Time For a Win
Losing 3 straight to the Cubs isn’t really the problem. It’s only 3 games. It’s HOW we are losing them. Basically, they are kicking our ass. Luck has not been beating us. They’ve been hitting better, they’ve been pitching better. The only thing we’ve been doing better is “Brandon Crawfording” them. He’s been brilliant, especially in the field. If it weren’t for him, the score differential would be much worse. They’ve scored first in every game. We’ve led for exactly one inning of one game (yesterday we led 2-1 in the 2nd inning, they jumped back ahead 3-2 the next inning).
So *Summer’s Warning Track* or whatever you want to call it has not started out well for us. There is no end to this any time soon. It’s going to be one tough series after another with very few days off. Our pitching is littered with question marks. Angel Pagan can barely still play baseball. We have several very good players and a team I trust implicitly in terms of chemistry, focus and experience.
The weather sucks in Chicago today, could take a while to get this one in…….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Yeah, big holes right now with injuries (Pagan, Panik) and shaky pitching, plus the tough August schedule everyone’s been talking about. The tough schedule doesn’t end on August 31st, either… there’s not a “comfortable” stretch of home series until Sept. 10th. If this team is going to make a run at 4 in 6, they’re going to do it on the road, against good teams, plugging holes as they go. It can be done: I think it was in 2010, the team kind of stumbled thru August and Bochy started talking wildcard, not division, by the end of August, with just September to play. Of course, San Diego choked with that 10-game losing streak in September. Giants might need that kind of help from someone again. Just get thru August within spittin’ distance and have an exciting September. Giddyup, boys….
The Dodgers are in an iffy position themselves with their pitching and scoring, so I don’t think they run away with anything. We just can’t afford to fall back 3 or 4 more games. We get a shitload of division games in Seeptember so we just have to take care of bidness
Peavy had his best start of the season against Atlanta (granted, a small sample size considering how little he has played this season). I was shocked he had 8 SOs in that game – not certain, but I think that’s the most he has had as a Gman. As has been the case with most recent games, the bullpen blew it for him.
Today, if he face plants; the bullpen face plants and fill in the blank(s) face plants . . . Well, let’s not go there. 🙂
Going into the series i envisioned a split, with Heston and Leake as the likely winners. Well that didn’t happen for two reasons: Heston basically lost command and control and we saw Vogie rather than our newbie. My further thoughts were that Cain most likely would gain an “L” and Peavey could go either way. So we’re down to that 50-50 shot today.
With that magical synergy between Panik and Duffy missing half of its energy, the Duffster ain’t ;producing either. Add Pagan and his problems to the blend and no wonder the finely-tuned machine is stuttering and sputtering. Anybody keeping track of exactly how many games this season the entire lineup has been present and accounted for? Lack of solid depth has hurt this team badly. Waiver wire time.
This road trip has been pretty much a “Faceplant”
Yeah we have the 2 Jakes going today, Peavy&Arrieta hoping for a good game and not another face plant..
BTW..Arrieta has a nice run of 7 straight quality starts, time to end that one hopefully…
No Pagan hallelujah…
Aoki lF
BlancoCF
Duffy 3B
Posey C
Pence RF
Belt 1B
Crawford SS
OOO 2B
Peavy P
Chuck’s note about LA prompted me to look at their stats for the first time in a while. Rather than getting a big name, the Latos pick up looks a lot like a Sabes move, a complementary addition of someone who’s probably better than he appears on the face of it. Latos had very impressive numbers in Cincy before the injury, and his WHIP has still been ok this year. He’s as good a gamble as Mike Leake. They also have the two best starters in the NL, and another ok lefty in Anderson.
On the offensive side, AGon and Ethier have been their old dude versions of Panik and Duffy. It’s really too bad they have played so well.
I don’t see them running away from SF, either, but the SPs look as good as ever, even without Ryu.
The team must be looking forward to returning home to this:
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/saunders/article/San-Francisco-s-summer-of-urine-and-6430084.php
I don’t give a shit about how LA is doing or any other team. If we aren’t playing well, if we aren’t winning lots of games, it doesn’t matter how they are doing.
Agree…
The Monday off will help, but they need to get their shit together on this home stand coming up..
Sure, but if SF plays like shit for a while and the other team doesn’t, that could ruin everyone’s September. And I have tickets for 9/12, and plan to go to the 8/31 game in LA.
Might not get many opportunities against Arrieta, they just wasted one.
20 pitches. 2 batters. 1 out. That’s your giants replay.
Looks like our starter’s on another 4-inning pace.
Déjà vu.
Mrs wisco: “bochy has to be so tired of this”. Peavy will be bear down to get through five. Just what the BP needs.
Have to bear down. Not the other thing.
Haven’t heard a peep about Lincecum in ages…
Looks like they’re going to hide him on the DL until Sept.
38 pitches, but only 1 run.
brutal inning,how he only gave up one run is beyond me.
So 38 pitch inning..check
Not long for this game..check
Bullpen getting hammered again… check..
Unlike the other SF starters I’ve seen this series, Peavey deserved a better first inning. He didn’t throw 38 pitches because he was sucking.
jesus, now the pitcher almost goes yard for a triple, guess it’s the right move the Cubs batting their pitchers 8th..
Sad news: Frank Gifford passed away.
Our pitcher: 12 pitches per out.
Their pitcher: 3.5 pitches per out
Sigh.
Triple for the pitcher. Maybe it will start raining soon.
I like to follow what the Dodgers are doing pretty closely. The yin/yang of the rivalry is interesting and intense. Part of baseball’s ability to create novel-length storylines.
My daughter says Peavy looks like one of the characters from Walking Dead, which seems apropos.
Cubs look like they are in a whole other class than us. Yeah, it’s only three games, probably four … against the team we are trying to catch for the last and final playoff spot … and who cares what LA does? If we care little enough and they manage to suck worse than us we may wake up in first place … I doubt it,,but it could happen.
Gas in the bullpen? How about a starter or two who can hit 95-6 like Arrieta. That would be a lot more useful.
I have a few friends that are Cubs fans, and they are letting me know what’s up.
‘1908’ oughta settle that.
So much for Pagan’s day off.
We’re battling. Arrietta up to almost 4 pitches per out.
Man I hope Aoki will be alright, looked mostly square on the SF label, but a concussion could still result for sure,Jesus that’s all the Giants need now..
Irony or what? Aoki HBP, two on, then two line-outs. Baseball gods definitely not smiling on the Giants today. Vegas would have given some helluva odds on that combination of events folding out in one inning. Peavy will need to persevere…and persevere..and
Well he’s down to 8 pitches per out.
I think most of are pitching staff have been preserved past the expiration date Stix..
Peavy better buzz somebody next inning…
And that might save a little on the pitch count.
Peavy is obligated to knock Arrieta on his ass.
Fuck the score.
This would be a great time to have a comeback win. Maybe pagan is the key?
Loo, that columnist you referenced is pretty much lone one on Chron that is solid red state Fox News type.
Most of SF and surrounding counties pretty solid blue state demos so she stands out like sore thumb.
She rarely makes much sense to me, but today actually wasn’t bad, tho no one has been able to do much about homeless in SF for a long time. I doubt think cops she rode around with have much of a plan either.
I don’t live or visit there often so maybe to others that do it’s more noticeable. Traffic parking and how much it costs to live and eat there more of a concern.
Watching Affeldt hit 92 on the radar gun, brought to mind this hypothetical: If you were forced to go into next season with Bum, Heston, Leake, Peavey, and Cain or the current bullpen (which doesn’t include Osich), which would you choose?
Bum is something that can be built upon. We go into next Spring Training with Bum one of the few sure things. There will be a lot of changes next season, no doubt. Maybe we get Greinke in the off-seaosn. I doubt it, but it would be hilarious to do that to the Dodgers.
Does that mean you’d choose the bullpen? 🙂
The Yankees were shut-out two times in a row for the first time since 1999, the longest such streak in MLB history, according to MLB.com.
Pence “just” missed that. He was right on that pitch.
If the tying run is on base, Bochy has to send up Bum for Adrianza.
I bet he doesn’t…
I guess he can’t. They have no more infielders left.
And now it’s up to Adrianza, Maxwell and Pagan.
Or Sanchez.
Wow, what an unbelievably horrible AB by Sanchez.
Worst AB of the season by Hector…
Susac going to rehab game Tues–might have been his last.
win or lose Peavy and pen giving hitters chance to stay in it.
Often you have to give the opposing pitcher a lot of credit. Not this time.
Wow. That’s…..wow.
Way to go down looking.
Lovely series. Hector Sanchez with an utterly miserable AB. Fuck face umpiring didn’t help anything.
So, in the four games, the Giants led for one inning, total. One inning.
Taking that called third strike with the bases loaded was a painful reminder to the last pitch of the 2000 season, Bonds trhe batter, against the Mets. WHEN IT IS THAT CLOSE, PUT THE BAT ON THE BALL. Oh well, if you’re going to have an impotent series, you may as well end it impotently. Ugh.
I’m pretty sure that’s how Game 2 — the JT Snow game — ended, with Bonds taking strike 3 vs. Franco. I have no idea who made the last out of the series, and may not have had the stomach to even watch at that point, but maybe that’s how the season ended, too.
in my memory, it was the last game….but too depressed to look it up…all right, I looked it up, you’re right, NLDS Game 2, strike 3 looking, Bonds, 10th inning. Memory is a tricky thing.
freaking brutal. pagan is near to worthless. it’s nice to see that they don’t roll over but they surely haven’t been able to close the deal. just an awful at bat by sanchez and what was pagan doing chatting up the girls in the on deck circle? the ump may have sucked but he was pretty consistently calling that a strike. you can’t just take it in that spot. foul it off and get another one. just three stupid at bats.
Pitchers sucking wind outta the gates … no clutch hitting … 0 for 11 risp, 11 LOB … says it all this game.
Giants post game saying “Peavy was excellent today” … Since when is 38 pitches in the first inning a mark of excellence? sure he settled down and the BP was decent but how much of these losses on this road trip are attributed to poor pitching?
I had Pagan starting the ASG in late May…
Me too. To his credit, he’s playing hurt . . . Of course, that doesn’t get it done.
What’s that song they were singing at Wrigley after the game? (Oh, never mind.)
After a Giants victory at AT&T Park, the chorus of Blur’s “Song 2” is played, before getting to Tony Bennett.
My research says it may be ‘Go, Cubs, Go’ by the late, great Steve Goodman, though a Chi Tribune article in January said it is time for something new.
Next up: Astros, Nationals, Cardinals, Pirates, Cubs, Cardinals, and Dodgers.
I would say that there’s a decent chance Bochy gets to start his off-season fishing earlier than last year.
Well, that’ll answer the proverbial “are you a man or a mouse” question. (Groucho Marx’s answer: “put a piece of cheese on the ground and find out.”)
I wouldn’t call an 8, 9 or 10 pitch at bat “stupid” … It is regrettable that Blanco took that last pitch but for he who is not exactly “clutch” I would say it was pretty decent, as was Pagan’s. Hector’s, however, was beyond retarted … just a total fucking waste … I would have rather seen Maxwell (I think he was still available).
he was available. anybody but hector. abh
Well, we are getting beat up at the worst possible time. This August may just be the death knell with 3 weeks left before September callups. Not that that will help immensely, but the pen is gasping and struggling and the starters are throwing way too many pitches.
Not throwing it in by any means, but the sheer number of days missed by our starters is killing us. Leake being the latest example.
It’s far easier for me to watch a hitter take a final strike 3 on a pitch that was probably off the plate than it is to watch an AB like Hector’s.
I am so glad I missed it.
It was like watching a parent pitch a wiffle ball to a 3 year-old.
Other teams picked up guys like Parra and Zobrist, and we’ve got a one-legged guy out there. The Giants need to fix that in the off-season. Stop trying to rely on a Pagan comeback.
They must really hate 2014 World Champion outfielder Juan Perez. He’s not very good but I don’t think he’s been up all year – assuming they still have him somewhere. I remember him getting one huge hit…
game 5, after he learned his friend had killed himself and his wife in a dui car wreck, I think. The dent his LD left in the CF wall pad was very cool. You could see it from the stands behind home plate. Well, these ancient eyes could, so I assume most anyone else could.
Right, Xoot. Any idea why he hasn’t gotten a look this year?
no. His numbers at Sacramento aren’t great, but they aren’t horrible, he’s a great fielder, and, as you say, he’s succeeded before. Our Sactown correspondents might know more. Reminds me–anyone hear anything about Aoki-san? Hope to hell he didn’t suffer a concussion.
End of season I guess Pagan has some kind of surgery, and maybe something close to what’s up will come out.
Even Bochy has admitted he’s not healthy.
Earlier in week Pagan said he wanted to play every day.
Bochy gave him 3 days off and had him out of LU today til Aoki got beaned.
Before season started I thought more he played better SF would be, but that’s just not true any more.
And he is owed $10 mil next year so see what Giants ultimate plan for OF is.
I had people up at the house this afternoon who are not baseball fans. I kept the tv on with no sound hoping to catch the end of the game but we all ended up outside. So I just now watched the abject ridiculous horror that unfolded a little while ago. Don’t have much to say other than I’m glad I didn’t have to watch that in real time……
Astros btw are not same team on the road; currently 10 games under .500 and behind the A’s again this afternoon and about to lose to them for 3rd straight time.
Well this was a fucked up weekend, I doubt anyone had the Cubs sweeping the Giants. I have not seen any updates on Susac, what is the story with him.
Well, au contraire monsieur … as I mentioned recently, my all star break prediction for July & Aug had the Giants face planting against all the crap teams and “running the table” against all the contenders …obviously, I was completely wrong on the former and will most likely continue to be completely wrong and therefore, by Pythagorean tricotomy … I am right on all accounts! … I’m am so wrong I am right!!!
A sad Sigh is all I can muster….Ok Fuck! Better.
Accoring to Baggs, Wrigley Field has been evacuated due to bomb threat….geez, I know we sucked balls, but that’s no reason to blow the place up.
Wow, Stros Colby Rasmus with a 3 run HR top 9th to put them ahead 4-3.
They do have some pop in that LU.
Hope Pirates can help SF out some more off the Braves guy Wood now starting for LA.
Houston just took the lead at the E Coli. That’s fine. Let them relax a bit tomorrow. I’ll bet they’re enjoying a full week in the Bay Area. I’d love to hear a few of them compare the two ball parks.
Gregerson is about to blow it once again against his former team.
I would never have guessed that Frank Gifford was older than Willie Mays…
I know next to nothing about Frank Gifford other than what I saw on MNF. ESPN just did a 15 min thing on his entire career. He could really move against all those other white guys he played against back in the 50’s……
Bednarik and Gifford gone in the same year.
A Fan’s Notes, by Frederick Exely. An autobiography disguised as a history of Frank Gifford’s career. Very strange but well regarded memoir. I have to admit that the description of Gifford getting his knee torn apart was memorable.
From Wikipedia: “A Fan’s Notes is a sardonic account of mental illness, alcoholism, insulin shock therapy and electroconvulsive therapy, and the black hole of sports fandom.”
Sounds like Thanksgiving Day with my family…
Lots of Syracuse stuff from Exley; lived in Watertown. I either read that book or another of his thinly disguised bios. Memorable episode of my reading of him involved an adolescent character realizing his fellatio dream, only to be depressed by the whole bit.
Lol Loo. I think I need to reconsider the way I discuss the Giants with my older son.
Nothing can top John Adams & Thomas Jefferson dying on the same day – July 4, 1826.
I bet Twitter crashed…
50 years after they both signed the Declaration of Independence.
Charlie Morton stinks.
I leave the country and they get swept by the friggin Cubs? WTF?…
Hey, they did lead one of the games for a whole inning.
first time since ’77. So, don’t leave the country anymore, ok?
Another thing about Hector….he’s a catcher; you’d think he’d know what they’re thinking after he missed that first slider by two feet.
And all these years I thought Gifford was a QB. I liked the football Giants in those days. Gifford played with HOFer Andy Robustelli, who went to my church. I played baseball with his kids. True. I’d’ve never thought of him as being older than Mays. I read that Gifford figured his family moved 47 times before he graduated from HS; sometimes they ate dog food to get by.
Phils 16-5 since ASG, best in MLB, tho’ they couldn’t beat Greinke with Macdog cheering them on.