Flap Fantasy Baseball Update
I’m sorry, but there is literally nothing that I want to discuss about last night’s game. Ugly. Horrendous. Embarrassing. Talk about whatever you want today but I am not wasting valuable pixel space on that atrocity……
The Flap Fantasy Baseball League Standings:
| 1. | Clowns R Us | 93.5 | 1.5 | 5 | 8 | |
| 2. | Flavor | 91 | -2.5 | 14 | 9 | |
| 3. | Unca’s Army | 90 | 0.5 | 6 | 7 | |
| 4. | PawliesPandas | 89 | -2 | 1 | 9 | |
| 5. | Tizzle | 86 | -2 | 9 | 7 | |
| 6. | NO Whitey | 84.5 | 1.5 | 10 | 8 | |
| 6. | IrishGiants | 84.5 | 8 | 3 | 7 | |
| 8. | Bladerunners | 78.5 | 1 | 8 | 13 | |
| 9. | Giant Head | 76 | -5.5 | 4 | 18 | |
| 10. | Dirt Bags | 67.5 | 8.5 | 2 | 13 | |
| 11. | CrazyDiamonds | 65 | -4.5 | 13 | 3 | |
| 12. | NoTalent | 58.5 | 5 | 7 | 11 | |
| 13. | Ferretball | 45.5 | -5 | 12 | 3 | |
| 14. | Berra’s Bombers | 40.5 | -4.5 | 11 | 9 |
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Was only able to catch maybe an inning on the radio, when the score was 1-0. Sounds like it’s a good thing I missed the rest. But after reading the article about how people were behaving toward one another at the game, I was happy to hear that for the most part, people behaved.
The Giants have the NL HR co-leader. Pablo looked good hitting that single off of a tough lefty.
. . . and that’s your Giants replay. Tune in tomorrow for a cahnce to win a rusty tin can . . .
Agreed, and Pablo had the first rbi Sunday. Burrell looked better than anyone all night at the plate.
You asked about trips to the mound and results last night….my buddies and I used to make jokes about the Braves in their TBS days (one year they were 54-106) about what we called “the curse of the pitching coach.” Couple guys on, pc comes the mound for a chat, and then the pitcher gives up a bomb….like he couldn’t have done that on his own.
Well here we are, another day in paradise. last night was a total waste of 3 hrs in front of the TV. Lets hope things get turned around tonight.
I posted this question last night about is bunting a lost art. And thinking about that I guess every player thinks they are a RBI/Home run hitting machine. Cause unless it is the pitcher I do not see to many position players doing it.
Spring has arrived in the Northwoods and yesterday was an incredibly busy and productive day here at the homestead and out in the woods. Wore my ol’ ’44 model bod clear out in the process, stopped at the local pub, had a brew and a couple monster soft-shell $1.50 tacos, headed home, caught the first inning over Yahoo MLB sports, got tired and conked out on the couch.
Couple hours later i woke up with a bad feeling about the game. That telepathic stuff has hit me a lot lately, particularly regarding the Giants. Sure nuff, it was six-zip when i tuned in, the LaBumbos just having scored their sixth run. Checked up on how the dirty deeds happened and then wandered over to my e-mails, occasionally checking up on the game.
Kershaw has severious ownage of the Giants and judging from some of the Flapperoo comments, so did the home-plate ump. With both Huff and Posey struggling and Belt going nowhere fast, it’s no surprise the offense is sputtering. The fact that Burrell’s fourth HR drove in his 4th RBI speaks volumes all by itself. We’ll find out soon whether Torres gets shelved for a couple weeks and if there’s a Ford in our immediate future.
Some kinda offensive shakeup is overdue and probably immanent. I’m not the one to put my finger on specifics, but feel it looming. Maybe the bats will rally for Timmy tonight. Even a modest rally could be enough with the Freak on the mound.
…before we “geld the Lilly”….really Stix, that was one of your best, in a long line. Cain snapped the team out of a mini funk before, the kid pitched pretty well vs. LA last time. Starts with pitching, always.
Well, unless the G’s unload on Barbara like they normall don’t, it’ll be another close, low scoring deal.
Think Belt sits tonight? He’s not exactly burning up the batter’s box. If it comes back to the defense, let’s put Nate in RF . . .
An ugly loss indeed. But that being said, the Bums and the Padres pretty much owned the Giants last year as well except at the end when it counted. So while beginning the season with a cornucopia of contests against these two teams may on the surface look like the Giants are getting the wind knocked out of them already, it’s still way, way to early to gauge how this season is going. I still say, barring a deluge of hiccups, like Ross and Torres on the DL, the Giants take the West.
Not to make excuses, but the Giants ARE missing two starters. Rowand’s now a starter, for goodness sakes. That’s not good. The Giants need to survive the next couple of weeks, be somewhere near .500, get through the toughest month on their schedule and go from there, hopefully without more starters being out with injuries. They’ll know if Belt’s going to Fresno or not, also. The league has figured some things out about him, and he’s got a couple of weeks to make the adjustment.
Ted: Yeah, i’m not worried either, longterm; but the short-haul has been frustrating with the sputtering offense, bad defense, poor umpiring and general lack of inspiring play on the field. Part of this has to do with the early scheduling against the Bums and Pads. Getting it together against Barbara tonight could key a nice turnaround. That would be followed by another chance at gelding the Lilly. So a win tonight would be huge. With Timmy on the mound, chances gotta be no less than fifty-fifty.
Road trip commences with three in Aridzona and then three in the Box of Rox. The desert adventure should wake up the bats. Cain gives us a good shot in game one down there. Then its Zito and Bumgarner. Two of three should be doable. Colorado is the big test. Unless the bats have wakened and stay that way, one of three at the base of the mountains might be seen as a possible plus. It will be Timmy, Sanchez and Cain, so at least the Rox should not put up monster numbers. Two of three in the Box of Rox would be major huge.
The rest of the season starts tonight. A four and six record for the World Champs is pretty shitty. Taking these two vs. the LaBumbos would get at least one monkey off our backs and return the team to .500 baseball hitting the road. A bit of luck would help. That factor has mostly gone the other way lately.
Give Belt the time until Ross is due back. He should have 80 ABs or so by then, plus he’ll probably have seen some more pitching that is not so top shelf as the first two weeks. If he’s hitting .150 then, sure, he goes down, I don’t think that will be that big a deal to him if it happens. Remember, Stretch was sent down the middle of the season AFTER after his rookie season. He turned out OK…
Yeah, made me think of Matt Williams as well
Snarkk: Good point about Belt having seen mostly top-shelf pitching. Those three games vs. the Snakes should give him a shot at something closer to league-average stuff. Possibly ditto in the Box of Rox where sometimes it doesn’t much matter who is on the mound. By then, Ross should be back and decisions can be made.
Wasn’t one of Mike Schmidt’s first years at .196?
For the hell of it I checked. Yes you’re right, 2nd year, 1st full season 1973, below the Mendoza at .196
When he sent Matt back to AAA, Al Rosen himself compared Matt W to Mike Schmidt. It occurred on a post game radio show that very day; he was, of course, predicting Matt’s inevitable return to the Giants.
Yeah, for awhile there Matt Williams must have felt like a yo-yo he was up with the big league and then down to the minors.
Belt’s confidence is really slipping. Yes he’s faced tough pitching but this is The Show. Evryone is on a roster for a reason and evey say you’ve got to prove you belong. Even 3-4s have good stuff compared to what he’ll see being sent down. Hopefully he can shrug off the mopey, slack shoulders and grab the opportunity.
Dude is dead to me now but Uribe getting his ring was a nice moment. Genuine love for him in the SF club house. He captured some kind of special mojo in SF and won’t perform at or near that level again. He’ll give LA exactly what they deserve. A big steaming turd.
Satriani and the Red Rocker were quite the duo huh? No thanks on a return of that.
Are the pre-game awards and back slapping for 2010 finished now? Time to turn the page. New season. New ring to chase.
Dirt, 8 years ago, I got mistaken for Joe Satriani while at a July 4th celebration in the town of Idaho Springs (famous singularly for the film Downhill Racer) . . . Anyway, I am in this bar with my girlfriend (at the time) and she noticed the bartender and a couple of waitresses whispering and looking my way at the table we were at. Finally, someone came over and asked if I was “playing” at the town square band box they had set up for the 4th celebration . . . I was really confused and asked them, “Who do you think I am?” “Joe Satriani,” they responded.
I also got confused with Vin Diesel numerous times 8-9 years ago and I didn’t even know who he was until 4-5 years ago. Closest I will ever be to a celebrity. Ha.
Blade, good story man. Funny. I’ve met Satriani a few times. Cool guy.
More troublng than the results is Belt’s demeanor. He looked whipped last night. Dirt put it well: “mopey, slack shoulders”. If the decision needed to be made now, he’d be the guy sent down for Ross…
As a team, hitting is not the issue, when it’s said and done they’ll hit as they should. They can no longer afford the Water Bufflao defense. Their pitching staff is categorically NOT a ground ball staff. Some of you yokels were all over Rowand’s defense because of one miscue- he’s fucking Say Hey compared to Huff and Burrell. That’s where a shake up needs to be made. Those last two can’t be out there together..
I thought Belt got some BS calls at the plate early and let it affect him all night. Everyone got the same floating zone last night though and he’s got to hit his way out of it. He’s reasonably protected in the 7 hole but walks and dinks around the infield ain’t cutting it. Rowand may or may not hit but at least running him out in CF isn’t a huge drop off defensively and creating a black hole. SF really misses Ross in RF. He’s not exactly the straw that stirs the drink but he solidifies the LU, brings D, pop and decent speed. Even if he turns it around in the next ten days or so Belt is the odd man headed out.
It would seem that way right now. Moving Huff back to 1st. Burrell, as I’m sure everyone here is aware, is only hitting .222 but 4 of his 6 hits so far have gone yard. Freakish
Yeah, still 4 HRs, 4 RBIs for Pat the Bat.
Yeah, they HAVE to put Huff back at 1st, if only for tonight. The OF defense has been atrocious. This looks to be another low-scoring affair.
No new news on Torres? I can’t imagine they don’t DL him. It looked opretty bad . . .
The Bat is quickly becoming the baseball version of ex-Viking WR Cris Carter.
“All he does it hit home runs.”
Things get rearranged and Pat will be where he belongs: A major longball threat off the bench in late innings ~ maybe even with ducks on the pond.
For every Schmidt, McCovey and Matt Williams, there are 5,000 Dan Ortmeiers. BTW, whatever became of the man we used to call Ort-Rod?
I think he retired with the Rockies
Posey/Belt comparisons are fading away. The Ortmeier/Belt comparisons are starting to spread through the blogs and the tweets. Larry Baer’s not sleeping so well now. He has this recurring dream about yet another extravagant on-field ceremony, but this time involving Ort-Rod, Damon Minor, Lance Niekro and John Bowker all giving speeches about Brandon Belt. Middle-aged Matt Williams and Will Clark stand impassively in the dugout, arms crossed over their chests like disapproving parents. Neukom and Sabean, meanwhile, are feeling fine; they’re busy making plans for how to deal with things if Belt can’t get back on track.
Belt oughta get at least one more start tonite since he was the only one who drove in any runs vs. Billingsley last time out with that 3-run bomb.
I got and get a lot of shit here over Ort-Rod but his numbers in 2007 totally supported the optimism. How many rookies here have had an OPS over .800?Recently, maybe Pablo and Buster. Good prospects fail for a lot reasons, lack of talent isn’t always olne of them.
Don’t forget JR Phillips, Tony Torcado, and Todd Linden among a cast of hundreds . . . .
It’s too early for either comparison, Xoot. If Baer has any problems with Belt, he’ll blame Sabean.
Neither Tony Torcato nor Todd Linden ever played 1B in the big leagues, much less for the Giants. Ortmeier did, more than 1/3 of his games. J.R. Phillips was in SF on somebody else’s watch.
And I’m not making comparisons. I’m just monitoring the tweets and blogs.
Oh — and Baer’s expertise is advertising and publicity and so forth, not “field personnel.” There’s a logic to this stuff.
Ortmeier had mediocre minor league stats, and the flash of promise in 07 came when he was already 26. Belt has all of 20 more PAs than Posey did in 09. He still looks like the real deal to me. He swings at strikes.
I’m sure that his 2005 numbers jumped out at them. A 6-4 kid with 35 SB and 20 HR is hardly a dugout staple at any level. Anyway, I never compared him to Belt-Rod..
No one could have liked Brandon’s demeanor last night. He looked a beaten man and resigned to it.
Yeah, I think Belt needs a mental health day off. Huffster gets 1st. Nate the great in RF.
I think Bochy gives Belt another chance tonight vs Barbara. Hell, he did homer off her.
Not only does he start, but Bochy bats ’em lead off to help jump start both Brandon and the entire offense.
Now there’s some dream logic in operation.
The most important thing for Belt is to stick with his MO. Better calls and base hits will come. That said, I’d rather watch Burrell hit 30 HRs for us this year.
The problem is, he’ll only have 30 RBIs . . .
funny
Statisticians would love it.
. . . and 42 errors . . .
Actually, 32.
There are other anomalies. Pablo has 13 hits, 12 of them singles. Posey just 1 extra base hit and Huff still hasn’t homered.
Belt’s in the lineup, but he’s not batting lead off like I surmised. Oh well, hitting 8th in the lineup is still better than leading off on the bench.
Rowand CF, Sanchez 2B, Huff RF, Posey C, Sandoval 3B, Burrell LF, Tejada SS, Belt 1B, Lincecum P
Yeah, the Slash and Smash aren’t happening much yet for this crew. It will. But the Mean Time is frustrating as hell ~ for fans and pitchers alike. Long-term Belt will make it. He’s waaaay more talented than the might have beens; couldn’t quites and never happeneds. The Fresnobus looms unless he gets it together in the next two home games and in Phoenix ~ possibly Denver.
Panda”s lack of slash and smash does not bother me at this point. At least he’s providing quality “D” and maintaining a high OBP and average. Same cannot be said for Huff and Posey. With Torres out the ignition switch is stuck in the “off” position. Decision time is today on DL. Still have no clue as to whether Ford can hit ML pitching; but anything short of All systems go for Andres puts a Ford in our immediate future. If the kid can even do an OBP of .300 the ignition switch flips back on. Him on base and Franchez ups his game about 400 %. Might could even awaken Huff and Posey.
L.U. still looks sputtery. But not awful. If they can get at this guy in the first three innings, even for a couple runs along with long, drawn-out ABs Giants win. Timmy can do wonders with a two-run lead.
Oh goodie, rowand back atop the LU. roughtrade u bring up a good point. Our offense has been largely impotent when it comes to x-tra base hits. Those guys have to start hitting with power (doubles would be fine) or it won’t matter how shitty our defense is. And yes we miss torres atop the LU; sorta. He was hardly doing much before he went down. it’s time to stop basking and start hitting
At least historically Rowand has *started* strong as leadoff. It just doesn’t last very long so you have to know when to move him
Yesterday. It’s that easy.
Sandoval has been interesting to watch. Obviously he is skinnier. He looks more flexible too and is obviously having fun again. He doesn’t seem to squaring anything though and RTs point illustrates it. He had some good ABs last night though and showed a good eye on some tough pitches. It sure would be nice to see him hit his way back to the 3 hole.
Pablo’s singles have not been bleeders and bloops. Way early to draw conclusions. One game and a guy can be on pace for 40+ doubles. Buster has basically looked like shit and yet one big game and he’s a monster.
Except for the bomb they’ve been slash hits. I agree it is too early for conclusions. I’m just commenting on what I’ve seen so far. I like what I see though and think Sandoval is well on his way. He’s invigorated and attacking the ball just not getting the results he’s hoping for. .382 is pretty good for getting warmed up though. Mix in an ounce of patience and he’ll be getting better pitches to hit and then its bombs away.
Unless he goes ballistic, it’s hard to imagine Belt staying now. And it’s defense and not his defense that will doom him. The team has to have Huff, Ross, Torres, Burrell in the LU and the only way that works is with Huff at 1B.
Bonds’s jury finished for the day. Silence.
deliberating a lot and deciding nothing … probably good for Barry. The jurors may be wondering why they’re even there.
Xoot–that’s got to be a bad sign for Barry, right?
I have no problem at all with Pablo, he’s been there best hitter this year. The doubles and HR’s will come for him if he keeps hitting the ball hard. But Posey and Huff need to get it going in a hurry, they’re killing the team offensively……
I really don’t know. Have they decided one count against him but have gotten hung on others? Have they exonerated him on all counts except one and are hung on that? Who knows. I hope some of the jurors talk freely to the press when it’s over.
Rowand is 1 for his last 12, I’m not so certain the lead off spot is where he belongs. However, we are faced with a “If not Rowand, then who?” and there’s really no one. I was serious about Belt leading off but that was before the last couple of games–he’s lost and striking out is the indicator there. But the Belt that took pitches, worked counts, took walks, and WASN’T striking out, along with the speed he has, to me THAT Belt would be our best leadoff hitter (of the current options)………….
Lead off w/ Belt is still a good idea.
over on the Splash they posted a videio of opening day all speeded up in a 2 minute video. Pretty cool.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/giants/detail?entry_id=86922
“And yes we miss torres atop the LU; sorta. He was hardly doing much before he went down. ” Well, other than a .375 OBP, nothing at all. And Torres and Ross are vital to the defense…
Henry says they may put Belt in RF and Huff at first. And no DL for Torres…
No shit. If this was an option, why didn’t they do it earlier?
Probably because Huff was respectable there last year..
How the hell does Gwynn stay on an MLB roster?
Now they’re hanging fire on Torres. 24-man lineup for the rest of the current series, at least. Claim is Andres is steadily improving and that the hope is he will be ready to go in Arizona. We’ll see. Meanwhile, without torres and Ross its a water buffalo outfield and a hunt and peck offense. Somebody needs to get hot soonest. Anybody.
Bochy also says Belt is an option leading off while Torres is out.
Having a “BB” in the leadoff spot has some good history for the Giants. In fact a slew of SF Giant BB’s come to mind. Who could forget Bill Bathe’s homer in the ’89 WS?
I don’t know if he hit lead off, but in 1891 the Giants’ line up featured Buster Burrell:
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1001724&position=C
Tim does look just a little meatier.
If the Giants lose with Tim throwing 95+ for the first time in a year and a half, I will be despondent.
For a number of years in the latter part of the 20th century, the Dodgers road uniforms read “Dodgers” on the front, not Los Angeles. I never understood why they did that.
2-0 and 3-1 change ups. Brandon is not having fun.
When did this little shit Carroll turn into David Eckstein?
Can’t hit OR field. Other than that Belt has this baseball thing down pat.
Fuck Uribe and his WS ring. Cocksucker. This shit is getting old real quick.
Can’t hit. Can’t field. Can’t beat the Dodgers.
How many days until pitchers and catchers report?
We’ll always have 2010…
Well, in other news as this inning melts down, I went to McCovey’s late this afternoon and after a few Tuesday special $1 Coors and a salad, bought a copy of Baggs’ book, signed on the spot by the man himself. I’d say about 50 to 60 people getting copies while I was there. Talked with him a coupla minutes. Nice dude…
Christ. A rally. A rally. My kingdom for a rally . . .
This comedy of errors, is no longer a comedy.
What the HELL got into Timmy? Is that old Brooklyn transferred to LA curse happening again? I was dealing with e-mails when all this shit came down.
I don’t understand why any right handed pitcher would throw rowand anything but a slider. When he’s doing all this BP does the BP coach ever throw him a slider?
An extra base hit?!? What is that?
Lot’s wife had more movement than Rowand on the strike 3 looking.
Ronnie’s wife, Pia?
I had to laugh when Krukow said (for the 1,000th time) “No one takes more BP than Aaron Rowand.” And he promptly rolls over a grounder to short. Kruk got quiet.
And, the guy that invented the square wheel worked endlessly at rolling it…
Sysyphus and the boulder . . .
Hey!!!
2-out magic!
Yeah, baby!!! That 1st extra bagger started something.
Should we wake Pawlie?
Wait til they G’s take the lead.
I can’t believe the bat missed that pitch. The dude is sitting fastball on every pitch!
Mmmmmmmmmmm, turkey burger . . .
Slow down Chuck. They did do the rally you asked for. Extra base hits, even. Buster breaking out of it? Let’s hope so.
An XBH from Timmy this inning could really light a fire. A homer would turn the season around.
The much maligned Rowand gets the job done. I do think it was a bit absurd, however, when Kruk and Kuip started referring to Belt’s bloop as a hit to LCF.
Gamer ties it up with a clutch single! Well, the square wheel rolls once in a while…
LQTM
More like yuk yuk d’oh.
Rowand came through. It’s not so hard to appreciate.
buzzkill.
dimwit
Row-Row!? Whadda ya know? Belt’s single makes up for some of the screamers that got snagged. Justice will be served. Looks like there’s life in the Champs after all. Seems all it required to wake em up was the assault on Timmy. Could be they were thinking of Brian Stow too.
That brunette in the grey Giants sweatshirt behind the plate is starting to grow on me.
Lou seal?