Morse Can Do Whatever He Wants
Morse is catching some sh!t on the internet for his over-celebrating tie-making home run but I thought it was awesome. Talk about a month’s worth of frustration coming out in one swing. It’s so awesome when a baseball moment like that bubbles up out of no where.
And what’s up with Belt only hitting one bomb? I clearly said “one or two” in my thread yesterday. That bastard owes me another one today. 🙂
If you missed it, go read Pawlie’s post from last night about meeting Andres Torres. Just awesome stuff.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
On Romo, I found these splits to be kinda nutty.
IP ER R ERA H HR BB SO BA SLG OPS
Buster 22.1 6 7 2.42 13 4 2 16 .167 .359 .566
Hector 11.1 14 14 11.12 14 3 7 12 .304 .522 ..940
Kinda? That’s some fucked up shit. Hector needs to talk to Posey about this.
I’m pleasantly surprised by how well Pence is doing in the lead-off spot. I heard yesterday he got 5 infield singles last week. Blanco doesn’t have 5 all year.
The brain trust has to know those numbers on the catchers. Obviously, the first thing that comes to mind is bad pitch calls in the various hitting situations. But, ultimately the pitcher has control over what he throws, right? And, Romo has been throwing some really ugly stuff the past few weeks. Hector is now Timmy’s personal catcher, and Timmy just went through a stretch of 23 innings giving up only one run. So, the pitch calls must be OK there…
Well, if Romo isn’t getting his slider to bite, and Hector keeps calling for it . . .
It seems too big a difference to be simply random.
It’s the same as Timmy relying too much on his fastball in his struggles these past couple years.
If Posey senses he’s not able to throw it, he needs to adjust to that fact. Not let Timmy override him.
Was out of pocket over the weekend, so went back and read through the last two threads.
Pawlie – nice piece on Andres. Thanks for sharing, and giving him thanks for his contributions. Very cool.
Nice to get two wins in a row. Hoping it is something on which they can build. That will be tough against the fucking A’s.
When it was first mentioned about putting Pence in the lead-off, many were questioning this move. I liked it from the get-go (given what Bochy had to work with right now), as he has either the highest or 2nd highest OBP on the team. Dude get’s on base and is hitting near .300. Until there is a better option (Pagan is back, etc.) then Pence makes absolute sense there. If Panik can get some consistency, then I like Belt in the 3 hole. But if the kid struggles, move him down to the 7 or 8 hole and let Belt hit 2nd.
Nice post WillieD (8:38). I agree with a lot of your points…especially regarding a lot of this being on the players (and not making Bochy the scapegoat).
Bochy’s not a scapegoat. But he has to share at least some blame, because when they win, he gets a ton of credit. It works both ways, doesn’t it? He’s getting some flak on the chat shows due to some of his moves, but it’s still pretty tame criticism. His handling of Romo is certainly fair game, as are some of his lineup moves, and stubbornly sticking with Blanco as leadoff. Yeah, he can’t hit and catch for the players, but as I’ve agitated before, he’s not a guy that punches a lot of different buttons when the crap hits the fan, he’s reactive. Bochy’s got capital to burn, sure, with two WS wins in his big cap. But, in most fanbases elsewhere around the country, you lose 18 of 23 (most of those at home) and any manager is going to take a way bigger PR hit than Bochy’s been taking…
Absolutely snarkk – he cannot go without some criticism over the course of the nosedive. His staying with Blanco for so long is probably the one that stands out most to me. But more than not, it is more on the players than the manager.
I listened to and watched Bochy on a recent postgame presser. Of course he includes himself in the criticism. He’s pretty forthcoming in taking responsibility, in my view. But he can’t play nine positions. In fact, he’s not allowed even to play one. Not one! I tellya.
It’s smart that he publicly takes some responsibility. Take some pressure off players, that’s good managing, and good PR, too. I just find it amazing that some fans, particularly zealots on the radio chat shows, extoll the virtues of Bochy — the under the radar genius — when the team flies high, but when when the team crashes, it’s a sacrilege to suggest Bochy has made mistakes and shoulders even a small portion of the blame…
Sometimes I find real treats in SI. Current cover story on Ernie Banks is pretty decent. Is there a classier baseball icon and ambassador for the game than Mr. Cub? Stretch McCovey. Not many others. Well, Hank Aaron, too. A terrific piece on him in the same issue. A photo of Hammerin’ Hank kissing a bat that is infinitely suitable for framing and worth buying the issue for.
Pawlie, I subscribed to SI for decades since I was a late teenager, then about 10 years ago I just dropped it. It seemed to get thinner, more ads, fewer stories; the formatting and types of stories just got too “glib” or shallow for me, is the best way I can describe it. Don’t know if the advance of the internet had something to do with it, or new ownership, or what. I don’t even know who owns it now. Had great writing back in the old days – Frank Deford was the king, IMO. Rom Fimrite would add occasional Bay Area stories, and Paul Zimmerman was the NFL guru. Way way back Dan Jenkins did the golf beat, hands down the best golf writer ever (if you ever have a chance to listen to him interviewed, do it — he’s a hoot and has an incredible storehouse of anecdotal stories). http://grantland.com/features/dan-jenkins-pga-majors-masters-ben-hogan-golf-sports-writing/ As a kid, I even had a letter to the editor printed in it once. I felt like I was famous. Can’t remember what it was about…
That’s the trend of the paper magazine industry in general. An industry in DEEP trouble. You know when you can subscribe to Time Magazine or National Geographic at a one-year rate of $20, those magazines are really struggling to get subscribers.
The internet is the main villain probably. So much is available for free basically.
I used to like Tiger Woods, I paid attention. No more. It wasn’t just the marriage and ho’s business. He’s just been revealed to be a real jerk in various ways, and apparently has been pretty much all along. To wit, more on the writer Dan Jenkins. From the above linked article:
“In 2001, Jenkins told the magazine, “Only two things can stop Tiger — injury or a bad marriage.” To quote a Fort Worth overheard, he was both right. In 2010, Woods compared his injury comeback to Hogan’s. “Hogan nearly died,” Jenkins remarked. “All Tiger did was damn near get syphilis.” It wasn’t that Jenkins thought Woods had become evil. That would turn Earl Woods’s hook into a slice. No, Jenkins’s revelation was simpler. “He is a hell of a talent,” Jenkins told me. “He just happens to be an asshole.” “
Generally, the A’s v. Giants games have been very competitive over the years (ignore the 1989 WS with the Steroidal A’s). This A’s team is on a roll, and just swept 4 from the bashing Blue Jays, holding them to just 4 runs total for the series. But, with two wins coming in, the Giants could have some momentum to take a game or two of these four…
And in news of the weird . . .
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2121907-report-madison-bumgarner-says-he-wants-to-hit-in-home-run-derby
A’s won the ’89 World Series against the Giants, but the Giants defeated the A’s in the 1905 World Series. So, the World Series score is 1-1 between the two franchises. 🙂
Great info, zum.
What a story it would be to meet the A’s again in the WS. They’ve got a great thing going, but have had trouble getting very far in the playoffs under Beane. The Giants guys are experienced at dealing with that pressure, and that means something, IMO. Would love to kick A’s butt in a WSeries…
Agreed on wanting to kick the A’s asses. I am not one of those NorCal fans who hates on the A’s. I actually like their club, but when they’re up against the Orange and Black…all bets are off.
I’m w/you Chi. I don’t hate the A’s, nor do I particularly like them. They’re kickin’ butt, so I respect the team and its management. Melvin is a good manager. Ex Giant. 😉 I’m not into the AL, never have been. If somebody has to win the AL title, might as well be them, IMO. They’ve got a small, but devoted fanbase, many of whom seem to hate the Giants, for some reason. Jealousy or envy, I suspect — and who can blame them with a toilet bowl ballpark, bad owners who diss them, and a radio station you can barely tune in when you’re inside the A’s own ballpark…
Let’s get it on!
1. Hunter Pence (R) RF
2. Joe Panik (L) 2B
3. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
4. Buster Posey (R) C
5. Michael Morse (R) DH
6. Tyler Colvin (L) LF
7. Gregor Blanco (L) CF
8. Joaquin Arias (R) 3B
9. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
Scutaro to be in the Grizzlies line-up tonight. Hell, if all goes well, he could be back with the big club, soon. I said a week or so ago that when that happens, I would prefer to see Arias or Adrianza go, as I like the potential pop that Hicks brings. But after watching him the past few games…I just cannot bear to watch him K (especially during key scoring opportunities). Still on the fence actually. Arias hasn’t had an extra base hit in like…well, forever.
Arias had a double a few games back. First xtra this season. It was easy to miss. He’s basically the human grounder to SS. This Scutaro thing is interesting. From what I’ve read, he’s some better, but basically just going to gut it out as long as he can with the Big Club. Sounds like more of a PHer type deal. Seems OK to me, his presence should help, though I’m likely risking James’ wrath about chemistry. Adrianza is on the DL, they’ll have to make a decision on him soon. I don’t see a place for him on the 25, just waive him and see what happens. If he gets claimed, whatever…
And if it doesn’t go well, they better make a move for Utley.
Yikes. Pablo needs to get well. Just when Belt comes back, he gets dinged.
Arias had that great run month a couple years ago but nothing since.
Of all the regulars, who would we predict as the guy most likely to be out for injury because he got hit by a pitch while swinging at it?…
Sorry all, I flat out hate the A’s. When they had the Series against the Dodgers, I really didn’t know who to root for. I was down south for a 9er Rams game during that series, 9ers won A’s didn’t no cocktails on that flight home (I was pissed). I hate (yes, hate) that the Chron doesn’t have them in the back pages, I hate that the best baseball writer for the Chron (IMO) gets the A’s and the Giants get (again, IMO) the laziest. I think Shea is a pretty good writer but he’s an A’s fan so even when he gets the SF assignment, he gets his digs in. Hey the top of the paper says San Francisco, Oakland has their own rag. A’s fans used to rip us about Candlestick and now rip us for the diamond that sits on the Bay. Fuck them. Whenever I see one of those combined A’s SF hats I go bonkers, chose a fucking team. Luckily I won’t be watching tonight, so y’all can enjoy the game without my bias rants. Although, just to be clear about my feelings about the A’s. Fuckem and their fans.
Come on, tell us how you really feel. You hate the A’s so much you won’t watch the Giants play them?
That’s a little extreme! Besides, we love biased rants here.
new thread.
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friendly party or raid member within 15 yards in the struck target for 50% from the damage handled Smite.
Belch with the Gods – If Tipsy, stun enemies for 1s in any respect ranks.
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