Next Victim
Filling in for BF. So it’s off to the Gateway city. With the sweep, i’m back on track for a fifteen win month. I had them going 1-3 here in St Lou. But with Cain, Bum and Vogey getting starts, not to mention the irrepressible BZ, 2-2 and even 3-1 is not unthinkable. Obviously the hitters need to stay hot and the relief pitchers need to stiffen up some. With the RP though, it seems like someone is able to come up with the big inning when they need it. there’s a lot of talent out there. Cain needs to get it started tonight.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Shit, ya beat me to it. I was helfway done with a fill-in post. i’m up in a couple days, so, nevermind.
having one in the bank can be a happy thing.
Yeah,. the Giants seem to be able to shut those Cards down, so i see a low scoring 4-1 type game. Relief is key, so let’s see what happens outside of te thin Colorado air . . .
This series, the one in LA and the 4 games with ATL are the big series of the month. With LA playing the rocks, wins here are going to be BIG.
I think they are all big at this point. 17 of 29 in August are on the road. If they can play at or near .500 for the month, and still be in 1st (or near it), I think we’ll be in good shape. 16 at home and 14 road in September with 7 against the Rox and 6 against Dago. (Also 6 against the Bums.) I still see a three team race down the stretch.
These will be tough games. I see a split, 2-2. But, hey, maybe our reawakened-as-if-corked bats will ride us to a sweep, which would be sweet. It’s the Show Me State. Let’s show ’em who’s boss. Us.
There’s absolutely nothing I take out of the Rockies series, other than they beat the crap out of a team they’re supposed to. Now it’s back to normal baseball. As e said, they need a big start by Cain, who hasn’t exactly been in top form since the All-Star break. I’ll gladly take 2-2, then hope and pray the Rockies can get one in LA to keep the Bums from taking over first.
I gladly take the wins against the Rox. Good teams notoriously lose to bad teams at the worst of times. Cf. 9/28/11 games. And also note our losses last year to the Astros and the Cubs at a critical time. Wins are wins. Just imagine the groaning and moaning here if we had lost even one game in Colorado.
Me too!
Well, if you go by this weekend, it appears the Rockies have tossed in the towel and aren’t really trying. It could have been that they fell behind early and just gave up. I will wait to see how they do against the Bums. I think San Diego will be a bigger problem in the west. not contention wise, but spoiler wise. SD seems to always play the Giants tough.
Splitting would be most excellent. 5-2 would erase the bad taste from the previous homestand. Just hoping Pence continues to get his sea legs. His batting stance (like I know anything) and defense look like a clusterfuck nightmare. He makes frigging Belt look gazelle-like. Nice arm, though.
The good news is the Dogs aren’t playing at Coors. They were just swept by AZ, and swept the hapless Cubbies on their current homestand. The Rox got to get a little angry and take it out on someone. Please?
AZ on the other hand seems to be having a hard time escaping the pull of the .500 record. Every time they make a move, they drop a few. AZ gets to go to Pittsburgh, where they will hopefully get spanked by the Buccos, who most recentl;y dropped 2 of 3 to the Reds. AZ has swept the dogs and gone 2-1 vs the Phillies on their (so far) 4-2 roadie. . .
Chuck favors spanking!
You can say the same about the Dogs and the Cubs, Mac. Throwing in the towel or not, these guys have to play. The Rox are hamstrung by some injuries, and some bat-shit crazy moves by their coaches, Their pitching is horrendous, and they intensify that by putting their starters on a 75-pitch count. Thus pretty much ensuring them of a no-decision at best.
I thought Clint Hurdle was an idiot, but he did pretty well with that team, and is doing a good job in Pittsburgh. Sure, he’s got players, but there;s still something to it. Tracy? He’s resigned to his demise and is playing out the string waiting for the axe to fall.
I should’ve been more clear. Of course I’m glad they got a sweep, never easy against any team. I was referring more to the resurgent hitting and the shaky bullpen. That place is like a funhouse with distorted mirrors where everything gets magnified into grotesque proportions. Now they can measure themselves against a real team with good pitchers and a tough lineup, although the biggest challenge may be dealing with 100-plus temps.
Tracy, spent most of the game just looking at his shoes. Talk about a picture of a beaten man, those shots of him in the dugout sure looked like it to me.
Go split in St. Louis in the heat, and that would be fine. Going against a team that rakes up and down the LU like the Cards means the starters really need to get it done because this Pen is just leaking major friggin Valvoline. Hopefully it can find the answer soon. Could be the shelf life of a great pen is just a coupla years, and the expiration date is coming soon. The Penny, Hensley duo is scary right now. And Casilla looks like he needs a sports psychologist standing behind the mound whispering visualizations. Hopefully Mota is working out in Florida. I hate to argue that we need a guy like Mota, but we do. To me, it’s crazy that there is no young arm in the entire Giants minor league organization that come into the Pen and really help. What the F are all those pitchers down there doing, friggin gas station attendants? Loux – feh. And don’t give me Hembree’s been hurt, he’s just one guy and there’s always somebody hurt in the minors. If you only have one prospect arm in the high minors, then your minors suck…
snarkk hates our minor league teams!
Loo, are you subbing for Nippy?…
Yeah, they have a lot of guys who are fringe at best. Squrrelly isn’t the way to go down the stretch.
Pence’s bat may have woke up just in time at the Box of Rox. Pretty much same thing Pagan’s. Add those two to NL scoring leader Melky and to Buster, now tied for 7th in the league in RBI’s and both consistently batting well over .300 and the Cardinals see some competition at the plate. Bear in mind that the Giants do top the league in scoring in road games. Even without Pablo, thee are bats up and down the lineup which can come alive.
In three of the four games at Busch, Giants starters have a fair to moderate edge. St. Louis bullpen is certainly no better than that of the Giants, maybe a tad more challenged. Cards, of course, have the edge in playing at home. So kiss your sister 2-2 split looks almost probable. Vogelsong is probably the toughest minded starter in baseball. Nails. More often than not Bumgarner more than holds his own against virtually any other team. Good pitching usually dominates good hitting. Zito is iffy. On occasion he can be a positive surprise.
Good chance of taking three of four happens in game One. Tonight its P.G. Cain, who has been less than stellar (but not at all bad) since his Perfecto. Should Matt the Horse regain his magic tonight my call is that S.F. cops the series 3-1. Chance of a sweep, on the road, in St. Louis, is maybe about one in ten. Cards sweeping the Giants at the same odds. Bats are a close match with the other side having a slender edge. On the mound the Giants have a moderate edge. A split is more likely than not.
I’d put it at about 1-50. But yeah, 3-1 is possible. Much does depend on the pen gettting back on point. Hopefully the thin Colorado air was an aberration for them. Casilla needs one good save to turn his shit around.
Minor league pitching help: Bochy’s kid. Brett has been mostly stellar at Richmond. Apparently he is not a power pitcher, but one way or t’nother bats do not often get squared up perfectly on his offerings. Penny looks pretty cooked. One more shot for him and NOT with the game on the line. Hensley maybe gets a couple more stabs at stabilization. Loux may be just a tad better than people think. A waiver pickup would be nice, so if LA goes up a half game while hosting the Rox while SF dukes it out with STL, a window of opportunity might briefly come ajar. Hope Sabean has that scenario in mind. Kinduva ju-jitsu move: Take advantage of your opponent’s presumed edge.
Book it that Sabean will get another arm in here soon. And I don’t mean Mota. Mota is gravy, and his suspension I think is not done for another coupla weeks. The one thing that has been nails for the Giants the last 3 seasons has been starting pitching and the Pen. The offense is now somewhat better, but still challenged. If the Pen has 3 guys that are suckage for their roles, that edge disappears against the good hitting oppo. Has there ever been a case of an MLB squad having a manager that can go to his kid in the Pen? I’ve never heard of that. To me, that would be mighty strange, in a cool sorta way…
Brett Bochy’s line in the Eastern League: 36 games, all in relief; 6-3 record with an offensively challenged .500 team; 1.74 ERA; 14 saves; 46.2 IP; 24 hits; 9 E.R.’s; 1 HR; 12 BB; 60 K; 0.77 WHIP. Can you say “dominant”?
Make Daddy happy by calling the kid up before September. Spring him on the league with about six weeks to go in the season. Daddy may be so delighted with the honor that he forgets his hatred for BB9 and starts him regularly ~ in the two-hole.
Bring the friggin kid up. Could he be worse than Hensley the last few outings? I doubt it. And he probably knows what to do with a comebacker with men on base…
I’m sure at some point the Mets would gladly send Ramon Ramirez back to SF for basically nothing. He’s had a lousy year so far. Usually did the job for us…
Sabean loves vets!
Nipper loves exclamation points!
The bullpen is so often the bane of a team’s chances to make the playoffs. Admittedly, I wasn’t real sure what “bane” meant, so I looked it up. The definition was harsher than I was expecting.
1a obsolete : killer, slayer b : poison c : death, destruction d : woe
2: a source of harm or ruin : curse
Origin of BANE
Middle English, from Old English bana; akin to Old High German bano death
First Known Use: before 12th century
Zumiee likes dictionaries!
Wow- I just Nippered myself.
I think Mota can come back on the 28th and start practicing 20 days before that. so we should see something this week if he’s in the plans. he’d certainly be worth a look.
I recall Sabean being asked the “Mota question” on CSN the Tuesday we acquired Pence at the deadline. He said something to the fact that bridge had been crossed, burned or blown up like the one on the River Kwai. Don’t expect Mota back. Or William Holden or Alec Guinness for that matter.
I’m hardpressed to think of anything that I like about the entire history of the Cardinal organization. Dizzy Dean and Lou Brock are two Cardinals I can like, I guess.
not even Stan Musial? Enos Slaughter? Frankie Frisch?
Stan Musial loses some points for playing through just about all of WWII, and helping the Cadinals win the World Series a couple of times during WWII. Enos Slaughter I know nothing about, except he was involved in a famous World Series play, I think. He either scored from first on a single, or he was the outfielder that allowed the guy to score from first on a single. Frankie Frisch gets credit for his Giant years, and not his Cardinal years. (grin)
All my rules are incredibly arbritrary and subjective.
If we couldn’t go here on the Flap with arbitrary and capricious and subjective, the post count would dry up…
Come on Z. Willie (E.T. Phone home) McGee, the ugliest swing by a batting champ ever and a Giant for awhile.
The Clown likes ugly!
I take it you nixed my trade offer, but I never got a response. Is there a “FUCK YOU!!” you’d like to send my way now?
DMD – I did nix it and I explained why. I think I started with “Are you fucking kidding me”.
Well, those ’80s Cardinals…..I do not dig them.
But, yeah, McGee ended up being a cool guy for the Giants.
The Cards are and have been a class organization for a long time. Its history is not as studded with top top players as the Giants, but they’ve had their share (Dizzy, Slaughter, Musial, Gibson, Brock) and have a better history as a winning team in terms of championships. You don’t win more WS than anybody but the Yanks by luck. They lose Pujols, and they’re still hitting the cover off the ball like Pujols was Burriss. I envy the consistency of the Cards…
But it helps if Musial plays during WWII and Mays has to serve in the military ’52-’53.
Curt Flood, Bob Gibson. And while I don’t care for him as an announcer (he can get fucking lost), I thought McCarver was a pretty good receiver in his day…
We did just p/u an arm for the pen, LHP Jose Mijares from the Royals. Mijares was 2-2 with a 2.56 ERA in 51 relief appearances for Kansas City.
Come on down!
Does that mean we’re going to carry fourteen pitchers?
Just kidding DMD.
Jose Mijares?
ewisco, if you are subbing for BF, be a doll and change the BBOTD
very funny! I should but i think they would frown on it at work.
I said before noon it was a slam dunk Sabes would get another arm soon, but that’s pretty darn fast. Mijares can’t be that great if he got through waivers all the way to the Giants. Quick Googling of Mijares yields a “eh, whatever” response here. WHIP 1.28, some blogsters say he’s sucked lately. BRef shows he’s given up 5 earnies in his last 4 appearances. Ouch. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mijarjo01.shtml Maybe a new league will help, so WTF not? Hope the Royals aren’t planting a bomb to get back at Sabes for the Melky/Dirrty deal. LHer. So, who gets the boot? Penny, Luchs? Hensley’s getting paid too much to get DFA’d…
But truly the #1 reason I don’t like the Cardinals is hearing broadcasters time after time talk about how “knowledgeable the Cardinal fans are” in typical lazy journalistic style. Oh the Cardinal fans are just so knowledgeable. Really, they’re just a bunch of baseball Einsteins. They must be. Because others have said so. And if someone else says something, it has to be true, because….someone said it. So, you have to repeat it, because someone else repeated it. Because someone before that said so. And so it must be repeated.
So, as the camera pans the crowd tonight, and you see a solid wall of red shirts, looking like some kind of weird Midwestern conformist Nuremburg rally of red-shirted zombies, just ponder their collective baseball wisdom…
I guess it means all those Cardinals fans are all idiot savants?
I’ve only been to one game in Cowtown and it was the coldest baseball game I’ve ever attended. The “knowledgeable” fans behind me remarked that Candlestick was that cold for every game, I just shook my head. They do have the Bowling Hall of Fame so I’ll give them that.
I hate st. lou, especially the fans. the appropriately named “Bush” stadium. yeah i know, it’s not spelled that way. f ’em
Yeah, I’ve never liked the Cards. From Ozzie Smith’s gay-ass flips and cheap-shotting Will Clark to Jose Okendo’s fucking home run to their Slappy McSlappypants offense of the late 70s to Whitey Herzog to LaRussa to Mark “I’m-not-here-to-talk-about-the-past” McGwire and their staggering into 2 world series wins these past few years? Fuck ’em all.
I gotta admit it was great fun when the Giants beat LaRussa’s ass in the 2002 NLCS. A little revenge for the ’87 bullbleep. Beating the Cards was great, and LaRussa to boot was the cherry on top. I must say, whenever I hear Mike Shannon’s HR call on radio replays I wanna ralph…
Most scribes and pundits always say LaRussa is a lock for the HOF. Yet he was the manager of teams/guys in two eras (Bash Bros) and McGwire with Cards ‘roided up and that are said to have no shot in the HOF. If LaRussa gets a pass on managing teams that were ‘roided up, then the idea must be everybody was ‘roided — so then why would he get a pass to the HOF, but not the players he managed? The idea that he had no clue about the ‘roiding is ludicrous…
LaRussa is nowhere near atop any of my favorite lists. But him making the HOF? He’s 3/5 and hails from the Bob Baffert barn. Book it!
Well, Mijares is fat. He’s listed at 6 feet 230lbs which means probably 5-11/240(50?)
It doesn’t make sense why the Royals, who just gave away Broxton, would also give away a pitcher who can help out in the bullpen and who’s not even making a million bucks this year. He’s given up some runs lately, but from late May to the middle of July he went 19 straight appearances without giving up an earned run. That doesn’t happen by accident.
I’m fine with giving him shot…..
By the way, sorry for lagging on my thread today. i thought I’d be home by now but I’m still on the road–should be home late tonight….
Thanks to Stable Boy *Ewisco* for stepping up and slapping a thread up there for you guys…
I guess no one posted tonight’s lineup yet. Allow me…
Pagan CF, Theriot 2B, Cabrera LF, Posey C, Pence RF, Scutaro 3B, Belt 1B, Crawford SS, Cain RHP
Looking more and more like the standard line-up…and when facing a leftie…insert Arias at SS…
I’d switch Theriot and Scutaro…
I’d leave them in the spots they’re in. Theriot isn’t going to see more hittable pitches down the LU. He’s seeing all the fastballs he’s gonna see in front of Melky. And Scutaro is hitting well, I like having a reliable bat down the order for once….
Agree.
I’ll be shocked if we see Mota pitch again in the major leagues. That dude was just doing what he had to do to stay in the bigs for one more year and he cycled and got caught. He probably could give less than a shit. He’s made 17 million in his career (not a lot of money compared to some big leaguers but he’s set for life either way) and is likely partying in the DR right now….
Don’t remember where, but I saw last week somewhere that he was reportedly in Florida working out, getting ready for the suspension to end…
possible for sure, I was just assigning my opinion to what I thought he’d be doing after he got 100 games….
Killing some time before we make the final trek home and I’m borrowing someone’s macBook to cruise the flap/email/etc…. I decided to check out the general stats and just see how everyone is doing. I typically don’t keep track of who’s leading MLB in hr’s/rbi’s/wins etc on a daily basis.
Some things that jumped out:
1) Voggy is 2nd in all of mlb in ERA (2.38) to Weaver (2.29). With another stellar performance he could be leading all of MLB in ERA? that’s crazy.
2) Despite all of Casilla’s troubles and the fact that he didn’t take over the closer role until at least 10 or so games into the season, he’s still 8th in MLB with 24
3) Verlander is only 5th in total # of strike outs.
4) Melky is 2nd in triples with 10
5) Buster could win the batting title this year. He’d have to pass McCutchen, Melky and Votto, but he’s at .327, 6th best in either league. Pretty cool.
On #5, Buster isn’t fast, so he never gets cheapie infield hits. I’d bet McCutcheon gets some of those, and Melky has some, too. Buster’s is a HARD .327…
He’s hitting .456 since the break. 79 at bats. Crazy.
That (him hitting .456 since the break) is BAD ASS. Agree snarkk – that is a HARD .327. Buster Fucking Ballgame!
isn’t the g’s record for triples 12? it was thought early this year that between pagan and blanco that it was going to fall. and here comes the melkman. shout out to any lurking maids.
Bochy just acknowledged that he’s indeed going with a closer-by-committee in the pen.
And don’t any of you even try and BS me that it’s a good thing. 13-man staff AND a fucking committee.
If I could clone my ass eleven times there would be “12 Angry Men.” 12. Not 13.
The good news is that they can’t use their closer in a non-save situation! That IS good news? Right Dennis?
Fuck, Belt. Try to do more than that. . . .
Scoots didn’t do much there either.
Recently read a post over at McCovey Chronicles:They were bring up the 2008 MLB draft.
Top 5,1) Tim Beckham SS TB,2) Pedro Alvarez 3B Pitt,3) Eric Hosmer 1B KC,4) Brian Matsuz P Baltmore, 5) Buster Posey C SF..
Yeah the Giants scored the Gold Medal over those other 4 picks!
The real hilarious part,the Idiots over at McCoveys all wanted to jump on Justin Smoak,that would be minor leaguer Justin Smoak now,over Buster Posey .To a guy/ gal they were all ripping this pick sayin Sabean is out of his mind again.Smoak ended up going #11 by Texas,and now currently a “Bust” for Seattle.
GONE
Buster Posey’s HR Bomb measured at 431 ft.
Now back to your regular schedule programing….
Everyone knew Buster was the guy to get. The other 4 teams were scared off by the signing bonus demands.
Fuck. Give it right back . . .
And then some.
That Sucks!!! Killer hit there.Cain just didnt have it tonight.
Cain hasn’t had it since he pitched the perfect game. Here’s hoping The Horse never tosses another one…
Pence is not giving me a warm fuzzy feeling yet, either,
The goddamn Chevron refinery in Richmond just blew up and the toxic smoke is heading my way.
A few long, depth breaths should get rid of my hangover.
ANd the wheels on the bus fall off off off.
Another non=error error.
Christ. Stupid shit abounding.
At least AZ lossssst.
How fast can the get Mikares here?
I swear the Giants pitching staff is, for the most part, friggin clueless when it comes to fielding the position
Time to see which chicks are bending over in London…
cuz we are bending over for sure in STL
nice.
Sheeeit Toto!, this sure doesn’t look like Denver anymore…
nofreakingshit
The Rockies series was great but, to me, this team hasn’t been the same since Pablo went down and the ensuing belly-buster Friday night game against the Doggers. They just seemed to have gone flat since then. If HanRam does nothing else for LA this season, I’m sure the Dogs will at least appreciate him kicking the Giants in the collective nuts in that damned game.
You can’t just dismiss the Rockies series as if it did not happen. That’s too convenient a way to support your proposition. They clearly were NOT *flat* this weekend. This is just one game, and it is not even over.
Well atleast Loux settled the BP move.He will be seeing the fantastic.attractions that Fresno have to offer again.
Xavier Nady signed to minor league contract. Always liked him.
5 years ago . . .
How do you spell relief? Not G-I-A-N-T-S right now.
So, what the hell are the Rockies doing in St Louis? I thought the Giants were supposed to play the Cards.
Timmeh has outpitched Cain since the All Star break…
what was the *13pct* bet anyway? Tim has closed ERA gap quite a bit on Zito lately.
I think DJ Loo could help the team more than DJ Loux. From 5-2 to 8-2 in 5 easy batters.
Looky Loux headin’ back to Fresno with Mijares coming in…
Sf hardly the only team with pen issues by this time of year tho. Yesterday LA new guys league and choate got 2 guys while giving up 2 hits and a walk, then Guerra gives up two run single to soriano and they blow a 3 run lead. Then in the 9th Jansen allows Rizzo bomb to tie it before getting the W in 10th.
DBax had a 4-3 lead on philly after 6, then Hernandez blows the save by giving up 3 hits and a run in two thirds of an inning, then they blow the game in the 9th with Collmenter on the mound.
The A’s *all-star* closer Cook has 4 blown saves in last 6 outings and has given up 4 HRs in last 7 games including two in the 9th that tied games, one a 3 run shot with 2 outs.
I don’t like the middle guys, but lopez affeldt romo casilla is better than most, including anything STL has.
Jesus, how long was I gone for? A month? A year? Nothing beats driving down 280 at dusk knowing I’m almost home. Maj props to Ewisco for slapping a thread up and I will take Twin’s spot tomorrow and from here on out until his life settles down and he wants to come back and do it.
Tomorrow’s thread is going to be….I got nuthin’. Maybe I’ve been gone too long or I haven’t written one in too long. My brain is usually churning out thread ideas at the same rate Loo churn’s out POTD’s.
Whatever,, something will hit me around 5am. For now, a beer and a quick dinner, make sure my daughter has hit the sack for real, a shower because I smell like Chavez Ravine and then some slumber that will hopefully last longer than 3 hours (which I haven’t gotten in about a week). Flap on…………..
Did you change your underwear? At least?
How many Rockies does it take to shut out the Dodgers? Four!
Macdog, I watched the last few innings of the Dodgers game. I was rooting my ass off for the Rockies and they came through. Baseball is a funny game, Rockies giving up all those runs this weekend and then shutting out LA today.