Losing Our Way to a Division Championship
Unca’s POTD is interesting. As I’ve said several times, I’m not worried about the Dodgers even a little bit if Kershaw doesn’t come back. And the Rockies? Come on, as Summer’s Warning Track approaches (late August) their ragged, altitude-ravaged bodies will force a fade upon them. What if everyone played out at a 33% win rate? That would put the Giants at a cool 80 wins for the season. But if all 3 teams won 33% of their games the rest of the way, hey, we’d win the division and head into the post season like bosses. Sort of.
Stras today vs Cain and if Dirt’s prediction is going to come true, now would be a good time for it to begin. Maybe Stras will get one of those strained neck thingy’s that has forced him out of starts in the past.
San Dawg we are once again on the same wave length. I told someone in White Butte that my goal was to not watch a second of the Olympics. I was talking to a rich, retired white man on the driving range. We struck up a convo after he told me he liked my Giants shirt and I was blasting my drives out of the range. He looked at me like I’d lost my damn mind when I told him about my lofty goal but he couldn’t stop himself from staying and marveling at the distance of my drives. Anyway, I really don’t think it’s going to be that hard to pull off. I suppose I could accidentally wander into a room with a tv already turned on. If I avert my eyes is my goal still true? I don’t get the Olympics anymore, man. It’s lost its way. Corporate greed takeover. I couldn’t care less about a single event. You give me some Carl Lewis, some Mary Lou or some damn Flo Jo and maybe I’d get back into it….
Think I’m just being a sour puss? The US is a 47.5 point fav today v China. Hmmmm, oh yeah, I can’t wait to watch that great international *competition*.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Went to an outdoor concert yesterday, so I fortunately missed another loss. Read the Flap this morning and that street sign photo Flavor posted is hilarious and beyond weird (key the Twilight Zone music). Weird shit beyond any imaginable, reasonable odds always happens at the Flap, e.g., the Sandog/Unca kids pairing, Zumiee’s Phone Park winning percentage, Chi meeting Madbum in an obscure airport, etc.
So I just read about our black hole in the #3 spot of our line up. Per Baggs, he writes . . . “How tough? The Giants’ .712 OPS from the No.3 spot is the lowest in the National League, and only better than the Texas Rangers among major league clubs. (The Rangers just addressed their deficiency by trading for Carlos Beltran, who more or less replaces the injured Prince Fielder.) The Giants have received a major league-low nine home runs and 39 RBIs from what is supposed to be the most productive spot in the lineup. Consider this: the average production is 19 home runs, 64 RBIs and an .826 OPS.”
Ugh. The season grinds on . . .
Also, I’m down with Sandog and Flav’s boycott of the Olympics. Shit, I missed the last one – winter and summer – too, as my “cut the cord” status had just kicked in . . . No worse for wear having missed this “jingoistic sports corporate nationalist love fest” either.
There is nothing like falling asleep around 8:15 knowing your team is toast…that then led to waking up around 10 when they made the last out and then binge watching this new Netflix show Stranger Things. I got up to the final episode last night. 8 episode series that is remarkably well done. An adult version of ET sort of. But great summer time campy fare…and an out of nowhere lead role for Winona Ryder…
Awesome 80s music. One episode ended up with Peter Gabriel cover of Bowie’s Heroes…never heard this before. And then the next episode opens with a Joy Division song. Awesome.
GH, I’m thinking about seeing Suicide Squad this weekend, based upon Kev’s recommendation (he saw it last night and loved it); as well as the fact, that critics hate it, but film goers apparently love it. They are even petitioning Rotten Tomatoes (see below). With the Giants “flat lining” and needing CPR or some other type of cardiac intervention – taking a break from their malaise is a viable option for me.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/08/03/suicide-squad-rotten-tomatoes/88037494/
My wife was just telling me that I need to watch that show. Good to hear someone else speak highly of it. Guess I will check it out.
Stranger Things that is.
My daughter just gave me a big sales pitch on that show as well.
Jenkins pointed out that with LA LH LU–AGon Utley Pederson Seager Reddick—great moves by SF to get Moore/Smith and of course none of those guys would be thrilled to see Chapman out there.
Maybe Loo is right and Dusty gets it done. Love to see them take down Cubs if it came down to those two.
Not usually in on closers, but Melancon would help SF a lot. He will be FA next year, right?
spelling and pronunciation of his name with the soft c always bugged me. iirc UCLA had a guy who spelled and said the name same way, Gary maybe?
Yeah, we watched 4 episodes last Sunday, and watched the next 4 on Thursday. Stranger Things was very cool.
And yes, the music was outstanding.
Is Usain Bolt still running around? Used to like the track and field events,long jump, high jump, pole vaulting, 100 yard dash, but alas, no Dwight Stones.
Lincecum’s line last night after M’s lit him up for7 hits and 6 runs, in the first inning.
3 and a third IP, 9 hits 2 walks 1 WP 6 ER. ERA now sits at 9.16., 2-6 W/L
This is beyond stop the bleeding—it’s like Patrick Roy walking out of arena for Canadiens, embarrassing.
This Smarge crap is confounding. How do you start off 7-2 with a 2.54 ERA and allow only 5 HR’s in 10 starts. Then in the 12 starts since he’s given up 16 bombs and completely imploded. Makes no sense to me.
Kruk says he’s tipping his pitches. Do you think they do the Moore deal regardless of Smarge’s tail off in performance? I do.
I think they did the deal due to overall breakdowns up and down the rotation.
The Giants are playing thoroughly uninspiring ball all around. Vintage Cain sure would be nice. Hopefully that doesn’t mean a 8 IP 1-0 loss.
Flav and sandog’s goal to avoid watching the olympics is pretty funny. I imagine Big Flavor making his case to old white golfer dude followed by “Now watch this drive”. Ohhhhs and ahhhs ensue.
A couple of Greek friends have this ongoing debate about the Olympics being held exclusively in Greece. The argument goes something like this “Greece is the birthplace of the games, would you hold the French Open in a different country every year? Greece is the cradle of western civilization you know? Opa!”
he was doing all the talking trying to convince me to watch the Olympics. I was busy blasting most of my drives out of the range and he would stop mid Olympic point and say “Oh that one has a chance! Yup that’s out!” and then he’d go back to telling me that it’s basically un-American not to watch. That was his main point. When I pressed him he couldn’t tell me one specific event that he was looking forward to watching.
Why do you hate America, Flavor? Lulz.
I enoy all of the track and field events, wrestling and boxing. Swimming could go away as far as I’m concerned. NBC’s tape delay packaging nonsense has ruined the games for me. I’ll watch if I come across it but I’m not seeking it out.
I was convinced the all-star break was just what we needed. Playing well despite the patched up line up. Smarge crap imploding? How ’bout the whole darn team. I even have my doubts that Bruce isn’t off his feed this year. I know they are trying, but defense, offense, starters, bull pen all anti-contributing. And instead of the odd player coming through as the hero of the day we have the odd player actually having a good game. But rarely enough to win since the break. If we were to slingshot out of this funk we would go on to have a 700 record. The fink is that powerful.
I am sad about the olympics, it was my best chance to see world class performers. I will tivo segments that have badminton, weight lifting, some track and field. I will fast forward to just the competitions. No b-ball, golf, tennis but maybe rugby.
The most cynically cheesy thing about the Olympics is all of the NBC air-time given to women’s beach volleyball. You almost have to laugh.
Question of the day: would you trade Arroyo for Puig? If not, who would you trade for Puig?
We know the Dodgers would never trade Puig to us. The few of us here who want him (me, SD, & PK, I think) will have to wait till they send him to a team that would deal with the Giants who probably don’t even want him anyway. But there is a precedent of success with guys who have bad reps (Kent, Pagan, probably others). By the time any of this is possible we’ll have a better idea of Arroyo’s worth as well as Puig’s. For now it’s just something to talk about before we lose another game later today…
When a Giant pitcher is getting hammered, Kruk always says the guy is tipping pitches. If he is, I would think Rags would have fixed it long before enduring 2 months of getting smoked…
Given the pitching matchup tonight, Giants have little chance on paper of winning this one. Hell, maybe somebody will get a 3 run dong, and lightning will strike. The problem with this offense is it can’t put a few hits together for a 3 run inning now and then. One run here, one there, then maybe a 2 run homer. Bochy refuses to radically change anything in the LU to shake this comatose team up. Add that to some inexplicable pitching moves with the Pen, and IMO this is Bochy’s worst managing stint since actually having a team with decent players…
Replying to zum, and counter to BF’s boycott, hey, women’s beach volleyball has to be the best sport to watch in the Olympics. Luv that competitive fire, a crucible of athleticism and Hawaiian Tropic. And, just a bit better visuals that today’s women’s 10 meter air rifle, won by an Amercian lass. BTW, 10 meter air rifle? For 2020, they are proposing karate, skateboarding, sports climbing, surfing and bringing back baseball/softball. Competitive eating should be added — it’s in Tokyo, so I can see preliminaries with sushi and seaweed, quarterfinals and semis with teppanyaki and bento box, then finals including all things tempura…
What a coincidence- I had a yakisoba bowl for lunch today. (From the Cosco frozen foods section.)
Hai !
DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER
Zum, I hope you are not making a habit of this. Since these instant noodles are made to bear a longer shelf life, they are highly processed. They are low on nutritive content; high on fat, calories and sodium; and are laced with artificial colours, preservatives, additives and flavourings. In most cases, monosodium glutamate (MSG) as well as tertiary-butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ) – a chemical preservative derived from the petroleum industry – may be present in instant noodles for their taste enhancing and preserving properties. Though dietary intake of these elements is allowed within a limit, regular intake of these can cause severe health issues. In other words, you’re digesting oil, albeit, delicious oil. Yuck!
🙂
No, not on a regular basis. In fact, lunch today was at someone else’s house.
This is what the Olympics is all about. Sure, these NBA guys are staying on a cruise ship, so they needed to get out of such bad accommodations and go to what they thought was “just a spa”. How many times a season do NBA guys on the road go out “to a spa”?…
http://www.sfgate.com/news/nation-world/article/USA-basketball-players-accidentally-visit-brothel-9125583.php
wtf thought it would be a good idea to send Demarcus Cousins abroad as a representative of the USA?
George Karl?…
nobody listens to Karl
Is tiddlywinks on the Olympic schedule this year?Cause I’m all in, the flick of the wrist with just the right pressure to send the projectile spinning end over end to land in the cup is just exhilarating behind belief…
Tiddlywinks IDK, but apparently, an unofficial side event inside the basketball competition is “brothel visitation without getting caught by TMZ”. The US team failed to score in round 1…
i don’t get the “we’ll never trade with our rival” argument. If you think Puig is a cancer, wouldn’t you want to send him to us? If I’m a GM I’m not gonna be a pussy and worry about what a guy might do to us down the road. I’m going to have faith in my studly GM abilities and fleece the shit out of the team I’m trading with. No matter who they are.
I’d trade Samardz right now to LA for Puig, straight up, and we eat half Samardz’ salary. Sabevans could then cut Puig for all I care, and they’d still be better off. I’d throw in Cain, too, same conditions. Bring up some young arms to replace…
ballsy!
Impatient, more like it…
Last Giant-Dodger trade I remember was our robbery of Candy Maldonado for Alex Trevino.
Before that? Ron Hunt and Pee-Wee Oliver for Tom Haller?
I remember the Yanks stealing Sparky Lyle from rival Boston for Danny Cater.
Not sure if those two teams have swapped since – probably have…
Teams are reluctant to trade within their own division let alone an arch rival.
They prefer to trade out of the league if possible…
Some exciting bicycling going on right now on NBC. A mass of people all together, bicycling.
The pileups can be somewhat fun with “whining little bitches with a strawberry on their kneecaps!”🚴🚵🏻
Dodgers game is on Fox Sports 1. Channel 219 on DirecTV.
Ortiz playing 1b today. Just made a nice catch.
Did Puig have to go through waivers on his way to AAA? If so, the Giants could have claimed him. But maybe he had options left.
he’s never even played at the AAA level, got fast tracked, he’s probably got a shitload of options left.
Probably a dumb question on my part- do injury rehab stints in the minors count as options?
I’d trade Crick or possibly Young Beedah for Puig. There, I said it. Dodgers can choke on any counter.
What would you guys do if Cain gets smoked again tonite? Radio guys papering over his last start which was no hit through 5. He threw a million pitches, way more balls than strikes, had no idea where the throws were going. He’s throwing, not pitching. I just see no EZ way out if this guy keeps pitching this way, only 5 innings per game. The Pen is already a mess, if it has to pitch 4 to 5 innings every Samardz and Cain start, that’s recipe for a Pen melt down beyond what we’ve already seen…
I think you could get him for a couple of sandwiches…but then I’m bringing my rifle…
Just catching up on the various stories on Stranger Things…all cool. Blade, I’ll wait for Suicide Squad on cable. Interested in this Hell or High Water movie, mentioned before Nick Cave and his co-writer Warren Ellis wrote the music…
A French male gymnast broke his leg vaulting. There’s a horrific photo on the Internet.
Gymnasts and water polo dudes have the best bodies of male Olympic athletes, IMO. Guys are yoked, but not like body builders, just wiry yoked and strong as hell. You’ve got to be strong as hell to hold those upside down positions on those 2 rings. I got on a pommel horse once in the Berkeley gym years ago — the one near Barrows Hall just to see about it — I couldn’t even lift myself up once from those handle things. What those guys do on that thing has to be insanely hard to do…
It sucks we have 20+ mil in Cain and another 12 mil in Peavy which the Giants won’t eat, so the only thing they will do is 5th starter by committee. So Peavy could easily get his spot back if Cain keeps imploding, but can Cain really pitch out of the pen when he has such control issues?
The Puig thing is confusing me. Rosenthal said Puig had to pass through some kind of waivers for some reason. I don’t get it. Injury stints couldn’t possibly count as options, so I have no idea what Rosenthal meant.
Puig finally suits up for the AAA team tomorrow.
Puig’s under team control. He’s in his third year–his last option year–I believe. They can send him down but he gets his full salary. If he refuses to play, maybe they can dump him without obligation.
The Dodgers are handling the Red Sox today. Not good news.
Jeff Fletcher @JeffFletcherOCR 55s56 seconds ago
Angels have DFA’d Tim Lincecum.
Lest We Forget…
I still wonder what Velez was doing — about ready to tell somebody “I told you we’d win it!”, or ?
Anybody remember Fontenot in the extreme lower right — that team did SO much, with not a lot of position talent. Pitching was just awesome…
yes
I think that’s Wotus he’s pointing at…
After winning 9-0 last night and heading out into the LA night-life, there was no way the Red Sox were ready to play a day-game today. They dozed their way through it.
Speed!
Belt looked like me up there. Not a good thing.
I’ve seriously been calling for Tim to retire for 3 years. Hopefully, now he does it. Really glad to see Moore ain’t wearing 55. That would have bugged me big time.
Before this year, I had pondered Panik for Puig. I’ll back off on hat now, though I am still not as high on Panik as many of you.
Crick or Beede for Puig? I like it!
The snakes continue to bite…
Sorry to hear about Timmeh. He should take rest of year off, rest the hip, work out, do what he needs to do. Maybe give it one more try next Spring with Mariners or something. If it doesn’t work, then he should hang it up…
These protested calls on 2nd base steals are dumb. The camera angles aren’t good enough except in the most egregious of calls. There needs to be a camera ABOVE the 2nd base bag on a wire, looking straight down so you can see when/where the hand or foot hits the bag and see where the glove is. That probably can’t happen, a wire would be in the way of pop ups, etc. So, those calls will be problematic continually unless the ump really botched it blatantly…
I just looked at Lincecum’s Game Log for this year—Yikes! Almost as ugly as the photo of that Frenchman breaking his leg.
(Actually I didn’t google that photo-I can’t handle looking at stuff like that. Plus, some would argue it would ruin the Perfect Game I have going so far of completely ignoring the Olympics)
What a throw by Buster. He might actually be underpaid.
Pence = GAMER
That was nasty. FP way impressed Pence stayed in the game.
Same thing with DC broadcast crew.
Lincecum had nothing to gain by coming back early. I mentioned in the off season that I thought he would take his time and take the whole year off to strengthen that hip…he made a big mistake pushing early…
How many times has Blanco bluffed to bunt or tried to bunt on an AB’s first pitch, and phttt with a called strike, or a foul off, or ? Now, his typical called 3rd strike…
I just saw that Pence foul shot to the face on replay highlights. I really don’t see how/why he is still in the game. He can hit the game winner, but still I would think it is not right for him to keep playing with something that looks that bad, and may impact his eye…
Uh oh, Cain danger zone…
Nice play by Nunez
Yep, now a triple. Giants truly not getting any breaks, radio says missed an HR by a few inches…
Revere misplayed it (route).
Literally a few inches. He crushed it.
Speed!!
Belt . . . Grrrrr
Agreed…
Kelly almost tripped over the ump on the Nunez play. And I’m sure the ump didn’t appreciate him cutting in front of him.
Dare we dream about a couple of runs here?…
Just catching up on the various stories on Stranger Things…all cool. Blade, I’ll wait for Suicide Squad on cable. Interested in this Hell or High Water movie, mentioned before Nick Cave and his co-writer Warren Ellis wrote the music…
Dirt— good news for your prediction
Andrew Baggarly @extrabaggs 12m12 minutes ago Washington, DC
Matt Cain has that assassin’s look on the mound again. You could see this coming before he tweaked the hamstring in late May.
Nice job, Panik. And, Posey with the RBI single.
Now, can Blanco do something here, Strasburg is all over the place…
Blanco is blanco. Pffffttt!
Why not a squeeze play there? Seriously. Blanco is fast, and can maybe run one into a hit. A strikeout with Blanco is just as much probable as blowing a squeeze play into a force out at home. Try something, make the defense make a damn play! Fuck Bochy and his sit on the hands managing. I mean it. And I know Cain was up next. This bullshit is so frustrating…
You know Bochy, he abhors the bunt in any of its forms.
Belt, Grrr, Blanco, Grrr. Two completely worthless AB’s with a runner on third and fewer than 2 out.
Cain danger zone for sure, now. The Pen should be oiling up, stat…
No idea what possible value you guy see in Puig. He came up and lit everyone up, .900 OPS that is now down to .700. League has figured him
out and he has no intention of adjusting. Great athlete, but dumb as a rock ballplayer who has nagging injuries last couple years that probably don’t really exist.
He’s useless…the Dodgers have tried a ton of OFs and he can’t even make the team any longer.
Williamson and Parker both have way more talent and smarts, tho obviously the bar is awfully low in that dept.
His physical tools are intriguing. But as someone said about some guy in the NBA: “He’s got a million-dollar body and a ten-cent brain.”
hey, I’ve said Puig has sucked since DAY ONE. But I’d take him for Crick who is going no where.
Wow, phew.
Nice play by Belt…
Why wouldn’t Nats take a look at that play at home?
Cain shuts them out through 4. That’s why they play the games. On paper Twins should get their asses kicked by Indians instead they have a winning record against them. First place Tribe are 26-8 vs. rest of division.
both pitchers crap out with the bases loaded in the same inning. Nat’l League baseball does have it’s doldrums. I still like it better, though
“its”
Last two innings were touch n go for Cain, he got fortunate there were no scores. Bochy has to have the Pen ready to go. If one guy gets on, I’d pull Cain’s ass immediately…
Speed!!!
wow Nuno blasts another one into wide open spaces. You go blood!
A bloop, we’ll take it!
Belt with a line drive in the scorebook, 3-0 Giants.
Belt with the duck snort for a double and RBI with Nunie on third.
Belt with the K last time with exact same situation.
Baseball is a funny game…
Nunez can run. Best hitting game for him so far.
Strasburg’s .980 WHIP’s taking a whoopin tonight. And hey–Belt touched the ball with his bat! He did.
I want to believe Nunez is responding to a pep talk after his blatant laziness last night when he got picked off and just gave himself up.
I want to believe that…
Atta kid Craw.
One thing is certain…Nunez is a whole lot faster than Span..
4-0 Giants and the first SP to hit showers tonight is not Cain.
Andrew Baggarly @extrabaggs 2m2 minutes ago Washington, DC
Núñez and Will the Thrill are the ONLY Giants in SF era with a two-triple game that includes a double. Before that…Bobby Thomson in 1957.
The Flying Scot who hit the shot…
I know no one cares, but still, what the heck are “optional waivers”?
“SATURDAY: Puig is expected to report to the Oklahoma City Dodgers tomorrow, Rosenthal reports. The reason his debut with Oklahoma City has been delayed is that he first needed to clear optional waivers to be sent to the minors. He cleared Thursday, but his actual reporting date will coincide with the beginning of a road series against Iowa.”
don’t confuse option years with optional waivers. bottom line, no one bothered to claim Puig, knowing the bums could revoke the option
Ah, thanks.
Hopefully Bochy manages this 4-0 situation better than the other one recently with Cueto. He needs to manage this one like a playoff game, you don’t get a shot at beating Strasburg like this very often…
I think the DC crew said Dodgers were only other team to beat him this season.
Bochy wants to get him the win.
Alright, Cain is eligible for the win, have the bullpen ready to go. He gets one baserunner in the 6th. One!!