On Pace for 162-0
Now THAT was an Opening Day to savor (apologies to A’s fans reading this. 10 OD losses in a row? Ouch). Is it just me or did Kuip and Miller put a little bit extra into their calls?
It WAS a monster bomb, maybe they were just vibing off that. And it was the 9th inning. And it did complete a wild comeback.
Well, we didn’t field the ball particularly well and Petit was worthless. But this was a *never give up till the final out” game. Awesome way to start the season.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
One of the best opening days I can recall (even though I didn’t attend it). Also, I have Posey on one of my FL teams, so that made it sweeter. 🙂
Flav, you might already know this, but Rodriguez got the closer job, not Henderson (as earlier indicated) in Milwaukee – if not, you may still have a chance to get him before everyone wakes up.
thanks. I’m good on closers across both my teams. And you can’t pick anyone up until the bid time which is Sun at 7pm.
it was great to see the offense keep at it, especially with the beyond sloppy defense! it was nice to see javy look sharp and what about Machi?! he was nails!!
Um, hopefully by the time they get around to voting for it, GG guys will have forgotten Sando’s efforts in game 1.
The last one I thought he had and was gonna make a nice play on and then he lost grip and sailed it. Almost
a Brenly-esque night.
Reed is the guy AZ got from ChiSox, right? As I recall bloggers on couple sites raised some issues with amount of games he lost or blew the save. I dunno, Towers does some funky deals yet they still end up 81-81; might be lucky to win that many this year.
What was better, the Buster Bomb to save the day or the Red Ass post game interview? Dude is awesome.
I also liked to see Morse’s contribution last night.
Don’t want to take anything away from Buster Open, but how about a little love for Adrianza, that double was huge.
Petit has a rough outing, no thanks to the “D”, but at 6 to 2, no outs and the bases juices, he steeled himself and no more scored. If he doesn’t stop the bleeding right there we don’t win.
But my goodness, what a flawed but epic battle, goats became heroes, and then the bomb, that sealed it, right? Not so fast-Sergio had to top it off with some torture alla The Beard, What an opener….
I’ve said this before but I still don’t get why A’s let Balfour walk to make a deal ($10 mil?) for Johnson. Balfour was lights out and threw hard, balls out type of guy no one wanted to face. I think the *injury* noise from Balt was a smokescreen by cheap ass owner who got cold feet on the $$$.
As far AZ and their trades, wouldn’t it be funny if Angels or White Sox won more games?
My reverse psychology worked…of course I was dead asleep for the comeback:(
Fuck! Got up this morning for my usual spin on the stationary bike…watching the news and I see Buster Ballgame blasts a big fly to put the Giants up in the 9th. I was DEAD ASS tired last night and not feeling well, so I went to bed early.
I’ll go back when I get home this afternoon and watch the rest of the game (had it recording on the DVR).
So glad to get a W in the opener…esp on the road. But as we have all discussed ad nauseam, the D must be better this year for the team to succeed. Sounds like the scoring was generous, and the Giants could have easily been hit with another error or two. Got to tighten that shit up.
But what the hell ever. A win is a win is a win. Let’s go Cainer…pedal to the metal.
#eastcoastdelight I went to bed when it was 7-3 in the 6th. Even if they were winning, I might not have stayed up. 7-3. Looking grim. I caught some of the game via a pirate feed a Flapper generously shared with me. 7-3. I go to sleep, thinking: Hmmm, this might end up 14-6. And opening day always feels like either 162-0 or 0-162 for me. I go to the bathroom at 2:58 am and check my iPad by the bed. FECKING A I LOVE WHEN THIS HAPPENS. THIS IS LIKE THAT GAME WITH THE URIBE BOMB WHEN WE BEAT THE DODGERS IN 2010. Oh man, it was hard to go back to sleep. Good morning, America!
YEah, there were 2 errors, but there should have been 5. The AZ scorer was mucho generoso.
I’ve been praying for this since last year!
http://tinyurl.com/p3lbtu5
I checked for video of Baylor breaking his leg. I don’t know why. It just seemed so unlikely, I wanted to see what happened. Big mistake for me to watch it. I almost barfed up my chex cereal. It’s as disturbing a piece of sports video as I’ve ever seen. What a freak injury. The kind of thing that could happen to anybody. Stay safe everyone.
And keep enjoying that awesome game 1 of the season! I’ll be groovin’ on that game all day. My local newspaper had a big color photo of Buster hitting the HR. I cut it out, and it now adorns my workplace wall, amongst other Giants cool stuff.
I have “SF Chronicle” 8.5×11 shots of the cover pages when the Giants won the series in 2010 and 2012. Also have the pullout poster from the “Sac Bee” for Cain’s perfecto…and a ton of other stuff in my work office. GO GIANTS!
453 feet was the measured Buster Bomb. How much longer they will let this guy catch and turn into mush in the second half of seasons, I don’t know. He’s too good a hitter to let him catch another 5 years. That was an MVP move he made in the 9th with that shot…
Bench played 17 years. In 15 of those years a majority (over 100) of the games started were at catcher. Carlton Fisk was another who logged many years of 100-plus games at C. I think it a bit early to be getting too excited about the number of games Buster starts behind the dish. Let’s see how he does this year considering the offseason conditioning, etc., and take it from there. I believe he and the Giants are smart enough to manage this.
I know they’re pretty smart. I just think Posey is too good a hitter to waste behind the dish for longer than a year or two more, it will erode his hitting. Susac and Hector look like a potential good combo back there. Buster is a better overall athlete than Bench…
Whatever Bochy needs to do to stop this bad D, he better do it. I know the field in AZ is super fast, but that didn’t cause all those mental mistakes. Bad D early on last season helped crater it, so it’s time to stop that nonsense right now…
Absolutely agree and stated so earlier. The D was one area in which the team HAD TO improve over last year to have any chance at being competitve. I do see a team that is going to grind its ass off and score some runs, and that is cool, but the D must improve over the long-haul.
Buster would be a downgrade at 1st or 3rd defensively. HE wants to catch. He can DH in 8 years. Or whenever the NL adopts it . . .
Agree with Chuck. He is 1 or 2 (with Molina) as a catcher . . . He would be middle of the road as a 3rd baseman and a bit higher as a 1st baseman.
Well, we knew Arias was a bit of a butcher, and that sure came to pass yesterday. Pablo was not supposed to be the problem, though. Just hope that was an outlier. Pence’s throw was outstanding, and the K/CS was done to perfection.
Yeah that strikeout/throw em out was way cool. And yes, Buster was in the middle of that one too. I know Hector has improved behind the plate and Susac is supposed to be ready, but I’d leave Posey behind the dish as long as he can hang. Having an offensive weapon behind the dish with his skills is pretty rare, and right now Belt and Sando take up the most likely spots to move him.
Posey said he vowed to be in better condition this year for the long haul. I’ll take him at his word until proven otherwise. 3 more in AZ hopefully gets him rolling before SF hits Latrine and a lot better pitching.
Good morning everyone. Like Chi, I went to bed before the real fun started. Turned on CSNBA only to hear the Giants won. Very nice. Now as far as the D goes it was awful, but it is only 1 game and the 1st game of the season. I didn’t like seeing it and I fully expected a loss when I woke up this morning. But that does not mean that this is a bad defensive team. 1 game no big deal. Oh I am sure it was a big deal in the club house and I am sure Bochy had some not so kind words for the players. With all that said and the title of this thread 162-0 we are on our way. GO GIANTS, GO CAIN!!!
That’s a pair of high-power BB guns keying the Giants offense.
Yeah, as far as Hector goes, I was ALWAYS of a mind that when they put Hector out there they give Buster the day off as opposed to putting him at 1st. I think they are finally of a mind to do that. !st is no picnic, and the idea is to rest him.
Absolutely. Give the man a day off now and again. You always have him on the bench to PH if need be. And we all know that when you put Buster at 1st, it degrades the defense. Belt is fine at the plate, overall. One area in which I really want to see him improve is in his high K rate. As I mentioned yesterday, while he had the second highest OBP for the club last year, he also whiffed 125 times in 509 ABs…way too high of a ratio.
I think guys that K a lot are either big swing power hitters, AAAA players not good enough, or guys that think too much at the plate. IMO Belt was thinking too much in his ABs last year with all the adjustments he was playing with. His K rate should settle some this year…
I know it’s the first game and all, but I’m really not into using Arias as a starter in the middle infield, we have other options for those positions. I like him filling in for Pablo and as a PH.
Buster is an All Star catcher and would be an All Star second baseman (if he could field that position). He would only be in the discussion as an All Star if he played Third or First. If the Giants moved him to Third (were I do think he’d be solid) we would lose an All Star Third baseman, if the Giants moved him to First (he’d be OK) we would lose a potential All Star. I like him as a catcher.
If they don’t pay Panda and he bolts or they trade him before the deadline, the Buster to 3rd angle would be fine with me long term. They should pay Panda and move on, unless he’s adamant on playing the FA market — in which case I would not blame him one bit…
They could easily find 3b who would hit as well as Hector or Susac. Better to trade one of those guys with some pitching to get a third bagger than have buster embarrassed there.
Why would Buster be embarrassed at 3b? Good athlete, played infield before, fine arm, he’s way more mobile than Cabrerra — he moves like a garbage truck. He’d be more than adequate at 3b, his power at the plate would probably improve and agility too at 3b, because his legs wouldn’t be exhausted after 4 months of squatting…
I’m just not seeing Posey at 2b or 3b. Maybe Belt to LF and Posey to 1b?
“Maybe Belt to LF and Posey to 1b?” Maybe dirt, but what bothers me about that scenario is you’re taking an All Star and a potential All Star at two positions and making no All Stars at three positions (C, 1B and LF). Also, if it becomes harder to get the AS bonus, both of those guys and their agents will not be happy campers
.
Bochy mentioned Posey at third in the past and depending on the situation with the Panda might be the way the Giants go. I hope that doesn’t happen. Sign Panda and Belt for 3 or 4 more years, keep Posey behind the Dish and you have a 3-6 of Belt, Panda, Posey and Pence. If I’m the manager, I’d love to pencil that in every game.
WordPress was acting up so i did a shorty. This year’s offense looks to be the virtual opposite of the one the Giants trundled out in ’11. Belt is a basher and Buster a blaster. Dynamic duo at the plate, i think. Pence and Panda pop those peas too. Contributions from Crawford, Pagan and Adrianza cannot be overlooked either. Morse is a masher, Blanco a dasher and Perez an up and comer.
All in all there are no perceivable holes in the SF attack. Defense will come around. Last night was a combination of Opening Day heebiejeebies combined with parking lot field conditions.
Have the feeling there will be at least one position player making apologies to Bumgarner ~ either already last night or before this evening’s game. Hard to be an Ace with a swisscheese defense. Bochy pulled him for Blanco’s bat and that worked out a bit. Petit coughed up hairballs and then uprighted the liferaft before things got totally out of hand. Machi EARNED the win. Romo so-so but held on. Pitching is bound to improve, particularly when the team plays in venues more kind to the moundsmen.
Important thing is the Giants lead off with a win vs a powerful offensive team in their own Snakepit. Get on top and stay there. How do you do that? Beat up on your closest rivals. Snakes will be desperate tonight. Cain’s gotta make sure nobody’s on base if he reverts to surrendering taters. A vintage performance by the Horse would calm a lotta nerves around here.
Excellent analysis, Cain could go either way tonight. He will either feel pressure to do well or he will have blown off last year as an anomaly and pitch lights out ball. I think he pitches lights out.
It was a hot mess of entertainment and head slapping. A lot to enjoy with villains turning into heroes and back again. Unless the mistakes become the norm it was a game to remember as one of the most ultimately thrilling games we’re likely to see this year. And with that, I have a window between the rains so I’m off for a stumble down the road.
Brewers fans gave Ryan Braun a standing O yesterday when he first came to bat at home. Standing O. I would venture to guess they booed the hell out of Bonds when he played there. At least Bonds didn’t lie and accuse a urine sampler dude of doctoring his sample. IMO, forget about ‘roids, for other reasons Braun is a gold medal Dbag…
I wonder what’s different about those two? Can’t quite figure it out.
Bonds in Pittsburgh was a mixed bag of boos and cheers . . .
The Red Sox are already doing their White House visit, today.
Last year’s Giants’ White House visit didn’t come at the best time; it was right after the Giants got swept at home by the Cubs, and the 2013 season was looking obviously off-track.
Did ALL these champ sports teams visit the WHouse 30, 40, 50 years ago? I have no idea. I don’t seem to remember that this visit the WH thing is a long tradition, especially for so many teams. I’m cynical about politics (surprise), so IMO it’s just a political photo/video op for whoever the current WH resident is to make him look like an “everyman” fan…
They gonna sit Crawfish tonight? Or try to let him hit a lefty?
I’d rather see Crawfish and Adrianza than Hicks and Arias.
Shit, do we lead the league in Brandons yet?
Let Craw Hit! He was hittin last night, give him some confidence. Plus, Craw and Adrianza can pick it, and that field apparently sucks…
For those, like me, who missed the end of the game (I will go home and watch the 7th and 9th later), here is Buster’s shot. Calls by Kuip and Miller.
Adios Pelota!
http://tinyurl.com/mkr5fhz
I agree…Let Mudbug hit!
And let Buster catch!
And let Timmy…..uh….. 🙂
Smooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooke . . .
One of my favorite parts of the Ashkon Don’t Stop Believin’ video is the old dude wearing the Let Timmy Smoke shirt.
Snarkk, I generally agree with you about congratulatory White House visits, but…..maybe it’s just my partiality, but there was something exceptionally cool about the Giants going to the White House after a 56 year wait, and visiting with the first Black president in U.S. history.
In the mid-2000s, that would have seemed such a far-fetched thing.
One of the Giants things on my workplace walls is a two-page photo of the Giants visit to the White House in 2011. It was in one of the issues of Giants Magazine that year.
Yeah, I wasn’t trying to be a terrible cynic on celebrating the Giants, but now it seems the pres is meeting with some championship team about every month for something. The frequency just seems to be a little deflating of the importance of the wins…
Not a bad “selfie” taken by Ortiz with the Prez:
http://wapc.mlb.com/cutfour/2014/04/01/70604202/david-ortizs-presidential-selfie
Kershaw out 2-3 weeks. Good news for us. If you read the article, it sounds like that is minimum – it could be longer.
Did Machi have that forkball last year? I don’t remember that.
Yes, he did.
He spent the winter working with Elroy Face…
I would have thought you’d reference Lindy McDaniel. Since Dave Stewart, has anybody who’s experienced any success claimed to throw a forkball?
“They gonna sit Crawfish tonight? Or try to let him hit a lefty? ”
They are going to let him hit unca (yay). Arias also gets another start at 2B (dang).
1. Angel Pagan (S) CF
2. Hunter Pence (R) RF
3. Pablo Sandoval (S) 3B
4. Buster Posey (R) C
5. Michael Morse (R) LF
6. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
7. Joaquin Arias (R) 2B
8. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
9. Matt Cain (R) P
Taco Bell offers free tacos if the Snakes score 6, right? In Colorado, Taco Bell only offers free tacos if the Sherpas score 7. LOL.
Does anyone have the energy to look up how many games Torre and Biggio caught before they were switched out? Can someone call them and ask what they think it did for their careers?
Torre: 472
Biggio: 311
Ok, those are guesses, but I feel I’m in the ballpark.
I posted earlier a comment on Bench and Fisk. They both played 10 plus years with at least 100 starts behind the dish. Same question for them.
Looked it up:
Torre: 903
Biggio: 427
Miley’s sneaky fast at 92. He throws harder than any of the current SF starters.
Flan taking a chance with Pagan, and it worked.
Wow
Belt.
Triple at ATT
against a lefty, too
If Belt keeps this up, I advise Mrs James to cover the inside of her house with plastic wrap; everywhere. Me and Snarkk will be storming the joint….
I’m going to start looking for those “inanimate” objects…
Wow. I did not see Belt’s homer last night but I did say here during spring training that I thought Bonds could have the biggest impact on Belt:)
Belt was sick and didn’t get to talk with Barry. Crawford says he did have some good sessions with him though.
Wasnt he there for a few days?
Belt had to have some time in the cage with Bonds watching?
This is what he said on the blog he shares with Crawford. It was on the post titled Alarming First Night – Brandon Belt
“To answer some questions from last time: I never got to spend time with Barry Bonds. He arrived the day before I go sick and basically was out of commission for five days. I heard great things from other players, so I really hope I get another chance.”
Sorry GH, I forgot to add the link to the blog. http://brandon.mlblogs.com/
Bonds was there on the field, offering comments, for three days.
Arizona really packs ’em in don’t they? Game 2 of the season and it’s like Candlestick in the early 80’s….
Cain has a bad history with big leads, I think.
Thanks for the jinx Loo;)
Who says Brandon Belt can’t win an MVP ? 162-0 baby😃
The cat is frequently inanimate, BF. Please spare her.
the outside of the house would be the most respectful approach. I mean, come on, one Flapper to another, this is really something that should go on OUTSIDE the house, right? I’m terribly confused right now tho
At this rate, Belt will need to hit another jack…
another jack = 0.35 jerks on something inanimate in or outside or in the vicinity of James’ hizzle.
At some point one of our starters will have to figure out how to get Goldschmidt out.
19 hits in 9.1 innings. I’m not concerned about the defense.
Not diggin Cain’s new Mizuno glove.
Looks like the color of the foul poles or he urinating bright yellow in it frequently…
Well at first I thought the Giants were going to make this one look easy….should have known more torture
No one else on the Giants makes the play Belt just made.
That is why it is stupid to talk of putting Posey there to save his bat for later years
You’re preaching to the choir, Kev. Couldn’t agree more.
Agreed.
Nice play Belt! Maybe one good play can turn around this defensive or lack there of.
Bum’s start, to me, wasn’t really alarming last night. He got screwed by some pathetic D. Cain on the other hand. 44 pitches through 2 and he was lucky to escape the 2nd without some damage (Belt’s play at 1st, etc.). The SP remains a question mark outside of Madison, IMO. Looking forward to seeing Hudson tomorrow. Vogey…hmmm…
Go Gaints (Hey it worked last night).
POTD.
I’m also watching the Angels game on my chromebook. You literally can’t tell the diff between the uni’s of the D-Backs and the Angels when you watch them on tv v. chromebook
Cain 66 pitches thru 3 innings yikes.
Bum was pulled after 4 with 65, but I know Boch will let him go 5 for the possible win
Pffft. That’s 10 in a row.
Another K by Belt. The one are of his game with which I have a serious issue.
Fucking sucks posting via the phone…
Given that he has gotten a hit every time he’s put the ball in play this year, we can only weep at what could have been.
Nobody else got a three run dinger…
Didn’t take long for the Beard to end up on the DL, out with elbow problem and nerve damage..Fuck LA
Fuck that call, 1st base ump was not in position, Boch and the Giants got screwed!!
Fuck
How did that blind SOB miss that play at home ?
Nothing like getting fucked twice on calls in one inning, terrible calls
Screwed by the replay. Fucking out at the plate….
fucking Dunston just showed why you need someone competent doing this. There was NO WAY anyone was going to see that pick off play as conclusive.
Then a few minutes later, we’re fucked.
Good point, Flav.
thanks. I thought that *opinion* was going to send everyone overboard. But this shit isn’t that complicated. If it’s conclusive, there’s no reason to stand out there stammering like an idiot manager anymore. Just make the call. And if you fuck up your ONE challenge, then YOU are the dude who should be stammering there, quietly, at yourself.
Yep, it’s like he was listening to Kruk’s bogus assertions.
Agree, too. I said earlier that I thought the call would stand. Not a good candidate for your recall.
Nice catch Pablo, gets us out of that fucking inning.
Thirteen straight. Futility.
Of the 337 people attending the game tonight, it looks to me like 211 of them are Giants fans.
So we’ve got that going for us.
You missed 1
So they used up all their hits in the1st inning. They are still winning. Baseball games are like this, it’s just that it sucks when it is your team that goes hitless for the rest of the game, and it is only the 6th, and I ask you what happened last night in the 7th, 8th, and ,9th??
And that is what happens when you go 3-0.
So much for the replay.
2 blown calls in a matter of a minute. And the replay helps how?
Damn. Nice throw.
You have to wonder why the fuck there’s a team in AZ if they draw 6,200 on the 2nd day of the season.