How to Score a Run and is Beltran *big timin* us?
I know I shouldn’t ever be surprised about how inept our hitters are but I was struck by at least one small thing last night: We miss Freddy Sanchez. I used to be frustrated like many of you with his constant opposite field approach but we just don’t have a single guy in the LU who takes an at bat with that mentality WITH MEN ON BASE. Maybe Keppinger. Pablo can go opp-o but he’s not usually trying to advance a runner, nor should he, he’s trying to drive them in. Watching Cabrera bat last night was painful. There’s talk of moving him to 2nd and Kepp down but how would that change anything? Despite hitting 6th he was stil coming up in situations where, at the very least, you have to move the runner over. It was clear he didn’t try to do that in the slightest. Freddy, we miss you baby….
I’m not judging Beltran’s bat for a second, I’m sure, if healthy, he will come around. I do wonder if he wants to be here. He’s one of those vet-professional guys so it’s impossible to read anything from his body language or words, since he says nothing with both. So the thought did creep into my mind last night: Is he just some big New York star rolling through the end of the season not caring about the team but focused on next year’s big deal with a glitzy big market team? Again, it’s tough to tell. But I do wonder a little, just based off his production, his body language/interviews and now a wrist that seems to have nothing seriously wrong with it except for some pain. And again, I know about wrist injuries but not all of them are disastrous. Sometimes pain is just something you play through. There’s also this “Me first in right field” thing that’s is at least something to question in terms of his character and his desire to play team ball….
If he continues to do nothing or if this wrist is worse than the MRI is letting on I won’t sweat the loss of Wheeler. Sabean took his shot like any GM would do in this situation. So far, Atlanta and Philly have gotten the best end of the deadline trades but they did the same thing Sabean did, they took a shot now by trading some future away.
Anyway, I’m out for the day. I will try not to think about this stunning, historic, across-the-board offensive failure………
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Eighth inning action! How long has it been? We’ll take it.
This is where we could get some use out of Zeets’ contract — Non-Save Closer w/ 6+ Lead. Give some of the other arms a break.
Yes, put Zits on the 25 for the once a quarter 6-0 Giants lead….
Rout!
A couple nice long at-bats that inning. Let’s hope it becomes a habit.
Game
Bedtime for Bozos
Well, a little excitement there at the end. Whatever.
Stewie continues to show why he needs to catch the majority of the games. Better defensively than Eli, starting to show some life with the stick. POTG — nice outing for him with his first MLB homer.
Night all…
Snarkkles, it’s pretty easy to do some research rather than absurdly suggesting that there might not be any studies on the sac bunt. That’s your assignment. Now get on it.
Bochy’s limited use of small ball continues to be a wonderful thing.
6-0 merits twelve bitches, one POTG, and a nighty night..again, 90+ prediction, 50 win comments..
Just cause he got to pitch the 9th who the hell does Casilla think he is, the Drama Queen? 30-odd pitches on the inning is almost precisely the correct m.o. Usually, though, Wilson gives up a hit or two, while Santiago was a bit on the wild side ~ and so was Pablo. But of course it ends in perfect dramatic fashion with a strikeout at two outs and the bases juiced.
Bumgarner threw a seriously good game. Bochy pulling him at 7-in and a shutout going was fine by me as he was at a bit over a hundred pitches. No sense fatiguing a valuable young arm just to amp the stats. Nice collection of special K’s. Also nice and stingy on hits and especially, walks.
Maybe it’s a one-off, but Aubrey came on more like Huff the Magic Dragon than tired ol’ Huff n’ Puff tonight. THREE hits including an rbi double and that ringing dinger. Of course if he was reverting to good habits…
Big question now is can Sanchez revert to Drrrty form tomorrow afternoon? Inquiring minds wish to know.
Yeah, let’s hope Huff doesn’t go into another 2 month stupor. Like he did after his last big game.
Interesting fangraphs article on our thong boy and his recent uptick. Insightful comments from bloggers too. food for thought…esp going forward into his last year on contract 2012.
I don’t begrudge rowand his feelings; I’m sure he figures himself to still be a capable everyday CF. In another more friendly park, it could happen, I guess.
But for all we hear about all the BP he takes….why does he so often take a first pitch strike, whether it’s a fastball or hanging breaking pitch? This puts him behind in the count, where he is prone to flailing at the breaking ball nowhere near the plate.
I’m sure this is true of a lot of hitters, but behind in the count his numbers are way worse than when ahead (check out ross numbers on this stat, even more pronounced). So if you take 500 swings a day, you aren’t ready to hit when you get in the box? Why put yourself behind the 8 ball?
Yeah, that’s the point Flav brought up, I think. With all that fucking BP, what is Rowand working on? How to hit 65 MPH lollipops? I’ve seen Timmy hit shit into the water during BP. It means nothing.
His power is to the opposite field. Work on that instead of rolling everything over to the left side.
Rowand isn’t changing and working hard in BP is not a criminal exercise. Give it a rest. He’s the 5th OFer and as such he’s been decent which is all that can be expected of him. We could win by ten, he’d go 0 for 1, and he’d be the fucking topic de jour.
The article on Huff will be very confusing for Room Bermuda, hence they will dismiss it. The gist, in the author’s words is that “It appears that Huff is legitimately returning to skills he’s shown many times before,” That his improvement is not ” the dead cat’s bounce”,, an unsustainable uptick on the way down..
That’s one very good reason to track some numbers. While still quite low, Huff’s OBP and OPS have been on a slow but steady climb for some time now, last night his OBP finally topped .300 after languishing in the mid-.200s . Similarly, his OBP is nearing .700 after being 100 points lower for much of the year. Don’t fret, Beltoids, with our OFers till dragging, Brandon wil have a spot- and Sabean strongly hinted that they’re just waiting for the ten days to be up.As I said before- it’s not going to be, nor should it be Huff who sits for him. Aubrey might get more blows but all of the OFers except Beltran ( when.if he gets healthy) will lose time.
John Shea repeated the Blog Potato notion that stopped hitting only moved to LF.Beltran’s first game was July 28. Nate hadn’t been hitting since the break-2 weeks before Beltran arrived. It’s fucking inexcusable for Shea to be so ignorant of this…
Will Beltran pay CF? Belt/Beltran/Grok might be the LH hitting configuration. Or maybe Huff to LF ( he’s fine there, it’s RF where he’s unacceptable) . Anyway, I think we will see Belt back up before September- and in the LU this time…
Henry Sosa pitches against the DBacks tonight, BTW…
What did they call it for Huff? “An impossibly small sample . . .”
They said a lot more that, nimrod.Including the conclusion that ““It appears that Huff is legitimately returning to skills he’s shown many times before,.. ”
You dismiss any good numbers of his. You’re treading a fine line between troll and doomoron.
Should be interesting to hear Rowand’s reception when he’s announced…
Torres CF Keppinger 2B Pablo 3B Huff 1B Ross RF Cabrera SS Rowand LF Whiteside C J Sanchez SP
BOO!
Huff isn’t playing LF, Mike. Just like Schierholtz never played there . . .
Please tell me you”re not again claiming that Nate had.
Huff will play some more LF before his career here is over. Would you like to wager on that Chuckles? Surely you’re working again by now.
Ha ha . . .
He He….
Why isn’t Grok out there? A task force must be assembled to investigate this travesty.
Anything on the local news out there about a blogger being eaten by dolphins?
Here ya go
1. Andres Torres (S) CF
2. Jeff Keppinger (R) 2B
3. Pablo Sandoval (S) 3B
4. Aubrey Huff (L) 1B
5. Cody Ross (R) RF
6. Orlando Cabrera (R) SS
7. Aaron Rowand (R) LF
8. Eli Whiteside (R) C
9. Jonathan Sanchez (L) P
Nate has a bum rt. hip flexor. That’s why he’s not in the lineup.
Over his career, Rowand has more ABs concluded on the first pitch than any count save 1-2.
Gotta appreciate efficiency, rather than wasting time.
His lack of aggressiveness is hardly the problem, in any case. The hacking is the single biggest reason he’s a below avg player.
I would assume hitting coaches have suggested changes to his idiotic batting stance. I guess he just refuses.
There’s actually zero reason to assume that.
Kuiper: “First pitch, here it comes — Rohand grounds to third on two hops. And that concludes his AB.” Sounds way better than “Rohand grounds it sharply to third, onto second for one, onto first, DOUBLE PLAY — to end the inning”…
Yeah, that is one argument for putting a low OBP hacker in the lead off spot.
The opposing pitchers agree with you, Monsieur Bill!
Also a real good reason to hope Beltran actually gets his OBP and OPS above Rowand’s, Eh?
I doubt that Beltran has had many stretches of 318 PAs with a 289 OBP.
He doesn’t have that long, does he?
I don’t think making the same claim for 200 PAs would put me on thin ice.
“Nate has a bum rt. hip flexor.” Undoubtedly sustained when he quit hitting but unreported until now.
It hurt it scoring on Ross’s hit last night. Or so says Baggs…
With the contract long ago a fait accompli. there’s really no longer a reason for the obsession with a fifth outfielder.
James is one of the few who value FanGraphs. So of course he knows that FG values Rowand a little more than he does.
I value him as you do — he’s an ok 5th OFer. Unfortunately, he has over 300 ABs.
Unfortunately, no other OFer has hit consistently. He sat a lot more last year when they did. At any rate, the “diss level” is out of control.
We just tied a record from 1914. Go offense!
Just like Huff last night, Panda fucked up.
Looks like Sanchez is going to let that homer effect his pitching. A walk after a homer, isn’t a pitcher suppose to bear down and strike the next guy out?
Walking the pitcher was obviously the sin, then it becomes tough to pitch if you have to throw the ball down the middle to get a strike called. Don’t misunderstand- he totally sucks, though.
He does not help his reputation when he does this. As most have pointed out he should be mentally better than this.
Actually, he pitched well after the HR. The defensive fuck up wasn’t on him, Then a bloop.
I am on ESPN looking at play by play. So I probably shouldn’t be commneting on Sanchez pitching, but it is hard not to
Sanchez is obviously injured. Maybe its bodily. More likely upstairs. Curiously, Eric Surkamp back at Richmond, is pitching tonight. Same scheduled date as Drrrrrty. Unless the no-hit lefty gets it together in the next few innings, i’m all for d.l.ing him pronto. Fifteen days gives us August 25th as re-eligible. Current stats for our Flying Squirrels lefty is an 8-4 record based on a 2.09 ERA. He has given up a total of 98 hits ( 4 HRs) in 121 IP. He has walked exactly 39 hitters compared with a screaming 147 K’s. His WHIP is a nifty 1.14.
Opportunity knocks. There is a window of opportunity for a test run for this kid. Atlanta away could be a tough opening assignment. But would you rather face the Bravos with the wildman? Time for two starts, maybe three. Sanchez could be recalled from the d.l. if the kid can’t cut it. So could Zito if you wanna go there. Give it a try.
Well he just came back strong. So maybe he figured it out sitting in the dugout
Criiminy. Scratch for a run, and Mr Clean and Mr. Whitehead give it right back.
He’s injured upstairs, eh?
I didn’t say it, but he sure looks lilke shit. Hasn’t make it through the 5th in has last 4 starts . . .
Might as well go with Mota as the 5th starter . . .
Just hope it isn’t Zits. Stix could be right that one of my first prospects of the day could get a call.
Stix said it. No, he hasn’t been pitching well. But the head case crap is simply bullshit…
Why are we hearing nothing about the failures by the offense, though? It’s the gripe de jour..
We don’t expect much from our offense. Something is wrong with Sanchez: Body or head. Gave you a choice. I say we park him for fifteen days and check out the guy we would NOT give up to the Mutts or the Stros.
While we’re at it, how much longer is Belt’s Fresnobus exile? Five days in left field and two at first base. Keep playing the kid regularly unless he starts dragging. At the very least he is an excellent defender, shows a turn of speed and will show a ,300+ OBP. Don’t expect an RBI man outta the gate. Bat him first or second as an ignition system.
Well, when I get pissed at Rowand, it’s uncalled for. When I get pissed at Huff, he’s coming around. Beltran? Whatever.
This is the greatest hitting team in baseball!
(unless there are runners on base)
Chuck opens the window and lets out a loud lewd BLEEP!
Well, they’ve actually hit the ball harder than the Bucs, so I’m still hoping for a rally…and it’s nice to have Alex’s 2011 debut to look forward to on Friday…
Alex! Oh yeah!
Pirates scoring at will…….Flappers look for relief!
3-7 home stand. Maybe the hitting comes back on the road.
Barring a major comeback of course.
6 runs on 4 bloops and what should have been called an error. Yeah, Sanchez walked the 4 but he also made pitches to get out of further damage. Just as Affeldt did here.
Dirty is a hugely talented pitcher who has always had difficulties with his control. In large part because of that, he also gets squeezed regularly. Often that frustrates him. None of this makes him a head case.,
Mr Clean is getting a little long in the tooth to still be in the dark as to the vagaries of pitching effectively.
Call him a head case? Call him wild? Call him a cab? I don’t care. Just figure this shit out, skippy. He’s 28. He’s had ONE winning season out of his 4 years of being a starter.
Like I keep saying, pay RJ to babysit his ass.
I said before the season that what we see this year is what he is. The point, fuckhead, is that the “head case” bullshit is an insult that can’t be supported. So you got it, “skippy”- call him wild. Got it?
There’s probably no surer sign that it’s not going your way when the one fucking guy you can make book on at least making contact, strikes out three times without getting close
To what do you attribute his forgetting to cover home and 1st on consecutive plays, Mike? His lack of focus when pitching to a pitcher with a .000 BA? He can mow dow the 3-4-5 guys with ease, and then walk the 8th place guy hitting .122, and the pitcher, while he drills the leadoff guy. His utter lack of attention to runners on base?
On more than a few occasions I thought Bochy was going to punch him as he came off the field.
Skippy!
Hows about another fight?
Sounds good, your place or mine.? If yours I’ll need to send a ringer.
Probably the same way I feel when other pitchers regularly don’t hold runners, can’t bunt, walk the opposing picher, throw BP fastballs to # 8 hitters… If you actually paid attention, few of our pitchers help themselves, and most make stupid mistakes- Dirty’as control issues just make matters worse, .
No shit, skippy. Timmy’s bad at holding runners. However, he overcomes this problem a lot of the time. As is Bummie at times. Bummie also falls victim to mental lapses. The diifference? Bummie’s 21. Mr Clean is 28.
Sanchez has too many problems with his game to be effective. Just look at his numbers.
Timmy is bad at a lot more than not holding runners. He’s so talented, he usually overcomes his brain farts. If he had Dirty’s control problems, he could easily qualify for the basket case label.
BTW, your winning season crap was just that. Until this year, Sanchez had probably improved more year to year than any but a handful of MLB pichers. Check it out, using just W/L is bullshit.
Wait a minute, Bochy is suggesting that there might have been others responsible for some of today’s loss.
Are you even paying attention? Timmy is a better pitcher than Dirty, not a smarter one. Same with “Bummie”.
And it can hardly be ruled out that Sanchez is hurt, “downstairs”. When a guy gets progressively worse as the season goes on and loses velocity, there really could be someting amiss.
Wow. The excuse train is getting full there, Mike. Last year is a memory. This year is a disaster.
5 runs in 4.2 isn’t going to win you too many games. Yeah, the starters are all scuffling some lately. But they are getting nothing out of Mr Clean lately. Bocjhy sounded very fed up with Mr Clean.
ERA? WHIP?
4.29 1.46
Bad and bad.
13 hits and 15 BBs in his last 13.2 innings.
Here is some synchronicity and irony for you . . . You all recall Sanchez being the fifth starter in the Giants’ rotation in 2009. The season did not start well for him, though, as he had a 2-8 record in the first part of the year. On June 28, Ryan Sadowski replaced him in the rotation. Do you guys remember him? LOL
Anywho, Sanchez did not stay in the bullpen very long though. After Randy Johnson strained his shoulder, Dirty was chosen to start against the San Diego Padres on July 10. In that game, Dirty not only threw the first complete game and the first shutout of his career; he threw a no-hitter, becoming the first Giants’ pitcher to do so since John Montefusco no-hit the Atlanta Braves in 1976. Sanchez had a perfect game going into the eighth inning, but an error by Juan Uribe allowed the only baserunner of the night. He also almost lost the no-hitter during the ninth inning when Edgar Gonzalez hit a ball deep to centerfield. However, (and this is where the synchronicity and irony comes in) Aaron Rowand made a spectacular catch, and Sánchez got his no-hitter.
Side note and a heartwarming one at that, was Sanchez’s father, Sigfredo attended not only his son’s first MLB game, but witnessed him at his best. Wow!
Moral of story? No idea, but 3 players played an indirect and direct part in Sanchez’s no-hitter and for me, one of the best moments in Giants baseball. Two of those players are frequently maligned (Sanchez and Rowand). Just sayin’ . . .
2008 9-12 5.01 ERA 1.449 WHIP
2009 8-12 4.24 ERA 1.365 WHIP
2010 13-9 3.07 ERA 1.231 WHIP
2011 4-6 4.10 ERA 1.442 WHIP
Now, one can take the basket case position on his regression, one could also take the more charitable view that either he’s simply encountered some mechanics issues or might be injured…. Listening to Papa, it’s hard to not wish a plague of locusts on him and his family..Estes might be worse- the guy defined “basket case”.
4-7, 4.29, 1.46, Mike . . .
Bochy was the one who sounded fed up with Mr. Clean.
He said “we aren’t geting anything out of his spot in the rotation.”
Maybe he’s just not that good, Mike. Maybe he can’t control his fastball well enough to pitch effectively now.
I don’t know and I don’t care. Getting all bent about what gets posted about him is futile.
Sanchez is stinking up the joint. In his last 7 starts he’s gone 6 ONCE.
Mr. Bubbles and Mr. Clean are basically one and the same. He’s basically Zito now.
He walks out there and you hold your breath.
So what, I used the numbers before this game. If you have no point, STFU. It doesn’t change what I said. Obviously Chuckles is taking the less charitable view,.of course.,Chuck’s update actually supports that something might be wrong- not head related.
Chuck, you were at least holding your own when you said he was a head case insofar as losing concentration in the game, albeit, Twin is more correct that wildness has been a problem for Sanchez; he will walk a lot of batters every year. However, he also strikes out a lot of batters; he struck out two hundred for the first time in his career in 2010. His swinging-strike percentage is among the best in the majors. For the last two reasons alone, your comment about him being “. . . basically Zito” is ludicrous.
To prove my point, if Sabean were to release Dirty, I guarantee you that 31 teams would claim him. Conversely, if you released Zito . . . Get my drift?
Chuck has stated that none of the players who performed well last year and have fallen off this year deserve any slack at all.
His progression does not support that he’s not good. His REGRESSION suggests someting might be wrong. Of course, Bochy is frustrated. Just as he was tearing his hair out when Tim went 0-5 ,7 something ERA last August. Any fan is frustrated. What I’m “bent” about is the “head case” shit. Knock it off. If it were true, it would make the insult even worse- you’d be maligning a man who needed mental help. He’s not pitchingwell, we all know that- maybe he’s lost it, maybe he has some mechanics issues, whatever., but the mental case bullshit will stop.
A horrendous no-show effort. No pole was left unsmoked today….
To be clear . . .
Noun: headcase ‘hed,keys
Someone deranged and possibly dangerous
– crazy [N. Amer], loony, looney, nutcase, weirdo
Derived forms: headcases
Type of: lunatic, madman, maniac
A person isn’t a “headcase” for not covering a base. Lackadaisical, sure, but definitely not a headcase.
By the by, before I had my “moment of clarity” in my late 20s and found my spiritual path, I was a headcase.
🙂
I love Chuck, and I say that sincerely, but he has absolutely no tolerance or forgiveness for failure. Maybe he’ll mellow with age.
“I love Chuck . . . ”
Mike, that’s the best thing you’ve said since I’ve been here (seriously) . . .
I think I meant “kinda like”…
BLeeping no!
Well, soon the Bash Bros wil show up, Maybe I’ll check back later.
Sure hope the mini-vacation revitalizes Beltran. I think he needed the rest.
It might be time to accept the fact that the Andres Torres of last year will never be seen again.
—-
Chuck, what’s with the double spacing lately?
It’s possible (Torres) No slack for Adda Boy, eh?
Loo has Pablo in Fresno this year, If they send Andres down, that’ll be a pretty fair team.
So which slander did you choose for Torres? PEDs or phony ADD diagnosis?
Shut up.
Gee, I needed an answer.I’ll put it down as both.
Look, if it weren’t for the spoiled sausages, I would have said I loved you, too. Only one kid croaked, and it might have been something else.
Twin, your 12:27 rebuttal to me is entirely ludicrous.
Looks like Big Flavor’s disappeared in that “great rack”.
Flav swims with the dolphins while the Giants sleep with the fishes.
Maybe he thought he was swimming with Dolphins and the trainer stuck him in the Killer Whale tank. Hmm . . .
Loo, I’ll await the proof that he has refused requests from hitting instructors.
And Beltran now says he’s doubtful for Friday. Just DL the fucker now.
They will!
Well, Mike, these Mr Clean starts are maddening. Nearly as maddening as Mr Bubbles. Even when he wins like he did vs Washington, it’s walks, HBP, he forgets to cover home on a base hit, followed by standing on the mound while Posey has to run 60′ to get the out at 1st. Craziness.
THIS YEAR, Zito and Sanchez are pitching about the same.
Same weirdly ineffective shit surrounded by 4 inning 5 run outings.
Blade, sure there’s more upside to Sanchez than Zito. But the gap is getting smaller, not bigger.
The point about the numbers, Mike, is that they are progressivley getting worse . . . . That pointy enough for you?
Chuck, I already said that he’s getting worse. . I’m not disputing that he’s pitching poorly. What I’ve said is that there is more than your typical intolerant black and white way to address it. A pitcher who has progressively improved and suddenly regresses is a concern as to possible injury or mechanics problems. Many here gave up on him a couple years ago, you among them, no doubt. We’ll see, but it was pointed out last night that the sudden loss of velocity in is last start was typical for his injury that got him on the DL.
In other injury news, the trainer is trying to explain to Nate that he can’t back date the injury to cover the slump…
Henry Sosa is pitching tonight against the D-Backs. That adds a little extra interest to the game.
Oh man. Yikes.