Home Run or No Run
If you talk with little kids or people that don’t know anything about baseball, you’ll see that they mistakenly think the only way runs are scored in baseball is by way of the home run. It seems the Giants are taking the same approach in this stretch run. I did a quick post last night about the 45 inning thing but I was shocked when I looked at the entire month of September.
When you look at how many runs were produced by position players with hits other than a home run, it will blow your mind…
9/1: Fontenot basehit produces 1 run
9/2: Posey hit produces 2 runs
9/4: 0 runs produced by a basehit (this was the 4 bomb LA win)
9/5: 0 runs produced by a basehit
9/6: 0 runs produced by a basehit during regulation. Nate tripled in the 12th to score two though
9/7: 1 hit for 1 RBI
9/8: 0 runs produced by a basehit
9/9: 1 hit for 1 RBI
9/10: 0 runs produced by a basehit
9/11: 0 runs produced by a basehit
9/12: 0 runs produced by a basehit (timmy had 2 rbi’s but I’m only looking at the pos players)
9/14: 0 runs produced by a basehit
9/15: 1 hit for 1 RBI
9/16: this was the big *explosion*– Posey had 1 hit for an RBI and Franchez had a hit for 2 rbi’s. 3 total for game
9/17: 0
9/18: 0
9/19: 0
9/21: 0
9/22: 0
So, if you don’t count Nate’s triple (and I’m not going to, it was the 12 inning and we hadn’t produced a run in the first 11 innings), by my count the Giants have 7 non-HR basehits in 19 September games for a total of 9 RBI’s. My mind is just blown by this utter offensive failure at the plate. In fact, all our minds should be collectively blown by this. We’re talking about almost a complete breakdown of one of the cornerstones of the game: a clean base hit for an RBI. 7 hits in the entire month for 9 rbi’s. And 3 of the 9 RBI’s came in the first 2 days of the month! And I’m not going back and checking but i THINK the only non-HR rbi’s came from exactly 3 players: Posey, Franchez and Fontenot. What. World. Is. This….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Unbelievable; 19 games and not one sparkplug for the offence and our injury right now is our lead-off hitter. With Panda in a prolonged slump it is the complete package of suckage on offence.
More torture. . .
Go Giants! ya gotta believe
…ya can’t legitimately call Panda’s problem a “slump”. Unable to get a meaningful hit in 5 months is more than a slump.
Flav, you had back to school night last week if I recall, mine was last night, so glad I missed the majority of last night’s stinker.
Fontenot probably should have been given the starts at eladoff simply for the lefty against righty pitching matchups. But more argument about the value/mvp of Torres. This offense just wont click right without him. Can we pray for a mmiracle return by this weekend?
But important loss the D-Heads threw on the Rockies last night. Tonight is as close to a must win…worried about the rain potential…
i don’t think tonight is a must win at all. 3-3 is the worst they can do on this trip, I think. 2-4 would suck. If we lose tonight we just need to take 2 of 3 in Colorado, totally doable. Winning tonight would be awesome but it’s not critical………
I tried to couch must-win as closely as possible. A loss tonight and a Padres win pushes them to 1.5 games ahead and gives them the mental motivation that they are in the driver’s seat.
Even if we win two, Padres could just as well win two at home against Cincy. They then have a Cubs game Monday at home while we sit.
The Cubs win Monday, we are then two out with just 6 to play. We would then have to go 4-2 and them 2-4 just for the tie and dont we then lose the tie-breaker to them?
In other words, we have to fucking win tonight…
…if the Pads/Giants have identical records at the end of the season, there’ll be a one game playoff.
If Kuip has his finger on the pulse of the club, he all but guaranteed that Fontenot would be starting at 3b tonight, and Shitholtz would be patrolling RF in the “Friendly Confines” as well.
I’m not going to call tonight’s game a MUST WIN either. Not because I don’t think it is, because I do. But because of my shitty-ass jinx factor. I’ve been calling the Niner games, “MUST WIN” games, and well, yeah, do the math. So tonight’s game is NOT a MUST WIN game, tonight’s game is a “CAN’T LOSE” game.
DO NOT LOSE tonight’s game. And for the love of Christ, please hit some goddamn home runs.
If we don’t homer, we DON’T score.
Stay thirsty Dennis.
Don’t no why my fellow “FatHead” was worried about rain tonight, here’s tonight’s forecast from weather.com
Forecast : 86°F
Feels like: 87°F
Sunset: 6:46 PM
Probability of Precip:10 %
Spectator Index: 7
UV Index: Low
Winds SSW at 19 mph
“Know” like I “know” tonight is a CAN’T LOSE game.
Why is Ross leading off?? There is no one better?? He was totally useless last night. And I quote from Baggs:
They lost 2-0 to middling right-hander Randy Wells
You don’t go against middling pitchers in the playoffs! Someone any one had better figure out how to hit a baseball!!
Well, the bats went limp last night. Too many whores and not enough pizza the night before.
If they are living by/for the HR, then they better start hitting some more dingers.
Flav, I agree the Giants don’t need to win today to get to PS. BUT, it sure would make it easier on the ol’ ticker if they take each of their last series and that includes starting today.
Yeah, as front-runners recently (4 games), they scored a grand total of 2 runs.
2 shoutouts, a 2-1 loss, and a 1-0 win.
Not how you stay in 1st place.
Dennis, I always hate contradicting you, but I know the weather a bit better after having to suffer leaving California…
Tonight
Forecast: Scattered T-Storms / Wind Temperature: 73°
Chance of Precip: 60% Wind: SSW at
It is unusally hot in the mid-west and on the east coast for late September…more like a summer day and summer days anywhere east of the Rockies leads to Thunderstorms…they shoudl be playing a day game. 60% chance of thunderstorms, hopefully it is minimal..
This Cardinal collapse is completely surprising..the collapse is going to screw us on two counts. Maybe the Reds are not as motivated playing in SD and the Reds have sucked on the road against the NL West and then Rockies will likely play the 4 games in St. Louis with St. Louis already having thrown in the towel..fuckers and fuck the Dodgers…
How shocking is it to see Panda being pinch-hit for by Fontenot…I feel bbadly for the Panda that the season ahs turned into a mess. I feel worse since I drafted him in the second round of my money fantasy league 🙂
Maybe a lightning strike at Wrigley will energize the Giants bats.
From Chris Haft: The Giants hitting,or lack of it,is threatening to derail their bid for a postseason berth.The Giants have allowed fewer then 3 runs in 16 consecutive games matching the record for the live-ball era(since 1920) shared by the 1972 Cleveland Indians and 1981 Oakland A’s.
But the Giants have scored one run or fewer in four of their last 5 games,absorbs shutout defeats in four of their last 10 contests and mustered two or fewer runs in 9 of there last 13 outings.San Francisco’s 12-7 record in September is remarkable,given it’s .215 Batting Average this month.
That was supposed to be an unhappy gay smiley face 😦
GH….To me it’s not to shocking anymore with Sandoval.Bochy is frustrated with him to the point of probably benching him now.Sandoval says he needs to “think more” with runners in scoring position.Let’s hope he utilizes his limited capacity for that while on the bench.
Does it take 5 months for this kid to start “thinking more” at the plate? I’ve gone from lovin Panda to being frustrated with him to being now pissed off at him. He would be better off just not swinging at the first two pitches, because the league is not throwing him strikes for good reason — he swings at everything as if he gets paid more to swing early. He is a young player, he’s in a learning mode. If Muelens and the brain trust have worked with him to stop swinging at shit early in the count, then something is wrong with his ability to bring practice to reality. If they’ve been afraid to get tough with him and just tell him to take, take, take early in the count becuz it might upset his psyche, then I say baloney — he’s no veteran deserving of that much respect…
No Dempster diving tonight! Draw walks. Hit him hard. Hit him often. Make him take the Fall. It’s here.
Kat, it is very odd to understand how a guy like Pablo is not thinking ahead of what he needs to accomplish while he is at the plate every at bat.
Maybe we have this conversation later, but is Pablo getting the kind of coaching direction from the existing staff that is communicating what they need to get done? or are they handling him in the way vet coaches think all players should play like vets and dont need motivation and just leave it up to them to do what they need to do to be successful.
I think that blanket approach, if that is truly how this coaching staff handles its hitters, does not work for everyone and Panda is still a second year player and maybe needs a lot more direct command. I am not saying I know that is the case, I can only surmise with the type of personalities and coaching Bochy has assembeld for coaches around him and hwo Bochy has been known to manage while in SD and SF. But at this rate, he would be a liability in a playoff lineup…
For the 154th LU change i can see this type of shake up.
Velez LF
Sanchez 2B
Huff 1B
Posey C
Uribe SS
Ross CF
Fontenot 3B
Scheirholtz RF
Bumgarner P
I cant see Bochy not keeping Burrell and Guillen in there..just not his mo…probably :
1) Fontenot – 3B
2) Sanchez – 2B
3) Huff – 1B
4) Posey – C
5) Burrell – LF
6) Guillen – RF
7) Uribe – SS
8) Ross – 3B
I have pushed for the last 3-4 weeks that they shake it up a little and put Posey 3rd Burrell 4th. Now I will get Twin saying one spot makes no difference, but I remember the year they flipped Bonds and Kent and then they went on a tear.
Posey is clearly the biggest threat in the lineup. If Sanchez or Fontenot can get on, Posey being up is simply a bigger offensive threat than a hobbling Huff.
Posey gets on and maybe puts on a second runner on base for Burrell and then Huff then Guillen to see better pitches. Those three are one always just about one swing away from hitting a three run shot…but I guess i am making too much sense once again.
Very crafty. Two third basemen and no center fielder. Why, it’s so crazy, IT JUST MIGHT WORK!
HAH, I automatically mentally had Panda batting 8th! Maybe he shoudl play center…anyone notice that the ball has not been traveling in Wrigley very well. Much different ballpark in September. I cant remember ever playing in Chicago in September…
Ted,Speed wise it would work better with my OF lineup.Hey but with Uribe’s lack of range ,the left side does get stronger with two 3rd basemens.
Attn: fantasy league
Flav and I need you all to keep up the pressure on Blade…he is ready to teeter!
Strikeouts: Ferrett and Tizzle, keep up the pressure
Wins: Tizzle, Ferrett and Pawlie — good work keep it up
Averages: Irish and Clowns, take Blade down a couple of points!!!
Week and a half to go..it is anyone’s race. As exciting as the NL West 😦 OK maybe not…
Kevin, the guy who gave them a chance to tie it in the 9th ( Ross) can hardly be said to have been useless. Don’t let the idiocy here rub off..
It’s a little late for shake ups, morons. There might be a couple changes but unless they would actually stick with a new LU ( and they wouldn’t), there’s no point. Burrell , Ross, Guillen are bettter than whoever would replace them and in Colorado they’ll want all sluggers in. The guys who haven’t hit will have to hit, that’s all….
FatHead: two guys went on a tear a decade ago after they were flipped in the order? Yep. that’s just the conclusive, irrefutable evidence we’re looking for, you fucking idiot..LET’S HIT BUSTER NINTH!! I hear a catcher did that once and he got a hit!!!!!
Kind of like your phantom UZR numbers to say Velez is a good fielder….and Fred Lewis…standing pat is just the solution to get us to score 0 more runs…
Mike, sometimes frustration causes the idiocy to raise its ugly head!!
Not good
The Giants are hitting .215 as a team for the month and have shown little sign of consistency.
A major LU shakeup tonite would be fine, whether it worked or not. These guys need something to break up the constant pressure due to lack of hitting before they go to Colorado. A day off for some of the regulars would help, let the head clear. Obviously, all these guys are strangling the bats so hard that sawdust is leaking out, they’re trying too damn hard. Plus, they’ve got to take walks.
Here’s the recent Giants taking walks info per Fangraphs:
Last 30 days: 70 (Phils 121, Rocks 106)
Last 14 days: 31 (Phils 54, Rocks 48).
Phils and Rockies are #1 and #5 in MLB the last 30 days, Giants 26th…
It would probably help if they put Velez in LF since he’s one of the best…by UZR of course.
what do you guys do during the day besides sitting in front of your computer. You realize that if you went out side your chances of getting laid increases 10 fold. have a wonderful day.
Big balls
I’m married big balls. So, increasing my zero chances of getting laid 10 fold is still ZERO.
hey, bb balls, some of us work. although I do agree that as a general rule it’s wiser to look for action outside the office . . . .
How’s that job search going, balls?
Happy b-day to 3 wonderful jazz players : Trane, Ray “Let’s Go Get Stoned” Charles, and Eddie “(Try and Make It Real) Compared to What” Harris.
Starting Sunday I’m on business trip to East Coast for a few days, surrounded by half dozen Seattle-ites (thx Niners) and equal number locals from NYC. Luv to see SF back on top and Yankees headed to WC for some bragging rights. We’re staying in Seacaucus, and I asked a vendor rep who is in Long Island about it, and she says, “Well, it’s better than Newark.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement, huh?
As I’ve told you before, 3Bag: shut the fuck up if you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m Crabby today and that means some heads might roll. Take it anyway you want.
Not surprisingly, for the season to date the Giants lead MLB in a key measure of poor plate discipline. They are the worst, i.e., #1 in percentage of swings (32.5%) taken at pitches outside the zone. Orioles are #2 at 32%. Rockies 18th, Phils 24th, Yankees last (=best). Though somewhat surprisingly, over the last 14 days of hitting suckage, the Gmen have been MORE disciplined, at only #11. Also, season to date and last 14 days, Gmen are 22nd and 23rd respectively, at actually making contact when swinging outside the zone . So when you combine being the absolute worst team all season at swinging at shit, with being in the lower third at putting the ball in play when you DO swing at shit, that’s not a good combination for successful hitting…
Yes, but the stat over the last 14 days says they’re swinging at better pitches, but still not making contact. To me, that sounds like a combo of good opposing pitching and tired hitters.
Where’s my call for Shitholtz? Bochy is a goddamn boob. I want me some Shitholtz today!
Fontenot 3B Sanchez 2B Huff 1B Posey C Burrell LF Guillen RF Uribe SS Ross CF Bumgarner SP
So, when you swing at shit, and hit shit, you end up in the shit.
THEN it hits the fan . . .
…I like that!!! It’s appropriate, too.
Henry said he nailed today’s lineup. That can’t be good. I like his proposed lineup much, much better.
My PROPOSED lineup: Burriss SS, Sanchez 2B, Huff 1B, Posey C, Schierholtz RF, Burrell LF, Uribe 3B, Ross CF, Bumgarner P.
I want me some Shitholtz!
But not 100%, I would have batted The Bat 5th, Juan 6th, Ross 7th and Shitholtz 8th.
I want me some Shitholtz!
Bend over . . .
If you look at Panda’s plate discipline stats for this season compared to last, its a little convoluted.
a. His % of swinging at shit outside the zone (bad) is up just a bit (41.7% to 44.2%), or about a 6% decline in that kind of discipline.
His actual swinging at strikes (good) is down somewhat (not good) from 83% to 78.3%, but that’s less than a 10% decline.
His making contact with pitches outside the zone is actually a little BETTER this year (75.5% to 77.3% this year).
His making contact (ball in play) while swinging at strikes and swinging at all pitches is virtually the same as last year.
His first pitch strike percentage is at 61.4% (= after first pitch there is an 0-1 count or ball was put into play), up only around 1% from last year. I would have thought this was up more than that.
Of all pitches he sees, he’s swinging this year at 57.2% of them, actually about 1% LESS than last year.
b. The biggest discipline category change this year is that of all the pitches he sees, the pitchers are throwing only 38% in the zone, where last year was 49.3%. So, the league is throwing about 30% more shitballs at him this year.
If you do put (a) and (b) together, it tends to verify what we’ve seen, but I wouldn’t say it explains everything for his coming off the rails at the plate. The league is throwing him 30% more junkballs this year, and instead of adjusting for that, he’s swiinging at that higher level of crap 6% more than last year….
snarkk forgive my ignorance but where exactly do these percentages apply? Like when you say his % of swinging at shit, does that mean a swing and miss, a foul tip as well as getting a hit? Because last year he got a lot of hits swinging at shit. I’m just trying to understand here exactly what all these percentages relate to.
Ted, my understanding is that the % of swinging at balls outside the zone includes all outcomes from the swing. Here’s the link to the Fangraphs page where I got the info, it has a glossary of the terms. If you get a different take from what I did, feel free to come back. http://tinyurl.com/2cg4n4y
My purpose in doing that look was that I’ve been so frustrated with Panda like everybody else, I wanted to see if there was one, glaring difference in discipline stats from last year to this year that might explain this huge decline at the plate. I don’t think there is one thing that really stands out. The 30% increase in shitballs being thrown at him this year is the biggest difference I see in these stats, word obviously has been out not to throw him strikes, we all know that, and this stat just proves it. The fact that he has gotten a little worse at swinging at shit combined with more shit being thrown at him, explains some of the decline, and confirms his lack of adjustment to the league’s pitching approach this season.
Since the stats seem to indicate his approach isn’t horribly worse than last year, maybe that’s a good thing, and indicates he just needs a new season to get his groove back. Maybe loss of weight, a year past a divorce, etc. would be the tonic. And where all this fits in with a possible eyesight issue, I dunno. Your guess is as good as mine on that….
It’s probably too complicated for my wee little brain but I’ll take a look. Thanks
Ted, I think the stat you are looking for and I would like to see would be a comparsion of this year with last year in the % of hits Panda gets from swinging at pitches outside the zone. That info is not in these Fangraph stats. Maybe somebody can find it elsewhere. It’s gotta be down this year, obviously, but how much, I dunno. If, say, this year he’s DOWN 30% in his rate of getting hits from swinging at crap, yet the amount of crap thrown at him we know is UP 30%, then that’s a big deal for a bad ball hitter. Whether its a psyche thing, sophomore jinx, mechanics, weight, and/or his eyes is TBD…
You’re right, snarkk, that would be a stat I’m interested in. I’m not sure it would solve any great mystery but it would satisfy my curiousity
good news on the weather front..very slow moving storm..they should be able to get the game in before the rains come….
I believe that is the lineup I posted this morning thanking you very much T-Head…BTW, I did read up about UZR last night and what I found is that these experts say that unless a player plays 1200 innings at a particular position, then the UZR numbers are highly questionable.
So basically you are talking shit Twin…as we all now you do! You are the fucking idiot and I am in a worse mood!
I am not taking your unprovoked shit tonight cocksucker!
It’s not so much the percentage of swings Pablo takes at pitches in or out of the zone, it’s the type of swing he takes. Because pitchers are throwing 30% more out of the zone, he seems unsure of when to pull the trigger and is off-balance all the time. That’s why when he does make contact, even on meatballs, he rolls over or gets it off the end of the bat. It seems to be all in his head.
Trade him.
Amy G. just tweeted (yes, I follow Amy on twitter. Let me say this in advance, STFU!) that we are “crushing” the ball in BP. Couple that with the prevailing wind, and all indicators point to the return of the long ball tonight.
“when the Giants come to town, its bye bye baby. …”
Hope you’re right Dennis. Now about following Amy G…???
You’ll take it and like it, as always, FatHead.
…to paraphrase Hammett
I’d love to hear the moronic nonsense on why FatHead and his kind think Bochy DID use Velez for defense. If it goes as usal, it’s either because of a homosexual relationship or Bochy has money on San Diego. Seriously. fuckwadz-OBVIOUSLY Bochy feels Velez was a defensive upgrade.
I thought there was going to be a shake-up in the lineup?
All I read Bochy say is there “possibly” could be a lineup change. “Shake-up” wasn’t even in the equation
…guess I read more into it than I should have. Forgive me, please…
Ten Hail Marys and three Our Fathers. Go with God, my child
Add B. Jenkins to the group spreading the rumor that Torres will play in Colo. this weekend. Although he had a “setback” (what, like a ripping sound and internal bleeding) when the took BP on Tuesday, apparently this evening he was raking. Can’t wait to see him slide head first into 2B. In other words, wouldn’t it be smart to let him rest until next Tuesday?
The quote from Huff, in the Chronicle, shows the frustration coming out-
“We’ve got to have smarter at-bats, take some pitches, move guys along.” He’s probably stunned at some of the hackers he has to watch everyday.
Huff must come here and read the post to say something like that.
Props to both Bochy and Kruk/Kuip in their KNBR pre-game shows. Both covered the Panda issue, and both basically said Panda is fucked up and needs to sit, get his head together. I haven’t heard such a dose of reality from both in I don’t know how long. Refreshing. Now, Giants go out and get some damn runs…
I can see that point, but I can also disagree somewhat in that it’s still about putting the lineup out there with the best chance of winning THAT DAY. Bochy has to evaluate whether a struggling Panda is better than someone else on a given day. Pablo hits the ball as hard as any Giant, when he’s hitting well. But it’s been few and far between lately, obviously.
WTF was that little runt thinking about w/ the bunt attempt? Lucky for his ass he got a hit.
Let’s get crooked this inning!
C’mon Buster! “Big money, big money, NO Whammies!”
Son of a bitch! I never liked Peter Tomarken to begin with anyways. Whammy!
Hey. It wasn’t home run . . .
Great. 3 on, no outs.
yay . . . .
WHAT?! We only got 1 run out of that?? Well, 1 is bettter than none…
Shit, the way it’s been going, I’m ecstatic they got the one…
…we score first, we win, right???!!!
Very good chance; 59-18 when we do. That’s 77% for the math-challenged such as Chuck.
Yeah,. now they can relax and go for the shutout.
Wow a Run!!!! The DP sure too some sting out of a big inning though.
Next Flapper to refer to Buster as the “ROY” gets virtually donkey punched.
Done jinxed his stoopid ass but good with that shit. Shaddup!
We’ll just call him Hobbs.
Are you posting in the future, AK, or am I posting in the past?
Shades of yesterday. That’s how you do it.
Shopping list for the offseason: a good shortstop…
Juan-Gone!
I predicted that over on the Splash!
Are you Soph now?
Some here think that *she* and I are in fact one in the same.
off to study…bbl after some din din. hugs to all.
Ho hum. Scoring on the Home run.
Juan Gooooooooooone.
Juan” OUT ON WAVERLY AVE “URIBE!!!!!!
Uribe mashed that one. Looks like the wind is blowing out.
This one could get interesting….
This is the first season in I don’t know how many where there are two Giants batters with *over* 20 dingers
A SS probably is on the list, but they would have to trade a starting pitcher to get one. FA class sucks. Juan gives up something defensively but a lot of teams would kill for that pop in the middle.
Fontenot reminds me of Dan Gladden…
There you go. Bummie almost goes yard, and some nice solid hitting.
Duane Kuiper needs to leave the race calling to Dave Johnson.
“And down the stretch they come!”
Yeah, I don;t worry about Uribe at SS. He makes most of the plays he gets to,.
Great hitting by Bum,Font and Runt more runs the merrier.Way to pick up Huff,Mr Posey.
Torres seems to be giving high-fives without difficulty…