“Catch the Ball, Throw the Ball”
Though it’s a fairly instinctive human quality, our guys seem to be having a tough time this year with the basics of *catch and throw*. The defense has been atrocious on this trip so I wasn’t surprised to see where we ranked across all of mlb in *errors made*:
It’s not too much of a stretch to say that all of these errors are effecting the pitching break down–errors cause the pitchers to get frustrated which in turn impacts their focus and concentration and that’s not the way you want your pitchers pitching. But though they’re professional ballplayers they’re still human beings and they’re clearly having trouble pitching through all these mistakes–although they should be able to do it, they committed a lot of errors last year too (4th most in NL) and they still managed to win the World Series.
Zito seems to fall apart on the mound the quickest when errors are made behind him. That’s just my opinion, I don’t have stats to back that up. I’d say Timmy is the next guy to implode the quickest.
Zito has been horrendous on the road this year so despite his decent numbers at Coors Field we could be in for another high scoring game today. And if the Giants keep fumbling the ball this one could be over quickly.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Not to mention that the errors also add to the pitch count. The gaffes in the OF are the ones that really have had me scratching my head.
Yesterday, I questioned why Pill was sent down and not Noonan. This is the answer that Baggs had.
“The Giants sent down Pill instead of Nick Noonan because Bochy plans to start the left-handed hitter at second base Sunday afternoon in place of Scutaro. It’s become clear that the Giants will need to get the 37-year-old off his feet whenever possible, no matter how hot he is at the plate. (Current temperature: A 16-game hitting streak, including multiple hits in nine of his last 10 games.)”
I heard Miller say on radio that most of the errors have occurred in last home game and the road trip. Even Kruk mentioned SF being rated much higher defensively not that long ago.
I didn’t see much of the Toronto games, but I watched Bum throw a potential DP comebacker wildly into the OF–instead of getting at least one easy out and maybe two, all hands are safe. Lincecum made an ill advised attempt after falling down and again runners get extra bases they shouldn’t have. Other teams gain momentum, pitchers continue in the stretch and have longer more stressful innings yadda yadda—it all adds up to crooked numbers by opposition.
In general I’d say SF is more than OK defensively with a couple gold glovers in there, Scutaro being the biggest ?. But the way he’s hitting right now it’s pretty hard to sit the guy.
The more I read blade’s posts I’d have to agree it’s just a bad series where Rox are hitting the ball hard and getting just enough pitching. We get them back in our yard next weekend, and I’m sure results will be different.
Maybe the Rev channels may 19 honoree Malcolm Little and fires the boys up, and SF returns to winning ways… by any means necessary.
Bochy shouldn’t have had to explain why Pill went down, especially in light of our woes on defense. Arias is only respectable at third base, and he’s used there for defensive purposes in many games. Noonan is a capable defender at short aand second.
As to the platoon going foward, obviously Blanco is not in trouble, Vungo could be. But despite the ridiculous uproar over a couple of mistakes, he’s a solid defender at all three OF positions. At the plate, however, he’s getting way too eager, the walk had been part of his game- an essential part. 4 walks in 78 PA won’t cut it. They’re not going to stay with 13 pitchers for long, so what happens they go back to 12? Pill or Peguero back up? A trade?
1. Angel Pagan (S) CF
2. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
3. Pablo Sandoval (S) 3B
4. Hunter Pence (R) RF
5. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
6. Gregor Blanco (L) LF
7. Guillermo Quiroz (R) C
8. Nick Noonan (L) 2B
9. Barry Zito (L) P
“Barry and Buster get along fine. There was no problem with them. We had planned for this day off all along. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!! to these scurrilous rumors…”
“Uh, Skip, Guillermo has food poisoning, he can’t go. I’ll tell Buster to strap the gear on..”
“No, let’s see if Vungo wants to give it a try…”
Right now Boch wants to go with 13 pitchers and I agree.The BP has been way overused early on this season.Shortens the bench to just 4 players, but necessary right now until they get more innings out of their starters.
Had to go Pill for the send down,even though he was hitting the ball hard,they have alot more options at 1B.Noonan gives them more flexibility and with Scoots age the needed day-offs will keep him fresher.
Absolutely. The way the SP has gone a guy like Machi who can go 2-3 innings is critical
Looking back at the WAR thread, the guy at the top of the list was G. Parra of DBacks, who yesterday homered to lead off the game and then threw out a guy at the plate in bottom of first. Hapless Marlins never came that close to scoring again and Bax won 1-0.
Good news bad news: Romo hasn’t been overworked lately.
STAT GEEKS CAUSE LOSING STREAK
That’s the headline of the Bay Area edition of Field Of Dreams this morning, a newsletter published by the all-time great players from years past. It seems theyve taken umbrage with the blog commenters and fantasy baseball owners who mocked Matt Cain’s outstanding effort on Thursday night against the Rockies.
These manly men believe that winning percentage is the only stat future Hall of Fame starting pitchers should concern themselves with. They’ve removed the ‘E’ from ERA and ignore all but the first letter of WHIP.
When a teammate makes an error, the pitcher must not allow the base runner to score. If his team is ahead by a lot of runs, giving up base hits is acceptable, but not walks. In close games, he must shut the opposition down. Oh and one other thing, they fucking hate the DH rule. If their team isn’t scoring any runs, the pitcher shouldn’t feel like he’s a helpless victim.
Not much one can do but hope the pitching defense malaise is temporary. I don’t see them making many changes, as they did in 10 and 12. Maybe Kickham or Heston, Hembree and Pegs get looks, maybe a low cost pitcher who is struggling, but with the money they paid out this year to bring everyone back, I would be surprised to see them go after a high cost solution.
If Voggy inplodes again on the next start, I think that’s it for him. Skips a start, or a DL stint. I’d go DL. Gaudin could sub in to start, bring up Hembree, he’s doing well in Fresno, he could take over a low pressure Pen position to get his feet wet. Giants in the past few seasons have had the odd 6 game roadie where they implode. Was it last year or the year before with that disaster roadie into DC and Pittsburgh? Hopefully this one is this year’s nadir, then it’s onward and upward. The defense will come around. Starting pitching, I’m not as confident in recovery. As for Scutaro, he must have that recurring back problem they’re keeping on the down low, it probably bothers him more fielding that batting — at least that’s my take on it…
As for fielding, look at Arizona. Best fielding team in the majors. That’s gold. They’re going to be tough all season long, looks like. They can hit, and they are starting pitching better than I expected. The question mark is whether their Pen is going to hold up…
The hitting should feast on Nicasio. Disappointing they couldn’t do more against the AAA guy yesterday.
Nolasco beat the Dbacks 2-1. He’s a decent pitcher who the Marlins will likely want to move. Might be avail for a reasonable price at the deadline.
Time to string some hits together and put some numbers on the board.
OK, next inning.
Or, next inning.
Fuck Brandon. Hold onto to the frickin’ ball when you don’t have a play.
Pathetic ab’s today. And yet another DUMB throw….
A break? C’mon Belt, you big sissy.
If only this were last year, Nicasio would’ve been out of the game by now.
Snarkk, that surreal sweltering roadtrip to Pitt. and D.C. last year is the one you’re thinking of. It just goes to show that even the team that wins the World Series in a given year has some awful things happen during the season.
I still remember the ’90 Reds getting swept by the Giants in a 4-game series at Candlestick. And, of course, the Reds won the World Series that year.
Z – I was at all 3 of those games in DC. It was about 1,000 degrees out there. (the 4th of July game, was a day game and just brutal). They didn’t look like the next WS champs during those games, kinda like today, So your point is well taken.
Noonan had no(onan) clue. 🙂
clever . . .. that Onan guy is so seedy
There’s nothing natural about the Giants’ starting pitching not doing well. It’s the sirens’ lament…..
That video was guaranteed to make you feel better.
I guarantee that getting six runs in the 9th would make me feel better. (picking and grinning).
I can dig it. I was always more of a hard rock guy, but I did enjoy checking out 120 Minutes from time to time.
Bah.
Humbug.
Talk about a LOST WEEKEND. No. I don’t wanna talk about it. I’m already suffering from the fecking hangover of this road trip. Talking hurts my ears.
Dateline Denver, Colorado . . . The Rockies announcer, Drew Goodman said this, “The Rockies made a statement to the Giants this series that things are going to be different this season.”
Damn, I can’t wait until mid-season to see what this A-hole is saying when the Rockies are floundering (which they were before this series got them healthy).
I salute your optimism. I know, I know: I’m on record sending you an email in 2010 I was giving up in May or June, doomer that I tend to be. I’ll bet you still have that email!
Indubitably.
Steve , you should check the Rox splits this year. Cargo is hitting way better on the road. And Fowler had an Ops well into the .800’s before this series began. And their pitching is right in the middle, home or road.
They’re a young team, there’s no law that says Cargo has to have shitty splits the rest of his career. In fact, most young players get better with age (as you know).
I don’t think the Rox are contenders, just that that aren’t “champions of Nepal”– that’s for teams like Miami and Houston.
The Rox will end the season above .500 (IMO)
Anything is possible I guess. It’s early and the Coors field effect on the player’s bodies hasn’t had sufficient time to make a difference yet. Flav, from my own experience (I am talking when I was in my 40s and was a real gym rat, running at 8500 feet altitude – 3000 feet higher than Coors, lifting weights, plus moving tons of snow during the winter on my mountain property) – the altitude wears you down and you’re unconscious about the affect until you return to sea level, as I did 2-3 times a year to SF bay area . . .
Colorado
3 mile run with 9:30 splits
San Francisco bay area
4-5 mile run with same splits if not better.
In short, I felt like Superman when I came to the bay area. Once I got back to Colorado, I was the shits for about a week, before returning to my former Colorado level.
Fowler again showed why he can be the best center fielder in the game and then he showed what he has been in the 3rd inning, i.e., getting caught stealing. As you are well aware, this guy is usually on the waiver wire in FL 2-3 times a year because he can’t be trusted to be consistent.
What really pisses me off about this town is that everyone here are such band wagon delusional fans, especially the media. Woody Paige is typical, e.g., he predicted that Broncos would go undefeated 7-8 years ago after they won 4 straight at the beginning of the season. He was serious. Ludicrous. They ended up going 8-8 I think.
I find your altitude angle fascinating– and I haven’t read anyone else who’s written about it. All I’ve ever read about Colorado is that they know how to play in their park, they have the right type of hitters, they’re trying to find ground ball pitchers, they might be using non-humidified balls, stuff like that. I hadn’t stopped to consider the continual yearly effects it has on the team going from Coors Field altitude back down to sea level over and over across 162 games.
Did you read about this or did you just come up with the theory based off your own experiences with it?
regardless, it makes a ton of sense……
Gold.
Nicasio’s line last Monday at Chicago, was 5 earned runs in 6 innings. Nicasio’s 3-1 record prior to this game was deceiving; his 5.13 ERA was not. His pitch counts gets too high, too fast. He starts throwing too carefully, gets behind and then gets pounded. That’s what happened Monday in Chicago. The Cubs rattled him for six extra-base hits, including a home run by Alfonso Soriano, through three innings.
Chicago? Imagine that.
Saw “The Great Gatsby” this afternoon and rather liked it. Here I am, a former English teacher, and I hardly remembered the book. Haven’t read it since high school. Have to read it again. (Speaking of reading, just finished ALL THAT IS, by James Salter, his first novel in decades. Utterly superb. James Salter is called by many the best writer you never heard of. True enough.) I am not in the least bothered if a movie strays from a book. It should. It’s a different medium. I saw a preview of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” today. It looked modern and witty. Great. I often like previews better than movies. And this notion predates the term A.D.H.D. Back to GATSBY: I guess it’s about greed, class, obsession, and deception. And maybe love. Or the appearance of love. And why am I talking about all this here? I told you. Don’t talk to me about baseball.
Saw “Gatz,” the Elevator Theater Company’s reading of GG a couple of years ago at The Public Theater. All 6 and a half hours of it. It was literal, yet also managed to stray. GG has been exhausted for me.
Gatsby’s a great quest novel. Not as great as Moby Dick, but, in its way, close. Fitzgerald’s characters and landscapes shift like imagery in modernist painting. The huge eyes looking through enormous spectacles down in the valley of ashes are the same regular eyes behind spectacles up at Gatsby’s mansionadmiring the book collection in the library. (This style was even more pronounced and just as effective in Tender is the NIght.) But he was a romantic, ultimately, and he took his main point seriously. Thus the central “tuning fork that had been struck on a star” passage. I hope to hell this movie version didn’t use that in a voice over. In any event, I’ll see it. Eventually.
Yikes, you remember a lot. I must’ve been too hung up on learning Latin in the seminary; that, and trying to calculate the number of mortal sins based on impure thoughts and so-called self-abuse.
Before the game, the KNBR show dude subbing for Lurie (can’t remember his name, “Ray” something) was soliciting calls from Giants fans gauging their *worry level* over this recent tough stretch. I probably listened to 10 callers or so and to a man (and one woman) and all of them were adamant that this was not an issue, stay focused on the big picture, it’s a long season, stuff like that.
I was surprised, usually you get nothing but yahoo’s calling in from the ledge.
I guess 2 world series wins in 3 years will mellow out the fan base…….
Ray Woodson. He’s the most intelligent guy on KNBR. Seriously. Erudite, knows lots about lots of subjects. He tends to get callers that are more introspective, not nutjobs, and the quality of the discussion is higher compared to say, oh, the nitwits that call into Byrnes…
yes, that’s his name. I like him a lot too, I just couldn’t remember his last name because he’s usually a fill in for regular radio show guys.
Sounds like the audience is maturing and recognizing that the Giants aren’t done until the proverbial fat lady sings. I love the line, “I was surprised, usually you get nothing but yahoo’s calling in from the ledge.”
Excerpt from a USA Today article on altitude which captures perfectly what I am talking about:
“Perhaps no one understands the environment better than first baseman Todd Helton, who has appeared in nearly 1,000 more games for the Rockies than anyone else in franchise history.
“I should be manager,” Helton joked.
If the altitude merely inflated scoring at Coors Field, the Rockies could simply adjust their expectations for pitchers and the way they assess players’ home-road splits. But the club has struggled to build a consistent winner, fielding teams with more than 83 wins only twice in its 20-year-history.
“You have to take care of your body a little more,” Helton said. “You’re definitely more sore. I find that I’m a lot more sore there. I don’t know the scientific reason for it.”
Here is the link . . . http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/rockies/2013/04/05/rockies-home-opener-pitching-coors-field/2053155/
Also read the links contained in the above article for a better appreciation of what it is like to play at altitude.
Gold baby!!
Solid perspective what altitude really means from a place well above a mile high.
I feel the major advantage in Denver is with football and basketball over baseball, but it still is tough in any organization going into Colorado and perform at top level.
AK, what Helton describes is exactly how I felt when I worked out in Colorado. This complete body soreness that I never felt when I was living in California. I gave the example of running, because I did the same thing in California and was never sore.
Love this. information not overwhelmed with all the other bullshit is much appreciated. This is new info for me, it’s a different way to think about why they play so differently at home.
Thanks!
Here is another excellent article . . . http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tom_verducci/04/19/rockies.humidor/index.html
Excerpts –
“Like miles on your odometer, all innings are not acquired equally. The ones at altitude are the equivalent of miles driven in New York City traffic.”
“The Braves have been phenomenal about keeping starters healthy. I have no idea what excuse the Reds and Pirates might have, but the Rockies no doubt are harmed by the wear and tear of pitching at altitude. No Rockies pitcher ever has thrown even three consecutive seasons with at least 200 innings. No Rockies pitcher age 32 or older has thrown 200 innings even once; the place is tough on older muscles and bones.”
Good Night all.
Steve, I am reminded of my days in Colorado, and doing a lot of hiking and backpacking at 12,000 or 13,000 feet (I never quested to hike the Fourteeners), and then I moved east to Boston. Went on a lot of hikes in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Green Mountains of Vermont, and friends were always “Oh, this mountain in the Presidential Range is going to be difficult, 5,000 feet” … wow, I had never felt in such great shape, after the high altitude hikes in Colorado, putting my friends to shame. Unfortunately, once I acclimated to the eastern seaboard again, it didn’t last long. So, yeah, it’s got to be tough negotiating the differences in the long term. Or, the very short term, in the case of the Giants these past 4 days….. Here’s hoping a return to sea level is just what they need. They need something…
Yes, much better to be in the Giants position where they play the majority of their games at sea level (as do the other MLB clubs), then the Rockies position of constant back and forth adjustments. I think the analogy of city driving (New York) is a good one.
It looks like the Sky Sox are figuring out this altitude thing 🙂