Royals, Finally.
Shoulda gone with my first instinct. KC in 5. Wanted leeway. Turns out leeway was unnecessary. LeeMay, on the other hand, was pretty decent ball player back in the day. He’s 72 years old now.
Final game celebrations are pretty typical, aren’t they? Usually, it’s a strikeout to end it. The pitcher does some type of celebratory move as he awaits the onrushing catcher. One of them jumps into each other’s arms. The pile begins to form, tighten and bounce slowly. Every 3 seconds the network pans to the losers dugout and capture faces staring blankly at the widening, bouncing pile. There’s always a single shot of the rich ownership group shaking each other’s hands so hard it looks like an arm or two might get ripped off…..
And you want a *full circle* story line? Salvador Perez is the last out in Pablo Sandoval’s glove last year. This year, he’s the World Series MVP. That’s an incredible 365 days…….
Congrats to the Royals. They earned it and were it not for an angry North Carolinian, they’d have 2 in a row……
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Congrats to the Royals for their well-earned championship. Despite the fact that the Mets had the lead in every game and that Daniel Murphy shit a big turd in games 4 & 5, unbelievably, from the beginning of the season to the end of game 5, the Royals were the best team. To come back after last year’s devastating loss to the Giants and do what they did is impressive. Getting to the post season is hard enough, let alone back-to-back pennants and a World Series title. Well done.
Flavor, thank you for continuing to put up this blog year after year and giving hardcore Giants fans a place to come and discuss our favorite team. I know it must take a lot of your time and resources, but it is appreciated.
It’s always a melancholy feeling for me when the baseball season comes to an end. The Series only went 5 games, but it was entertaining nonetheless and the 2 teams were evenly matched.
I’m already looking forward to February seeinbg what our Giants have in store for us in 2016!
Go Giants!
I know. Plus, the crown ain’t ours. Congrats to the Relentless Royalty.
True, were it not for Mr. Bumgarner, it’d be two in a row. Well, MadBum and Bochy. And 24 other players. By the way, the media keep talking about “moving the line along,” and all that. Bruce Bochy should have put an sm after his use of the phrase.
At 6:00 AM Pacific Time, the free agents officially became free agents. The players with opt-outs have a few more days to do that.
Let the courting begin.
If Familia could have been lights-out in the Series, the Mets win it.
But congrats to the Royals. First one in 30 years.
Lot of credit due to Royals FO that reloaded and brought in lot of new players that did well.
See what happens to Mets, who likely lose big chunk of middle order (Murph and Cespedes) while still counting on likes of Duda and Wright and of course Collins.
You would think, in a big yard and with great SPs, defense (and maybe speed) would be priority for them.
Cespedes, if he gets $20 mil from someone, seems like the next Soriano. Shaky D, head case mistakes, lot of pop in the bat once he actually makes contact. but will he ever hit 35 HRs again?
Loo I dug Alex Johnson when he was on Reds. Guy could really hit but yeah quickly got rep as malcontent.
Kind of like Tommie Davis, didn’t he have a bad leg injury he never really recovered from?
Stopped watching baseball first part of October, but yeah end of WS does seem bring out the blues.
And “The Sky Is Crying” actually now in bay area at least, finally.
I think he did have some kind of injury, Willie, can’t remember what – but absolute malcontent and head case.
Tremendous talent…
Was kinda hoping for a Mets win in game 5, though for KC to win the ring. Why? Midwestern bias, perhaps. Small market vs Monster Market. Also, these Royals have reminded me a bit of the Giants in the past couple years or so with their relentlessness and the conga-line.
Well, it’s over. No MLB till Spring Training. Will the prophets, prognisticators, pundits and poobahs still give the Giants no respect in the pre-season ratings? Will they stick with the LaBumbos or will the Snakes become next year’s Padres hip choice? Somehow i get the feeling they still do not get the Giants’ magic. SF will not need much adding to get back into their groove ~ basically a more than passable #2 starter. Most of the rest of the pieces (barring a repeat of the injury bug) are already in place for one helluva strong run.
You know, Giants might be in need of a mini rebuild (not as drastic as what Royals did) until young pitching/OF comes around. It might take another full year before some of those guys we’ve already seen or the prospects really establish themselves. Same thing in pen–one more year for Romo/Casilla, then see what happens.
Hey Royals let Aoki walk and it didn’t hurt them and I think SF could easily do the same, along with Pagan. I’d go with Blanco and the kids in the OF (including Specs) and try to hang onto Byrd as bench bat.
James had statistical evidence (during Morse discussions) about how few times tough plays in LF really come into play. No reason Specs can’t handle it and be part of conga line offensive attack.
Totally agree
Royals coaches& scouts said anytime you have a chance to run on Lucas Duda seize the opportunity too…
Hosmer did on his ballsy dash home, and that was the final dagger on a shell-shocked Mets team!
Headlines in NY papers..Amazing Disgrace, very appropriate as they were schooled in every phrase in the series.
Unbelievably horrible throw and an easy one to boot. Heads-up play by Homer, but a good throw nails him by 3 feet. Belt makes that play 10 out of 10 times. Listening to Buck and Reynolds gushing about how brilliant that play was made me throw up in my mouth. It was not that great of a play. No one was covering third making the decision to go that much easier.
Like I said, a good throw and the game is over.
Their decades of crapitude paid off for the Royals with high draft picks. Their fans endured a lot of terrible baseball. Likely, their window isn’t all that big when key guys become free agents.
Hosmer is a free agent after the ’17 season.
Keuk went off this morning on Hosmer saying it was a bad play that only worked because Wright threw a “change up” to Duda (and then followed by Duda’s horrendous throw). Mid rant, James Hetfield (Metallica singer) stopped into knbr studios for surprise interview. That was kinda rad. Kruk never even signed off he just disappeared
Yeah, I noticed that. The two KNBR heads seemed so blown away by Hetfield showing up, they kinda left Kruk hangin’. So, maybe he just hung up? I was wondering what happened to him after he said some pleasantries to Hetfield. Anyway, I agree with Kruk. Wright did throw a slow one to first, and if Duda makes a throw anywhere near the plate, Hosmer is out by a couple of feet and that’s a dumb move to end the game…
Wright was Grandpa Walton by the end of the Series. Cespedes was just a ghost.
Murphy looked like a Friday night softball player out there.
Well that was stupid of Kruk to say, Royals and all baseball fans know that Wright has a bad shoulder and was throwing every ball sidearm, which will cause a change up .Really the SS should of made that play and would of had a better angle to not only hold Hosmer at 3rd but make a easier stronger throw IMO..Wright was sideways which makes the play harder..
Yeah, I didn’t realize that until Darling and Hernandez pointed it out postgame. Wright should have stayed at third to hold Hosmer close while Flores looked him back and made the play. But instinctively that is the third baseman’s play, so I can’t fault Wright for fielding it…
The Dodger fans still can’t believe they lost to the Mets.
Lqtm.
What I meant by mini rebuild is mostly from within system. Lester for $160 mil? Sabes is so lucky that didn’t happen, let alone Pablo. I just don’t see going that route, Greinke either, good as he has been. Price on J Zim I think is going to be really expensive. Biggest thing is holding down the years, not necessarily the $$$ itself.
Hell, i could even go for SF making Greinke an offer that would drive his price into the stratosphere ~ like 3 years for $110M. Crazy amount of money, but he might be worth that on a three year deal. But some team would then need to offer him something in the $150+ range for a fiver ~ likely the LaBumbos themselves.
Fucking Royals. No, really, congrats to the Royals. They were clearly the better ball club…I was just hoping to see the Mets be amazing, again.
“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.” A. Bart Giamatti – partial poem “The Green Fields of the Mind.”
And now we sit and wait…
Only about 100 days until YOUR San Francisco Giants pitchers and catchers report to Scottsdale!
But the reality is there IS a mad North Carolinian, and he wears the Orange and Black for the Three Time in Five Years World Series Champions. He was mad as hell this year about the lack of a return to the dance. Threre will be hell to pay next year. Four in Seven!
I echo LJ’s sentiments…I have said it many times, and say it again (each time with heartfelt sentiment)…thank you, Flavor for continuing to keep the door open to “The Flap” for all of us misfits who so love the wonderful game of baseball, and especially, the San Francisco Giants.
Absolutely. I don’t know how he does it. Flavor has evolved into a real baseball writer…
Zumiee – got our tix for the Richard Thompson show…Gail and I are on Row H, too. Sent you an email…
Cool!!
It was raining like a motherfucker this morning as I was drinking my morning coffee in the dark and I noticed on my facebook account that I had a friend request from one “Michael Scott.” Storming outside my house? Twinner on facebook? I’m wondering if this is the last day of the world. We shall see. 🙂
Thanks for the ongoing appreciations from you guys about me continuing to manage the blog but you guys are the ones who keep it humming. Things will be quiet around here this Winter, at least in terms of threads. Of course, I said that last year. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll see if Phil Nastu wants to guest-post. He soaked up some time here a few Winters ago.
Hot stove shit doesn’t do much for me. There is way too much bullshit that gets floated on the internet to take anything seriously. I will react to real life shit though. Should and when it go down………
Ah yes let the 4 in 7 begin!! Agree with Willie, bye, bye Pa Gone? No so sure about Aoki, I think theGiants have to wait and see if Panik has a chronic back problem or not. Either Aoki or Byrd in left. Specs off the bench.
As i noted in a previous posting it came down to the Mets’ defense. To get the kinda offense they wanted, with some heavy pop to go with their sparkling starters, they sacrificed them some “D”. Had SF made it into the post-season and all the way to the finale, infield defense would have been the very last of their worries.
Nobody is taking an aging, injury prone Pagan for $10 million.
He’s our starting CF on opening day.
When he inevitably gets hurt, Blanco moves in.
If they do, I want some of whatever they are smoking and drinking…
Aoki did a good job but he’s a defensive liability and his offense might’ve been a fluke.
I’d only take Byrd if he’d come cheep…
Besides Belt and maybe Romo, just about everybody else is either untouchable because there’s no replacement or untradeable because of their contract. Somehow, I think the Giants are gonna be fairly active and may even pull off a shocker…
so toss in a gift with purchase: wanna free (Giants cover the $$) CF with that?
Vernon Davis escapes the insane asylum, traded to a real team, the Broncos..
They gave him away for a bag of kicking tees
After all those years, Frank Gore, Patrick Willis and Vernon Davis suddenly had a full team of talent around them, and the Super Bowl was there for the taking. I’m glad those guys finally got the shot they deserved. I’m sure they’re all glad to be free of the world of York now.
Seriously Frank Gore?? The Colts are not going anywhere.
well, neither is Patrick Willis, of course, but at least they’re not stuck playing for Santa Clara
One of the oddsmakers has already set the Cubs as the favorite to win the 2016 World Series. But they sure do strike out a lot. The Giants and Royals emphasize putting the ball in play, putting pressure on the defense, and that’s been winning championships lately. The SABR attitude of not worrying about a lot of strikeouts may already be dated.
I told Mac essentially the same thing on a FB comment he posted. Yeah, good pitching usually beats good hitting . . . but, the KC team does not SO and consequently, they rarely have unproductive ABs. Love the Mets for destroying the Bums, but was fairly certain, they would lose to the Royals.
I know that there is a lot of baseless garbage that gets posted around the stove season, but it’s fun. It’s pretty entertaining to hear some of the ludicrous things that people say. And especially since the niners have been toast since September I havethe hot stove and the warriors to keep me occupied.
And sometimes the Hot Stove rumors prove to be true. It was rumored the Red Sox had the inside track on Sandoval, that the Cubs had the inside track on Lester, and that the Dodgers were trying to trade Kemp, and all those proved to be true.
I want a world where there are no rumors. Just facts and shit that’s already happened. When I need guidance in life I look to videos from the 80’s. In this case, the Timex Social Club. “How do rumors gets started? They’re started by the jealous people”…….
*The Timex Social Club*. lqtm. WTF kind of name is that for a band?
Oh, but it’s all the shit that hasn’t happened yet that keeps us breathless with anticipation……… 🙂
No small thing, this. Here. Thank you, Magnus. You’re a talent and a treasure. I echo all the fraternal Flap gratitude floating around in the ether.
You trying to say we might get Ethier?
If only the Giants would recognize the commitment that Flavor puts in here. You know, maybe just a few pizzas, some beer and a ring. In the meantime, pizzas for the KC front office people, seems pretty cool to me.
http://minskys.com/the-giants-order-minskys-for-new-world-champs-the-royals/
Now about that ring…
Classy move by the Giants…
wow hella defensive Q by Warriors holding big bad physical Memphis to 12 points in 2nd Q and 34 for a half with a 19 point lead on balanced scoring. Ezeli with 3 blocks and they double and help well inside.
I think without Kerr around they are compensating by being more accountable to themselves.
End result Walton looks like the next Phil Jackson.
wow warriors are now up 35 after back to back steals and acrobatic lay ups by Curry.
Memphis has 40 points middle of 3rd Q. I think they have as many turnovers as points in second half.
Absolute thrash.
Hope they have something left for the Clips wed.
Speaking of rumors — looks like Bud Black NOT to the Nats, after all. Dusty is in the mix…
The Warriors seem highly motivated to show last year wasn’t a fluke. Their opponents had better be bringing their A-game.
Ws win by 50. Man, that’s kicking some buttocks.
As long as they don’t peak too soon. Long season in the NBA, and it’s just starting. Ezeli getting some early starts and getting in a rhythm with Bogut out for a while could be the best thing early on — this young guy looks like he can be a real force in the paint…