Nothing to See Here; Move Along, People
How did you watch the game? Maybe “watch” is the wrong word for this unwatchable swatch of whatchamacallit. (Call it “dreck”?)
Via MLB.com I followed it for a while. I *heard* the unexciting and so-laid-back, SoCal Angels announcers.
I unminimized my window every now and then only to *see* Mr. SoCal Himself, Barry Zito, getting clobbered or to *see* Senor Sandoval make a nifty play and then have Bruce Bochy argue the safe call or to see Brandon Belt take a called third strike with runners at the corners or to *hear* — you can just go by the crowd sounds — George Fecking Kontos give up a blast and then wincingly *see* Angel-ic Pagan devilishly misplay that blast, and then the unwatchable Giants were down 9-1 and it was time for a change of venue, i.e., BED.
WTF is a Kontos?
When did we bring him up?
This is a terrible way to go to bed, I mused, unamusingly.
I went to bed unaroused by the pornography of ineptitude — KNOWING I was committed to blog about the game the next morning, holding on to the sliver of a thread of a ghost of an irrational psychotic fugue delusion of a dream of a chance that I would wake up and discover that the GIANTS WIN! GIANTS WIN! GIANTS WIN! 10-9.
No such luck.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Well, I left a comment late last night, that in reference to my early morning post saying that I thought the Giants were in trouble yesterday. CJ Wilson has been unconcious (although the Gigantes did tag him for a 5 spot), and Zito…well, with three straight shit starts (and back to .500) is living up to expectations.
I know Flavor jumped on a bunch of Flapper’s asses last week for hammering on Zito, and I had started to pop-off about him, too. But dammit, after last night, he fucking deserves it.
Sure as hell, I get home, fire-up the tube, and there it is…3-0 Halos, runners on, and no fucking outs. I suffered through the beginning of the 4th inning, and once it hit 9-1…stick a fork in me, I was done.
And so we have the rubber match. Vogleson on the bump for the Giants, and while announced earlier in the week as being unavailable this series, the Angles trot out Weaver who will be on an 80-90 pitch count.
Giants need to win another series. On the road against a quality club would be wonderful, especially after dropping the series in Seattle to one of the worst teams in MLB.
Time to flush that awful taste out of our mouths from last night kick the Angels’ asses.
On a positive note…the A’s blanked the Bums last night.
I’m also on the East Coast Pawlie. Getting MLB.com when I moved here, just might be the best $90 I have ever spent. Some nights the bed just calls to me (not to mention my wife) and I’ll just log off and hope for a win. When I wake up I’ll sometimes just continue the game, sometimes I cheat a little and watch the condensed version and other times I cheat a lot by reading the outcome in the paper first.
Watching on mlb.com is a far cry from attending 40 – 60 games a year but I wouldn’t give it up for the world.
I too am an East coast Giant and have spent many nights till 1 or 2 am watching the games only to have to wake up at 7am for work…crazy man is one kind reference I have been accustomed to. But the adrenaline rush
after a win might make it a little hard to fall asleep…
But it sure beats the old days of twisting the radio in all directions to pick up the Giants when playing the Phillies .
Ugly…I honestly stopped after pujols bomb, a no doubter. If Z is on crater mode, not good.
Loo, I didn’t recall Carrier until I hit a search, and the all time ABA popped up. He was with Dampier (louie) out of Kentucky, right? My buddies and I used to make a lot of crude jokes and one was that every team needed to have a white boy from 3 (ala Kerr or Paxson). Warriors had Joe Hassett, great pure shooter briefly.
Life in the NBA isn’t easy for these guys, who get abused regularly at other end. I don’t hold out much hope for Jimmer either. JJ Redick types are valuable but bounce around, like local guy Eddie House out of Hayward Mt. Eden high school. I’m suprised Heat don’t have one.
Meanwhile, LeBron is abusing smaller OKC defenders and taking them right to the rim. It’s neat to watch he and Durant guard each other, since each is basically unguardable without a lot of help.. Way too much standing around for my taste,.
I was at the Padre game, keeping an eye on the out of town scoreboard as the deficit grew larger. At first I didn’t consider who started for us, but then it dawned on me: “Zito!” (said in a Jerry Seinfeld “Newman” voice) I had been having a running conversation with 2 guys behind me—one guy a diehard Padre fan and the other a Ranger fan. I had already told the guy behind me I was a Giant fan. At one point he says to me “your Giants are getting crushed.” I respond with “I know, Zito must have got lit up” The Rangers fan looks at his phone and says Zito gave up 8 earned runs in 3 innings with a bit of a chuckle in his voice. The woman I was with clearly thought it was odd that I had a conversation going with these strangers.
It looks like Barry is not going to give up this worst-ERA on the staff title without a fight!
Poor Pawlie………54 years and still waiting for another “Taussig” game.
it looks like it was a bad night for me to give up sniffing glue.
Well, The Giants got a “live” arm in George Kontos for the backup catcheriest of the backup catchers in Chris Stewart. So i will take that steal of a trade anytime.
Two golden quotes from the CSN broadcast crew last night:
I wish he would have started.
Kuiper,on Kontos
There wasnt one thing that fooled Trout on that pitch.
Krukow,after Mike F. Trout singled on a decent breaking ball in his 3rd AB.
San – I almost always have conversations with those around me at games (strangers). Mostly the folks at games are baseball fans, and a lot of the time, knowledgeable ones (yeah, you get the few that are there for “the experience”).
I know it has been kicked around on multiple threads, but after seeing Zito with three shit starts in a row, I predict Zito will end the year with a worse ERA than Timmy.
Last three starts: 0-3, 14.1 IP, 10.67 ERA, 23 H, 8 BB, 6 K, 17 ER, WHIP 2.163. ERA for the year: 4.35. It’s a coming.
Hey pawlie!! Nice debut!!
Seconded
Three’s a charm!
thanks, and thanks, and thanks
If anyone saw the movie Unstoppable, where that 8 ton train going 80 MPH hit that horse trailer and turned it into tooth picks?? Well that’s what the Angels did to Barry Zito!! I watched the first inning where he gave up 4 ER, walked the bases loaded, and 1 out!! I got up and went to the gym.
And yet….for a moment there the Giants still had a chance. They were rallying late in the game, but two hard hit balls got picked by Pujols and that was that.
At least the Dodgers also lost. Things got a little quirky in the 9th inning, but the A’s held on to get the win.
Another positive note from last night…Giants banged out 13 hits and put-up 5 on Wilson (he had not given up more than one ER in all his previous starts since May 12). (Just looking for something positive…it is always so much easier to focus on the negative.)
The pivotal play was Pujol’s diving stop of that ball down the line. If that ball had gotten by Pujols…..a much different ballgame. But…..that’s baseball. (grin)
I refuse to believe you really just grinned, zumiee…
OK, well NOW I really grinned.
Speaking of how we watch baseball…..my wife and I recently joined the 21st century with a big screen: 55 inches of high-def baseball bliss. Our old regular TV, which still worked just fine, has been retired.
Now you can watch a whole lot of Zito!
we have a 17-inch or so flat screen, perhaps the smallest in North America
My notes on the game:
The old chestnut is true: it was closer than the score made it look- without Prince Albert’s terrific stop on Pagan’s shot, it’s 9-7 and we might still be hitting.
I haven’t looked at last night’s comments, don’t want to- I think this is a fair recap of Mr. Zito’s effort- he didn’t pitch
great…
Rough night for Belt, obviously. It does happen to even great hitters, he’s only a good one. Test is how he moves on from it..
That -*was* a bomb off Kontos, it was also a very catchable ball. George has pitched well. He might be headed to the bereavement list, BTW..
Penny is not a candidate to start, if he did earn a promotion, it would be as a reliever. The candidates to make any starts for Tim or Zits are Loux and/or Hacker ( although Hacker has had a couple bad starts himself). After a terrible start, Yusmeiro not quite Petit has pitched well, he’s another candidate…
As Pavlovic noted, there really was a cool highlight- that boy’s joy after Pablo tossed him a ball was priceless.
http://tinyurl.com/7yhvlq7
That is a great video. I hope mom or dad gotta a pic of his face
Dammit…I missed THE HIGHLIGHT of the game!
yeah, I missed it too
According to Bochy:
“We’ve got to get Zito and Timmy back on track,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “Pitching is a key for us.”
The Giants have been trying to get Zito on track for the last 6 years, what makes him think Zito will get on track this year
Maybe this is what Bochy meant for Zito:
http://tinyurl.com/7hw4pur
GQTM (grinning quietly to myself)
I dunno, I just have a hard time believing a replacement level guy is a decent sub for lincecum. Z, different story.
LA really doesn’t have a better LU than SF–Gordon, Uribe, Kennedy, Loney, and even with Kemp LF sucks, and the C is a kid hitting way over his head. Our pen is better too, tho less work for them the better.
Wonder what LA guys thought of a Night at the Mausoleum—Mattingly was around during A’s glory days before Mt. Davis. I wish bud would demand A’s to stay where they are and rebuild the yard there or put up a new one close by, even if means forcing dickhead wolff to sell them to local bidders. Current situation is a black eye for baseball.
Some prospect notes, more later:
Dominguez- isn’t one ( prospect)
Tommy “Light Tower Power” Joseph- 3 HR, 199 AB at Richmond. They need to move the light towers in
Gary Brown-Out: another kid suffers the wrath of the Eastern League.
Ehire Adrianza- Making Crawdad look like Ripken
And the good:
Chris Heston 1.00 ERA after 13 starts just can’t be sneezed at. 18/70 BB/K, .093 WHIP..I’d think he’s a candidate for a call up if one of the Bad Boys goes on the DL for an extended visit.
What is the latest on Kieschnick? I know he fractured his left shoulder (throws right, bats left) in May. Is he out for the year? I thought I read somewhere that he might be ready for a September call-up.
He’s been on the 7 day DL for 3 weeks…it’s real hard to find updates on minor league injuries- often I’ve seen that a guy got hurt and NEVER found an update until his Wiki page said he was tending bar in Utica..
Zito sure doesn’t inspire confidence. I’m almost afraid to watch one of his games. I stick to radio. It seems more comforting even when a game becomes a blow out. So far he and Timmy are making for an uneasy summer.
Technically Nip, it’s not summer for 7 more hours…
Technically? Maybe so Loo. But I’m thinking a BBOD posting makes summer official.
“And they’re off!” Way to go, Pawlie!
Didn’t see much of the game. The first time I checked in at work it was 5-1. Watched the 4th quarter of the NBA Finals instead, during which it became 9-1. By the time I got home it was 9-3, so I put it on anyway. Giants got to 9-5 and were actually one big hit away from making it a game, but Pujols made two good plays in the 7th and the Giants squandered 2nd & 3rd with 1 out in the 8th. And then it got uglier.
Pawlie, you’re right about those Angels announcers. I had Monday’s game on at work, listening more than watching, and there were so many long stretches of silence I had to click on the game just to see if it was still working.
At least I have Trout on one of my fantasy teams (and thanks to Blade’s non-stop recommendations for that). What a talented young player this guy is. And, he’s from Jersey — Millville, the southern end of the state closer to Philly. I think he has the NJ high school record for most HRs.
This was all Kontos’ fault. If that fuck hadn’t come in and given up that triple Zito’s line would have been fine! Shit, Zito got the ball to him, it’s all on Kontos from there…… 🙂
Uh, yeah. That was ugly. We have a fairly huge problem if BOTH TImmy and Zito are going to lose every time they pitch. One of them has to re-start and get it done…..
Speaking of *gettin it done* I want to give Mr Pawlie K a standing O for today’s thread. You are awesome. Zito, not awesome. Timmy, also not awesome. PawlueK—-~~~~~>>>>>>>> Awesome.
“That was ugly.”
Enjoying you new freedom, Flav? Did Katy get pancakes & bacon instead of a cold pop-tart this morning?
What 13 percenters and 87 percenters should be worried about more now, is not who wins this ERA “battle”, but what the winning number is. If it’s 5.99, we’re in a world of hurt..
How about a round of “They’re so bad that”..
Pat Misch and Todd Wellemeyer would be upgrades…
Bob Melvin quoted as saying L.A. is a team that “anyone in Northern California doesn’t particularly care for.” How genius is that (rhetorical question).
Tells you on which side of the bay he spends most of his time (oh yeah, and he manages in that “other inferior league”).
Great job, Pawlie. Might catch you guys tomorrow. Have a good one.
Check out these crazy-assed stats. The dude going for the A’s tonight is 6-5. ERA on the road – 7.42 (OUCH). At home in the Mausolem – 0.98 (WOW). Let’s hope he stays true to form and kicks the Dodgers’ sorry asses!
That’s because as soon as you walk into the masoleum, you turn into the living dead.
The A’s are used to it . . .
Or should it be the nausoleum?
I think you’re right, Chuck…Nausolem is probably more appropriate…
I wouldn’t sneer at 4 WS titles…
Quite a few posters have reminded me that it’s not 2010 anymore, it’s not 1989 either. Those old titles are no more relevant today than the ones the Giants won in NY. Nausoleum- one of Chuck’s best.
I’ll sneer away.
Charlie O ran that team on the cheap, and staggered into those early championships. Then immediately sold everyone off and laughed all the way to the bank. The guy was so loved that he couldn’t sel out World Series games.
The later WS wins have to be looked at a little on the jaundiced side seeing as they were the bigger, better version of designer ballplayers.
The ball is flying on a mid-90s day in the Bronx. Another HR by the Braves, that’s now 9 combined between the two teams. I’ll bet it’s the same tonight in Philly.
On a slow day,I will give a Flapper breaking news update.
The reason we have had the esteem honor of having Hensley Bam Bam Muluens coaching 1B the past week,is because Roberto Kelly had his appendics removed.Back to your regular schedule programming.
Come on Kat…that is some old news…now I know it is a REALLY SLOOOOOOOWWWWWW Day…..
Thanks for the kudos, which in singular and plural is “kudos” [apparently not “kudoses,” unless you stutter]. Thanks for the standing O, Magnus. My O’s are usually in the prone position, hahahahahaha. BTW, it was good advice you gave me, Magnus, to use a Word file and transpose later. I made a bunch of scrambled notes in TextEdit; made it easy this morning to transpose and then make a few edits. It reached 95 degrees here today. Ugggggggh.
No, it’s kudi . . .
This was my Plan B for a topic. It gives me some hope for Timmy. http://nyti.ms/MFULyE
why do i keep gravitating to the bbotd? oh, that’s right.
I brought them back (to the delight of many)
My outing didn’t pan out, as often happens. So I’ll drive that comment count up for you, Pawlie.
Is Melky OK? Is the lineup out?
Do you ever check the Merc blog or do you get 100% of your Giants news from The Flap?
Never check it, Flav…should I be?
Well, you get the LU pretty early, plus other team news. I’d go there for baseball news and come here for any other news from the world updates…
Blanco dh
Theriot 2b
Cabrera lf
Posey c
Pagan cf
Sandoval 3b
Belt 1b
Schierholtz rf
Crawford ss
Vogelsong p
Another DH game!
Ah, the summer solstice, heralding the birth of summer, occurred a short while ago at 4:09 PDT.
I see that in celebration of summer’s first official day, the BBOTD, like old Sol, has returned in her full, voluptuous glory. Unless otherwise advised, I will assume that, being obviously warm and of overflowing good cheer, the young lady’s name is Summer.
‘Tis a good day, indeed…
Even I am occasionally mysitfied by some LU decisions- I’m not a LU basher, just a LU wonderer …we all know Melky was a tad gimpy- if not a night off, why not DH tonight?
He don’t like it! Not the DH type of guy.
I think Blanco needs a break…
Acording to one of the local sports talk station here in Houston, the Giants are one of about five teams scouting Wandy Rodriguez…Btw, great first post Pawlie…Looking forward to the re-tooled Flap!
To quote Pawlie:
“I went to bed unaroused by the pornography of ineptitude”
Shit. I’m on deck and I’ve already struck out . . .
Last night’s display was like an ignored Cialis warning on priapism.
If Bad Zito won’t go away after 3 innings, call the Pen…
One suggestion…Is it possible for each “author” to have a by-line?
There is one . . .
Look under the title of the thread . . .
It doesn’t show up on my Iphone.
But it does on my PC…Odd.
it doesn’t show up on my iPhone either…..
So tomorow is your day,Chuck? Is it safe to say this won’t be “A Salute to Saberstats” day at the Flap?
Chuck, I’m guessing you can post a thread because of our reciprocal Flap/Forever connection? Because I sent you an invite to be an editor and you haven’t responded yet (I don’t think WillieD has either, but the rest of you did)…….
Flav, I think I still need one because I can’t find the “New Post” icon atop the page. Thanks.
ok, I’ll check when I get home
Flav, I hit accept on the email, it sent me to wordpress log in, but my password wouldn’t work with my name. When I hit lost password, it said to check my email. This happened when you first sent out the notice–nothing has happened, and when I just tried to accept again, the same thing happened. WTF? I never have any issue posting, but for some reason this won’t go through. What do I do now?
Giants should work, work, work the counts tonight with Weaver just back from the DL
As for speculation about Wandy Rodriguez, who would SF give up? Brown? Brown + Nate? Hembree? Combinations? There isn’t a lot to give up down below…
At least it tells me they finally have Zito on a very short leach.
Leash not leach
Maybe some blood letting WOULD help…
I happened to be looking up something in my copy of the Athlon baseball season preview magazine, and checked out their predicted Giants lineup again. Things have a way of changing. Their predicted batting lineup:
Pagan
F. Sanchez
Sandoval
Posey
Huff
Cabrera
Schierholtz
Crawford
Pitcher
Pawlie, you’re the Rickey Henderson of the Stable Boys a.k.a. The Dirrrty Dozen — You’re the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. Home run today.
Sheeesh, what do I do for an encore? At my age your words are nearly frameable. Danke, Herr Horsemann.
You know, if they had to bring in another pitcher, they’d need a roster spot. I would not be surprised if down the road they release Freddy to open a spot for a pitcher, or somebody else. I’m assuming he’s basically done, since we haven’t heard anything of substance about him for a while, after the second back injection. Theriot seems serviceable, and certainly can throw better than Freddy, based on all the negative stuff I’ve heard/read on his shoulder and cross body throws. With Arias and Panda, that stuff about Freddy taking third seems pretty pie in the sky now…
Giants should dump both Freddy and Huffy.Open up more flexiblity on their 40 man roster.Talk about dead weight rotting away useless money sucking players.
“I went to bed unaroused by the pornography of ineptitude.”
“God darnit Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar whore.”
Lets get ready to Rock and Roll…
Giants kick Jered Weaver’s ASS tonight!!
Dude is on a pitch count coming.off the DL; advantage Giants if their,and it’s a big if Patience with their approach.Vogy pitching fantastic baseball right now.Like are chances in this one.
To work the count,the pitcher has to cooperate by throwing balls. Quite often, with a top pitcher like Weaver, you want to try to get him early in the count. So the decision on how to approach the at bats is determined by how sharp he is..
Problem is,Weaver is throwing balls,but as usual were swinging at them.
That isn’t true but what the hell
Neither is your 7:18 post…
It is true.
Harold Reynolds waltzed into the booth Saturday in Seattle and harshly criticized the whole work-the-count philosophy. He said, you like it, hit it. I can’t phrase it right, but he was of the view that a good pitcher will use that philosophy against you to get ahead in the count. Maybe you’re saying the same thing.
And the ump is calling them.
Yeah,Flav, I can put a thread up . . . Like I said earlier, I”m on deck, and I’m already out.
Dammit Pawlie, you set the bar too damn high.
BTW, is that the fattest dude in the world?
That was some.great pitching by Vogy breaking down Trouser Trout on that strikeout, he made him look silly.
Dennis, Chuck: it’s all downhill for me from here, as my posting bar goes lower like in limbo. (William Safire once wrote in the NY Times about how curious — and confusing — the phrase “downhill from here” is. Sometimes it’s a plus; sometimes, it’s not. Imagine teaching this in an ESL class.)
Back when Tim was at his best, trying to work the count would have made him an 18K pitcher every time out.
I’d like to step in and somehow make a metaphor of my prowess as a young man, but it’d be a lie. (Speaking of prowess, wasn’t that Juliet Prowse a hot one?)
She had some legggs. As a kid, I seem to remember staring at her and those on the Dean Martin Show a coupla times. And per Wiki, she had a fling with Elvis, and was engaged to Sinatra at one point. Now, thats a pretty special exacta…
Come on Crawfish. One hit.
Criminy. The plus is, Weaver’s on a pitch count, and he’s close.
Ouch.
This one smells like it’s done.
more porn of ineptitude; and it really smells when it’s reheated and re-served…
Nice recovery, but it’s time to get runs across.
Think Posey has a permanent dent in hiscup after that nutcracker.
Magic gone? Blanco mired in a slump.. .208 for June.
I think he’s pooped. Needs a coupla days off…
hey’re all looking sluggish out there. Like it’s late August, not mid-June
Regardless of the winner tonite, as presently constituted, even if the Giants somehow got through to the WS, they’d need home field to have any chance against Texas or the Angels. Those two teams can flat rake throughout the order, and their pitching and D are both pretty damn good. Sabes has to again make mid course corrections, a bat and maybe a starter, and I don’t see that he has much in exchange to make them…
The Giants can beat anybody home or away when they’re pitching well and they do hit well on the road.. I wouldn’t make too big of a deal of one 3 game series against each.
A Posey Was Stranded
I think that was a Cole Porter song
Or a Dick Pole ditty?…
From what I’ve read of Cole Porter, Dick Pole quite possibly could have been a psuedonym
No doubt a friend of Holly Golightly…
We need a rally and even extra innings,so they.can.eliminate that freakin Justin Beiber special BS.
I’m sick of this friggin Trout kid.
Why don’t WE have fish like that?…
All we gots is a crawdad
We do Snarkk, we have a “Whale” in Pablo.
Crawfish!
Crawfish with a nice, nice pick of Pujols’ hotshot.
He’s starting to settle in defensively, and that’s a good thing…
OK Gigantes…time to put your hitting shoes on and score some damned runs!
Weren’t those lyrics to a K.C. and the Sunshine Band song?
Alright, I’m calling for a three run jack right now.
Anybody hear me?…
I hear ya, and I raise ya…I’m calling for a grand salame (hmmm…and I think she is too!)…
I *hear* you. I’m not feeling it. But I *hear* you
Yeah, unfortunately Ted…I’m not either. Trying to optimistic, but it’s not looking good for the Orange and Black tonight.
I’m Justin Christian, And every time I grin, poeple know the part I’m playing….
I think you guys are right about being pooped. Not too many hard-hit balls by the Giants.
Hard to get a Earl Weaver 3 run jack special when we can’t get a Fucking runner on base.
Uhm…fuck
Goodnight Flappers…
Double fuck, and goodnight Flappers….