Flag Up. Offense Down. RIP Lon.
I still can’t believe this Butler kid got into the 6th inning with 6 walks, one measly K and we still couldn’t scratch even a run off him. Whatever. Turn the page. Chris Heston was impressive. I liked his balanced make up, the movement on his pitches and as I said yesterday, he reminds me a little bit of John Burkett. There are worse guys he could remind me of.
That was the first time we got shut out in a home opener since….wait for it….1953! That’s hilarious.
Weird weather today. It’s cold and very breezy. High wind, even blowing out at ATT, doesn’t necessarily mean a bomb fest. Same thing in Oakland, by the way. I’d like a meteorologist to explain that to me…….
Yesterday’s ceremony was great and the only thing I would have liked to have seen would have been MadBum riding that fine steed faster and further. Still, nothing beats Brian Wilson taking off on a solo mission to the flag pole. I might need to go find that on youtube later today just to feel the buzz again…..
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Pete Rose turned 74 today. That seems high.
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signing in to post: There are a few guys still having problems and for that I’m sorry. I needed to make this change to lock out the dickless piece of shit pussies who have nothing better to do with their empty lives than post nonsense on the internet. The problem for a few of you seems to be wordpress and I don’t know what to tell you. There are 2 other posting options: facebook and twitter. You will need a valid email addy to sign up for either of those sites.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
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Zum, loved Crazy ’08, definitely good read. Great era for Cubs, 100 + years ago.
Lester with another less than stellar outing for this year’s Cubs, 10 hits 6 earned in 6 inning vs. Reds yesterday.
DBax Ender Inciarte, who I thought sucked last year, had 4 rbis 2 doubles a triple and an OF assist as they spanked Pads Andrew Cashner and pen for an 8-4 W. The DBax? Did Giants score 8 runs that entire series?
Mookie Betts pulled the Johnny Damon move yesterday on the Nats. Nats had the shift on with Ortiz at the plate and Betts on 1b. He took off for 2b, beat the throw for a stolen base. Desmond the SS (only guy that side of the bag) turned to show the ump he had the ball in his glove and Betts took off for 3b while the P tried to cover the bag but he couldn’t get there in time.
Wonder if that’s stuff teams work on in ST–different coverages with men on base if you use the shift vs. LH. Who takes throws/backs up on base hit through the shift or to any part of OF?
lol, I was wondering how he got 2 sb’s in that at bat. Thanks for sharing the details.
The Betts steal play vid is on cbs sports site. Nats protested call at both bags. Desmond might not have been only guy on that side of IF–someone else chased Betts as he ran to 3b.
Pete Rose was a guy I really liked when he first started with the Reds. His running mate at top of LU was Tommy Harper, another great in Reds pipeline from Oakland that included Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson and Curt Flood, who signed with them first.
I liked the Reds of the 60s who had exciting players, including the young Gary Nolan who once K’d Willie Mays 4 times in a game I listened to. And of course ’70s brought the Sparky led Machine.
But Rose is just a dickhead, endlessly promoting himself still all these years later. So many of former HOF guys from his era handle themselves with class.
Can’t remember who wrote about it, but there is tons of Rose stuff in the HOF. What he did was wrong and inexcusable, and of course trying to weasel his way out of it by lying about it all those years was wrong too.
I still have a baseball autographed by Pete Rose in the mid-1970s. I lost my Johnny Bench autograph at some point. A friend of mine shot some 8 millimeter film footage of the Reds and Giants during pre-game warmups in ’76 or so. He got the film developed, then one night he showed the film in his backyard, using a wall of the house as a big screen. It looked awesome. In its own way, it was way cooler than anything people are doing now with their digital devices.
One of the best moments in the film was Rose and a few other guys having a lively game of pepper. Remember pepper?! Do any pro players even play that anymore?
Yeah, I’ve seen pepper prior to games . . . However, I bet NO ONE plays pickle anymore at that level. Too dangerous (groin pulls, concussions from balls, etc.). I use to love pickle when I was a kid, because I was fairly fast . . . Today, I could probably ONLY do it in a wheel chair. 🙂
Great poem posted by Pawlie yesterday. I’m still working on getting perspective on what the Giants accomplished in the 3-in-5. It hadn’t been done in the NL since the Cardinals in the 1940s, and those Cards were aided by teams being depleted during WWII.
Even the mighty Big Red Machine, although winning back-to-back, was not able to get a 3rd one during their era.
The thing with Rose is, if he had only bet on games he wasn’t a part of, it would have just been a one year suspension, The dude gambled on that clause and lost, but I still feel he belongs in the Hall. IMO being “declared permanently ineligible” for baseball activities shouldn’t wipe out past achievements and statistics.
Agree Bozo. Hall Of Farce has far worse “low life” then Rose there, e.g., Cobb. Personally, I could give a rat’s ass who is in there now. Such a sham.
I’m against him being in the HOF unless they want to change the rule on lifetime banishment for gambling on the game. Then I could support it. But here’s the deal, there is a shitload of Pete Rose stuff already in the Hall. Bats, balls, jerseys, all sorts of shit. The only place he’s absent is in the *bust* section, or whatever that section is called. So to me, he’s already in the HOF.
Dude, I just spent about a half hour coming up with an argument for Rose and in the end I wrote how I hated arguing for him because I never liked the guy. So I deleted the whole thing. On to other battles, like the crossword puzzle.
Rose is a dick but I believe there is no allegation he bet on baseball as a player. He was never a hall of fame manager but nobody can take away his hall of credentials as a player…put him in and don’t give him an induction ceremony…
I agree John. IMO, Rose belongs in the hall (inducted with a bust). Shit, I seriously doubt that anyone will ever beat his hits record. That alone should put him in the hall…regardless of this betting shenanigans.
But I agree too with Blade that the hall of sham is a farce, so I could really give a damn in the grand scheme of things.
Hey there Flap Universe – as expected, the Giants did a bang-up job with the ceremony yesterday. Too bad the Giant’s bats couldn’t have also did a similar bang-up job. I posted a few picts to FB yesterday, but all pre-ceremony, until I can sort through my picts.
I went straight to a Bruce Hornsby show in Folsom after the game, and my daughter dropped me to meet Gail at 7:50 for an 8 o’clock show. Solo show…it was decent. He did play a couple of Dead tunes, so that was very cool.
Got home after 11…long ass day. Anyway, the Giants were flat yesterday (sans the pitching by Heston). Frustrating to see so many runners left on/ISP. Oh well, it is early. Wash that shit off and get ’em today.
Okay, not that I am superstitious or anything, but I think we need a new BBOTD to help pull the team out of its early season doldrums.
Yeah. Kinda forgot about her. Will address later today
Regarding Rose, look, either have the rule or get rid of it. But to have the rule and then go, “but this rule applies to everyone but Rose” is just dumb. Like I said, I’d support a rule change that gives the comish some flexibility. Till then I’m fine with them keeping Rose out for life
Oh, sleazy Pete will get in to the HOF. Unfortunately for him, he has to die first.
The betting was bad enough. But the 14 years of throwing everyone close to him under the bus, and only coming clean to shill his book is just beyond disgusting. Fuck him. Great player but a monumental idiot. If Shoeless Joe ain’t in, neither should Pete the cheat.
Not to mention sleazeballs who get their “best friend” to do their time for them.
In regards to Willie’s 7:54 (wondering if teams work on certain things in ST), I mentioned the Giants being “flat” yesterday. This, not only in their inability to get a hit with RISP, but also just basic mental mistakes. The classic was (cannot recall the inning) where a dying quail was hit by the Rox into shallow center. Pagan, Craw, and Panik all try to make a play, the ball falls for a hit, and there was NO ONE to cover 2nd. That was just Bad News Bears bad baseball. It is one thing to get shut-out because your bats are dead, but to fuck-up on basic fundamentals like that is just inexcusable. I would be surprised if Bochy did not have some words for the boys yesterday after the game.
And here’s the other thing: even if he’s reinstated there’s no way the writers vote him in until MAYBE he’s dead. All it would do is allow him to make a better living by being able to be more closely associated with the game. Do any of you really give a shit about Pete Rose making more dough to lose on the ponies? I don’t
I don’t give a rat’s ass about Rose, but I do believe that on his merits as a player, and owning the all-time hit record, that he belongs in the hall. If you look at that list:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/H_career.shtml
There is no way in hell anyone breaks that record anytime soon, if ever at all.
So, if it takes a change of rules, etc., so be it…I just believe Rose deserves to be in the hall for his accomplishments as a player. Outside of that, I could give a fuck about him, what he does, etc.
Pete Rose, I hate you.
OK I guess the reason I think he should be an eligible candidate for the Hall is mainly because the HOF bills itself as an independent museum. Their Board of Directors made the rules for election, not (supposedly) MLB. Their rule that “Any player on Baseball’s ineligible list shall not be an eligible candidate” is from them and doesn’t seem to adhere to their mission statement http://baseballhall.org/Support/Mission, The part about “…honoring those who have made outstanding contributions to our national pastime” and the fact that they are supposed to be independent from MLB is what gets me.
Fucking hipocrites.
If the Dogs or Pads were 7-1, I think many of us would be in panic mode, whether or not we would care to admit it. As it stands, no one in this division is wanting to pull a Justin Spieth and go wire to wire. The crazy thing is, the beginning of this season doesn’t feel much different from any of the past five.
At this stage, given how up-in-the-air our starting rotation has been (Cain on DL, Peavy hurt and questionable off-and-on, etc.), and the offense floundering, and to be only 2.5 out I am not worried. And even if any of the “newly improved” clubs (bums, friars) were 7-1, I would not be in panic mode. Why? Remember last year when our boys got off to a scorching hot start? Well, even with all that, they snuck-into the playoffs as a WC at the end of the season. This just goes to show that the season in loooong, and a lot can happen. Regardless, with EVERY game this month in-division, it would be nice to see the boys play competitively and stay close.
Pete’s never been a good looking guy but I agree he doesn’t look 74. I used to work with a guy who looked a lot like Rose. We would kid him about his resemblance until one day we found out that he had a cleft lip as a kid and later had plastic surgery to repair it. Shit, did we feel terrible for it. That lasted all of five minutes, the time it took for him to tell us he was kidding. He was as big a prick as Pete Rose, just uglier.
The Nat’s Dan Uggla experiment at second base is going about as well as expected with a .111 average, no walks and five strikeouts.
In reaction, Yogi said, “It’s like deja-vu all over again.”
Last chance to bid for those turnstiles Dawg and Magnus . . . $460.00. Yikes!
http://auctions.mlb.com/iSynApp/allAuction.action?sid=1101001&rc=25&pgcust1=CANDLESTICK&pgcust2=key_search&pgcust3=panname_keyword_s&queryTokenList%5b0%5d.type=fieldmatch&queryTokenList%5b0%5d.name=panname_keyword_s&queryTokenList%5b0%5d.value1=%20CANDLESTICK&queryTokenList%5b0%5d.value2&partnerId=ed-9104468-790846003
Let the debate begin, Pete the cheat or Barry Steroid boy Bonds? As Flav pointed out about Rose, Barry has tons of shit already in the Hall, but he will not be getting in anytime soon.
How many convicted felons are in the Hall?
Like Bonds was the ONLY fucking player juicing. I really do not give a rats ass about it all. Hell, back in the 60s it was “greenies” and amphetamines. Players have been trying to get an advantage since the beginning of the game. Bonds was a HOF talent BEFORE his melon swelled to vast proportions. Dude should have been 1st ballot HOF. Fuck that sham.
So, if everybody else does it, it’s OK? And then it’s OK to perjure yourself about it? Perhaps he should have quit when he was ahead, instead of disqualifying himself.
It’s only been 26 years since the Dodgers were in the World Series. No reason to be so bitter, Gap.
You appear to have mastered the non sequitur.
You appear to have seen your time here run out.
The Hall has controversy regarding players in or not in, but it’s also important to remember that it’s a terrific baseball museum and research center. Its massive collection of documents and photos, alone, have been a huge resource for baseball books and articles.
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Yeah, regarding the NL West, the most important thing is for the Giants to remain relatively close to LA and SD until Pence gets back. Don’t let anybody run away with the division early, while the Giants play under-manned.
one of the KNBR guys (Ray Woodson) had a good idea the other day: he suggested that they create an announcer museum at AT&T– you go in, flip on the head phones and you can listen to all the great calls from Giants history. Maybe you plug in your own headphones. I don’t want to be sharing headphones with the dipshits in front of and behind me. But either way, I thought that was an awesome idea.
Looking at picks of the Coachella music fest, the lead singer for Jungle is wearing a Giants jersey
The Dodgers’ starting pitcher tonight is David Huff, a guy the Giants released at some point. Small world in baseball sometimes.
Nice start for the Braves, 6-1, with a 4 game lead over the Nats. The Nats seem like a team that doesn’t even realize the season has started.
Pablo got hit in the foot and left the game for those still interested in his doin’s
The Nats gave Boston 3 unearned runs with atrocious fielding. And Bryce “Where’s my ring?” Harper is hitting .219, striking out 3 times today.
Read this book to learn about all the skeletons in the HoF’s closet. Scary revealing:
http://www.amazon.com/Cooperstown-Confidential-Heroes-Rogues-Baseball/dp/B004Q3Q3TY
The entire enterprise really is a hypocritical scam, not only because of the players that ARE in the Hall, but for those who were excluded, namely the great Negro League players. Very interesting read.
Ted Williams was instrumental in getting Negro leagues players in the Hall. Williams could be a jerk in other ways, but on this issue he was solid gold.
Way too late for a lot of them. A real black mark on baseball history, no pun intended.
Thanks Lurker J – I’m interested enough to check that one out.
Cheers.
Bochy is giving Buster a rest tonight. Yikes.
The HOF is a private enterprise and a 501(C)(3). It’s not run by MLB.
Hell, we all could contribute $10 and start our own Flap HOF, and vote anybody we want into it, and invite the guys we vote in (that are still alive) to an annual HOFlapalooza at ATT, or some hall down the street. We invite 200 paying customers, have some speeches, drinks, a great time, and make some money to boot.
I guarantee the guys we vote in make more aggregate sense than the ones voted in by the past and present idiotic BBWAA, including that genius voter Anne Killion, who voted for 4 players the last time out, along with the morons who turn in vote cards with no votes on them.
On one hand, I’ve been adamant about keeping Rose out of the HOF because of betting. On the other, it’s become such a joke, whythehell not? We start the Flap HOF, you guys vote him in, he’ll show up at HOFlapalooza to score some autograph fees. He/we get the media attention, everybody wins. He and Bonds can be in the first class of modern era inductees. And, we keep Joe Morgan conspicuously out, just to piss him off, since he constantly wants to pull up the ladder to that other HOF…
I’m down with all of this. Nice post.
lol, this sounds perfect. I’ll get my people on this immediately.
Nobody’s going to confuse the Giants’ lineup tonight with the ’27 Yankees.
Cano with 2 run bomb, Huff off to a good start.
I was surprised to see Huff was the starter. With their gazillion dollar payroll, and that’s who they started tonight.
Cano with a 2-run HR vs. the Dodgers. Let’s see if the Mariners can hold a lead. They blew a 4-0 lead against the Dodgers last night.
Lets hope Zito….oops I mean Hudson can go longer than 4 innings
Nelson Cruz goes yard against the Dodgers.
they need to pull that dude.
He’s a Dodger, but I like Kendrick. He just seems like a hard-nosed old-school player. A secondbaseman like Kent: a solid, if unspectacular, defender, and good pop in the bat. A secondbaseman you can bat clean-up. He’s a free agent after this season, so he might be a one-and-done with the Dodgers.
totally agree.
I didn’t see it, but Miller basically is dumping on Hector for not catching that wild pitch. Regardless of this one, Hector’s plate defense is an issue that seemingly won’t go away…
That was all on Hudson. Would have been perfect if this guy was announcing it:
Harry Doyle: [Vaughn is coming out to pitch] So, here is Rick Vaughn, the one they call the “Wild Thing”. So, he sets and deals.
[Vaughn throws a wild pitch]
Harry Doyle: Just a bit outside, he tried the corner and missed.
[Vaughn throws another wild pitch]
Cruz has been on fire. That’s 5 dingers in 4 games I believe. Meanwhile, Time Hudson looks 40.
Is there a target date for Pence’s return?
Tomorrow I hope.
Why don’t they leave that poor little girl in the pink alone. She doesn’t want to be on fuckin’ camera. Do they have to torture her?
Damn good catch by Pagan…
This is my biggest problem with the HOF: “Daddy, where’s the guy who had more hits than anyone, ever?” “Uh… he’s not here.” “Daddy, where’s the guy who hit more homeruns ever in a season and a lifetime?” “Uh…. stop asking so many questions, kid”…. As for our SF Giants, the lack of production over the past handful of games is somewhat to be expected, with Pence and Belt out (and McGiggles, I suppose); difficult to “not miss a beat” when 3 starters are out of the lineup. Trouble is, there was no *beat* established yet this season. Can only hope the beat comes back when those players do. Pence isn’t always a hot hitter out of the gate, yet the team really does need him. 2 or 3 more weeks of little offense is feeling like a LONG time….
Reading the Sac bee, I don’t care if it is only 8 games, the Giants have loaded the base 6 times, and have not scored once in those 6 times!! That’s is just plain awful!
I have to agree, that is a bad stretch. Time to change it up tonight, Giants.
Could be a record…
Get some of those runs back, Giants.
Why is Sanchez in there?
Posey first day off. He had to play 1b couple times once Belt went down.
Loo, last I read Pence can’t even put his glove on his left hand yet, nor swing a bat.
Even if he were cleared in a week, figure rehab ABs in Sac, not back in LU before May 1.
Kendrick is large upgrade over Gordon, and I think this a move orchestrated by Mattingly to get more of his type of players on the team, and less of Kemp/Hanley.
Thanks, willie.
The Giants organist gives me a fuckin’ headache…
The Giants’ offense gives me a fuckin’ headache.
lol
Dang. This is now entering Stupidville.
Snarkk, I like your HoF idea (as deemed by the Flap). No one’s ever given me a good explanation as to why having bloody sports writers decide who gets in is a good idea. In keeping with the theme, I’d vote for the Hac Man to be one of the first 10 to get in. Just because.
Unfortunately, Bozo, it’s reminding me way too much of last June and July when they sunk like a stone in the standings…. Well, we all know how that ended up, so we have all learned that patience is key with this team, as the patient are often rewarded. But these are the kinds of games (and stretches of games) that I don’t know how Bochy can take it, standing there watching a futile offense. Someone really needs to kick it into gear already.
Paulinasia, “Well, we all know how that ended up”, as they say in New Orleans, yeah you right!
Gotta give Huddy credit. He looked like ass early in the game, but he’s kept it close and just like that he’s through 7. Not that it looks like keeping it close is going to help him, but good job anyway.
Snarkk: If we’re gonna have a Hall of Fame, we’re gonna need a turnstile….right?
I know just the place. $510 and its ours!
WTG sandog, that cracked me up.
The putrid offense has overshadowed (and caused me to almost forget) Hudson’s very good 7 innings. He deserves better.
Overall the pitching has not been pretty good, keeping the team in these games, other than Bum’s rare bad outing and Voggie’s beating. A few more timely hits here and there and the team could be looking at 6-3 instead of 3-6….
Big oops, forgot to take out the “not” …. the pitching has indeed been fairly good.
Jesus, great catch.
We scored a run!
Looks like I picked the right night to catch a movie. Saw It Follows with my son and daughter #1. Pretty good flick with a few scary moments. Funny thing is it’s a very telling homage to 70s horror flicks without the heavy gore factor.
Holy crap. Another sleepy game for this team. Don;t know the LOB tonight, but I’d imagine it was high? Or did Cy Youg du jour shout us down again?
And one week in and Posey needs a day off? How old is he?
Posey’s played first several games, he hasn’t even caught every game, yet needs a day off already. Well, I guess it’s a long term thing. Still early, but they better stop this skid pretty soon. You don’t want to go 7-16 in April…
Last year’s great start into early June was so fine…. which made the near-collapse in June/July almost unbearable to watch. I’m ok with a slow start this season, providing it’s followed by another 42-21 run…. 🙂
I think this post game shit in front of the fans is played out. Listen to these fucking idiots.
The radio guys used to do the highlights first, then the post-game “wrap” BS. Now, they’ve reversed it, Miller does the highlights at the end. Kuip must want to get the feedbag and a beer on as early as possible…
I was talking about the crowd.