2012 SF Giants. Fuck YEAH!
I don’t know about the rest of you but after 3 years of baseball that came down to the final week of the season I don’t really know how to feel about this years’ club. Clinching a playoff berth with 10+ games to go? What the hell is this all about?? This must be how fans of beer league teams on the east coast feel year in and year out. I must admit to fanboy giddiness.
The biggest concern as the calendar flips to October is the squad playing crisp clean ball and keeping the edge. This year isn’t done by a long shot but I look back on it so far and see Maui sunsets slathered in bacon. Yes, that means it’s good. Strangely, the Giants seem to have been turned upside down; SF is a pitching first club? Yeah, okay that is still true but the starting five isn’t exactly steamrolling down the stretch with an historic effort a la 2010. Bochy can’t bring along a young team? How about Crawford and Belt? They have both settled in to the point of gold glove talk at SS and 1b is now debated in terms of how can Belt stay in the lineup if Posey shifts to first. 3b? How about that muchacho Sandoval? 2b? The MAAARCOOOO chants should rain down on Scutaro soon enough? Outfield? Pagan has come on strong to close the season and while some may hope for more, Pence quietly gets the job done. Sure LF is questionable on the offensive side of the ball but Blanco play some good D out there and if Nady can get it rolling he can complete the line up. This LU is good top to bottom with elements of awesome sprinkled in. Yeah, I’m looking at you MVPosey.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Looking at Pav’s blog there is a comment about “facing Cain and bum” at ATT. Do you guys think that’s how the rotation goes assuming SF is the 3rd seed? That means one or two of Z -TL- vogs for the road games, at least one of which we would still need even in we swept here. Thoughts?
How does the home/away format change for the league champ 7 game series—is it 2-3-2 or 2-2-1-1-1?
“MVPosey”– did you see that on a sign at a game or did you make that one up? That’s gold.
I saw it on a sign but I have no problem claiming it as my own.
BOOYAH
I’m just curious, how ya’ll remember feeling the other times the team clinched and then waited for the playoffs? I just don’t remember how easily or last-minute they clinched in, say, ’97, or ’00, or ’03… I guess we all got kinda used to torture from two years ago, huh. Personally, I’m liking it better without the torture. The playoffs will likely be more torturous. But I think this team will be fine.
Well. we’re not a pitching first team anymore. Despite the lack of HRs, we’ve been the best hitting team in the league over trhe last two months- and 12th and 7th in pitching. Obviously, that’s both good and bad. Which brings us to the playoff rotation.Tim’s poor outing puts it all in flux- frankly the 3 starter coiuld be Tim, Zits, or Vogie now depending on the last week of the regular season. I think MadBum is the two by default now, although Bochy could have gone that way regardless. Tim might still the 2 but he’ll need a decent final start.And there it is, how things have changed- who 2 of the playoff starters are will depend on who might be just “acceptable”…
EFFFFFFFFFFFFF yeah. Put THAT on a t shirt.
Fight for the NL wild card interesting, if Milwaukee wins today, just 3 back.
And St Louis plays both the Nats and the Reds to finish up. Curious to see how that plays out.
Brewers get AAA Houston and then San Diego. And if Nats sweep the Cards, the Dodgers might still be alive when the G’s come to town.
Cabrera officially off the PS roster. He’s been a good soldier through all of this. I suspect we may see him in ST.
well, I’ll be shocked if we see him in ST but you’re right, it should at least be a possibility……
Say hello to Mr. Pence.
Spankin’ the ball.
Even Zito, alright Giants.
MARCO.
If I’m Arias and Pagan, I’m hoping the Giants bat around so I get another shot.
I’m surprised there isn’t more discussion about Melky. Isn’t this supposed to be a controversial decision? You guys used to argue about the size of raindrops…has the blog matured or had Flav laid down some law of which I am unaware? Or, do we all agree with the decision? I know I do – no offense to Melky and all he contributed, it’s just that that contribution is all suspect now. I do like that he is taking it like a professional – no grievance, statement of support, etc. I’d be glad to see a clean Melky in ST. Let’s see what he can do without his little helpers – everyone deserves a second chance, imho.
WOO HOO!!!…Nice to hear from you again Ferrethead.People are divided on Melky here.I say give em another shot,but my gut says the org. won’t bring him back or Mota next year.
FH – I’m pretty sure we’ve pounded that discussion into submission. Doesn’t mean you can’t get it started again. Cheers.
I was just talking about the final decision by the Giants announced last night. I won’t try to re-start a month’s-old discussion about drug use/suspension, etc.
I never considered it a possibility that he would come back. The Giants have come up with the PR reason for why they won’t bring him back. But Kruk and Kuip (and some of the players) made it clear that it wasn’t the steroid bust that turned the team against him it was his utter lack of consideration for his teammates when he packed up and left without addressing a single teammate in person or with a text that was the true reason the team would never accept him back. Sabean knows there would be a revolt if they ever brought that weed back on to the team….
I didn’t know about any of that…see how ignorant absence from the interwebs makes you! Do you think that he may have just been so ashamed that he avoided everyone? I’m not saying that’s okay, but as a fellow human being, I can relate.
I have to say, from what I’ve seen, he has handled this situation with a lot of humility – removing himself from consideration for the batting title, not filing a grievance, etc. Hopefully he’s learned from this.
If it had been the regular season like Mota, they would probably have had to reinstate Melky or risk a grievance filed. I think the grievance is based on penalizing a player twice. The Post Season is a bit different on how a team can fill a roster (like Zito left off in 2010). Plus, the argument that the team can’t send an injured/suspended player to the minors to tune up before reinstating him (the minor league season is over) adds additional weight to the decision.
Technically they could add Melky at the beginning of each level pf POs (I think). So if they wanted to replace an injured player with him, I think they could, come the second round..
Woo-Hoo!!!
Second that!
I seem to recall the D-Bags sticking it to the Giants after clinching the division last year, so it’s good to see the NL West champs beat that team in a couple of semi-laughers this week.
you’re right. Timmy totally checked out of his last start of last season, if I recall correctly.
Hell of a game today. My wife’s company sported the deal. Limo (bus) ride from Folsom. 10 people. food and drink on the house, 3 fucking bombs today!! Scooter went yard! Zito with 14. Unreality has kicked in.
How was the crowd’s energy, Chuck? Last gm of reg season, it must have been good but weekday day games can sometimes be underwhelming.
I caught the last 2 innings on the radio, the crowd sounded totally into it with the Romo SO to end the game.
So who had Zito checking in with 14 wins this year? There are 13 pitchers in the NL with more wins than him. We had a thread within a thread last Spring where we guessed Zito’s win total for 2012. I didn’t look for it and can’t remember what everyone predicted. I think I went with “3”.
He’s had a fantastic year for us. And I respect the man a lot for continuing to try to make this thing right. He’s got what, about 130 million or so in the bank right now? Lots of pitchers have given up after they scored the big monster deals and just ridden off into the sunset as those deals wound down……
Zito had a very nice year, we should all applaud him and appreciate him in this year where we had exactly 1 reliable starting pitcher from start to finish. Without him we might not have won the division this year.
Zito is the man this year. I’ve never blamed him for that contract – that’s all on the ownership group. In fact, I am fairly certain that Sabean had nothing to do with the signing as well. Regardless of what happens in the playoffs, I tip my hat off to him. No idea how many wins I predicted for him, but I have always thought – sans the stupid contract – he was a good 4 or 5 pitcher . . . This year, he easily was a 2 or 3 pitcher in my opinion.
Like his team mates (and I think most Giants fans), I am very happy for him.
True and Zito deserves the props. I was thinking the same earlier tonight. What a difference a decent offense has made for the whole staff. Obviously the club expected better from Lincecum but I doubt anyone expected anything close to this from Zito.
Blade– I don’t think most Giants fans are happy for him. Most Giants fans hate him and try to mock him whenever they get the chance.
This isn’t a pitcher we should be judging on simple stats like personal wins and losses or more complex saberstats that most people don’t understand anyway and that don’t have a direct impact on the wins and losses a team has in a season. The benefit of saberstats is to hopefully predict FUTURE success or failure for a player. It simply doesn’t matter what your BABIP or your FIP is when your team wins the last 10 starts you make in the season. Think about that and how important it was to our season. They won THE LAST 10 ZITO STARTS.
That’s all any fan should care about when assessing their feelings about Barry Zito in 2012.
Well, their bad then . . . You indicated exactly WHY Giants fans should admire and respect him, i.e., “I respect the man a lot for continuing to try to make this thing right. He’s got what, about 130 million or so in the bank right now? Lots of pitchers have given up after they scored the big monster deals and just ridden off into the sunset as those deals wound down . . .”
If Dirt, you and I can see beyond that contract, then others should be able to as well.
Also, these quotes remind me of who Barry really is . . .
“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
~ Albert Einstein
“Don’t be discouraged. It’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock. ”
~ Unknown
“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I gotta pee”
~ Forrest Gump
Blade, your point is…?
That I don’t have to pee????
if you look at the standing o’s when he does well, i think most fans appreciate the burden he carries and the effort he makes. 126 mil isn’t what i would normally call a burden, but none the less, it has its own pressures. BZ has never seemed to do anything other than try his best and support his team to the best of his abilities. i think “most Giants fans” are indeed happy with him, at this particular time.
we can debate this further over shots saturday night.
yes, we can.
Bozo is skyping in for a variation of “dial-a-shot” which I can’t wait for. See you then.
I just realized that my turn is sunday. can i just say now, my post MIGHT be a LITTLE late? I can’t promise it will be cogent 🙂
@
My wife’s company sported the deal. Limo (bus) ride from Folsom
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I’m confused, chuck. Your wife works at a prison?
I was at the game today. Awesome weather. Very positive vibe throughout the game. Crowd was very into it. The offense showed how to get it done at AT&T Park. The ballpark being a negative to offenses gets overstated sometimes. Leftfield is not a bad homerun field, and there’s lots of outfield grass in the outfield to plunk singles, doubles, and triples.
When did Belt get to to .275? I didn’t notice. The Giants’ lineup has decent depth to it.
As for Zito, the crowd is happy to get a good season from Zito. I don’t think a lot of Giants fans are holding a grudge against him. The championship in 2010 took a lot of that away. All is forgiven. And now he’s doing well, and in a sense, picking up Timmy this season, which is fine. That’s what teammates do, they pick each other up.
brutal loss for the cardinal. Nunes doesn’t look so good. thank god i was drinking at the time.
Thank god i was drinking at the time. Yes, my blessing and my curse
Nipper, I hadn’t heard of a Gagne book. I’ll keep a look out for it at my local library, which does a great job of getting new books.
I’ve got several books I’m eager to get to, but all of those had to be set aside for…..Neil Young’s memoir he just released!
zumiee, I think you’ll like this article
http://www.avclub.com/articles/exploring-the-overlap-between-baseball-and-literat%2c85470/
Great article, Ted. Thanks!
And I was pleased to see that he included Ring Lardner’s “You Know Me, Al” in his list. That’s good stuff.
At the game, I bought a pair of orange Giants socks. $15.
And I was curious what those Panda hats cost (I wasn’t going to buy one), and found out they cost $20, which really isn’t all that bad, considering ballpark prices on everything.
One of my favorite actors, Herbert Lom, passed away today. Hell, it was the ripe old age of 95 so…tough to feel–pity. But still–he was one of the greats and the second to last of the Horror cinema greats that was still alive (Christopher Lee being the last one). You guys probably know him as Inspector Dreyfus from the Pink Panther movies. But to me, he was just oe of the best at whatever he did.
So, God bless and R.I.P. Herbert Lom. Gonna watch him as I embrace the arms of morpheus as Dr. Nemo in MYSTERIOUS ISLAND.
Shaw is a doofus. You are asking the kid QB who has been off target all night to throw a long distance touch pass down the sideline? You only needed 4 yrds—have toilolo run 6 and then turn around and post the DB up…..no one could cover Ertz routes all night, and instead he does that on fourth down?