2017
Happy New Year. Seems like as good a time as any to pull the plug on the Stix RPOTD. They had a good run. Now it’s time to warm up next to that stove. Feed the pussy. Smother some shit in v-8 juice. Fold a mysterious 5 grain of something into something that gets called a frittata. Drown the bejesus out of it in dipping sauces. And don’t forget to drive 40 miles for that shower.
Two flaps up for our shackled and bedraggled Flap bro but more importantly……ALL RAKES DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
My first beer of 2017 tastes great. Happy New Year to all y’all, hopefully all the raking this year is done by the Giants. Cheers.
Hey man, heard the Dirty Dozen Brass live on npr last night, good stuff. HNY!
Love DDB. A few years ago caught a set where Trombone Shorty joined them, it smoked.
I love a morning beer on an empty stomach…
Agreed. Never eat on an empty stomach, is my motto.
Did any of you know that Phil Bickford was suspended 50 games after a second positive test for a drug of abuse? I had no idea about this. Glad we got “that fucking left hander” (thanks for the moniker Flavor . . . I always laugh when I hear or see him referred as such) Will Smith for this imbecile.
Bickford is currently ranked as the 12th best right-handed pitching prospect in all of baseball, according to MLBPipeline.com. He finished 2016 with the Brewers’ Class A Advanced Brevard County Club.
Bickford’s first failed drug test came just before the 2015 draft when he tested positive for marijuana.
If Bickford fails another one he will be suspended for a full season. After that, if he fails a fourth he could receive up to a lifetime ban at the discretion of the Commissioner.
I read where Milwaukee Brewers’ GM David Stearns didn’t have much to say after learning his 5th best prospect would be suspended for a good chunk of 2017. “We are very disappointed to learn of Phil’s suspension, but we fully support the Minor League Baseball Drug Prevention and Testing Program and its enforcement by the Commissioner’s Office.” Stearns later added, “Phil understands he made a mistake, and we fully anticipate that he will learn from this experience.” Umm . . . ok.
Yes. Reported here by me at the time my man!
Maybe Flappers are shocked by this, but I’m not . . . Per Fox Sports, we have the 8th best line up in baseball at the moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I take all this ranking BS with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, I do not think we are as bad as some Flappers think. Again, we should forget about an expensive left field upgrade and go after Holland for our bull pen IMO:
“It’s ok if you forgot about this lineup as one of the best in baseball last year — the Giants’ second-half fade was tied to many things, but a big component was Buster Posey’s poor hitting (by his standards), and the rest of the lineup seemed to suffer by proxy.
Healthy and producing, this lineup can be intimidating — particularly if Mac Williamson or Jarrett Parker can prove to be an everyday bat.
Denard Span CF
Brandon Belt 1B
Buster Posey C
Hunter Pence OF
Brandon Crawford SS
Eduardo Nunez 3B
Joe Panik 2B
Jarrett Parker or Mac Williamson LF”
Here’s the rest of the top 10 . . . http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/gallery/ranking-the-10-best-lineups-in-baseball-to-this-point-mlb-offenses-starting-lineup-cubs-red-sox-122816
If I had to pick one guy who is the key to this lineup, I couldn’t…
If I had to say one, it would be Panik. He was terrible last season IMO (other than the defense). Maybe Pence too, but IMO he is on the downward slide of his career anyway, so I wasn’t expecting a lot from him.
Pence’s baseball skill has been cuckholded by his new wife…
“Intimidating” does not come to mind when I look at that lineup.
That’s because the putrid 2nd half is fresh in your mind Mac. The first half had almost everyone clicking, i.e., we did have the best record in MLB during that 1st half.
I’d say it can be productive, like we saw in the first half, rather than intimidating, which would be more like the Orioles and Red Sox, lineups with 5-6 players with 20+ HRs. And yes, there’s the ballpark factor, but that O’s lineup was fearsome even in the series at S.F. last year.
I don’t think Posey struggles had anything to do with Belt Pence or Panik in second half. If you believe the glass is half full and all will rebound to their potential and have better seasons, fine. I still think another bat is necessary, esp in OF. And I’m keeping close eye on Arroyo to be ready to step into LU and move someone else aside.
gonna be great day for sports watching, as 7 NFL games could affect who gets in/seeding.
Bunch of good college b-ball including both local Pac 12 trying to rebound after getting swept by AZ schools.
Watching Boston College, 0-18 in ACC last year, blowing out Cuse by 20 with precision passing/inside out game vs. zone D.
Flav: Doubt you bet on Irish War Cry at 3-10. At least you didn’t have to sweat out that photo.
http://www1.drf.com/drfPDFChartRacesIndexAction.do?TRK=LRL&CTY=USA&DATE=20161231&RN=4
Like that other horse you touted who ran that good second with the questionable ride a few weeks back…
What if last season was not a “down” season for Posey, but a typical season we can now expect? I think the latter is more likely than the former…
As far as “selfish” players not playing bowl games goes, I’m all for them playing as long as coaches by NCAA rule cannot bolt for new teams between the end of a season and the bowl game. That won’t happen. So, the draft-prepping players should have all the freedom they want to politely decline to put life and limb on the line for their interim coach and team boosters in the Weed Eater Bowl…
BTW, I tried that IPA stuff that I know some of you guys really like. My friend insisted on it.
Seriously, I thought it tasted like fuckin’ Witch Hazel. Don’t know how you do it…
IPAs are not close to all being the same. They are all over bitterness map depending on how much and type of hops used. Maybe you got the Witch Hazel IPA…
It had to be!
http://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/01/24/beer-styles-ibu-chart-graph-bitterness-range/
Loo, check out your beer bitterness comfort zone on this chart. You might be OK with some lower-end IBU type IPAs. There is a lot of IPA out there nowadays – a proliferation of them out of the Northwest and West craft brew network. I don’t like a lot of them either, usually anything over 60 IBU is challenging to me, and 70+ is like sucking on wood. But, depends also on how the beer is made, the IBU rating is not the whole story. Look at 7B on the list — California Common Beer is the style of Anchor Steam. I don’t know Anchor’s exact IBU profile, but it can be pretty darn bitter tasting, IMO, and the IBUs are not really in the IPA category. I’m down with a Pliny or Sculpin, but give me a good Pilsener or Scottish or Brown Ale, or a Stout, or a Munchener Helles, and I’m as or more than happy…
Loo, for a widely distributed IPA, you might be able in the NY area to get Sierra Nevada’s “Torpedo” in bottles. I like that one — the IBUs are in mid-60s. Good balance. You might like that one even though it’s in the IPA category…
Thank you, Snark, but my first experience may have scarred me for life.
That’s what happened to me with scotch…
This is why I drink Guinness, smooth not bitter, I want my beer 🍻 to be refreshing, if I want a bitter or hard taste I am going to drink whiskey, and whiskey tastes way better than the bitter IPA’s!!
I’m with you, Kevin. Love Guinness – but not ice cold. For black & tans I substitute Smithwick’s for Bass…
My nomination for most annoying and overused catch phrase (that I’ve noticed) for 2016 is “move the needle” which is driving me nuts. Rapidly approaching is “so there’s that”…
How do you feel about these Trumpisms Loo?
”IT’s going to be yuuuuuuuuuuuuuugge!”
”Give me a break!”
”IT’s going to be Big League!”
“I’m real smart, Folks.”
”I love you too. He’s a guy, but so what.”
As long as he makes America great again, he can say anything he wants…
Spoiler alert:
he’ll be a disaster.
This is the other thing I don’t like about the Niners. And this has been over the last 10 years, when they get behind in the game they continue to run the ball. Look at Seattle, they went straight to the pass to score and score quickly!! Why oh why is there such love for the running game? It gets them no where!!!
This question is to Unca (or anyone who has an idea on what makes the Niners tick) . . .
Paraag Marathe (puh-rawg, muh-RAH-tay) is in his 16th year with the 49ers, and first as Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President of Football Operations. Marathe is also a Managing Partner in the investment entity created by the York Family. On the team side, Marathe reports directly to 49ers CEO Jed York and has a significant role in major strategic decisions for the club as Chief Strategy Officer. He also continues in his role as the team’s chief contract negotiator and salary cap architect, while overseeing the team’s football analytics department.
Question – Why isn’t this guy getting fired along with Kelly and Baalke? Also, why is this guy even working for the 49ers, much less any football team? Has he ever stepped foot on a professional football field or inside any locker room – high school, college or professional ranks? I look at his name and my guess is that he’s an expert at Cricket. Football? Umm, I don’t think so. Anywho, why didn’t this guy get fired?
Bickford’s drug testing doesn’t shock me a bit.Hell he’s the clone of Spicoli, so just keep partying on dude!
If he doesn’t make it in the big leagues, he’ll never make righteous bucks, Kat…
Trivia note: the guy doing play-by-play on the Niner game today is the replacement for Vin Scully on Dodgers broadcasts.
In the middle of the 3rd quarter, the Niners were down by 8 or 10 points or something, and had a 4th and 1 at their own 49 yard-line and punted. Good grief. Why be conservative in that situation, when you have a 2-13 record?
In Brian Kenny’s baseball book “Ahead of the Curve,” he takes a little swipe at football coaches for punting too much. He says you should always go for it on 4th down and short yardage in the middle of the field, no matter what quarter it is. The numbers bear up the advantage for doing that, according to a chart he included.
It seems to me, Bill Parcells used to do that a lot. And I think Belichick does it, too.
Can Jed fire himself?…
1st off Snarkk, Denise York should just bitch slap her husband for even getting involved with this proud franchise. Then she should take her son Jed and take him to a shed a spank the hell at of him and then force him to say uncle and get him out of football altogether!!
Paraag is the rat that everyone inside the organization has been bitching about, from Nolan to Singletary to Baalke to Harbaugh to Tomsula. He’s Denise’s little bitch. He was supposedly busted down a few levels last year, but he’s still in the mix. And he still has way too much pull in the front office. And I have no idea why. He hasn’t done anything at any level in the org to justify his not being let go.
My biggest problem with the team is they refuse to do anything about the front office. It took this long to get rid of Baalke. And Marathe is still in charge. Even firing Kelly is a dumb move at this point. Why not hire a GM to make the coaching decision? Why? Because Jed is an idiot who can’t get outof his own way.