Over? Or Are We Still in This?
Jesus, last night’s game was frustrating. That Padre pitcher was lit up for 6 straight starts. The he faces the Giants and I’ve got to listen to Krukow wax poetic about the loads he’s firing off in the broadcast booth about this guy.
And while I appreciate Pagan trying to play, anyone who saw him get up after that stolen base could see he’s not right.
Every time I feel like this is over the Giants win and the Dodgers lose to suck me right back into believing again.
So maybe that will happen again today…
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
*Hudson isn’t worn out, he’s just been lousy
*Timmy only went 2- give him Vogey’s start tomorrow. He goes 5 and turns it over to the pen. Dodger starters- Vogelsong, Peavy, MadBum. Hudson gets the opener of the Padre series, if he sucks again he’s off the postseason roster.
*Desphaggetti was OK. But geez, 10 hard hit outs
*Pagan wasn’t right from the opening bell- why was he out there? Tonight I want to see Ishi in LF
* LU: 1. Pence 2. Panik 3. Posey 4. Pablo 5. Ishi 6. Belt 7. Blanco 8. Crawford
*A few Quick Hits from BP:
*”It’s not that Hunter Pence is hitting .290 with power, it’s that he’s doing it while wearing the actual equivalent of the googily eyes for each at-bat.”
*”Controversy? Check. Last place finish? Check. Questionable player personnel moves? Check. Another successful season for the Astros? Check!”
*”Being chased this closely by the Royals is like taking your graduate level course and realizing that your dog Muffin is seated two rows behind you”
I’d like to see Lincecum take Hudson’s next start. What’s the downside?
Uh, he gives up *5* in the 1st ?
Well, I think they call that a “lateral move”…
Any mixed emotions for you in a Giant-Pirate playoff, Twin?
Remember, you’re under oath.
Nah, I’m not even a Twins fan anymore. All Giants 24/7.
“complicated relationship with winning” is a great line, Edd. May have to use that one if my b-ball team sucks.
“You know, winning and I just don’t seem to get along.”
Lincecum does seem to own the Padres…rest of the league, situation mostly reversed.
Lot of good stories and surprises this year. Brewers were surprise for much of year til Giants seem to have ruined them.
Angels winning going away, along with Orioles, definite surprise. royals going head to head with Tigers too and Mariners making good late run.
Giants Pirates would be good play in game, winner getting chance to take out Nats. That would leave LA looking for revenge on Cards for knocking them out last year. Watchable, even if SF not in it.
Zum said he always buys pre season mags—wonder how right any of those guys were?
Replacing Hudson at this stage seems like a panic move. As TF notes, he’s just been crappy — the fastball was registering 90 at times yesterday. Hudson is an average major league starter at best at this point in his career, and the numbers were inevitably going to reflect that.
Amarista hits that first inning drive at Pence, and you have a typical Huddy 5/2/3 inning start. The SD pitcher had the luck yesterday.
It was encouraging to see Morse back in LF last night.
As long as a ball wasn’t hit his way.
He has high entertainment value out there.
Given that about 7% of all ABs in a game involve the LFer, I was encouraged, too. He handles most of the routine balls hit his way fine. LF defense is just about the single least important factor in a team’s success or failure over a season.
I could risk giving Belt 7% of fielding ABs in a game. He’d probably handle about 6.9%…
Agree, Snarkk. If I were going to gamble and shift strategy over the last 9 games, it would be to make sure Susac played a lot. I’d have Belt shag some flyballs, and stick him in LF, assuming Morse is out. I sense they’ve had their big scoring streaks for the season, and should play the line up that at least has the potential to put more than a few runs across.
Morse is a disaster in LF and considering his production vs. that of Blanco over the last 2+ months, he shouldn’t be out there.
Have you checked out who covers almost everything to his left? The CFer.
I’m assuming Blanco is in CF the rest of the way. Anyone who catches balls hit near where he’s positioned is by definition not a disaster in LF.
You are obviously not counting balls that he doesn’t get to or often doesn’t try to get to. And you’re not counting the balls that fall in front of him because he plays so deep. The thing is with the Beast is that if he’s not hitting as well ( or close to) as he did in the 1st two months, he’s a net minus. Which is why he’s had exactly one year where he added any appreciable value to his team.
Totally agree Twinner
.
After hearing this for 2,374 times from you, I am starting to believe it. Really.
Fausto looks like he was on an all night bender
I was surprised Bochy put in Morse last night to hit, given the oblique, from what I’ve heard, is not necessarily healed all the way. He couldn’t hit a 5 run dinger. Heard after the game that maybe he aggravated it some again. And, I agree that if Pagan isn’t ready, why play him and aggravate the thing more. Unless it’s to the point it’s just going to get aggravated if he plays, no matter what he does. Looks like that could be the case, in which case the Giants are hosed…
Kind of like putting Johnny Eck out there
Nice to get to read your stuff again, twin. So, seems Willie McCovey is in the hospital with some sort of “serious infection”. That leaves a lot to the imagination. If anyone wants to, you can send best wishes to:
williemac@sfgiants.com
I noticed something that appeared strange to me this morning. Maybe it has always been this way and maybe I never noticed but when looking at the top 10 batting averages in the NL and the AL this morning, 4 of the 10 in the NL are batting .300 or under and 3 of 10 in the AL are batting .301 or under. Is this normal?
Normal, apparently, when not everybody is doing ‘roids…
Nice to see you, too. Catch you later. James is going to bury me with percentages.
I knew I went one post too far . . . . damn.
How bout this one or 3: Morse has second best slugging pct OPS and OPS plus among all regulars. Only better hitter than he is: Posey. The guy can hit fine enough for me. Ever since Burrell and Uribe left Giants have been looking for RH pop, and now everyone complains about defense.
I don’t put much stock in WAR–I don’t believe Josh Donaldson to be one of top half dozen players in AL.
Unless Morse plays OF like Manny being Manny, if he’s healthy I want his bat in there. With Pagan out and Blanco in CF, I’d go that way. Hope Belt can make up for it, but it might take a while to get comfortable.
At this time of the season the Giants should be playing those they can count on and who have done well recently…Minimally, this should include, Posey or Ishi at first, Susac catching, Blanco or Ishi in left and maybe Duffy at third….Unfortunately, the Giants are currently offering Belt , Pagan and Morse rehab assignments here in SD!! Not a good choice IMO
Tough call on Belt. But the alternative, effectually, is Susac. Pagan and Morse are both hurting too much to contribute as starters. ~Giants fan since ’54 who delighted in picking up a copy of the Sporting News in the summer of ’59 and reading that box score featuring WillieMac’s explosive first MLB game ~ vs. the Phillies i believe it was. Got that copy in a drugstore at the corner of Nicollet and Lake, a couple blocks from where that other Willie starred for the Minneapolis Millers before getting the call from Leo the Lip in the Summer of ’51.
Fact we are talking about Ishi playing Lincecum returning for Hudson, sums up their chances. Fork raised, fat lady humming.
Cubs take the lead off Wilson!
Cubs win, Cubs win!
how’s that taste dodger trolls…
it works like a charm….every time I bury them, good things happen.
Bayern wire to wire today horseracing fans?
nice call salty…
Didn’t see it but it looks like Bee Idiot blew it for the Art Dealers. His ERA is almost 5.00 this yr. lqtm
Glad to see Bums blow 6-1 lead. To answer you lead in Craig..Gmen must win today and tomorrow. Lose either one and div race done. Haren goes tomorrow? He has been pitching well lately and that can’t last!
Their comeback from that 6-1 deficit came at the expense of the LaBumbos most effective central reliever, J.P. Howell. He threw 24 pitches for ten strikes and four runs scored. He could be a bit gassed this time of the season in his 2/3 inning stint. Significantly as well, the loss goes to no longer Fear the Beard as he’s now singing the Doghair Bluuz. So even waaay behind the 8-ball with so few to go Giants know a couple things about the Dogs: They are down to two effective starters and the Cubbie Kidz, though ultimately losing bothj contests, tore up both Greinke and Kershaw a bit. Now with two of their core bullpen keys getting slapped around by the Cubbies the LaBumbos again look vulnerable.
I don’t mean to come across as negative, but with this LU we’re throwing out there tonight (out of necessity, but still) I don’t see how we win unless Cashner hurts himself and we get to face a scrub out of the bullpen. And that could happen, Cashner is not the most durable guy….
Pagan and Morse out for the rest of the weekend and questionable for LA series (Baggs)
I’m with Snarkk on giving Brown a shot…
Pence RF
Panik 2B
Posey C
Sandoval 3B
Belt 1B
Blanco LF
Crawford SS
Perez CF
Petit RHP
Brown sucks and shouldn’t even be up here. At least Perez has shown he can make some plays at the major league level. If Brown got a start he’d strike out 3 of 4 at bats and the non-strikeout would probably be a weak ground ball to the pitcher for a double play. He can tell his grand kids about that hit in 30 years…..
Maybe it’s just me, but I am ok with this line up.
what do you like about it? Again, it’s circumstances and nothing we can do much about. But I hate Pence leading off. And Belt has barely seen anything more than batting practice pitches. Then you have a flailing Blanco and an even more flailing Perez. The last half of that LU looks like hamburger left out in the sun for a week….
Umm . . . We have five players with “P” in their last name?
I wonder if that’s a record. Too bad Pagan couldn’t start for Blanco…
Can this battered bunch beat Cashews? Tough nuts to crack but nice and sweet inside. A couple of players will have to come up huge tonight and Petit must as well. Not looking the best but impossible is a word which got buried in ’10 and ’12.
I knew Wilson was a double agent for the Giants. Way to go Wilson! 😂
I could never hate Wilson…
Not even for misleading the team on severity of his injury in 2010 and delaying rehab for months while he sucked? If he had admitted he was f-ed up, he would have been able to pitch in 2012 instead of be a doofus in the dugout during WS run. Guy’s grand high exalted mystic ruler of planet clown.
I can watch the 9th inning of the 2010 clincher a million times and never get tired of it.
Waited 47 years for that moment.
Wilson could stab Willie Mays and I’d probably forgive him…
How much does Pablo’s .214 Sept, factor into negotiations?
With whom?…
When the LU sucks like “sunned hamburger”, as it does tonight, this is where Bochy’s refusal to play small ball kills the team. Perez is hitting .165. That’s amazingly bad. He just struck out again, sheesh is this guy bad. Maybe he’ll run into one by accident. Anyway, I can’t believe that he’s better than Brown, either with the bat, or defensively, to the point he can’t get even a shot in one game. Because if he is, that’s one horrendously blown #1 pick…
snarkk…I don’t know how to look this up. Maybe you do…30 teams in the league, how far can you go back and look up every teams #1 pick, and what they’re doing?
I seem to recall that guy Pollack? is it? for Ari. seems like a real hitter went in the 11th round…
Our outfield is poised to suffocate the opposition with its hit denying skillz.
And our LU is suffocating itself with hit refusal skills…
Not picking on Pablo…Pence not anywhere near his 2013 Sept.. (.220 .271 slg).
Luv it. Kruk says, make Cashner work, make him throw some pitches.
As soon as he finishes talking, Panik swings at a first pitch ball, chest high — and pops to center; inning over…
Why is Petit throwing a curve ball to the pitcher on a 3 ball count? Huh? Then, he walks him with it…
Like we’ve said before, Panik has got to pick up his defense over the off season. He’s costing the team with blown plays…
he’s got a lil’ Steve Sax in him.
wow…only 1
Petit was nails there. Saved Panik’s bacon. Probably took a ton out of him, though…
wow couple killer breaking balls to the kids and Petit pitches out of it.
Nice of Panda to swing at the first pitch to give Petit a blow…
Belt is hella rusty. Way late on fastballs. He shouldn’t even be here, should be in AZ hitting against development squad dudes…
he did that Thursday… 100 pitches
He should still be doing it…
You know theirs ” Throwback jerseys & theirs Throwup jerseys”
And the Padres jerseys make me want to vomit!
Their right up their with the Astros old gay ones, are the Whitesox’s when they wore shorts..
Whatever they’re wearing, the Giants can’t hit against the guy pitching in ’em. This looks like a replay of last night. Giants hitting approach is pathetic — make an out as fast as possible so Petit gets no rest in the dugout…
check my 4:33 and my 5:01. Not a surprise, right? This LU B-L-O-W-S……
He’ll never get it, but when you consider everything that’s gone wrong and how little has gone right this season, doesn’t Bochy deserve some MOY consideration for (presumably) getting this crew into the playoffs?
absolutely. But if LA advances they’ll probably give it to 2-trips because the east coast is begging to celebrate this dude. And that would be a joke.
Personally, I’d give it to Matt Williams. I think he’s done a great job, especially as a first year manager.
concur on Matt
Don’t look now Snarkk, but Cal up 14-0 and just forced punt by U of A in desert.
and just fumbled it away on their own 8.
might be their night—D holds 3 plays zero yards gained and kicker doinks a chip shot off the upright and no good.
Guy I worked with for many years in whse. used to call anyone he didn’t like “Doink”…as in wrestling guy “the evil clown.”
I was a big Doink fan, willie. I think he passed away not long ago…
Doesn’t seem like the Giants are doing anything in this game, other then Buster? Hard to tell with GameCast.
Just finished another post if you need a respite from the game (lqtm). Go Giants!
http://aroundtheworldwithblade.wordpress.com/2014/09/20/angor-wat-phnom-bakheng-and-ta-prohm-temples-cambodia-part-iii/#more-5653
Pirates lose, thank Christ…
Cocksucking choke job by the offense.
Agreed. This is an *ODB* game all the way.
The excitement of this offense is putting me to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!
Bring back PEDs…
Might be better in the long run to just focus on holding HF for WC. Best hope now would be to tie LA and that would mean using Peavy Bum the last two games. Then a playoff. If you lose that, you are down to one of Petit VSong Hudson for the WC game.
On the other hand, if they clinch the WC HF, they might sit P&B the last two games–even if they had a shot at tying the Bums. and have them rested for the WC and first game.of NLDS. Maybe sounds heretical to some but…
Finally. Fuck. Forgot what it was like to score a run.
Following along on cbs site which says Cashner ERA at Petco 1.34 this year. Guy is tough. Petit didn’t seem that bad. If his O doesn’t score he ain’t winning anyway.
Goff with another TD pass Cal up 21-3 mid 2nd Q but AZ driving.
*Quackenbush* is a made up name, right?
Maybe not. I once went out with a chick whose last name was Slapnicker…
Hilarious Loo!
Though Slapdicker maybe funnier, but painful as well😄
Thanks for nothing Belt. Still, I love you.
Domingues PRuns? Why not just waste a burner like Brown?…
Why do so many obese Padre fans insist on wearing horizontally striped shirts?
goooooolllllllddddddddd!!!!!!!!
Too little, way too late.
Phhhhhttttt….
Fucking piece of shit loss. Weak. Dodgers put their ankles behind their ears for an early xmas gift, and the Giants pissed on it.
Am I the only one who appreciated this post? Loo?
Oh yeah, I thought it was entertaining and very well sequenced.
ODB has found his nitch here. 98% of his posts go to filter, but I can get behind 2 percent of them. Or at least find 2 percent of Flappers to get behind them. 🙂
Made it exciting.
cbs notes: Pablo post AS .299 but only 5 HRs. Killing them from left side, way over .300
Blanco post AS .304 and over .300 in sept. Only in .230s on the road.
Craw over .400 in sept and .357 2 out RISP, til last AB. Hitting .228 at night.
Snarkk, cal picks off pass at 1 yd line to end half, up 28-6. Dykes first League W?
Hard to fathom, I didn’t see this coming. But, I’ll take it.
Dykes can’t sit on a lead, it’s go go go. He won’t take time off the clock with the run, or at least didn’t against NWestern, and that almost cost them the game. Need two more TDs to salt it…
Well, at least I stood up for the 9th
Pathetic take on third strike by a concussed pussy who supposedly who has a great eye at plate. This guy has everyone waiting 3 years to show something and Panik has shown more in 2 months.
hey, like I said, this was an *ODB* type of game. You’d prefer otherwise, right? Just seeing where you’re at. And your grammar either sucks or you’re drunk cause you said *who* too many times…
An homage to Abbott and Costello?
“Concussed Pussy” is so much better than “Baby Giraffe”.
Imagine all the new souvenirs they can come out with…
To paraphrase Lloyd bentson, I’ve known concussed pussies. Concussed pussies have been friends of mine. And let me tell you, Belt’s no concussed pussy
Agree ODB,Belt is totally loss at the plate, which makes the LU look even more feabile.You can’t look at strike 3 in that situation, just pathetic AB..
Flash in the Pan(ik), probably.
cbs numbers on Belt–10 of 11 HRs and 21 of 24 rbis on the road this year. Hmmnn.
I’m just afraid if they trade him somewhere he turns into George Foster or one of the other OF guys who raked once they left.
Matty Alou, who hardly ever played and they mostly used to pinch hit and drag bunt, once hit .342 for the Pirates few years after leaving.
Belt isn’t ready, he can’t be. Normally, you’d get a week’s stint in the minors on a rehab deal. They’ve just thrown him in there, why I dunno. It makes way more sense to play Ishi at 1b or in left. Anything to get Perez out of the LU, he’s worthless at the plate. Bochy is hard headed, I don’t see what Perez has earned in his time in the bigs to keep him in these games — he’s got no history of being able to hit MLB pitching. None. And, Susac needs to friggin play, get his bat in there. WTF is Bochy doing with these weakass lineups?…
Well, willied, Cal got 2 TDs and then some, still wasn’t enough. Sonny Dykes has no sense of game management, and the Cal defense is horrible. I said earlier the defensive backfield suxx, and it does. They have no clue how to defend the pass. Plus, how does a kid not know that if you deflect intentionally an onside kick out of bounds, that it’s a penalty? That’s on the Cal coaches. They should not have gone for the FG at the end, because a 5 point lead was meaningless with that Cal D. Horrible loss…
Yeah, I watched to the end. That will hurt, just needed one more stop. questionable last series, I would have just run it on 4th. Tough to score 45 in regulation and not be enough.
Last year my b-ball team won 4 of first 5 and then 8 of last 11. 2 of those last 11 were to team that won 14 in a row. Once they beat us by a basket, other time we went to OT and lost by 2 baskets.
But those L’s still bug me, cuz I know I could have done something to avoid them and kids would have loved it.
At least running game got going. #29 Khalfani Muhammad looked great, from Inglewatts, home of Laker coach Byron Scott. Always liked that guy, hope he survives down there.
Willie, I don’t have the pre-season magazines and my 2014 Baseball Prospectus book handy anymore; I gave them to other people after I’d read them. I do remember a couple of them had the Dodgers vs. the Angels in the World Series, so that’s still a possibility. A couple of the magazines had the Giants vs. the Braves in the Wild Card game. The Braves were a surprising disappointment this season. I remember one of the magazines had the Giants losing to the Dodgers in the NLCS. I vaguely remember one of the magazines had the Nationals vs. the Tigers in the World Series, so I’d say that, overall, the magazines still have a chance to look real good in their predictions when it’s all said and done.
Of course, there are miles to go in that whole story, and surprising things can still happen.
It would be wild if both the A’s and Mariners got the AL Wild Card spots, giving the West coast 5 playoff teams, half of the total.
Not ESPN’s ideal scenario.
I have been busy as hell, and read about half of today’s posts. Not sure what most Flappers are saying, but a couple of days ago, I said that I felt the Giants needed to go 5-2 against Dago. Well, dropping the first two doesn’t help that scenario much. I think they are done re: the division. Win one at a time and ensure the play-in game happens in our yard. If we have to play the Bucs in their house of horrors, I have little confidence the Giants win that game, regardless of who starts for us. What a frustrating couple of games, especially since the bums and bucs lost today, too. Fuck…
2:44PM here in Phenom Penh. I think everyone is in bed, except for Slapnicker. 🙂
Sunday night in China: Steve.. maybe everyone in bed except for your permanent Asia compatriot…. 🙂 A schedule maker’s delight: Giants and Dodgers fighting it out for the division at the end of the season (providing the Giants actually provide some “fight”). A schedule maker’s “oops”: Red Sox and Yankees to finish the season. Great on paper back in April…. 🙂
If even Cy Yus couldn’t get it done, what are the chances that Vogelscheiße might?
Giants season is ending with a whimper…….