Winning Without Hitting
4 hits yesterday. 6 hits the day before. 8 hits the game before that. We scored 5 total runs. Yet somehow, we win 2 of those 3 games. The historic, epic failures of this offense are no longer an issue. If we can win 2 out of ever 3 games we’d have the best record in baseball….
It’s funny, last year the guy I didn’t want up at bat was The Panda. He was fat and flailing at (and missing) everything. He didn’t belong in the LU. This year? He’s like the only at bat I look forward to seeing. Others might say Belt but right now I find Belt’s at bats tough to watch. Not all of them, just the ones where he, you know, forgets to swing. Or in last night’s game he forgot to run. It’s inexcusable for a rookie to ever not run as hard as he can every time he hits a ball that has a decent chance of landing fair……
That shot of Bochy holding the bat was classic. He looked like a crazed man holding an axe that he’d just used to massacre a small village. Good thing Kepp got that hit or Bochy might have turned around and laid waste to a water cooler or two…….
Should be a fun game tonight, everyone is looking forward to seeing Surkamp pitch. A corresponding move still has to be made. Do they do the safe thing and 60 day DL someone? Or do we wave bye bye to a vet? That scoop by De Rosa last night basically saved the game for us as did the unbelievable grab by Miggy. That play was unreal on both ends…….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
see this morning….I rest my case.
500 whacks in the cage, and he’s gotta take the first pitch fastball.
SInce I was so dead-on in my Surkamp prediction, Bochy shoud follow the lead on my LU prediction…Get Hall up here along with Torres and bench Huff and Ross.
Ross is not under contract, Huff is.
Thanks for clarifying, I couldn’t remember about Ross….
Damn Pablo must be PH for.
You have to take Wright out!
There should be a rule on that. You should have to take your trainer with you if you think there’s an injury
Back from Strasburg redux. 5 or so no-hit innings, then 2 hits, 1 ER. I liked his curve more than his fastball. Syracuse crowd rather dull, but, hey. And couldn’t even fill the house. Our imitation of Atlanta. Nice seats in back of the plate. We had fun. Wife, one daughter, two buddies. Dolph Schayes called out by the announcer just after I pointed him out to my crew. I spoke to him a few weeks ago, after my daughter’s ballet performance; my daughter had taught his granddaughter — and, true to form, I made a social faux pas, too complicated to explain. No Irene here. Good wishes to Bozo, Loo, Macdog, others. Go, Giants.
How did Surkamp look? I think I follow him on Twitter. So what.
A very Woody like performance.
The Astros announcers think they gave a free pass to Brocail….THey showed a shot of Mills expalining the rule to Brocail afterwards…Brocail took over as picthing coach last month….Thats fucking bullshit.
sure seemed illegal, but what could/should the umps have done? Made him change pitchers? Thrown Brocail out? Awarded the hitter 1b?
Made them change pitchers.
here’s another “question for another day”: casilla making James’ argument that closer is most overrated position?
Could be a battle there- Craig say it’s the tougest job in sports..
Belt has looked awful tonight…But then again, he’s not the only one.
We need Benjie. Didn’t he hit a HR off of this guy in NY? Oooops. wrong Rodriquez.
Ross has turned into Zito. As a hitter. I would almost rather see rowand bat. Torres’ return is impending and critical to the outcome of the season…
Yes it is. Can’t lay it on one player, but either Torres doesn’t make a difference and they miss the playoffs, or he does and they don’t. Perhaps that’s oversimplified, but seems likely true.
Wilco, by rule tho doesn’t he have to face one batter?
I believe so.
Yeah, the umps actually blew that call last year in the Donnie Two-trips game. Broxton should have been allowed to pitch to one more batter, it turns out.
If the pitching coach had to be clued in about this then the fucking ump completely fucked this up. There was no excuse in the moment about an injury. What could the ump have said unless he didn’t know the rule either?
As soon as Brocail left the dugout, Mills was probably smart enough to yell something like “ask how he’s feeling.”
In a few days Darren Ford can try to help win with speed in late-inning PR appearances. If he can help the Giants just win a couple of games with his speed it could be huge.
If you take out the lefty, which was the reason they hit for sando with cabrera, they could then bring in a righty to pitch to cabrera, which seems just as f-ed up for the Giants…you can’t hit for cabrera there either.
I wonder if Loo has lost power yet?
DeRoadrunner!
Kepp Baby!
That’s what I’m talking about. Back to winning they way this team wins it best. Keep it close, key hit late. Been awhile.
Patek Jr. needed some more hops.
Hard to f-ing believe… de rosa with a sb (might be the last of his career), kepps burns them again.
He is a keeper…I don’t know about surkamp
Time will tell about Surkamp, but another quality start gives the team a chance. They Giants’ way.
Kepp’s a keeper. Re-sign that dude for next season.
Yeah, Zum, as much as I have always liked Fruckie (a lot more than most here), Keppinger has filled the hole of Freddy’s injury. Not so much the others.
As TF suggested, giving Kepp a shot at shortstop next season is an option.
The slide by DeRosa was a veteran’s move. He’s dead meat if he goes straight to the bag…
And why the pessimism over Surkamp? Because he doesnt throw 95? What I saw was guy probably having a BAD game, for him.
Wish I had some enthusiasm for Torres, but he has been bad this year. Nice win…
Props here to Big Surkamp, especially the way he gutted out that first inning and got through 6.
If you wait long enough, a couple of vets contribute to the winning run.
I think it’s most likely that Kepp is the SS next year.. don’t think he’ll hit 20 homers, though 😉 He’s arb eligible, which means he’s theirs if they want him. And they will..
with the high socks, surkamp reminds me of zito. as long as his fastball stays in the high 80’s low 90’s he could be successful. he seems an upgrade over the other 5-spot guys we’ve been seeing. one game however doesn’t a career make.
He stepped in at a pivotal moment in a playoff chase and really helped out the team, and probably has earned another start at least.
I’ve totally forgotten what J. Sanchez’s situation is.
He’s projected as a 2 or 3.He’s a guy who has gotten better as he moved up. Of course one start doesn’t make a career, but his progress makes him pretty likely to stick around a while.
No need to worry about Surkamp’s career. Good job today, gave the team a chance to win it in their way, and they did. More of that down the stretch and the team will be fine. And Torres will be the key. If he can ignite things and one or two others follow, no problems.
Just got in from watching satellites with Katie. Not sure if it’s been brought up but de rosa completely missed 3rd base. Lucky us.
It looked that way “live”, but the replay looked like he got a little bit of the corner of the base. I thought he missed it, too, originally, and so did the post-game dudes, at first.
The announcers looked at the replay and say he touched the corner. Krukow loves to give that stuff to the opponent, so I don’t think it’s a homer thing. I’ll take a look in a bit
He got the corner
http://tinyurl.com/3sc8457
You need to watch the last angle.
After going to the box score, go to Gameday View, and then the video on that page. In the last shot, you can see him get the corner,
It WAS close enough that you wonder why it wasn’t challenged..Goodnight. Huge win, keyed by the rook..
my first thought was he missed it too. as long as no one complained (ie. the stros or the umps) i wasn’t complaining. for surkamp to come into his first start and give up one run, i expect he’ll do well as he goes on. Torres is really the key to a september resurgence. a leadoff hitter setting the table, kep swinging well, beltrane maybe getting settled in, could make a difference. they’ll still need huff or ross or belt to make occasional statements.
Surkamp needs to work on his hitting…
Ridiculous. There’s no reason at all anyone should work on improving themselves.
I’m in bed managing the empire from the phone. Not gonna check the replays. It didn’t even look close to me but I only saw it live. I believe you. Tired. 7 runs in 4 games. 3 wins. They are closing in on another record, I’m sure, lol. Andres Torres was a huge reason we won it all last year. He could be THE reason we win it this year…
Nice to come home, flip on the puter and see we got another win. Another 2-1 win, this time in extras. Torture never ends with this team, win or lose. We’ll take the win. DeRosa is likely having his last hurrah. For a grizzled vet, that dude is hungry, stealing the base and all. Keppinger is a keeper all right.
What can you say about the kid pitcher i’ve been following since his excellent spring start? Surkamp looks to be another keeper. Did every bit as well as i hoped and thought he would ~ once he got over those initial butterflies and got on his game. Chances are, he will be around for awhile. Giants do know how to develop pitchers. Over the next month we’ll get to see how he develops. If his minor league track record means anything, he will be the answer to at least one of those young hurlers the Braves have brought in recently. Strength of the Phillies staff is mostly due to costly imports. Giants and Braves go for that homegrown farm produce.
Though Vogelsong is due for free agency, i do think the Giants will make a bid to keep him. If that happens Sanchez will be traded. Should be good for a decent outfielder or shortstop. Should SF not give Vogie a good offer that would mean they intend to hang onto their talented but troubled lefty. Wouldn’t surprise me a bit if both Rowand and Zito salaries get swallowed in the offseason. So Surkamp’s arrival on the scene and gutsy performance tonight could have longterm ramifications.
Another must win in the books with 29 to go and Arizona smothering San Diego. Cain vs Houston’s pleasant surprise ~ their own Vogelsong, as it were in Bud Norris. Looks to be yet another squeezer on the bats.
I’m all in for Torres, just like I am for the Giants. I am a fan of that dude, and however things go for the Giants, I pulling like hell for him to have a good September, followed by a solid 2012.