The Playoffs: Are they doin’ it for you? Wanna Write the Next Thread?
I’m catching a little bit here and there. I’ve watched the Yankee/Detroit games. Most of them anyway. It’s been hard for me to think about baseball with the season over and the buzzkill of the Giants not being in it this year. Are you guys watching it?
I have Detroit beating Philly in Twin’s contest. I did it quickly and if I had to do it over again I think I would have Milwaukee in the WS vs the Tigers. The Brewers have 3 stud pitchers who I think will shut down Philly’s offense (assuming they get by the Cardinals). And there is just something about that line up that is impossible not to admire–speed and power. It’s a beautiful thing……
Go through their starting 8. I’d take every single one of them over who the Giants had starting this year except McGehee over Panda, obviously. Morgan was a nice find for them this year. He modified his game, upped his batting average and didn’t try to get thrown out stealing every time he got on first base. He’s still crazy since you can’t extract that out of your body. But he’s kept his insanity pretty well in check this year. He could have been the next Milton Bradley (and still might end up that way).
Anyway, the Brewers are legit, I wouldn’t want to face them in the playoffs……..
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Huge HUGE opportunity for you today (insert gay-ass…oh whatever you know). If you are interested in guest-posting an upcoming thread, email me your post and I’ll slap it up here. You can sign your name or not, it doesn’t matter to me. Don’t send me thread IDEAS send me something you write that could be an actual thread. I’m all about cutting and pasting these days. Twin’s already got Room B covered so it can’t be him. It would help me out since thread ideas are few and far between in *the Winter* so don’t be shy. Hell, it could be a Haiku for all I care. E mail me if you want to take a shot at this gig: bigflavor77@gmail.com
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Why replace perfection? No to guest host.
Not into it much, gotta admit. Caught last couple innings of Yanks/Tigers. Verlander held on after blowing the lead, and they won again, with K of Jeter for last out by Valverde, who had thrown 35 pitches night before. AL is great theater. Wonder if A-fraud is still being dogged on NY radio? If AJ gets whacked tonite, lookout.
Zum, Al Attles is a guy I always liked, and was a very sharp dresser when he coached GS. He also had his best offensive night of career, 8-8 from the floor, the night wilt scored 100, so nobody cared much. KC is a great story too, local guy with a single mom who grew up in bayview and wasn’t even going to go to college.
Forgot this was on, I gotta check out more of it. Game 4 was when Attles got thrown out over the thuggery of Mike Riordan, classic NBA moment. Charlie Johnson of Sequoia redwood city another local hero. Great stuff!
Well what did I bet Flav???? Tigers-Brew Crew in the World Series at 17-1 odds, I am only kicking myself that I did not go bigger..huge game tonight for the Tigers…
I have been on a roll in the last three weeks in college ball and my luck has pushed into the NFL. Last night I had a tease on the Bucs at -4 and the under at 46. Well when Tampa tied it at 17-17 and the Colts once again drove down field, a Colts TD would have wrecked the bet. If the Colts hit a field goal, my only chance at the bet was to have Tampa score a TD and miss the extra point, which is not likely. So the best scenario was to hit the under and push on the spread…and what happens? One of the most reliable field goal kickers in NFL history in Adam Vinateiri misses the FG and the Bucs drive down and score not just a field goal to ruin my spread, but score the TD, keep the game at the under..the luck continues…
On top of all that, in my main fantasy league, I was down 13 points heading into MNF and my opponent had no players, but I had Legarette Blount. He was held to justy 40 yards rushing and 14 receiving at half, so that was only 5 points gained, still short 8 points. The Tampa offense stutters through most of the third and 4th quarters. Tied 17-17 and after the Vinateiri missed FG, they start handing the ball to Blount and driving downfield and eating up clock. He gets up to 80 yards rushing and now I have picked up 9 fantasy points still short 4 points. So even Blount runs to the goal line, and does not score, I will still be short 1 point to tie my opponent.
And then, finally, Blount breaks through a tired Colts Defense and he is bumbling-stumbling-rumbling to the goal line and he leans his hand out with the ball and right over the pilon..add in I had Tampa in one of my Death Pools and it turned out to be a helluva night…
And this may be a good topic for a post…best sports gambling wins and worst losses….I will email you Flav, go Tigers….
And just a point about Nyjer Morgan, at the end of last season, I had posted that Morgan may be an interesting pickup for the Giants in a deal with the Nats to give Torres a little competition for 2011 and he had a dirt cheap contract, plus he was a local kid….well guess who jumped down my throat for that suggestion?
Would have been a ballsy trade, but imagine what our lead-off situation may have been like in the second half this year let alone for the full year with his theatrics. Now he may not be worth the headache, but he would have brought something we sorely lacked with offensive production at the top of the order…
It didn’t happen did it? You get jumped on because you propose trades that ain’t happenning. What do you have next?
Nyjer Morgan is mentally ill.
Mental? My wife is mental, I caa handle a mental Giant, we have BWilson. Maybe mental, but can he play baseball? Morgan on the Giants would have made them better, hard to argue that Twin…dont you agree?
Willie, what a great Warriors team in those days. Rick Barry was an early prototype of Magic Johnson/Larry Bird. I was impressed with his passing as much as his shooting. It’s a shame that team got busted up. Barry went his way. Wilkes ended up on the Lakers. And, of course, later, when the Warriors had Robert Parrish, they dealt him and the draft pick that became Kevin McHale to the Celtics for a washed-up Jo Jo White. The Warriors won an NBA title in the ’70s then managed to help load the Lakers and Celtics for greatness in the ’80s.
That center tandem of Ray and Johnson was awesome. It was great seeing a Warriors team that defended the paint so well. I sometimes think Don Nelson was one of the worst thing that ever happened to the Warrriors. It was funny and sad the other night on “The Cleveland Show,” of all things, when the kid said “Never bet on the Warriors, ‘cuz they don’t play no defense.”
I was a Bullets fan in the 70s, so I remember that series well, a bit painfully so. That was a heckuva Warriors team, though. The Finals had a weird set-up, too: Game 1 at Bullets, Games 2-3 at Warriors, Game 4 at Bullets. One of the players I remember from Golden State was this wonderful guard named Phil Smith, whose very promising career was later cut short by injury. The following year it was a slam dunk that the Warriors would get back to the finals, but they had a shocking Game 7 loss in the conference finals to Phoenix. How the hell did that happen? And the CJ reference earlier: In 1978, he was a big player off the bench for the Bullets when they beat Seattle and finally won the title.
Didn’t follow the games last night as the evening got spent at the local pub where there was some random Monday Night NFL game playing while me and the oldtimers out for the evening were deep into be-essing mode. Checked the scores this morning and lo and behold, Verlander and Los Tigres shut down the Evil Empire in game three. Yes! Personally, i despise the Yankees almost as much as i love the Giants, so any team eclipsing them and removing them from the playoffs has my total blessing. Ditto, Brewcrew in facing the Fillies. Texas seems on a mission, but it is starting to look like an all-Midwestern W.S. may be happening. If that happens it will be another year of fussing and fuming by the Eastcoast media types. Perfect.
Zumie, I watched that last night. The old names, Dick Motta coaching the Bulls, Norm Van Lier, Jerry Sloane being a major pain in the ass. I had forgotten that the Warriors were so far down most of that game. The funny thing was they’d try to show Attles on the bench talking to the team, and his glares at the camera were priceless. I was really into the Warriors back then, hated to see Thurmond on the Bulls, and Cliff Ray was infuriating at times, but Thurmond was at the end of the line, and it was a good trade for the Dubs. I saw a bunch of games that year, including game 5 of the west finals, and game 3 of the finals against the bullets. The infamous Ice Capades games.
Yeah, I sorta look in from time to time on the baeball. My picks exactly matched Mike’s so I changed a bunch. The dumbest was AZ over Mil. I’d love to see Milwaukee win it all. I still think Texas wins in the end.
And anyone over NY. Deeetroit Mil would be my preference.
Yeah, chuck, I saw one of those chi-gs play off games too, total battle to the end. Chet Walker was one of my fav players, and one of only two guys I ever saw fake Thurmond into the air (connie hawkins the other). Van Lier and Sloan were a really tough physical back court.
Loved Clifford Ray, death stare game face to match dave stewart. “Don’t even think about coming in here!” Good passer too, who wasn’t looking to score when he had ball in the post. Good times for GS.
Watchng those games, it was crazy what they were calling fouls on. A lean-in shoulder by the ball handler drew an offensive foul. I saw 3 travelling calls that were very hard to detect. 5 years later and you have guys drippling over their shoulders, palming up the wazoo, 2.5 steps on a drive, and no calls.
Oscar Robertson was funny as hell with his commentary. He was having a blast. Especially when the Warriors finally started cranking it up to close out the game. Brent Pusburger was actually good back then. The best part was when, after a killer pass by Barry to George Johnson for a layup, Oscar shouts, “what a pass by Chuck Berry!”
Teams actually practiced and ran set plays, that worked, and included guys moving without the ball, and cutting and screening to get open. I had to laugh when Heat’s coach said something after an L about, “not executing our late game offense.” Which of course was one guy 30 feet from the hoop with the ball, and 4 guys standing around until the biggest one sets a high screen, 2 or 3 times, and you get the 28 foot J with the shot clock running out. Brilliant strategy, that.
Even then, though, the Warriors did a LOT of run ‘n’ gun. Wilkes, Barry, and Smith could stop and pop with the best of them. But they had Cliff (oops I dribbled off my foot again) Ray inside, and even Barry chipped in with a decent amount of rebounds. .
Flav, when you said ‘you wouldn’t have wanted to face the Brewers in the playoffs’, it reminded me of what I was also thinking last year… wishing on the last day of the regular season to just make the playoffs and be happy, cause the thought of facing the Phillies was daunting….
But the results convinced me that great pitching will neutralize any opposing offense.
For me this year, if the injuries didn’t occur, NL West crown, obviously, and even money on the Giants taking the NL and possibly repeat.
In all honesty, if it weren’t for twin’s contest I’d have no interest at all. Even so, I’m not watching, just following in the media. Oh, I’ll watch the World Series, sure. Maybe a couple NLCS games. But that’s always the way it’s been for me any time the Giants don’t make the post season
What the NBA and the players need to understand is that if half the season were wiped out, the fans would be happy, not pissed.
They can wipe the whole thing out. Warriors can stay at home for all I care. Until they get a decent center that can score just a little bit say 12-15 pts a game and play defense and shot block they’re just a total waste.
I think the NBA fans like the NHL ones will be oblivious, what no bball? What is on the tube instead? Kardashin what?
I am watching, soaking up every quality MLB game I can; storing fat for the winter hibernation.
Over the years I have pulled for the Tigers and more recently the Rays as the go toe-to-toe with the beasts of the east. And win. I have not studied him, but there is something about Joe Madden’s managing making me mad with admiration, just like his style, successes and gut guesses.
The other games not so much, but I am enjoying watching the Brew Crew play like a contender especially sense Cuddyer gave me a good year in FL.
Agreed on the “Morgan is mentally ill” take. He’s held it together pretty good this year but I wouldn’t give this dude anything other than a 1-year deal. He’ll blow up the same way Bradley and Big Z blew up. Containing your insanity is hard to do……
The Giants would have had him on arb years, was worth the risk in my humble opinion…
Pretty tough to trade for a backnup for anyone who might slump or get hurt..
“I am watching, soaking up every quality MLB game I can; storing fat for the winter hibernation.”
THE MOST WONDERFUL BASEBALL FAN METAPHOR I HAVE EVER HEARD AND IT CAME FROM SOMEONE ACROSS THE POND!
I know that Flav has already choose his POTD, but this is easily – in my mind – the best baseball fan comment I have heard in years. Way to go Orb of Wisdom!
Yes, it’s a good comment/post. It almost makes me wish I weren’t such a bitter person. But there ya go
Enjoyed reading people’s comments about those Warriors games. Would be interested in knowing what the Ice Capades reference meant, because I found it curious and/or interesting that the game against the Bulls was at the Oakland Arena, and the game against the Bullets was at the Cow Palace. Were both venues used throughout the season? More of a total Bay Area kind of thing? Or just a one-off thing in the playoffs?
Regarding the style of play….the quality was very high in those two games. And I loved Oscar Robertson’s enthusiasm. He wasn’t the most insightful broadcaster, but I enjoyed things like: “Wow! What a play!” and that sort of thing. Compare that to someone like, say, Hubie Brown, these days, who treats broadcasting like he’s dissecting a frog.
As for plays- many more plays ran for mid-range jumpshots in those days. Of course, no 3-point line in those days, BUT I was watching a game on the NBA network a few weeks ago, from a Lakers/Celtics series in the ’80s, and I watched a whole half of the game and saw FOUR 3-point shots total. FOUR! Unthinkable now, with how play has evolved in the NBA..
Or devolved. I’m about 60-40 on the 3…even younger kids, that’s all they want to do (besides dunk, of course). Most of these kids have enough trouble shooting from 10-15, yet when left alone are launching 3s.
The decline of the mid range pull up J is a tragedy…even if you can shoot the 3, you have to be able to shot fake, put the ball on the floor once and shoot the pull up. Great weapon kids don’t practice enough to get the footwork down well enough to be good at it.
Shooting the 3 off a fast break….even if it goes in, I hate to play that way, because the guys that don’t get the ball think it’s OK and now the whole team is doing it. If you let it go, it never stops..zero ball movement and you don’t make the other team play any D. Miss, and it’s back down the floor for a break the other way.
Btw, some of those teams back in the day could score more than ones today, too.
Zume, the Warriors were forced to play their home games in the finals at the Cow Palace because they had previously scheduled the Ice Capades for those days. They had moved out of the Cow Palace in 71 or 72 or something.
I had also forgotten how shitty Rick Barry was in that western finals. Attles sat him for a good 6 minutes to end the 3rd/start the 4th and let Mullins/Bridges play. Once he came back, he was on fire. I don;t know if you saw this on my thread. But yeah, the big O was funny. Great announcing. He got excited and whopped it up. I loved it when Van Lier (i thhink) knocked over the mic, and O’s coke, and spilled it on him trying to get into the game.
He had a classic line, when after Rick Barry made a great pass to G Johnson under the basket for a layup, he yelled out “What a pass by Chuck Berry!”
It doesn’t sound like everyone is thrilled about the Quadruple Header today. It totally works for me.
I did E-Mail everybody who was in my address book- a scam E-Mail with a link was not from me. Sorry. I hope it’s been taken care of or I’ll have to close my Hotmail account.
Thanks for the heads up Mike (However, I recognized it for what it was, i.e., other friends have sent me similar scam emails . . . Or, rather their accounts were “hijacked” and the scam email w/link was sent to my account). In any event, no harm, no foul.
TB down 4-3, but 1 on 1 out in the 9th. . .
Twin, I sent you an email related to my pc . . . when you get a chance give me a response. Thanks.
Well, I guess the hope is, StL manages to beat the Phillies, and then go down to the Brew Crew.
I mean I’ve hated the Cards for years, but the Phillies piss me off here and now more.
Uh, editor? Clean-up in aisle 3 . . .
3-0 Phillies. Ben Francisco with a 3 run jack.
3-1 now 2 on, 2 0ut, bottom of the 7th.
When it’s time for a change, think Speedy oil change. Your smog, tune–up, and oil changes specialists.
Awwww. When it’s time for a change…Makes one nostalgic, doesn’t it?
molina posed to be a hero
and, he flies out
Puta and Bastardo?
…Attorneys at Law
molina posed to be a hero
LaRussa should get questioned for leaving Garcia in to bat with 2 on in the bottom of the 6th. he needed to get runs there at all costs.
Especially seeing as he gave up the bomb in the 7th.
He probaby would have hit for him if knew he was going to give up the HR. That’s not an easy call, IMO. And that’s no stellar relief corps.
It’s an easier call when you see it’s Garcia out there. As I recall, and I haven’t checked as I post this, but he’s a 6 inning guy, not a horse…….
Most pitchers are 6 to 6.5 inning guys. Tim is 6.57, MadBum 6.21, Jaime 6.09. League average is 5.99. Whatever- it’s a real easy call if he knows that Francisco hits the HR. It was certainly not a no-brainer, IMO
well, LaRussa DOES have a shitty bullpen. I’m not really questioning the call, I just felt like chiming in. I looked Jaime up after I posted that and saw he had two 8 and one 9 inning starts this year.
I remember him from last year when he went 5-6 innings over and over and over and over and then shut us out on 87 pitches or whatever the hell that was. Getaway day at the end of a long Summer road trip back east. I still say we mailed that one in……..
I don’t give much of a rat’s ass anyway, just that they hadn’t scored, and they needed to.
Might have to bring back the bikini babes. Don’t worry, I’ll create a page for them. I’m going through withdraw in the mornings with no Giants info to dig up……..
We in the UK feel your pain. Lawn bowling season is now over and the greens are being mowed, rolled and scarified. No more clubhouse banter, food and friendly competition among the town’s Bowls teams. Soon the greens will be covered with snow; a sure sign spring will be most welcomed.
(insert gay-ass smiley face).
I remember one of Bochy’s riskiest moves last year- he PH for Timmy in the 6th in a tie game. I think just about everybody was ready to go postal- Ishikawa drove in the go ahead run and the relievers held the lead.
I don’t like LaRussa at all, I hate to defend one of his calls- but I have Philly so I’m just fine with Jaime staying in 😉
That Philly/St. Louis series is just a drag in general. Two unlikable teams; one will get to go on to the next round, and then hopefully lose to the Brewers. I don’t exactly dig the Brewers either. Texas or Detroit winning it all would be OK with me.
I like the Brewers, I think they have all the personality this year. You’ve got Fielder and his tats and double d’s, Braun is Mr Hollywood, Morgan is a bomb that could go off at any moment. Fun shit. Marcum, Gallardo and Grienke are basically 3 aces when they get it going………
They are the only NL team in the playoffs that I could pull for. If they make it to the World Series vs., say, the Yankees, I’d pull for the Brewers.
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Speaking of Yankees, that dude just made a pretty nice catch.
Just saw that Velez got bounced down to triple A. We all heard he went 0 for 37 but I also read he went 0 for 9 to end the regular season in 2010. So that’s 0 for 46. How does a guy that fast go 0 for 46? It’s almost inconceivable that he didn’t leg out a grounder or get to first base on a swinging ground bunt or something. It’s too bad, he looks incompetent with that dubious record. There was a time in 2008 when I would bet he had the most POTG’s of any Giant over the course of about 6 weeks……
The rip job article that some clown in LA wrote (I think) was awful. The guy has skills. You have to wonder how long they worked with him on bunting before they gave up.
Agree, Craig, hard to figure about Velez. I do remember that period when Velez was almost “carrying” the team for a handful of weeks (although I thought it was ’09, couldn’t remember). During that time, he showed signs of actually having instinct and skills. Other than that time, all too often, he showed no such things. Too bad the team couldn’t have somehow harnessed what talent there was, worked with him to hone that talent, and used it in selected situations (I doubt he was ever going to be a regular starter). Same could be said for someone like Ford; he hasn’t shown he can hit, but man, that speed is a wonderful weapon, if he could “perfect” it and learn how to effectively use it and the team could deploy it in key situations. It’s the kind of weapon they didn’t have this year at all….
Paul– honestly, I think it was in both ’08 and ’09. The dude probably racked up 25 POTG’s over the course of those two season…….
I got 4 guest post threads plus one *idea* from GH. Thank you. I appreciate the time you guys spent to do that. I’ll throw those bad boys out there in the coming days……..
Grand salami for Goldfinger. Got to like that kid. He came up and just started crushing the ball.
It was 2009 that he carried us when he was recalled in late July- remember, that was when Fruckie and Garko were obtained. From July 27 until August 10 he was 25 for 60. He faded pretty badly later but he kept us in the race…
What pisses me off about the 0-37, he only got 7 AB in September. Donnie should have made sure he got his hit. Bochy would have..
The rip job article that some clown in LA wrote (I think) was awful. Gino has skills. You have to wonder how long they worked with him on bunting before they gave up.
From Jenkins:
Among the issues revealed in Boston regarding the team’s fractured clubhouse: Members of the rotation were drinking beer on days they weren’t pitching. If that’s a problem, just shut down the whole game. We’re talking about grown men here.
What does he mean here. That they are drinking DURING THE DAY of games? While other guys are getting ready for a night game, the starters are drinking beers? Or are they drinking beers during day games while the game is being played? Both are unacceptable to me but either would just be weird. We’re both at work, I’m firing down Heinekens and you are stretching and getting ready for the game? Jenkins needs to expand on this………
I went back to the blog from 2008, Count Chocula won many, MANY POTG awards. In hindsight, his greatest public moments happened at the Old Flap. Sigh……
Did you shut down your old blogspot site, or did it just expire? I used to go there from time to time just to see Posey’s first big league hit.
I had to actively kill mine . . .
Wow, Rays drew about 33,000 yesterday, 28,000 today in what’s said to be a 36,000-person stadium (might be ‘Coliseum rules’). How’s that for fan support–and in the playoffs? The team finished with a 47-34 home record, although I recall they were at or below .500 there for awhile.