Ranking the Lowest Lows
I’m having a hard time deciding who I’m more disappointed with, Pablo or Timmy. Is that stat I read correct? Pablo is 0-42 when he’s got 2 strikes on him (with 22 strikeouts). That stat sounds made up. He’s batting .165. I wish that was stat someone made up.
Timmy has pitched 2 good games and 3 bad ones. His K/BB ratio remains impressive (17/5). The Giants have won 4 of the 5 starts he’s made. But he hasn’t pitched a great game yet and he’s consistently struggling with his location.
Speaking of location sufferers, we’ve got another one of those going today. I’m not going to say Voggy is done but it’s getting hard to watch him pitch. What I don’t get is that some of his worst located balls are on change ups, something that he should be able to throw effectively, at least in terms of location, even if he truly was “done.” He’s throwing some of those right down the middle and the hitters are not missing them….
So it’s Sunday, how about a nice, easy, leisurely poll? And before you vote, remember, we are in first place even with these 3 chumps not pulling their own weight.
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I would have to say I am more disappointed in Panda. EASILY. Simply because he was expected to do well, whereas Voggy and Timmy had question marks. As I pointed out yesterday, Lincecum has been putrid for going on 3 seasons. Voggy is going on 2 seasons of mediocre performance. I have little or no faith that the light bulb will suddenly turn on for these two. They are who they are.
Conversely, Panda is in a slump and I think he will do better going forward, especially if he can forget about his future contract and just play ball.
Unrelated, I am really interested in what will happen to “The Donald” . . . umm, the other Donald. I heard the entire tape and there is no question in my mind, this guy is a racist and has no business being in the NBA in any capacity. Especially in lieu of the fact that the majority of players are African American. I hope this new commissioner forces him to sell. Amazing that the Clippers are even able to concentrate on basketball going forward in these playoffs.
Well, we’ll see if they can concentrate or not. They haven’t played a gm since this came out. Tonight should be interesting to say the least.
The game is 12:30 this afternoon, so folks don’t miss it if you want to see it…
Sterling has a long long history of being a SOB and a racist. He’s been in court multiple times for alleged discriminatory housing practices, and Elgin Baylor sued him in late 2010 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/07/elgin-baylor-donald-sterling-clippers-lawsuit_n_805909.html, alleging some crazy racial stuff. David Stern and Silver knew ALL that stuff and didn’t do jack, at least publicly, so did the other owners (how many of them are not much different — who knows?). So, NOBODY, including Doc Rivers, and Clip players (and their agents) went to work for Sterling not knowing that this guy was/is a prick. He’s a prick, but his money spends just as well as anybody else’s. So in that sense, it’s at least a little disingenuous for NBA people to be “shocked” at what this guy is about. Like Captain Renault was “shocked” for public consumption at what went on at Rick’s place. Doesn’t excuse what Sterling’s about, but it does add some perspective…
It really is some sick shit. I don’t see how the league can really force him out. What will they do? Bar him from games? It’s too bad the players don’t take a stand but hey who can’t expect a social conscience for athletes eh?
It’s early ….not even May. Disappointment is premature. Grab a brew and relax.
One down,three to go. Couple of days back Buster would have made that list a foursome. Now he’s showing signs of getting it back. My feeling is that at least one of the three will join him before too long. Vogie wears the shortest leash. Early on i predicted that the PTB would give him till around mid-May to see if he can get his act together. Decision may have had happened earlier but for that quite good start vs LA. Also the middle of next month may convince some team (Cubs maybe?) that this is yet another lost season and that it may be better to pick up a couple of useful prospects than to hang onto a starter who cannot get them to the playoffs all by his lonesome.
Barring major injuries, adding a competent starting pitcher would pretty much assure that this won’t be a bad penny year.
Agree with you there James. It’s the starter that is missing. The BP looks good now but I don’t seeing it holding up if they have to bail out Vogelsong, Lincecum and Cain this often.
Petit should be in the rotation if Voggy sucks it up again today….
Maybe he “should be” but unless he gets completely lit up I would think they’d give him at least another couple of starts before he gets sent to the BP
Golden State hitting all there 3’s. No matter what the mind set is of the Clips, if they’re hitting all their bombs they’re almost unbeatable…..
I think it’s fair to question Doc Rivers right now. No time outs through all of that? It’s like he’s given up.
Way to pitch through it but Vogelsong isn’t exactly inspiring confidence with that top of the 1st effort.
Just checked Pablo’s career stats with 2 strikes on him. 33% of his hits have come in a 2 strike count. He’s had 14 hits this year. The 0-41 sounds really dramatic, but we are talking about just a handful of hits.
We’ve seen a few very nice DPs of late.
Whoa, slick Hicks there.
James— please tell your wife that it is safe to take the plastic wrap off the objects inside your house…..
No kidding.
Belt looks more overmatched than Adrianza right now. He’s never hit the high fastball, but this is getting bizarre.
He’s swinging and missing the way you or I would be swinging and missing
That’s a perfect description.
Speak for yourself. I was always raking on high hard stuff. Like two fingers of Makers… 😉
Panda! Fair ball Crawfish!
We caught Salazar when he is finally pitching commensurate to his press clippings. He’s been terrible this season (other than SOs) until this game.
well, you could argue that the much maligned Voggy is doing the same thing (only a little better currently leading 1-0)
True. Actually, I am shocked that he is pitching this well. Shit, if he does this every other week – good outing and then a face plant, you’d have to say that’s what a number 5 usually does anyway.
Schulman reporting that his scribe buddy in Cle said that last year the INdians called the Giants about Lopez and Sabean said he wanted Salazar in return. Call ended quickly. if that’s the way Sabean is operating behind the scenes it makes me think he’s got some huge holes in his game……
Yeah, Salazar is a beast. Even when he isn’t on completely, his SO rate is phenomenal.
The choke collar is loosing up for Vogs with this outing, nice work…
Is Belt cheating on his new grip?
musta gone back to the old one.
Never bought the grip story, of course. I guess that’s some kind of twisted . . . .silver lining. I was out getting vittles, presumably the third one was as bad as the first 2.
well, everyone associated with the team, including Belt, has copped to the *grip story*.
Yeah, the grip thing. So, now he needs another “new” grip? My thesis is he finally reached enough pro ABs to mesh his natural talent with experience, so he started hitting better. Now, the league’s teams have found something they’re exploiting, until Belt figures out to adjust to that, and stops swinging at high stuff he can’t handle. Panda is still swinging at neck-high garbage he can’t handle after 5 years as a pro…
Interesting look for Morse:
One long sleeve, and none on his other arm, hey who am I to mess with “The Beast”
2 freebies off the flagrant, then a near-backcourt turns into a Barnes 3 oughta do it for the Dubs.
officiating makes it almost unwatchable. griffin can lower his head and shoulder into a guy but thompson can’t go to the rim in the air. paul can push curry but god forbid you touch paul’s fingers after he releases it.
Took Casilla just one batter to undo 7 innings of VogelStrong.
Maybe this is why they brought back Ishi.
Wow,the Golden Sombrero for Belt!
Indians totally have him scouted right with the heat up,making him look foolish..
Ar least half of those he’s swung and missed on over the weekend would not be called strikes.
HICKS!!!
how rad does that dude feel right now?
How about That Mr Hicks!!!!
Shades of Brian Johnson against the Bums!!!
Walk off HR’s are always bitching!!!
30 Hrs and counting.
Good thing they won, or else we were looking at a middle order of Belt (4 Ks), no Posey and no Morse for extras.
yeah, Boch was all in there, huh?
Nice sweep, that’s hard to do these days. Cleveland is not a bad ball club at all. That Jan Gomes kid is a player. Belt needs to “take a day”, review the video of his recent ABs, and get determined to adjust and lay off the high hard stuff. Maybe drop him in the order or up to 2nd and take the pressure off the 3rd spot. If he starts taking a few walks by laying off that noise, things will start changing — that’s the big leagues. Voggy — sheezus, I want to bury this guy, but he keeps hanging on with a good performance after a disaster. The missus’ enchiladas must’ve been really good last night…
Kruk Klassic. Talking about Voggy maybe feeling on pins and needles and wondering whether he was in danger of playing himself out of the rotation (paraphrasing) — hey, you know you’re in some trouble when it’s your start and you notice the Pen guys start drinking coffee really early…
Yeah that was one of Kruk’s best line of the season Snarkk!
Maybe he can throw-in a Belt needs a different arm-slot at the plate…
yeah, that was great. Old School. 70’s shit. Now you’d see them poppin’ adderall, lol
Doc Rivers is a bad ass. I really like listening to him talk. He’s a straight shooter who owns more than he needs to own.
Chris Paul, too. Total badass.
I still maintain that over the last 30-40 years the Giants have a pretty good record on Sundays. Cue that corny song by the Cowsills or whoever, “Sundays Will Never Be the Same.”
BF, re the grip, Belt’s never looked nearly as terrible as he does right now. I simply don’t believe any “adjustment” a professional hitter makes will ever make that much difference. You have a certain level of ability, you practice and maybe get better through repetition until your reflexes start to betray you with age. If Belt all of sudden decided to revive the closed stance, it wouldn’t affect his ability to hit high fastballs one way or the other. He simply needs to lay off them.
you cannot believe it all you want but his manager, his hitting coach, all the broadcasters and Brandon Belt himself have attributed his improvement to his grip and stance. Trying to change that fact is not becoming of a math man, but that’s just my artistic opinion…..
Haha, I actually suck at real math. All I do is add, subtract, multiply and divide.
The “grip” narrative has you believe that Belt had no ML success before the intervention of the professional advisors. This isn’t true. Look at his monthly splits for 2012 and 2013. You’ll see that he goes hot and cold like many other players before him. And like many other players, he is right at the point in his career where you’d expect him to be getting better and putting up his best numbers. In his case, a big deal has been made about an adjustment in technique, when there is a more plausible and commonplace explanation for any improvement you see.
and by the way, he most certainly has looked this bad before, it’s probably the main reason there’s such a disparity in those who love him and those who don’t. His body language is totally secondary to his complete inability to hit a pitch that’s right in front of him.
Dunno, Flavor, I’m not going to look it up, but 9 whiffs in 12 ABs is pretty terrible. Belt has had really bad stretches that have gone longer than 12 ABs, but I haven’t seen anything quite like this. I think almost all of these were swinging third strikes. He needs to get back to taking some walks and some called strike 3’s, and to tell Boch and Muelens to fuck themselves.
I voted quit bitching. It is rather remarkable we are indeed in first, though it clearly is not sustainable without improvement from several hitters, a stronger bench, and Timmy and Voggy (good sign today). But I’ll gladly take our success and our elan. (Elan?!)
We took the “Last Train to Hicksville.”
Wasn’t Elan that Cuban kid that the Clinton gov’t sent back to his father in Havana?…
Elian was from Cuba; Elan was his cousin from Marseille. Has there ever been an MLB player from France? Those existentialists over there are too busy puffing on Gaulloise cigarettes, drinking coffee, reading Sartre. Hohum.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bio/France_born.shtml
Sheesh. Tres embarrassing. Bruce Bochy premier among them. I should’ve known better; knew he was born there.
Bochy isn’t French; I wouldn’t count him in that regard. He’s an American born on a U.S. military base, I think. Or something like that.
Note of trivia: I was born on a U.S. military base in Japan.
Wow Zum. You’re tall for a Japanese guy.
🙂
Hey, I spent most of my life thinking I couldn’t run for president; but it turns out being born on a U.S. military base in another country counts as being OK. Like McCain being born on a U.S. base in Panama.
Who knew?
I learned how to speak English going to kindergarten on a USAF base in France.
The things we learn here at this Cathedral of Learning (I’d wager TwinFan has been to the real Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh).
Roto reported Mike Minor’s last rehab start before reporting to the Braves this way . . . “Mike Minor (shoulder) gave up five runs and 10 hits — including four homers — over seven innings in his final rehab start with Double-A Mississippi Friday. Advice: Minor said that three of the four long balls were wind-aided, referring to them as “pop-ups.”
Umm . . . I could give 2 shits what Minor says, except I have him on my DL and am anticipating him pitching this Friday. Ugh.
After sweeping Cleveland, the first-place Giants’ message to the Dodgers:
Back when Lincecum was a superstar, everybody thought the only thing that could derail his career was injury and frailty. If nothing else, he’s been amazingly durable even during his downfall.