The Line Up Going Forward
Here’s today’s line up:
Pagan CF
Cabrera LF
Sandoval 3B
Posey C
Schierholtz RF
Belt 1B
Burriss 2B
Crawford SS
Lincecum SP
This game likely won’t be getting played. But I do think this is the line up we are going to see for the rest of the year. Huff has gotten so bad it’s time for the Giants to release him. When you can’t hit or field (or remember to run to second base on a ball hit to shortstop) it is time for you to go. And there is absolute precedent for this. The Giants ate all of Rowand’s contract this year (12 mil). They released Dave Roberts a month before the season started a couple of years ago (eating 6.5 million).
It’s time to pay Aubry Huff to go away…….
And Belt will be the welcomed winner. I know why Bochy hasn’t been playing him and I’ve discussed it several times. No need to get into it again. Once Huff is released there really will be no other direction to turn other than Belt. It would also allow the Giants to call up Arias to replace Huff and that will give us some infield depth. I know the Huff fiasco was forced on Bochy because of Theriot’s illness but I think Crawford needs a game or two off a week. I’m guessing his thumb is bothering him and playing every day is hard to do, especially for a rookie. And hitting 65 points less than a struggling Brandon Belt is just not going to cut it as an every day player.
If Belt gets run out there every day I’m not the least bit confident he’ll succeed, especially if he continues to fail at the plate as often as he has this season. But there is also the chance that he starts hitting, builds some confidence, gets on a roll and never looks back. Plus we get automatic gold glove defense at first base. If Belt doesn’t turn it around and he’s hitting a buck fifty at the end of May then I suppose they could give Pill the job. But Pill is not the answer at first base. He’s going to continue to provide decent pop off the bench. That’s where he belongs. And there is nothing in the minors at first base—nothing that’s ready to help now, anyway…..
There is no chance that Huff turns this around. It’s obvious in his hitting, his defense, and the eyes of everyone on him: he’s done. Release him immediately………
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Hate to say it, but gotta agree on Huff. Everyone here said in the off-season he would be on a short leash, kinda no surprise, but disappointing. It’s also possible that Hector’s early good showing factors into that, perhaps making Bochy more comfortable playing Buster at 1st now and then against a tough-for-Belt lefty (and giving Posey an occasional day off… wow, the team actually has a second catcher who contributes, key improvement). I do think Belt will hit if given the time to settle in there, instead of the short leash he’s generally had. After they pull the plug on Huff, they might next start looking at giving Blanco more playing time, to see if he can perform and take the “starting” role from Nate. And then Crawford… and … and… we got all summer to watch it evolve. And need I say it again? I hate the fucking Mets…. 🙂
Kudos Paul on last night’s late post (POTD). Yeah, I agree with canning Huff. I felt that way last year and was NEVER sold on the good year, bad year Voodoo Santa Maria kill a chicken and wrap it in a thong sorcery crap. Good bye and take your thong with you.
De nada Twin . . . By the by, your one liner in regard to Z, i.e., “Well, I’m happy you chose to save lives…” had me chuckling this morning and was Loo like POTD material as well.
What else? I am really, really disliking my Flap league team (and I only say that because I try very hard not to use the word “Hate” in my vocabulary).
Actually, Marsalli Park in Santa Clara willieD.
neat to read the reports from those that attended last couple games.
blade, were you at Washington Park for little girl’s game? Lot of good memories of that place, from playing night b-ball til the lights went off and helping buddies of mine coach their kids in LL. Btw, couple days ago in Chron Thursday section, street date featured Murphy block of the bars/restaurants (don’t know how why didn’t mention iconic Tao Tao). Back in the day that was home to “Sportsman”, where everyone got HS letter sweaters and high top b-ball shoes.
No willieD, it was a park off of El Camino and Lafeyette (Marshall Park I think). My cuz lives in Santa Clara, so in their city limits. He is one of 3 managers of the team and I really felt for the kids out there. Coupled with his daughter moving over from 1st base to pitcher, where she walked the mandatory 5 runs in . . . He took her aside and told her he was ok with her walking in the runs, but the “hang dog” look wasn’t going to be tolerated. She improved her attitude after that. Tough being a parent and probably, more tough being a kid (i.e., everything is magnified at that age).
I’ve been staying with the in laws for a while as I transition to CA. The father in law has this annoying habit of recording games and then watching them later on fast forward. I find this incredibly annoying as i really enjoy the games LIVE. I am pretty sure that he hasnt heard that in this new century you can get scores on the inter webs. I’ve noticed my own folks doing this more and more with their programming of choice so maybe it’s a generational thing.
Anyway, my point is that I only watched through 9 (on tape delay) yesterday as I got fed up and left the house. I didn’t see the Huff disaster at 2b but have read about it here and other places. I don’t really hold that failure against him. No way he should be playing that position. I am more annoyed at the grounder to first earlier in the game that he he had to at least keep in front of him.
Today is a new day with a new opportunity for victory. The club has picked it up since the opening series in AZ. Lincecum can right the ship.
Go Giants!
dude, Katie’s grandpa does that too and it is super annoying when he’s over to watch a game.
I stuck with the Huff Fan Club most of last season. This season when the same player showed up for the start of play I saw no reason to believe. Yesterday’s game was sad. I remember competing and being down and wanting so much to do something positive, but you can’t force success out of your body and then the head goes. That was the huff I saw yesterday.
Wanting it so bad and no way to do it.
well, I felt like he was mentally checked out in the 9th inning. No other explanation for breaking for first when he should have been breaking for 2nd…..
Game officially called. Looks like a DH tomorrow starting at 1:10 PDT.
There goes Belt’s one start a week down the drain.
tomorrow’s will get cancelled too. Then it’ll be July 2nd, as I said yesterday….
I see the weather is clear with a big rain cloud just off shore in NY
and the game is postponed
Belt hasn’t played because Bochy has been wrong. The Fangraphs piece that Willie offered makes the case quite well. There is little doubt that Belt rubbed Bochy the wrong way when he said that if they wanted him to improve against major league pitching he should do it against major league pitching, but Belt then completely forced his hand by getting better and better as ST wound down. There was no choice without risking HUGE fan disenchantment
but to award him first base, which was taken away based on TEN at bats. It was the worst judgement by Bochy since he’s been here. As it was with Posey and Sandoval, when you have a special player like Belt, you clear a spot for him and don’t revoke it based 10 at bats- hopefully Bochy has seen the light and Belt will have the job with ample time to establish himself. Here’s the FanGraph piece again.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/brandon-belt-singles-past-straw-men/
I don’t think he’s seen the light. He’s seen a player struggling with his confidence and it’s affecting his at bats. He’s been doing the kid a favor to not start him. But Huff’s incompetence has probably forced his hand. There’s really no other option but to send Belt out there and hope for the best…..
He’s done Belt and the team a disfavor by not making him the first baseman and sticking with him. Throwing the “baseball people” thing back at me is cute but the selective use of it is not, this is a mistake just as Whitey was. There was an attempt to shoot down the Freeman comparison but it’s very apt- Freeman got 105 plate appearance in April despite his .217 BA. To make the comparison more appropriate to Belt’s current situation, Freeman was 2 for his first 21, 1 HR, 2 RBI.
Pawlie: where art doth photo et contest past?
getting H out of the OF makes it better defensively too, obviously. Adding in blanco every once in a while can’t hurt that either. If I’m not mistaken he’s played RF for us this year too.
At work so I didn’t see any of yesterday, but noticed in box that Lopez gave up couple hits sandwiched around H error at 1b. Hmmn, second less than stellar appearance in a row from the loogy. Other than the H gaffe play, how did Burriss look at SS (hint hint)? And again, looking at that LU, if leadoff OB continues to be an issue, why not swap he and Pagan?
Yeah I hate the Mets to P/A.Not as much in the Seaver days just the Strawberry,Hernandez ,and Gooden “Coke Team”.And Ray Knight really bugged the shit out of me.
Huff has to go, that inexcusable brain fart play not covering 2B sealed the deal for me.
Hell I played Softball games with only 8 players a few times and we just had 3 OF and “NO 2B” I was the pitcher and would tell my guys after I threw the pitch I would take a few steps to the left and try and cover the empty spot at 2B, it worked a few times as the other team try to exploit that hole there and I would grab a hot shot.Point is “Communication ” is the key and a MLB player should always no that ferchrissakes.
Doubleheader tomorrow…….4:15 NY time….
Double your pleasure….double double your fun!
Or a double-headache as my grandpa used to call them…
Lurie just interviewed Flemming and he basically said everything I’ve been saying. At some point, whether he’s starting or not, Belt has to start squaring the ball up and showing that he can be a reliable #5 hitter. Yesterday, he was an umpire’s twitch away from being rung up without swinging. And then he hits that can of corn that should have been caught. He’s going to get another shot at starting soon but not because of anything he’s doing. It will be because Huff is done.
HUFF is forked!
Giant’s could platoon Huff only with his “Butt Buddy” Pat Burrell alternating throwing out first pitches at home games.
Funny that Fleming has suddenly become the go to guy here, there are bloggers with as much expert cred as Dave. And plenty of recognized experts who disagree. We all look for opinions that reflect our thinking, but it’s not credible to act as if there are no dissenting opinions from “baesball people”.. And every hitter in baseball gets gift hits, of course.
The next time we see Huff on the field, should be him throwing out the first pitch, ala Pat the Bat….Thanks for 2010, you will always be remembered, but now it’s time to go.
Jesus Kat, you beat me to the punch!
Heh heh….WilcoJoe.Great Minds think the same! Now that I’m done with that BS, Glad to see you dropping back into the Flap Asylum occasionally.
Btw I have always dug those Colt 45 jerseys from the early days of Morgan and Wynn, noticed the team wearing them the other day on throwback day.Wondering if you know if they sell those out in Houston?
Funny you mention that Kat…They were giving away the old 45’s hats at a game I went to a couple weeks ago….Prettty cool looking hat…Dark blue, with .45’s in red print…They selll the jerseys with the pistols at their team store…The team has been wearing the old throwbacks in honor of 50 years of baseball in Houston.
MArty Lurie is such an idiot. He just said the Giants desperately need Glass back at 2nd with not a single mention of how good Burriss has been this year. It’s irresponsible of knbr to give this imbecile so much air time.
It would be interesting what a poll would show about Belt and whether he should have been the first baseman all alonng. The opinion here has certainly been in Belt’s favor, so if it wasn’t a landslide vote for Belt, we’d know that “lurkers” truly do rule these polls.
Seeing blade’s comment about girl’s softball reminds me of a good buddy I met when my godson and one of his 3 daughters were in tee ball 20 yrs ago. We wound up coaching together as his girls got older (they all played HS and one JC ball) and he and I played on adult teams, but his nickname was “glove doctor.” Before every season me and buddies used to give him our gloves for a week and he would recondition the leather and rework the laces for us, all for the price of dinner at local mex restaurant and couple beers.
He also used to scour early AM yard sales/thrift shops for old discarded gloves, which he would fix up and sell off cheaply to whoever needed one, that became a thing of beauty to see. Nothing like your old glove getting redone and spiffed up and ready for a new season.
You mentioned gloves willieD and I had a closed web Macgregor glove (shortstop/2nd base) back in the day. They used quality materials and craftsmanship that was soft on your hand and held together well. I recall the craftsmanship being the best back then and was an expensive choice back then (I believe I spent $60 to 70 back then), because the leather was pliable and allowed a player to maneuver their hand. Rawlings was also popular back then.
Today, you always hear about Nokona and Mizuno (most expensive glove I have ever seen cost $400.00 by Rawlings, but the Mizuno Pro will set you back $300.00). I never even heard of Nokona, until recently, but apparently, they have been around since the early 1930s.
There was a guy in sports illustrated called the glove doctor who worked out of Fremont and was used by a lot of guys in the Majors. I looked him up (he’s moved to stockton now) because my boys were using my old gloves and they needed work. talked to him on the phone, he’s was in his 80’s (this was a few years ago so don’t know if he’s even still with us) and recovering from an auto accident. had a GREAT chat with him. He said send them gloves on over. charged me $80 to restore them. just beautiful when they came back.
I supported huff and Belt both starting (I just never believed it would happen). Now that Huff has shown he’s done it’s time for him to go. Belt at least has skills and potential. But he has shown why Bochy is sitting him–and my opinion is that it’s related to his mental approach to his at bats. He’s had more than 11 at bats and I’m on my ph now I don’t know the exact #. But whatever it is, for the most part, he’s not taking advantage of his opportunities– and every at bat IS an opportunity, whether it’s as a starter or a ph-ER.
He’s going to get another shot now, I believe. But he has to produce at the plate NOW especially if he’s gonna be batting 5th
It’ll be really tragic if he starts to go off the charts on the mental strength meter and still doesn’t produce.
Posey was not very remarkable his first 120 PAs. In fact, many well regarded prospects who go on to become good MLers do not make a big splash their first several hundred PAs. As TF has noted, if the organization still feels he’s a top prospect, he should be treated like one. Belt actually had a relatively successful rookie season, which, combined with the fact that he has played all of one third of a ML season, suggest that he be given a fair stretch to prove himself.
The reason the Giants are 7-7 right now can be traced to two primary factors: the bad D and Lincecum’s horrendous performance. The Giants are 7th in OPS and 7th in runs scored. They can more than afford to put Belt out there every day.
Seven and Seven Is . . . .
Tony Manero’s favorite drink.
Posey only had 17 PAs in 2009. (Everyone wondered why, why call him up at all, then?). First half of 2010, he had 147 PAs (he started in Fresno, of course). His Giants slash line for those 147 PAs was .350/.389/.569 (.959). No wonder he was ROY.
My favorite drink . . . umm, before I quit drinking.
At least you now acknowledge that it’s your opinion, not gospel. But it doesn’t matter why Bochy is now going to start him, only that’s happening ( well, fans hope it is). If they’re worried about the offense while he settles back in, they can sit or opotion Carawford, who will never hit.
Belt, BTW, is now hiting .238 including the only gift hit in baseball thois year. His OBP is .360. His OPS is till low at .693. So while these aren’t show stopping numbers, they’re FAR better than Craig reports.
Crawford, BTW, is now at .173 with a .204 OBP. That’s no typo- .204 OBP. His OPS is .531. He makes some spectacular plays but his fielding pct. is .947, range factor just league average. It’s too early for UZR on anybody. Unlike Belt, he’s never hit above “A” ball, he should go to Fresno and see if he can cut it there before considering him for a spot here again. Arias up, Crawdaddy down, Belt full-time SF first baseman.
I absolutely acknowledge that Belt could succeed and possibly would have had If the starting job wasn’t taken from him. But that’s an outcome that we’ll never know. And I say in my intro that I think Crawford needs some rest.
All I’ve ever done is guess why Bochy stopped playing him. It’s not just Huff’s contract, we know now that a contract doesn’t dictate Boxhy’s decisions. You can disagree with me but my opinion, as I’ve said, I’d that he looks less than confident at the plate. And getting rung up without swinging the bat to end the game would have further damaged his confidence. I think the negative attitude that he’s placing on himself has been far more damaging to his psyche than anything Bochy has said or done.
He didn’t swing at a pitch that wasn’t a strike, that’s why he’ll always have a good OBP. And whatever one imagines his confidence level is at, he sure didn’t appear to be lacking in it during his interview after he helped win the Cain masterpiece…as far as Crawford, my opinion is not based on what you say in your intro. That’s not a knock on you, I just don’t do a point by point rebuttal to what you write. At any rate, IMO he doesn’t need rest…I say that combined with his minor league record, last year, and his start this year, he’s shown he won’t hit. If he wants to disprove it, he should be doing it at Fresno.
Actually, he was penciled in sixth. As low it can go unless one thinks Crawford or Burris should hit in front of him.
Bad News Bears…
Huff- Where’s our second basemen?
Burriss- Aren’t you the second basemen?
Scorekeeper – Was that an error?
Older Beat Writer- No error on the infielder …because he wasn’t there.
Oh, that’s right Aubrey……don’t make any fucking effort to cover second base! If God wanted you to cover second he would have miracled your ass over there by now wouldn’t He?
What the hell is the matter with you anyway? I’ll bet if there was some pussy at second base you could get there! Couldn’t you?
I’ll preface this by saying I don’t like Huff, but I believe his story about his first instinct was to go to first base or as he said in his actual words:
“It’s just my natural instinct,” he said. “My whole life, if the ball gets hit to my right, I’m going to first. That was my first move. I mean, I knew where I was, but that’s just my natural instinct my whole career.”
Also, as Spencer Fordin of MLB.com points out, “. . . despite how the play looked, Huff may not have had much of a chance. He was shaded closer to first base, and he would’ve had to beat Ruben Tejada in a footrace to second base.”
I’m with Dirt and don’t hold this against Huff. However, I do hold Bochy responsible for not keeping Belt at 1st for an extended period of time to see if he can handle the position (as Mike and a few others have indicated). If this means Huff is on the bench or traded, so be it.
Damn straiught- pussy, Marlboros, and fine likker. That oughta get any man to second base. I’d have to put this on Bochy for not giving him the incentive.
Well if you have to instruct a second basemen to cover the bag then you have no second basemen at all.Just wondering did Huff have the glove with five fingers on, or his first basemen glove?
Who said he should have been instructed ? He had a total brain fart, which he acknowledged. But it’s fair to note that Burriss was not supposed to go to second base, he was supposed to just get the out at first. If Manny hadn’t looked to second and hesitated,he would have had the out at first. There was some shared blame there. And I cringe to think what might have transpired if Huff had to try turning a DP there. I think you can look for his throw about ten rows deep.
lol . . . yeah, and that’s only if he could handle the throw from Burris and/or pivot with Tejada bearing down on him.
And why would you say the play is for Burriss to go to 1st?Geez that was a perfect DP ball since when is a DP ball taken out of a teams game plan?
If anything Burriss should get credit for holding on to the ball and not throwing it into RF as Huff is taking a Siesta out there.
In more positive news, can’t Pablo tie Mays for longest start of the season hitting streak if they play two tomorrow? And in “on pace for” news, Panda is on pace for 55 doubles 22 HR 110 RBi. I’ve actually rounded down a tad…
That would be something, especially the doubles total, which would easily break the franchise record of 49 held by Jeff Kent in 2001.
Hey Blade, saw your softball post. My daughter, who’s now playing on the middle school team (2nd base, BTW), used to play in the same kind of league. I definitely do not miss those 5-run-inning walkfests. Does the league have stealing? I remember a leadoff walk would become an automatic triple.
Macdog, yeah, half the time the catcher misses the ball and pfffft . . . the person at first is off to 2nd. They just can’t take a lead, but all bets are off after the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand. Like I said yesterday, my cousin’s team (where his daughter was playing) didn’t allow any hits, but still lost the game because they walked in too many runs. Bizarre.
Yeah that would special for Panda to break a Wilie Mays record.Also I likethe projections for Panda,take those numbers anytime.Can see more HR’s out of him though. Closer to 30 once he really dials it up.
Since there’s no game today, maybe Huff can watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rn2n3OZ1do
Have not been around for couple of days, cliff lee went on the 15 day DL, is this old news
In the best news of all, a Twin free blog for a bit. Need to nap.
LMAO..Mac Doggy…Does that guy also talk about when theirs no second basemen responsibility as Huff feels at their?
Over the years there are players I just glom unto. I’ve always had a thing for our young shortstops (yes I’m a Crawford fan). So when a young Richie came out of the dugout smoking a cigar and looked around the Stick after the Giants won the Division (Vizcaino was our starter) , I just knew he belonged. Royce Clayton, he just looked like a ball player and yes I thought he’d put up Barry Larkin kinda numbers (I think I still do). A lot of other position players do it for me, for one reason or another. Chili, Straw, Happy Pete etc. Huff is one of those guys, when he hit the Insider at Pac Bell (not to mention the triple the day before) and was seen joking in the dugout while the rest of the team fanned him with towels, come on, you had to love it. After yesterday, I can’t hope/wish/expect him to be more than a bit player. Thanks for 2010 Huffster, if I ever run into you, or anyone from that team, I’m buying.
The Flap – This isn’t meant to grease Craig’s pole or for a POTD (I get embarrassed when I get one of those things). I only want to try and express what I feel about this blog. First, Flav created an environment not unlike a bar where we could all get together (at least that’s how it feels to me). Same kind of conversations but without hand and facial signs and signals, but still an environment I’ve enjoyed the hell out of and will continue to while it lasts. We’ve got Writers, Lawyers, Programmers, Musicians, Horse Thieves, Jocks and what have youse throwing in their two cents. People check in from SF, North Bay, East Bay, South Bay, SoCal, Colorado, Minnesota, the East Coast, London and Vietnam, how cool is that?. If you were to add a drunk uncle Ernie at Thanksgiving we’d have us a full fledged family (Oh yeah, I think I have that drunk uncle Ernie thing down). A family with a common love of the game and a huge love for our Giants.
Thanks Flav for creating this thing and keeping it going. And thanks to you Flappers for adding to the fun of being a part of this here thing. Any of you folks on the sidelines thinking about getting your feet wet, come on in, the water takes a little getting used to but it warms up.
Thanks Craig. I’m going to send you an Email with my phone #, hopefully you’ll have time to do a dial-a-shot sometime.
Geez, what happened there? Fuck all y’all. OK that’s better.
at your (seeming) request, I won’t make this POTD but I appreciate that you have noticed what type of place I have tried and succeeded in putting together here.
Chime in “Cheers” theme song (and I mean that in a very sincere way).
Smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers
Pickpockets, peddlers even panhandlers
The Flap has em all Loo and in my case, you can add a circus freak.
Ever wonder how your life would be different, and most likely empty if I didn’t start the “FUCK YOU BOZO” years back?
Cheers.
Their first Bay Area show at the Old Waldorf in 82 was not very good. I think I broke the silence among my bespectacled college posse on the way home by declaring that they sucked.
You know Dennis, it cracked me up when you tossed that one out and it still does.
I will go with “We are all Bozo’s on this bus and BF is the driver.”
This probably won’t post very well, but that’s alright, it’s just too sweet…..
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
LAD
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 3
HOU
2 4 0 3 1 0 0 2 x 12 12 0
W:Rodriguez (1-2)L:Billingsley (2-1)
(6-10)
LA Dodgers AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Gordon, SS 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .217
Ellis, M, 2B 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 .264
Kemp, CF 3 0 0 0 0 1 3 .450
Gwynn, CF 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .263
Rivera, J, 1B-RF 3 0 0 0 1 1 4 .255
Ethier, RF 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 .279
Kennedy, A, 1B 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .071
Hairston, J, LF 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 .296
Uribe, 3B 4 0 0 0 0 1 4 .211
Treanor, C 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 .083
Billingsley, P 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Wright, J, P 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000
Elbert, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-Loney, PH 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .217
MacDougal, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 31 0 6 0 3 7 18 .248
a-Singled for Elbert in the 8th.
Houston AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Schafer, CF 4 2 1 4 0 1 2 .263
b-Maxwell, J, PH-CF 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .294
Lowrie, SS 4 1 1 0 1 0 2 .229
Rodriguez, Fe, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Lyon, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Martinez, J, LF 5 0 0 1 0 1 3 .309
Lee, Ca, 1B 4 1 1 2 0 0 2 .234
Downs, M, 1B 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .250
Bogusevic, RF 4 1 1 0 1 1 0 .200
Johnson, C, 3B 4 2 2 1 0 0 3 .279
Castro, Ja, C 4 2 2 1 1 1 2 .243
Altuve, 2B 4 1 1 1 1 1 3 .321
Rodriguez, W, P 2 1 0 1 1 0 2 .000
a-Gonzalez, M, PH-SS 2 0 1 0 0 1 2 .250
Totals 39 12 12 11 5 6 21 .250
a-Singled for Rodriguez, W in the 7th. b-Singled for Schafer in the 7th.
Does anyone make worse free agent signings than Coletti? Pierre, Schmidt, A-jones, and now Uribe. If I just paid a 2 bilion for that team I don’t think I’d want Coletti writing the FA checks. Actually what do I know about being a billionaire? Maybe I couldn’t care less about how my gm spent my money….
Yeah, us…
Well, unlike Colletti, “us” made several free agent signings that led to a World Series title. Uribe, Torres, Huff, Burrell, WS MVP Renteria, Mota, Casilla. Add in mid season and deadline acquistions Ross, Lopez, Ramirez, Fruckie, Fontenot… and 11 of the WS roster were signed in 2009 and 2010, Renteria in 2008. All except Edgar were bargain basement. Sabean should have received Exec of the Centrury for how that team was built. With all 4 pitching starters and the closer homegrown, it was a brilliant job.
You’d care, unless you want to go back to being a millionaire (from being a billionaire).
I never bought into the “Huff was out of shape last season” train of thought. Yeah, I know Huff said it after the season, but what else was he going to say? “I was in shape, but my skills are rapidly declining”? He didn’t seem physically different than he was in 2010. It’s just the reality that every ballplayer comes to end of their ability to play at the major league level at some point. It happens in all sports.
It will be interesting to see what happens with him. Burrell was thought be finished after Tampa released him. But the conditioning thing is odd- he had a huge ST last year, that doesn’t seem in keeping with an out of shape player. And perhaps he can be an aid to doctors searcing for help in cigarette related disease. It seems, that for years, the smoking only affected him every other year…
What’s wrong with you guys? No arguments or fighting? Getting tame in your old age?
Check your calendar Nipper . . . Today is Smiley Face Day 🙂
I know I will likely forget on Wednesday, but speaking of “get happy,” Happy 66th birthday to Chuck. I hope you and yours have a fun day planned for your special day.
Chuck? Our Chuck? 66? I don’t think he agrees. That’s great though. I hope you realize, Steve, that he is now and forever 66 years old on April 25, 2012.
Well, that’s what the Facebook notification email said. He best correct FB or he is going to get a lot of “Happy 66th’s” this Wednesday. Yeah, his picture shows him a decade younger at least. Maybe he is vain and wants to remember himself as a younger, sleeker model with less mileage.
I guess Unca Chuck’s been keeping those old Polo Grounds memories to himself…
A xoot sighting way up above – welcome back to Shangri-La….
Xoot left for JDR’s blog and never came back. He’s always welcome, he’s a flap vet for life. I like JDR’s blog and I always enjoyed his posts at the Splash. He should update his blog more often, though…..
I hope the Fresno team is feeding Joaquin . . . I had no idea that this guy checked in at 6’1″ and 160 lbs wet.
Chuck is around 49/50 I think. Not certain of that, though. What I do know is that he’s kicking the bejesus out of us in fantasy baseball……..
“Posey only had 17 PAs in 2009. (Everyone wondered why, why call him up at all, then?). First half of 2010, he had 147 PAs (he started in Fresno, of course). His Giants slash line for those 147 PAs was .350/.389/.569 (.959).”
Yes, and at 120 PAs his overall ML OPS was well below 700. That was the point — those numbers can change fast for talented young players with little experience.
Welcome back.
I don’t even worry about ascending the heights Chuck is at now . . . You would have more historic knowledge Flav, but I don’t think I have ever seen a team score 109-113 out of 120 points like Chuck has done thus far. What is the average score for someone leading a 12 team league? I would guess 90-95.
Right now, I would be happy to pass the Clown above me at 67 and then work my way past Pussies, Team K, and Dirt Bags. By then, I expect Chuck to come back to earth.
I’m in 2 twelve teamers at the NFBC (and 1 15 teamer) and the leader of the 12 teamers are at 88.5 and 102.5
I think the 102.5 total is an outlier (which affirms my belief that Chuck will join the rest of us mortals eventually). In my other 12 team league, the leader is at 88.5 too.
Thanks Steve. Chuck can be a big help for me- navigating the Merdicare system, and I might need a partial so I’ll need to know if he goes with Polident or au natural, does he have a back up if he loses his teeth, so much one can learn about what not to do. This does explain the memories from when he would been minus twelve years old in the old Chuckles time..
you’ve been uncharacteristically funny the last few days, I like it……
I think Chuck is early to mid 50’s??
Well, I think I’m gonna have to go with the Facebook notification. You have no idea how good it feels to have an elder to lean for advice. I wonder whose family that is on his FB page? Probably son and the grandchildren..
I don’t think that Chuck is even on facebook but I guess he can answer that for himself if he sees this……
He is on facebook. And I’m usually funny.It’s just not your cup of tea usually, because it’s often mean funny.Just think of of me as Dr. House, and you guys as the poor saps who still haven’t figured out that your diagnoses are always wrong. BTW, can you send me some vicodin ? Like: STAT..
Chuck’s FB:
http://www.facebook.com/uncachuck#!/uncachuck?sk=info
So there’s no confusion 😉
that’s his Niner page not his personal facebook page.
Well, what do I know?
He must be (as I said earlier) or I am imagining I received this . . .
“Hi Steven,
You have 1 friend with a birthday in the next week. Help him celebrate!
Wednesday, April 25th
UncaChucks NinerPage
66 years old ·
Write on his Wall
You can also use Facebook to plan a special birthday event.
Thanks,
The Facebook Team”
. . . and NO, I am not planning a special birthday event for him. 😉
that is the day the niners were born, hahahaha
As for not covering second base, he said, “My first instinct my whole life is when a ball is hit to my right, I move toward first. That’s what I did.”
I keep reading this over and over, hoping to determine that Huff is not a moron. But I keep determining that Huff is a moron. He’s not a Pavlovian dog used in some classical conditioning experiment. He’s a fucking human being with a brain. They put him at 2nd base, he understands baseball (I hope) and you would think that despite his *first instincts* his fucking brain would take over and tell him that if a ball is hit to SS that he must run in a direct line as fast as he can to 2nd base to field the throw. I don’t think anyone expected him to turn the double play, that would have been disastrous. But running to a bag and catching a ball seems to be expected behavior from a major league baseball player…….
He definitely screwed up.But so did Manny. There was not supposed to be an attempt for even a force play according to Bochy. Burriss was supposed to throw to first.
“We were hoping to just go to first. We didn’t pick it up soon enough, but still, I thought [Turner] was out. That’s what I was arguing. I haven’t seen [the replay], but if you get him, you get him. He’s out.”
.
Does he have the same instinct when he’s in LF?
Yeah.
DJLoo, sorry I missed you. The Nathan’s Famous Foot-Long is $7.25, I believe. I skipped it.
Yeah, I found him. Both his daughter’s are really cute. This is the single reason I regret being a dad of a girl. I can’t fathom how parents deal with punk ass pussy hound dudes. Katie is just 9 but I am not down with the teenage years. I’m predicting lots of boys heads getting cracked together like coconuts (by me) as Katie goes through high school. As long as I don’t get arrested that’s good parenting, right? lol
Having been that “boy” the girls parents were warned about, there is nothing wrong with what you propose Flav. I think I told you about one of the biggest red flags – any boy that pulls into your driveway with a panel van. These are essentially “beds on wheels.” Back in the day, if you didn’t have a hot car, e.g., mustang, GTO, Charger, Road Runner, etc., your fall back plan was to get a van. Very popular at overnight beach stays and when all the bedrooms were being used at whatever party you were at. Forewarned is forearmed.
By the by, do kids still frequent Four Mile beach (north of Santa Cruz)? Favorite of mine back in the day.
girls I’ve coached in HS b-ball are pretty busy, some play for club teams/other sports and mostly hang with each other. Homework, AP stuff, any outside interests (music, theater, arts)—kids today seem to have a lot of activities programmed to keep them super busy.
Unfortuantely, lot of this stuff starts at like middle school age. I wonder if someone actually did the math and figured out what pct of kids playing year round club v-ball, soccer, aau b-ball or whatever actually wind up with D-1 scholarships, and the money (and time) wasted on all the years paying for it.
I had no problems with my daughter’s boyfriends until she was an adult. I’m still paying for Charles (I stupidly let him be a partner in my business). He wrecked some very expensive customer systems- and when a very expensive sytem is actually wrecked it usually means the most espensive components- CPU and Graphics Card. And in just one weekend he downloaded so much porn and viruses all of my personal systems needed to be wiped clean. And my daughter is still pissed at me for throwing him out… best thing is to hope your daughters turn out to be lesbians.
Craig and Chuck remember Charles, he’s used to post on the Splash.
I remember him, I thought he was a fucking idiot at the time (and said so) and am glad you got out with just him fucking up some of your customer systems. He could have married her and you’d be stuck with him forever..
“best thing is to hope your daughters turn out to be lesbians,” Too funny, Michael. Interestingly, this younger generation here in VN is seemingly carrying on the spirit of revolution, though not exactly what the gov’t or their parents want — at my school alone, we’ve got about 10 girl students who have recently “come out”. They are hot, fun, intelligent, etc., and we guy teachers find it to be quite a hoot. Their parents do not, and these kids have had to move out of their homes after coming out and are now sharing apartments. It’s like the ’60s all over again (minus the war, thank goodness)….
I’m ready to come out as a lesbian, just for the apartment arrangement.
gold.
Regarding the Mets, a perspective that differs from P.I.A.’s: After the Giants saddened me by leaving after the 1957 season, I, as well as most local folks, was happy to see NL ball return to NYC. My first NL game was at the Polo Grounds, a crumbling and overweight Old Dame inhabited by the 100+-loss Mets. Many Mets fans were and are former embittered Dodgers and Giants fans (my late brother, and his daughter). I’ve rarely detected a fierce animosity between the Mets and Giants. It’d be like being pissed off at your divorced in-laws. In 1979 I moved from Syracuse to NJ and started going to a lot of games, Mets and Yankees, but mostly Mets. At one point, I figured, I get to see the Mets on TV, in person, read about them, etc. Am I crazy? I should go for the Mets. Why stay up till 1 all those nights?. Maybe I even made such a declaration. BUT when the Giants came to town I couldn’t pull the trigger, I could not go against the Giants. Impossible. One memorable game of that era, if I recall, involved Craig Swan and possibly Vida Blue in a 1-0 duel. Anyway, after the game Saturday, in a mostly empty parking lot [some straggler tailgaters] I handed out biz cards hawking my book. I quizzed folks who were sporting Giants or Mets gear [esp. inebriated babes]. Some were from the West Coast, some were Yanks fans, one fellow had season tix, he claimed, at Candlestick, for several years. Some did not know that the orange in the Mets logo was said to be inherited from the Giants and the blue from the Dodgers. A young lady said, what about the Rangers’ orange and blue? Or the Knicks? Well, they are also NYS’s colors, I admitted. One young guy was on the verge of drunken belligerence, asking me why I did not root for the Mets, since the Giants abandoned the town, When I said, Willie Mays, he calmed down and said, ok. My point is that, yes, the games were and are often weird, the history is packed w/ good stories (Marichal owned the Mets; Giants fans would travel to Philly ! before baseball returned to NY; Robby Thompson dropped an infield fly in the 9th to blow a game, just like yesterday), but I’ve never found it to be hostile, and, for this fan, I’ve no problem if the Mets win every game not against SF.
And thanks, Twin and Magnus et al. for kind comments y’day.
Yo, Pawlie, good insights and interesting point of view. You are quite correct, as much as I detest the Metropolitans for my own reasons aforementioned, there has never been hostility. Just… weird shit. If tomorrow is not rained out, might get double the fun….
We just have a diff. history. 1962? Killed me that the Yanks beat the giants, plus my brother was a Yankees fan. Sibling rivalry. My best friend, who drowned when he was 16, was a dodgers fan. We REALLY DID argue Mantle, Mays, snider. But we didn’t HATE each other, as Dems and GOP do now when they disagree. A few weeks ago, I nearly got through to NPR when they were interviewing writers who are in the new book DAMN YANKEEES [competing for dollars with BASEBALL’S STARRY NIGHT], including Daniel Okrent, one of the inventors of Rotisserie [now called Fantasy] Baseball, named after a restaurant. (I was gonnna plug my book nationally.) The question was, What sealed your love, or your hatred, of the Yankees? I had to think of something, once I got through to the producer. Hmmm. ’62 WS? Too easy. So I told him this: In 1981, strike-shortened season, I got tix to my first WS game, bleachers. (12 bucks? maybe less] Reggie Jackson’s last game as a Yankee. Fans taunted him w/ “REGGIE” at Yankee Stadium, not lovingly. Anyway, I revealed that I reluctantly found myself rooting for the dreaded Dodgers, just because I did not want Yanks to win, another Series. Did not want the Yanks to win. Anything. Period. The Dodgers won. I had no great thrill. But the Yankee hatred ran that deep. Oh, and I waited, listening to the other callers on the NPR program. Then they ran out of time. I never got on.
Weather will be fine tomorrow. Clearing skies, breezy, upper 50’s. Might go last minute – can watch the Ranger game at one of the stadium bars. And I can try to find that idiot girl who actually thinks the NY Rangers have orange in their jerseys…
There was hostility until Buzzsaw Rodriguez laid down the law at Shea in ’85…
another weird event at Shea: someone, pretty sure it was Terry Mulholland, on a misty night, could not get the ball out of his glove on a comebacker, so he threw, successfully, ball in glove to first. For an out. I kid you not, as Jack Paar would say. Krukow was said to have quipped, “We should go around the horn with the ball and glove.”
Were you there for Marichal’s CG 16-hitter in ’68?
I remember it well, at first it was questioned if it was legal. It was, and a heads up play for a guy who was then a rookie, I think.
16-hitters were legalized in 1953…
We may not understand what Bochy is doing insofar as Belt and Huff, but Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson is taking a page from Dusty Baker’s book and going with assured mediocrity over potential stardom. I’m talking about him starting Lyle Overbay four of the last seven games against righties, leaving Paul Goldschmidt on the bench. Stupid in my opinion.
He’s usually on my bench in the Flap league….
I well understand the hatred of the Yankees. You’ll have to excuse my boyhood fandom… I was born in ’56, so I was just “coming of age” baseball-wise right around that ’62 series, which I do remember watching on the old black-and-white rabbit-ear TV… and yet, being a Yankee fan, I also remember being really impressed with that team from San Francisco, no hatred, not even joy when NY won it. I’ve described it before, the image I remember most from that series was McCovey’s hulking giant shape at bat, just awe-inspiring to this young lad at that time. My first hint at being a Giants fan. Oh, and I completely abandoned the Yanks when Steinbrenner took over, even though he created a winner again after years of futility. I remember that ’81 Series… hated both NY and the Dogs from LA, could find no joy either way…
Funnily enough, after all of the discussion yesterday (still your “today) about Huff must go, I woke up this morning thinking Huff had already been released….. just seems like such a done deal. I’m guessing to save some face for everyone, the team, IF they’re going down that path, might try to find an AL team that needs a vet lefty for PH and DH duties, traded for a PTBNL while eating most of his salary. Might not happen as immediately as my morning-groggy mind thought this morning, though…
I think there might be an unwritten rule about waiting till you get home to release a vet…
Could well be. Exception that comes to mind: Benitez, whom I believe they cut immediately after his two-balk debacle at Shea.
Didn’t they trade him to Florida for that big slob with the crooked cap?
the Refrigerator Mover— Randy something?
You’re right, they traded him, I forgot about that guy Randy Messofeverything or whatever his name was. But it seemed to happen very quickly after the meltdown in NY.
How long did Ruben Rivera last after his day of infamy?
Answer: One day
To predict what might happen with Huff, one has to remember how he got here. He didn’t have a single team besides the Giants offer him a deal—I think it was 1 yr/3 mil but if you look that up and I’m wrong that’s fine. I don’t have any interest in looking it up…..
He wins us a world series and he scored a 2 year 22(?) million dollar deal that I roundly applauded at the time. At the time, I would have roundly applauded a 22 million dollar deal for every single player on the team including a 22 million dollar bonus to Rowand and Zito just for rooting for us on tv…
But that deal, in hindsight, was not prudent……
And here we are now with a 35 year old Aubrey Huff—a full season and nearly one month removed from anything remotely close to productive. Here’s who we have now: a guy with a girl’s name who can’t hit or field who doesn’t know where 2nd base is and he costs 11 million dollars this year. Unappealing to the majority……
The best location for even a chance of acceptance of this dude is Rowand’s batting cage in Vegas. He could help him reload the balls into the machine or something…….
lqtm. Hey, each Flapper should have scored 22 million dollar deals for rooting for the Giants too.
I almost feel a little bad for Huff—before the Giants signed him he was a whisker away from sliding away into obscurity. And he would have been fine with it, he had amassed a nice fortune (34 mil before we signed him) and sometimes it’s just over and there’s no big parade you just can’t find work and soon after you announce you’re retired……..
But then we signed him, he started wearing a thong, and he won a world series. And he became relevant for the first time in his life. And then it all crashed and burned in a single off season…..
He seems like a cool dude, I wish he’d gotten to celebrate the *relevance* a little longer.
He’ll live…
Randy Messinger— The Refrigerator Mover. That was his name. Ha, didn’t even have to look it up
Completely forgot that name. I think some of us thought he had closer potential at that time. Of course we were too busy debating Noah Lowry for Joe Crede…
I think you named him “the refrigerator mover”— someone here did. Maybe that kid that went to Chico state, can’t recall his screen name
As much as it seems he’s done, we might all be premature in thinking he’s gone. If Craig is right. Bochy has zero faith in Belt and nobody sees Pill as the everyday first baseman. Huff may not be gone quite yet.
I don’t actually think he’s getting released any time soon, for the reasons you listed–but it is what I would do if my “finger was on the button”
And me pushing the button wouldn’t be a mindless blogger move, it would allow us to bring Arias up and we clearly need the infield depth. Some guy gets a cold and 2 days later Huff is at 2nd base unsure of the location of said base…
I sent Chuck a birthday greeting, I think he’ll be delighted that I rememberd him for his special day. I don’t think he’ll mind if I post it here:
“Chuck,
Happy 66th birthday! Listen, when you get time, I ‘d like to talk denture cleaners. I may need a partial and I figured you’d be the guy to go to for some no nonsense man to man denture talk.
Thanks in advance and take it easy Wednesday- when you get to be the age you are, one slip, new hip!
My best,
Michael”
you’ll probably take this as a put down but…….
GOLD, baby!
Nah, I’ll take the kudos when I get them. We’ll be at it soon enough. Kind a bummer with the rainout, I didn’t get to test the edict deleting the second guessing of the second guessers…;-)
Just thinking it was a good day to test the edict with a rainout. HAHAHA!
Very slow day when we are discussing the merits of denture cleaners for soon to be anointed 66 year olds.
Isn’t there a commecial where some woman gets on a commecial airliner and asks the passengers about regularity or some such? Then all these people who presumably shit in their pants, raise their hands? Who comes up with that stuff, and then who *approves* it? These folks are SICK, I tell ya, SICK!
With that- good night. OK- one more thing- boobs, tits, rack, these are all just fine- but FUN BAGS? “She has fine fun bags?” She’s sporting pinatas? There are weird people everywhere..
too late too post, but, the Huff ‘reaction’ reminds me of the Chronicle cartoon about the ex-linesman that becomes a newsroom anchor: every time something dropped on the floor he yells: “fumble” and dives for it.