It’s *Money Ball* Time
I feel bad for A’s fans–their most important time of the year just came and went with very little to celebrate. The next 2 months is a dead time for them….
On the other hand, the Giants are just getting started. This is when they take their game to the next level. I think it’s possible that the trade deadline got into Torres’ head a little. It’s sink or swim with him right now. Same with Beltran. You’re one of the guys now dude and that doesn’t mean you’ve forgotten how to hit. Huff? It’s time for him to sit until this *back problem* clears up. He’s only hurting the team right now…
I didn’t really sweat the Cincinnati series. We got down early in all 3 games and it makes it very difficult to come back on the road when you put yourself in a hole like that. Just chalk it up to a weird series with the trade deadline approaching and being on the road in a weird ball park….
Now we come home to play the D-backs, a team that is wide eyed and clueless as they head into this post-trade deadline season. I think experience really will help guide us from here on out as there is something to be said for *been there–know how to do that*. And as much as I hate the Cabrera trade, at least he’s got that going for him…
I’m over the no-trade for a catcher thing. The fact is, we were never going to trade for a young catcher like Iannetta with Posey coming back next year. And all the old guys are only marginally better than Stew-side. I really would just go with Stewart primarily since he can at least throw and block balls. Plus, he’s the best bunter in all of baseball so that’s gotta come in handy at some point 🙂
The rest of the season starts today…..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
It’s a new day, a new month, a new season, as Magnus says. I’m wearing an orange shirt. I fished out my slightly artsy-queer orange and black glasses. Trying to get my own mojo back. And since Kostaz003 is AWOL, maybe I’ll break down and buy MLB month by month — and never get any non-late nights.
Twin, just a humble suggestion: we would all enjoy reading The Dick Stuart Chronicles if they were to be posted here. Even the tidbits you’ve shared have been juicy morsels.
Go [insert vocative comma Giants [insert a basking parade of exclamation marks]
insert closed bracket after the word “comma”
way to fight back Pawlie!
Yeah, I missed the last 2 games (caught the 1st inning of yesterday’s Bubbke debacle before hitting Ikea for college-kid-furniture). Got back and it was 5-0 in the 7th.
I think there was a little hang-over from taking 2 in Philly, and looking otward the upcoming AZ series. Plus it was hotter than hell back there, and the G’s aren’t really known for their hot-weather acumen, so I thinkthey’ll come out refreshed and ready to go tonight.
Bochy’s usually very good at rallying the troops. And I titally missed the Cabrera acquisition.
It’s also a big plus to ride the Horse into battle tonight.
Chuck, if you look at it philosophically, you’ve missed all the games.
If you’re gonna miss games and trade reports, missing them titally is one of the best ways. Never miss an opportunity to be titillated
The sky is falling!! The sky is falling!!
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
WCW
Zoot, I love that poem by Dr. William Carlos Williams of Paterson, NJ!
No BLEEPS today? Chuck’s in a good mood.
SS in the NL this year has been funny position all around. Watching Rent, who plays a lot for Dusty, he isn’t hitting any better for them than he did for the Giants,and on that crummy IF he has to cringe on every grounder. His OPS is actually worse than 2009. Juan Uribe is on the DL again and has had a disastrous year for a team damn near last in the division.
Uribe’s teammate Furcal has also been hurt a lot this year, and still isn’t over the Mendoza line. Bartlett, the guy some fans figure Sabes should have gone after, is an underwhelming .248. Betancourt at Milwaukee is not a good fielder and not hitting either, nor is alex gonzalez of Braves (,232). Freaking Hanley Ramirez is at .242.
the giants…we all know no one has taken over that spot, so Cabrera can’t be any worse than what he have already seen. Maybe Sabes hits a two month jackpot.
amazing what steroids, or lack thereof, has done to the SS position in terms of offense…
Totally agree
I can’t stand Beane, but I actually think he did the right thing here. Melvin is a real mgr., and they have finally started to hit. They still have holes at 3b and 1b, but good young pitching, decent pen, the Weeks kid and maybe a couple decent OF guys. What these guys do under Melvin is a better gauge of who they really are and who you might want to build around for 2012.
texas is something entirely different, tho. Getting Adams is probably even a better pick up than Heath Bell. Hope this @#%&! doesn’t come back to haunt us in the rematch.
And Congrats too Flav, new Flap League Leader! I told you Flav, I was gunning for you…
Wow, spend a few days at the beach and all hell breaks loose. First, a rant for Mr Ed “Phillies Phourever Phan” Wade. Are you still on their payroll? The Pence deal doesn’t make sense to anyone But the Phils. The Bourn deal sounds a little like the Phils preferred that you trade him to the Braves more than the Giants (the Giants being in their heads and all). Mr. Wade you are a punk and that sir, is coming from a clown.
Zitto, if the Giants want to hide him in Fresno, and he is willing, fine. Otherwise put a fork in him, he’s done. Let him start his mom and pop diner if he wants. All I know is if he’s the one behind the grill, the service will be slow getting to the plate.
Cabrera? I don’t know, I’m not worried about losing Neal but I was also getting comfortable with the idea of Tejada at second and Keppinger at short. I suppose there will be some mixing and matching, some twists and turns going on as we go forward to our next WS.
What a pisser weekend of games. East Coast times so I can enjoy them from first to last pitch and we are basically behind all weekend from the first inning on. I think that Friday 14inner took any juice left in the tank after a tense Philly series.
But we need to kick Zito to the curb, just plain reality at this point. The biggest disappointment was not getting a vet catcher. We are getting very little offense out of those two behind the plate now and the Pudge’s of the world may do a lot better, but I like haveing my pithcers throwing to a vet catcher that has been in the playoffs before and I think we saw what vets can do in the playoffs with timely hits, I dont have that confidence with El Presidente and the Vice Presidente…
I was hoping for them to kick the tires on Jose Molina. One, he can get some friendly advise from his brother on handling the pitchers and Two, his defense is better than the Pimple (Whitehead).
So picking up another 36 year old player, what does that say about the Giants farm system?? I am so tired of Sabean going back to his old ways when Barry was here.
Head: appreciate the shout out to the new flap fantasy baseball leader. I’d post the standings but I’m in Idaho and don’t have that snipping tool thing-y
Thank you Idaho! Keep him there!
wel done Sir…nice move into the lead…dog fight the rest of the way…
How out of shape must Big Titty have gotten to be less preferred than Stewside?
Now be respectiful! Catchers take a beating.
Frantic time is over. Giants improved the faltering offense with acquisitions of Beltran and Cabrera. At some point soon Carlos will break out and be himself again and Orlando will contribute at the plate while not being an embarrassment at SS. The catcher thing is a bit sticky yet but i would not be surprised if a waiver deal happens for Pudge, who has been out with an injury recently. Zito needs to be dumped. He is like a drag-anchor at this point. Bothersome distraction. Time to cut bait.
This is usually the time of year when the pros take over, the vets start to strut their stuff and good pitching dominates. Know what? Those qualities precisely describe the Giants. My thought is that Beltran is about to get on track and Panda will stay hot. Those two get hot at the same time and the entire lineup will shine. May that happen in the series we are about to experience. Stomp the Snakes.
I hope Mrs. Vogelsong stays hot…
I look at the Snakes a little like I looked at the Padres last year. I said all Summer that the young Padre pitching was going to run out of gas and they did. Frankly, the Snake staff is pitching over their head this year. Adding Marquis might help beat us once or twice but he sucks and that staff is in for a regression. Putz is a tweak away from the 60 day DL. Oh, and I fully expect the Giants to shut down the red hot Upton this series. Book it……
Dano!
I was in Idaho once. Some chick passed out in my hotel room. I dragged her into the elevator and sent it down to the lobby. Next!
I hope you weren’t a total ass and pushed every button and made her stop at every floor.
What a gentleman!
For some reason a couple who claim to have called the division are happy that it’s *currently* closer than I called it. Even more amusing- neither of these Einsteins called AZ to be the challenger ( who did?) so the Giants actually do have a double digit lead over the teams Snarkkles and the Doomer thought would challenge….anyway, there’s a resaon that the Vegas money, yours truly, and respected sites like BP pick the Giants to ultimately win this with ease- they’re better. Az did bolster their pitching staff in picking up a guy who would be our number 6 or 7 reliever and another who would be our 5 or 6 starter.
With that said, we get the DBacks best tonight, in Kennedy, and nemesis Marquis de Sade on Wednesday- it’s a big series for early August, I look for Matt and Tim to be at their best, and Torres and Beltran to break out…a sweep to end Denny and Snarkk’s wet dreams…
And they love you too.
A wet dream is a helluva lot cheaper than paying for dinner and a show only to end up like Michael Corleone coming out of the bathroom with just his dick in his hand after all is said and done.
A big lesson for me about how long a season it is, with all the ups and downs, happened in 1990. The Reds came into Candlestick for a 4 game series, and the Giants swept them. The Reds, of course, went on to win the World Series that year.
Tejada’s quote was a classic. “All the reporters are saying that I have no range, but I don’t pay attention to what reporters say.”
Only a fool thought this Reds team was finished- which is why I pointed out that they were very unlikely to move Ramon. It will be tough for them, but not many GMs bail on their fans when they’re this close. Beane has done it but he has no fans to worry about.
Pathetic Oakland. Even Fremont gave them a thumbs down.
Tejada is entirely deflecting the point. He wasn’t brought in for his defense. The Giants expected him to hit much better than he’s shown.
Well, before the injury he was hitting. In his 11`July games he was .333 2 HR .900+ OPS. And I have no problem with him being disappointed, nor should anyone else.
It was those other 75 games that were the problem . . .
I have a problem. Anyone with a line of .242/4/26 in over 300 ABs and a -23 runs above avg. at the position he was signed to play should keep his goddamn mouth shut.
Maybe a guy who would rather the Dbacks win than Twinfan be right should keep his goddamn mouth shut.
And just WTF were you right about? Tejada has been a horrible signing of biblical proportions. And you swung and missed on that one. It was Doomin’ Denny calling him a bust from day 1. Here’s the point of the conversation where if you weren’t such an egomaniacal blowhard you’d say, “gee, Denny. You were right about Tejada. It was I that was wrong.” I won’t hold my breath…
Reference is to my call that the Giants would win the division with ease- and Doomin’ Denny would rather me be wrong than right. Typical Doomer crap. Snarkkls is the same.
Well, both of you do have a problem. Chuckles is the worst- he’d rag on Rowand while a HR was clearing the fence. You don’t diss on a guy when he’s started to play well unless your’re a fucking retard.
Yeah, one HR makes it all better. Grow up, skippy.
Chuck likes the word “skippy!”
Only a mental deficient criticizes a guy when he’s performing. We all know Edgar didn’t perform as hoped. Did youi fucking diss him as the 5th game HR cleared the fence?
Chuckles, you ever find that box score with Nate in left and Billy Goat in right?
Chill, skippy.
Skippy, Skippy
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
Skippy, Skippy
Skippy, our friend ever true.
Chuck’s favorite peanut butter?
that Padre bullpen last year was also a whole lot better than what the D-Backs have..I wont call for the sweep, but a series win will send a message…plus we kill when we play in AZ…
Marguis de Sade. Correct moniker, as in Moniker Lewinsky, as in we BLEEP when we play him.
Magnus, enjoy your private Idaho — a state name that invites too-obvious puns.
Enjoy your private Idaho? Oh, Pawlie, the connotations. What was that old thing that was supposed to help kids remember the names of the states? It had stuff like: If I lent my dress to Mississippi or Missouri, what would Delaware? Idaho. Alaska.
On the ground like a wild potato.
If anybody is interested in the Mon. Aug 8 vs. Pirates game, email me for a Travelzoo promo code and link to get 50% off:
– View Reserve Infield … $15 (currently $31.50)
– Left Field Bleachers … $15 (currently $28-$29.75)
– Lower Box Left Field … $19 (currently $37)
AZ has scored less than 3 RPG against us- mainly because, despite their power, they are mostly really dumb hitters. Always have been. If a guy gets beat by a Montero or Young or Kelly Johnson, he made a pitch that outdumbed them.
On the first part of BF’s post, I used to tolerate the A’s well enough, when they were good. It was fun in 2002 when both the Giants and the A’s were making headlines in October. But since Beane and Wolff have dragged the team and its stadium into the ditch, not only are the A’s insufferable, many of their fans are, too. Suddenly those fans are the “purists,” the true Bay Area baseball fans. Bullshit. Maybe they deserve some props for not abandoning the sport altogether, despite the insults Beane and Wolff throw in the faces every season. As to the bandwagoneers cheering for the Giants right now — I couldn’t be happier. All that money they’re spending makes a difference.
Thanks to Pawlie, I found out the Giants had acquired Cabrera yesterday afternoon when I returned his call while leaving the Syracuse area. And no, that wasn’t enough to make me drive off I-81. Cabrera can’t possibly be worse hitting-wise than what we’ve had at SS most of the season, can he?
Thankfully I missed the last two debacles as well. Since yesterday’s game was over after the first inning, I was happy to hear that the Reds’ Todd Frazier get his first career HR. He’s from a neighboring town here in Jersey, a very nice kid who was on the national stage in the late 90s as part of a championship Little League team. Went on to a great high school and college career. His older brother, Jeff, is with the Nationals organization. Now maybe Todd can start having some success against real pitchers.
The best part of yesterday’s game (radio) was, somewhere near the end, Todd got brushed back with a pitch, and Miller said “down goes Frazier, down goes Fraizer!!”
LQTM.
Yeah, Arizona has some really dumb hitters. Giants bats are way smarter…
Team BA: Dbacks: .250 Giants: .239
Team OBP: Dbacks: .318 Giants: .304
Ks: Dbacks: 834 Giants: 766
OPS: Dbacks: .738 Giants: .661
GIDP: Dbacks: 54 Giants: 74
What would Larry Krueger say?
How do they stack up AGAINST the Giants, nimrod?
Krueger’s back on KNBR right now. And they’ve paired up Damon Bruce with Radnich — they could barely hide the sneers to each other on air.
KNBR must be getting nervous about the new sportstalk FM station, it has Urban on now, and Papa has signed onto it also…
Now if they could just change that inept morning drive time show, Murph and Mac. Okay I’m dreaming. I remember when radio had some class. KNBR used to be a classy station. Then they hired Pete Franklin and everything went downhill.
What was wrong with Pete? I liked that old fart. He was a little rough around the edges, but he knew his shit.
I bet you called in one afternoon and he flushed you. I woulda done the same thing. Whoooosh!
Pete Franklin was such an idiot that he was convinced Shawn Bradley would be the next great basketball player because he could hit a baseball…frickin idiot…
Dennis used to be a nice friendly guy……..what happened?
Yeah, the Radnich/Bruce pairing was a stunner. Radnich always bragged about how he only “works a solo.” The move of Bruce from 1050 to 680 is obviously with the intent of getting their “talent” all on the same channel. 95.7 has already won by forcing KNBR’s hand.
KNBR would improve big time if they fired the thoroughly irritating Eric Byrnes and put Krueger back on Sportsphone at night and after the Giants games.
They’d probably have to condition his new deal on no criticism of Giants moves. Oops…
They’ve got Marty Lurie on after Giants games now. He’s good
Lurie and Tolbert are two that are good.
Tony Bruno got the ax from his segment. Okay they gave his some commentary to do. Whoopee!
I agree, zumie. Lurie and Tolbert
Snarkkles is a fan of the racist Krueger. What a surprise.
Sounds like a lot of yucky things happening with the KNBR hosts.
I catch Lurie on Comcast occasionally. He’s amiable, that would be the best that could be said of him. But none of the talking heads have any clue about advanced statistics. Bruce? Born with a sneer on his pasty face, the only reasonable reaction to his snarkky commentary is a desire to slap him silly.
Yeah, admittedly I give a higher rating to Lurie because he’s more listenable than the load of schtick-meisters that KNBR has.
Radio is full of schtick especially on the Sports Leader.
He *is* amiable. That’s why I like him. His only “schtick” is to treat everyone with respect. No matter how much of a tool they come off as. That’s an incredibly rare attribute. And he’s knowledgable enough not to make an ass out of himself. Also, he comes up with queries that gives you something to think about. Granted, those same queries invite a mound of knee jerk cretins to call in but it gives you something to discuss with your friends away from KNBR or here on the Flap. Yup, I like Lurie
I don’t dislike him, I just don’t find his commentary that interesting…
Sure. That’s perfectly reasonable.
Monte Poole, Paul Guttierez, Matt Maiocco, are good if you like non-assholes. The worst of all is Papa- it’s always a pleasure when Tompkins takes over. This is Comcast, of course, not the absurd KNBR. And any of the Comcast women are better than most of their male counterparts.
It made me give out a weary sigh when Greg Papa tried to momentarily make something controversial out of the team having given Obama a #44 jersey, because…..that’s McCovey’s number! As if- McCovey, a Black person from the deep South, who grew up during the horrors of Jim Crow segregation, wouldn’t be thrilled that, in some way, his name would be connected with the first Black President of the United States.
Papa thinks he’s a Greek God. He’s more of a Greek waiter.
Saw him at the Public House once. If it makes y’all feel any better, Papa wears far too much foundation…but he’s not ashamed of it. If you stuck a finger in his face, you’d leave a thumbprint on his skin.
Well, with Ross getting the CF start, it seems they’re bailing on Torres, I guess.
Who’s batting lead-off?
Ross.
Oh giggity.
Nobody except Huff ( 8 for 21) has hit Kennedy, BTW
They can’t be serious about using Ross at leadoff for any length of time. I think a deal or two is still gonna happen…
I wonder if Torres is having problems we don’t know about.
What is going on with Villalona?
Ross at leadoff? Well, that’s a new one, though he did that apparently 5 times last year with 3-2 game success Maybe Bochy is hoping for some past Gamer leadoff success to rub off. Otherwise, it makes little sense with a RHP going and Ross mired in a huge slump — Torres must be deep in the doghouse for them to try this…
CF Ross
2B Keppinger
RF Beltran
3B Sandoval
1B Huff
LF Nate
SS Cabrera
C Whiteside
P Cain.
Crazy. Home cooking better heat these guys up . . .
Bloomquist SS
Johnson 2B
Upton RF
Montero C
Young CF
Roberts 3B
Goldschmidt 1B
Parra LF
Kennedy RHP
Goldshmidt?
Posting the opposition’s lineup is very innovative, Skippy…
Got to change things up once in a while, sport . . .
Are you sure about a Goldschmidt?
ANd what does Krueger think of brain dead Jewish bats?
Never mind. I looked him up. I just hadn’t ever heard of him. But for me that doesn’t really mean much. I never heard of Keppinger before either
Maybe the Beltran and Cabrera acquisitions put them over the brain dead Caribbean quota..
*THAT’S* where I know Krueger from. I was trying to remember what he said without Googling him.
Thanks
What is considered a good BDCQ?
Zero, according to Krueger, I guess . . .
It’s the bat-dead shit I’m worried about.
According To Krueger? A dead Caribbean, I guess.
One of the guys that went with Brian Stow to the game and was a key witness to the attack has suddenly died. This is weird…
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/08/key-witness-in-bryan-stow-beating-dies-suddenly.html
Wow. Just an odd coincidence, nothing to do with anything except a tragic mistake but, yeah, still weird I guess.
heyzeuz cristo! That is eerie.
Cody not only leading off, but in CF? I say it’s a misprint…
Having a police officer diguised as a Thai food worker slip peanuts into a mango chicken salad is said to be a common LAPD tactic in beating cover ups..
can you imagine if, the day before that game, you told those 2 guys that before Aug 1st, one of them would be dead and one would be in a coma from totally separate incidents? They’d laugh in your face. What a sad turn of events in this case……
It’s like a bad horror movie
Like, who’s next???
They even tried to get Timmy..
Ross in CF is fine. And it really doesn’t fucking matter who leads off. My only question is *why Ross?* He’s been fucking horrific for weeks now. Boch trying to “git him goin’? I’ve never had a year where I worried less about a LU. All our hitters suck, play some-all-none: we’re still gonna need a run late in the game to win this one……
Well, the last couple weeks Nate is .179, Torres is .219, Ross is .043, Gamer is .333. So maybe it doesn’t matter except for Rowand- 8 for 24 with a couple dingers. But as I said when they got Beltran, none of the OFers is safe.
No one will ever know how the results would be without the two season ending injuries and the numerous DL stints but the animus is a bit over the top considering all that.
In the Atlanta game, Uggla’s giving the full Uggla spectrum. He’s playing some horrible defense, and he’s smashed two homeruns.
Zito to the DL with the phantom injury.
From the AP: “Details of the injury weren’t disclosed.” Phantom indeed!
He has a right foot strain. The report I heard was very specific. “Where’s it hurt, Barry, THERE?” “OUCH! Yeah, it hurts now!.” “Right foot strain.” (My Right Foot — Zito’s biopic.)
I wonder how much proof an MLB team needs to offer up to the league office when these type of bullshit injuries get conjured up…..
I seriously doubt that they’re fake as much as injuries they would normally play through
Could this possibly be a prelude to Zito being released in the off-season? They seriously need to turn the page on this situation.
And Freddy’s officially done for the year. Surgery tomorrow.
Bochy never got to field the starting lineup he wanted to this season, not even one time.
Do you get to see the commercial where the people take this car for a test drive? One guy likes the leg room, the price is good, etc…why does one of the women have an orgasm in the car?
Seems to be the new thing in commercials. Trying to catch the viewer’s attention. There’s a commercial where a couple is enjoying their pizza way too much.
Come on. It’s Pizza Orgasmica . . .
This is a weird one though, it’s like she sits on the stick shift.
I had never heard of that pizza place.
Zito … just announced it’s a re-occurence of that right foot strain. Heh:
“That’s *mr* mrbill to you! said, on July 31, 2011 at 1:13 pm
Time for Zito to sprain his foot for a couple months again.”
not bad. If it had actually happened I’d give you more props. 🙂
Come on, they clear the fucking locker room of reporters and then Bochy finds Zito to talk to him? Yeah, he had a bad foot. It was so bad that Bochy had to tell him about it in secret….
Hopefully he takes the bad kharma with himm and this team gets going . . .
Zito reminds me of my sister. She can’t pitch either, but you oughta see her box.
J. Upton….one time down. Cool.
Nice getting out of the first inning unscathed, for a change.
Upton strikes out. Shocker. As I said, this little hot streak against sub standard pitching will be halted in this series vs our pitchers in our park……
Bochy’s a genius!
How ’bout that new leadoff guy!
Hey, nice move, Boch . . .
Looks like we found ourselves a new leadoff hitter. Just don’t throw the bat you cocksucker.
“I wonder how much proof an MLB team needs to offer up to the league office when these type of bullshit injuries get conjured up…..”
Answer – The wrapping that the band aid came in.
Kruk: “He throws a light bat”. Krukow has the same amount of tact as I have in my pinkie. How light will that bat feel to the fan who takes it square in the jaw?
Or the infant who shouldn’t even be there.
having his faced stuffed with food by two fat parents who just stuffed their own faces with garlic fries…..nailed it?
Thanks, Mr. Ump.
So Zitshit is hitting the DL? I applaud the move, but how in the hell can MLB allow another phony-baloney move by the Giants? Zito isn’t hurt. If I were the Snakes or any other team in contention, I’d be crying bloody murder at this bogus move. The Giants just made up an injury to put Zitshit on the DL. Isn’t this shit policed in MLB?
We just got a gift call there. I’d rather be lucky than good…
They do monitor fake injuries- but as I pointed out, he undoubtedly is injured. It’s just an injury he would normally play through.
Actually he does appear to be attempting a transfer. Kruk loves giving all close calls to the opponent. I guess he thinks that gets rid of any homer label.
Seriously, if the Dodgers put Kershaw on the DL for some phony-baloney reason, I’d storm the fucking castle.
Zito is not hurt. Baseball regulation is a goddamn joke.
I just noticed TF’s right-handed keystrokes are a tad off. Let’s put him on the Flap DL.
I also noticed Chuck still doesn’t make any goddamn sense. I say we put him on the 60-day DL.
. . . and Dennis goes on whatever list they put Jimmy Piersall on for mental illness. 🙂
Zito’s salary has become hush money.
How does mlb monitor fake injuries? I mean, besides you saying they do.