How Could This Be Happening?
Do any of you guys believe in signs? Stuff that happens to you that ends up foretelling the future? Yeah, that seems like a stretch right?
And then I looked back on my day in Oakland yesterday. Signs that lead to nowhere. A woman dropping a deuce right there on the sidewalk in front of me.
And this morning it’s hard for me not to think that those fake signs and that woman and that damn sidewalk weren’t trying to tell me something about the 2016 Giants…..
The good news is that I’m headed back to Oaktown right now. As I dodge 880 potholes at a solid 5 mph clip I will keep my eyes peeled for indicators of what today’s game might bring……
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Not a stretch at all, Craig. Personally, I operate on about 80% intuition, which relies on… signs. And Loo said it yesterday too, starting to get the feeling it just ain’t our year. I just also get the feeling that management is in denial about the situation. (sorry, I’m reposting this from end of last thread): Bochy said this after that cluster-fuck 5-run 9th inning: “We … just had some tough luck in that ninth inning. We’re pretty well set in the ‘pen, just didn’t work out tonight because of some bad luck.” Bochy cannot possibly believe this whole disaster is due to bad luck… 10 save opportunities just in September, and the ‘pen has blown 6 of them. That’s something way beyond bad luck, dude. Anyone hear anything from Sabean? He used to have some things to say at times like this. Like, “bad penny year”, etc. I kinda miss the ol’ guy. Wonder WTF they’re talking about up yonder in the Front Office…..
Glad I missed that crap fest at the end last night…would have kept me awake the rest of the night…
You guys think maybe the front office will consider bringing in a closer next year? Huh? maybe? I want Strick to succeed in this role. Chuck may have said it best, GIVE HIM A CHANCE, BOCHY. Fuck. Against the goddamn Padres no less.
These guys have all but had a wild card spot handed to them on a silver platter, just play .500 ball or a little better. But noooooo, they can’t even get that. The game last night was a complete cruise until the 9th.
Fuck, I really am an optimistic person, but the way this team is playing, it makes it damned near impossible to be optimistic about their chances. Oh sure, I would not be surprised if they make the playoffs, but I have no confidence that they can make any noise if they do indeed make the dance.
SIX blown saves in only TEN September chances. That is just absolutely fucking pathetic. And I still have respect for Bochy, but to think that “bad luck” has caused them to blow six fucking saves outta 10 in September (and we are not even half way through the fucking month), I call BULLSHIT on that.
I often reference 1985 (100 losses) as one of the most frustrating years, but this one takes the cake. In 1985 no one expected jack-shit from that team…every fan KNEW they sucked balls. But this team has just enough to make you think they can make a run, and then they lay a couple of turds like the last two nights.
Love Charlie’s comment last night “I had faith, and I had hope, then I found a length of rope…”
in hindsight, expecting this bullpen to come together after getting *cobbled* together might not have been the best move. You need stability down there, guys who have had success and built on that success. That’s the foundation, everything feeds and grows off that. We had too many young guys down there this year to go along with a closer who is, to put in mildly, on the downside of his career. I still like a few of the arms down there but not all thrown together like this. And that fucking lefty reliever continues to be a headscratcher pick up…..
Of all the teams that should know this, the Giants should be at the top of the list. The 3 WS teams all had lights-out, door-slamming bullpens. They either lost sight of that this year or completely misjudged the talent they had heading into the season.
Signs? While letting my dog out for the umpteenth time yesterday, I found a small red packet in the backyard — with a $100 bill folded inside. It did not take long to figure this one out: There was a Chinese New Year reference on the packet, the Oriental family next door had held a humongous party on Sunday, and there was a slight breeze coming from that direction. My wife returned it after I left for work, so make of this what you will.
Good point on the BP, Flav. I like some of the pieces, too. I know that Osich has made few friends this year, but if you look at the guy’s splits, he is fucking lights-out against lefties. I can see him sliding into the lefty specialist role that has been owned by Lopez last few years. But yes…this year, almost any Flapper has raised alarms about the bullpen throughout the year.
Someone mentioned late last night that unless the offense comes alive and the starters are lock-down (minimalizing the reliance on the BP), this season is in the tank.
Realize what Bochy says for publication is him not calling out his players and sticking up for his guys, which might be a ways away from what he really feels. It’s just how he rolls, the anti-Collins.
But I’m starting to believe 100% SanDawg is right and Giants just aren’t good enough. No Span Casilla Peavy or Cain to blame last night. Build up a 4-1 lead and you can’t hold off the bottom feeder Padres.
Flav, I’ve given reasons not to move Posey, but I’m sure he’d be passable at 1b tho as Kruk said he’d likely find it boring. Wonder if Pirates would give up a Cervelli for Belt? As Loo mentioned, I think that’s type of C they need, good defensively with a little O and can call a game. Brown is barely a back up and if you move Posey that would be my concern. Rent a C under Sabes didn’t go well until Benito showed up.
One more thing before I’m off internet access for another 24 hours—in another flap fantasy off season move, Span is exiled to LA Angels for rights to Lincecum and PTBNL…so what does SF do with CF?
Hernandez has never ever hit, and seems more like a Blanco defense first replacement than second coming of Andres Torres, a story that didn’t well. The O so far is on very small sample size and I doubt he’s an everyday guy. So who is?
Well, hell. It WAS supposed to be Romo/Casilla 8th and 9th. Something of a solid ride for the past 4 years regardless of the order. The rest were going to be seasoned by the, uh season. Romo got hurt, and Casilla has been fair-to-Benitez all season. The rest have been varying shades of the same thing.
My biggest problem with last night, is regardless of the fucking lefty matchup, how to you leave the game in the hands of a guy with no save experience and who was a recent call-up? Strick has been uneven himself, but I’d rather see him out there than Okert. Shit, after the game Okert looked like someone shot his dog.
Charlie – I had the same feelings last night. I was PISSED when Bochy came out to get Strick, and subsequently putting in Okert. Okert’s minor league stats are decent, but he really only did any serious closing in 2014. His K/9 and SO/W ratio are decent in the minors, but to put him in last night in that situation just did not seem like the right move. Strick should have either recorded the final out or hung himself.
Willie, I don’t buy that for a fucking second. Shit, I’m going to sound like James, but despite the hitting woes, the pen has been the biggest cause of failure this whole season. The stat now is we’ve blown TWENTY SEVEN saves. The worst teams in baseball don’t sport that record. 27. Twenty seven. XXVII. Click click doink doink doink doink doink pfft pfft.
There have been pen issues all season. It is getting worse. I think getting Law back will help a lot as he’s the best young gun in the pen. Will it be enough? Who knows? But I don;t think Bochy changing pitchers every batter per matchup for the last 4 innings is doing anyone any good. Put ’em out there and let ’em pitch.
Will Smith for all his fuckups needs to be higher in the hierarchy.
Flavor…Your day yesterday was spot on for the evening, you have the gal dropping a field dump and then the Giants have” Schimph Happens”
While there’s no defending the latest bullpen shitshow, lost in all this was a little incident in the 8th, which zumiee mentioned last night:
OOO with the baserunning gaffe for just because.
So instead of Posey coming up with 1st and 2nd and 2 outs, Triple-0 gets doubled up at 2nd to end the inning. Ok, so Posey probably hits another grounder to end it, but maybe, just maybe, he can manage a single and add to the 4-1 lead. But that’s how it’s been now for these last two months.
The Giants lead MLB with 7 blown saves in the 9th inning. They are 0 for 9 when behind in the 8th inning, which leads the league!! Yep the signs are there,
Well, at least you won’t have to worry about seeing someone choke to death.
¿¿¿Que???
If Flav is seeing events on the streets of Oakland as foreshadowing for the Giants then he doesn’t need to worry. It’s already happened. Come on, Chuck try to keep up! lulz
Hey, it’s fucking early.
Willie – RE: your 8:16. No way a swap of Grandpa Graybeard (Span) for the rights to Lincecum. Seriously, why the fuck would the Giants even want Timmy now??? They will do the “sign him for a day” so he retires a Giant at some point, but his numbers are fucking horrible. 9.xx ERA and a WHIP over 2.
RE: OF help going forward, the only guy who may be close is Slater in Sac. I suspect that Parker and Mac get a shot in ST, but they are not CFers, IMO. The guys who are projected in the Giants org as CFers are a couple of years out…
I’m sofa king DONE with Span. Gorkys Spark takes over. Ditto Adrianza. Tomlison gets his spot. Bochy needs to do something to let the players know he’s actually engaged with the process of this team going from first to worst.
Gorkys is the hot hand. Play him, Boch. Trust the pen. Don’t switch guys every batter.
I said at the beginning of this series they really needed to win this series (and really, all series going forward) if they have any hope of making any noise in the post-season. They need a win big time today, as the next seven brings the Cards for four and then we are in the latrine for three.
We are up 1/2 a game on the Mets and a game on the Cards. We are really the only three teams vying for a WC, as the Fish are five back.
I still am not counting this team out, but we are past the point of “wipe that shit off and get ’em tomorrow.” Tomorrow is today!
Strickland’s performance in high leverage situations hasn’t been that good so I didn’t really have a problem with replacing him. After that first run came in I turned it off so I wouldn’t have to watch the horror.
Strick didn’t give up anything hard hit. His biggest sin was not covering the bag on the grounder to the right side. Still and all him over Okert is a no-brainer. As someone said earlier, Smith should be the available guy in that situation, not the greenhorn.
didn’t see anyone taking a shit on the sidewalk this morning, and I was looking for it. So….a win today? Is that what this means?
That’s some serious stink eye!
When you look at Strickland’s numbers in Save versus Non-Situations it’s obvious why he hasn’t locked down a closer role despite his velocity.
Save situation
ERA = 5.26
WHIP = 1.221
BAbip = .323
HR = 4
Non-Save situation
ERA = 1.48
WHIP = 0.83
BAbip = .230
HR = 4
His career splits for 9th inning performance are not the stuff of an MLB closer and that’s not even getting into his 2014 post season. If you are interested there are a bunch of Clutch Stats that further detail his suckitude.
I’m just saying I didn’t have a problem with Bochy replacing him.
With Okert though? That’s my bone of contention. If it was someone like Romo, sure. I’d even stomach fresh wince.
Yeah, I was wondering about Romo too. Or even Reynolds. I guess Bochy is trying to figure out what’s he’s got with 20 games left (WTF). They burned Smith earlier in the game.
Or even Nathan. But Okert? That was a big swing and miss by Bochy, IMO.
1. Denard Span (L) CF
2. Angel Pagan (S) LF
3. Buster Posey (R) C
4. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
5. Hunter Pence (R) RF
6. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
7. Joe Panik (L) 2B
8. Conor Gillaspie (L) 3B
9. Madison Bumgarner (R) P
Nunez must still be hurting…
3-4 with a bomb last night and Gorky sits. He hits lefties better but Perdomo comes in with a 5.89 ERA.
There are times Bochy irritates the fuck out of me. This is one of them. In his worshipping at the altar of righty lefty match ups he sits Gorkys.
I feel a bad penny day coming from Bummie. Oh well. Hope I’m wrong but it feels like another sweep at the hands of the lowly Pads.
I’m a little less distraught about the Giants today than I was last night. A night’s sleep can do wonders. What the heck- they’re technically still in the playoff hunt, and I would really like Bum to get to pitch a playoff game. He deserves that for all he’s done for the Giants over the years.
What a mess of a second half of the season, though, for the team. Can’t remember anything like this in my years as a fan in any sport. This excruciating slow-motion collapse.
A caller on KNBR was comparing the agony to ’93, but the host reminded the caller that the team won 103 games that season. The Giants were playing very good baseball all season in ’93! We haven’t seen much “very good baseball” in the second half of this season.
Zombies, I am thinking when they lost 100 could compare with this year, except it was losing all year long when they lost 100.
The slow slide downward from such a height is so unique. It’s like something out of a long depressing Russian novel, like “Anna Karenina.” The inevitable slide towards the death which awaits us all.
On that cheery note, let’s play ball! 🙂
Auto-correct has it right. I feel like a zombie after that game last night.
🙂
Oops I didn’t even catch that, that’s funny!!
Kevin – see my early post about 1985. This year is much worse to me. We knew the team would be shit in ’85, but this year, our boys had the BEST record in ALL of baseball through the first half. Then they crank out this abysmal shit the second half…this is so much more frustrating than ’85, IMO.
I love Chuck’s auto-correct about Span, too. He’s sofa king over him. That is pure awesome-ness.
That was actually intentional. From the old SNL skit. I think it’s Fred Armisted and Maya Rudolph
“Come to Sofa King! Where our service is Sofa King Great! Our prices are Sofa King low!”
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/sofa-king/n12138
I was amazed that one got past the censors.
No need to Panik!
How have these Padres pitchers turned into Cy Young, Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton against out Giants???
If the Mets win, we are officially out of the running.
Nope. Cards lost today, so we would still be in a WC spot. Not that it matters if this team keeps rolling over to the likes of the fucking Padres…
maybe someone did shit on the street in Oakland this morning and I just didn’t see it?
Good to see us gearing for the St Looie series by playing horrible ball.
This has been a year of huge disappointments hockey, basketball and now baseball-wise.
Oh good. The pen rears it’s ugly head.
This fucking team is SO fucking frustrating. So, we PH for Gillaspie…and Agent Zero is the best we have? Fuck me to tears…oh wait, I am already in tears over this fucking teams lack of ability to win some fucking ball games. ARGH…
Glad Tomlinson is resting up for the big series.
Ahhh i see he PHed and played.
Win 9 in a row vs these guys and then lose 6 in a row. Brilliant.
We must lead the league in spades in showing bunts that we never actually try.
Jesus. Are you serious? Span needs to be cut RIGHT FUCKING NOW. He’s a worthless piece of shit. Gorkys needs to play the string out. If only to assuage the anger from the fans.
Well, me.
Krukow was defending him, but even if the pitcher balked, Span has to make sure the ball is going to the plate in that situation.
You CANNOT get picked off in that situation. EVER.
Bury Gorkys and Tomlinson on the bench while the starters scuffle for 2 fucking MONTHS!
Top of the order is 0-11. Yeah, trot those fuckers out there. Again. Please. Bochy is playing this like he wants to be fired.
I’ve had that thought too. Maybe he doesn’t like Booby.
The one positive out of this POS game…Law is back on the bump.
Let’s see if we can get the ball out of the IF.
Pagan? Nope.
Fucking awful.
I haven’t actually gotten to check the final score of the game. Last I saw it was 3-1 Pads. But Mac’s 3:38 looks good enough to me, no need to check now.
Someone told me Span actually made it to first base today…..only to get immediately picked off. That’s awesome.
He’s like 1 for his last 41, I think.
Might as well keep him in the line up just to see where this goes…
ha, seriously. He could set a record that will stand for the rest of history. 1 for 100? 1 for 150? This could get epic….
Bottom of the 8th, down 3-1, 2 outs:
http://m.mlb.com/video/v1165344383/?game_pk=449047
Mac, interesting that you found a “hong bao” (red envelope) in your yard. Those are usually reserved for lunar new year, but that party could have been for Mid-Autumn Festival (which is actually today and tomorrow), celebrating the full moon in September-ish lunar calendar schedule. Mooncakes for everyone, oh joy (the Chinese version of the fruit cake at Christmas). Better to find a hong bao in your yard than a mooncake… 🙂
Looks like another rough day at the yard.
Glad I missed it…
I would actually get more of a kick watching that gal in Oakland squatting a steamy shit load then watch the Giants shit all over themselves..
Cool, thanks Paul, always good to learn something new. The whole thing’s got me thinking about checking out the woods in back to see if any more “hong baos” blew out that way, haha.
Such a find would indeed truly indicate “good luck to you” in the coming months, Mac… 🙂
Still hopeful for the playoffs, but I’ll probably start checking out if the G’s tank in these next 4 games against the Cards. It’s just too painful. Take 3 out of 4, still well in it. Whether the Giants make the post-season or not, I predict 2 things might happen in the off-season (in addition to a rather significant “retooling” of on-field personnel): 1) Bochy retires, citing health reasons and desire to spend more time with the grandkids, etc., and 2) *something* finally comes out that “team chemistry” went to shit in the 2nd half because someone on the team was screwing someone else’s wife or some such idiocy. (Anyone remember that wife swapping a couple of Yankees did? Fritz Peterson and…. Kekich? Medich? Who was that other guy….) …
I can’t listen to KNBR callers anymore. They are all a bunch of whiny bitches. We won 3 WS and all they can do is weep about Span and Casilla. Fuck that, I’m not going out like that. There is no reason to cry like a bitch begging the KNBR host for the Giants to go get Cespedes. It didn’t happen for us this year, so what? Bochy has been bad but he could have managed perfectly and there’s no fucking way that Span or Gorkey’s or whoever were going to get us to the WS this year. We suck. It’s been completely and firmly established. I don’t know the reasons why and the reasons aren’t even important right now.
But for god’s sake KNBR callers, suck it up and take a losing season like men. They remind me of those pathetic losers in Willy Wonka who didn’t get their fucking candy or whatever.
Ok, I am done venting.
this guy is simply one of the greatest things I’ve ever found on the internet
Swept twice in a row by the Padres, for an 0-6 record in the 2nd half. And we still have 4 games left with them.
Oh joy!
I wrote a book about the very same subject of signs in daily life: http://amzn.to/1Mz8RkY
I ain’t gonna lie: I feel the Giants, as things stand today, would lose in the WC game to ANY TEAM. Sorry. I hope I am dead wrong. Of course, who is to say we even get in such a game?
Magnus, I’m sure this is brutally unfair to Oaktown, but my experience in 2013 from the BART was: hmmm, dark lots, no lights, junk yards, polluted canals, industrial gloom. I ain’t getting off this train. THEN arrive in Oakland, get off the train, and walk through a fenced area with razor wire to get to O.co. Welcome!
Giants weren’t the only ones with bats wanting Viagra. Of Blue Jays, Cards, Yanks, Dodgers, Mets, Royals, Red Sox, and Giants, NONE of them had more than 4 hits today.
I think Paul’s 7:49 is right on the nose. Both points. I also have a hunch Bochy is going to pack it in, regardless of the playoffs outcome. And, something(s) will be revealed that explains some or all of this second half funk, or at least will be offered up to explain it. At this point, it looks like I totally overestimated this team. I thought it looked to have the best combo, best balance, of pitching, D and offense of the teams from 2010 onward. Instead, the wheels have just come off, except for the D, they still pretty much play good D…
I hadn’t thought of another explanation, just that the Duffy trade can’t have done all this. It’s a possibility we will end up with the worst record in MLB in the 2nd have and still make it.Wonder whats going on at the Cardinal block??? Crazy that the Mets are playing well, ( and lots of injuries as an excuse not to) but SF, St L, Pitt, and marlins were all in contention and all have been absolutely miserable the last 6 weeks…