Where’d the Electricity Go?
Yesterday’s game just didn’t match up to the intensity of Friday night. Zumie did a nice job of re-capping the game. I’d also add that I really enjoyed the Irvin Ceremony. For a 91 yr old man who’s not a regular public speaker I thought he did an OUTSTANDING job during his few minutes at the podium–very engaging guy.
You guys had a better view of the Bumgarner game than I did. I just had too much going on with slide/cable car/food/beers/etc to gt a good idea of how he was pitching. I tracked his fastball in the second inning and he seemed to throw almost every FB at 90 mph according to the stadium gun. he’s going to have to vary that if he wants to maintain success at this level. I was struck with how big he’s gotten. Last year he was a super skinny kid but he’s really filled out nicely. Walking around the other players, he fits right in physically–his shoulders, as I said last year, are wide and he’s definitely growing into that frame.
I agree with Zumie, the “Franchez lead off double inning” was a total drag. We can’t even get him to third base with no one out? Awful….
All in all, I thought it was a great debut for Bum. I wouldn’t say he had “electric” stuff but he recovered nicely from that second inning. He wasn’t facing the ’27 Yankees’. Hell, he wasn’t even facing the ’10 Red Sox’– but he was composed and professional. I like him.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Flav, good comments about Bum. I posted this a few minutes ago on yesterday’s Flap . . . “Bumgarner was initially bombarded by baseball’s highest scoring team, surrending two homers and four runs through two. However, he calmed down the rest of the way, unleashing his sparkling talents. Maintaining noticeable poise over the next five innings, he allowed just one hit. Overall, he coaxed 10 groundball outs. Despite earning the loss, his final line was very admirable (7 IP, 4 ER, 5 K, 1 BB, 5 HA).”
Nevertheless as you pointed out, I doubt that 90MPH will cut it up here, unless he quickly adopts a “grizzly” veteran approach to pitching (ala’ Greg Maddux). I’m still flabbergasted that he once pitched 95-98MPH. I just caught this quote from him via one of the MLB articles:
“It was a slight change in mechanics that changed everything,” he added. “I was turning my upper body too much before. It’s hard to even see on film, but as soon as I made the adjustment, my confidence came back and I’ve been getting outs and hitting the inside corner. The change in mechanics really helped everything.”
“I’ve started throwing a cutter and that’s been working really well,” Bumgarner said. “I’ve been messing around with it in the outfield and I’ve only thrown it over the last two games, but it actually has been one of the better pitches.”
Blade– I don’t have a problem with his FB–90 is fine; as long as you don’t throw the same speed fastball over and over and over. Kawakami said he touched 93–I didn’t see that, the highest I saw was 91–but as I said, I had a lot going on at the game, I missed many of his pitches……
Here’s what I want to know: How long do we carry three catchers? If Posey is catching Bum and Whitey is catching Dirrrrty, and benjie catches the rest…..I dunno, that just doesn’t make much sense. Someone has to go…..
this is from Buster Olney. Interesting:
“The San Francisco Giants would like to add some bullpen help for the innings before Brian Wilson comes into the game, writes Henry Schulman. Two things on that: No. 1, the relief market is said by general managers to be very, very thin, and No. 2, I polled about a dozen GMs and asked five questions about deal-making, including Who is the toughest GM to make a deal with — and the runaway winner was the Giants’ Brian Sabean. To put it simply, other GMs say they have a very difficult time getting him on the phone to discuss possible deals. That story will be published in the next week — and more on Brian Wilson in Monday’s column”
Yeah, very few teams can afford to carry 3 catchers on their roster. Moreover, if we are still in the race after the All Star break – which is likely – we can’t afford the luxury of carrying all 3. Who goes? I have no idea, but all three have certain attributes the other 2 don’t have, e.g., Posey can hit, play multiple positions and runs fairly well; Bengie is a veteran gold glover and more important, has been part of a World Series team; and Whiteside has shown he can call a good game.
Wow . . . “Runaway winner was the Giants’ Brian Sabean.” Who knew?
Seriously though, I would also like to see more on this topic too. Guess we have to wait until next week to find out more (per Schulman) . . .
He’s bigger stronger but when he throws that off speed stuff he reminds me of Glavine.
Hey, nice job kid. I hope you have a long and successful career. Still 2 months away from 21. He’s right where Cain was. In fact, his minor league numbers are better.
Now that the Rotation appears to be set, there are two factors determining whether or not the Giants can make a good run into October. Seventh and eighth inning sure and steady reliever, or relievers tops the list. Would Bengie bring one? Might a cash incentive help? Would the other team demand a moderate prospect to boot? Somewhere between 8 and 10 teams out there have virtually no shot at the post-season. They may be looking more at their future than a burned-out catcher. Both Henry Sosa and Dan Runzler have good upsides, but their worth to the team this season does not match potential. Would an out of it team with a good setup man take a shot at one of that pair in an even trade for a 34 y.o. reliever?
Other major consideration is more perplexing. Perhaps its Pablo or maybe its one of the other position players, but some hitter needs to go on a good long tear. Trade for a big bat might be too costly in terms of talent surrendered, unless one of the teams with an impending free-agent and which is essentially out of the race, would opt for a fair to moderate minor league prospect haul. Phillies are scuffling and may well not make it again, but imagine their fanbase reaction if F.A. to be Jason Werth were to be moved to the Giants for half their farm. So most probably the improvement would have to come from a player or players already on the squad. Maybe those long, hot road games in July and August will bring out the inner Panda. Hope so.
3 Cs has been dumb for a while, but if you dump one, who is the extra player? The IF is already overflowing, plus Travis. And none of these guys are on the DL as per Poll question of a month ago. Molina and whitey are .250 hitters who don’t add much offense, so the real question is what the replacement for these guys is going to add.
OF? Burrell plays 5 days a week, and so does Torres as leadoff (who else leads off?). Nate hardly ever plays now, and Huff is out there a lot. Gamer will still get in there to play CF and is untradeable at current stats/salary…Bowker if he came up wouldn’t get more than a start a week and isn’t much of an OF. Would he hit any better than what Whitey or Molina are doing? I hate the guy, but whitey has 4 HRs, 1 more than Molina, in 100 less ABs. It’s not that we couldn’t live without him, it’s whether another player is going to make much of a difference.
Reminds me of all the angst last year over Aurillia, who had last spot at the far end of the bench. We’ve seen Bowker and the rest of his “gang”…they can provide a spark, but it’s all too brief and then you realize why they don’t play much.
Everyone including the Yankees (except maybe the Padres) is looking for pitching, esp. pen help. Rox destroyed boston’s pen for 9 runs in 4 innings thursday night, tho boston won because they hammered Rox also, including GWHR off Street. All that’s out there are retreads, kind of like Mota, who might catch fire for a month before they get lit up. Total crapshoot, imo.
Before anyone points this out – I need to clarify my statement about the 3 catchers – specifically, who goes? Obviously, Posey stays, so the question is directed at the other 2 catchers.
“To put it simply, other GMs say they have a very difficult time getting him on the phone to discuss possible deals.”
WTF does that mean? Pick up the phone. Can ya hear me now? I said pick up the phone! Can ya hear me now? I said pick up the goddamn phone! Can ya hear me now? Pick up the fucking phone you fucking moron! How many times do I have to repeat myself, we need another arm. Please, Brian, pick up the phone. Pretty please.
I know he’s a blog favorite, but June 27, 1986 is a date Robby Thompson would soon like to forget. Robby set a major league record that day when he was caught stealing four times in our 7-6, 12-inning win over the Reds. Lucky for him it didn’t go 13.
As I posted yesterday, a guy’s stuff is not justy his velocity. 90-93 is fine, iot’s what Timmmy throws ferchrisakes. OBVIOUSLY success has more to do with a few other factors as well..,other wise Denny Fucking Bautista would be workng on his 3rd or 4th Cy Young… Madison didn’t just “calm down” over his last 5, he fucking dominated some REAL good hitters, including those Lefty Killers that Flavor said were going to bewitch bother and bewilder his quivering rookie ass…
Unless Torres continues to struggle (and we’d best all pray he doesn’t, he’s the man that makes this go), I think yesterday could mark the end for Rowand as anything but the 5th OFer and they could be getting close to eating the contract if need be. Neal has been coming on strong and popped 3 home runs yesterday. Aaron didn’t even get to the wall for a decent effort on Cameron’s HR ( I’m NOT saying he should have caught that ball but he has to be able to at least make the leap). Even with all the rest, he’s not looking significantly better at all. How embarrassing it should be for him to be watching Bumgarner CREAM the shit he was bouncing meekly to short. Aaron’s run should be over as soon as they determine that Neal can make the jump…
Bum pitched well, but I see his best pitch last night, I think it was the cutter, that seemed to look awful familiar every time he through it. I hope he gets to vary it; just like the fastball needs to be. Major league
Panda: has he been reading his press? Did he believe all the off season hype? Last year he swung at everything and did well. This year? Diet, googles, BamBam, these are supposed to be good. Extended funk indeed.
It is awesome to see the san francisco starting five now that Madison is here.
cheers
Torres-CF
Franchez-2B
Huff-LF
Buster-1B
Rent-SS
Bengie-C
Panda-3B
Nate-RF
Tim-P
TF: Great news about Thomas Neal. Since the latter part of last season i have felt that he is the real deal. Obviously, it took him a while to catch up to Eastern League pitching, which, on average, may be as good as what you get on three or four ML teams. Neal is a plus in just about every metric, including his name, which though unassuming, has an authoritative ring about it, compared with, say, Tom Neal.
Rowand did have a good game the other night, in which he had three hits. But there is a limit with patience. Yes, if Neal keeps producing, maybe the switch should be made, with the team eating the salary, or just possibly eating, say, 80% or so of the $ in a trade for a couple hot dogs and a stale bag of chips.
BTW: Anyone hear yet about the PTBN the Giants are sposta get for Freddie Lewis? He’s batting leadoff for the Jays much of the time. In their division Toronto is going noplace this year. That means they wouldn’t horribly miss one of their relievers. They have 3 or 4 who are pretty good. My thought is that Freddy’s performance should at least be worth their #3 RP.
Nate could be on extremely thin ice as well. He’d better take advantage and right now, as in today.
Yeah, Nate, better take advantage off of Lester who’s limiting lefties to the tune of .208 avg. .557 OPS with only 1 HR surrendered in 96 at-bats.
That ice is pretty goddamn thin today.
Stix, they got the money for Fred, $75,000… it did not work out well. Best bet for Rowand might be a team like the White Sox. He’d help them and maybe we could pry Thornton loose.
Against Lester:
Huff 8 for 29 3 2B 1 HR 2 RBI .276 BA .805 OPS
Renteria 2 for 5 2 2B 0 HR 2 RBI .400 BA 1.300 OPS
Uribe ( sitting) 2 for 5 0-0-0 .400 BA .800 OPS
I’m going to repeat what I said about MadBum: he totally dominated the Red Sox. Not just got them out. After the HR, they were children. Meek children. One hard hit ball over the last 5 innings. They had no clue. No chance. Stop with your ridiculous evaluations.
The Bat is only 2 fer 12 off of Lester, so that might of played into Nate starting. That and Bochy trying to keep him sharp. If that’s humanly possible. Dumbshit better not miss the cutoff man today.
I hate lineup haggling, but I must say I’m a bit perplexed to see both Uribe and Burrell, our two best RH power bats, on the bench..thoughts??
Shit I’d trade Rowand and half that contract for Thornton. They’d do that, and we should too……..
Uribe needs a break, his bat looks tired. And Pat? Hell, he could use a day off now and again too. Nate’s fresh, let’s see what he’s got today.
Dream on Twin,If you think The Whitesox’s would give up Thornton for Rowand.Their on a roll right now with 11 straight wins and back in the race,with Thornton a major contributor,the last thing they would want to do is add Rowand and fall right on their faces.
When he was going well early, Nate sprayed the ball all over the field, and went LF vs. LHP, mostly line drives. But yeah, to quote a Mexican dicho, “when you are in the saddle, ride well”.
Would SF put Rowand on waivers, just to see who might be interested?
Only caveat I would put on Bum, fair or not, is that the shadows made it pretty tough to hit during the middle innings. He seems like a mature kid tho, and made the adjustments to change speeds during the game. Giants hit more balls harder and farther than sox did, just couldn’t get one to leave the yard.
that “let’s stay thirsty shit” on the splash is funny– best stuff I’ve seen over there since I was there regularly……
It was rather funny the first couple hundred posts..it ran out of gas a long fucking time ago.
It just started out as a running gag I had with Nipper. Somehow picked up steam as of late. It isn’t easy as it looks to come up with one that’s original and hopefully half-ass funny. Most fall flat on the floor.
Read on Baggs that we haven’t swiped a bag in 18 games. Sounds really bad at first, but we’re only -1 in SB/CS for the entire month of June. Still, would be nice if Andres or Nate got us 90 ft. today.
Dennis had the best ones, tho…”…made the Mona Lisa smile” was pretty good. But really, for a place that moderates posts and is supposed to be a baseball blog, it’s fucked up. I can’t believe the stuff they allowed that Oph with the 13 in his title (sureno gang number) to put up there.
One of guys on Baggs blog from the day before actually said he hoped the team fell apart so that Bochy and sabes would be let go. You’re in the thick of a pennant race with important series coming up…how can anyone say shit like that, and how does the blog allow it?
Damn Franchez’ ABs when he attempts to move the runner over are futile. Swing away you little runt.
Hey, two swipes by Torres. Maybe he heard me begging for one today. Huffster gets it done.
agree w/Dennis..for a guy that’s supposed to thrive in that situation he has completely sucked. Either lay down a bunt or drive the ball. That little exagerated inside out swing that screams, “look at me I’m trying to move him over!!!” has not worked at all
Don’t know if Torres was reading Baggs or picking up on your vibes, Dennis, but that was a beaut for manufacturing a run. Big Papi socks the long fly. Lil’ Andres responds with a couple swipes and scores on a groundout. Both runs count the same.
Fuck.
What r the chances that both Molina and rowand aren’t on the team in august? 20%???
100% that one will be gone. Asking for both is wishful thinking. Fuck the both of ’em.
Lester smoked that ball. Thankful that one didn’t get wet as well. Fucking Bengie swings at the first pitch after Timmy just labored thru the top half. WTF is he thinking? Fuck his stoopid ass. That’s just horrible baseball. He HAS to go.
If it weren’t for the pitchers he would have been benched a month ago
Way to many mistake pitches for Tim today.His struggles with his control this year is a mystery to me.
There’s altogether too much blame put on other guys when Timmy fucks up.
What’s with Timmy today? Is he really slipping? Is Bengie part of that equation?
They need to have made Buster the everyday catcher yesterday. We can’t afford it any longer.
We’re staring at 4 1/2 back after today. Shit. Pulled Tim already. He didn’t appear hurt, I guess Bochy had seen enough.
To finish my last thought, so have I.
That’s the worst gm I’ve ever seen Tim pitch
“What’s with Timmy today? Is he really slipping? Is Bengie part of that equation?”
See what I mean? That’s total fucking bullshit.
Excellent catch and tag by franchez! 🙂
Even better job by Runzler of getting out of the way. 😀
It’s official..I’ve completely lost all confidence in Pablo in big situations…and that makes me a Sad Panda…
Fuck piss shit. PANDA!!! That’s Linecum’s fault.
More wasted chances.Panda’s AB was just ridiculous.
He was totally abused by Lester that at-bat. I dunno. Is it too early to suggest he should only hit left-handed? Not getting much done from the other side.
Hall came in at .226, and Lincecum had to have seen him before in MIL, but he couldn’t get him out when he needed to. Good move to get him out of there; he’ll make plenty more starts.
Nice to see runzler get some people out…great K on papi!
terrible AB by Sando, and Nate pops up weakly with 2 on.
Impressive job by Runzler,throwing some serious cheese,keeping then it this game.He needed a good appearance and got it.
just bad baseball today. Give credit to Lester, he’s been awesome. But the boys aren’t making it very tough on him
That seems to be a recurrent theme all too often. We make it too easy more times than not.
“We make it too easy more times than not.” The record belies that nonsense. Fact is, in a match up of top pitchers, Timmy failed to step up. This is a game where we have every right to expect it be 1-1 right now.
The bullpen is a “Tim by proxy” today
‘pen: 5 IP, 0ER, 1BB, 10K … “Tim by proxy”
… sadly, Tim today looked more like the “bullpen by proxy”, too
Just got back from Toronto’s “home” game vs. Phils. Jays were downright comical in the field, and old man Moyer — on a brutally hot day — had about as easy an outing as Lester is having.
Jesus just dropped below .300 for the first time all year. All those Sundays of not attending church has finally caught with me.
And that’s that. Quickly and quietly in the 9th. Can’t speak for the rest of you, but I’m a little more than worried. Need to turn this shit around fast and pummel the Bums to restore my faith.
He’s simply not hitting the ball hard or in the air. Posey is in a tricky spot right now. Molina is hitting better than him, that says it all……
Twin, you’re exactly right about what the score COULD be. No shame in getting shut down by Lester. Litsch? yes, lots of shame and dishonor in that…..
By Situation AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB HBP SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
None On 153 5 47 9 2 5 5 11 0 22 0 0 .307 .354 .490 .844
Runners On 126 32 30 9 0 1 25 14 1 14 2 2 .238 .313 .333 .646
Scoring Position 68 27 11 2 0 0 19 9 1 13 1 0 .162 .259 .191 .450
Bases Loaded 3 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 .000 .250 .000 .250
Lead Off Inning 43 5 17 5 0 5 5 5 0 1 0 0 .395 .458 .860 1.318
Scoring Posn, 2 out 28 11 3 1 0 0 4 6 0 11 1 0 .107 .265 .143 .408
Pablo’s Splits, and they are what we thought they were. Seems to me like he’s pretty relaxed in general when there’s no one on, especially when leading off the inning. Put runners on and he starts pressing, or thinking too much, or something. Bases loaded, forget about it. Let’s hope he can relax, regain some confidence and start producing. One thing is for sure, this offense can be a very above average, even good one if he gets it going in the 2nd half.
“Litsch? yes, lots of shame and dishonor in that…..”
Sure, and you’ll see shame and dishonor from every team. That’s foolishness. Edwin Jackson just no hit the Rays. I need say no more…
Yes, Lester was on his “A” game, but can the Giants show a little more patience over those last 3 innings? Just hacking away as usual. Also discouraging was Timmy getting beat by the likes of Bill Hall.
I think any one of us could no-hit the Rays this year. 😉
“I think any one of us could no-hit the Rays this year” You could be right. Dallas Braden did…. hey, has a guy ever thrown a perfect game for his last win in the bigs?
6 down, down … 14 straight … to go pre-AS break. Valium, Vodka and chewn fingernails the next two weeks!
Sox just lost V-Mart to a broken thumb. They must hate this city. Hope they at least enjoyed some crab and sourdough.
Too bad it isn’t a longer series. If we keep taking out Sox players, they’ll eventually field a team we can beat! 😉
Could Sanchez go for a bat? Bumgarner is a good 3 right now and Sosa is ready to pitch here as well. I’d finally think about that if they could get a middle of the order bat, under 30, under control… doable?
Milw has shut down talks on extending prince during his rather pedestrian yr. Gotta think he’ll crank it up soon. I’d give them dirrrrrty and someone non blue chip for him. Move buster to catcher.
Michael talking trading maybe Sanchez to get a bat. Now that is NEWS. We wouldn’t any way be having that discussion if Pablo goes Panda on us soonest. But the season is slipping and the Giants are sliding. Becomes imperative to take at least two of three from the LaBumbos. With the long trek on the road to follow and now Timmy doing a gascan imitation, anything less than a winning series for a home finale could devastate both the team and the fanbase.
Flav: Kinda intrigued by Sanchez for Fielder concept. Kinda know why you want Buster to take over the tools of ignorance duties. Imagine this scenario: Giants get Prince, keep Bengie and the two of them for some unaccountable reason decide to sit on the same side of the team bus as Pablo. Bus would tip over on that side, crushing three cars and a minivan in the process. So if Fielder comes, Molina’s gotta go.
Twin, I’m thinking Dirty is more of an off season move. Although, come July, who knows.
Personally I’m not into giving up any pitching at this time.
Well, the stretch until the ASG has become even bigger after the last road trip and this series. 4 1/2 back of the Pads is a fucking joke. This next spin through the rotation is huge…
We’ve got four guys that play first and/or catch, what do you do? Molina, who would be a trade partner? Ishi, I love this guy and wish he was a starter, but he fucked Bochy’s wife and sits. What position would we trade for? And, who goes?
I’ll tell you this, I’d trade Bum before Dirty right now. Although, I think we can make the playoffs with these bats and an additional arm in the pen, I think I’d stand pat if I’m Sabes (unless I can get an additional arm for the pen and I wouldn’t give up Bum for that).
“I’ll tell you this, I’d trade Bum before Dirty right now”… Do you mean because you think they’d get more or you prefer Sanchez to Bumgarner?
Well Clown, you were right the first time, we aren’t trading Dirrrrty mid season. I would, for the right bat, but I don’t think that’s any where on Sabes radar—I’m looking forward to that article later this week from Buster Olney about Sabean and his peculiar communication tactics with the other GM’s,,,,
Vicente Padilla on Wednesday. If Rowand reads this blog he should consider trying out a 34″ Jackie Robinson bat. Thickest handle around when i played the game as a kid. Choke up a bit on that chunk and you got pretty good ball control within a relatively short range ~ say around 60.5 feet. Aim low ~ between ankles and kneecaps.