Road Warriors
I am totally fine with a road wild card game. I think I almost prefer it. AT&T has been a gorilla on the back of our team for going on 2 years now. I’m not talking so much about our home record which is ok (although much better in years past). I’m talking about the general malaise that oozes from the crowd with each failed at bat. It’s just a drag, man. We don’t need that negativity for a game like this.
If we’re on the road and go a few innings without hitting I feel like we have a better chance to *bat out of it* than if we were at home stuck in that quicksand vibe that you know we would be getting from our fans. Don’t get me wrong, Giants fans are great–as long as the Giants are winning. When there’s adversity, I’ll give them credit, they don’t storm the exits. But they don’t do too much to help, either. They usually go straight for their cell phones or the garlic fries. And there is a lot of *crowd sighs* every time one of our players strike out. Ten thousand A’s fans make more noise than 40,000 Giants fans. It’s true.
And I just don’t think that’s what a weak hitting team like ours needs right now……
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Bum going, I don’t care where the game is played.
Giants hitters I think are way more comfortable on road, though PNC isn’t a hitters yard.
Last time I checked Posey was at .267 at home….310 for the season, so doing the math he must be raking on the road. Without looking it up I’d imagine most other regs are too.
Posey, btw, is 4th in the NL for batting avg. Only 6 guys over .300.
Only 2 hitters in all of NL with more than 30 HRs. Lucas Duda is tied for 3rd best in the league with 28,
Maybe they need to lower the mound again. But good luck trying to find hitters in off season; front line pitching seems much more available.
NL just seems so riddled with mediocrity this year any team in it can win it, and likely next year too.
In East, Braves have same record as Mets and Marlins, 77-83. None of those teams or the Phils seem able to challenge Nats next year without big upgrades to talent level and are more prone to dump salary than acquire it.
Central is tougher, but Brewers don’t impress me and Reds are done as contenders. Reds have all 4 SPs as FAs in a year and big contracts to Votto and Phillips, so couple of those are probably traded for younger cheaper less skilled. Cubs lost couple SPs out of rotation and another year or two away.
West should still be 2 team race. LA is tough, but the other teams have a lot of work to do to challenge. Pads aren’t spending any money, Rocks pitching is awful, DBax have Golds and not much else on the field. They might wheel and deal but they do that every year and go nowhere.
I really don’t think SF future is at all bleak. They dealt with a lot of stuff this year and have come out stronger with additions of Peavy Panik Susac Strickland and have solid core. Imo they have less worries than most teams.
I agree completely Flav. Let the Pirates and Cards wear themselves out over the next couple of days fighting for the division. That gives us four days to rest our regulars, especially the critical guys in the pen. This team has proven that the road is not a bad place to be, especially during the post season.
I’m OK with Bum on the road, but if it’s PNC, that’s not good. I’ll hope, but the Giants do not do well there. If they happen to get out of it alive, I think they have a shot v. the Nats. Nats put the division away a long time ago, and records show that early division winners don’t necessarily do all that well with the “rest”. More like “rust”…
Heading off to the Cal game v. Colorado, and against the HCoach they should have gotten. We’ll see if they get ahead early, how fast they can blow a big lead. This is one of the few Pac12 games they have a real shot to win. There’s not a much better sports experience than a fall afternoon football game at Strawberry Canyon. The stadium is terrific now, though in big time debt. Go Bears!…
The other night, maybe Thursday, the latte-sippers were so quiet they allowed the drunks and their stupid, shrill comments to prevail. Yeah, it is spooky quiet at down times. Hey, I be going to Pittsburgh, at this point.
We’ve not done well at PNC, including that walk-off CHAL loss. Clunk. But honestly I don’t any of that means anything to the players. All the marbles. Looking into tix. I may go solo.
If these 3 things don’t happen, SF wins:
-Blanco with a gaffe in the field or base paths
-Belt with a called third strike in a two out two on situation
-Romo giving up a big fly to McCutcheon
Before Romo goes into a game at Pnc, I want Dunston to give him a pep talk…
On the BART to the Cal game. Lots of Orange and Black headin to the game…
It’s a crapshoot. I’m wearing orange and black sneakers. It helps my mood.
With posey nursing a stiff back, and this type of thing happening on a regular basis, the prospect of him changing positions soon seems even more a no brainer…
Snarkk you get your brown start today. Pence sitting.
Enjoy the Bears game (36 Pts in the 4th quarter?????)
Wow I would be shocked if Pence doesn’t start, he has the most consecutive game streak going, he’s probably gonna go up to Boch and give him is Fuck that speech!
I called for pence to sit since a few weeks ago and I said the other day that his streak meant Bupkus. Bochy showing leadership and smarts by sitting him – there’s no reassign to play him now when he’s 4 for 50 or whatever it is. Brown gets to show why he supposedly sux …
Depending on how severe Russell Martin’s pulled hammy turns out to be, Giants may have caught a HUGE break – Martin has been clutch down the stretch for the Bucs.
Peavy is going to hoist all the scrubinis on his shoulders today and lead them to victory!!
🙂
I’d like to dive upon Amy’s G-spot
DJ loo and I’m guessing PK will really enjoy this post. ODB, you aren’t usually this clever. What gives? Someone hack into your account? Maybe one of the roomies in your mom’s basement?
It’s a fantastic title for those segments or any show she does. Like Kiner’s Korner.
Heston tomorrow…
Bears down 28-14 at half. Stadium is half full, which is appropriate as Bears have played half-assed…
great 75 yd TD to tie it from Goff, put it right in receiver’s hands and he outran his man to the end zone.
Tie game!
And 1 Snarkk! Man, they just score so quickly the colo has couple minutes left to tie it.
Kudos to Brown for that 2 for 4 afternoon. Could be he just supplanted Perez on the depth-chart. Also hats off to Strickland. He’s an easy replacement for Romo, particularly price-wise, but also because of comparative heat-charts. Brandon’s 3 Padres one in RBI’s. Belt has heated up nicely since his return and Crawdaddy, mostly batting 8th, is now at 69 RBI’s and absolutely must start tomorrow so he has a shot at 70. That level is rare for #8 hitters in the NL.
Why risk injury for a shot at a meaningless round number?
Catcher injury risk i could understand your point, but shortstop? Usually SS gets the most generally nimble and athletic player in the bunch AND foul-tips to the mask rarely trouble them.
I don’t get the obsession with round numbers except maybe 100, sometimes 50, and occasionally 20…
A most meaningful personal start tomorrow for Chris Heston. He had a not spectacular but definitely decent season at Fresno this year and so far has outpitched his fellow Fresno alumni starter Mike Kickham both there and here. So good luck to Heston tomorrow. His start could have some determination as to whether the trainbust feel they need to pick up one or two starters in the off-season. A quality start for the kid tomorrow and he may be in consideration as a #5.
Outpitching Mike Kickham is like outhitting Juan Perez…
So kickham when he’s down, already.
I nominate ODB for troll POTD. Regardless of how I feel about this POS, that line was funny. In Luang Prabang, Laos now (got in last night). Shangri Fucking La to the max. I have my own personal bungalow on the river. Nice. Go Giants! 🙂
Blade, you at Le Bel Air?
Grin . . . Dunno. Actually, the hotel name is sort of funny – Thongbay Guest House . . . Trip advisor link . . .http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g295415-d642634-Reviews-Thongbay_Guesthouse-Luang_Prabang_Luang_Prabang_Province.html
Damn Salty, while at the tripadvisor site, I saw the hotel you just mentioned . . . Which leads me to my next question – Have you been to Luang Prabang? Details please . . .
No, never been to SE Asia. I’m intriqued now.
I thought they released Heston last yr. Did he go unclaimed and return?
Fan who caught Konerko’s grand slam ball in ’05 W.S., gave it to him before tonight’s game. Same guy caught a PK foul ball tonight. Crazy.
Another interesting point today’s game brings to mind. Crowd was ecstatic when Brown laid down that bunt for his first ML hit. He followed it later with the infield single. Kid has wheels. If my memory glands aren’t slipping too badly i believe Brett Butler is tied in with some other organization, otherwise he would be my pick to spend several weeks with Brown on two skills he developed to near perfection ~ bunting and reading pitchers moves in order to steal bases. At Fresno this season Brown essentially went kiss your sister in SB situations with little if any better than a 2-1 advantage ratio on SBs vs CSs.
Point is this: A top-knotch bunter and SB expert could make all the difference as to whether Brown ever earns his First Rounder bonus and contributes to SF next season ~ almost certainly his dernier cri with this club. Giants were perilously close to the bottom of the league scrotum pole in base thefts this season. Picture a perfectly coached and highly motivated Brown making the team out of ST and gradually making his way into the L.U. on a fairly steady basis as a leadoff man who bunts, runs out slap hits and steals bases in a way that El Tiburon Blanco does not seem to have the mental or psychological tools to ever successfully do.
A Gary Brown who could hit, say .275 with an OBP of .325 and was a constant threat to successfully steal, followed by Joe Panik and then Brandon Belt could make for a very productive top third of the order. It would be speed, savvy and slashing slugger for starters ~ just about the ideal array.
Salty: Think your recall about the drop and the repick on Heston is correct. It had slipped my mind and you refreshed the memory. Likely the reason the team let Chris go was that they felt at the time that they had so much quality pitching in the pipeline that they had dropped him so far down the depth-chart they felt he was superfluous. Ha, ha. You can never have too much pitching depth. Heston is not the flashy type, but he usually seems to get the job done ~ hopefully tomorrow too. Generally that type of hurler is not one of your run of the mill good stuff but brain-dead sort.
“Rajai Davis left Saturday’s game with a grade 1 pubic symphysis sprain and will be reevaluated Sunday.”
fucking OUCH! lqtm
Does that mean he caught some pubes in his zipper? Oh owie.
lol, the Cardinals suck. Enjoy going all out tomorrow and burning your best pitcher because you couldn’t beat fucking Arizona after Pitt gift wrapped the division for you. Too funny.
Yep, Cards got Trumbo’d.
that’s why I’m not sweating the 1 game WC. Anything can happen in one game. And I’ll take my team, many of who know what a playoff atmosphere is, how to handle it, how to prepare for one game, etc…
Cards heimliched a 3 run lead in 9th last night by Neshek before winning it in extras.
It’s not just the Giants that do these things
Agree, Craig. I completely trust this team, managed by this manager, to get it done, in Pittstown, in St. Loogy, wherever…
Crazy game at Cal today, absolutely no defense, a track meet…
Wow, just saw the score. 49-all before they even got to OT.
Fun ending too Cal stopped them at goal line and then hit a FG to win it 59-56.
Happy ride home for Snarkk!
Yep, craZy game but will take a win. Walked to my buddy’s house on the north side and had dinner and a few Lagunitas IPA after the game. Not a bad day….
As Baggs pointed out on Twitter, gotta favor the Cards to win the Central with Wainwright going, although they could already have it clinched if the Pirates lose to Cueto and the Reds.
Stick, wouldn’t hold my breath on Gary Brown, but I will say opportunity is there given state of Giants OF. .325 OB is worse than Blanco, so that wouldn’t help SF much; .345 would be optimal. Word has been the kid is hard headed, so if he actually does have a clue and would listen to someone who knows the game, maybe he could improve his SB pct.
If you are only at 60 some pct. in AAA, it’s gonna be a lot harder at next level, where most pitchers and all the Cs are more proficient. Some guys just don’t have the total package (athleticism and smarts) it takes to advance to next level but it’s good Brown is here and gets an idea of how ml players act…so maybe he can finally actually be one next year.
What made Brett Butler a great leadoff hitter wasn’t just the bunts — a much bigger factor was his patience at the plate. He drew a shitload of walks, unlike Pagan, who is basically a hacker with a pretty low OBP for a lead off hitter. And Butler was a terrible base stealer who would have been even more effective with a no bunt, no base-stealing manager like Bochy.
Meanwhile, M’s get walk-off win in 11th to stay alive for final AL WC spot.
I have zero clue on playoff roster rules. Is the first game different? 25 man like reg season? How often and when can it be adjusted? After Sept 1 call ups not eligible right? So who does that leave off? When must this be announced?
I don’t think anyone knows.
I think they make this shit up as they go along.
Funny, Flav, watching baseball in the 80s and 90s, my mantra always was 8,000 Candlestick fans were louder than 40,000 A’s fans. Every A;s game I’ve ever been to, Dot Racing got the loudest cheers all game. And this was during the Bash Bros heyday.
In the parking lot at Levi Stadium turnt up with my kids @menace and my awesome football loving daughter Callie,Dogs and burgers apertizers beers&alcohol,until we are sitting in our FOURTH ROW BABY!!!
Who’s driving?