First Place in the Wild Card!
That feels pretty good, right? Ugh. You know it’s a tough times when I’m happy we don’t have to see Lincecum pitch in Philly……..
Krukow thinks we lost 2 of 3 to San Diego because we didn’t get the breaks and they did. That’s a crock, of course. Many times you make your own breaks, you force the issue. You make the plays. San Diego does all those things. We didn’t and we are lucky we didn’t get our asses swept this weekend…….
Time for Guillen to do his thing in that Philly band box. Everyone was trippin’ on him yesterday, and he definitely made a bonehead move and he disclosed that he’s a slow runner at this point in his career. But he also had the best hit of any Giant yesterday, except Posey. We need him mashing the ball. Sabean didn’t trade for him so he could steal you a bag now and again………
Tues we see Zito V. Oswalt. Zito has pitched better against the Phillies than Oswalt has against the Giants. Cainer goes against Blanton on Wed and while Cain does own a 7.20 ERA (o-2) vs the Phillies I seem to remember one of his first starts was against them in their yard and they blasted him. He’s obviously a different pitcher today. Dirrrrrty takes on Hammels on Thurs, and again, Dirrrrrty has better numbers vs them than Hammels has vs us. All in all, I like the pitching match ups……
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
What the hell is this crap about the Wild Card? That makes it sound like we’re already conceding the division, are we? I’m not. The only time I talk about the WC is if and when we are mathematically eliminated from the West. Wild Card?” Let’s play for second place.” Pussification. Hell, somebody yesterday (zumie) hinted about the Padres having a big enough lead late in yr. that those final three of the wouldn’t mean anything for them and we’d be playing against their scrubbeanies. Have you guys given in to the fact the padres, yes, the San Diego motherfucking Padres are a better team that completely owns our asses. I have. They OWN us. Seven more with them? Shit, there’s still a chance, however small it may be of their plane taking a dump. George Costanza, where are you?
Alex Smith had a QB Rating of 7.4 yesterday. That bit of info was intended as an added bonus for TF’s bagel this morning. Have a nice breakfast.
Agree . . . We don’t want no stinkin’ Wild Card. Moreover, if ya want to curse the Giants, keep on talking about the Wild Card, because that is what losers do . . .
Sheesh, almost sounds like a Time magazine article about the generation of children (X? Millenium? Who fuckin’ knows . . . maybe both) that got awards and pats on the back for “participating” in grade and high school . . .
Fast forward to the real world and they are confused/dumbfounded when their boss says, “Look dumb fuck, one “oh shit” takes away a thousand attaboys. So ya better get your act together or you’ll be pounding the pavement looking for a new job.”
Go Giants!
SD SPs were tough, tho our pen was just as good…SD hadn’t scored off them until Mota coughed up the gopher ball. Not many teams can match up PS with SF.
Bounce back road trip vs. good teams, where SF usually holds their own.
Screw Guillen. He looked like Pops Stargell running out there, and made a rookie mistake.
Nobody wants to concede the division at this point, but it’s clear to me that the Padres are the better team. And not only that, they kick our ass and have for a few years now. It’s a shocking turnaround from years and years of the Giants dominating SD.
Like Guillermo Mota said, the Giants just have to worry about whoever they are playing right now and take care of business. That will at least put them in a position to contend.
Lincecum’s recent woes is very discouraging to me. He is as bad right now as he’s been good the last couple of years. I wouldn’t say him not performing well is a death knell for the Giants, but it certainly doesn’t help things. It’s like he’s just completely lost his way. It reminds me of Dale Murphy all of a sudden not being able to throw the ball back to the pitcher. No apparent reason for it at all.
That was a tough game to witness. The park was buzzing at the outset and the excitement built even higher after Tim’s strike out the side 1st. At that moment everyone felt like, this is finally it and where we turn the tables on the pads. Then, say it ain’t so Tim. What the hell happened? And things went from bad to worse with Panda’s airmail through and Guillen’s boneheaded, “I hit it to tripples alley, so I must have a tripple” move.
Very disheartening to say the least, but now it’s time to move on. Like Flav points out, the pitching matchups in Philly look good. If there’s a silver lining in Tim’s next start, it’s that he gets to face St. Louis in a night game instead of the scorching midwest heat. Hopefully he can build on that good first inning. Let’s hope so.
Not even close to the time to start thinking about the widcard. We’re only 3.5 back of San Diego. If we can get a split on this roadtrip, I really like our chances of making up ground on the next homestand. Then we’ll get to play the strikeout happy D-backs and soon to be packing it in Dodgers on our way into SD, where we’ll have another chance to surpass the Pads. Plenty of baseball left to take this division. Those last three games against the pads will determnine who wins the west. Count on it.
For all of Tim’s weakness,the hitters were not much help four hits total,three of them were Buster’s and the other one Guillen’s” Bengie” run was erased before the play was over.Overly hasty at the plate?Not sure.Huff has been in a bit of a slump lately,although other hitters have been doing OK,not yesterday.I’m just disgusted that we were shut down by Wade LeBlanc.He’s not nearly as good as Latos or Richards–he’s the one to beat.Miserable performance by the Bats (minus Posey),
good post, Kat. Everyone thought we’d score against LeBlanc. Guillen’s aggression -good thing; blind aggression -bad thing.
Lincecum’s troubles have been simmering for a while this season. And the fact that they have come to a boil overrides any other troubles the team has for many fans. There seems to be several ‘reasons’ and I am hesitant to believe that he, his coaches and team management can do the things needed to correct them.
Support form other players has come from many different places this year.
Go Giants.
Tim fell in love with his change up and it’s wrecked his fastball. Don’t they say that the change-up takes more out of your arm? Could be a case of trying to make a thrower into a pitcher. Aside from cocaine, I always felt that Doc Gooden was ruined that way by his pitching coach, Mel Stottlemyre. Made him throw more curves, etc.
Funny that you mentioned Doc and cocaine. There’s a rumor going around, by a few that would know, that Timmy’s been doing more than smoking Washington kind bud. I was told yesterday he’s started to powder his nose. Of course, I can’t substantiate that, but I was told by a pretty reliable source when it comes to that kind of info. I really hope it’s not true, but you never know.
Wow. Kentwan Balmer to the Seahawks.
They needed a new KR.
I just can’t get over how much Lincecum’s fastball has changed over the course of 2+ years. I didn’t see his velocity yesterday, but when I saw him pitch for Fresno up here in Tacoma right before he was called up, his heater was breathtaking, as good as I’ve ever seen in person. Just electric. It doesn’t seem like it’s there anymore.
I note that there is little concern yet that someone with Bengie speed will be playing RF. I’ll chalk it up to the job Huff did in dispelling the ATT RF myth.
As a follow up to Krukow’s clownish “inisghts”, one of the more lame spins I’ve heard on Tim was last weekend from suckup Mychael Urban: Tim didn’t play enough “long toss” in the offseason, needs to get back to it. Long toss? Short memory.
Tim pitched 225+ innings in 2008-2009, relying heavily on Ks. He’s not Greg Maddux tossing 85 pitches for groundballs. He’s already exceeded 100 pitches in 17 of 25 starts this year (23 times in 2009 and 26 times in 2008). Guy is worn. Remember all the talk radio outrage about Bochy pulling him too early … congratulations.
By comparison, when SF rode Jason Schmidt like a mule in 2003, he hit 100 pitches 21 times. Jason ran out of gas in 2nd half of 2004 (100 pitches in 27 starts), battled and did his part, and then Lowry stepped during a late a run. “Easy, Dude. Nothing is fucked.” Learn to throw some groundballs, Tim, and stop trying to K people with that high changeup.
And McLoughan takes Balmer off the Niners’ hands. Welcome to Scot’s party, Pete Carroll.
So Tim is conserving heat and electricity. He’s gone green.
I wasn’t trying to concede the division, just trying to find something positive. We’re in first place in th WC, that’s not a BAD thing….
…not that there’s anything wrong with that
7 more vs SD, and they have to do better than what they’ve shown or it IS WC that the Giants are shooting for. If it stays the same (say 1-6), that’s 5 games to make up on them, plus the 3.5 they are already down.
Shit, 3-4 would be a Godsend vs them.
Yeah, there were a lot of bleeders, dinks, and dunks vs Timmy yesterday, but he was contstantly pitching behind in the count, and when he wasn’t, he couldn’t put people away. A high pitch count and falling behind all the time leads to him throwing the fastball. Which was topping out at a Zito-esque 89 MPH.
Disconcerting to say the least.
In the 4th Lincecum’s FB dropped to 89 on the mlb gameday gun; similar mph showed up on the tv cast. Earlier in the game the two-seamer was hitting 92-93 (same).
Well, Zito WISHES he could hit 89 . . .
I’m not ready to concede the division to the Puds.Fuck second place.Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler finished in second place.Agree about the stinkin W/C Dennis/Blade that’s BS talk for losers.Win this goddamn division is the top priority.
Fuck second place.Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler finished in second place
—————————————–
Uhm…
Yeah.
Fuckin’ A
It’s been six straight years without the playoffs, so I don’t give a damn how they get in. Last time I checked their previous WS appearance came as a wild card. The Red Sox broke their 86-year drought by winning the WS as a wild card. Would the division be great? Of course. If not, I’ll glady accept MLB’s version of the consolation prize.
I just finish 4th (no joke) in the ESPN’s Best Ball Majors fantasy golf game. Yes, I play FG, but it’s only 4 times (majors) a year. I swear to Christ. Anyways, I finished 4th outta like 50,000+ contestants or so. Maybe they’ll give me a Wild Card.
Yeah, you and Mussolini and Hirohito.
Denny— what was the game?
Their Best Ball Majors. I’m “GO PHIL!”
http://tinyurl.com/2fy5lex
pick four golfers for the tourney (could switch each rd. if wanted) and best ball for each hole was your score. I usually switch up my foursome, but this time I kept the same four golfers. Mostly because of the delays and rds not completed and crap. I just said the hell with it.
Keep focusing on the game at hand and quit worrying about the LARGER issues. Of course Lincecum had a bad game and it’s too bad if it continues but to throw in the towel or expect Lincecum to always produce is not reality. It would be too easy and everyone knows how hard things can be in the real world. This isn’t Hollywood with a fairytale ending like in the “Natural.” We may end up with nothing but we still have a shot and at this point that’s what matters.
Lincecum had a bad game, Nipper? How ’bout he’s has a whole lot of bad games lately.
L10 starts: 3-5 4.91 ERA That’s trouble with a capital ‘T’ which rhymes with ‘P’ which stand for pathetic. Trouble…trouble….trouble…trouble…Bring back Buddy Hackett.
Thinking of Buddy Hackett? For a fat guy, he could dance.
One of the local broadcast news shows (channel 2, I think) last night showed a short post-game interview with Lincecum. He doesn’t seem rattled. He sure didn’t look like a player trying to hide an injury.
Did he look stoned?
No more than usual.
I doubt that Lincecum is injured. As I mentioned last night, his performance was very consistent in June and July. Unless he has more bad outings over his next few starts, I’d say he’s simply dropped from being an excellent pitcher to a good one. His ERA is 3.62. As Jed suggests, throwing too many pitches per game is the logical culprit for the drop off. Not enough pussification.
That seems likely.
KNBR (Fitz) has abandoned hope for the division. Not sure that’s gonna sit well with Lee Hammer, but it’s not my ass. Fitz is calling it “Padres, one of those years…it’s their year etc…) sadly, at the present, hard to argue. What’s their longest losing streak of the yr., like 4? They need to go on a 7 or 8 game good old we can’t hit, field or pitch worth a shit streak. Everyone does that during the course of 162 games, don’t they? If not, don’t forget about the plane crash.
Go outside Dennis and cut the grass. You’ll feel better.
We’re spoiled. Giants had 4 hits (3 from one guy, Posey) vs. 6-10 lefty … plus two errors. Other than 2009, has that ever been enough to expect a win since the mounds were lowered?
When a SP comes out of the chute with two consecutive Cy’s any backslide (which was inevitable) is going to be viewed as the end of the world. Lincecum has thrown a lot of pitches and is probably going through a bit of fatigue. His stuff is still good he just needs to adjust and throw a wrinkle at the hitters. Get them off balance again.
So when it comes down to Cain or Lincecum who do you sign or trade?
Tim has another yr in his deal, I think Cain has 4 more, right? I thought he signed an extension before the season started….
Tim signed a 3 year deal . . .
Matt’s was 4 years 2 years ago . . . (IIRC)
Either/or? Matt . . .
Flav and Chuck, I know about the deals. Just throwing the question out there.
I’m almost sure tims was 2 yrs….reno, since their deals don’t come up at the same time it’s not really an issue. But maybe they do come ul at the same time, I can’t remember. Cotts anyone?
I’m just curious with all the doomerism surrounding Lincecum.
Flava flav, from rotoworld:
http://tinyurl.com/2czdzm5
Matt Cain – Starting Pitcher 03/07: Signed four-year, $9 million extension w/2011 club option ($1 million signing bonus). 2009: $2.65 million, 2010: $4.25 million, 2011: $6.25 million club option, 2012: Free Agent
Timmy – Starting Pitcher 2/12/2010: Signed a two-year, $23 million contract extension, 2012-13: Arb. Eligible
Yeah, my bad. 2 year deal for Tim Tim.
So, come 2012, there’s going to be some paying for the pipers tp pitch . . . .
Although I’d think if the Giants were serious about it, they’d look to re-sign Matty to a deal early next year . . .
So, 2 year deal for Tim …
4 year deal 3 years ago for Matt….
Again, i was close but no cigar . . .
The Braves’ attendance yesterday was 28,000. That’s a firstplace team, playing on a Sunday, against a reasonably marquee opponent- the Dodgers. And the attendance was 28,000. Pathetic.
“So, come 2012, there’s going to be some paying for the pipers”
Come December 21, 2012. We’ll all be paying the piper, Chuck. Enjoy it while you can.
Wow- there’s doomerism, and then there’s real doomerism.
In the year 1666, everyone in London freaked out because there was a big fire in London that year. They thought it was the end of the world. But in fact, it turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to rebuild the city with more modern buildings.
So does that mean the Giants should rebuild Timmy’s delivery?
Put another way, Pads were a doormat until July 31, 2009 – the day SD traded Jake Peavy. Finished 33-25 in 2009, we know the rest …
Is it just my computer or did everyone’s avatars disappear?
I took the avatars off. You want em back? You can hardly see them but I’ll put en back if that’s the vote
No, it doesn’t matter to me. I thought I might have been losing my mind. That’s all.
Keep those ugly things off. They’re so small as to look foolish. And it will keep the Chuck’s dog off for no other reason.
You a cat person, Nippy?
The splash is a trip. Literally every single blogger is gone and yet soph and barryforever keep posting their same bullshit. When there’s no one left to annoy, what’s the point??
Any port in a storm Flav . . .
Some people are desperate for company.
You’re right. fshwrap, barryforever, soph and a soph imitator
Niners just signed Brian Westbrook to a one year deal. Too bad signing a 30 year old running back is the equivalent of signing a 36 year old outfielder. But hey, should make a solid backup for Gore.
I like the avatars. Actually, I mentioned it the other day about everyone getting one so it would be easier to find people by their photo. Maybe it was just those silhouettes, too many. But I still like the pics, shows personality.
Don’t forget OSF driving the Doomer Bus.
No need to bail yet on the division, but this roadie will go far to determine whether Gmen can stay in that race. The Pads have too much pitching to continue to wait for them to melt down. To think otherwise is like waiting for Alex Smith to turn into Aaron Rogers after 5+ years of ineptitude (see yesterdays game for latest confirmation). Pads are in the division race to the end, and they picked up better position players at the deadline than the Giants. But, nothing wrong with being in contention for the WCard….
Div or WC, you still play the games the same way, no? Either one won’t be easy. Those 7 with SD will likely determine their fate.
I have 2 words to say at the present time. Go Cubs.
If Dennis likes avatars they must be completely juvenile and without merit. Sorry Dennis just stick to 12 packs.
Thought the Padres might be vulnerable tonight flying across the country last night and Corriea going…but so far, same old story…2-0 SD after 6.
They’ve done it for 5 months. I still say latos and Richard hit a wall in sept. But that team plays free and easy, it’s almost enviable how carefree they are
The team announced the signings of its first two selections in this year’s draft, outfielders Gary Brown and Jarrett Parker. Brown was the 24th overall selection out of Cal State Fullerton. Parker, the 74th overall pick, played at the University of Virginia.
Let’s hope so BF. Latos 135 in. Appears they are limiting him to 6 innings now.
LA blows it in Atl. Dotel replaces Kuo and promtly gives up 3 runs.
Brown and Parker don’t do much for me but I’m glad they’re signed…… Tonight should be interesting, Harper might not sign. He’s 17, freaking decline and be the #1 pick next year. He’s holding all the cards…..
Where’s TF today? If’s he reviewing the 49er game in hopes of finding an Alex Smith highlight, he might be awhile. Keep looking, you’ll find it. Eventually, hopefully, maybe, maybe tomorrow, next week,….
Shhhh. Everyone seems to be getting along …
FUCK YOU!!!
‘Atta boy. TRO clinic closed on Mondays?
The Padre bullpen just NEVER blows up … how can that be? No matter what their salary, and we know it isn’t much, just cough up a 4 run lead every once in a while, huh? Otherwise, I’m left to conclude this is divine intervention. And in that case it really IS Sabean’s fault!
(just kidding on the last part)
And the avatars are back.
Wow.
James Cameron has a lot of pull around here
Good … it worked … 3 for the Cubs in the 8th. It’s a start anyway
Criminy … here I am begging for a team with a $4 million payroll to fold so the Giants might catch them. I dishonor myself. (yeah, like that’s new)
I dishonor myself every day. But I keep it private.
At least we’re not fans of the Mets or Cubs.
There is a new kind of math … the Padres get 10+ hits every day, yet the lineup is full of low averages
Pads score same runs per game as SF. We’re keeping pace with that math.
After watching last week’s series, it’s not real hard to score a lot of runs on the Cubs.
well, fuck the Pads and everyone else. We need to take care of business on this road trip. 2 of 3 from Philly isn’t hard if we play well. Play like San Diego– loose, take advantage of your breaks, play fundamental ball, have a tight bullpen…shit, I’m surprised we’ve EVER beaten them!
SD is for real. If they fade down the stretch it will be a fortunate turn of events for The Giants. That doesn’t mean winning the West is out of reach. Just got to play good ball and win 4 of those final 7 against the the Pads.
Flav, is it not possible to link websites to wordpress?
dIRT–yes, you can do that……
And when you put it this way, “play loose, take advantage of the breaks you MAKE, play fundamental baseball, have a tight bullpen”…..again, that’s just good baseball. But Latos and and Richard are going to hit a ceiling, either one set by their stamina or one set by the team. You don’t let arms like that thrown 200+with no foundation. And LeBlanc is going to get hammered every time an ump doesn’t give him that outside strike. We just couldn’t close the deal. San Diego CANNOT win in the post season, they’d have dead pitching……..
Yeah- totally agree about how loose the Pads play. They truly play like a team that knows that no one expected them to be where they are, and there’s literally no pressure on them.
Meanwhile on the Splash, TrueBlew is sticking it to BarryForever. With hilarious quips.
The Dodgers had another stunning loss today. I was surprised Torre pulled Kuo in the middle of the ninth. If the guy is your closer these days, you stick with him. Who replaces a closer in the middle of the ninth, even if they put some guys on base? The closer’s your best reliever. Just stick with him that inning, whatever the results.
Well, the only people who matter, the bookmakers, thinks the division is a forgone conclusion. Padres -2000
BTW, Bryce Harper signed under the wire. Take off that goddamn face paint!
-2000? really? what are the Giants … +1500? I’m in …and I’m the pessimist.
+400
When the Braves are having a rally, the stadium sound system plays the calvary charge, and also that Indian war dance song. That doesn’t really make any logical sense.
The goddamn Dodgers are toast. I can’t believe that some here actually rooted for the Padres when they played the Bums. Christ, I became the biggest blue cocksucker for those days. I didn’t care. Pulling for the team ahead of us in the standings? That’s totally inappropriate. It’s lewd, lascivious, salacious, outrageous!
A sadly funny thing from the Padre game tonight was Hairston going 0 for 6. The Giants can hardly get that guy out.
Maybe the ’10 Padres are the ’88 Dodgers all over again. They win the World Series, and people spend the next 100 years trying to figure out how it happened.
88 was pure Dodger luck. They were a bad team that played badly. 100% pitching and the luckiest, timeliest homeruns ever. (Mike Sciocia off Gooden? cmon). Even Hersheybar had umpire help, a la Drysdale, to keep his scoreless streak going. The whole thing was an affront to the game.
Not even the Padres have two starters under .200. Close, though.