The Curious Case of Pablo Sandoval…
It came up here last night but I truly am surprised that Sandoval is catching so much heat from the regular beat writers and team reporters for his failure to get to third base yesterday. I want to be clear, I never ONCE criticized his play in last night’s game. I wish I had paid more attention to the replay, but I don’t remember him getting an especially bad jump. He seemed to have a little trouble getting started but hustled the entire way. And he was only out by a whisker…….
True, Pablo is overweight. Everyone seems to want to talk about this and point to it as the reason for his failures this season. But I would argue that we really aren’t giving enough credence to his personal issues. I don’t know all the details but we know that he took a leave a couple weeks ago to finalize a divorce at home….
Pablo’s poor numbers can’t be attributed to simply his weight. How do I know? Look to the OPS…..
Pablo’s OPS, by month, going back to last year:
4/2009: .790
5/2009: .839
6/2009: 1.203
7/2009: .856
8/2009: 1.010
9/2009: .852
10/2009: 1.471
4/2010: 1.008
5/2010: .617
6/2010: .645
7/2010: .597
8/2010: .750, so far……
What I see from looking at this guy’s OPS from month to month is, obviously, a huge drop starting in May of this year. To me, that indicates one of two things: either he’s got an undisclosed injury or his focus suddenly shifted somewhere else…..
I’m going to assume it’s the latter. Pablo walks around as of he doesn’t have a care in the world, “Mr. Happy-go-lucky”. If I could play amateur psychologist for a moment, I think that’s his way of deflecting his feelings about his personal life. I suspect a psychologist would call that “denial” or “compensation”. And, while it’s not an unusual approach to dealing with the stressors of life, it’s probably not the most healthy. If his focus has been elsewhere, and I think it’s easy to argue that it has, that would be a better explanation for his poor year. His weight? He was fat last year and raked. In fact, he might even be a little smaller this year. The pitchers finally figured him out? Hardly, they pitched him the same way last year once they realized he swung at everything. This year he’s missing the balls he raked last year. To me, that’s focus. And if you’re a major league baseball player, your focus has to be 100% on your trade. So far this year, his has not been……
He’s a 23 year old kid who had a bomb dropped on him in May, of that there can be almost no question. He hasn’t dealt with it very skillfully, certainly not from the emotional side. I hope he’s getting the help that he needs. If his OPS this month is any indication, he’s started to move on a little. It’s heartbreaking to assess a human being’s personal life through his month-to-month OPS. Almost ridiculous, really. But the theory I floated today makes more sense, to me, than the “fat theory” or the “Pitcher’s have figured him out and he hasn’t adjusted” theory……..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Can’t the Giants keep anyone named Gonzalez in the damn park?
All their goddamn runs (4) so far have come via the HR. Keep’em in the yard and they won’t score.
High cheese.
What’d I miss from Fred? More shit AB’s?
Christ, 14 years after he retired, Barry Bonds is gong to trial.
What kind of a fucking joke is that?
He’s given up one fucking run. What the offense has done for this Guy the last 5 or 6 starts is absurd. It’s worse than anything Cain ever went through over a similar stretch….
ell, I just truned the game on, see a hanger that Gonzalez fouled off, then the same pitch Gonzalez jacks . . .
Timing is everything I guess.
Too far away from the plate? Well no fycking shit einstein. He tries to send 85% of his swings to rf, you sorta have to be off the plate all the time when you take that approach…..
How the hell did the Giants score off this guy?
Torres single, steal, steal, Huff grounder.
comrades, anybody streaming the game? justin.tv/kostaz003 isn’t and my local TBS station isn’t
Well, Matt has had whole YEARS like this stretch, not even close.
Jesus and his disciples are in a funk.
I’ll posit that Zito’s run support (id est, lack therof) in his tenure as a Giant is very comparable to Cain’s. I await the results of the punchcards shuffling through the room-size computertron.
Shit.
Make that all 5 of their runs have come via the HR. Keep those motherfuckers in the goddamn yard.
Did Dunn go to the Dogs?
Speaking of bats . . .
I can’t stand Chipper Jones or the Braves or their lame tomahawk chant or their uniforms or their homers or their awshucks good ol’ boy-ness. Shite.
Is this Groundhog Day?
We better score quick, or it’s gonna be that Venters dude again. None chance.
2 3 run HRs for Dunn tonight? And he’s still the bird on the wire?
great Leonard Cohen song
Cain: 2005 3.29 2006 4.67 2007 3.2 2008 3.12 2009 4.26 2010 3.64
Zitfuck: 2007 4.21 2008 3.60 2009 3.54 2010 3.75
c’mon, Trav, do your Adam Dunn impersonination
He struck out, Pawlie, is that close enough?
We’re getting schooled by fucking Vincent van Gogh.
Twin, I’m not a statistician but to my eyes most of those years — not all; 2005 and 2006 we can’t compare 1:1 — line up pretty close. But I honestly don’t know the normal ranges. What’s an average NL starter get for run support in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010?
Yeah fuck the Braves!!!! Your weather sucks,your broadcasters are a joke.You do that lame ‘ass Tomahawk chop,You think your America team well your NOT! So Fuck you Braves,the “Dodgers of the South”,fill a Dr.Pepper bottle with boiled peanuts and shove it up your ass!
And then theirs Bobby Cox with his I have hemorrhoids expression all the time grimace.Fuck you too! Had a few things to get off my chest! Back to drinking!
Phillies red hot; Mets cooked. I am frankly worried about the wild card. Our best shot is to take the division, which I believe we can do, without a doubt.
Fuck the chop.
Strange thing, pitching. Zito 10K’s but two HRs. Carlton was like that near the end. Strikeout or homer. For that matter, so was GingerBreadBoy McGwire. Not saying for a minute that Zito is washed up the way Lefty was at the end. A game of millimeters.
Pulled his foot at first
Somebody needs to run into one…
“fuck the chop”–based on the half hearted efforts I saw tonight from those bumpkins, they feel the same way……
Boy nothing like 2 gifts to start the inning!! Let’s go Uribe
Tie Game!!
Atlanta, bumpkins? Yeah, those chumps at Coca Cola are hicks, they’ll probably slip up and sell that formula for a song.
Spent some business time in Atlanta in the 90s. Didn’t make it to the King Center (wanted to, but bidness is bidness). Did bump into a few people who’d relocated from the Bay Area and who loved both cities equally.
Luck is the glue that holds the world together. Nice “hit.”
I will take that
Ugh. Tough one
Now Rent’s a little dinged so Travis had to hit. How’s that 13-man staff working for ya now Sabean? Tool.
Not sure why he didn’t PH Ishi there with Rent? Rent hit the ball hard off of Wagner last night.
Dennis you have to be blowing an absolute gasket right now dude. 13 pitchers! No one on the bench!
Haha, the thing that kills me is…….they don’t even use these fucking pitchers on the bench, haha!!!!!!!!!!!
Zito’s 85-5 when he gets 6 or more run support. I didn’t check to see how many of those wins were with the Giants. 😉
Rent didn’t PH because the pitcher’s spot was up next.
It’s absolutely fucking idiotic. There’s NO defense for it. NONE. Any further games played with 13 pitchers and I will root for the opponent in protest of Sabean’s incompetence.
Especially when the 13th pitcher is Wellemeyer.
Your constant ragging on it is what’s idiotic, Denny.
It’s not ragging when I’m right.
Jesus, Nate!
Shitholtz is a fucking tool. Does he ever get a good jump from first?
Nate needs adderall.
Torres HAS to go here.
What a Joke.
Fucking dumbfuck Fred doesn’t even give Torres the goddamn chance. Stoopid pills run amok.
Franchez= the opposite of Robby Thompson……but he fields a hellavu routine ground ball play at second, doesn’t he????
Yeah thats the biggest joke about Nate.K&K continue to say he has speed,but no one ever sees it.Alot like when they had Lewis.
Sanchez is without question the worst #2 hitter in all of baseball. He sucks. End of discussion.
Padres lost. C’mon Giants, win this friggin’ thing!
Okay. Just got here. Someone please apprise me who “shithead” is
If you don’t desist, I nominate you both for the penal colony. Into the box, boss.
PAT THE HAT…err, BAT
Yeeeeeaaaaaaaah!
Thank you Lord!!! And you too Pat
absolutely no need for Guillen at all, right?
Guillen.
Too hard to pronounce anyway
If it’ll mean a defection from the pen, I’d take Freddy Sanchez Jr.
This would be a total gift if they hold on. And they bail out Zitfuck.
yeah, zito really sucked tonight
I can’t believe this. Doesn’t Ishi have God on his side?
Any chance B-Wheezy goes 1-2-3?
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why you be messin’ with Mrs. Jefferson?
no hits in the 9th to tie it, no hits in the 11th to win it. That’s “God” on your side. baby, no matter who you think he is……
Now is everyone ready for the Adventures of Brian Wilson! Hey no orange shoes tonight,Just your basic black and grey.Hope there’s still magic in the shoes!
As detailed the other night, if they got Guillen, Shitholtz undoubtedly goes. The guys who would then lose starts are Rowand and Travis, not Pat.
Ishi=2x Ishy. Time to call up Brandon Belt.
Zitfuck was fine tonight. Two more years of it and he can live.
1.
I fucking love Brian Wilson!! Nasty looking mother fucker as well!!
2.
2
I guess there was a chance. Threeeeeeeeeee!
3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah Baby!