Raising the Level of Intensity…..
While the D-backs were busy polishing off the finishing touches on that 9 game win streak, I doubt they ever had to face anything like they faced last night. They brought a strut into our yard and we gave them a smack-down reminder of what it takes to win at the *next level*. I’m hoping this is the reality-test they needed to break up the confidence they had generated over the last month or so. It’s one thing to sweep a dead team going through the motions in your own yard. It’s another thing to play baseball in a playoff atmosphere in a hostile yard…
Last night’s game reminded me a little of Kobe who would cruise through the regular season and then ramp it up in the playoffs (at least, minus the *cruising* part). Beltran absolutely took his game to another level last night. Burrell transformed the dugout into shades of October, 2010. Cain miraculously got through 8 innings of man-work and if you’d have told me in the 3rd he was gonna go 8 full I would have called you insane……
The team needed that game last night. We needed that game last night. And the D-backs found out last night that there’s a big difference between playoff baseball and dog-days of Summer baseball. I was so proud on my team last night……..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Looking forward to The Flap Party tonight. With James and some solid OPS talk, the total rsvp’s has risen to a mighty 5. We will be rockin’ and Flappin’ it old school. bigflavor77@gmail.com if u want to know where and when.
Live it up. I hope the Giants contribute in a big way.
Good September mojo going on. I knew the GMen would not go quietly into the night. One other thing – this series is important, but we also have the Snakes for 3 more games at Chase, during the last week of the season. Consequently, no one should count them out, regardless of how this series goes . . . Still plenty of baseball to be played Flappers.
Have fun at your Party tonight . . . I wish I could be there. Go Giants!
with you 1,000 % flav!!! felt like the team we know and truly believe again that this is possible!!!
Have fun tonight…Take a group pic of everyone doing a knowing dude nod…Since I have no idea what that looks like…For some reason I always conjure images of Leo Mazzone.
Weird, but that’s what I was thinking of too . . . Quasi meditation knowing dude nod. Who knew?
It’s probably different for everyone. I kinda give a little “California dude” spin to it with a hint of Jeff Spicoli….
No doubt that Beltran came alive last night. 4-4 is nothing to sneeze at but with his bank shot over the wall to ice the game and the best play this club has seen in LF since the early 90’s I thought Ross was POTG.
Ross’ catch was insane. He dove too early, found himself face down and sliding as the ball magically finds his glove. Lucky, but an unbelievable attempt and play by him……..
Yeah, his eyes were off the ball right before it hit the mitt. Not your garden variety diving catch.
It was a great all out effort. Watching his line coming in you could tell he was getting a glove on that one way or another. I only caught a glimpse of the replay. Would that have been a fair ball?
Actually, you can see him watch the ball all the way.
http://tinyurl.com/42sqjw4
I thought he watched it all the way in too.
It still looks to me like his eyes are not on the ball the split second before it went into the mitt. That’s not meant to hint that it was lucky, he clearly tracked the ball, and it was an utterly amazing catch.
He clearly did, as reported at the time. His head bounced a little as he landed is all. The third shot on the video shows it very clearly.
Only from anecdotes can i assess Cody’s catch. Sounds like serendipity more than skill. But that in itself may be meaningful. Was it a mere tease by the baseball gods ~ a bit of a reminder of the magic that attended this long overdue organization during the Championship season? Or was it a hint of things to come ~ return of the magic?
One thing we do know is that magic in any form pretty well deserted the Giants through the month of August and considering the injuries, during most of the season through that month. If something could go wrong during the Dog Daze, it did go wrong: Getting beat by the Lastros and the Cubbies: Outstanding starters losing their cool: Reliable relievers suddenly shorting out: RISP transmutating into RISK: Defensive lapses in games where there was no margin for error because of the lack of hitting: Carping in the clubhouse by guys who thought they should start but whose talents had dissipated into flailing frustration. The list could be extended, but i think we all know the movie.
It’s September. Classic matchup tonight with Timmy vs Ian Kennedy. Our best vs their best. Snakes came into town on a nine-game sizzle. First inning and it looked like they were heading back into the saddle and ready to ride. Matt the Horse calmed himself and started dealing. They never quite could get their mojo back. Beltran caught fire. Keppinger and Ross picked up the vibe. Without the malingering presence of “I” and “Aye, aye, aye”, the team started to jell again. Pat the Bat did more not swinging his lumber than the dearly departed 4-3 and 6-3 duo ~ drawing that pair of walks and eroding Saunders and his pitch count. All of a sudden this became a team again and the tightly encapsulated bud of magic burst into full flower, with SF coming up a winner.
Kennedy is no slouch. But he’s not quite as good as Timmy. Snakes have some guys who can pound the pill. But they are hardly the ’27 Bronx Bombers. The old adage ~ we all know ~ good pitching shuts down good hitting. Giants, though, may have rediscovered the latter. With Beltran’s resurrection, Keppinger’s steady production and Cody on the cusp of streaking into September the Giants are no longer that mouldering corpse rotting away in the August moon. Pablo is due to rediscover his inner Panda. Then there’s always that contribution from the guy you didn’t suspect. Timmy knows he may get some support tonight ~ even against a guy who has won five more games than himself. So i think our Ace should revert to form.
A win tonight and we got us a whole new ballgame.
There is a fucking video that shows it was not “serendipity”. It was a brillliant play.
I wonder if Torres starts tonight (for Burrell). Has anyone else noticed that Andres has a tendency to pull lots of screaming liners foul when batting lefty? Maybe all he needs is someone from the dugout to yell “straighten it out!”.
The game was just plain fun to watch: the playoff-like tension, the buzz, the strut, the electricity, the RESULTS. You know that ol’ Tug McGraw expression “you gotta blieve”? Well, it made me a full believer. I was reliving the best of the 2010 run. Could it be a fluke? Could it all be too late? Who knows? Who knows? But I felt the Magic, and it was a blast. A total blast. I truly honestly hope it is a revival that keeps rolling. And if it brings us the NL West crown it will be a remarkable achievement, given all that has happened this year. Hoping. And believing. I love Cody’s one word answer to Amy G. What was different tonight? “SEPTEMBER.”
Have a great time at the party.
And Giant fans everywhere owe me big time for Keppinger.
I willed him here…
If you hadn’t tried to will us Lamb, I might thank you 😉
I saw Kennedy when he came up with the Yanks. He used to pout and lose concentration, but I guess he got over it. He learned a lot from Mussina, and has a similar motion.
—
Speaking of Kennedy, the Giants have had a lot of players with president’s names. Off the top of my head, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Johnson, Pierce, Wilson…
And in all the G’s history, never a Booth, Oswald, Guiteau, Czolgosz, Hinckley … coincidence? Something’s afoot, I say! (Though, there was an Art Fromme, who played a few years back in the day…)
I wouldn’t have minded a Berkman.
Your mention of Czolgosz gives me the opportunity to mention the book I’m currently reading. It’s called “The President and the Assassin,” by Scott Miller. It’s about the McKinley presidency, his assassination, and life in the U.S. around the year 1900 in general, and imperialism. It’s an era I’ve always found fascinating for some reason, and 1890-1920 overall. My interest mainly started when I read a lot of Jack London’s books, and visited the Jack London St. Park. and museum. It’s just a very interesting era in U.S. history, full of lots of memorable characters and events.
Some mighty fine baseball in those years, too. The chapters that cover that era in Ken Burns’ “Baseball” video series are among my faves.
I wonder if the Yanks would rather have Granderson, who’s had a great year but, really, they can get any number of OFers who’ll hit 30+ bombs in that bandbox, or Kennedy, since they’re a bit deficient right now in starting pitching. Or maybe Kennedy just needed to get out of the pressure cooker that is New York and go someplace low-key like Arizona, where he was able to settle in against the NL.
Due up:
Ross CF
Keppinger 2B
Beltran RF
Sandoval 3B
Burrell LF
Huff 1B
Cabrera SS
Stewart C
Lincecum P
I’ll be at the party. I’ll be wearing an orange carnation and carrying the NY times folded under my arm and an umbrella. the code phrase is: beat AZ
Wish the Flap party was Monday but I’m tied up tonight and tomorrow. Have a blast tonight, lads
It’s a great game to do it. not a “must win” but pretty epically huge against our division rival. It feels like October 2010 right now, minus all the dudes walking the streets with poorly grown beards….
Stanford game is under control. Time to bounce and get ready for Flap Game 1.0
So who is going to be there?
All the rsvp’s are here: me, San dawg, ewisco, willieD and James. San dawg’s brother is here too. I’ll get someone to take a picture at some point.
Chris Stewart might have the worst swing I have every seen from a position player.
Come on. Whiteside? He is the worst hitter I have ever seen at the major league level. No one misses a ball with a swing worse than Whiteside.
Yet every time he bats , Kruk talks about how he was really “on” at least one pitch. This precedes the strike out..
He’ll probably make a great coach.
Yes he’s a future coach for sure!
That pair of singles from the unexpected sources, Huff and Cabrera and the long count on Stewart did do one thing, though, wore Kennedy down to the point where both Aces are now at 39 pitch level. Second accomplishment is that the lineup is turned over in two innings. No runs scored and that is the bottom line, but a bit of progress nonetheless.
San dawg: “it’s like soccer when the giants score. Goooooaaaaal!!!!!!!”
Fuck!
Only one run, but it was a good inning in that Kennedy’s pitch count is at 65 through three ~ an average of close to 22 per. Timmy faces the meat of the order in the fourth. Kennedy will need to try to breeze through the bottom third of the SF order in his half of the 4th or he will be quickly in deep count doo-doo. Beltran is on a roll and Ross is heating up. Burrell once again works that BB as Kennedy much rather pitched to ol Huff n’ Puff. Later in the game, though, that may come back to bite him in the ass.
Any hot little whores at the bar?
Ouch. Timmy is getting torched by Bloomquist, Hill and Montero. This is the inning to do the same to Kennedy.
It appears to be Burrell’s foot, so I’d be surprised if he plays again this year..
Timmy, very disappointing outing. (Can I say that ?).
If this September is to be Tim’s 2010 August, we are fucked.
Timmy implodes. Mota meltdown. Maybe not the right reliever to have put in there under the circumstances. This one looks nasty.
Huh? He’s the long guy, there was no question he was the right reliever.
I thought a sweep was close to being a must, if they lose tonight, tomorrow really is, IMO
Well boys, I think this is their Hemmingway moment…Let’s see how they respond.
They should hit for Stewart…
How bout a report from the Flap party?
Probably brawling by now. Imagine if Snarkk and I were there. There wouldn’t be any talking about MY offense- I’d whack him with my cane,
LMAO
Wow, was that fucking stupid.
On the Beltran tag up play: we just argued this one out: me and San dawg are ok with the attempt. James, willieD and ewisco were dead set against it. San dawg’s bro abstained from voting.
I’d agree you you and Dawg if he hadn’t been out by a NYC block and a half..
Vogelsong does appear pretty unflappable. Whether we win or lose tonight, he’ll be be pitching the biggest game of his career tomorrow..
I will bow to the wisdom of the party goers, but the throw from Sandoval didn’t seem wide enough that Huff had to leave the bag..
I was feeling a wee bit optimistic for a rally until I heard “Here’s Whiteside”..Vera called me and put a fin on Eli to strike out..
Ph whiteside was absurd. You’re 5 runs down, if you somehow manage to tie it let Cabrera fucking catch. Whiteside, as everyone knew, was gonna strike out. I advocated letting Pill run into one. Again, you’re 5 fucking runs down. I don’t give a fuck who are catcher might be in the 10th. Whitey was not gonna get it down there…
“batting” whiteside
I think Hector comes back in a couple days. The kid at least has a clue at the plate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2Tef3IEWCM
Great to see the guys at the flapparty (a new word)! we tried to do a picture with the knowing dude nod and it looked like flapper bobble head night! And the best part was that we talked all about the rest of you, and you don’t know what we said about you!! The waitress, DeeDee, was good looking. We, alas, were not.
I hope you tipped DeeDee well.
We Flappers have a rep to uphold
Not much to report from that steaming turd. Sat on the first base side. Section 101. Beltran killed the rally, Huff was definately pulled off by the throw, Amy G looks better in person.