Saturday!
Irritating game yesterday. I’ll give Suarez some props for getting through 5 but don’t hold out any hope for this guy. He was facing a team that didn’t know him, a team that was probably a little tired from playing on the east coast the day before and can someone tell me the last time the Giants played a game at Coors Field where either team homered? I know it’s happened I just can’t remember it…..
Hopefully we get Pence and Belt back today and a pitcher who doesn’t get hurt…..
Transaction note: Chris Stratton just got the call. He sucks, it’ll be interesting to see how he does at this level.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
The other day my comment about Mark Jackson getting the Warriors to play defense was questioned and it was pointed out that Warriors def was just middle of the pack and the flapper conviently used Jackson’s second year as coach to say the Warriors D was middle of t he pack.
In terms of the Mark Jackson years as the Warriors coach and I probably came close to watching almost every game in those years and began watching Warriors basketball in the early 1980s (given in those years, the only Warriors games on tv were road games…we’re those games on Channel 44????), Mark Jackson is the first Warrior coach in my era to ever get a team to play defense. I was skeptical when they hired him because I did not think an east coast bball type trying to play tougher defense first was going to work.
The Jackson teams could lock down defensively when needed. During Jackson’s three years as coach they went from a defense efficiency rating of 1.055 and 27th in the league in his first year (2011-12) to 1.022 and 15th in the league in year two and all the way to 4th in the league with 1.002 defensive efficiency rating. That is tremendous.
In Kerr’s first year they jumped to first in the league at .980. But the personnel was exactly the same, does Mark Jackson not get some or a lot of the credit for creating that defensive mindset????
The Warriors then dropped this year to a rating of 1.007, just below Jackson’s last year, and that was 8th in the league. Do we then argue that Kerr’s defense is getting worse???
All I know in three of first four games in this series, the Warriors were not playing anywhere near to lock down defense…much better effort in Game 5, but if we don’t elevate our D, we lose tonight…
I forgot to note that Jackson’s inefficiency was his offense and that is where Kerr gets proper praise in changing the Warriors offensive strategy…
i have to disagree somewhat. it was the coach before jackson, who got let go in the ownership change and i think went to sacto that first got them interested in defense. Jackson just built on that and then Kerr. keith Smart? i didn’t think he was a bad coach in either places but i have no idea where he’s at now.
Ewisco, I didn’t dislike Keith Smart but he had the Monta Curry combo. Bogut wasn’t there. No Iggy. No Draymond. No Klay or Barnes.
So when Jackson came in, he built the D from ground up..
Stratton was a first round pick. Here’s his chance to show something.
Have you checked Stratton’s stats lately? Give close note to IPs, and the K-BB ratio.
Have a great weekEND, as the Brits say. I’m taking a train tomorrow to NYC and then Philly. Monday driving back solo with a U-Haul with some of my daughter’s stuff. U-Haul. Something tells me that if the company were strarted today, marketers would insist on We-Haul or i-Haul or something. Go, Giants, Sharks, Warriors. And is today the Preakness?
Preak was last week. Great point about “U-Haul”
sheesh; you’re right; Nyquist lost — and won’t be in the Belmont, right?
weird cosmic convergence how a bunch of us posted almost simultaneously
Yes! 🙂
Cosmic convergence. Jeeze Pawlie, you had me convinced you were a devout rationalist-materialist. Have you been guilty of reading Carl Jung or Rupert Sheldrake?
Jung, maybe; don’t know the other; Meister Eckhart sometimes
D-Backs got trounced again yesterday.
Fun times for La Russa.
Padres hitters had the best VMI on the board yesterday, the only reason I cashed was because of Solarte, Norris and Kemp (it’s the first time I’ve played the first 2 all year)
fwiw, 42 HRs hit yesterday which is a lot, and yes none in Sherpaland.
Suarez was OK, Giants didn’t hit much near that far off Chatwood. Duffy just missed one deep in RF corner that would have made difference. Yard does seem to hex Giants.
Pence and Belt should be back and top end of rotation on mound.
And it was those Powerful Padres that put up 10 runs in AZ, gotta love it.
Evvverybody loves to hit in the Snakepit.
We’re ready to get this Saturday rockin’ and rollin.’
I’m underwhelmed by every single pitcher we have in AA/AAA. I’m still pissed off we didn’t get anything for Crick when he had value. Stratton is 25, in my opinion he should be showing more than he has. But I’m more than willing to watch a start or two, it will be interesting at the very least.
If Stratton doesn’t pan out; he and Gary Brown were two big misfires in the first round.
Overall, the Giants’ batting average has been high in the first round since Cain.
not even Ben-Hur Heston?
Jenkins brings up interesting point about Urias: kind of curious move to bring him up now, since Dodgers have a finite limit on his innings. He’s already thrown 40 some in minors out of their stated total of 115 for him. would that mean they Strasburg the kid and shut him down in August regardless of standings?
Or curias? (Pawlie’s influence)
They’re hoping by then that Ryu and Anderson are making a good contribution. There’s no guarantee of that.
Rockies got off to a good start with the game 1 win. For the Giants, they missed a chance to extend their winning streak to 11 consecutive games against NL West opponents, something they had not done before in franchise history. The 10-game streak matched their longest since 1982. However, this winning streak was probably one of the weakest Giants fans have ever seen, as the offense is not producing enough to win games, unless the pitching is truly lights out. We really needed Pence and Belt, but they were MIA due to injury.
Saurez did yeoman’s work, but against a strong hitting club like the Rockies it wasn’t going to be enough. That being said, we didn’t expend our bullpen too much, e.g., Kontos being the sacrificial lamb.
Coors Field has usually been a horror house for the Giants and I sense this will be no different. Even with Bum and Cueto going next, I hate us playing here and it really doesn’t increase my confidence with them pitching here. In fact, if anything, this place tends to disrupt a pitcher’s rhythm.
The Rockies they played an excellent game. Chatwood is their best pitcher in my opinion, with Gray having the most potential. We sort of lucked out last night (despite the loss), by only having a hail of doubles assault us and not homeruns. Something is different about the Sherpas. June swoon or competitive all year? I’ll only say that their team looks much better at this point of the season then I can recall ever seeing – mostly due to their starting pitching and bullpen. Also, they have a bevy of pitching prospects in the minors, unlike us, who have the Strattons of the world.
I would settle for him doing youman’s work:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/y/youmafl01.shtml
If the Rockies can climb over both Mount Bumgarner and the cliffs of Cueto, they are indeed Sherpas.
By the by, Bochy took advantage of a day off Thursday to do some fly fishing in the mountains. He ventured up to Goose Gossage’s cabin, which is just outside of Leadville, Colorado, which is the highest elevation city in the United States if I recall correctly.
“We had a good time,” Bochy said.
I wonder what they talked about.
Goose? He probably was laughing his ass off at Bruce not being able to breath at that altitude (10,151′). I have had friends visit me at my mountain home (8250′) and not be able to breath. lulz.
Had to check out the stats on Strats. Has the Braintrust seen something in him beyond the stats or are they giving the first rounder (2012) outta Mississippi State his single shot at glory in The Show? Among Giants prospects he rates as #27 outta their top 30.
The 6’3″ 190 pound righty outta Tupelo, Ms (yes another rangy Southern strategy starter) has gone 5-4 this year with a hard-hitting Sacremento team. His ERA is a generous 6.02, though his WHIP is a more tolerable 1.39. In 9 starts he does have a complete game for the RiverCats. In 52.1 IP he has given up 58 hits including 2 dingers, with 15 walks vs 36 strikeouts. So he is not a power pitcher and has moderately decent control.
Through Stratton’s minor league career he has a 27-27 record with a 4.17 ERA and a .258 BAA. He has pitched better of late than his ERA would indicate. After a horrendous start he has been picking it up a bit recently, having pitched decently well in 2 of his last 4 starts.
At this point Stratton looks to be a #5 moderately adequate fill-in. Though i’m sure he is excited and delighted to have gotten the call.
Just for the record, Tupelo is where Bobbie Gentry’s brother bought a store after he married Becky Thompson…
Just for the record… You kill me DJ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uAnzY0EV-M
Great sax solo about 3 minutes in…
Blade has been uncharacteristically positive about his hated Rockies this year…
True Loo. However, as in the past, I am being honest about them. Their record since the “Rocktober” World Series confirms this . . . They truly have an excellent pitching staff, which is penalized by playing half their games at Coors Canaveral. As I alluded to in my earlier post, this disrupts a pitcher’s rhythm. Sheesh, hitters playing for the Sherpas are schizo too, with the 180 degree home/away splits. This would be hard for any team to overcome.
As many have said here, baseball shouldn’t be played in the mountains. The results are always skewed.
Maybe it’s just the way the play the Giants but they are a good looking team on the field that just needs some pitching to compete.
Arenado is all world vs. SF, add in the 2b LeMahieu Gonzalez Parra, the kid SS Blackmon (the white guy CF, weird). Even Weiss seems to be learning the craft.
If everyone likes hitting here so much, how come Giants aren’t raking the ball around the yard? Maybe getting Pence and Belt back, their best 2 hitters by far this year, they put some crooked numbers.
Good luck to “OBD” tonight.
Sounds like they’ll need it…
Our Beloved Dubs?
when I first read that I thought he was talking about that ignorant fuck I banned last year.
When Stratton makes his first appearance, I hope Krukow just uses Flavor’s simplified scouting report:
“He sucks”
followed up with “he’s got a fastball, a cutter a change up a curve he’ll throw anything at any time…”
Stratton numbers sure seems ordinary, and Heston wasn’t anything special but how good do you have to be?
Giants even this year are 6th NL in runs scored despite many hitters underperforming and have a good LU.
They play 81 at home in a very pitcher friendly yard and are very good defensively–Parker and Specs have made nice plays in the OF and Blanco is good anywhere. The IF is stellar and I was watching ML net last night proclaim Posey 2nd best defensive C in all baseball.
In other words you can’t ask for a better support group.
At 4.5 games, the Giants are currently tied with the Cubs for biggest first-place lead in MLB.
gary brown is hitting .213 in the Independent Atlantic League. That is all.
Hindsight is 20/20. The Giants could have taken Syndergaard with that pick.
I’m not going to look that draft up but they could have literally taken ANYONE else and it would have been a better pick
To be fair, all the other teams passed on Syndergaard in the first round, too.
Tulowitzki going to the DL; who could have seen that coming?
The Rockies are happy to be so done with it.
he’s been pretty bad since he got to Toronto, they’re probably glad he’s going to the DL, too
Blade.
screw it I looked it up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Major_League_Baseball_draft
actually only 3 guys taken after him I would have preferred (Noah, Walker and Castellanos). Would they have taken Yelich if available? We’ll never know…..
DeGrom, Addison Reed, and Adrelton Simmons were in later rounds in that draft.
It was a pivotal draft for the Mets organization, getting de Grom; and Syndergaard was acquired from Toronto in the Dickey trade.
The Giants should have just cleaned house, at some point (and maybe they did), on who was scouting outfielders. Admit that the organization literally had no idea what it was doing when it came to evaluating young outfielders, and hire some new people. They have gotten more heavily involved in Latin America scouting, so maybe that will produce an outfielder at some point.
All we’re asking is one!! Just one!! 🙂
Seriously, any Flapper here with some time, reading stat sheets, and looking at some players and or vids, could have drafted outfielders better than the Giants front office over the last 2 decades. Not one, one, made it to the bigs with any consequence. They’ve struck out on their minor league outfielders more often than Kingman in a two month foul mood…
TF once said: “Harry Carey spoke like he had a mouthful of turds.”
It’s kind of how I feel about Jerry Remy’s broadcasting.
He was munching on some fabulous pizza from Dago Hill while swilling Budweiser.
Span
Panik
Duffy
Posey
Belt
Pence
Craw
White Shark
Pissed Off Bully
Heh, heh, heh. Will that dinger cherry-popper emanate from the bat of one Pissed off Bully?
Maybe Bum will rise up and mash a dinger to get himself a run or two…
One good thing about pagan being out isn’t pitcher in the 8 hole. Although with Bummie…..
I liked the story better when I thought Kendrick was on his phone. Interesting story developing regarding the Dodgers using laser pointers for defensive markings.
If that’s legal, then the robo-home plate ump shouldn’t be far behind. I’m tired of these idiot home plate umps with egos. As I’ve said before, I’m for chicks in short pants standing behind home plate and yelling ball or strike — it would be EZ, the robo ump shows a red light for ball and green for strike. Half of Kruk’s schtick would disappear, so he’d have to start describing how each ump chick makes the calls…
“she’s got blond hair, double D’s legs for days and she’ll call any light she sees…”
I’ll take that eight days a week over Joe (“Cowboy”) West …
It’s actually a brilliant idea. If MLB wants to appeal to younger viewers why not have hot chicks in Hooters, Twin Peaks, Tilted Kilt, insert breastraunt chain here, attire yell out the balls or strikes? You could even have celebrities take their turn as well, ala the Cubs “take me out to the ballgame” routine. I am all for it!
Bum actually stayed pretty mellow throughout his last start. Turning over a new leaf?…..nah….. 🙂
Urias already sent back down to AAA. Makes you wonder if the Dodgers know what they’re doing, that call up now looks like a total panic move.
I think the game needs one umpire, more of a guy to keep the peace than anything. Seriously. 99% of the calls are no brainers. Caught pop-up, ooh that’s tough to call. That infield fly call is really rough, need experience with that. Guy out at first by a step — whoa, that requires a professional. The 1% of the calls that are close, the umps blow ’em all the time, as replay shows. They’re not necessary to correctly call the game, if they would upgrade camera angles and use a robo home plate ump. They are now mostly props to keep the game more entertaining, and consistent with history and tradition, which I’m down with. The only thing they might do that’s really helpful, and I say might, is adding 4 neutral bodies in a brawl. Though, they tend to get out of the way if it gets a little beyond the usual shove, tug and hug business…
I heard on Lurie this morning that G-men will bring up Stratton, but likely he’ll be the long man, Suarez will start. So, Stratton may not even get into a game anytime soon. Seems to me the situation for starting pitcher depth in the Giants minors at AAA and AA is crap, otherwise we’d have seen somebody brought up to actually throw a ball in anger at some point. Crap minor league starters is not what we’ve been led to believe for quite a while. Bumgarner is the last real home grown starter (if you exclude Heston’s 1/2 season last year)to stick, and he’s been up 5+ years. That’s a long stretch with no other starter in the minors looking like they’re ready to go as a real rotation guy…
I don’t care much for holiday weekends. Boring, depressing. Wish I could be at Citi Field with Loo. Mets closer coughed up 4 in the 9th, but Grandy (who strikes me as very bright and affable) won it on 2nd pitch to him.
“strikes” is the key word this year for him. As in “out”. 49 K’s already this year.
and awful BA…but one swing is good enough sometimes
Span scratched.
Bad hip…
wtf is it with baseball players and injuries? pussies
Not understanding why Duffy is still in #3 hole, given his batting troubles. He should be switched for Craw or Pence. Maybe he’d feel a little less pressure, and get his swing back…
I’m for chicks in bikinis standing behind home plate yelling balls and strikes. Speaking of BBOTD, I noticed last night the most recent is from last September. Is that possible? Back in September, I was still with Yankee Stadium Mystery Companion, pre-Iceland exile.
That LaRussa invasion of the Pirates broadcast booth this week is too funny. The Dbacks current implosion couldn’t happen to a nicer VP/GM. Yeah, Tony wanted to correct the view that he’s ordered a lot of retaliatory throws at batters in his tenure in MLB. Just like a few years back he wanted to correct any misconceptions about Big Mac — LaRussa didn’t know Mac used ‘roids until the morning just before Mac admitted it to the media. BTW, the Pirates broadcaster, good for him, said afterwards about LaRussa: “I didn’t speak any untruths. I spoke completely accurately, and I’ll stand by every word I said”…
Hey, I’ll give it to the Doghairs. They brought up a kid to try him, see what he could do at 19. He’s not ready, so he’s headed back down. So, today they know more than they knew yesterday, and that helps guide them in moves they need to make this year. Giants? They’ll bring up Stratton, he’s 25+ with 470 IP, and it looks like he won’t even get a shot to pitch unless there’s a blowout…
Impressed more times than not that Kruk and Kuik wear stylish suits broadcasting the Giants games. Rockies broadcasters look like bums most of the time. Worse, they sound like losers too. I know some of you guys really dislike Kruk and Kuik, but I have no problem with them, especially Kruk, who sounds like he knows what he’s talking about. In any event, the contrast with other broadcast teams is astonishing.
. . . And Zum, you’re absolutely right about Remy. Apparently, Bosox fans think he’s hilarious. Must have been an off night when I seen him broadcast the Red Sox/Rockies games. I Googled his name and perhaps, he has all his marbles, but his family (kids) is looney toons. Seriously. One’s a murderer, thief, and steroid user; another assaulted his girlfriend (the brother I already mentioned stabbed his wife to death, while their kid watched); and, the daughter broke into her boyfriend’s house, assaulting him.
I used to like K&K a lot, blade. Maybe familiarity breeds contempt. I still like them, but the foibles get to me sometimes. Kruk’s homerism just goes over the top once in a while. Kuip is fine, his post-game gnoshing, slurping of drink, and lip smacking on air notwithstanding…
You brought up a good point, “familiarity breeds contempt.” Perhaps, that’s how I feel about the Rockies broadcast team in some ways, yet if you go to any list of rankings, these imbeciles are usually at or near the bottom. Seriously. I get all my games off the of PC, so I get a wide variety of broadcast teams and without a doubt K & K are the best in my opinion. Oh, regarding homerism – they all do it. However, I get it with the good teams. Conversely, it sounds ludicrous with a team like the Rockies, perennial doormats.
YEAH!!!!
Slacker
Buster, starting to earn his keep!…
Flemm had just mentioned the Gmen had not homered in the first inning yet, all season — then Posey crushed one …
Giants showing some life at the plate. Bum not with the HR, but gets the sac fly…
Snarkk, Zack Wheeler is still considered a top prospect by the Mets, recovering from TJ surgery. That was a good SF draft of a pitcher after MadBum. Wheeler was traded for Beltran, of course.
Starting pitchers, I’m talking about.
zum, you got me on that one.
Still, I don’t count a guy that never pitched for the Giants, and he’s been not much for the Mets (18-16). Beltran was pretty much a nothing when it comes down to it, so that draft pick ended up pfffft all considered. If Wheeler had been that good, IMO the Giants wouldn’t have traded him for a rental that they knew could scoot after his rental was done….
The thing we’ll never know is if Wheeler would have hurt his arm pitching for the Giants. I don’t think that’s for sure. But we’ll never know.
Yep, one thing Rags and Gardy have been good at is not having a lot of guys getting their arms hurt. Other than Cain, but that’s wear and tear, pretty much…
Notwithstanding the bomb he previously hit, this has been Buster’s MO lately . . . a high fly ball to the infield or short outfield.
I thought only lawyers can use “notwithstanding.”
No, slackers who haven’t worked for 10 years can use it too. Look it up!
I need to have a conversation with you about Asian women. If I traveled where you have, not sure I’d make it back. This notion was bolstered by a little “threeway” encounter (ya know, discussing Kierkegaard and Camus, the usual) I enjoyed at a “club” the other night. All legal. But a mere hint of Bangkok.
Uhh . . . umm . . . ahh . . . Is this site rated G? Not certain if daughters, wives, or significant others access this site???
Give me a shout via Skype or email. Paul can also help. lulz.
Will do. Off to meet some friends.
Perfect drag bunt.
does anyone know where this free game of the day on Yahoo! came from? I figured that was just some ad to suck you into a package but it seems to be every day with no end in sight on ending
does it involve Asian beauties?
Bumgarner with an unaccustomed 72 pitches through 4.
Flemming’s right – In this park, Bum was outstanding to get away with only one run scoring.
holy shit! Royals scored 7 in the 9th to win….and aren’t they without Moose and Gordon?
heard back from Twin. Doubt he’d mind me reposting his email.
Michael Scott
2:39 PM (1 minute ago)
to me
Hi Craig,
Haven’t done much of anything these days- my right hand and arm totally seized up so I’ve been undergoing Physical Therapy. At least that what .the doctor calls it. I call it “ Pommel, Whack, and Torture”
Hey, I might the only one who had known of Suarez and thought he could pitch up here. I’ll stop by the blog soon and say hello
My best,
Michael
thanks! hi Mike; hope you are reading this; all the best from us
That’s great to hear!
I’d feel better about this game if the Giants would pick up four more. Runs…
They give out free tacos at Taco Bell if the Rockies score 7 runs. So the rule of thumb is that usually 7 runs will put you in the win column.
That was big!
Bum and defense with maybe the best getting out of jam of the year so far…
Downside, now the Pen takes over…
Lopez walks a lot of guys nowadays. It’s annoying.
Mr. Nibbler now.
He’s crap against RHBs, like Romo is v LHBs.
Nice of him to walk both batters he faces, ahead of Arenado.
Strick v. Arenado with 2 on — I’m not liking that scenario…
What a crap performance from Lopez.
Pitching scared. Loss of faith in his stuff. Maybe it was the ballpark. Still inexcusable.
Strickland is so far outside the circle of trust that he might as well be in San Francisco pitching.
The gas-can brigade today.
And yet he’s always in there in critical situations. I have zero confidence in him. We need Romo back.
There’s the reason I didn’t like Strick v. Arenado with 2 on. At least he only got a double, and SF still has the lead. This Pen is totally mediocre right now. I don’t know if Strick’s problems are all in his head, or he doesn’t work well with the catchers, or what. He’s pretty crappy. Lopez’ walks both score. That’s total garbage relief, even in this park…
Strick is a fucking gas can, fully loaded with a blow torch lit and ready.
Strickland is proof once again that throwing hard and pitching are not synonymous terms.
Bochy with an over-manage. Maybe should have just stuck with Law for more than one batter.
I was thinking the same thing, zum. It’s only the 7th. Maybe keep a guy in until he starts getting hit…
They just can’t beat these fucking guys. Un-fucking-believable.
Can’t get Arrenado out, for one thing.
Giant killer.
Arrenado is Ty Cobb + Willie Mays, apparently.
Osich sucks balls big time. There is no way they can keep going on with a Pen like this. Supposedly these young Pen guys were going to be lights out coming up from AAA. The lights haven’t even come on…
he’s awful. As I said the other day, all he seems to do is either walk guys or give up bombs.
He’s LHP, but maybe he goes down when Romo comes up. Romo’s been out since dirt — who knows if he’ll have anything going when he comes up…
If the Giants weren’t involved in this cluster fuck, it would be hilarious. I wish.
Shit like this is why I dread every visit to Colorado.
An hour ago I wanted 4 more runs. I still want ’em…
IMO, it’s not entirely the bullpen – it’s this fucking abomination of a shit house ball park located on top of the world.
Osich could pitch anywhere and give up bombs
You’re right. He has been shitty. I thought this guy had the ability to close at one time. No more. Him and Strickland stink.
I’ll never give up on Strickland 🙂 but your post about the circle of trust was hilarious
Noted my concern about Bumgarner’s 72 pitch count after four. Result: Exploding bullpen battered by the Box of Rox. Now those batters better get off their goddamn duffs and do some blasting. Nice long congaline would be perfect.
Yeah, we have firepower too. In fact, the offense needs to take responsibility now. If we lose by this score, it’s on the offense IMO.
You cannot rely on normal baseball physics in that park. Everything feels skewed and unpredictable. It’s the wild card baseball doesn’t need.
Lopez is a LOOGY with a 6.48 ERA. That’s ludicrous. Is he still a major leaguer?
He’s pitched only 8+ innings in 2 months. WTF?…
lol. There has to be somebody on the farm that can fill his role.
Could use a 3-run blast by somebody, maybe Pence…
OK, we’ll settle for Posey doin’ it…
😉
There ya go . . . Told ya yesterday, if ya want to win here, play video game baseball. Only way to win.
ok, ok, Posey adds SOME value to the team…..
lulz
Slacker.
Another sports-related shooting fatality, the Pelicans’ Bryce Dejean-Jones dead at 23.
very sad. But weird circumstances. Supposedly he walked into the wrong apartment of his baby’s mama. He doesn’t know where his baby’s mama lives? And the dude inside just immediately started shooting? Glad I don’t have to live in that neighborhood.
It says on ESPN that he kicked in 2 doors before getting shot.
interesting. Well, I’m sure more about this bizarre story will come out soon.
Buster likes this ballpark. 🙂
What hitter doesn’t?
hahaha . . . No shit.