Quiet Bats, Curry Rises
I didn’t watch the game (Lock in! #DubNation) but if you just look at Peavy’s line he wasn’t the problem last night. Once again, we failed to do anything with the bats. And what’s weird about this season is that I normally have no problem finding targets for my arrows. But as I look up and down the line up I really can’t find too much to rage about. I like all those guys. At least, there’s no one I think needs to be benched.
If Peavy can go 5 and give up 3 ER’s every game I will take that and shake his hand as our worst starting pitcher. But the Giants should be able to win a game if their starter goes 5 innings and gives up 3 runs. I’m not saying they should easily win or win every time but it’s not like they were getting blown out.
Score some damn runs…….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I agree Flav .. It’s an odd situation with the the bats — I posted to that effect this morn at the end of yesterday’s thread (reposted below).
It’s almost as though this is a sort of extended ST for most of our bats. Belt seems like the only one with any real consistency. Pagan was doing well before the injury but even if he comes back relatively soon I’m sensing he will take a long time to shake off the rust. Just when someone looks like they’re straightening themselves out they slip & slide back into the ditch. Pence too has been more than decent so far but there is not singular bat that can be consistently counted on in the clutch. Besides the back of the rotation problems, that is what is hurting this team the most. Anyway, here is my repost from earlier this morning:
On the brink of the 1/4 season mark and, with the exception of Belt, we are in another (2nd time inside a month) team wide offensive slump. Imagine where we would be without the efforts of our starting 3 pitchers. We are barely squeaking by all these — .500 and lower — teams we are facing. So far, it feels like we are delusional to think we can contend for much more than 3rd place in our division. On the upside, it is nice to see Belt produce at the level most of us thought he was capable of.
This road trip to AZ and the following series at home with the Cubs should be very telling.
Is this or is this not the most schizophrenic Giants offense of the Millennium? It’s like the little girl in the story: “When she is good, she is very, very good. When she is bad, she is horrid.”
Yep, a total Jekyll & Hyde act.
Yeah if you had told me Peavy could go 5, give up only 3 and that’s all Toronto would get I’d have been pretty happy with it. Instead, ugh. Brown, who hardly plays, had 2 hits rest of team 2 for 27.
Curry got 15 of his 17 in OT in those first 4 minutes, scoring from everywhere plus a beauty of a pass. Lillard is a fine player, but MVP is no brainer. Notice OKC won the other night when Westbrook deferred and let Durant take over and he was pouring in points over K Leonard. GS and OKC always put on a great show and Thunder can go big frontline too with Kanter and Adams.
Btw, if I’m GS I’d look to sign Alan Crabbe in off season. he can come off the bench be instant O; 3 pt range can put ball on the floor and hit midrange too. With Livingston to set him up he could flourish ala J Crawford of the Clips. Clark is getting good exp and has room to grow but Barbosa has to go.
I wonder how active Warriors will be going after Seth Curry.
Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself.
On May 10 1981 second game of DH, another Canadian team the Expos no hit the Giants behind Charlie Lea.
Looked at the box score on B/R–Giants had Billy North in CF with Herndon in RF, Morgan at 2b Enos Cabell (hated that guy) at 1b Evans at 3b and batting clean up for F Robinson’s boys. Some guy named Billy Smith played SS and I have zero recollection of him at all.
Expos had Raines Dawson Cromartie playing 1b that day, Rodney Scott with 2 rbis and got a HR from T Wallach to beat Ed Whitson.
There used to be guy who posted at Splash (and maybe here too?) with that handle
Amazingly, Peavy lost a start at AT&T Park for the first time since July 8, 2015. He had been 7-0 with a 3.41 ERA in 11 home starts since before Monday. I can’t really argue with his line – three runs on five hits and struck out six in five innings, but personally, I’m exhausted by the near “kamikaze” innings such as the 1st where . . .
“Peavy walked two of his five batters while giving up a pair of singles, putting himself in an immediate jam. He allowed Saunders’ RBI single but got out of the inning without further damage.”
It would be hard to watch Peavy’s performance last night and be encouraged. He had to do a highwire act to only give up those three runs.
Peavy sucks theirs no 2 ways about it. Yeah it was a miracle he made thru 5 with his 105 pitches of junk like the dude from Major League( Eddie) I’ve thrown every greaseball the kitchen sink my elbows barking etc etc.
Boch rewards him for what? To save the BP an inning? Whatever he could have easily let up another bomb to the last hitter and we would of bitched more that he left him in for the loyalty factor…
Exactly AK . . . The first and the fifth innings were both near disasters. I’d imagine that bars were doing brisk business during those 2 innings.
The Giants didn’t take advantage of a Blue Jays defense that struggled with the ballpark, missing three catchable flies, including a ball bouncing off the top of one of their players’ head.
It ain’t about being encouraged or discouraged by Peavy. It’s about the offense taking advantage of the game. Sure, Peavy was in and out of trouble. But this is the argument I get in to with James. Pitchers will give up runs, but if you don’t score, you can’t win.
If you get a decent performance by Peavy, you have to take advantage of it. it sucks that we score squat off Sanchez. I mean Christ, we scored our lone run on a groundout. 1 run in 18 innings? You can have Cy Nolan out there and you’ll still lose.
I agree, the stats can only give you so much info … Just watch the game and you can a pretty good sense what is going on .. Right now we suck at the plate and we suck especially bad when we have ducks on, especially when they are gimmies!
Lends a bit of credence to that sign that Ferret took to the WS game a few years back… We Score, We Win.
Score some fucking runs, already!
It’s the scenario that seems to happen a lot with this team. They score a huge amount of runs, then go quiet for 3-4 games. The numbers look good, but the W-L column doesn’t.
.500 and in first place. Tells you a bit about the NL West (or is that NL Worst)… 😉
With all the belly aching about Peavy (moi especially), I am zero concerned about the Giants figuring it out. Rocks displayed their imbecilic running skills last night – Parra this time – where they lost to the Snakes 10-5. As good as Gray and Butler were during their last starts, Chatwood is the one who was carrying the load and he was no great shakes last night. So they are scuffling as bad or worse then the Giants. Similarly, the Bums continue to trip over themselves as well.
Bottom line? We’re in 1st for all our faults and it is very, very early in the season.
Yeah. Hard to tell when they’ll wake up, but They’d better before AZ or LA gets rolling. I don’t think either of those teams is going to scuffle forever. Esp AZ.
On the flip-side, I don’t think our boys are going to scuffle forever, either…
I wouldn’t bench them, but Span, Duffy, and Panik are all underperforming at the top of the lineup. That said, the reason SF isn’t 20-14 is because there’s a much bigger gap between their pitching numbers and the 20 win teams — not because of the relative numbers of runs scored.
ERAs
2.48
2.77
2.84
…..
4.26
Again, those are averages between the huge disparity in runs scored in certain games. When they win, they win big. Invariably when they lose they lose small.
Since 3 seems to be the magic number, the Giants have lost 10 of their 17 games by scoring 3 or less. 6 of those 10 were of the 1-2 run loss variety. In other words, a few timely hits and they win some or even all of those games.23-11? It’s possible with just a few more hits.
Consequently, they have only won 5 games where they have scored 3 or less. 12 of their wins of course have come when they score more than 3. As good as they are, even Bummie, Cueeto, and Smarje can’t be expected to put up Sub-3 runs every game. It’s highly unrealistic to lean on the pitching this hard all the time.
So, 7 of these losses were more or less blowouts. 10 weren’t. This point to hitting. As I’ve said repeatedly, and this is exactly what has happened this year, the Giants have won big and scored a shit-ton of runs, but have turned around and gone quiet for days at a time. The numbers look great, but the W-L don’t.
Chuck, yes, when you have better pitching, a few of those 4-3 losses actually turn into 3-2 wins, and no it can’t always be the top 3 guys in the rotation who do that. There’s nothing special about the distribution of runs scored for the Giants, and it’s bizarre to think that somehow we alone are afflicted with a team that scores in unusually wild fluctuations year in and year out.
Here’s Washington’s game logs:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/WSN/2016-schedule-scores.shtml
Correct me if my memory glands are sagging a bit, but seems to me that Buster tends to be a relatively slow starter at the plate. Get out in the season a ways and that Georgia boy seems to find himself with bat in hand. Posey’s backup has been pretty productive. Start him two games per week. With plenty of rest, our once MVP cleanup hitter will neither have a reason nor an excuse to perform at his expected level.
Also it might be well to do a switcheroo between Duffy and Belt. The Duffster is not a bad RBI man, but may be under too much pressure batting third. Meanwhile Belt, currently living up to his promise as a hitter, has an OBP well into the top 5 in the league at right around an incredible .450. With ducks on the pond, though, BB9 is only so-so okay. He is excellent at starting rallies and pretty decent at continuing the conga-line. Bat him third or maybe even lead-off once Pagan returns to batting 9th maybe twice per rotation. A .450 leadoff man who draws walks like shit draws flies gets you into Ricky Henderson territory ~ if you can elide this season’s baserunning gaffes.
“not to perform at his expected level”.
I don’t know what constitutes a blowout (double digits?) but let’s say 7. They’ve given up 7 runs or more 8 times. They’ve lost 7 of those. Funny thing is, they give up 6, and they are 3-2.
More close losses than more blowouts. Which points to the hitting.
Willied, I couldn’t remember Billy Smith either, so I looked him up, and I still don’t remember him.
You nailed it, Flav. Peavy was not the issue, but he put some strain on the club with the five BB. That number needs to come down, regardless of where you are slotted in the rotation, IMO.
Half the starting line-up is scuffling big-time with RISP.
It is a long season (I know we all get tired of hearing that shit, but it is true), and the season has its ebbs-and-flows. With the back-end of the rotation sucking as it has, and the team having spells where they cannot seem to drive in a fucking run, BUT we are tied for 1st, I will be patient and see what transpires.
Posey (and a few others) are, and have been, streaky hitters. They will get theirs.
I am just anxious to see how they sort out the rotation, and cannot wait for them to get the conga line going again!
Pagan is supposedly ready. I think we need to see him back in the line-up.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/players/playerpage/490155/angel-pagan
And you just are not going to win many games when your entire team gets only three hits.
Re: Chuck and James exchange at 9:12 & 9:27 respectively, my daily game ‘log/journal’ has the count at 12 games that we should have won but did not .. 2 games we won but should have lost. Therefore, our record could easily be 27-7. Cubs are 24-6.
Another factor in all this that I brought up last year but didn’t get much play for here: We all know that teams in the West accumulate considerably more travel miles than those in the East and especially more than the Central teams. Why is it that two Central teams in both leagues, Cubs & Clevland, have played considerably less games than the Giants ..? 30 & 29 respectively .. The Giants are at 34. I still believe the cumulative effect of the extra travel does have an effect later in the season.
Rainouts?
Well there you have it it! Mystery explained!
God is controlling the weather because he is a Cubs fan .. We may as well pack in it right now!
Lisle, it is impossible to be 27-7 when you let in as many runs as you score over those games.
Not true.
I’m gonna it this one out … Il let you two duke it out! 😉
Not that we are going to make a deal now or at the trade deadline, but reports from the off-season, if true, had the Giants talking to the Marlins about Osuna for left field. Marlins are playing much better now so they may not be looking for a deal now either. But as Pagan hits free agency, Osuna looks like a potential real good fit. What would it take to get that deal done? Young pitching likely….but I think it would not be the hardest deal to strike….
Ozuna is hitting arbitration for the first time, next year. From what I can tell, the Marlins are not particularly deep in the OF, and the Giants do not seem that deep in pitching (hell, we cannot even seem to locate a serviceable long relief guy or someone to spell Cain or Peavy). So, not sure how that deal would fly.
Marlins do have a lot of young hitting talent..
Curry showed his MVPness (lulz) last night, whoa what a game!
Curry showed his MVPness (lulz) last night, whoa what a game!
He’s so creative and smart inside too. He had 3 bank shots from different angles inside that he finessed in.
Meanwhile Lillard is flying through the air out of control attempting a one handed slam over Green, which got easily blocked.
It’s just so enjoyable to watch a scorer explode in a short burst and score in different ways.
I try and impress that on kids all the time—you got one thing, what if someone takes that away?
Contemplating Cain’s start tonight:
Oh Zume…come on…don’t be a Debbie Downer. Maybe Cain pitches a masterpiece tonight. And maybe monkeys fly out of my butt…
We always seem to go through these lulls, tho’ later in the season. June? I gave up on 2010 in June on a text to Blade. Maybe every team has such stretches. Zumiee or James or williedav or y’all would know.
I went to bed 1-ish. I’m trying to cut back on the late hours. The Giants had lost. GSW was hanging in there. I JUST found out about Curry’s masterpiece. Whew. Epique.
Pawlie, something I’ve learned from reading all those baseball biographies is that EVERY championship baseball team goes through bleak stretches during the season where it looks like the wheels have fallen off.
For example, the championship Reds in ’90 were swept all 4 games in a regular season series at Candlestick.
One of my favorite facts regarding this type of thing is that the Dodgers won a regular season series vs. the Giants in 2014, in which they beat the Giants in a game something like 17-0. And then the Giants went on to win the World Series. That is so awesome it is beyond awesome.
Yes…as I mentioned earlier, with a 162 game season, you will have your ebbs-and-flows. Tide goes out, tide comes in. Pitchers pitch the way you expect, or they don’t. The conga line fires up, or it doesn’t. I am not tripping on any of it at this point in the season. Way to early to get one’s knickers in a twist, IMO. But that’s just me. I will leave the hand-wringing to others at this stage of the season.
Yes iirc, that was the series in which the Donnie two trips moniker was earned
I agree with Chipower. Need Pagan. And maybe another day off for Buster.
…and maybe a couple of starters…and some hot babes…and and and…
The look on Paul Allen’s face after Curry’s dagger with 1:05 left in OT was priceless. Slack-jawed, mouth hanging open, utterly stunned. I’d like to get a poster of that look. LOL
A couple of you may recognize a face in the crowd at last night’s game:
https://youtu.be/HM0rQzbpAQQ
Hah! Close but not quite!
I have been to a shitload of games, and have never landed a foul ball…so close…
While he was with SF, a foul Dave Roberts hit straight back glanced off the very base of ATT’s middle deck, and dropped straight down . . . right on top of my then 12-year old’s head, who was sitting next to me. It bounced away and was recovered by a drunk who didn’t want to listen to the usher’s pleas about doing the right thing.
BTW, Chi I caught that earlier comment, but didn’t have a chance to reply before you hit edit. I was gonna have to challenge you to a duel to protect the honor of my beloved Mrs. James 😉
Very cool James! Did he catch it on the fly?
He’s from Belgium, only his third game ever. The bruise on his wrist is pretty big 🙂
that’s awesome.
So you are not the dorks who caught the ball…:)
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Don’t forget Seahawks owner. An extra kick in the nuts for big Paul.
Curry is the first time ever unanimous MVP winner…grabbing all 131 first place votes!
James and family on TV at the Giants game!! Very cool!! Long on-camera time, too! The long reach of the Flap!
That’s Mrs. James to my right, but the youngsters to the left work with me at UCB. He does look a bit like my son, though!
“OAKLAND — Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry is the unanimous winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the 2015-16 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player, the league announced today. Curry is the 11th player in NBA history to win the award in consecutive seasons (the first guard to do so since Steve Nash in 2004-05 and 2005-06) and the 39th player in the history of the four major professional sports to be named MVP in back-to-back campaigns. In franchise history, only Curry and Wilt Chamberlain (1959-60) have earned the honor, with Curry becoming the club’s first two-time winner of the award.
Curry, 28, led the Warriors to an NBA-record 73 wins in 2015-16 (73-9, .890) while establishing an NBA record with 402 three-point field goals, topping his own previous league record (286 set in 2014-15) by 116 threes. Golden State became the first team in NBA history to hit 1,000 threes in a single campaign, finishing with 1,077 three-pointers.
From a panel of 130 voters that consisted of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada, as well as an NBA.com MVP fan vote, Curry totaled 1,310 points to become the first unanimous winner of the award in league history.”
Funny thing is, I remember watching that happen and I have spent a fair amount of time with James, but didn’t realize that was him. I guess my attention was on the guy who got the ball. Really cool.
He’s from Belgium, and had been asking me about our prospects for a foul ball moments before it landed. He’s never really played catch before, but oddly enough, I’ve gone with him to the batting cages a couple of times. He played varsity tennis at Cambridge, and had no trouble making contact in the high speed cage his very first time.
Hmmm…still no Pagan. Parker getting the nod in LF…
1. Denard Span (L) CF
2. Joe Panik (L) 2B
3. Buster Posey (R) C
4. Hunter Pence (R) RF
5. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
6. Matt Duffy (R) 3B
7. Jarrett Parker (L) LF
8. Kelby Tomlinson (R) SS
9. Matt Cain (R) P
I hope I never see Mac Williamson again……anywhere
His bases-loaded, one out, AB still ticks me off. The pitcher stole strike one AND strike two on the first two pitches with curveballs down the middle, for called strikes. Then the rest of the AB was doomed, destined to be a K.
careful— I bet you said that about BuzzSaw a time or two and look what happened.
You may be on to something, Flav. I once got a lift to a softball game and there were a couple of guys in the car I didn’t know. There was one guy that I found especially annoying and I remember thinking that I hope I never have to see this fuckin’ asshole again. He’s been my best friend for almost 40 years now….
Finally listened to the James vid with sound. He got some Kruk and Kuip comments. Nice! I was half expecting Mrs James to plastic wrap everything around you James. Admit you have a similar reaction every time Belt takes a walk. ADMIT IT!!!!!!! lulz
As cool as the moment and video are, I woulda traded them for a couple of Belt bombs and a victory! 18 innings at ATT this year so far, one run scored . . . I asked Mrs. James to keep reminding me that it’s not the offense . . . .
Lqtm
Hey James, big congrats on your 15 secs of fame!! I think it used to be 15 mins but reverse inflation (is that deflation?) has had it’s way with all that.
In any case, I wasn’t going to say anything about your 11:26am comment about my “games we could of won” post .. but my desire for clarity got the best of me.
In this particular case, I am not talking about exact point totals. I’m working on intuition. It’s a ‘feel’ thang. I keep a log/journal for each game and denote specific coulda/shoulda/woulda games. That is to say, games — no matter the final score — that I ‘felt’ were wins. Possibly, the final outcome of some were wide margin losses. Others were not. Yet, at some point in all those games we had a chance, or multiple chances, to win. It’s only my opinion and it, of course, is completely arguable. But I’m not arriving at my conclusions by way of final point totals which — correct me please if I am wrong — I believe you are assuming I am doing. That is all …
Got it, Lisle, thanks.
Very cool, James, and congrats to your buddy, although I’m a little disappointed to see you weren’t charting every ball and strike. 😉
I’ll be optimistic ~ Cain will cough up only 2 dingers tonight for 4 runs…
I say he shocks the shit out of all of us and throws a 3 hit shutout … G-men, win 1-0!! How’s that for stepping out on a precipice?
well, Tulo ruined that
Hmmm. So I was with James and amiably chatted with him at Flapalooza in September 2013 (though pleasantly distracted by some fondling in the stands), and did not make the connection while watching the cool vid from last night. Must be because he was sans sombrero.
Ownage is Ownage
Suckage is Suckage
I think Panik should change his number since it is now being worn as a memorial patch on everyone’s sleeve.
It’s bad karma and it’s dragging him down.
I recommend Tito Fuentes’ original #26 for him…
I only remember Tito wearing #23 when I watched him Loo, but I guess he could of worn another number maybe with the Padres?
Nobody’s done much justice with Jimmy Davenport’s #12, especially when Nate not so great Scherholtz was disgracing it.
Better chance with Panik wearing his number imp, since I still feel Panik will win a batting title maybe more someday…
Here’s Tito, 4 days into his ML career wearing #26. You’re right though, Kat – he mostly wore #23 as a Giant…
http://tinyurl.com/jbjzghv
classic Loo. Remember seeing the another one in the Chron with Tito holding the bat out at arms length.
Right Willie. Juan was looking to finish him off in this shot. From the looks of it, he would’ve killed him If he followed through…
So much for that 3 hit shutout Lisle.
3 hits in 2 innings & 40 pitches yikes..
Yeah ..so much for me trying to be positive … honestly guys, it just never works out for me! Maybe its because I’m “attempting” to be positive instead of simply “being” positive .. Eh, it never works .. I’ll keep wearing black until they invent a darker color.
Back me up on this, Chimes. When a pitcher is throwing either strikeouts or giving up homers (Cain 4ks, 1 hr tonight), his career is cascading downward. cf. Steve Carlton at the end. Homer or strikeout. Same for batters. cf. Mark McGwire.
Bunt, HBP, WP, PB. If ya can’t hit, move the line along somefeckinghow.
Oops. CS. Gawd.
A caught stealing just cannot happen right now with this crappy offense.
Happ vs. the Hapless.
gold.
He does it for a living; epic with ease!
Ok so that was strange. If it’s a hit&run like Kuip said why was Cain squaring to bunt then feebly trying the butcher play and screwing it up hanging Specs out to dry?
Posey’s gunning out a shit load of runners this year! Curious what his percentage is? James?
Bad karma…
Damm what a gamer that young gal got nailed flush on the arm and shook it off with a thumbs up! Most impressive!
Her dad is a schmuck. What a pussy. Way to protect your family.
He must feel awful…
Tulo struck out in the first last night against Peavy with sacks loaded on 3 pitches. Miller couldn’t believe it.
Now, after homering off Cain, he gets called out looking again.
If that was any Giant, let alone someone with as much rep as Tulo, I’d be pissed.
Rox made the right move dumping him off and keeping Gonzalez. Maybe the haul turns out well.
But this 0 runs noise…time for no k and k and James Cotton on youtube.
I’m going to make a non-data driven, unfair complaint about Span. He’s one of the fastest guys on the team, but this is the second night in a row he’s barely been thrown out after a Blue Jay’s screw up in the field. If you’re fast, you make the other team pay for those mistakes. Pisses me off.
I had pretty much the same reaction after the one last night.
I”m with you there. DSpan has done little to nothing in his time here.
He should cut those grey hairs out of his beard. By the time his contract’s up he’s gonna look like Bill Russell…
Puig at .233 with a 0.7 WAR. He’s done.
I’ll take him – this team is sleepwalking.
One of my old favorite horses was named Somnambulist…
How many balls can Toronto misplay before it actually helps us?
I guess it figures that since w never see these guys, they are going to skunk us.
I’m taking the fecking gas pipe if we lose this game 1-0. Sayonara, world.
Hey, Cain is pitching well!
I’d love to see Edward Scissorhands run into one here.
Hah!
Fuck. Seroiusly?
DSpan needs to run into one.
Disgusting bunt by Cain, from what Jon Miller is telling us. Gawd.
It was horrible. I’m going to make up some “Fuck Bunting” t-shirts at some point.
Spanning the World to find are latest Dailey Double DP!!!
Can Steph Curry hit a baseball?
Ballgame! with are feeble offense.
Cain looks like he shit his pants.
I can’t watch; can barely listen.
I’m sorry. That was crass. But it does kind of look like that….no?
Fleming and Miller sound desolate pondering the same gas pipe as I was. (I’m off the hook, since it is now TWO-0.)
Actually, no complaints here . . . What SD said is relevant and worth repeating – Cain is pitching very well. Flabbergasted that Span has such a noodle arm, that he couldn’t throw out the runner at home (or at least, come close).
Denard doing his Dante Powell impression…
There is no dumber tradition than the “rally cap”
Except maybe Thanksgiving Day…
I’m not in the mood. FMH. Gnight.
Fuck my hand?
if you paint your nails, sure
lulz!
So in his most effective start in many a moon, Big Matt is getting Cained. Figures.
Shaw, Pablo’s replacement, has 23 Rib-eyes now. Boston’s scoring looks excessive and decadent compared to the Giants.
Wow Tulo threw that half way to Sunnyvale..
Span giveth and Span taketh away.
If you insist on a dose of optimism, it’s the first time in nearly 3 years Cain went that many innings.
whothefuckinfuckisMichaelSaunders? I HATE THIS GAME.
Peavy and Cain have their best games of the season and no offense!! WTF????