The Day After
I tried to find something positive to spin into today’s thread but by 2:30pm (PST) it became clear that wasn’t going to happen. So, I’m throwing this out to all of you. After The Chicago Breakdown, what do you think we have to look forward to for the rest of this season? You can say “James Shields” and I will count that as an acceptable answer. 🙂 He passed through waivers today, unscathed. Go get him.
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Big Game James? Can he go 6+? Fuck it. Sign him.
Where’s Pat the Bat when you need him?
As I mentioned on the last thread, I am not hitting the panic button. Our boys just need to get back to winning some games, and series. It isn’t like our boys got their asses handed to them in Chitown. They were right there with the ability to win most of those games. I think getting healthy will help. We need Panik, Susac, and Leake to get back, but I still think upgrading our bench is the most pressing issue.
Big Game James? Pass.
As long as he’s (regular season) Big Game James.
Big game James?
Forget it.Didnt want to come here anyway as I recall. Probably couldn’t handle the razzing he would get from all the times the team kicked his ass…
I would take Utley for bench strength and 2B backup/Starter till Panik gets back healthy. He would be our best bench player bar none..
Once Susac gets back, dump both Sanchez & OOO at least and Utley &Susac make it a stronger bench..
Chi–true we didn’t lose every game 10-1. But they had us all the way. When you lead for 1 inning of a four game series, and lose all 4, the other team basically handed you your ass…..
When you have the bases loaded in the ninth, with no outs, and watch Sanchez swing like an old lady, its time to poke Bochy to see if he is still awake.
Agree, Craig. We had our chances. Like I had posted last thread…our guys could not get the key knock, and when we needed our starter or pen to shut ’em down, no bueno.
Utley? Sure, why not. Our bench could use freaking Shingo right now, that’s how bad it is.
I also still feel very positive about the team. I still remember 2010, end of August, about 6-1/2 games out. I do think, though, that a waiver wire acquisition (or 2) seems almost necessary at this point to strengthen that bench and possibly add a frontline arm. I love James Shields…. on an opposing team. Seems we never lose to the guy. The oppo of Greinke. But the G’s could definitely use him down the stretch with Cain appearing to be unable to get the job done. I was so wrong about Peavy, thought he was done, he’s been fine… but isn’t winning (no fault of his own). Leake comes in, pitches well once and now is out, also not winning. Someone has to come in like Peavy did last year and win some games. Utley? Abso-fucking-lutely. And, a surprise OFer, too. Maybe they don’t even look any further than wherever Juan Perez is these days. Though feeling positive overall, I do not think the team as currently constituted can get there. Just one or two even small pieces. Too much reliance on Pagan and ineffective starters, IMO. Make it so, No. 1 ….
According to Bruce Jenkins, the Red Sox are open to dealing Sandoval. The Sox have the worst record in the AL.
I don’t think they’ll find any takers.
I mean, who would take him? Unless they paid most of his salary?
The Dodgers are going with a scrubini line-up tonight. Kendrick and Turner are on the DL, Pederson is slumping badly, and I don’t know what the deal is with some of the other guys.
I must’ve been out of it for some reason (ah, my little Bangkok trip?) the last week of July, completely missed that Boston picked up Machi on waivers, is that right? Now closing for the Red Sox, hah. Did the G’s get anyone for that, or was it just an outright release? Sandoval… yeah, good luck with that. HanRam too. Big oops (as opposed to OPS) by the Beantown Braintrust (or lack thereof)…..
Nats burying LA…
Shields may have given up his share of HRs this year and the K ratio is bizarrely good. . . Cain almost certainly won’t be better, and who knows how much SF gets out of Leake.
The best thing about Sandoval’s not too precipitous slide is that we won’t have to endure the wails of how much the team “missed The Panda,” if 4 in 6 doesn’t happen.
Always a distinct pleasure to have LAD lose on an off-day for SFG.
A little while ago I posted a link to a very good New Yorker article about the drop in scoring and its correlation to an increase in low strikes being called.
Now, I have the MLB app that tracks pitch FX, although I usually don’t have it fired up while watching a game. I’ve been lazy about it, but, after the called strikes against Pagan and Blanco yesterday, finally decided to find a site that allowed you to search the pitch FX database. I found baseballsavant.com, which answered my question (the pitch to Pagan was outside, the one to Blanco was on the black).
Of course I made note of Flavor’s complaint the other day about our unmanly, pussy first baseman, the one about him taking pitches “Right There” and then looking incredulous.
So, I’ve done one quick search on The Wobbly Helmeted Doofus that basically queried for the pitches he’s taken for strikes in the month of August:
http://tinyurl.com/p3spn72
You’ll see that over half of the pitches that have been called strikes on him are out of the zone, many not even close. None of the missed calls are to the inside portion of the plate.
If baseball wanted to get serious about both improving the umpire’s strike calling accuracy and bringing some offense back, it would do away with these utter bullshit outside “corner” calls.
And here is the called third strike chart for the season. Of the 27 times he’s been called out on strikes, 17 times the pitch has been out of the strike zone.
http://tinyurl.com/qgphfjr
In Sun Tzu’s “The Art Of War,” it says “you have to fight the battle you’re in, not the battle you WISH you were in.”
Belt has a great point about the umps blowing calls, as you document very well there. But….they blow calls. He seems repeatedly shocked by that. I don’t know what the answer is. Some hitters have a knack for fouling off those pitches, and extending the AB.
See the context I set Zumie. They are not simply blowing calls. There has been a conscious effort to get umps to call low strikes and enforce that part of the zone. Getting rid of the ridiculous, bogus advantage pitchers have on the outside corner would help balance that out. And it certainly would help a hitter like Belt, who is consistently forced to look outside far enough that the occasional inside fastball becomes that much more difficult to turn on.
Amen, brother. Long have felt that Belt owns an exquisite batting-eye. Thanx for the info. You just confirmed my intuitive take.
What’s up with Fister? He came in to pitch relief in the 9th of a 7-0 game (and ended 7-3 after Crawford 3-run HR).
Yeah, I don’t get that either. I had the sound turned off, so I don’t know what Scully said about it, if anything.
Fister’s been relegated to the pen since a week or so … probably dont want him getting too stale there.
Bumgarner just popped er into overdrive today. Perfect timing. Middle of August. Six weeks to go. His stats took a jump today. Oddly, he is paired in the NL lead for complete games and shutouts with Max Scherzer with three each ~ a laughable figure in Marichal’s day but times have changed. At 14 victories he now joins a 4-way tie for the league lead. His ERA drops below 3.00 now at a neat 2.98. Fourteen strikeouts to match his victory total gets the Carolina Cattleman into the upper bracket in that category as well.
You want a big game pitcher? Every serious baseball fan in either league and for most any team knows who the big dog happens to be. Today’s performance brings Bumgarner into competition with Greinke for the big Cy. He still trails but he climbs. Anyway, like just about any Giant, he’s more about the team than individual stats. Individual awards are mostly for team losers like Bryce Harper.