A Great Game on Many Different Levels
Yes, I did stay up till the end. I have a friend in town and he would have called me a huge pussy if I had gone to bed before that one ended. I would argue that was one of Kuip’s worst home run calls ever. Not sure if he was watching that one on tv when he called it but he didn’t really get into it till it clanged into the stands…….
What a great game for Torres. Of course he had the hits but his catch (can’t remember the inning) was fantastic—every bit as good as the overrated Willie Mays catch. It was a game that perfectly gave 2 middle fingers to Chad Qualls and his gay bounced ball……..
Panda’s game tying hit was one of the sweetest swings on a tough pitch that I’ve ever seen. Not that it matters much who is hitting clean up but I don’t understand why it’s Huff and not The Panda. Huff has absolutely nailed down and patented the 3 hopper to 1st or 2nd base–not sure why that qualifies him to bat clean up…….
I gave Panda POTG for 2 reasons: 1) there is no extra innings without him and 2) it was an impossible pitch that he hammered. The bullpen did a great job but striking out a bunch of Padres is what everyone does. NOT everyone can hit that Adams pitch the way Panda did…….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
This team just won’t quit. The injuries haven’t diminished that character. With Pablo hitting his best, they’re gooing to do fine. Even Dennis’s futilitarian fever will fade.
How’d you know that I believe that human hopes are vain? Nice use of the Dictionary.com WOTD, counselor.
xoot, exactly, as Twin calls him Doomin Denny has to come around sometime. He needs to get his mind off A***S***** and NoWhitey. Come into the fold Dennis.
Kevin, the 49ers haven’t had a decent QB since Garcia left. The Giants have the 2nd worst offense in baseball that includes the worst catching tandem of them all. Until those two things change, the only thing I’ll be folding are my four hearts when I come up empty on the river. And I’m no fourflusher.
Hey BF, this is kinda trivial, but when I hit the post comment button, it puts my comment out there but it does not clear the box. I have to delete my comment and then write a new one
Kev– I know, it’s annoying. It’s nothing I started, WordPress did some *upgrade* to the page and that was one of the fall outs…..
yeah, like I said trivia. LOL
Looks like Jose Reyes is headed to the DL. Let’s get ’em now while he’s cheap…
delmar, I know this is a joke, as no one can be dealt while they are on the DL….like say, J Sanchez either.
Jenkins today makes the point said here all along: you can’t trade pitching, wheeler included. It’s SF ultimate edge over everyone, as shown again last night.
So….right now the only teams in the entire league with better record than SF are phils and braves, the usual suspects we dispatched last year on the way to WS win few among mlb thought possible (esp without a “big bat”). I’m not going to deny SF has holes in the LU and under performers, but you still have to beat this team, and it is not going to be easy. I don’t care who is in the opposing LU, no one likes coming here to play, and SF has shown they can score plenty enough to win on the road.
Props to our resident flap gamer, Ted, who saw a great game and added to the musical entertainment of all.
Pablo has assumed leadership of this team. Hopefully the little engine is back as well. Both made game saving defensive plays. The bullpen pulled it together after a shaky road trip. Just the Pads? Well, they had beaten up on LincyCain and had Madbum on the ropes.
And then of course, there’s the World’s Smartest Man Alive, with yet another big clutch hit. Maybe he’ll eventually shake the tag of 4th OF
What a great game. Pablo is putting the Kung Fu You back into the Panda. That stab at third tore the poor little Pads hearts out. Seeing him fired up, clapping and waving at the team to bring him home after the double was awesome. The bullpen is a managers dream and the way Bochy uses them must be a relief pitchers Nirvana. Tejada playing second just flat out works, say bye bye Bill Hall. I was really hoping Pat would do well this year but at this point I’d almost rather sink or swim with Ford. Two bombs from Nate? That would be correct, what a great game this was.
Thing is, this team doesn’t seem to struggle as much against the Phillies and the Braves as they do against San Diego. All the teams have great pitching (they are the top 4 in the NL), but SD is by far the weak-ass hitting team of the 3. But they do the small-ball shit well. And they run on the Giants at will.
I can’t find it now but in the Sac Bee they quoted that the Pads are like 14-3 at AT&T. They just hit the Giants pitching really well there. Don’t know what it is…
Torres’s catch was amazing, in some ways even better than Pablo’s great grab. Torres was running to where he thought the ball would be and reaching for it, without being able to look. As soon as he felt the ball in the web, he knew he could slow down and look, and he did. He then flipped the ball, just slightly, into the pocket of the glove, for keeps. I don’t know much about ADD, but his focus looks pretty good to me. His legs sure seem healthy. Now if that kid Hernandez could just show up and push one of the crummy catchers off the roster . . . .
Sorry. I meant Sanchez. Or Gomez. Or something like that.
Yeah, on what Kevin said, sometimes the old comments are there, sometimes they aren’t.
Other times I have the option to delete a post, other times not.
Weird.
Yeah, the catching situation just keeps looking more dire the more those two guys keep playing. I almost laughed at the video footage of Stewart working on his footwork with a coach, as I’m wondering what all those years in the minors were about; and then he throws two balls into centerfield, and hits some of the weakest outs you’ve ever seen an MLB player hit. And NO Whitey’s not much better. Clearly this has to be priority #1 for Sabean.
From Dan Brown, subbing at ExtraBaggs:
“the Giants have never scored more than three runs while Madison Bumgarner is on the mound in any of his 18 career starts at AT&T Park. For what it’s worth, he’s 10-1 in his career when he gets more than three runs of support.”
Rolled into work about 1/2 hour late. My manager just started laughing and said to my admin “I told you Alice, I told you don’t expect him on time” and told me I could go upstairs and take a nap if I wanted.
I love my job
You must work for the government . . .
hey, I work work for the government!!
I belive the term is…quasi-government
(Let the Victor Hugo references begin)
Quasi or queasy?
I did not stay up on the East Coast, glumly retiring at 5-3 with slim hopes of a great wakeup experience. No, not THAT. Presto! I love waking up to a bit of a miracle, Flappers! (No, not THAT!) I have not seen the Catch or many highlights beyond Pablo’s game-tying and Nate’s great 2nd HR.
I gotta think this is HUGE because we needed a shot in the arm, the BP was steller, bats wake up, hometown mojo restored, and about 15 other reasons.
And because Ted was there.
Wow.
As others have said, these guys don’t quit.
Go, Giants!
Gee, WordPress, leaving the comment box filled could not be more annoying!
Magnus, even WILLIE says the Catch is overrated. He had many better catches, including one chronicled in the Hirsch bio where they thought it might’ve killed him. Plus, he has always said the Throw was a bigger deal, allowing a runner to advance only one base when he might’ve scored on a ball nearly 500 feet. The Catch was never in doubt.
It happened in the 54 World Series so it’s remembered. Mays is correct about the throw.
One of the most interesting things to me about the Willie Mays catch, is that it was known as a “Willie Mays catch” in my neighborhood. We were kids in the early 1970s. We could have only seen the catch rarely at some obscure point on some TV show?…..But when? In a baseball book or magazine?….But when? And yet, any time someone made a catch over their head, we’d call it a “Willie Mays catch.” The last of a cultural era, when kids played pick-up games at local schoolyards, when baseball was so popular with kids we’d play it on our own, when that kind of baseball history was passed along amongst kids, on our own. We KNEW all this stuff at that age. That’s why that commercial with the kids imitating Carlton Fisk’s homerun and Kirk Gibson’s homerun is so annoying to me. Today’s kids don’t know that stuff. That commercial is fake to the core in that respect. Trying to pretend like today’s kids have that kind of historical baseball knowledge is ludicrous. It shouldn’t annoy me, I guess, but it does.
Funny, zumie, when I was a kid there were 2 catches referred to as a “Willie Mays Catch”. The one you speak of but also a generic leap, arm extended, robbing the hitter of a home run. I’m pretty sure that was due to another picture in a book or magazine.
You’re right. TV is full of phony moments.
Zum, this is a great point. I remember it similarly. Then there was the Mays ‘basket catch’ in front of him, which we all knew but had never seen him do.
It’s funny most of the high school kids I worked with don’t know any of today’s players let alone past greats. Part of that is they are late to the game, just athletes turning out because they’ve been asked. It’s also due to lack of baseball programs in the cities, which thankfully has come under focus recently. And lastly, I think it’s due to all the other entertainment options kids have today, from cable to tech to multiple new sports.
I just don’t feel knowledgeable enough to comment.
Home runs are sexy and Nate the Great had a helluva game but I completely agree with your POTG, Flav.
And once more, in case she didn’t see it before, To MailOrderBride:
THANKS!!! YOU RULE!!!
It’s a new morning! (Bob Dylan song). Or afternoon. A muthableeping BASKING kind of day. Bask away, mates.
ah…….! comments box clears. THANKS.
Zum, perhaps more general, but we all referred to the Willie Mays “style” of catching most balls, the “basket catch.” Personally, Willie was my hero growing up and that’s how I caught the ball, but my coaches hated it (especially my High School coach. Ha.).
Finally! Some fire! Against the Padres, no less. Quite unexpected on my part. Being a couple timezones back, like Pawlie who’s even further from the action, i zoned off when the Padres went up 5-3. Saw that movie before. Like deja vu all over again and again. Surprise!
The fire. Kung Fu Panda is back and has returned some moxie to this team. Not only did he drive in a couple to tie the game but also made a play at third which wouldda made Brooks Robinson a bit green. Torres! Besides the highlight reel catch, he garners three hits, demonstrating that his recent lapsitude may well have been an outlier. And Nate! Walkoff. First Dinger gets the team into the game and adds a double for shits n giggles. He’s been a slow learner and there are those who still denigrate him, but gradually he appears to be edging Ross as #2 outfielder. Defensively superb, except for the occasional mental gaffe, he finally seems to be developing that long awaited power-stroke. He is fast eclipsing that ‘fourth outfielder’ monicker.
When a team has three hitters who are contributing, they will win more often than not. Sandoval has reverted to 2009 form and is not only having fun, but has become a prime motivator for this squad. Torres is the sparkplug. When Andres is on the team does well. Could it be that Schierholtz is transforming into that all-important third reliable bat? A bit early to make such a bold assertion, but there are signs.
The Bullpen. Over the past couple seasons and more the SD pen has been league-dominant. Guys like Bell and Adams have set the standard for excellence in the craft. Move over guys. Though the usually golden SF pen had some lapses in the Midwest, they fully reverted to form last night with 8 innings of two-hit, two BB sterling relief work. Romo and Lopez were totally golden. They will be one tired bunch tonight and so will the position players. But that works for both teams.
Zito. Oft victimized by the Padres, he will need to be spot on with his concentration tonight and with his finesse. This Luebke kid has been tough to date. So was Adams. Go get em gang!
Don’t forget B-Willie,Stix. 2 IP, 4 Ks, 0 BBs . . .
Man, the pitching line is crazy. 36 Ks by both teams. Four walks (ONE by SD).
In accordance with my advice, Nate now realizes that pulling the ball down the line is the way to go at ATT.
Watched the Padre feed of the game while slipping in & out of a semi-coma. Old man Enberg & Chicago 7 member Mark Grant were very good and impartial. RT made an excellent point earlier about Panda looking like a leader last night, but he’s got to get his slightly slimmed down rear end out of the batter’s box and not stand there admiring his doubles….
I used to basket catch the nickel that my mother would toss down from the 6th floor window of the old, cold rundown tenement slum I grew up in. That was the price of a Whammy Stick from the Good Humor man.
. . . and no one to see it except mom.
Now that it’s a dime, it’s a tougher catch. Plus mom’s arm ain’t what it used to be…
Yer killin’ me Loo (LQTM)
I like what Bochy said about Affeldt’s calf injury and Qualls’ ball spiking . . . “It was kind of the unwritten-rule deal about sports. They used the adage, ‘Act like you’ve been there before.’ Now, it’s all about celebrating your victory and showing emotion. That’s what players do today.”
and,
There was a photo of the injury in Affeldt’s locker Wednesday afternoon, and Bochy even called in Affeldt to watch the game video, telling the 32-year-old left-hander, “You have to see why I’ve been laughing for the last 15 minutes.
“These guys have got to calm down their celebrations, especially the older ones,” he added.
Link is here:
http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110706&content_id=21521334¬ebook_id=21521338&vkey=notebook_sf&c_id=sf&utm_source=bleacherreport.com&utm_medium=referral
The over-celebrating in baseball has gotten absurd. A guy hits a walk-off sacrifice fly and gets beat up by his teammates for the trouble, like it’s the 7th game of the World Series. It’s amazing there aren’t more players injured in those celebrations. Actually, there probably are, but the players don’t mention it so they don’t look more stupid.
You guys saw the video of the golfer who broke his leg, jumping in a pond to celebrate winning a tournament? D’oh!
Speaking of Pat the Bat . . .
http://tinyurl.com/3pu4xro
2 guys went on the DL last yer in celebrations.
Haven’t seen that, Zumie . . .
Chuck, was one of them Morales (not certain about the last name and don’t know the first) of the Angels? Seems like he was having a breakout year too when it happened.
The antithesis would be the Giants incredibly low key celebration of Montefusco’s no hitter. K & K lose their minds from that clip.
Who mentioned Pill for second base? Interesting, I hadn’t known he’d even played there. His less than stellar numbers for a first baseman don’t look so bad at second.
The morons on comcast were all over Torres about the Qualls incident. One of them, forget who, said Torres “cried like a baby” over it…which is total bullshit.I agee that ballplaters are too sensitive about this “showing up” business but what Qualls did was unprofessional at best, His explanation even worse that he did it because Andres had a great AB
Was thinking this morning how baseball is ideally the long-haul sport for fans. Not only do you have to follow a team all year to truly appreciate them, but you have to follow the each game to get an accurate appreciation. Case in point for me last night. As I haven’t been sleeping well, decided to watch the broadcast early then cut out which I did around the 4th. Then, finding myself still up, I logged on and found us tied in extras. In retrospect, the comments I posted here last night were desperate and frustrated. But I think that’s because I missed things like Pablo’s snag at 3rd and Torres’ catch in the 12th. ‘Attention must be paid’–to understand them, but also to enjoy them fully.
Arthur Miller refrences yet
Arthur Miller, DiMaggio references…can I photo of Marilyn Monroe be a-coming?
On this day 10 years ago:
Giant reliever Ryan Vogelsong allows 5 runs in 1-1/3 innings in a 13-3 loss to Milwaukee..
didn’t Dave Dravecky suffer a broken arm in a celebration, after the cancer was diagnosed?
Wanna re-phrase that?
It was in the form of a question. Lay off, Trebek.
um, yeah, poorly done; delete last five words
Twce in the last week a very malicious roque antivirus program tried to install on my PC while on Baggarly’s blog.
Possibly unrelated- Yogi is loose there.
Belt activated but optioned to Fresno. That’ll certainly help our cause as we go for 41 consecutive gms at home w/o scoring at least 7 runs.
Belt had been slumping when he was called up. And he was only called up because of Travis’ bum shoulder.
Please stop with the “if Travis wasn’t injured, he woulda been up here to save the day” bullshit.
The only thing he’s saving is himself. I hear the CYO is looking for a few good men. They’re running their camps this time of year…
Camp Travis?
I didn’t say shit about saving the day- they wanted a lefty off the bench and preferred that Belt play everyday in Fresno, not sporadically here.. It was only after Travis was injured that they changed to Belt
There’s some new shit. Some old shit. And some shit switched around. But when you look closely, it’s the same old shit.
Rowand CF, Tejada SS, Sandoval 3B, Burrell LF, Huff 1B, Schierholtz RF, Hall 2B, Whiteside C, Zito P.
I almost never comment on line-ups but starting Rowand over Torres after his game last night? Is he tired? Was it the 3 strike outs? Is it a pitching match up?
I believe it’s a lefty. He thought of sitting Nate but a radical group called “Up From All Fours” threatened the skipper.
Torres only 2 fer 26 vs left-handers. For all the shit he gets, Rowand has been killin’ the southpaws this year…
Ted, Mr. Loobner is a lefty, and Torres is batting .077 vs lefties.
Row Row is batting .369 vs lefties . . .
Thanks all ya’ll.
If Bochy had played Ross instead of Nate, there would have been an uproar. . .
One of the thrilling wins of the year and Birthin’ Denny is bitching because they didn’t score 7
Dennis is not to fond of “shit!” His stable is full of it.
Ross does have better numbers than the Nater. Slightly. But Nate has earned the right to succeed or fail with no excuses.
Ah, Nationals’ game-time temp is a humid 93 degrees. What I wouldn’t give for some cool SF fog! Might go see Ubaldo this Saturday night vs. Nats’ Lannan…
I feel your pain! I remember DC well one summer.long ago.
Larry Baer’s on KNBR citing “CERA” as a defense for our two catchers. “Our ERA is down from last year. Our catchers have a lot to do with that…” STFU and tell Sabean to go get us a goddamn catcher. A real one. Please.
Huh, my post either vanished or was never there.
Blade, it was Kendry Morales who broke his ankle trying to jump on home plate. He landed on someone’s foot and twisted it. Took ’em 10 minutes to cart his ass off the field.
Chris Coghlan tore his knee up trying to pie Wes Helms after a win.
I saw that Coghlan was on the DL . . . Are you shitting me about the cause Chuck? What an idiot if true.
That was last year, but yes, that’s how he did it.
I didn’t realize that Zito came back after that rain delay. I only saw the beginning and the end of the game. That’s insane that he came back after nearly a 3 hour rain delay. Any predictions on what he does tonight? I’ve got no feel at all. I tend to lean towards a good performance due to how shitty the Padres hitters are. But who knows……..
Zito had a 6-run lead and a great chance for a win. He wasn’t going to pass up any chance like that for a win. Who knows how many he’ll get this season?
As for tonight- it’s always ‘who knows’ with Zito. In the last game, his fastball hit 86 a few times, which was better. And he had a pretty good change-up. And as others have said before, if the ump calls that big curveball for a strike, he has a much better chance.
Still going with Perfect Game. He missed my last prediction by –><– thiiss much.
With all the adversity the Giants have been through this season, to be 8 games up in the Rockies at the moment is pretty nice. I can dig it.
“on” the Rockies.
Zum, the Rockies provide NO competition and NO threat to the Giants . . . If they keep playing like they did recently against Atlanta – who’s lineup is weaker than the Giants, then the G-Men will increase their lead to 16 games over the Rockies by season end. Yes, the Rockies are that bad (especially without Cargo, Tulo, and De La Rosa playing).
RIP John Mackey
Fell asleep with my FL team. Left some shit on the bench tonight.
I’ve been wide awake with mine. Hasn’t done me any good this past month. I’m looking up at you in the standing ferchrissakes.
Sam Elliot is pretty good on that beer commercial. He can make the line “high mountain barley” sound like Tennessee Williams.
Speaking of fantasy, I have this Friar P, Luebke going for me tonight. Beat me if you can…
Werth is worth . . . less. Yahoo discussed his werthless ass in this article:
http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/blog/roto_arcade/post/Lames-Somewhere-in-Jayson-Werth-8217-s-beard-i?urn=fantasy-wp4691
I’m so thankful the Giants didn’t make a mistake on going after him or Crawford (currently cooling his heels and counting his cash on the DL). Imagine how that would have exacerbated the Zito and Rowand signings.
no kidding, Blade; and did you find any feeds? Veetle maybe?
shite! wordpress not clearing comment box again…why?
Sorry, slow tonight – what do you mean “. . . any feeds? Veetle maybe?”
Whatcha talkin’ ’bout Willis?
It’s just really different when the batter isn’t in a lineup surrounded by lots of good hitters. I’ve always had that suspicion about Jeter, too. He’s spent his whole career in Yankee lineups with good hitters, like when Ken Griffey, Sr. was on those Big Red Machine teams. It’s just really different if you have to be THE guy carrying a team, practically by yourself. It makes what Pablo’s doing these days all the more impressive.
Driving ’round, heard Yankees’ radio announcers tell a Dick Williams (R.I.P.) anecdote: he was a September call-up for the ’51 Brooklyn Dodgers; no room on the bench; was sitting on the floor or the ground when Bobby Thomson hit his Shot.
Love him or hate him, Dick Williams was a baseball man to the core. Right out of Central Casting. [Ted, movie comment? Would Wilfred Brimley play him?] Heck, he even brought the Expos to the postseason. And remember this: the Commish wouldn’t let Charlie Finley let Williams go to the Yankees as part of a deal.
Speaking of Fantasy BB, I may survive today – was down 4 this evening and now only .5
Baseball Gods may not have turned their back on me. Pfffft!
He should’ve started Lee Stange in Game 7 vs, STL in the ’67 WS. I think Lonborg was on 2 days rest…
I canned the Werth/Crawford signings before they happened and I LQTM when I saw the numbers they got. Signing guys to 100+ million dollar contracts, based off the back of their baseball cards, is idiotic. Underlying sabermetric numbers usually tell the story…….
I’m sorry about having to clear your last comment-thing. I’ll email wordpress and find out how to turn that off………
Please hurry. It’s made my life a living hell….
It seems to clear itself after, um, it reintroduces me to itself. A cookies thing? I’m good now.
DJLoo: Didn’t Gibson have a brilliant WS then?
He usually did. Might’ve won 3. Not sure. But I think Gibby was on 3 days rest for Game 7…
Speaking of “blossoming,” wasn’t Gibson a florist during the off-season?
I believe Lou Brock was a florist. He invented that rain hat, the Brockabrella. Really.
Any chance Nate is blossoming?
Thurmond?
Nate is a nice 3rd outfielder who has a great arm and obviously can hit under pressure. But he’s nothing special. I’d like to see him steal more bases, he’s got the speed. That would make him more appealing. He’s never going to hit 20 homers so if you’re an OF and you’re not going to do that you could at least steal some bases…….
As for “more-than-nice” outfielders, I like Stanton of Florida. If he was in NYC, everyone would hear all about him.
sheesh…Injuns won it on a 5-spot in the bottom of the 9th
9 up, 9 down? Who is this fuck?
Our new ace…
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-li!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Worst thing that could ever happen…I hope to hell Sabean wasn’t watching. We need a goddamn catcher.
d-ELI-cious!
I’m not even going to bother counting the # of hits Whiteside has had since Posey went down. It can’t be double digits……..
Pawlie— I’ve got Stanton on every fantasy team I own, I drafted him 2 rounds earlier (3rd) than he was getting drafted in. He’s got an eye problem that is making him a mere mortal right now but he is the next 50 HR guy…….
well fer feck sake I wish some of our batters had that “eye problem”; hit his 17th jack tonight
Hafner beats Toronto with a GS after Frank Francisco — used to be on my FL team — loaded the bases
I just have to share this text I got from an angry Mets fan over a ridiculously blown call that gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead tonight: “Urine out at home by 10 feet called safe. Same imp as yesterday.”
ah the jois uv txtng lgtm to the max
that Urine; what a pisser in the clubhouse
lqtm
Steve Sax was another offseason florist. Hated him until I met him.
Then you despised him?
That’s for all y’all’s shit-talk about my man Eli!
How long can Barry hold the lead?
3…2…1…
Eli would’ve had him if he was trying to steal the mound…
I’m not trippin’ on our catchers throwing all the runners out but it would be nice if they could make the thrown to the mitt without bouncing it or throwing it into CF……….
Is comcast breaking to commerical at random times during the game for anyone else or is it jsut me?
Bill Hall’s a pussy. DFA his ass tomorrow. WTF did they sign his sorry ass in the first place?