All Cylinders
Yesterday was the first time in years when the Giants played and finished a game before I even knew they were playing. Man, that was an early one yesterday.
Into Missouri we go. Honestly it doesn’t rile me up the way it used to. Not sure why.
Warriors 2nd team took down “The Land” last night. That must be a fun pill for LeFlop to swallow.
Here’s a sampling of tweets from their resident idiot fan after the game ended last night.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Come on Specs.
Span the Man.
yeah, baby, Casilla is now moot!
Oh boy….tbere’s gonna be a series of these Bon Jovi DirectTV bits. One was enough for me.
If Cueto has a back issue, let him skip a start and get right. We don’t need him soldiering through an injury like Pence and doing down with an oblique or something.
If Pence is having hammy surgery, he’s likely done for the year. August? In Bochy speak that’s mid October…
DD gets two extra days before his next start. I am sure that is something they will be evaluating. RE: Pence, what I heard is (well, Gail heard it and told me) that they are removing the hammy. WTF…that isn’t even something I knew they did. If that is the case, and the cut is minimal to open him up, then I could see the 8-10 weeks they are estimating.
Span is growing into the CF position. Nice RBIs there, made ’em pay for the walks…
I think being up by four would have been a great time to bring in Casilla…
Kontos hasn’t actually been super consistent since he’s been back. He’s got some runs to work free and easy, so go get ’em…
That was quite a display there by Molina.
This ump ain’t shy about letting you know when a strike is thrown. Reminds me of Dutch Rennert back in the day. I like it.
Me too, San. Nice to see an ump like that…not a lot of them around these days.
Good work from the ‘pen, and great start to the series!
Whatta bullpen!
🙂
Game, set, match. Great win against a tough team.
WHOOP! Very nice win! Hitting on all cylinders, indeed. Damned good call, Flav!
Bats were going, some great D (loved the long throw by DuffMan), and Cueto and especially the bullpen were nails!
Hey, Kontos for Kloser?…
I would add him, Gearing, Strick, and Casilla to the mix of a “by committee” basis. Let’s see who has the juice!
If the team ERA is 3.50 at the end of the year, the loss of Pence will be completely irrelevant . . . for the regular season.
Ballgame, and with a frog cacophony behind me, I bid y’all a good night.
G’night, John. We had our frog symphony a month or two ago. Guess they got their ya-yas out and made all of those little frogs. We have a few tubs/pots on the property with water plants…I am sure there are some tadpoles in those bad boys.
Always nice to grab a first-game-in-the-series win in St. Loueeee…
That would have hurt Casilla’s feelings, Bozo.
Nice win. Didn’t see any of it. Belt picking up the load?
Chuck, you comin’ to NY for Yank series?
The reduction in the K rate is really pretty remarkable and unexpected. If his OPS stays in the mid-900s, he’ll have 90+ RBIs.
Good question. Charlie – you coming to NYC? Boston? I seem to remember you saying that it was possible that you and your son were going to hit one of the cities. Make it happen. The more the merrier! Flapalooze, East Coast style…
My son got a job, which is the good news. He’ll have to work out his schedule to make it happen, but that should be OK.
Got a lot of other BS going on right now, but things should clear up in the next few weeks.
Niiiiice win. Got nervous there after five when i noticed Cueto’s pitch count. He toughed it out for another and then the master bullpen spinner BB15 shuffled his deck smoother than the proverbial riverboat gambler to stifle the Cards. The fine work by the bullies should restore some of their recently sagging confidence. Wonderful to see Kontos getting his mojo back after that down-time. Bochy may well gradually and smoothly introduce that bullpen by committee ~
(accidentally hit the wrong key on this stoopid mouseless Powerbook and cut off in mid sentence) ~ particularly on the return of Romo. There is a bunch of sorting which needs being done in that pen. It still appears to me that the way Osich has been performing we have us TWO loogies. If Josh does not get it together facing both LH and RH batters, one of them may hafta go ~ preferably to an AL team which is jonesing for a loogie and is in the race.
They really need to make that happen. I have ZERO confidence in Casilla. I think Kontos definitely deserves a shot.
Belt is in the top 3 (3rd ) in the whole of MLB in OPS and WAR for 1Bmen. He’s #1 in those categories and doubles, and #2 in hits among the NL1Bmen…
Thanx for sharing. Had not previously accessed those specific to 1st baseman stats. His walks have consistently remained within the top five (usually top 3) of all NL players behind a couple guys called Harper and Goldschmidt. It would appear that umpires have finally come to respect his keen eye for balls in or out of the strike zone. Dude has paid his dues….that and he has probably cut waaay down on letting those marginal not quite touching the black pitches slip in for poorly called and/or framed strikes.
I would say that Belt is the most-improved player so far this year. Really like his game right now, both at the plate and in the field.
Some character showing up on this team. After the loss of Pence and with Pagan and Romo still out of the picture, the team could have tucked it in and hit the June Swoon coming into the House of Cards. But apparently the adversity brought out some of their inner strengths. Tomlinson has proved invaluable in his growing roles. Span appears to be be getting in gear. Belt has become the core of the conga-line. Crawford keeps knocking in a run here and there. Infield defense remains sterling despite the occasional error. They take and make a lot of tough chances. Whatever he may be doing with the stick Buster remains an excellent pitcher-handler and has become deadly on stolen base attempts.
Tonight’s victory was a perfect example of all those little things adding up.
Well said.
good overview
Absolutely on the money…I especially like the “…Buster remains an excellent pitcher-handler and has become deadly on stolen base attempts.” lull Great post. As Flavor pointed out in the thread…”hitting on all cylinders.” It is a beautiful thing.
I have a friend who grew up outside Philly; later in life went to same church as Joe Frazier and family. My buddy intensely disliked Ali for the scorn and disrespect Ali heaped on Frazier. I don’t know if Frazier ever got over it. And for the most part the press sided with Ali, at least in terms of Frazier-Ali. (I believe SI had a big piece on this about 15 years ago; may’ve become a book.) Granted, part of Ali’s genius (I don’t know how calculated it was) was his PR and marketing brilliance.
Agree on the marketing and PR brilliance, and by and large, he backed it up with his gloves. But the disrespect to Frazier is sad. They were both great champions, back when boxing, IMO, was so much more relevant.
I just watched Pence’s injury. It reminded me of the last time I ever played softball, in the Nineties. I pulled a hamstring running to first. It felt like someone shot me. I collapsed to the ground. Then I crab-walked to first. Everyone thought it was hilarious. (That shameful part differs from Pence’s exit.)
I had a similar hammy blow out in mid 90s. The thing in back of my knee and above turned black n blue and I could not walk for 6 weeks except to hobble along…
Yep. Been there, too. Did it in a pick-up basketball game.
I pulled multiple hammies playing flag football 20 or so years ago, and also a few times playing ultimate. Never did pull one while playing baseball or softball. Agree with Pawlie about the “feeling like you have been shot.”
Dodgers lead the Braves 3-2. I’m not expecting much help from the Braves this weekend.
I remember the hated, arrogant Clay beating Patterson and Liston. Views changed over the years . . . .
His boasting spurred interest, that’s for sure. And he delivered. Gotta deliver. Just read a good NY Daily News reprint on their site of his conviction.
The Champ is gone…
he is?
just saw at NBC
Lisle asked earlier if anyone had calculated how much Lopez makes per pitch, or out. Here are some breakdown numbers (I did not calculate per pitch).
Per inning: $102,301.
Per out: #34,100.
Per batter faced: $27,210.
Not too shabby for as often as the dude gets in a game. Oh to be one of the top LH specialist in the game. And he has four WS rings to go along with all that coin.
He was a philosophy major in college. Interesting fellow.
Interesting…I had no idea. Very cool. I loved philosophy in college…one of my favorite classes right there with ceramics, and astrology.
In 2007 I pulled a hamstring from slipping on ice and the whole back of my leg was black and blue, like snarkk’s.
Yep…same here, a couple of times. Both times while playing Ultimate (frisbee). LOTS of running (and cutting) in that game! Definitely a young man’s game!
RIP, Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay). Wow, it is crazy all of the people we have lost this year, across the spectrum. So many great musicians and now Ali.
…and my mom, born in 1916, keeps going.
Wow. We should all be so lucky. Hopefully, we are all right here on the Flap talking baseball ten years or more from now. Fun to consider that…and how many Flapaloozas would there be to discuss…
Reading about the options the Giants’ braintrust (and other commenters) are tossing around to replace Pence doesn’t thrill me. Specs, Blanco, Pagan (?), Belt…. this is just *fill in the gaps* kind of stuff. You do that when your starting star is on the 15-day DL, not gone for 2 months. If you do that, then you have to “strengthen” your bench, because now your original bench is starting, and you’ll likely get players that might not have been good enough to be your original bench in the first place. I said something a couple days ago about wanting to see management be a bit more bold in their approach this time, meaning, go out and get a real starter to replace a real starter and keep your bench strong….
I am with you 110% on this one Paul. Time to see the Giants FO do something out of sorts, something bold, and go get a better than average OFer who can be there for a few years after Pagan is gone. And the way things are going with Pence, who knows how he will do trying to stay in the line-up for the foreseeable future. As was discussed recently, Pence needs to learn to dial it back. Hard as hell for someone as competitive as him, but he needs to find a way to do it. We need him in there regularly for the remainder of his contract.
Rest in peace Muhammad . . . 10 of your best knockouts!
Notice that not a one of the top ten here is against Frazier…RIP, Champ.
Ali won by technical knockout (TKO) after Frazier’s chief second, Eddie Futch, conceded the fight prior to the 15th round, after Ali pummeled Frazier in the 14th . . . British sports writer Frank McGhee ringside for the Daily Mirror describes the final 2 rounds:
“The main turning point of the fight came very late. It came midway through the thirteenth round when one of two tremendous right-hand smashes sent the gum shield sailing out of Frazier’s mouth. The sight of this man actually moving backwards seemed to inspire Ali. I swear he hit Frazier with thirty tremendous punches—each one as hard as those which knocked out George Foreman in Zaire—during the fourteenth round. He was dredging up all his own last reserves of power to make sure there wouldn’t have to be a fifteenth round.”
Chuck, DJ, as far as New York goes, my son got a job, which is the good news. He’ll have to work out his schedule to make it happen, but that should be OK.
Got a lot of BS going on right now, but things should clear up in the next couple weeks so I’m cautiously optimistic it’ll work out. Would be kick-ass to go to NY. I haven’t been there since 1973. Saw Mays play for the Mets at Shea back then.
That would be bad ass if you can swing it. And hell, if you are going to go through the effort for that, you should join Blade and me (and hopefully other Flappers) for a game in Boston. I have never been to either Boston or NYC, so I am pumped. Only bummer is I wish I had more time to spend back there. Hell, I could probably spend a few days in Boston and the surrounding area just checking out Revolutionary War sites, etc. Anyway, hope like hell you can make it. Better yet, just make it happen. 😉
I got like 3 days, so I’ll prolly keep it to NY but we’ll see. One thing that was cool the last time I was in Boston (saw David Cone beat the Yanks with Boston. Crazy), we stayed at a Holiday Inn that was right under the right field light standard.
That would have been bad ass by itself! Yeah, I am really looking forward to the trip. I plan to do Chicago/Wrigley next year. Hoping other Flappers can join the fray then, too.
I am actually looking forward to the Parker/Williamson platoon, if that is what the plan is—and I hope it is. Let’s get these guys some at-bats, let them call him down a little bit, stop looking over their shoulders and see what they can do over the course of 30 or 40 games.
Agree. It is senseless to have them up if they don’t get some decent playing time.
The gap in production between Pence and this platoon may be smaller than most expect. Pence is a very likable player, but by far the most overrated on the team.
Pence leads the team in RBIs, is 2nd in HRs, and 3rd in hits, and he is overrated? Explain that one to me…
Pence is a very good player, who was putting up his best numbers yet as a Giant at age 33. I just don’t think his loss alone will have the kind of impact on the team’s overall performance some expect. If the Giants W-L percentage goes down over an extended period, I can guarantee you the team ERA will be bloating up over that same time.
The rest of the team is underrated…
I disagree, and hope I am wrong. I just do not see Parker and Williamson, or the two combined, coming close to Pence’s production. We shall see…and again, I hope like hell I am wrong.
Well, they could both put up Matt Duffy numbers and we’d have two new candidates for the 3 hole!
They could, James, but based on everything I have seen of them the times called-up, I doubt seriously that happens. Another on which I hope I am wrong…but…
Eyelids are getting heavy fellas. The black triple IPA is catching up with me. Catch ya on the other side…
Let’s see the Giants get two tomorrow behind Shark…
Love him, hate him, don’t give a damn about him — Ali was beyond a sports icon, he was a towering figure on the world stage in the ’60s and ’70s. He truly was the most recognized public figure on the face of the earth. Tiger Woods in his heyday pales in comparison. This is in the time of 3 TV networks, print media ruling the day,no ESPN, and TV sports barely coming into their own. I lived in those times, there was NO other public figure that took over the public stage as much as he did when he was on it. The first Ali-Frazier fight at MSG in 1971 remains, IMO, the single biggest, most iconic, most awaited global sports event in my lifetime. I can’t think of any sporting event in recent times that even comes close. It lived up to the hype, miraculously. MLK himself could have used the PR attention that Ali grabbed when he was on the public stage.
Shot by Neil Leifer, the greatest sports photographer ever, here is THE most iconic sports photo of ALL TIME:
http://neilleifer.com/portfolio/muhammad-ali-vs-sonny-liston-1965-world-heavyweight-title-2/
Jim Ray Hart was 2 months older than Ali…
I was almost in Chicago yesterday…
Switching gears, and maybe I shouldn’t. News on the Niners…
OUCH.
http://tinyurl.com/h7dg9v6
this is a dumb article attempting to take another shot at the NIners without the facts. Lines aren’t generated until the week of the game and it’s nonsense to try to set them for each week this far out…….
no one that big fought like Ali in his younger days. If you saw him vs. the bruiser heavys (Folley Big Cat Williams et al), where he’d dance around them and then set his feet and throw fast combos, he was a tremendous show as he ran through the division
.
And of course very polarizing, esp once Frazier rose to prominence. Epic battles, in and out the ring.
I think James is right and others have in their own way echoed this: yes Pence brings a lot to the table but supporting cast of OF (plus Specs), including pitching and team defense, can help Giants stay on top. At least in the division, I don’t think anyone can match overall talent up and down LU and rotation.
snarkk is right: that surely is the most iconic sports photo of all time….what would others be? Mays catch, Gehrig farewell, Ruth swat, 1980 hockey?