A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

Last night was a perfect example of how wayward and frustrating our season has become: Bottom of the 5th, Giants scratch and claw to get a couple of guys on base. Belt comes through with a two hopper through the infield. We start high fiving ourselves on the couch to celebrate this rare success. Next inning, Padres score 8 runs.

At the Mercury, there’s a picture of Stubbs and Gorks strewn across the ground with the ball eluding them:

I mean come on, STUBBS and GORKS. Think about that for a second. And our team is littered with guys like this. And if you don’t like replacement players who fail to even live up to replacement level expectation you get a bunch of over paid *good Giants* who are doing shit this year. I’m looking at YOU Smarge and Posey and Pence.

About the only two guys who have consistently brought home the bacon this season are Panik and freaking Cain!!!!!!!

So this is your team. Look around, this is your team. Your choices are limited: 1) keep watching this slop and hope for the best 2) Stop watching and go find something more enjoyable to do. I imagine this decision is tougher for you east coast guys.

My advice is to start playing daily fantasy at one of the two major sites. If you like baseball it keeps the season infinitely more enjoyable when you have an interest in players outside the current wasteland of San Francisco……

The Giants announcers were touting this great burst of energy that Arroyo has added but the way I see it there has been one Morse swing and a lot of Arroyo and not much else coming from the hitters since he got called up. So I’m not sure about all this energy to the LU they were talking about on the post game show last night. His call up hasn’t seemed to *energy burst* Pence, Nunie, Belt, Posey, etc…..

Not that it would ever happen, but who else can they call up to add more energy/better players to this still sagging line up?

Ryder Jones is hitting for average in AAA but no power and we’ve already got a 3rd baseman (Arroyo) so he’s off the list.

Chris Shaw is interesting because they have recently been trying him in left field but I’d be surprised if he got the call NOW just because he really doesn’t have much experience yet playing the outfield.

Austin Slater is intriguing as he is from The Farm so you know he’s smart as fuck and can hit the long ball like a big boss. Plays the outfield, too. But really, Slater hasn’t shown enough to justify getting called up to the major leagues unless some major holes open up in SF.

The biggest issue we have right now is center field. Span is gone for a while and hopefully the Giants are finding out quickly that Drew Stubbs can’t play baseball too good. And don’t gorkys me, dawg. No time to joke around.

So that’s the target spot if you are Sabean.

This is going to be an interesting series against San Diego. They stink but they have a lot of good, young hitters who are going to, at the bare minimum, play hard. I’m not sure that’s the best opponent for our aged vets. I’d like to think (pray?) that Smarge gets back on the beam tonight pitching in the friendly’s of AT&T. We’ll see.

The NBA “resting” thing is the biggest scam in professional sports. All these guys do is freaking rest in the playoffs. The Warriors last played on Monday and they’re still loitering around waiting for a second round opponent. Resting players so they’ll be fresher for the playoffs is a complete and total scam….

There’s a flicker of flame in the black hole darkness of Santa Clara. It’s the Niners draft so far. And then they go bang!bang! to start the 3rd round. Les go!!!!!!

Last night during the 5th inning or the 120th inning or whatever I got so board I started watching highlights from the 2014 season and got stuck watching the Morse bomb over and over. That was just an incredible home run and moment. I almost re-posted the clip just to jazz up the blog a little but you’ve all seen it 1000 times and I didn’t want to start clogging up the comment section with bulky videos. And then somehow, miraculously, that video from the past came to life in the present….

He had a lot of the same excited mannerisms in last night’s trip around the bases that he had that night in 2014: the raised hands after the swing, the *facial party* he has rounding second, and that awkward arm gyration thing he does after he crosses home plate…..

Arroyo and Morse. We needed that.

Two games into the Stubbs/Arroyo Era and it has resulted in 3 runs in 2 games. Now that they’ve settled into The Show, I’m thinking one or both hit a bomb tonight. Why not?

Time for Cueto to shimmy his ass back on the beam. Coors Field is in the rear view mirror, Bumgarner’s arm sits glumly in a sling. We need him to step up or opt out.

The Giants know their fans aren’t stupid. They couldn’t keep trotting that slop out there and expect the masses to tacitly accept a sunk season. The season still may spiral away but at least there will be some hope mixed in.

The addition of Arroyo and his hair, along with a Stubbs brother, didn’t do much to pump up the worst offense in the National League. The real story is the completely unforeseen (except by DIRT) re-birth of Matt Cain. I’m ashamed I ever doubted The Horse. Dirt deserves massive credit for calling this one. He stood alone and was rewarded for his unwavering faith.

Tonight looks like another 2-1 affair. Can Ty Blach rediscover his magic from last season. Tonight would be a good time for that. Can the Giants score a run off Kershaw? This fuck has a 1.61 ERA against us in 35 career starts. Think about that. You would think that at least one time we would blow his ass up. Nope. 1.61 ERA. Embarrassing.

______________

Happy Birthday UNCA CHUCK.

I can’t come up with a single reason to be optimistic about this upcoming home series vs the Dodgers except for the “no reason” angle. Before we went to KC I thought it was entirely possibly we go 1-8. Even after we squeaked out the first one in extras I thought it was still possible that 1-8 ignominiously unfolded.

But there is always “no reason” to pin your hopes to. Things happen for no reason all the time. It’s one of the main reasons that sports books stay in business. If everything worked out as it appeared on paper, they’d go broke.

So let’s here it for NO REASON! Come on baby! We believe in you!!!!!

I’m trying to figure out the line up today and don’t see a way that the fledgling trifecta of  of Gorks/Marrero/Hill don’t make the starting 9.

It’s April.

How did this all fall apart so fast?

The o/u in Colorado today is 11. It’s gotta go under, right? Unless Colorado scores 12?

I love the guy, but for today that’s an accurate description. I don’t know nuthin’ bout rastlin’ cattle or ridin’ hogs (I think that’s what you call a motorcycle) but I know that if I was making millions of dollars to do something else I would take it easy on those non-baseball related activities. I don’t even know how to start a motorcycle. I think you push down hard on the peddle. So maybe I’m overly concerned with the activity as a hazard. But it SEEMS like a pretty dangerous thing to do. Some of the Giants were like “well, at least he was wearing a helmet.” Maybe that’s baseball speak for “He’s a dumbass.” I dunno.

Making millions a year is above my pay grade but it seems to me that you don’t just have a responsibility to yourself and your family. You’re responsible to your teammates and the owner who pays you. You are responsible to the networks and the fans without who you wouldn’t be making those millions.

This has essentially torpedoed the season. There is a finite number of these, at least for those of us who live and die some day. I have no problem being extremely irritated with him. Mad? Not mad I guess. Just irritated and disappointed…..

I’m not checking team stats or anything, I will just assume the Rangers are at the bottom of the AL. Feel free to correct. This is a screen shot I took of their *hitters* last night. Look at this nonsense.

Makes The Gorkly One and The Invisible Span look not so bad, eh? That is their STARTING line up. Rua is their “lefty killer” and goddamn if he didn’t get a hit. Their manager’s a genius.

So we are stuck with our Out-Field of (Shitty) Dreams. At least for a while. I always wonder what the decision process is when the brass gets stuck with an obvious move to make but stubbornly refuse to make it. I can’t believe it’s about $$$$ or Super Two stuff or any of that. But who knows, maybe that’s ALL it’s about.

Or maybe they’re just pouting away in their precious suite looking down on the plebeians with great disdain, refusing to make a move because they don’t want to be the second ones to come up with this. Ultimate hubris.

Crawford gofundme crested 40K last night…….

I can’t watch another at bat from Span. Or Marrero. Or Hill. Or Freaking Gorkey’s. Or Morse. Or The Wrong Upton Bro. Or a Stubbs Brother. Or the hologram of Ruggiano.

Not until Christian Arroyo gets called up to play every day……

He’s hitting .479 in Triple A. He is the best hitting prospect the Giants have had since Buster Posey. Before that I don’t remember our last top hitting prospect. And remember, guys like Pablo, Duffy and Panik were NOT considered top prospects. Arroyo is as can’t-miss as any hitter we’ve had since Buster.

I get so tired of hearing about the delicate confidence levels of young hitters. You think Gork’s and Marrero are brimming with confidence right now? Please. Those cats are so nervous they look like they’re coming down with Parkinson’s in the batters box.

Arroyo needs to be presented with the pressures of hitting at this level before we should worry about him wilting because of it. Overcoming obstacles is more than half the battle anyway. At some point, he going to have to show he can adjust to what the pitchers are doing up here and he can’t do that while he’s playing in AAA.

And if he’s so fragile that he melts in the heat of mlb pressure I seriously question whether he will EVER have the mental make up to succeed at this level.

Back in 2010 I remember being at a game with San Diggity Dawg and an ill fated hot dog. Also, this guy got the 3rd hit of his career (first of the year). The Giants didn’t fiddle de do around with him. They brought him up to play.

And they need to bring Arroyo up, too.

#FreeChristian

The Matt Cain Support Group will be meeting today at 10am sharp. I will be attending without shame. I hope to see other Flappers in attendance. I will also assume whatever position Kruk tells me to get into during his spot this morning on KNBR. How many years will Kruk say Cain can still pitch? I will set the over/under right now at 5.5.

Here is an interesting post from last night:

Anybody notice this from Schulman’s twitter? WTF?
“Nuñez is not running hard on some groundballs. If this is caution due to an injury we don’t know about, fine. If not … #SFGiants”…

Now, I did NOT notice this because that pussy shirt-crumbed fuck blocked me last season for reminding him to do his job at least at replacement level. Does Schulman cover the NY Rangers? Cause he’d fit right in.

But I HAVE noticed this. At least 3 times now. Nunie is not running out ground balls. This is not one of the great and all-knowing and all-powerful powers that I bestowed upon him. He needs to tighten that shit up or fess up to being injured.

And I don’t think he’s injured……

Back to KC. Remember that night? Bumgarner. That crazy play with Blanco and Perez both fumbling Gordon’s hit. Panda shaking that big ass all over their foul ground….

Sometimes it feels like the magic ended that night. Like the baseball gods finally hit the stop button on that 5 year bask.

Cain going tonight. Is that for real? He’s listed as the SP so I have to assume he pitching. Yikes. We go from Bum’s herculean effort, a performance we will NEVER see again in baseball, to…..this?

Oh well. Gotta start somewhere. Two games in KC, then on to Nepal, then 4 against the Dodgers. At least we get them at home. The problem with that is that AT&T hasn’t felt like an advantage in years……

But that’s a lot of negativity that we don’t need right now. Instead, I turn back to 2014 and the the video I took alone in the dark in my car. Remember this moment?

One thing that is nearly indisputable: the 2017 Giants (and you could probably say this about every Giants team over the last 8-10 years) can’t have a successful year if their pitching isn’t near the top of the league. Their offense just isn’t good enough to pick up the slack of bad pitching. Another nearly indisputable fact: our pitching has stunk this year.

These 4 guys have to bring it night in and night out: Bum, Cueto, Moore and Smarge. Forget the bullpen and Cain and whatever hologram Bochy decides to shine into left field on a given day. If those guys aren’t tossing better than a quality start each game, we are likely to lose.

And I really like all 4 of them if you consider what the rotation could look like. Bum is the only home grown guy and this is another illustration of how our minor league system is failing the team right now. They spent big money on Cueto and Smarge because the kids down below all flattened out. The strangely beloved Duffy was traded for Moore who wasn’t ever expected to be an ace but who needs to be a #3 because we NEEDED a #3. And in case you didn’t know, #3’s don’t fall out of trees. We can bitch about the consistency of Smarge and Moore but the reality is, they are our best options. Even if given the power of time travel, would you go back and not do those 3 deals and spend the $$$$ and Duffy on hitters and have Stratton, Crick, Blackburn and Cain getting blasted 4 out of every 5 days? We would easily lose 120 games if that was the team.

The pitchers in our minor league system, at least the last few years, did not pan out. It happens. Be happy with what we have. It could be so much worse.

Instead of worry about how badly the Giants will get shut down today by a pitcher I’ve never heard of I am going to focus on a truly great collection of NBA basketball games. John Wall is one of my favorite players in the game and the Wizards kick off the day against The ATL. One of my other favorite players is whoever gets to shut down Dwight Howard in a meaningful game. So this one is definitely getting watched.

After that we have The Warriors, no explanation needed there.

Game 3 is in Boston and that should be an auto-watch anyway but the return of Rondo (who has actually played decent since he came back from his lengthy benching) and the sudden death of IT’s sister (gofundme check: no gofundme page for her yet) makes this game a must-watch too.

Game 4 is two ball hogs facing off and while I don’t like that brand of ball it will be infinitely more watchable than the Grizzly game from yesterday where, before they pulled all their starters down 30, they had scored a grand total of 21 points in the entire second half…..

Again, if you want to donate to Brandon Crawford’s SIL’s gofundme page, here is the link:

https://www.gofundme.com/JenniferPippin?rcid=c41c5166e2cf4ae19acad076c48f441a

It kinda feels like it’s stalling out around 25K so if they are going to get to the lofty 100K goal, someone is probably gonna need to swoop in and top that bad boy off. But who?

Marrero hit a bomb thus guaranteeing him another 100 or so at bats before Bochy looks to the east for help from the wrong Upton brother and/or Stubbs 2.0. Crawford’s homerun lit up his wife’s twitter feed, as you’d expect. I guess I was one of the few who liked the light show put on by the fans. If you are interested in donating to the gofundme page here is the link:

Last night as I was watching the Giants sleep walk through a winnable game I got a text from a friend: an old girlfriend of mine had passed away suddenly. I hadn’t seen her in 15 years but I was still saddened. Not enough to cry about it, just super bummed and distracted with thoughts of the past, feelings of nostalgia, stuff like that. I’ve actually even mentioned her here before, some of you might remember my Candlestick “rendezvous” story that happened on a random weekday night back in the 80’s. We only dated for about a year but it was an important time in my life. Anyway, I immediately had a better appreciation for where the hearts and minds of the players were last night. Not on the game, but with their brother Brandon Crawford and his wife. My thoughts are with him and his family today…..

I’m a little torn today– happy to see Cain can still not embarrass himself on the mound and come close to the coveted “quality start” that some find redeeming. Unhappy to know that Cain just bought himself about 5 more start from Bochy even after he implodes his next couple of outings.

But definitely happier than not. I really didn’t think Cain had one of these left in him. I missed Kruk on KNBR this morning but I’m sure he was positively jizzing himself. Last year Cain had a decent outing and Kruk predicted he’d pitch 5 more years. lqtm.

Fantastic match up tonight. Jon Gray is the real deal, this one should be fun to watch. We could see 20K’s between these 2 tonight.

As Yoenis Cespedes was busy abusing balls deep into the night in Philly I started trying to figure out how we got ourselves into this outfield mess. Instead of actually DOING SOMETHING this off season after they signed Mark Melancon the brass did nothing including not signing The Great and All-Powerful Cespy. They figured Parker and Williamson would cobble together the left field production. Before spring training even started, that plan started to unravel so they handshook an aged Morse on to the team along with Justin Ruggiano who may or may not have been a hologram. Morse got hurt, Ruggiano got shined in the direction of Sacramento and Marrero was lights out against nobodies in March so he made the the squad. Hill started shagging balls and all of a sudden he’s a left fielder. The wrong Upton brother and the younger Stubbs brother were hastily signed. And now we have…..shit? Sabean and Evans took an absolute half-assed approach to building the 2017 roster.

This all could have been easily avoided by paying for an actual major league left fielder but we’re into the lux tax and god forbid anything slow down the revenue bonanza the Giants ownership enjoys.

Ah and now we get a Cain start. Early weather report looks like a lot of rain tonight so maybe this one gets rained out and we avoid another loss…..

The baseball Gods sprinkled some opening day magic at AT&T yesterday with a play I can’t recall ever seeing. Bases loaded, pitcher swinging bunts the ball…..and 3 runs score. That was fantastic. Of course, the day could have ended in disaster. Heck, it still could. I am not a Posey disciple but I understand his value to the team. He is the cornerstone of any season-long success we have, even more so than Madison Bumgarner. If he gets hurt, as we found out in 2011, we’re screwed.

If I’m running an mlb team, I have a simple rule for my franchise player: You are not allowed to throw a ball at his head. If you do, there will be a penalty and it will be painful. If someone accidentally gets hurt, if there are suspensions, fines etc…whatever. Do not throw at his head.

The problem with baseball, as well as the current world we live in, is that there are no consequences anymore. At best, they’ve all been watered down to delayed or implied consequences. I blame the internet for most of that. Intent does not matter. If you hit a batter in the head, someone (ideally you) should get beaned as a penalty. If you don’t agree with that, how about my idea below?

These pitchers can hit the tip off the dick of a donkey. Retaliation can be done with firm mercy. To do nothing is a tacit admission that you are weak and that you allow your franchise player to be a human target. I can’t imagine a worse message to send to your team, your fan base and to the rest of the league……

Sadly, the pussification of baseball has entrenched itself beyond repair. Here is a secondary option: We need a rule change. If you hit a batter in the head you should be EJECTED from the game. Period. I go back to my tip/dick/donkey point. Work inside if you want, work in the vicinity of the head if you dare, but do NOT hit someone in the head. If you do, you are GONE. And fined. In football it’s called *targeting*; you hit someone in the head or neck area, you’re gone. At least that’s the rule in college, I think the pros, too. With what we know about head injuries now, whether the pitcher means to do it or not, hitting someone in the head should trigger an instant ejection.

Don’t work near the head. Franchise player. Role player. Doesn’t matter. Stay away from the head.

Opening Day day! The 18th time AT&T has hosted this great event. I’ve been to a couple at AT&T but nothing beat an opening day at Candlestick. The majesty and sun bathed brilliance of a stacked ‘Stick on opening day was almost overwhelming to a young Giants fan just beginning his journey in the orange and black. They would try to *gussy up* the yard with banners draped all over the place. At the time it looked cheaply manufactured but now that time has passed, and maybe because so much time has passed, I can honestly say I miss going to baseball games at Candlestick. I swear to God, everything I like or frequent as a patron either closes down or gets torn down. It’s my curse. If you see me coming into your store to buy something you should be so bummed. You’re about to go out of business. lol.

Anyway, it’s gonna be cool and dry and let’s just hope there are no *Kevin Elsters* (Chris Owings?) laying in the weeds of today’s D-back line up…..

Our 1-5 start has spurned some cute references to the 2008 team. That’s the team with Brian Bigcock in the opening day line up. Additionally, that team had some atrocious as well as *talent yet met* pitching. Check it out:

When our top 4 starting pitching goes Bum/Cueto/Moore/Smarge it’s pretty hard to take the 2008 references seriously. We have started off slowly but this is hardly the 2008 team revisited.

Right?

The thing that pisses me off about Belt, it’s like “why couldn’t you hit THREE home runs you slumpy shouldered dunce?????”

I remember the days when 2 home runs from your strapping first baseman was enough to generate a W for the good guys in orange and black.

What makes all of this worse is that the fans are looking like the smart ones right now. And when that happens and the team is losing, watch out. The vitriol will roll. Our left field position is 0h(no you didn’t!) for 20 to start the year. Anyone see that coming? And is the fact that this was painfully obvious to see coming starting to irritate you yet?

The waters should calm today. Bum pitching and hitting against a team that isn’t very good. And after the game we’ll hear Bochy and maybe a vet player or two tell us to relax, things are settling, small sample size stuff, etc……

But right now, I feel like the fans have a better take on this team than the guys who are getting paid to construct and run it. And we’ve had a better take since last winter…..

It would be a pretty riveting IQ test to see who’s dumber, Smarge or Strickland. My $$$ would be on Strick *winning* but Smarge would be right there the entire race. You couldn’t shine a flashlight between ’em…..

I missed the game because our power was out all night and just went on about 10 minutes ago. I was driving and listening to the radio early in the game and Smarge had run off about 4 K’s in a row and I was thinking, “this isn’t going to last. He’s going to get too big for his britches and just start humping his heater in there.” After I got home and my phone died along with my last connection to the internet and the rest of the world I sat in the dark wondering which D-back ended up being the first hitter to turn Smarge’s night sour….

I’m just happy they’re out of Arizona. I don’t think our left field spot has a hit yet this season but CF isn’t far behind. Gorks is hitting .125. Makes me long for Span and his aged hip.

We play San Diego today at 3:40 for some reason.

There’s something about blowing a lead in the 5th inning that is infinitely easier to tolerate than blowing it in the 8th inning (I’m looking at you Law) or the 9th inning (walk off, duh). So last night didn’t bum me out like the game on Monday did.

But still.

I think the Giants just need to get the hell out of Arizona. Been there, done that, air sucks, team’s flat. If I never see Gearrin pitch again that would be just fine with me. And Snarkk brought up 2 great points last night:

1. snarkk said, on April 5, 2017 at 9:54 pm (Edit)

   Yep. Why would they need to be signing some washed up 32 YO dude Stubbs off the scrap heap only 2 games into the season? Even if just for AAA roster fill. Where is somebody from AA that could do that? And Morse would have been on the 25 without his leg injury — and the only reason he was in ST was that he attended Pence’s wedding? The OF situation of the Giants after an entire off season and full 6 weeks of ST is flat ridiculous…

2. snarkk said, on April 5, 2017 at 9:46 pm (Edit)

   Someone explain to me why Nunie isn’t leading off. If/when Span comes back, there is no freekin way he should lead off. Nunie creates havoc on the basepaths and pressures the defense when he gets on. If he leads off, he has a shot at getting an extra AB late in a long game, if needed. Why can’t Nunie play LF, and put Gillaspie at 3rd…

To his first point, it’s really amazing isn’t it? Like when mlb baseballs are produced in Haiti but nobody plays baseball in Haiti (even though they are exactly zero miles away from the boarder of The Dominican Republic). That one still slays me. One guy who hasn’t been mentioned is Ruggiano. He sucks but he at least made it through spring training. Will he be the guy we see come up and fill the spot for Span if/when his hip gives out on him again?

To his second point, this seems like a no brainer to me. I don’t get why people think a leadoff hitter’s only qualification needs to be his OBP. It MATTERS what you do when you get on base, especially for a team that is reduced to The Conga Line approach. Nunez brings more energy and excitement (and sbs) to the line up than all 8 other guys combined. He’s probably gonna hurt himself again soon with the way he plays the game but until that happens LEAD MY MAIN MAN NUNIE OFF!!!!!!!

It appears my call for *impending doom* came a little too early. As did my call for a Buster HR. Maybe I should have just aimed a little lower and put the call out for a Buster base hit. Coming off an atrocious spring, he still doesn’t have  batting average this year….

Have we signed Angel Pagan yet?

I was going to get up early and start worrying about which reliever will be the one to blow tonight’s lead but then I realized that Cueto hasn’t hit a home run in his entire 9 year career. Even worse, he’s lugging around a career .108 batting average.

So how in the hell are we supposed to score any runs????

I was actually surprised at how quickly Melancon fell apart on Monday. He couldn’t put the weakest of hitters away. That’s a really bad sign. And not totally surprising. What happened the last time the Giants didn’t have a closer and they panicked and went and got one? I can barely type his name…Ar…man….duh nevermind……

No worries, maybe Cueto hits 2 bombs and throws a complete game.:)

Either that or re-read the headline….

Remember that poem Chi used to post over and over all winter about staring out the window waiting for something to start or stop or some shit? Well all that looky-looin’ has paid off, my man!

Outside of the Breeders Cup or the Kentucky Derby there is no day I look more forward to than this one. It’s not just the first baseball game of the year. It’s the first day of Summer. The calendar means nothing to me. Flip flops, bbqs, watching someone else mow a lawn. All that stuff. I love this day.

Marty Lurie, who I appreciate mostly because of his bizarre ability to not hang up on the most clueless of KNBR callers, does this thing every year where he asks fans to call up with their most outrageous prediction for the Giants. It can’t be anything stupid like “Belt will hit 500 home runs.” But it can be as simple as “The Giants will win 104 games this year.”

Let’s do that here today.

My single most outrageous prediction is that Melancon will lead the NL in saves with 49. Hey, it could happen. And if that comes to pass, watch out.

Go Giants. Go Summer. Today is your day to get your bask back on. About the only Flapper who is exempt from basking at least for a few moments is my main man in the county clink, and I bet even Stix finds a way to sneak a bit of a bask somewhere into his day……

So you have no excuse. Bask today. Bask like no one is looking…..

SF returns to the cool confines of Fog Park and that suites Smarge just fine as he throw 5 scoreless. That showing is giving me the slightest hope for Matt Cain that maybe he’s not completely done as a major league pitcher. Maybe the Salt Lake City Bees aren’t yet in his future. The #1 point is that we’re talking about a #5 pitcher and expectations should reflect that. In addition, Cain has always been pretty bad in the spring. Maybe the weather change sparks something that allows him to cobble together a season that doesn’t make us all puke? For 21 mil I’d expect a little more but apparently 21 mil doesn’t buy what it used to.

At least we have a back up plan in Ty Blach.