Waiting for the Final Death Blow
One thing has been established: Having a group of Flappers get together doesn’t bring any luck to the team. It’s not very good for your liver, either. My head hurts. I imagine that the Giants *team* head, if there was one, hurts today, too….
I’m sure a lot of you remember the Ali/Holmes fight in 1980. As a boy watching that fight, I remember marveling at the fact that Ali refused to go down, despite being battered by Holmes. Today’s game might feel a little like that. Ali just couldn’t make a go of it in the 11th (nor should he have). Had he gone out there, I suspect he would have been leveled with one last, powerful blow.
That’s what today’s game might feel like today for us. One more loss and it would be difficult to even *imagine* the Giants coming back and winning this thing. I’m not afraid to watch the game and I’m not worried about about facing the fact that the season is effectively over if we lose–I waved bye bye to confidence and reality a few days ago. It’s hard to even muster up any feelings of regret since I think we did about as well as we could have with the players we had this year. Last year was our year. This year appears to be the D-backs year. It’s not the end of the world or anything…….
I was going to fill this thread with several questionable decisions from Bochy and one huge one by Beltran but I’m just not in the mood. I feel like I talked that all out last night. I’ll tell you, even though we lost the game, I declare the First Ever Flap Party to be a huge success. We had a great time watching the game, getting to know each other and talking baseball literally the entire time–San Dawg challenged us with a few unreal trivia questions (ex: what unusual word is stitched into Tim Lincecum’s glove?), we took informal polls about in-game decisions, we talked Giants history and by my count our waitress DeeDee bent over and flashed us her cleavage approximately 372 times–it was a great night and it made the loss slightly easier to tolerate. This is a photo taken from my phone, I think there’s a better one floating around out there taken from an actual camera. From left to right you have: WillieD, James, San Dawg, Flavor, and Ewisco. I would guess that screen names were used about 75% of the time over actual names when referring to each other in conversation. That’s gold, baby……
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Using the flapp handles. That’s classic. I agree that the club has gone as far as they can with such an inept offense. Watching that game last night I just kept thinking how different the lineup would be with Sanchez and Posey. Hell, just add a two wristed DeRosa and the DL blows would have been softened. Lincecum looked good early and the wheels just came off. Doesn’t really matter when nothing is happening at the plate. We all know the drill. What are ya gonna do?
Only game I will make this year and amongst all those people I run into my cousin sitting in the same row 15 seats away. Go figure.
“I would guess that screen names were used about 75% of the time over actual names when referring to each other in conversation.”
Dirt, this really could have become awkward if we had shown up, unless they decided to use the shortened versions of our screen names, e.g.,
“So what did you think of that play blade3colorado?”
“Hey, can you hand me that pitcher of beer dirtnrocksnreno?”
Haha, yeah. Depending on the number of frosty beverages, I could also see everyone leaving the gathering with new handles.
That’s wild. Are you guys not close? How did you not know he’d be there?
It’s still the pitching that has disappointed me the most, esp lately. Lince has gotten lit up last two times out; if those were Ws, G’s would be 3 out with a chance to cut it to 2 today. Goldschmidt hurt him twice last night, again…we were all talking about how far he hit the pitch away for the HR, slightly right of dead CF, for a righty. Then he burned him again by pulling the double down the LF line when he tried to come inside.. Mota hit one guy and walked two more to force in a run, and Edlefsen couldn’t keep AZ off the board either.
Last night really was fun, to meet and talk to everyone in a nice casual environment, sitting on the couch and watching a game, which seemed to go by really fast. Like a lot of the things you really enjoy in life, seemed over too soon. Hopefully we get to do this again, and it will be more convenient for others who post here.
Thanks again, Craig, for a beer (ha), setting up not only last night but the blog here too for all this time.
“Lincecum looked good early and the wheels just came off. Doesn’t really matter when nothing is happening at the plate. ” Well, it does matter.Biggest game of the year up to that point, AZ ace vs. our ace. It’s fair to expect more from your #1. Maybe he *is* hurt, I’ve never seen him take so long between pitches, sometimes he was like a statue of Tim Lincecum. But, whatever, the offense was anemic again, but this one was expected to be a 2-1 type game. Tim didn’t live up to his end of the bargain. He’d better get with Dad or Rags or both and figgger out the problem, if this September is to be as last August was, the team is fucked. He might be the fourth choice to pitch a must win game right now- and they’re all must win.
Twin, I think you take my posts too seriously. Biggest game of the year. True. 2 runs is not exactly tearing it up from the offense. It was a lousy game all around. Except for seeing my cousin.
Didn’t take your post seriously at all-you just fed me a good quote.A couple runs is about what anyone should expect against Kennedy. And a couple is what to expect against Tim. Their ace did as should be expected, ours didn’t..
If you’re going to use my intellectual property I’ll expect financial compensation. By the letter is fine.
Look for a check. Don’t expect one, but look for it.
Do you have a larger photo that you could E-Mall?
Yes. San dawg probably has a much better pic that he’ll send me when he gets around to it
Ross CF, Keppinger 2B, Beltran RF, Sandoval 3B, Huff 1B, Belt LF, Cabrera SS, Whiteside C, Vogelsong P
Among all the other interesting things I heard last night, Craig at one point (I’m paraphrasing) mentioned how gold Bochy’s moves were during the postseason. Contrast that to this year regular season (larger scale I know) where so many things he tried to do to wake up the O never panned out for more than a brief span, if at all:
anyone at lead off (including Cabrera)
font in the 3 spot
belt/nate at clean up
anyone at C or SS
sac bunts, hit/run steals
whitey as a PH
and of course, a runzler start
I asked this ? at the start of the season, and after almost 140 games, I still don’t know the answer. Counting all the guys who have played the OF this year—-belt, huff, beltran, ross, nate, torres, burrell, ford, burriss (and of course those no longer with us)—who are the 3 best OF by position?
The first time timmy faced Goldschmidt (sp?), he got him on a high inside changeup. in the paper today he said that that was the plan yet he didn’t execute the next two times.
As for sanchez and posey, do you think the fall off to keppinger has been much if any? and do they go and get beltran if they have an effective posey? I think that those are really a wash. the key difference is huff, ross, burrell, torres and shortstop. though you could add whitey/stewart because if posey was healthy, the catcher’s spot wouldn’t be a black hole. So that’s 5 or 6 spots out of your starting 8 hitters! You could say that ross and burrell are hitting about what they should and that an effective panda maybe offsets an ineffective huff. but there just hasn’t been ANY late inning magic in months. No Uribe or burrell bombs. the magic just isn’t there.
As for the missing magic, it’s as if we used to do that “hey, look at the quarter I found by your earlobe” trick, and now the quarter falls out of your hand as you reach for the ear. Injuries will do that.
Timmy picked a poor time to go south. Injuries and just lack of power has killed this club too. Huff has become a singles hitter this second half. Ross now a lead off guy? Ouch!
Do I have to list the full DL tally for this year again? Limiting the losses to just the two who are out for the year is just not enough. Panda for several weeks, Ross, Burrell, Torres twice, Fontenot, Schierholtz, Beltran, Belt, Tejada, DeRosa,..PLUS Sanchezand Posey..that’s what I can think of. You don’t think that affects the offense?
that’s a valid point but i was just addressing the “we miss posey and sanchez” component. And health is often the story when talking about why there is only one team/person who is champion. I’ve always said that you need some combination of talent, work ethic and luck. To wit, if you have a lot of talent, you need less work ethic and luck. but you need all three. Because at the end of the day, there can be only one.
Ok, … where in the picture is DeeDee? Does she have a smaller sister named CeeCee?
You guys look like you’re having a Sopranos sitdown, in the back room, curtained off, DeeDee don’t know nothing. All due respect.
Who’s making the Veal Parm and Spaghetti Bolognese?
with the red and white tablecloths…and note how none of them have their backs to the door
“…Never discuss family business….”
As Twin — and perhaps others — noted, the time between pitches by Timmy was notable. In fact, I thought at the time: I have never seen a pitcher stare so long, MOTIONLESS, into a catcher. Stoic? Pissed? Lost? Confused? Determined? You’ll have to ask Timmy. Or Stewart, who came out to the hill 2 or 3 times. Do they not get along? Kruk said Stewart will “bark” at a pitcher. Who knows. All I know is, in all my years of watching baseball, all my years, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. What? A long 25 seconds? No nod, no shakeoff, no grimace, no squint. What does it mean? In some sad, perplexing way, it symbolizes the night, and to a degree, our season.
It was the statue-like bit that was bizarre. As Pawlie says, he’d just stare. If he was shaking off signs, it was by telepathy.
Weeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrre off to beat the D-Backs,
The horrible D-Backs of Az…
Boom…that’s the way to get something out of the leadoff.
The flip and skip move, tho….
The cliche- a game of inches, right? Pablo barely missed a 3-run homer last night. If the Giants take a 3-1 lead maybe the game plays out differently, who knows.
Did whiteside really strike out? I was not expecting that….
nice foul derby by Belt!
Voggy isn’t fiddling around early in the count with the corners. I like it.
Goldschmidt has got what? About 6 career bombs? 2 epic blasts vs lincecum? And that foul bomb he hit was an absolute monster shot. I still think he’s an easy out.
Kimbral gets the win for the Braves….by pitching in a non-save situation.
With all the beers, manhattan’s and back and 4th convo I must say I think all 5 of us ( San dawg’s bro) missed the motionless staring from Timmy into Stewart. That sounds bizarre to say the least. Did he do it all game?
That Was a ball but upton went fucking crazy. What a whiny pussy. Thanks chump, let’s see a few more d-backs doosh their way out of the game
I thought it was pretty typical, actually. Some pitchers stare when they want the catcher to change the sign.
but not a feckin catatonic trance
Remember Roger Moret?
No.
no recall Roger Moret; is he a vintner?
He was a pitcher who went into a well publicized catatonic trance prior to a game in the ’70’s.
So, on sheer stats, Voggy’s our best SP this year, n’esct-ce pas?
At home I’d go with voggy before everyone except Cain.
Was that whiteside who popped up to first? That’s insane, i was certain he was going to hit a laser bomb double off the cars in left. I can’t understand what happened…
Why so down on the Prez, Flav? He didn’t ask for this…
Wtf are you talking about? You don’t think he wants to play everyday? Was he sitting on the bench praying posey stays healthy so he doesn’t have to actually play regularly and show the world how bad he is at baseball? My derision is more about the powers that be who chose to employ him but don’t think for a second that he doesn’t want to be out there.
When I get home I’ll check on what whiteside has made playing MLB ball. It’s gotta be around 1.2 mil– for doing literally nothing. He plays baseball cause it’s his life and he scored a fuvking lotto ticket by getting called up by sabean. He didn’t ask for this? He falls down on his knees every day thanking God for “this”. Fuck him. He’s the worst hitter the giants have ever had. Worst swings at least.
“Was he sitting on the bench praying posey stays healthy so he doesn’t have to actually play regularly and show the world how bad he is at baseball?”
—
Yes.
The hell with the Star Wars geeks, let’s see more of that blonde.
Just wondering from far away….What does the GG Bridge connect SF to? How much is the toll?
I doubt most of you Bay Area guys could answer that question about the Verrazano, without cheating…
Marin County- Sausalito, Tiburon.
I haven’t been on there lately; don’t know about the toll. The Bay Bridge is now 6 dollars.
.ahem .. San Rafael. And well, Casa de Zito in Kentfield, which is an otherwise respectable ‘hood.
Brooklyn ain’t the “Paris of America”, as Hitchcock would say.
That would’ve been a homerun at O’Hare…
Upton will have a tough time in the playoffs if he’s going to let a call like that get to him.
As is widely known here, I never expected Vogelsong to pitch this well this long. Whatever happens from here out, this performance in a huge game , almost an elimination game, has been just brilliant- bravo…
6 outs or we are done. Hard to believe we were up 5 not long ago..
Schulman wrote today he expects Vogey to win the Willie Mac award in a landslide.
He’s right.
Papa said the same. It would be an injustice to Sandoval, though.
I still think Pablo wins but a voggy win would not surprise
Scoring a second run would be nice. Is their another hit somewhere?
After Cabrerra gets out they walk Whitey. PH for Vogelsong?
Our season…Useless at bat by Belt. If Torrres is on 3rd we get that run…The way things have gone I’m afraid we were going to need it..
Why not have Belt try to bunt there?
Of course they pitched to him. Voggy is a better hitter. Whiteside is a worthless fucking piece of shit
If there’s one rookie who shouild play, it’s Hector. At least he has a clue and they say he’s fine defensively.
FUCK!
Somewhere, Dandy Don is starting to hum: Turn out the lights, the party’s oovvverr.
bummer.
This must be how it felt for the fans of the padres last year. How can these guys keep getting these huge hits when our bats are useless when it counts?
Romo would usualy pitch here.
Death blow provided by the bp. That’s fairly ironic.
Let me know when the post mortems are over.
No post postmortems, just frustration.
Gotta give the D-Backs credit. They’re doing what they gotta do.
Nice photo of the Flappers, by the way. Wish I coulda been there.
At least Cain and Vogelsong pitched up to the occasion this weekend. It hurt not having Romo for the 8th today.. and yeah, a hit or 5 wouldn’t hurt, either.
Pffffft!
I remember as recently as last year when Putz played to the level of his name . . . sigh.
Vogy did a fine job. The hitters did not, as usual. Alas, Giants are done, I hope they finish ahead of LA.
From now on, time to play any/everybody under 30. Cabrera and Huff shouldn’t even need to shower the rest of the season. I don’t want to see El Presidente at all, unless he’s giving me a cigar — Hector needs to play. Looking forward to next year and fewer injuries…
Sweeping in like a vulture, as usual. Bochy gave no indication he was giving up, good for him. Hector is the only rook who improves over the incumbent.
What’s that probability of winning the division now — down a bit from 97%?…
Well, AZ gets Colorado at Coors. Rocks can beat them there..
BTW- Chuck is the winner, predicting we’d be 7 out.
Bochy and Sabean are idiots if they keep trotting out the SOS lineups now. The definition of insanity applies. These players can’t hit, can’t score. Play the young ones until the end of the year. They won’t…
Since it’s over as far as you’re concerned, I guess we’ll have to say what a dumb shit you were for picking them.
In retrospect, I didn’t fully appreciate how good being 5 games out would have been . . . .
Keyriste on a stick. Sit down with a grilled Polish dog and a Sierra and whats this? The game is already over. Fuck me with a grilled Kielbasa (I’ve been so out of it, I’m like OSF trying to figure out this whole schedule thing a ma jig). OK this Division is going to be tougher to win then I originally expected and I haven’t done the math but winning 96 may not happen AND it looks like I missed a good party. Fuck You, Bozo – wait fuck me.
I don’t know if the boys have any gas left in their tank but with about 20 games (I think thats about right), it might be time to quit fucking around and kick some ass.
I’m starting to sound like a coach on a minor league team so I’ll go back to drinking.
There’s nothing infathomable about being 2,3 or 4 back going into AZ on 9/23…
Arizona will cool off and then some.
Even the great Silky Sullivan couldn’t make up this kind of ground. Time to tear up your ticket.
I think it’s time to start working the young guys in. this is a rare chance to get to see what they can do in the shadow of a pennant race. The games aren’t exactly meaningless so how they perform is important. Not all of them at once, though i can see the argument, but one or two at a time until it really is over. then all of them at once.
The pitchers might actually enjoy it as well. what the heck, use runzler for a couple of starts.
I’ll be at the bar/couch, admiring deedee’s cleavage (you weren’t alone in that oh flavorful one!).
Working the young guys in? I thought most of the September call ups were the guys on the DL.
I meant coming off the DL. Any more OSF moments and I’ll have to move to the Pacific Northwest.
“There’s nothing infathomable about being 2,3 or 4 back going into AZ on 9/23…
Arizona will cool off and then some.”
Thank you Loo . . . Exactly what I have been saying a number of times. Yes, the probabilities suck. However, we have from now until we meet the Snakes in the 3 game set at Chase, to get the math back in our favor. Yes, we may have to sweep, but it’s still a chance. Tell me we are out of it when the math doesn’t add up . . . but not now.
Mets were 7 up with 17 to go on 9/12/07.
Plenty of people back here can tell you how that turned out.
Another example, this time in favor of the Mets . . . In second place most of the season behind the Chicago Cubs – who were having an unusually good season themselves — the Mets were in third place, 9 1⁄2 games back, in mid-August. They won 39 of their last 50 games to surge past the Cubs, finishing 100-62, eight games ahead of the Cubs. That 17 1⁄2-game differential is one of the largest turnarounds in MLB history.
Of course, the greatest comeback belongs to the 1914 Boston Braves, who had less than a 0.1% chance of making the playoffs back on July 4th, 1914, when they were in last place and 15 games out of first.
Compared to the 1914 Braves, the 2011 SF Giants are in the driver’s seat. Next.
“What’s that probability of winning the division now — down a bit from 97%?…” Yeah, it started going down as more injuries occurred..those were the odds as of then. But quite the troll you are to be snarkklefucking on their chances after claiming you picked them.
But now you’ve conceded the season, so go away. Surely you have some phony claims to file.
I can keep ’em coming all night. Our 1971 SF Giants led the West by 8 on September 5th. On September 14th the lead was down to ONE. I waited 49 years for a title. I ain’t ready to give it back before fuckin’ Labor Day….
Didn’t the Angels do a face plant like that in the last week too couple years back, losing about nearly every game?
They are still aiming for the division and damn well better be. For those looking for the “kids” , several are well past that description, actually most. There isn’t a serious prospect in this batch- maybe Hector for the 2 catcher, dat’s it.
So, those of you just dyin’ to see that Gillaspie/Crawford/Burriss/Pill infield, it might be a bit.
I’m not looking to see the kids. The kids we called up suck. I’d like to see bochy use Ford every now and again to win a game late when it calls for it. And anything like Hector to take over the catcher spot for a whole would be preferred. I simply don’t understand how bochy continues to trot out there the worst position player we’ve ever had in the history of sf giant batters.
Not certain he was the worst, but Lemaster sure did stick out when he played. Funny though, I really didn’t feel sorry for him at all until he retired. Actually, I thought he handled it fairly well . . . It was quite a hoot when he taped “BOO” on the back of his jersey that one game. 🙂
Was it mentioned? It’s a boy!
Rex Ryder Romo 7 lb. 5 Oz.
Somene tell the kid he lost us the game today 😉
ha, he actually contributed to it with his absence. I thought about that today and questioned his decision. Would I have done the same thing? I don’t think so but but I’m not calling him out. And as a side note, my daughter was born when I was in Oregon. It’s not the end of the world if you aren’t there the day fucking after your kid is born. I could understand the *be there for the moment* thing (which I missed) but after that there is some time to play with there. I wish Romo had played with a little time today…….
LeMaster had an infinitely more legit career than Whiteside. I am not certain about this but I am fairly certain he made an all start team. He played good defense, something Whitey really doesn’t do. I can’t imagine LeMaster swung through more dead red strikes than Whitey does…….
No All-Star. Tough to pick his best season because he had very few full seasons. So it would have to be ’86 when he had 534 AB 6 HR 30 RBI .240 BA .629 OPS…I’d hit him for Eli..
Lemaster was the Giants’ 80’s version of Hal Lanier…
Yeah, he (Lemaster) definitely wasn’t the worst . . . and the same could be said about Whiteside if you researched all of Giants history. Moreover, there has always been a “poster boy” that was a magnet for fan derision in each Giants era. I can go back to the 60s and recall that Sadecki was that person (and he was a very good player). However, when you are traded for an icon (Cepeda), you get to be scorned. I think Lemaster was “it” because he wasn’t Chris Speier, who was beloved in San Francisco.
You guys know better than me why Whiteside is scorned. However, if I was to guess, it’s because his name isn’t Posey.
Ahh . . . I just saw Loo’s “no hit, good field” Hal Lanier. Yeah, he was derided too. However, when you have a great team – as the Giants did year in and year out in the 1960s, you can get lost in the shuffle. I still say Sadecki got a lot of scorn and he really didn’t do anything, except be traded and not perform (concurrently) as well as Cepeda did.
Possibly the worst trade the Giants ever made that no one ever mentions was Bill Hands & Randy Hundley to the Cubs for Don Landrum & Lindy McDaniel. They might’ve won a few pennants if they didn’t make that one. Baffles me to this day….
Actually, on paper that trade looked like Gold Loo . . . Unfortunately, McDaniel never pitched for us like he did for the Cubs and earlier, with St Louis. He also had the last laugh when the Giants shipped his ass off to the New York Yankees in 1970, where he amassed a career high 29 saves, tying the franchise record set by Luis Arroyo in 1961.
Whiteside was a favorite of many when he backed up Molina. Quite a few bought into the “catches a good game” and “handles pitchers well”… both phrases code for ” hits like shit”… I used to get crap everytime he got a hit..”
“So whaddya think of Whitey NOW, smart ass?”
Well he did catch the the no-no…
I’m sure someone will go ballistic, So I’m off to bed. Don’t pop a vein..
i’m off to bed too. this is going to be a tough time between the math and the magic. you can point to the math, but i’m thinking you need the magic. and i’m just not seeing it. i’m willing to be surprised though.