Heading Back to Ohio
It’s funny how one win can turn your mood around regarding the direction of your team. But winning a game is a reminder that you can also win 2 in a row and then 3 and so on and so on. Cincinnati has lost 8 or 11 and that means absolutely squat. That team has had this series circled since that fantastically epic October 11th game from 2012. that was easily in my top 5 of *Most Intriguing Games I’ve Ever Seen*. Miller’s HR call was one of my all time favorites, you can hear the excitement quivering in his voice as the ball leaves the bat….
Of course, that was just the beginning of about 6 games that would get played within one game that day. Bruce’s incomprehensibly dumb decision to try to steal third. Pagan’s epic catch. Romo’s 3 day duel with Bruce….
God, what great memories.
Anyway, they want to kick our ass this week so we better show up ready to play ball….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Obviously the 8 dislikes of Busters epic Grand Slam were “POS” Reds fans.
Yeah that was sure a great call by Jon Miller!!!
I’ ll take 2 out of 3 in this series,and be estatic if they get their shit together,need this series badly.
It’s a 4-game series. 🙂
OOPS ..My bad thanks Z.
Be ecstatic if they split with kiki freaky and zitty going.
Arryoho always seems tough on them. Steal one tonight and …
Hi, ya all. Glad to see the Gmen win one! New post on my blog, with pics of the Little Big Horn Battle Historical Site. Enjoy your day!
Today is the 150th anniversary of the first day of the 3-day Battle of Gettysburg. Many grand goings on there will be happening over the next 3 days of commemorations. Wish I were there, it is a very special place. If any of you have not visited there, I highly recommend it, even if you are not a history buff. George Armstrong Custer fought there, leading a Union cavalry group. He was a very successful Army leader in many battles of the Civil War, including a captain in the first Battle of Bull Run, essentially the first battle of the war, and was at Appomatox for the end of it. He was made a brigadier General at age 23 just before Gettysburg, essentially a battlefield promotion, but his service before and after warranted it. The debacle for Custer and the US Army at Little Big Horn overshadows what was a quirky and remarkable military career before then. If you read his Wiki and other Net info on him, his life and career after West Point were like some sort of Forest Gump — from being involved with 3 Presidents to high society to business leaders of the day, then ending up fighting in the Indian Wars out in the middle of the nowhere West. He is quite a character in the history of this country…
Thanks for the correction yesterday, Mac-
today’s Giants game is on ESPN, for those without the Comcast broadcast.
Reds have been scuffling lately, so let’s Kickham when they’re down. All’s fair in love and war. Baseball too.
That’s good video. The Slam off Latos had to be the best “in your face” to a Dbag opposition player in a long time. Winning 3 straight there under pressure conditions looks more and more remarkable the further away it recedes in time…
Yeah, that’s the dead-pull swing that’s somewhat Mantle-like.
I think it’s in the Ken Burns Civil War series, where historian Shelby Foote tells a story about Custer, I think.
The top general of the Union, at the time, McClellan, was doing his usual delay, delay, delay, driving everyone crazy with his unwillingness to fight; and one day in particular, the Union army had to cross a small river, and McClellan was having a big long discussion with his staff about how to figure out how deep the river was, and Custer got fed up and rode his horse out into the middle of the shallow river, and called out: “It’s THIS deep, sir!”
I remember that Shelby Foote — quite a character himself. I never was quite sure if I would love talking to the guys for hours and hours over a fistful of mint julips, or if he’d drive me crazy with his stories after about 10 minutes. I would have loved to have found out which. His accent was amazing — like honey slowly dripping down a warm scone…
I hear what you’re saying. I didn’t like him as much the first time I viewed the series, but on repeated viewing, he grew on me.
Burns had originally hoped for a few minutes of Foote he could use in the series, but he was so pleased with Foote, he ended up filming him for longer than planned; and ultimately, Foote’s total footage, :), in the series is an astonishing 1 hour of the 11 hours series. Almost 10% of the thing.
Well said. I hope this trip brings the San Francisco Giants’ swagger back, with swagger-inducing results. WE ARE THE FECKING WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS, boys and girls and undecideds.
one win….swagger back…..am I missing something?
Cincy should beat the crap out of the Giants. If they don’t fire Dusty!
I think they should fire Dusty even if they do
Gametime Forecast: 72°F • Light Rain • 74%PoP
1. Gregor Blanco (L) CF
2. Marco Scutaro (R) 2B
3. Buster Posey (R) C
4. Pablo Sandoval (S) 3B
5. Hunter Pence (R) RF
6. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
7. Andres Torres (S) LF
8. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
9. Mike Kickham (L) P
Reds:
1. Derrick Robinson (S) LF
2. Shin-Soo Choo (L) CF
3. Joey Votto (L) 1B
4. Brandon Phillips (R) 2B
5. Jay Bruce (L) RF
6. Todd Frazier (R) 3B
7. Zack Cozart (R) SS
8. Ryan Hanigan (R) C
9. Bronson Arroyo (R) P
Giants must be patient against the slop throwing Arroyo…
Well let’s see about Panda on that Snarkk.
Last game. 4 outs on 7 pitches
Yikes ….
How many pitches does Puig take? 🙂 If you’re getting hits, then no one cares about the patience issue. So, I have some sympathy for Panda on this. He knows when he’s ON, no one’s going to make an issue of it.
Pablo is too damn FAT!
Well, the last time they faced Arroyo he 1-hit them thru 7. I think a few guys need to step it up.
The hell with any pre-game rah rah stuff in Cincy tonight; before taking the field, just take 3 minutes to play that YouTube clip. What a great little reminder of how it’s done…
I remember at the time how great a moment that was with the slam going off the ‘Latos’ sign. hehe
I just hope the team has practiced the “caught-off-base-throwing-error” play for use in OHIO; it sure got the giants bats hard at it in Coors’ fertile fields.
Where’s Ruben Rivera when you need him?
Dodgers are about to acquire Marmol. That’s awesome.
After losing six straight…yesterday’s win sure felt special. Love that video…off Latos, and then off the Latos sign. Awesome.
Kickham is due for a win.
It was a playoff game against Cincy that gave birth to WE SCORE WE WIN. Incidentally, I always felt Bronson Arroyo did not get the credit he deserved for the Red Sox 2004 WS.
What a huge, huge boost it would be if we can win this riding a stellar performance by Kickham. Oh, I wish it. I do.
Quick, go somewhere that’s got some ballet going on… 😉
I love those highlights of that game. I’ll never forget that game. Even when it was 6-0 I was not calm. And the score does not reflect how tense a game it was right to the last out. (Similarly, the NLCS clincher against STL did not find me relaxing despite a 9-0 score.) And what about Pablo’s bomb against the Reds, the one that looked like it might land in the river?
Gawd, I wish I could hear the Giants announcers. These ESPN guys grate on me.
At least Kickham can hit ’em.
The only team showing swagger is Cincy!
The Giants better get a decent starter fast, this can’t go on if you want any hope of making the post season. I don’t blame Kickham, he isn’t near ready for the majors yet. Even Krukow’s usual excuses don’t pass the smell taste on it getting easier for this kid.
Playoffs?
Talk about poor body language. On the infield pop up he gave the “whoever” sign…
Back to the minors!
I can’t recall when I’ve seen a pitcher field so poorly, on two or three plays.
A somewhat similar discussion going on over on the Mets/D-Backs broadcast. Ron Darling and the other broadcasters are having a somber discussion about Wheeler’s rough outings.
Surkamp goes for Fresno tonight. He was sharp in San Jose with a very limited pitch count. Barring a setback, I’m sure we’ll see him soon.
Ah, there’s nothing like millionaire ex-ballplayer broadcasters making fun of people in the stands wearing cheap rain panchos. Then again, the score is 8-1, and they’re trying to amuse themselves.
If Surkamp makes it through tonight’s game with his arm still attached we’ll see him for Kickham’s next turn. MAYBE they give him one more start down there after tonight but it’s imperative that they find out what they have with Surkamp before the deadline……..
I think they may give him another start in Fresno just because of how slowly they are bringing along. But I agree, they need to find out soon…
To paraphrase Neil Young, “Fall Dead in Ohio.”
“Last autumn the Giants vanquished
The Reds of O-hi-o.”
Twin, been catching up with the last few days of posts….Kat was referring to Matt Dominguez of the Astros, not Chris from the Giants farm system…Just wanted to clear that up.
Then I’m the dope, nothing new there. My apologies.
But looking at Matt’s numbers, he’d be a pretty dramatic downgrade. Chris might even be better.
assuming you’re now looking at the right guy, I don’t think “dramatic downgrade” is accurate. Pablo’s got 30 less at bats, but *Matt* has more bombs, more RBI’s, more doubles, and an OPS only 50 pts or so lower. Last year, Sandoval beat him in the OPS dept .789 > .787. –hardly *dramatic downgrade*. If you value OPS that much, so be it. But MD2013, who I’m not advocating we acquire by the way, would not be a *dramatic downgrade* over Sandoval 2013.
I look at all the the numbers. He’s a huge downgrade- OPS+ , OBP, BA, wRC+, wOBA. And this during a big slump by Pablo. Career it’s even worse.
you
I use a lot of OPS here because eyes glaze over with the more sophiscated stats. It pretty much gets worse for Matt as more stats are revealed. And, OMG, he’s *owes* the Astro’s over 2 million this year.;;
Kat was better off going with Chris,.
I did the apology about the name. That’s all he gets.
classy. And predictable. But hey, at least we’re all now on the same page with the guy’s fucking name. Nice job at least catching up on that…..
I should say that that’s all he gets by your direction. if Kat would like to comment, I’ll be happy to make a further apology to him directly. I always fess up when I’m wrong. Your diatribe is over the top.
your
110 in Vegas, and their park is a launch pad
Mets tie it in the 9th off Putz!
Arizona continues to have bullpen problems. Their set-up guy, Hernandez, can be brutally bad.
and on Twitter they’re saying John Buck pulled the base-running boner of the season.
It was real stupid baserunning. Got thrown out at second with the winning run on third, in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs, on a ball that rolled away from the catcher. His run was MEANINGLESS. What was he thinking????
And they would be right.
There are reasons why the Mets are the Mets. 🙂
Waiting out this rain delay, the Giants clubhouse must be a barrel of laughs.
It’s a final.
Surkamp thus far: 3 IP 3 H 1 R 1 ER 0 BB 4 K 34 pitches/28 Strikes
Hate to say so, but Giants looked lifeless tonight, mailed it in. Looked like they couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel to see if there were any groupies or MILFs at the Bar…
It’s hard to look full of vim and vigor when they’re getting skunked. This often seems to come up when there’s a game like this one. I don’t think they mailed it in, they just got beat.
Its better they didn’t have to play it out. Tim needs to ….yeah, right. Number 9, number 9, number 9
twinfan1 said, on June 28, 2013 at 4:26 pm (Edit)
At least get his name right.” Chris ” is a second level prospect at best. Doesn’t even have an .800 OPS in the Bilko league. He and Panda are both 26, BTW.
— twinfan1 said, on June 28, 2013 at 4:29 pm (Edit)
Whatever they do they won’t be replacing him with “Matt” Dominguez.
I got the names wrong, I apologized. The comments about each player are correct, however. IMO. As I said, I will be happy to make a further apology to Kat if he cares to log in so I can do it directly. If you’re not happy with that, do what you want.
Someone at work has been posting photos on Twitter of All-Star Game Team Apples that can be found throughout New York City. Here’s the one for the Giants:
http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=17054696&cp=21298886
Mets beat D-Backs in 13!
One of the Brown’s won it with a bases loaded single in the 13th…
Very strange move by D-Backs to intentionally walk a slumping Buck with the pitcher up next, giving the Mets a chance to bunt the winning run to 2nd.
Surkamp impressive in Vegas.
They stretched him to 75 pitches. Get him up.
Nitey-nite.
Night twin.
Not a lot of joy in Giant-ville lately, but that Mets/D-Backs game tonight was just a flat-out terrific baseball game. Very entertaining.
The entire NL West is now separated by 3 1/2 games. Bizarre.
The Giants game on Tuesday night is on the MLB network, I think.
Kickham sure is good in the first inning; hasty bananas, afterward. Adios, young man. See you again next year, or the year after. Gaudin better come back soon. Vogelsong, soon thereafter. And the bullpen needs a new arm. At least.
So it’s mid-season in SF and they’re in contention. Moves will be forthcoming. Hell, they made a couple of big moves mid-season in 2009.
Kickham will be staying thirsty, my friend. It’s about 110 degrees in Fresno this week.
It’s 4 AM and I’m waiting for a Flapper to wake up.
Too hot for me
you being up at 4am is not dictated by the weather……