Lincecum….Bumgarner…..Cain……
If I walked into a room and just said “Lincecum, Bumgarner, Cain….” and then walked out of the room, you’d probably feel pretty good even if you didn’t know what I was talking about. You’d definitely be wondering how and why you had just awakened in an empty room with a stranger named “Big Flavor” standing irritatingly close to you, but you’d likely feel content–like everything was gonna be all right. Those 3 names just sound good when said together……
And yet all three failed this weekend. They failed in different ways. I give Cain a little more slack than the other two who put us in a hole from the get-go. But Cain still nearly squandered a lead of 6 runs (Bochy pulled him before the disastrous 7th started) and there’s only so much slack a guy pitching with a 6 run lead can get……..
And as improbable as The Big 3 Failing was too consider before the D-backs series started, it is equally improbable to consider “Zito as Stopper” without your friends trying to get you 51/50’d. But as Pawlie said in the last thread, “….maybe something in the lunar tides and magnetic jitterbugs of the celestial orbs w/granola…..”
And he’s right, baseball is improbable and often makes no sense. Zito pitching well today and helping us earn our first win would make no sense. But neither did “Lincecum, Bumgarner, Cain” spitting the bit the way they did in Arizona this weekend…….
The bottom line isn’t that we are 0-3 staring into the abyss of what appears to be an almost certain 0-4 start to the season. The bottom line is, do you believe in our pitching staff or not? If you think Timmy’s sending off warning signs with his 89.7 mph fastballs and that the dough has already gotten to Cain’s head and that Mad-Bum is just a dumb country hick who’s tapped out talent wise, then by all means, send off the tsunami alarms, the Giants are in big trouble this year….
But you don’t feel that way, do you?
And our offense seems perfectly tolerable, falling somewhere between “watchable and borderline reliable”. Although Blanco’s strike out in the 6th inning with 1 out and runners on 2nd and third was brutal. That was his *moment* to secure our lead as well as more playing time and he blew it. But that’s ok. I like Gregor Blanco.
If you think Brandon Crawford will continue to make critical errors and that Posey’s 3 errors through 3 games can be safely extrapolated out to 162 for the year, then by all means, send off the tsunami alarms. Because we are screwed if that happens…….
But you don’t feel that way, do you?
This weekend was tough, it was irritating, and there’s no clear sign of when all this is going to end. Our bullpen is chewed up and we are beginning a series in Colorado. Not the way you draw it up.
But this team has dominant pitching, good defense, and a greatly improved offense. Forget this weekend. The Yankees, Red Sox and Braves are trying to do the same thing…..
“Lincecum, Bumgarner, Cain……”
Have a great day……..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
They left their gloves and arms in Arizona…I missed Cain’s meltdown after the Posey bomb, but to blow a 6 run lead just should not happen…when I got back to watch the Posey throwing error and mental error to make sure he had a foot on the plate and Crawford’s error…eh gads.
This the Rockies home opener, so I guess Zito gives up 10…
Even a Zito implosion today could actually have a benefit. If he has a decent start, that usually earns him about a month’s worth of future starts from the Giants brass. And the sooner he’s gone and we get back into our ABZ frame of mind, our team will be better for it………
If we lose today(highly likekly with Zits chuckin manure)Flav you might want to bring back “BB of the Day!” to end this drought. 0 for the season since it closed till summer started.
yeah, no soph-isms allowed after first 3 games. Phils dropped a couple to the pirates, and angels did likewise at home to the royals. Yes, jonathan sanchez has more Ws than big 3 combined. Quite a line he had too–wild pitches, throwing error, etc. in 5 innings, but royals hammered E Santana (a day after they spanked Haren) and then held on. JS will be in town too, across the bay. Should be interesting, but not as interesting as…
…. pawlie in boston; those fans have to be something. Last year everybody bailed, from Epstein to Francona to Papelbon, plus you have the controversy of SPs in the clubhouse and charges Girardi tanked. I’ve got the book on order so don’t spoil anything, but given the high expectations/meltdown, not to mention the fact that it was tampa that got in, any mention of last game of the year has to rankle them. Should be fun!
I’m not worried. I’ll leave that to Dennis. All the games were tight. As for blowing a big lead it happens. Perhaps Denver will be kinder. Zito to the rescue!
Like I said on the last thread, either Posey and the pitchers aren’t on the same page yet (his game calling might be as rusty as his stamina) OR Posey is giving away signs like he did when he first came up.
I thought I saw each AZ batter saying “Fore” before teeing off on those rockets.
Need to get Brian Wilson into a game.I’m sure he’s feeling like the “Maytag Repair Man”.
I’m not going to get into the Yip thing more because clearly it’s not understood. Just as it didn’t have to be a close play for Sax to airmail first base, it doesn’t have to be a contact play for Buster to fear contact.
As Montrero said:
“I never had an injury like that, but it was the first thing that came to my mind. It’s understandable,” the Diamondbacks catcher said. “It’s a tough injury. Maybe he’s a little conscious of it. It was a bang-bang play and he probably doesn’t want to get hit again. You know, to be honest, I don’t want to be in his shoes because I might have done the same thing.”
“After that type of injury, it’s got to be tough.”
He’s referring to Buster shying away from the plate. So there, I went into it.
Now, to the thread today, Craig, you’ve been as negative as anyone, virtually every thread this spring was negative.Thank GOD that Whiteside didn’t make the team, I got so sick hearing about his sorry ass…glad to see you getting over the negativity..
There ARE some things to be concerned about though:
1. the 89.7 fastball
2. What we should hope is not Bochy bailing on Belt and Pagan already- way early, panic stuff. And Panic is not Bochy’s style
I didn’t put Buster in there because I think he’ll get over it. But I do hope they scratch the idea of having him play first..
Looking at paul’s potd again today, toward the end i flashed on seeing the word “torture” again. It’s easy to forget that even in 2010 how much of that there was to the season—wilson and his saves, agonizing 2-1 losses, brooks conrad, et al—and that’s when we won the Series!
Over the course of 162, there are going to be games where you just say how the F did that happen, many times over. Even if you were to win 100, there would be 62, or two months worth, of those. Glad we got some of them out of the way early.
I found the weekend more irratating than anything else. As I said to my mom while we were listening to the last out on the car radio, “Well, 159 to go”
LF Blanco, RF Cabrera, 3B Sandoval, 1B Huff, C Sanchez, CF Pagan, SS Crawford, 2B Theriot, P Zito
Craig is probably right about Zits. He’s terrible but he’s a crafty devil. His mission in San Francisco is to torture us. And a good start tonight buys him 3 bad ones. Only hope may be in the Northwest-that’s right: Big Foot! Just one stomp oughtta do it.
Look, Mike, I ain’t trying to ‘pick a fight’ but you keep going back to shit you know nothing about. The throw was up the line a bit. His toe was 2″ off the bag. And from that you infer that he’s gun-shy? Utter horseshit.
As for the Giants, this start may nopt get much better. The pen will likely get raked over the coals these next few days. Which means Belt goes down and they call up Surkamp?
They’ve got too many other 1st basemen to even worry about Posey at 1st. If he needs spells, let him sit completely. Pill needs some action. Huff? Shit, I haven’t seen Bochy so pissed after that DP since Drrrty forgot to cover home and 1st on consecutive plays.
Surkamp is at least a month away for chrissakes. Zito will get a month regardless.
Yes, you are trying to pick a fight. A major league catcher who was there agrees with me-you got, uh, one of your roofers?
He was never on the plate ( it’s not callled a “bag”). Where the throw was had nothing to do with it-he set up off the plate before the throw was made. Why? Because in my educated opinion, he’s still not over the collision and injury.
That does explain it, he was trying to find the home bag..
I disagree with yiour assesment, Mike. In your world that’s picking a fight? Montero doesn’t know shit either. Did Montero talk to Buster? No.
‘Maybe he’s a little conscious of it.’
Wow. Damning evidence, there, Mike. That’s what you base this on? Maybe the throw was offline. Posey had to reach across his body. Pablo’s struggling with his throws so far. It was a lousy throw. Posey compounded the bad throw by not being on the bag with his toe. He wanted to turn the DP. But, yeah, read whatever you want into it.
The disagreemewnt is not picking a fight, your choice of words definitely was. Now try not to emulate Yogi and turn this into a 3 year argument. Anyway, he’s off today, he needn’t worry about a hurty-wurty.
Now don’t all hurty yourself, I didn’t put a smiley on the the last post. As I’ve said, I think he’ll get over it.
Gawd, you act like a 5 year old sometimes. Montero doesn’t know. You don’t know what’s going on inside Buster’s head. So, give it up.
Tough loss, tough weekend. It’s way too early to start freaking out, though. I feel like not only is this team better than they played this weekend but I also feel they’re a better team than AZ…the D-Backs played their game in their house this weekend and was able to exploit the Giants’ mistakes. Meanwhile, BarfyForver has been lurking here, continuing his pathetic obsession with Buster.
” Gnatsrock 9:54 AM on April 9, 2012
The Gnatflappers are saying nasty things about FB’s defense behind the plate. They may well be right, but decorum suggests they should at least refrain from questioning his masculinity.”
Now THAT is sexist. Men can be afraid after a very serious injury, it’s not a girl thing.
You give it up, I’ve stated my opinion, you are the one trying to keep it going, Yogi.
Who brought it up on this thread, Spitblood? You deny instigating this?
Instigating? Since when is stating an opinion “instigating”? Nothing I said in my initial post attacked another poster. Instigating is what you started, attacking another commenter.
As frustrating as the weekend was, it wasn’t as bad as watching you two knuckleheads argue over who’s right and who started it. I’ve got twins at home, i don’ need to come here for it.
There was nothing in my post that invited Chuckie’s derogatory comment about me in his first post. Instead of giving me shit, why don’t you do what I tried to do: talk baseball.
You can talk to yourself on this from now on, Chuckles. I stated an opinion based on playing some ball above the midget league, knowing dozens of players, coaches, and managers, and observation of Buster’s play this spring…
Now I’ll move on to Zito, with a repeat performance from Bobby Darin..
Maybe Zito SHOULD do okay for the next 2-3 weeks, anyway. Giants orthopedist said that Surkamp MAY be ready for rehab starts at Fresno in about a month’s time, Will the cleanup position resurrect Huff the Magic Dragon, or will he continue in his Huff n’ Puff mode? We should have a pretty good idea in 3-4 hours.
I didn’t instigate shit, Mike. You just don’t think anyone has the right to question you.
At least he didn’t say STFU! Still Chuck you should stomp your feet and BLEEP loudly so the neighbors can appreciate your feelings!
Fine, you’re right. Happy? Now move on.
Bochy insisted that Belt was the first baseman. If he’s being truthful, today is just a break for him:
“Even with Belt’s slow start, Bochy said he has no concerns about the first baseman, who rode the shuttle from San Francisco to Fresno much of his rookie season.
‘He’s going to be out there,’ Bochy said. ‘That’s what you do at this point, you throw these guys out there.'”
I don’t see much difference between huff (2 for 11) and belt (1 for 10) right now except Huff’s Slugging percentage is higher. And while some of Posey’s ab’s haven’t looked so good, he’s hitting a ton better than either of those two. So this might have been a good time to play him at first and bat fourth. or maybe huff gets untracked.
It doesn’t matter if he was hitting a thousand, the best thing for Buster today is just what he’s getting: a day off. IMO. And the manager’s opinion.
And he shouldn’t play first at all, IMO. Get Pill the at bats against lefties, at least for the first month or so.
Agree. Give Pill the work.
And please excuse me if I don’t put a lot of stock in batting averages, let alone slugging pct. after 10 at bats..
You’re excused!
Playing first isn’t as easy as some here seem to think. Not like he’d be kicking back in a lounge chair out there. Still quite a bit of fancy footwork, running and standing around required.
Ask Doug Mientkiewicz:
“Mientkiewicz was struck in the head by the left knee of Boston’s Mike Lowell in a collision at first base, which came as Lowell was beating out a potential double-play grounder against New York’s Scott Proctor.
The baseball trickled away and two runs scored as Mientkiewicz lay motionless on the infield dirt, at which time play was halted. Tests at Massachusetts General Hospital revealed a mild concussion, cervical sprain and a fractured scaphoid bone in Mientkiewicz’s right wrist.”
Concerning Surkamp,Can we really trust the Giants medical staff?He could easily turn into are next Noah Lowry.
Probably a better idea to go with the bloggers on proper treatment..
I doubt that anyone knows better than me (I?) that doctors make mistakes, but this constant belittling of the team doctors is ignorant. It’s not an exact science and mistakes ARE made by even the most competent doctors and medical staffs. Surkamp is an adult, and as an adult he behooves him to do what we all know to be the prudent thing- seek alternate opinions. If he isn’t smart enough to do that, he has parents ( I presume)and an agent to guide him. I’ve had three different doctors read an MRI and come to 3 different opinions…
So what do you do then? What any man would do-go with the one with the best boobs…
It’s better than squatting, ST, but in the end, Posey needs rest, not time at 1st base. Plus they need that proverbial RH power off the bench ( I kid, I kid).
Of course that could change if Huff and Belt flame out, and Pill doesn’t show too much.
Chuck worried! News at Eleven!
TF and his Buster “thang” that he’s always had for some reason. Can there be a limit on the number of posts per day?
Pardon me? There’s no Buster “thang” now and never was. If you’re referring to limiting my posts- fuck you. I made a perfectly cordial post at 8:30 A.M. that was responded to with “you keep going back to shit you know nothing about”. That instigated this bullshit and now you butt in when it was over. Maybe you’re still pissed because you didn’t know where Pablo played in 2009, but get off my case, son.
Fine, I’m outta here. Have a great season everyone.
For the record, I meant the amount of Buster-bashing posts per day from you. When you do that, you come off as a troll, just trying to get reaction from us.
Oh, don’t be a fucking pussie. You get on my case and now it will be said I drove you away. Such bullshit. I have an opinion shared by more than one person here, and a major league catcher, and it’s my Buster “thang”.
And bringing up the Panda thing is out and out troll behavior. If you believe that I thought that 2010 was Panda’s ROOKIE season, then it’s pointless for me to hang out here. I’m not going to keep defending a harmless gaffe I made. If you want to keep making something out of nothing, then the fun is out of it for me here. I want the freedom to be able to gaffe once in a while. I don’t take this stuff as seriously as you do. I have no idea why you get so angry about this stuff.
By the way- Bip Roberts put the whole blame on that play on Sandoval. He was a major leaguer, too.
More than one person has noted that Bip is an idiot. And I did note that the Comcast guys were putting it all on Panda. Even the densest here acknowledge it was Posey’s error- and the scorekeeper agrees.
And I don’t bash Buster “daily”. Try not to lie anyway.What prolongs these perceived “bashings” are the attacks from those outraged that a FOF has been criticized.
You mistake being passionate about a game I love with taking ignorant remarks seriously. I do not, I enjoy refuting them. The problem with your Panda gaffe was not the mistake- it was when you smugly ( grin) thought you were correcting my post about his terrific 2009 season.
This nonsense that I have a thang for Buster began when I noted that he hit a lot of balls on the ground. My goodness, you’d think I called him a child molester. BTW, he hits a lot of balls on the ground..stating an unpopular opinion is ot trolling, and accusing me of being a troll is an outrageous accusation.
It just isn’t spring without a few Flapper fights.
The play with Buster missing the plate was one of the few things I got to see in the game and I will say my first reaction watching with my son was that Posey was a little tentative on that play, but who could blame him. It has to be in the back of his mind with someone bearign down on him….even a hook slide into his ankle has got to terrify him.
Besides Ray Fosse, has any other catcher been injured behind the plate and never come back with 100% confidence? Is it going to be like Conigliaro where he just needs time to get back to 100%?
I said similar and had attacks from Chuckles and now Zumie. It’s a legit concern after a serious injury like that. He’s been timid defensively all spring. I’ve also noted that I’m confident he’ll get over it. But any criticism of one of the “faces of the franchise” is heresy-if I say it. If I said “even a hook slide into his ankle has got to terrify him “, the shit would hit the fan..
Plenty of catchers have been hurt and come back. Fosse never came back as strong due to the accumulated injuries incurred during his acreer. Not because of percieved gunshyness.
It never crossed my mind that Buster was doing anything than what was expected of him. At first glance I thought his foot was on the plate. If his foot WAS on the plate was it still a tentative play?
2/3 of the onus should be on Pablo for throwing such an offline throw from 60′ away.
As I’ve said repeatedly, I’d expect Buster to get over it. None of us know if Fosse was initially gun shy or not, but remember that he did not suffer a season ending injury, he never even went on the DL. There’s no comparison between the two.
Panda off to a brilliant start.
Without denigrating anyone else here, my opinion is that I have NO IDEA what Buster was thinking when the play transpired. However, my perspective after seeing the play numerous times is this The throw seemed a bit off the line, which was no biggie if you consider two things – it was a force play and Posey was positioning himself to throw immediately to first for the double play.
The first, second, and third thought that went off in my mind did not even entertain that Posey was being a “pussy” The thought that I had was that if he was trying to avoid being hit, it was because he didn’t want to be interfered with insofar as his throw to first was concerned for the double play.
“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
Marcus Aurelius
Wow, who is that guy pitching for the G’s?
Damn. Bubbles holds the lead. Get that pen ready . . .
It’s just impossible for some to understand that Posey might be gun shy. Last night’s play was just one example. There were more obvious ones in ST. I pay more attention than most so it’s hardly surprising that only a few share my opinion that he’s not mentally past the incident. If many of you have a burning desire to rip someone for their opinion on all of this- go after the yahoos who think he would be acting like a pussy by not blocking the plate and inviting another collision..
Attacks??? Please Mike. You make me laugh. I disagreed with you yesterday. I didn’t say anything remotely provocative toward you. YOU bring it back up AGAIN today. If you want to rehash shit, have at it. but you are the one who won’t let it go. Don’t cry foul when you are the one dragging this out for no apparent reason.
It’s hardly surprising that you assume your arrogant pomposity either, Mike. Bully. Go sell it to the Splash. Is he rusty? Sure. Is he over the collision? Maybe, maybe not. As I said originally, don’t profess to know what’s going on in his head. It’s fine to think he’s not over it. To say you know that as fact is what I question.
Don’t like it? Boo hoo.
As usual, Chuckie goes through a huge dsplay and then essentially agrees with what I said in the first place. Give it a couple weeks and he’ll be talking about how Buster was gun shy last night…
Chuckles is ALWAYS looking for a fight. It goes way back to when the SFGate sports blogs began. He would not be happy without battles, he looks for them. That’s why he responded so aggressively to my 8:30 post. If he leaves out the unneccessary profanity in his response, none of this bullshit would have gone down. OBVIOUSLY I’m stating my opinion, must we all note that when we post?
Sure, I don’t mind a little melee myself- but 9 times out of it’s like today. Chuckles or one of the other Room B residents goes off ignorantly and I have to set the record straight with the sane logic that can only come from the master- me.
I don’t agree with your post. Deal with it, weenie.
I brought it up for Montreros opinion- a non provocative post. YOU respond with “you keep going back to shit you know nothing about”.THAT is instigating, pal.
Waah!
Don’t cry- I’m sure you’ll find work soon.
big chance for Sanchez
They GOT to pound Chachin thin inning
bases loaded single for Hector!
Where’s Dennis? I told him yesterday that Chacin blows . . . Fucker self-destructs just about every time he pitches. Whenever you see him wiping his brow, he gets even worse. LQTM.
Chacin at 60 pitches with one out in the third!! bullpen up. Pagan ground out to first but sandavol scores from third. apparently good play by Helton
Fleming says he has 40 pitches in THIS inning!
Game is on TV ewisco.
i’m at work. thanks.
There goes Zito’s perfect game. I thought he had it in him today. Maybe next start.
4 more runs, and I might feel comfortable . . .
might
Yikes. This looks pretty bad. Rocketing foul ball went into the stands if you ain’t watching.
Cargo with the drop. Hector with his 2 hit.
Way to go Craw!
There;s 3 . . .
We had a 6-0 lead yesterday. What can you do for an encore? Blow a 7-0 lead today.
Well, they didn’t deserve to win in the first place, right?
Bullshit. Giants have been playing outstanding offense in ALL 4 games thus far this season. Pitching may have been wanting, but that’s our strength and will come around.
I’ll take this team every day and twice on Sunday.
Also, let’s give Zito credit where credit is due. He is pitching a great game.
Unfortunately, it buys him 3 horrible ones.
That’s on Dennis.
Dammit Pagan.
one more inning for BZ? But I’d have someone up in the bullpen. when he loses it, it goes fast.
Someone needs to go 7. Not in a million years would I peg Zito as being the 1st Giant to do it this year.
BZ doing it all.
Way to go Zito!
Damn, that was a great at bat.
Bettina Bunge backhand. Too funny . . .
that’s a pretty deep pull there Chuck.
Quick. While we got their attention. A little birdie whisper in the ear of Colorado’s G.M.: “Try and engineer a trade for Zito. He seems to like pitching at Coors.”
Yep stix, that’s exactly what I was thinking. That slurve of his seems to do alright in the light air.
Zito pitching like this only means we’re totally fucked.
For now, at least, he’s saved their ass.
And I appreciate the win, make no mistake. But he’ll pay this back in spades..
A pitching gem. Congratulations to Barry.
Unreal. You can’t make this up.
Like I’ve been saying all along, I *knew* Z would finally get warmed up. Time for a contract extension!
His first 9 inning CG in 9 years. I’m sure there are many more to come.