Favorite Closer on a Bad Team
there really aren’t too many too choose from. I could have included Linzy, I suppose, but I never saw him pitch so he’s OUT! I thought of throwing Walker in there but he just wasn’t in the same category as Minton and Lavelle. And guys like Beck, Nen, etc….would obviously get the vote. So it’s one or the other, start voting (and don’t just vote for his nickname….)
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I remember Moon Man pitching in an All Star game, getting called in from the bullpen. Even back then they had a mic somewhere recording the conversation on the mound. The coach, or manager, I don’t recall which, told Minton the hitter coming to the plate had trouble with stuff high in the zone. Minton proceeded to throw nothing but low sinkers. He got out of the inning, though.
Thanks BF for not including Craig Lefferts or Jeff Brantley. For yesterday’s role poll I nominate Mike ‘All Dirty’ Aldrete, just cause I liked to call him all dirty.
Had to go with Minton because The Moon Man is a great nick name and I knew his daughter growing up.
Just because Lavelle was one of the very few LHers, I went with Gary. Always wondered how Minton did it- definitely fit the “more guts than stuff” label…I want to throw a bone to Henny: he imploded but for awhile did a prettty darn nice job for them, with NO stuff. Cool customer…after Tire Fire, he did settle it down for spell…
“Greg, you have a fabulous sinking action oni your fastball. how do you do that”
“I have no idea.”
Which meant that when he lost it, after signing the big contract, he had no idea how to fix it. those were some killer ball clubs though. they always seemed a player or so away from going deep into the playoffs.
I like the mike aldrete call though. I just remembered a great game that jim barr pitched in long relief, i think against st. lou, where they came from way back and won because the bullpen flat shut them down the rest of the way.
Aldrete is a great call, Bozo. A guy I remember from a few years back, had some big pinch hits was Crespo, as well. Fell off the map after 2000, but he had a couple Splashers… this stuff always gets me digigng in Baseball Reference… guys forgotten. Trey Lunsford? .500 lifetime hitter… uh, 2 for 4…
Almost forgot about Crispy Crespo. First splash hit by a Giant not named Bonds.
Kinda like Velez, played OF, 2B, 1B probably would have caught if they asked him to. Good call.
Haha, I remember him! He had a brother who played in the Majors too.
For the record, just what *was* Gary Lavelle’s nickname anyway?
Ted, I think Lavelle’s nickname is sophrosyne.
godsquad was what we called him.
I remember Rubber Arm.
Ted, I dunno, -BTW, you won the 40GB external drive. I’m not waiting around. Next prize: Plantronics headset w/mike. E-mail the number you think Cliff Lee gets per year. Tie break: number of years.
twinfan1@hotmail.com
Mike, interesting comment end of last thread, dissing OBP for middle order guys….burrell’s patience at the plate and the BBs he took meaningless?
I still can’t sleep in due to the time change, so I wake up thinking about….what if the PS goes all in on Whitey like they did with Benjie? Hey, he had a .696 OPS for the season (Benjie was 50 points less, and he hit one more HR than Whitey all year in 200 more ABs). Knowing Posey is going to play damn near every day, why would a Yorvit type come here anyway. To find Whitey’s last 10 stats, you have to go back to August 8; 5 ABs in Sept and Oct combined.
RIP San Quentin Dailey. Man, USF b-ball was really good in those days, with the likes off Marlon Redmond of Balboa SF and Winford Boynes (both those guys played in the NBA too), James Hardy and Cartwright. Hope Rex Walters (local legend among the Asian ballers) can turn things around, but that is a tough chore with St. Mary’s and Gonzaga in the conference.
“Mike, interesting comment end of last thread, dissing OBP for middle order guys….burrell’s patience at the plate and the BBs he took meaningless” …Didn’t exactly say that, did I? Less meaningful than a hit… the notion that walks are as good as hits is dumb, always was, always will be. The point is that OBP is less important than slugging percentage for 4-6 hitters.
Quentin Daley died? Bums me out. Controversial figure, I know, but man he could ball. He was great at muscling into the paint for short little jumpers over guys. Sometimes Tyreke Evans reminds me of Q.
Remember the scene in the movie “To Live and Die in LA” where the guy basically says you can take Michael Jordan, give me Quentin Daley?” Great stuff. That was before Jordan had become a huge star.
I chose Lavelle, but I liked both those guys. Randy Moffitt was the guy I thought was awful. The 2 plaques at ATT that I think don’t belong there are Moffitt and LeMaster.
I really liked Gary Lavelle, but I’ll always have a special connection to the Moon Man. Back in the day the G’s used to play a pre-season exhibition game against the Santa Clara Broncos, on the campus, and me and my buddy Pete caught a couple of those games. It was great because you could see and talk to the players up close and they were very accessible.
Anyway, one year (had to be ’75-76) Minton was a young guy trying to make the squad, and me and Pete saw Minton walking across the field after the game and asked if we could have his autograph. We had no idea who he was at the time. He was great, really friendly, chatted us up, and I remember he signed an empty popcorn container I had and he wrote his uniform number under his signature. Of course, he went on to become a fine ML pitcher.
Gary Lavelle was also on the team at the time, and I remember from that same game some asshat reaching over the railing and grabbing his cap right off his head and fleeing the scene. This well before you could even buy game caps. Lavelle was pissed and I don’t blame him. He was signing autographs fer cryin’ out loud!
Good memories.
OK, this is the second day in a row that I have to plead ignorance or senility. But who in the hell is Flav referring to when he said he could have included “Linzy?”
The only “Linzy” that comes to mind is Lindsey Nelson. And I’m pretty sure he never closed.
Frank.
Funny, J, when I was about 17 (1978, what a year) I was at a game and we hung around til just about everyone had left. I found a Giants gym bag under a chair. It had a nice Giants warmup jacket and what looked like a pro hat. It had the light grey under the bill. It was a size 7 5/8. The size of my fat head. Lost the jacket and the bag, but still have the hat.
Moon Man all the way. He was all goofball all the time. Those days were ugly, and our favorite spot to sit was down the RF line and crack jokes with the relievers when they started throwing . . .
Lol! If 7 5/8 means you have a fat head, then I’m right with ya brother. And ’78 was a good year. If my memory isn’t completely gone, I remember Mike Ivie hitting a grand slam off of Don Sutton (god I hated that guy) at Candlestick to beat the Dodgers.
Edit: I looked up that game. Ivie hit a pinch hit grand salamie off Sutton, May 28th, 1978. 56,000 in attendance. Jesus I love baseball-reference!
Yeah, but on August 6, in front of 55,000 vs. the bums, in the bottom of the 4th Ivie whiffed with the bases loaded. Giants were still in first place then.
Don McMahon?
Hey Chuck—how’s your daughter liking SFSU? My son is back there for year 2 and still really likes it. Lives in an apt now….one of his roommates smokes a ton of pot. It’s all good.
She was a little leery at first, but she’s digging it now. Having the Giants win everything had a lot to do with it. She went to 5-6 games since school started. She went to 3 games in a row down the stretch. The 10-2 waxing of the Dogs, and the 3-0, 2-1 losses to the Brewers.
I said yeah, that’s Giants baseball . . .
The highlights for her were being on Baseball Tonight after game 2 of the WS, and going to Market St. when the Giants won the whole thing. She was sending me pics during the melee. Well, the quiet riot . . .
She’s getting a 3.4 so far in school, BTW . . . and yeah, I REALLY want her to move off campus. We’d save a boatload of money.
I went with Lavelle because he was the first guy I vividly remember taking the job and doing it successfully. I don’t remember him having great stuff, but a very even keeled attitude that probably helped him out. Plus, I remember HATING Minton for a period of time– the first real HATE that I felt for a closer, though I do remember him being outstanding at times….
I agree Flav, I can remember sitting around listening to the radio, when they would announce Minton, we would all think here we go again Giants are going to win on a wing and a prayer!! 1977 and 1978 were great years, Dodger vs the Yankees in the WS. Loved the Yankees back then. They had great players and of course they beat the Dodgers!!
From the other thread I think I overstated the contract for Crawford…. I bet its actually 6 yrs and around $95mil… (Bay got 5 $80 last year)
I don’t know what Werth is going to get, but I doubt he’ll be worth it over the life of his contract and outside of Philly…..
Also scary check this out-
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
Player 1. 161 612 105 189 45 0 27 89 47 119 6 3 .309 .374 .515 .889
Player 2. 156 554 106 164 46 2 27 85 82 147 13 3 .296 .388 .532 .921
Player 1 = Rowand’s 2007 Phillies line
Player 2 = Werth’s this year……
No thanks…..
Quentin Dailey passed away? Shiite!! I’m not a big college sports fan but my Chinese sister was on the cheerleading squad @ USF when he played. She was always on the top of the triangle, or whatever you call it, because she’s 5 foot nothing and weighed less than Tinkerbell. Wet. So I watched a lot of games. Man, what a tragic turn that guy’s life took. Everyone thought he’d be the next…whatever. It was not to be.
Also, I want to thank twin for the early prize. He must know Huff’s agent or something to have awarded it to me before anything was signed.
twin, old pal, old sock, ya big so and so,
U D BEST!!
And that’s coming from the biggest Flapper Fuckwad. So you know it’s true
I would go with Moonie.He actually was a pretty good closer when they first gave him that job.I remember him not giving up a HR for like 3 years.Something like a streak of 269 innings, a record at the time.His sinker was devastating,no won could get under it and jack one.
some MoonMan trivia:
Gregory Brian Minton (b. July 29, 1951 in Lubbock, Texas) is a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher who played for the California Angels and San Francisco Giants.
Minton enjoyed a 16-year major league career, from to, and was a member of the National League All-Star Team. His nickname, “Moon Man,” stemmed from various escapades such as the hijacking of the team bus and the flooding of a minor league ballpark so he could leave Amarillo one day early at the end of the season.
Minton went three full seasons (269 1/3 innings) without allowing a home run until John Stearns homered against him on May 2, 1982. This still is the longest such streak in the post-1920 live-ball era. A crippling injury in caused Minton to alter his delivery. Instead of using his then-normal high leg kick, Minton shortened his stride to take pressure off his knee. The new delivery gave Minton a 92-mph sinker that batters were unable to drive. After his career as a player, Minton was a pitching coach in the California Angels’ organization, and managed the Class A Lubbock Crickets for two years.
On August 14, 1986, Minton gave up the last of Pete Rose’s Major League record 4,256 career hits
the flooding of a minor league ballpark so he could leave Amarillo one day early at the end of the season.
—————————————————————————————-
Which, as you all know, was recreated in BULL DURHAM
I went with Moon Man. A true character, and besides I saw him close out both ends of a doubleheader sweep over the Mets in ’84, one of my very few successful visits to Shea. Even though the Giants came in last place, that ’84 team was fun to watch, especially when Gladden came up.
Buddy Holly lives!
Not sure if this was mentioned before:
BOGOTA, Colombia — World Series MVP Edgar Renteria has asked that a celebration in his honor be called off in his home country, with the money donated to Colombia flood victims.
Renteria led the San Francisco Giants to the World Series title last week. The shortstop made his request about the tribute from Miami on Tuesday. He is expected to arrive Thursday in Barranquilla, where his family lives.
Renteria says there are “more important things back home” and it’s critical to tend to the needs of those left homeless by the recent flooding.
Class act all the way.
And they call *Posey* Jesus
As beatific as his smile.
To think that just last year Edgar was stealing money from the team.
We got shut out on the Gold Gloves today.:
NL Gold Gloves: Y. Molina (C), Pujols (1B), Phillips (2B), Tulo (SS), Rolen (3B), CarGo/Victorino/Bourn (OF), Arroyo (P)
Rent was still stealing money from the Giants last month. I would say he stole money from the team for the first 345 games of his 350 game SFG tenure. Then, during the last 5 he paid it all back many times over.
Bullfuckingshit
I really thought Torres had a good chance today. He had the least errors among OFs (1), highest UZR rating (21.2) & 4th highest assists (7).
But it still was not enough. Must be all those teenage girls who keep calling repeatedly and vote for their favorites. Parents should really take away their phones.
I thought Torres had a chance as well
Torres is a non-entity to the east coast. Buster and Fruckie had the best shots . . .
Buster win the GG this year? Your Chesapeake had a better shot.
You’re forgetting Gomez
Torres had zero chance.
“stealing $” is not accurate. His body was broken, he woulda played if he could and he always gave his best effort. I don’t see how anyone could ever suggest renteria was “stealing” money. And as I said lady week, with one swing of the bat the dude labeled himself significantly underpaid for his time in San Francisco
I was recalilng Snarkklefuck’s attack. SanDog should be ashamed. Edgar always gave it his best.
I finally found my email from Neukom, stuck in the spam filter with various missives from senders who claim to be named Bryanna and Svetlana and cetera. Neukom’s message was fine. Of course, he had a good script to work with. Anyway, I kind of like having this guy at the helm.
There’s not always an east coast bias. The New York chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America selected Tim Lincecum for the Babe Ruth Award as the postseason MVP. In other news, Josh Hamilton was chosen for the Sid Mercer-Dick Young Player of the Yaer Award
Yaer?
Those NY journalists just want to associate themselves with a pot-smoking long-hair instead of GWB.
Yeah, found the email.
Thanks Mr. Neukon. Now pass the popcorn . . .
Yeah, yeah, I took it a bit far regarding Edgar, but I’m not gonna put him up on quite as high of a pedestal as the rest of you. In my book, he was pretty damn shaky most of the time.
I was just looking up some pitching stats and these guys had c ouple of interesting years. In his one All-Star year, 1982, he had a 10-4 record. That’s almost like a starter. 66 complete games as well. And Gary Lavelle had a weird year in 1978. Here’s a guy who didn’t *start* any games and ended up with a 13 win, 10 loss season. Why, those are downright Zito numbers (post 2002, pre 2007)
Typo. I meant 66 “completed” games
18 million to end 52 years of heartbreak? Seems a bargain, Dog…
No shit. Especially when its house money . . .
Was there a more bizarre year than ElRoy Face in 1959 ? 18 and 1. Blew 8 of 18 save chances. He was a litlle whip of a guy, as a relief pioneer, should be in the HOF…
Dude didn’t even NEED a nickname . . .
Didn’t Nathan go 12-4 his last year with the Giants?
That’s funny stuff twin.
And chuck, I just looked it up. You’re right
I remember that. And he was a pioneer. It presaged today’s situational pitching. Wasn’t that the Harvey Haddix year?
For all his Gold Glove-ness, Victorino just wasn’t able to pull in the Willie Mays catch on that hit from Torres that helped the Giants win a game from the Phillies in the NLCS.
Hey, I said it myself. He paid it all back many times over with his performance in the Series. Great signing—he’lll hold a special place in the heart of all of us Giants’ fans forever. I’m just not buying the fact that he was a solid SS for the 2 years we had him. Toward the end the guy was having trouble catching a thrown ball.
I think a subtle pivotal moment early in the season was when Huff was struggling to get his batting stroke going, and he hit a few long outs in triples-alley that could have been homers in other parks, and he kind of gave a world-weary grin and showed a little frustration. But just a little. He didn’t make a big deal out of it, or gripe, or pout, or make excuses. He basically stayed positive about things. I think that helped the whole team stay positive. If he had a different personality and had gone all sour early, it could have been a really different season for the Giants. By staying positive about things, he’s one of the people who helped the Giants have a big homefield advantage, and helped get them the mindset of the ballpark as a weapon in their favor. Visiting teams generally don’t look comfortable at AT&T.
A’s trade pitchers Vin Mazzaro and Justin Marks to KC for OF David DeJesus.Nice move by the A’s adding DeJesus.Gives them a solid OF defensively with Crisp and Sweeney.And adding a career .290 hitter doesn’t hurt either.
Zumie– I totally remember those moments. ANd Huff’s attitude allowed him to taking a different mentality to the plate at ATT that resulted in success for him. For the life of me, I don’t understand why players think ATT isn’t a hitter-friendly park. It absolutely IS a hitter friendly park– it’s just not *bomb friendly*. But with all that ground to cover in the OF, plus the ‘free triple’ out in right center, hitters will get OPS bumps at ATT just by playing there every day.
Now, if we’re talking a guy like Dunn who just tries to jack one out every time, that’s a park that might not help him out too much.
Franchez’ OPS: home–.814 away–.680
Huff: home–.832 away–.948
Torres— home–.863 away— .781
Burrell: home OPS: .902 away: .792
Pablo: home OPS: 901 away: gawd awful .565
Rowand: home OPS .676 away: .642
Uribe: home OPS .813 away: .685
Posey’s was worse at home, as were a few other guys. But the point is, hitting at ATT isn’t the problem. It’s the pitchers that the opponents have to face that’s the problem…………..
One thing you can say about Rowand. He’s consistent
Yeah Ted, Consistently SHITTY!!!!!!!!
And Sandoval’s numbers…he’s no longer a Panda. He’s a Polar
Tiny personal story on Gary Lavelle: Pittsburgh. Three Rivers. May 1978. Either bottom of 9th or extra innings. I’m watching from the freaking Giants clubhouse. Plexiglas? We win, after a harrowing half-inning. Torture before it was a brand. I catch Lavelle and the catcher (Marc Hill??) coming off the field, one of them saying something world-weary, like, “Geeez, what was that all about?” It was a very long season.
I think the Panda saga will play out pretty quickly. His mission is clear.
Goodnight all.
responding to the earlier comments about huff. last year, i was at one of the early games and i watched carney’s body language as hits were caught and i read his comments that the park wasn’t fair to hitters and i thought: what the FUCK! you’re the fucking hitting coach! way to build confidence! way to get them to work with the park that’s their HOME! he had to go.
good for Huff to deal with the situation as it is and improvise, adapt and overcome. that’s the attitude you have to have at pac belle, in sports and in life.
good night tf and all.
Carny Lansford does not belong with a baseball team teaching hitting.
The man belongs in a prison… teaching catching.
Sorry to get so…nostalgic?
What the fuck. twinfan called him a bad name. Asshole? Don’t remember. But an off park reference seemed relevent to celebrate.
The fucking Say Hey Kid
Oh what the fuck. Why not…
If Will had just said “WE’VE been waiting a long time for this,” the quote would have been classic, instead of just kind of funny. Well, it’s kind of a classic, anyway.
Very classy when he takes his retainer off
I love how that fucking DELIVERENCE
(wow.hit send a little too quickly)
I love how that DELIVERENCE sounding hillbilly, Will Clark, spends so much time trying to figure out how to open a champagne bottle.
I loved Will Clark.
But the man’s an idiot.
Sad news today. The passing of the voice of the Mariners, David Neihaus.
“Get out the rye bread and mustard, grandma. It’s a grand salami”.
Sad
I may have told this story before on this forum, but it’s my favorite Will Clark moment. And it wasn’t during a game. It was before a game at the ‘Stick. After the players had done all their warm-up stuff, the players left the field so that an obstacle course for dogs could be set up. These dogs were highly trained and very fast. The dogs looked like hunting-type dogs. All the players from both teams seemed to be hanging out in their dugouts, talking, and ignoring the dog event, except one player. Will Clark. He stood near one of the foul lines, and intently watched the whole event.
I don’t remember you telling that story before zum, but if you had, I’m sure it was just as boring as this time.
Zum
Gay ass smiley face
PEACE
Goodnight, gentlemen
Question mark
Hey, I never claimed to be Ambrose Bierce, writing “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge.” (grin)
zum…I felt to like come back to oneflapdown77.com.
Against my better judgement. Just love this place.
And just read…just saw…you brought up AN OCCURENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE…and it just reminded me…
That’s why I love this place. Only a Flapper…a member of FlavorNation…and let’s get radical…only a…fellow travester…yes, TRAVESTER..would have the cujunas to bring that up.
Zum…U D Man
AN OCCURENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE
Fucking haunting
Did you know the Giants have their origins in Troy, N.Y.?
The Troy Record newspaper is circulating a petition to have the team bring their World Series trophy on a visit to the city to allow citizens to see what became of the once Troy City Trojans.
Learn more and sign our petition here: http://www.troyrecord.com/sports/trophy/