When You’re Very Good at Nothing, This is What Happens
After watching The White Shark’s impressive blast to right field, I was reminded that he doesn’t do that too often. It was his second bomb of the year. He’s got a legit shot at passing the now shutdown Torres. With 27 games to go, he just might win that HR battle (it’s *races* like this that you have to embrace if you’re truly behind #questfor4th). The other *race* I’m eagerly watching: Will we hit 100 team home runs this year? We’ve got 79. Can we hit 21 in 27 games? Um, no. Mathematically, I guess it’s possible. But one hundo is probably not going to happen this year.
I was going to write a thread about the pathetic HR production from our OF this year but it’s already well known and I didn’t really have it in me this morning to look up all the other NL collective outfield HR stats. And really, it doesn’t matter where your power comes from. Cano has 25 bombs for the Yankees and that’s obviously a lot coming out of 2nd base. They’re near the bottom of the AL in team bombs, though.
The home run is NOT an overrated scoring tool but it’s not the ONLY way to score. If you’re stealing a ton of bags that’ll put enough runners in scoring position to produce an effective offense. We have stolen 55 bases this year, that’s 11th in the NL. So being 2nd to last in bombs and 11th in SB’s and an ugly picture starts to paint itself….
Walks are another important tool for an offense (especially if you can’t hit home runs). Walks are critical for many reasons. Obviously, they put men on base. They can move a runner into scoring position. They put a pitcher in the stretch. And, most importantly to a fantasy player, they protect the player’s batting average. The only way to sustain the hit of a low batting average is if the hitter is a big bomber. Alas we don’t have anyone like that and it’s one of the reasons I get irritated when people jack off to Belt’s OPS. It’s nice that he gets on base but he’s the wrong guy getting on base. He’s supposed to be the guy driving guys in. Thankfully, since he made the necessary adjustments at the plate courtesy of Dominic Freaking Brown, he’s been doing that in the 2nd half. Anyway, I digress. What was this paragraph about? Walks? That’s right. Well, we don’t take those very well either. We’re 11th in the NL with 375. Belt piled up most of those in just a couple of games in June…..
The ONLY thing our offense does well is not strike out. We lead the NL with only 871 whiffs. Our problem is that we make contact with the ball but it stays in the yard. We also hit into a lot of double plays (110) and that’s 5th most in the NL….
If you do get a bunch of guys to 2nd base either by a double, a stolen bag, a bunt, a walk etc….. you still have to drive them in. St Louis is still hitting an out-of-this-world .326 with runners in scoring position. We’re ok, 7th, at .251. Same thing with RISP/2outs: .235 is good enough for 6th in the NL.
Throw in the dreaded *park factors* and it’s completely obvious why we have the worst offense in the NL (if you exclude Miami who kicked the shit out of us this year). We don’t hit home runs, we don’t steal bases and we are in Average-ville when it comes to hitting with RISP.
In short, this team has zero offensive identity. And when you don’t know who you are, you get a lot of guys standing around staring at each other waiting for someone to do something. Standing on 2nd base and firing off an inspiring salute to the dugout can only carry you so far……
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Well, no this offense is not the worst in the league this year. And park factors are an argument against your proposition. If you want to make the claim that this group of of players has revealed itself to be inherently ineffective because you’re not going to take value their production over the entire season, that’s a debate worth having.
Last year the team scored 300 runs in August and September, a pretty amazing total. Before then, they had scored 412 runs over 4 months. This year at the end of July, the Giants had scored 410. Their record this year the end of July was 47-59. Last year it was 54-47. They had given up 406 runs at the end of July last year, this year the total was 470.
There is a difference of 5 games there of course. The drop off in pitching was (and still is) far worse than in run production, and it largely accounts for the crappy end of July record.
In general, teams that make lots of contact hit into lots of double plays. How you make your outs at the plate is irrelevant to how productive your offense is. SBs are also not a big factor, because the impact of being caught is so great relative to what is gained. For most teams this is a wash. Good team speed can make a difference, however.
These are truisms by now.
this offense does nothing well except avoid the strike out. That’s it. They suck at everything.
Again, you can say that what you’ve seen in the middle of the season is the “real” offense. It is also the same group that had a very good run from August of last year through May this year. I actually think it s a tough call.
it’s been three straight months.
Ok, if you had to decide right now, who are the culprits you’d get rid of and replace, LF excluded?
who the culprits are and who I would replace them with are different topics since replacing them involves too many variables out of my control. For instance, I’d like to replace Panda with Miggy Cabrera, but that’s not feasible.
I was just asking your opinion.
Last year after SF lost the production they had gotten from Melk there was a lot of talk about how LA was going to romp. Didn’t happen because offense picked it up. A lot guys got going, esp bottom of the order types like Belt was and Crawford, but Pagan and of course Scutaro was amazing. Remember, Pence hit freaking .219 for SF. Plus, the rotation for playoffs was in total flux–even bum wasn’ assured of a start and Lincecum got sent to the pen, which ultimately became a life saver.
I was looking for more of the same from the offense, which hasn’t happened except for Belt. sure I knew Scut wasn’t going to hit .360, but I expected more from Posey and Sando. Losing Pagan meant guys who were gonna be mostly subs were in there every day, and injury replacements by the kids were underwhelming.
But worse was the drop off in shoddy defense and the mystery to me of why Vogs Cain and Lincecum were so bad and so hittable. Z was a mirage whose career here has ended in complete disaster. Even now, when the pitching is good I don’t mind the torture games. If you can hold the other teams down you are always gonna be in it with solid D. SF has to figure out who their SPs are gonna be, and they have to be better 2014 than 2013..
Still love the pen guys, and Lopez was brilliant again yesterday.
I do remember Kingman playing 3b for SF—sitting 1b side in lower boxes at the Stick was not a safe place to be in those days. And actually in his younger days he could run pretty well and steal a bag.
Apologies for the typos, lousy edits etc.
James, fine. The problem with your numbers is that they don’t take into account how badly pence, Posey, and Panda have played these last couple months. The Giants were getting very little production form the 3-4-5 guys In July and August. Especially Posey. Yeah, he’s batting .301, but he hasn’t hit anything hard for 2.5 months. Pence is floundering, and Panda was hurt/struggling himself. No one picked up the slack.
OPS, SLG, RBIs, and runs all went from top 1/3 of the NL to near last before and after the all star break.
Chuck, the offense has not been good for over half the season. It wasn’t that good for over half a season last year, either, when they won the WS. What should Sabean do?
looked up some number on B/R and they are sobering when it comes to SPs. Matt Cain’s home ERA is 5.03. Huh? that sounds like a #4-5 guy on the Brewers. He has given up 21 bombs so far this season–most ever in one year entire career has been 22. First half ERA, in 112 IP, was 5.06. Unbelievable. Season it’s at 4.43.
Lincecum home ERA 4.60. Wtf? At ATT?
Vogs, who has been better of late like Cain, is still at 5.49 ERA, two full runs worse than last year.
Zito, of course is just BP, somebody behind whom SF never wins.
If it weren’t for the Groper, SP numbers would be even worse. But is this a guy you can count on for 30+ starts next year? I don’t think so.
Even if you get improved offense out of whomever plays LF (or any other position for that matter), you still have to get way better pitching than what you have. Torture games, and SF has been in a lot of them lately, are winnable. but, if every SP (and not just the #5 guy) besides Bum has an ERA of 4.5 and up, like now, Giants aren’t going to be any easier to watch.
I do not want to see the Groper back as a starter. It is debatable if they can resign him with the year he has had. But if they do bring him back, I think he brings more value out of the pen. Go get another starting arm…
James, tell me where Sabean, Bochy or one of the coaches has explained this season by more or less saying what you have said below?
“Well, no this offense is not the worst in the league this year. And park factors are an argument against your proposition. If you want to make the claim that this group of of players has revealed itself to be inherently ineffective because you’re not going to take value their production over the entire season, that’s a debate worth having. Last year the team scored 300 runs in August and September, a pretty amazing total. Before then, they had scored 412 runs over 4 months. This year at the end of July, the Giants had scored 410. Their record this year the end of July was 47-59. Last year it was 54-47. They had given up 406 runs at the end of July last year, this year the total was 470.”
You have continuously explained away this season as if it’s some sort of math algorithm to be solved. If Bochy or Sabean said something like this, the national and local press corps would first do a collective yawn and then demand that the team fire the person responsible for making such excuses.
In short, all of us here are waiting breathlessly for YOU to provide your suggestions on how YOU would improve the team, rather than ask us, “Ok, if you had to decide right now, who are the culprits you’d get rid of and replace, LF excluded?”
Blade, I think what I’ve been saying, in a very, very simple way, with no algorithms in sight, is that in a season of disappointment, the inordinate focus on the offense’s failures is obscuring the fact that the pitching has been a bigger part of the problem.
The first thing I would do is ask myself a few logical questions:
1. Pablo, Belt, Crawford, and Posey are young players, a couple of whom have had great success — are these guys i want to hold on to as a core for the next 4-5 years?
2. Pagan and Scutaro are older players whom we have long term commitments to – how much can I depend on these guys over the next 2 years?
3. Hunter Pence has played basically as the player he’s been his whole career, although he’s now on the other side of 30 — is that really a problem?
4. How much of an upgrade in LF do I need based on my answers to the first 3 questions
5. What the hell am I going to do about a pitching staff whose reputation far outstrips their actual performance?
And as to LF, I don’t see where a kieschnick is gonna make much difference. as a singles hitting lefty, he’ll probably have as many HRs as Blanco. doesn’t run as well, get on base much or steal bases, and avg. in LF, and likely not a back up to CF. Giants might need a whole lot more of a mlb player than that.
For those who want to watch tryouts for the rest of the month, fine, but if I’m bochy and I can write Pagan’s name into leadoff spot and CF 3 times a week, I’m doing it.
I’d like to see Peguero in a spot besides LF too, just to see if he can handle them defensively. I think he has more going for him than K or Perez.
Why are you writing Pagan in? The season is lost. Why give up the chance to see what our meager minor leaguers can do against MLB competition? We KNOW what Pagan can do. And, he’s signed for 3 years. There is no point in playing him regularly, other than tempt fate that he won’t get hurt while he gets some positive vibes to go into the offseason…
OK, we are getting somewhere. Thank you for the response, but you are still asking questions and not providing answers. I don’t expect you to give specifics about who you would trade for. However, you mentioned quite a few position players (which you have maintained previously is not the primary problem). So, I will ask again:
1. What would you do with the pitching staff – since you maintain it’s the primary problem? Be specific.
2. Again, you mentioned almost all of the position players, so you obviously have thoughts about who to extend or keep; or, to put it another way – who would you get rid of?
I’m not quite sure where we are getting, Blade, but . . .
First, I would wait to see how the last month of the season goes, and I would not write it off as “garbage time” played without “pressure.”
Based on the evidence right now, I would generally stand pat with the position players. Nobody has really underperformed, except Pablo. He is only 25. They need a solid back up to Scutaro, and another OFer who can give you at least what Pence and Pagan do.
The pitching is harder, because like everyone else, I remember what they’ve accomplished. Lincecum still has those gaudy K totals, which I am a sucker for. Cain’s WHIP is not as bad as his ERA — he has really been hurt by the HRs. They need 3 good starters to compete. I don’t think MadBum, Cain and Lincecum will all bring in ERAs below 3.5 next year, but real world constraints will probably force you to make the assumption that least 2 will, and those two are very likely to be MadBum and Cain. They need to acquire at least one more good starter, and a couple who will be in the 4.00 ERA range. I wouldn’t assume that either Gaudin or Vogey fill one of those slots. If Timmy shaves another .3 off his ERA by the end of the year, I’d try to hold on to him.
Thanks James! Umm . . . You’re still fired as “psuedo” GM though. 😉
Ha, I’ll take my severance in the form of a High West Double Rye Manhattan!
Hath not a James eyes?
Really, this is not a question of a different baseball Weltanschauung.
I think I referred to the “Monty Hall Problem” in a post a long time ago. Many of you have probably heard of it elsewhere, too. Here is a description:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem
Basically, the upshot of the problem is that if you pick door #1, and then Monty shows you a goat behind door number 3, you should absolutely switch your choice to door number 2. because your odds of winning the big prize go up.
The analogy here is not primarily a statistical one, but a social one: at the time the problem was first popularized, lots of really smart people, including many math PhDs, didn’t believe that it made any difference to your chances of winning if you switched doors. The second interesting thing about the Monty Hall problem is that there are various abstract explanations that prove that it makes sense to switch, but there’s also a very basic, common sense way of arriving at the same conclusion, even if your intuition still struggles against it.
At my first student job at UCB, I worked with several good looking young women. One day I wanted to let a couple of them know that I was taking a break for lunch: “I’m going to eat my lunch.” Only what came out was “I’m going to eat my meat.” They responded with admirable discretion, barely cracking smiles.
A few years later, I read a thorough dismantling of Freudian slips by some Italian philologist. I still believe in Freudian slips.
James I am LMFAO, on the babes pickup for
lunch attempt ..
“I’m going to eat my lunch.Only what came out was “I’m going to eat my meat”
POTD!! Solid Gold.
Just curious?,did anyone of them want to volunteer their services to “eat your meat for you?
The Freudian slip reminds me of an old (and currently somewhat apt) joke I can never tell right (I am a lousy joke teller in general); the punch line goes something like: “No, I didn’t say pass the salt and pepper. I said, you’ve ruined my whole fecking life.” hahahahahahaha #gallowshumor
Kat, they never revealed more than the faint smiles:-)
James is the Bard of Baseballian Narrative. Salud! And Magnus is a roshi, a sensei: “very good at nothing” is what Zen masters strive for, though they “strive” for no-thing.
If you look at how many runs Giants have given up on the season and where their team ERA stands, the only teams worse or even are the Pads, Phils and brewers. The Brewers? the Giants pitching staff being equal or worse than the Brewers is just mind boggling to me…. All this while playing 81 games at ATT.
By contrast, teams with lowest ERAs and least runs allowed (500 or less) are Dodgers, Pirates, Braves, Reds, and Cards are right there. Those 5 are likely all in the playoffs and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. The pirates have one outstanding player in Mac, but really otherwise don’t have much better hitters than Giants. But they play excellent D and their pitching is great, pen included. that used to be known as Giants blueprint.
I think finding one decent SP to add to rotation has to be first priority. Groper goes back to the pen, and I keep a close eye on Vogs in case adding another SP becomes a necessity.
It’s nutz to blame the pitching for the lion’s share of this debacle. The Giants team WHIP of 1.32 is 21st in MLB, and essentially the same as a handful of teams in the NL in the 8th to 12th position. Better than the Orioles, who are in contention. Only .01 behind the WHIP of Boston, leading the AL East. The Dbacks’ team WHIP is 1.29, yet they’ve won 9 games more than the Giants. So, .03 in WHIP makes all the difference in 9 games? The Dbacks have scored 70 MORE RUNS than the Giants. 70. That’s half a run more per game, essentially. That’s HUGE. And, they’ve hit 34 more HRs. And, I won’t repeat my point again about run support for the starters, other than the Giants have the WORST run support of starters in MLB. Get some hitters, get some scoring punch, somebody that can hit HRs. Plug some holes where Miijares and Rosario are, get one 4th or 5th starter, and I’d go with this pitching again…
If the Giants had 70 more runs scored, they’d still be under 500 with the current staff’s performance. The Diamondbacks also play in a stadium that is much more conducive to scoring, yet they have a team ERA of 3.81.
Baltimore and Boston are in the American League, where they score 4.35 runs per game. The NL rate is 4.03. Relative comparisons are stronger within the NL. ERA+ allows you to compare across MLB. By that measure, the Giants have the worst staff in all of baseball so far this year.
Season Runs Scored Runs Scored/game Runs allowed Run Diff RunDiff / game
2010 697 4.30 583 114 0.70
2011 570 3.52 578 -8 -0.05
2012 718 4.43 649 69 0.43
2013 508 3.76 595 -87 -0.64
Hmm. The two seasons they won it all, were the highest of the four with runs scored per game.
Season Runs allowed / game Earnies allowed ERA ERA Rank WHIP WHIP Rank
2010 3.60 546 3.36 1st 1.27 3rd
2011 3.57 522 3.20 2nd 1.24 2nd
2012 4.01 593 3.68 5th 1.27 7th
2013 3.67 551 4.11 12th 1.32 tied 11th
2012, a WS winning season, they were top third to top 1/2 in pitching stats, AND had the most runs scored/game of the 4 years. These stats show that the dominant pitching of 2010-2012 allowed a decent offense in 2010 and 2012 to win, and a fairly impotent offense in 2011 to almost win the division…
Snarkk, if you want to make an argument that this year is an anomaly, and the Giants should go another round with the Big 3, that’s a reasonable position, and not an unlikely scenario. I assume you are not in favor of the Zito option :-).
The pitching was ok last year, not dominant, which is what makes the huge drop off this year a longer term concern, IMO. The Giants also had a very good offense last year, so the “formula” was a little different in 2012 than it was 2010. The ballpark has a real effect — this same team would have better offensive and worse pitching numbers in Cincinnati. I know you know that . . . .
Pill sucks balls. Fuck…just get his ass outta here, already. Give me Peguero, Perez..even Gary Fucking Brown…I am DONE with Pill. Kieschnick is right there, too.
The Pill pushers can’t get it that this guy has been in the minors for 8 years for a reason, well reasons. He’s not very good at anything. They should be playing Belt in LF to see if he can do it. He hits LHPs, it’s ridiculous he’s out when Posey is at first…
Agreed.
YES!
Wow, Sanchez with the clutch RISP hit, after the usual RISP frustration with Pablo and Pill. Nice….
In 91 ABs this season vs LHPs, Belt is hitting .275 with 10 HRs, 27 Ks, .462 SLG, and .802 OPS. He’s hitting an HR against LHPs 1 out of every 9 ABs. Pill in 38 ABs against LHPs, is hitting .184 with a .225 OBP, 1 HR. It’s nonsense Belt sits against LHPs when Posey gets his frequent days off. Why they don’t at least try Belt in LF is beyond me…
Yep, it is a waste.
Actually 2 hrs, 10 RBIs but I agree with you .
Belt that is …
You’re right salty, my bad, I transposed the RBI and HRs. 2 HRs against LHPs. Everything else is OK. Belt’s got 9 doubles against LHPs, which is 3 more than Panda has against LHPs. I remember back the first season they had Belt up, he blasted about a 425 foot dinger to left center off a lefty, I think, in the old Miami yard. He’s proved repeatedly that he’s got solid power to Lcenter off lefties…
Petit with 9 Ks in 4 innings.
Ok, sign him for 3 years at $9 million per, right now… 😉
For next year: Yeah…I’m the fucking GM.
Sign Pence (no more than three years)…would love 2 with an option, but doubt that gets him signed.
Pitching will have to wait until the end of the year. Leaning to signing Tim Jim and Vogey. Still need to sign another starter (4/5).
Bring Gaudin back as long relief/occasional spot-start.
Sign a decent back-up catcher (I’m not sure Hector will ever amount to a hill of shit defensively).
Sign a legit fucking ML OFer. Blanco and whoever else (Peguero, Perez, Brown, etc.) can vie for 4/5 OF spots.
Not a lot of change needed in the BP, but I am not totally sold on Mijares. Moscoso can hit the fucking road.
Hector is admittedly, and crazily, out of shape. For only 23 or whatever he is, he needs to drop a lot of weight, like Panda. That will help his defense. I saw Hector at the Pirate game last week, he’s got legs and butt that look like two sequoias supporting a bus…
Jenny Craig for Men is needed!
Bombs away mother fuckers. Too bad Abreu had his head up his ass and got picked-off…
I’m listening on radio, Miller just crushed Abreu. I mean, unreal crushing. If Posey does that, probably a passing mention…
For next year, nomo Miijares, please. Seems to rarely be in control of an AB. 1.71 WHIP…
And every time he comes in, Krukow always start off his spiel with “he’s having a great year.” Uh, I don’t see it…get the hook…
As the season has descended into looking for positives anywhere you can find them, Kruk blurs the line between being ridiculous and the ultimate homer. He pumped up Panda’s weight loss on KNBR the other day by saying though he should have done it sooner, it was Panda’s idea — he went in on his own and told Bochy he wanted to lose weight, and then did. And, that shows we owe big props to Panda’s character. Huh? After 3 years, losing weight is suddenly Panda’s idea — so he needs to be congratulated? Puhleeeeez….
Yeah it’s ridiculous. They should be ashamed for what they charge people to come to games.
What is this “adding on” runs business with the Giants?
I’m confused…
Seeing as Cain and Bummie are signed for awhile, Timmy could likely be resigned, and Vogie is looking pretty decent since coming back from his injury, what do you propose for the pitching staff, James? What do we do? Keep Bummie and retool the other 4 spots in the rotation?
And you fail to mention the fact that Posey has absolutely sucked shit through a straw for 2.5 months. As has Pence. The Giants have gotten very little production from their 3-4-5 guys.
And I missed this entire game. Dominating the NL West . . .
I responded to Blade above, Chuck. I can guarantee you that if Cain, Lincecum and Vogey pitch the same way next year for us as they have through August this year, there will be nothing Sabean can do to improve the offense enough that will allow the Giants to compete.
pence actually picked it up pretty well in August. he may be inconsistent, but so are most power hitters, actually most hitters period. but he’s a guaranteed 20/25-80/90, good defense, great attitude. they won’t do better, imo. he’s our best all around ofer, by far. i hope they can keep him. besides re-signing pence, keys to a return to glory are pagan recapturing last year’s form, middle relief, and not least- better starting pitching. a bench with some pop wouldn’t hurt- uribe has had a bit of rebirth, i wouldn’t mind taking a flyer on him again.
Good game.
Giants have enjoyed snake this year.
Petit looks good. What’s the deal?
I like Hector, too and want to see him after some winter workouts. Switch hitting catchers with some pop are not easy to find.
Petit is 28, and the definition of a career journeyman / AAAA pitcher. Kruk just had him already in strong competition for middle relief expert next year along with Gaudin. Whatever…
I don’t know what to do in a rare, comfortable win.
Given the Gyros success this season against the Dbacks, the Flapalooza could very well see a Giants win. We might have to pay attention to the game…
Any of you Flap Jacks want Catcher Johnny Monell up for the call-ups?
Cause I feel he not only deserves a look( really outstanding at Fresno) he should also get plenty of opportunities to play.Giants need to know if Monell is a potential option behind the plate as a backup to Buster.
If so, he would add tremendous value to the orq.I like the fact he hits LH.
As well, which is some what rare.Me I like Monell,and Susac for the future, dump Hector in a trade before he blows up like the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
And memo to Bochy…PLAY MONELL!! Don’ t let him rot on the bench, like you
freakin did to Buster Posey his first time callup,just to keep playing your favorite washed up catcher Big Titty.
When you’re out of it, my take is always bring up as many callups as possible and let ’em play. See what you have. See how far away they are. What’s the point of pitching Zito any longer? No point in it. Play Abreu, Peguero, whomever. Bring up friggin’ Escobar and see how he looks on the mound instead of another Zito rout. Giants are afraid of ruining a kid’s confidence if he gets overwhelmed. Well, maybe he won’t be overwhelmed. And, if he is, then you and he know what he has to work on…
Well that’s right Snarkk, problem is they bring up these prospects and Boch still sticks to his vets,so I guess to finish for his Quest for 4th.
As much as I like Pence, does he have to be an ironman the whole season so Boch with his dumbass loyalty and stubbornness could possibly look at 3 different OF down the stretch more.Pegs,Perez,Keish,freakin Brown, see how he handles CF here for the month, don’t need Pagan in meaning less games now. Doubt Brown gets a callup he has sucked lately but who cares?The whole team has sucked
well, 6 of the 8 starting position players are set for 2014 so i think i’d like to see them finish strong rather wasting time on suspects. pegs, kieschnick, and perez should all get some time, forget brown, i’d like to see adrianza, and hembree and escobar. kickham might be groomed for a bullpen spot- if kruk one more time says that mijares is having a good year, i might throw the cheapest tv out the window. they make fine planters…
as to the potd- the ‘before’ pagan was not missed. you might note that he had the worst obp in the lu friday night, the pagan of the first first two games back is a guy we wouid have missed.
kat-monell deserves a shot, but hectors improved approach at the plate ( note his obp) and improved throwing virtually assures him of the back up job next year-
a big question is what to do with adrianza, monell, and even chris dominguez. ehire had long been considered the ss of the future if he hit. one of two of those guys packaged with one of our best ‘a’ level pitchers might draw a 3 or 4 starting pitcher …
Nice to see you back Twin, hope you’re feeling better
thank you. it’s day to day with my hands and general ability to get up and about. pretty nice series this weekend.
Yes, it was a good series. Giants have played the division tough all year and got great pitching in AZ; it’s the Central that’s killed them. Losing series to the Cubs, at home, and other bad teams like Mets and Marlins should not happen.
Giants are actually under .500 at home, unbelievable. Per Snarkk’s 2;15, there is no way they should be 12th in the league in runs allowed playing in a pitcher friendly yard like ATT. 2010 and 2011 they were at top of the league, now dang near the bottom. Cain Lincecum and others not named Bum just weren’t up to snuff. Hopefully they have gotten back on their game and can continue to bring that with them 2014. Still not sure about Vogs, how much he has left in the tank. Henry put a stat out there that second time through the LU teams are lighting him up to tune of .360. Maybe he needs a full off season to regain strength.
A salute to Twin, back in the saddle, and to our just-returned salutary angelic pagan Saluter, and to all Flappers, known and unknown, on this day that salutes the labor movement, which brought us paid vacations, the 40-hour work week, and stuff like that. Have a great day, gang. I’m going to the last AAA game. The end of the season is always melancholic for me, but this is a faux ending because there’s almost a month of baseball, and FLAPALOOZA!