Playing Baseball on the Road
I get why playing at home is such an advantage for football and basketball teams. The noise level is off the charts. And in basketball, the fans are almost literally on top of the players. And they sound guy is constantly screwing with the road team with annoying music.
But I’ve never really understood why it’s such an advantage in baseball to be the home team. The fans are kept at a distance. Usually the park is outdoors. And baseball is mostly a calm event with crowd noise contingent on specific plays occurring—it’s not constant noise like with basketball or football (where fans are constantly reacting loudly). Thus, players should be able to concentrate on their jobs.
Is it just the travel repercussions? Do the players miss the home cookin’ that much? Or are they just too distracted by all the road-whores?
I dunno.
The Giants went from playing fantastic baseball vs the Braves to playing crap baseball against the Blue Jays. Did they get distracted by having to present their passport at the airport? Are they having trouble with the local language? Are the streets too clean?
And don’t even get me started on the Rockies home/road splits….
Why is it so hard for baseball teams to play on the road?
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Having just completed my around the world trip, the constant changing of hotels, flights, taxis (buses and trains in my case, because taxis are outrageously expensive in most cities) and time waiting for same is a pain in the ass. Consequently, you better be spiritual (or in other words, flexible), because otherwise you’re going to get frustrated quite a bit. However, they have a “travel secretary” to do all that shit. Additionally, they travel first class on a charter plane. Couple that with getting a per diem that is ridiculously generous, they shouldn’t be too disturbed by the travel.
Nevertheless, there IS NOTHING LIKE SLEEPING IN YOUR OWN BED AND HAVING EVERYTHING DONE YOUR WAY AT CASA BLADE (or wherever your casa is). That’s my take. By the by, good to be back and have my speed burner pc and MacPro laptop again. Give me a week or so and I will be caught up on the Gmen and life in the good ol’ US of A. Damn, do I appreciate this country!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
Welcome home.
I second, Flavor’s “Welcome home”.
Thanks you guys. You really appreciate all the small stuff that you take for granted when you’re at home. I can’t believe how “dicked” I have it. I enjoyed traveling to other countries, but I will definitely relish some “permanence and routine” for the next couple of months.
Welcome back, Steve. I really enjoy your stories from around the globe. And I have traveled a bit, and it does make you appreciate your home and the good ol’ USA.
Check one – All of the Above? Different field, bad club house food, different sleep patterns, not sure? If there was a game to miss watching, I guess I picked correctly.
Sorry to read in Baggs column that Zito mention bad pitch selection – “When they hit the pitches you want to make, and it’s a good pitch, you look back and think, ‘Maybe it’s got to be better sequences.’ You’ve got to sequence them differently.”
And from the same article, I had mixed feelings on the Dodgers being close to signing Jonathan Sanchez. (as reported by ESPN’s Pedro Gomez).
Shake it off and smoke ’em today.
I’d be 100% supportive of the Dodgers signing Dirrrrty. How da ya think that’ll end?!
Train wreck unfortunately.
BF: Don’t you think that continuing to trash a guy who’s gone and whose career seems to be nearly at an end- AND who helped the the save the team in 2010, is over the top? You take special glee in his troubles.
Well if you care to re-read and understand the post, I would be taking special glee in it affecting the dodgers in a neg way. Or maybe that’s the part that upset you.
Hey, great news: Greinke’s back! Good times!
Zito- throwing Buster under the bus again. Even Baggarly mentioned the “tire marks”. What a role model.
I understand your posts, this is just one of dozens taking shots at the guy.
As to Greinke- it’s always good news to a baseball fan when an injured player is able to resume his career. Your lame attempts to paint me as a Dodger lover because I don’t celebrate their injury situation, are laughable nonsense.
Rodney Dangerfield gets more respect then Dirrty.
Btw if a new team signs Sanchez does he still have to serve his 6 game suspension for intentiaonaly throwing at Allan Craig’s head?
He already served it.
OK Twin,I didn’t know that,Thanks.
Kat, despite Jonathan’s obvious struggles and likely unsuccesful rebound, all of us who understand the game know that pitchers like Dirrrrty are going to get a lot of chances. And any true Giants’ fan would wish him personal success wherever he goes. Unfortunately for Jonathan, that success does not seem likely to come in MLB..
But I’ll reiterate what I’ve said before: if a person can *genuinely* hate a *baseball team*, he or she needs serious help from a mental health professional.
Only caught couple minutes of post game wrap, but Kruk called T-town “synthetic baseball.” And he is right in a sense, that there just aren’t parks like that (indoors, turf, etc.) any more. Dickey baffled quite a lot of teams last year and is fully capable SP. Defensive mistakes (flems called out 4-5 different guys), of course, inexcusable.
Toronto is definitely a hitters park, along with Milwaukee, where SF also got outplayed. Even SD is way friendlier than it used to be, and SF goes to rox yard next. See how this plays out.
There was a month early last season when Blanco and Pagan both struggled, low .200s BA and .300 OB if I remember right. Pagan also had some issues playing CF at ATT, and I think got picked off 2B when an OF (kemp maybe?) threw behind him. He’s scuffling right now at top of the order, when most of the guys hitting behind him have been raking. Hope he can settle down and give the team more of what he did second half.
If JSanchez signed with the Dodger’s it would be a minor league deal with zero risk. All knowledgeable fans understand those kind of deals. But where’s Jeff? He can put the the proper spin on this.
Yeah, the astroturf fields are almost all gone. They are completely gone in the NL.
I think it’s down to Toronto and Tampa?
Is there a blog out there where I can find these true fans?
I don’t know, Dirt. You don’t wish Jonathan personal success?
Sanchez doesn’t play for the Giants anymore. I could care less how he does.
So you could care less about any ex-Giant or are you selective? You really mean that you have no well wishes for the future success of the many ex-Giants who contributed to the first World Series championship in SF history?
Sanchez almost single handedly won game 162 in 2010. I enjoyed the game and his performance. Especially so as I attended the game with my brother. How he or any other player that has played for the club performs once they move on to another team isn’t something I am concerned with. I don’t look for their stats in the box scores. I don’t care. If the Giants match up against them I hope their team loses. It doesn’t mean that I wish ill will on the player in his life or that I have a personal vendetta against them. It doesn’t make me or anyone else that feels the same any less of a fan of the Giants.
Well, my comment stands- and you might note that I said personal success and added that it would likely be outside of MLB.
So you send them gift cards for their birthdays and christmas cards around the holidays? That sort of thing?
There are some players I wish well after they leave, follow them in the box scores, stuff like that. But for the most part, I agree with Dirt, if they aren’t Giants anymore I don’t care how they do.
I appreciate what Dirrrrrty did for us in 2010 but I haven’t hoped he’d do well after he left. If anything, I’ve noticed his career just due to the spectacular failure it turned into.
He was traded ro KC and we got Melky. Considering how brilliant Melky was for us (before *his* fall), what was so weird and actually cruel, was how you so happily reported on Jonathan’s failure. There was no reason to do that.
But whatever, you made it clear last night what kind of commentary you’d like to see more of here. Where the hell is “Rim Job Jeff”?
Maybe players on the road have troubles because they only have themselves to talk dirty to. No wait, that’s us.
Speaking of dirty, it’s official, I’m a dirt farmer (of sorts). Yup, 3 loads of dirt last week grew to seven by yesterday. Today I see another 2 loads have come up with what looks like 1 more about to sprout. Yee Haw.
Putting in a patio? Planting a garden? Or plans for a hostile take over of the MLB contract for rubbing up baseballs?
Building up the dirt around the house and repairing what was tore up when they raised our house eight feet. Although the dirt is a nice sand and clay mix that MLB might be interested in. Good point Dirt, I’ll give ol’ Bud a call.
Actually, I did send Jonathan an Email through the Pittsburgh website. I never heard back, and didn’t really expect to. But I did wish him well. He’s had a brutally rapid fall from grace and a lot of animus from the press and the “fans”. So I guess that rates as “that sort of thing”.
I think the “road woes” are probably a combination of things (not sleeping in your own bed, not being in your familiar surroundings, adjustment to a different time zone, the food, etc.). I would not be surprised if you asked a number of players what they least liked about being on the road (biggest adjustment) that you would get a number of different answers.
With Toronto you have the turf (it was mentioned by some of the players that they were surprised how quickly the ball got through the infield), and with the roof closed, the ball supposedly carries quite well there (Pence can probably attest to that). Let’s hope the Giants got all of their jitters out of the way last night (and there were plenty), and can play some good clean baseball today and get the win.
RE: Players after they leave the Giants. I am more like Dirt in that I don’t follow most of them. I did follow Will Clark through the box scores when he left, but the number of players like that are few. I appreciate everything that Dirty did to help the Giant win that first WS in 2010, but now…I could really care less (and if he does end up pitching for Los Bumbinos)…then I feel no differently about him than Kershaw, Grienke, etc., they could lose every start and that would be a beautiful thing seeing them burried in the cellar.
It’s nice to see Twin getting steamed at Flavor.
Nipper, If you’re looking a reach around, go see Jeffy.
Posey is the DH. The NL should wise up.
MLB should wise-up and shit-can the abberation of the game that is the DH…
Buster needs a break from the strain and pressure of selecting pitches. It is a formidable intellectual challenge that the great minds of catcherdom have always struggled with.
Hey Bozo ,If your turning into a dirt farmer you need to bring Bumgarner over in the off-season for some post hole digging fence repairs,he will set you up with some milking cows as well.Then share some moonshine at dusk.Bozo and Snots a great combo.
I’d love it kat. Bum could probably shoot a snot rocket off of my front porch and hit one of the neighbors dogs on a run.
Post hole digging? Couldn’t he just blast holes in the ground with his snot rockets?
Notice to Belt: you better hit 3 HRs tonight.Bochy says he’ll get Pill some ABs in Colorado…
Addendum to your projections: Belt was on pace for 465 ABs, or about 100 fewer than Pagan. Soon it will be time to get Arias some ABs again, too. Surely, either Aias or Pill will eventually have a litte hot streak, and then mix in some Buster IB time since he’s such an idiot behind the plate, and, voila, Belt can be aptly punished for being the wimpy, goofball he is.
HEY!!
We had a bad game.
There was no cosmic shift.
Go Gigantes!
Not counting airfare and food it could cost you 450-500 american to watch a game from your hotel window.
Which is about what I pay for an overnighter with Lilly-Ann from Maidenhead. Damn she looks sexy in those flannel pjs.
Awesome.
Bochy, asked if he was surprised Melky had four hits: “I’m surprised he didn’t hit two home runs, with the pitches we threw him.” Way to throw more wood on the tire fire.
what’s wrong with questioning the pitches thrown?
Zito’s “clarification” of his “pitch sequence” comments is an absolute crock of shit. He wasn’t blaming Buster, but…
http://tinyurl.com/awl4nu7
I’m thinking that Kenneth forgot the frequency and gave him the sequence instead..
“I thought I was throwing the right pitch. Buster put down the sign, but it has nothing to do with Buster. It’s more, `You make your pitch and they hit it. So, OK, that probably wasn’t the right pitch.’ It’s more of a tool for critiquing yourself after the game.”
From Baggs: Zito and Posey had a brief chat near the catcher’s locker to make sure there were no misunderstandings. Posey said it wasn’t necessary, since he didn’t see Zito’s comments, generally doesn’t read media coverage and has a great relationship with the left-hander.
I’m not sure why you’re trying to stir something up here, it’s clear after his clarification what he meant and Buster himself said he has a great relationship with Zito……..
You are absolutely the worst or best depending on how one looks at it, at taking what’s said for publication as gospel…Stirring things up? That’s funny. Gosh, I hope the players don’t hear.. They’ll be soooo mad at me..
Giants get the early run, but I still wasn’t too crazy about Scutaro’s bunt given how hot he’s been.
Now Scutaro and Pagan can’t field in two countries.
Funny stuff. If I say it, though, an alarm goes off in Zumiie’s banjo, he taps his keyboard with his toe to boot up to the blog and trash me for hating on Pagan…
unclear on why you’re bringing up Zumie, who didn’t post this. Did Zumie start something with you earlier today? Because if he did, I’m happy to follow the chain back to him.
Or is this your way of starting something with Zumie? ….only to complain later that he started it…..
Take it however you want. I know who starts what and when. If I say somebody started it, they did. In this case, I’m somewhat humorouisly noting his typical behavior when I say something like Mac did.
I don’t keep track, but I’d say you both start shit with each other about 50% of the time shit gets started…..
Only a four run lead. Not to worry.
Wow, 2 catchers who don’t know how to call the right pitches. Those poor starters . . . Folks, you can always forgive the physical errors, but those mental mistakes . . . .
Note to Barry: when you give up 12 hits in 5+ plus innings, you have two words for the press: “I sucked”.
what two words would Dirrrrty use to describe his pitching performance over the last couple of years? Does “I sucked” really cover it? What’s worse than that?
I don’t recall saying he’s pitched well. At least he sucked wholesale.
James, I think I saw Buster in the dugout flashing the ” throw a pitch Amy G. can hit ” sign…
Well, it’s a good topic. First of all, I can’t think of any other sport that has a built-in, structural advantage for the home team. You get last wraps. It is a literal advantage. As kids, did you do what we did to see who batted last? One kid tossed a bat to an opposing team’s representative; you then alternated hand grips until the bottom. Sometimes you were allowed to ring the bottom with a circle of index finger and thumb. But to your larger point, it is indeed a mystery. It’s like we’re in a foreign country or something, eh?
God in heaven. In the time I wrote my post, we went from 5-1 to 8-1. I mean, c’mon! At least it won’t be a light night. Au contraire, it is a very early night. WELCOME HOME, STEVE. Really enjoyed your accounts. You took us there. What a life-altering (yes?) experience. Thanks again for taking us along with you.
OK, down by seven can be a bit tricky.
the only plus I can come up with for this travesty 2-game series is that I predicted we would beat the Jays in the World Series. So at least we’re getting our asses handed to us by a championship level team 🙂 🙂 🙂
Did Canada change the lyrics to their National Anthem to O for Canada? Or is that just what the Giants thought it was?
Tonight’s game makes me want to reach around to my remote control, and blow off the game, because the score is too much to swallow.
I am putting this in the POTD-best of. Years from now, no one will know why. But this post is 110% solid gold……..
Pagan must have been out when the memo was distributed to players about playing dead for tonight’s game.
Well, Mac didn’t say he can’t *hit* in two countries.
No idea about Pagan’s fielding this evening, as it’s hard to determine how good a fielder those yellow dots representing the players are on ESPN’s Gamecast.
Well, I missed the first inning. Saw Mac’s comment, then saw that Pagan made an error, and guessed that Pagan might have made a fielding mistake.
Welcome back, BTW.
A line drive clanged off Pagan’s glove, that was the error.
Thanks Mike. Just a bit discombobulated right now from the trip/jet lag and plan on doing nothing much in the next few weeks.
What ever you do Z, don’t fuck up your rim hitting a pothole. Otherwise, I hear it’s hard to find a descent rim repair place, and that sucks.
Yeah, you may get bent over for those rim jobs.
Just plain ugly.
a mess.
Didn’t actually see the game, other than comments here or the dots Blade described (welcome home again), but it seems fair to say it is now okay to worry about Vogey.
At least the Yanks lost. At home. To the Mariners. Trounced.
I dunno. Maybe it’s just the law of averages; maybe the Jays were due to get better. I mean, look. Even the Astros beat the Tigers tonight. They’ve played each other what seems like 19 times. G’night, girls.
Like you, I didn’t see the actual game – I’m wondering how bad Vogey was? The stats were pathetic, but it doesn’t tell the whole story, right? Anyone who saw the game that has an opinion – I’m all ears.
Maybe the Giants, not LA, should think about bringing Dirrty back. No risk minor league deal. Judging from some pitching performances and a whole lotta “I don’t know”s about who would the team call up if they needed another starter, they might need him. Wouldn’t that be a great comeback story. And then everyone here could root for him again…
I think it’s a done deal to the Bums in a minor league deal as per Pedro Gomez. He has an opt out if he’s not in the majors by July 1. He’s to report to Albuquerque..
Shit, with nothing in the minor league pipeline, that probably isn’t a bad idea Paul. I think your comment is spot on.
It would be a fantastic story but he’s done-zo…..
And, welcome home, Steve…
Thanks amigo. You in California???
Nope, Steve, still in Saigon… but 4 weeks from today, I will be in SF. Well, Sonoma. Due to a combination of weird shit here lately, I’m packing everything up and heading out of Dodge. I’ll be in the US for about 5 weeks (Bay Area and back east) and then heading back to China to teach at university. Maybe six months, maybe a year, maybe try to come back to Saigon if situations improve, or maybe will finally get swept off my feet for good by something or somewhere in China… I’ll be in Kunming, in the Southwest, Yunnan province. Still only a 2-hour flight from Bangkok.. 🙂
lol
I hope the plane has left Canadian air space by now.. That was fugly.
no shit. They shot-gunned a gallon of cum this trip. And that was not easy for me to type….
Haha! I can understand.
Welcome home, Blade. Thanks for taking us with you on the world tour blog. That was very cool.
As for Vogey….his control seems a little off; he left a few in the batters’ wheelhouses. Hopefully he can find his control again, whether it’s a mechanics issue or whatever. He’s an older player, so who knows. One thing we’ve seen over the last few years, is that when it’s over, it’s over. Huff, Rowand, Tejada, etc. So, hopefully Vogey gets it going again.
I focused on his control, because I’m not sure his “stuff” was ever all that dominating. He seemed to get it done by great location the last couple of years, and doing a great job mixing his pitches. But I could be wrong. I hope it’s location, and not a loss of “stuff.”
Thanks Zum 🙂
Zumie– that’s a fantastic point. We’ve seen “when it’s over it’s over” with all three of the guys you listed, I hadn’t thought of it across the course of time. I’d toss Bill Hall on to that scrap pile just because I couldn’t believe we signed him.
It’s possible Voggy is in the same boat but we thought Zito was done for YEARS and he was instrumental and critical to our 2nd World Series victory in 3 years so maybe it’s different for pitchers.
I’m not watching the game, but the fact that *broken-collared* Greinke is shutting down the Nationals is not a good look for them.
Think about it, he gets bulldozed by CQ, his collarbone is turned to kenneling, he’s re-habbing but not doing shit to train for a month, and now he’s shutting down the Nats in his first game back………
Cross them off the list of teams to fret about………
Harold Reynolds made that point tonight on the MLB network. He said the Nats are not the same team they were last year so far. I was wondering how that would go for the Nats this year. It just seemed like EVERYTHING went right for the Nats last year. Just one of those years. And had they not shut down Strausburg, who knows how deep they would have gone in the playoffs. That’s the point a lot of folks were making last year- the Nats were just assuming they’d be a World Series contender for years to come, instead of going all-in last year with Strausburg. That worked out just fine for the Giants last year. (grin)
Impotent ballgame
Goodnight, gentlemen (?)
You’re what?
I tell ya, one thing for sure that the Stephen King/Stewart O’Nan book about the 2004 Red Sox does is remind the reader how much stuff goes wrong in a season even for whoever wins the World Series. Man, they had all kinds of personnel issues going on during that season, and traded a fan favorite Garciaparra in the middle of the season for…..wait for it…..Orlando Cabrera!! And all during the season, fans were calling for the new manager’s head on a platter. We, the reader, know that Francona is going to win 2 World Series with the Sox, so it’s kind of interesting to see how it goes for the manager during that season.
It still seems kind of unbelievable that Francona and Epstein were eventually sent packing. The fans didn’t mind beer and fried chicken in the clubhouse when the team was winning the Series….
And, yes, add O-Cab to the list of players who played for the 2011 Giants and then never played in MLB again. We were trying to defend our World Series title with some guys on the team who were at the end of their careers. It’s all 20/20 hindsight. We certainly expected production from those guys.
They won the WS in 2010 with some guys at the end of their careers, as it turned out. I think injuries more than old guys derailed them in 2011. Just my opinion.
And a good opinion it is.
1. The Gyros apparently don’t like that Toronto dome. Oh, well. Next…
2. Voggy is now officially a big problem. They need to skip him a start as move #1 to see what can be done to fix this. If that doesn’t set him right, probably a DL move may be the ticket.
3. A coupla callers post-game to KNBR were saying it is interesting how lately quite a few players have really good years before getting a new contract, then in year 1 of the new deal, they’re crap. Obviously there was an HGH/testosterone abuse supposition going on there, with the idea being on the juice to get the deal, then off the juice once the deal is inked to avoid suspension and loss of pay. Melky, of course, was the jumping off point for the discussion, but pitchers were not exempt from suspicion of that MO…
Lets hear it for American League ball! Snarkk is concerned!