. And they were all outstanding pitchers at lower levels across their lifetimes. And yet they achieve such vastly different levels of success. Think about it, every pitcher in the major leagues was lights out in high school, the BEST pitcher on their team and probably the entire league.

Anyway, it’s really been a pleasure to get to catch a glimpse of this guy’s Hall of Fame career this year. How is he still bringin’ it at 42?

This guy is nasty. NASTY. But at least we have LA in our yard so that’s a huge advantage for us lqtm.

Eh, what the hell, I’m calling for a sweep. Why not? After we sweep LA anything could happen.

I got a message from my childhood buddy Hubles that he and his wife Donna were going to the game yesterday. An ominous cloud struck down my otherwise hopeful mood. Hubles and Donna are huge Giants fans. But they are the cooler’s cooler when it comes to attending games in person.

I accepted our fate early in the game….

This morning I asked him if he’d stop going to games this year (he lives in Sacramento so it’s a hike anyway). I begged him, “please, radio only till they get to 81.”

Because of our lifelong friendship, he agreed…..

Is this really happening? How is this happening? Is it time to sign BoMid and his sidekick Pat the Bat to an another extension? Lol.

Is the $168 I spent on a ticket for the final game of the year now gonna start looking like an underpay?

Listened to most of that one on the radio. Did not expect a comeback win with Webby so shaky early on. 8 more wins needed for me but let’s get greedy and over 81. How many can this team win especially with the woeful Rockies to close out the season at home?

This tweet made me lol and I’m all about it…

There isn’t much more you can say about Moody. He has to go. I didn’t listen to Kyle’s presser did he defend him again? If so, pathetic. Kyle always thinks he’s the smartest person in the room. My experience with people who say “stuff” all the time as he does is that those people are not the smartest people in the room.

Not to get too dramatic but if you watch Purdy scramble on that TD throw to Tonges the scrambling reminded me of Montana scrambling just before he threw The Catch. I know his throw wasn’t the same but he bought time and drifted beautifully just like Joe did.

Carstie Clausen	5:27 AM (1 hour ago)
to me

Well, it was fun while it blasted.  Never in my Giants fixation since 1954 have I witnessed such a schizo performance from the team.  Yesterday’s fiasco finale with the Saint Louis bluuz was the

 teller.

So we caught a premo performance from the Old Master on the mound who held them off for inning after inning…finally hanging up the glove and spikes deep into the game.  What WAS the almost bulletproof bullpen early in the season, featuring seasoned holds and stoppings during the early weeks, eroded via trades and injuries into something of a shaky shambles…culminating into a display of incompetence in that 9th inning fiasco.

 The vibe went south again.  We got a couple of patchwork runs early in the contest, but no master-blasters from the homer happy honchos.  Two zip for inning after inning got me a bit nervous.  Sure nuff.  Was leery about Walker as a closer after catching his games right on through the season.  Decent enough in a set-up role.  It seemed, though, that the lack of oomph on the part of the guys with the sticks must have touched a nerve or two.

 French call it “sang froid”.  Translated into Amerenglish it would be icewater in the veins.  Even the eight out of ten exercises by Doval maintained the vibe.  But not so on Saturday in the burg with the arch.  Currently that dude is heaving the pill for Noo Yawk.

That’s entertainment. The Golden Gate still stretches across the void.

 Off season there’s gonna be a plethora of position players…particularly talented outfielders all jockeying for a spot on the roster.  Then there’s the masher first-sacker doing his stuff in Sacktown and around the PCL.  

 Going into this season Los Gigantes was full up with pitchers galore, both in The Show and through the pipeline.  Now though, the mounders are a bit short-suited.

 Trade winds will hoot and holler.  Maybe a bit of action in the free-market scene.  Likely we are gonna miss Whillmerrr.  He’s been kinduva good-luck charm.  One day back in the daze he led MLB in Rib-Eyes.  He sure has a knack for knocking them in.  But it’s a business proposition and likely no room in the inn for a fist full of D.H.es.

 Will the Old Master stick around?  If not, will the prime targets be a #3 starter along with a couple of competent bullies to replace the injured and the traded?

 Giants got three guys with sparkplug tendencies. Woo Lee has settled in as a barrel banger who quit trying to not only to hit it hard but also over.  We need those doubles and triples. Hellcat Ramos draws walks like bright night lights suck in the bugs.  That new guy we got from Noo Yawk, Gilbert, is a balls to the walls kinda hitter.  Lots of steam in that engine.

 Plenty of longball pizazzaz…Maybe a slight overload…particularly for a joint like Oracle. I don’t like that name, but business is business.

 Pair of Aces, but R.R. seems to be getting a bit short of steam.  But if the locomotive is barely rounding the bend, our Horse of course is pacing the pack for innings pitched and is well up there on special K’s .  Roupp currently outta action and Birdsong struggling to get the sweet back in his tweet.  

 Is the fix in for twenty-six?  Gonna be interesting to follow the moves during hot-stove months.

 Could there develop a come to Jesus situation for Bailey’s alter-ego?  That particular recent East Coast import is not a Big Bopper, but Christ on a Crippled-Creek Crutch, he has this tendency to have a skyrocketing OBP…and as a catcher, he steals bases at a pretty good pace. Check out his stats with the River Cats.

 For next season, the team needs to establish balance…in all departments…particularly speed on the base-paths.  Not looking to go that way, though.  Big Boppers snag all the headlines. So maybe, the baseball media will pay more attention next go-round.  

That is freaking hilarious. Who could have predicted this after an entire summer of smoking pole?

Ok here we go, if this run stalls it will be because our pitching staff is in shambles. Seymour today, then Verlander, then I don’t know. Teng?

Talk about the best revenge. Matt Chapman, come on down! This Gilbert thing is truly surprising me. After starting like he didn’t belong up here he’s been our best hitters not named Devers or Adames. What if this was real? What if this is all real? Shit, I only need to get to 81 but what if they…..keep…..winning?

There are bitches. And then those bitches each have a bitch. And that bitch’s name is Kyle Freeland. Goddamn what a pussy. Devers doesn’t look at him, doesn’t ever stop after he hits the ball. He fucking looked at it. HE LOOKED AT IT! lol.

I am going to be irritated if Chapman and Adames get days. I like that they had Devers’ back but Freeland was walking away with the ump at that point. Running out there and shoving him was not smart.

The most perfect of all the .500’s….69-69….now just 12 glorious wins to go to drag Big Flavor across the finish line….

Really surprised to see Teng have success like that. His sweeper was MOVING and you just rarely see that at that altitude. On the radio they said he had something like 89 k’s in 50 something innings in the minors. He doesn’t throw very hard so that is an impressive K/inning ratio.

Webb today!

Really happy for Adames who did his usual underwhelming shit to start the season only to turn out exactly as we expected. 30 home run guys don’t grow on trees and we should know having not seen one since Bonds. He’ll get there this year.

Baseball is a hard game to predict. On Friday we drub them. On Saturday we get drubbed. On Sunday we go back to doing the drubbing.

As bad as Colorado is I always hate going there from Oracle with them waiting in Colorado (in other words, with them just finishing a series there). It gives them a climate advantage for the first game. Still, they are terrible and smoking them like an old lady smoked a cigarillo in the 70’s should be the most likely outcome. If I’m gonna hit 81 games this year I need them to win at least 2 of these, preferably a sweep……