Time to Reconfigure the Park
Kruk expressed genuine surprise YESTERDAY on KNBR when discussing the recent struggles of the bullpen. Felt like they’d been pretty good for a long time. Kuip’s up today so I won’t get to hear delusional Kruk try to make sense of another “one off” from the relievers.
I wonder what the exit velocity and launch angle was on that Thames *bomb*. Anyone know where to look that up? That was one of the hardest hit balls I’ve seen anyone not named Bonds hit. I’ve finally come around. It’s time to start over with the wall in right field. Keep all the archways, or even add some if you must, but it’s time to bring the fences in. It’s nothing but a stupid novelty at this point…..
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Agree, Thames shot was absolutely crushed right off the bat. Pavs tweeted that at 433 ft it was only ball hit that far where batter didn’t score all year.
Suarez imo is more middle emergency than late inning guy.
Another slow honky thrown out at the plate. Wonder where you find out who leads league in that stat.
I was encouraged when we got word that Suarez was back. Man, he has flat sucked of late. Bullpen sucks.
The bit I posted last night about ATT configuration being Magowan/Baer plan was in book I just finished by Robt. Garratt “Home Team: Turbulent History of SF Giants”. Rather than tales of individual players/games it’s more about ownership of Stoneham and Lurie. Goes into detail of how the team wound up here in first place, money woes of Horace that led to him eventually selling and similar issues for buying and selling of team by Lurie. Story basically ends as ATT is being financed built/designed.
Only 200 pages so kind of short, and little dry I thought.
And yes, in that history a number of manager with similar records to this year were let go after Franks era.
They should install a cyclone/schoolyard type fence exactly like in Candlestick that would begin where the arcade (or whatever the fuck it’s called) ends around 365′ and extend it to the 404′ mark in center. That would effectively blot out triples alley and bring a little Candlestick nostalgia to the joint…
http://tinyurl.com/yaxbahjc
http://tinyurl.com/yaormmbr
thanks. Seemed like it was hit harder than that. Maybe the launch angle is what took it so far. You would think Baer would love to move the fences in. Build more seats. Sadly for him, those seats will just be getting shat on by the seagulls for the next 10 years.
The reality of good team=good crowds, bad team= not so good crowds may be settling in sooner than they’d like. At least we can hope.
To be fair to Baer and others who designed the ballpark, they really thought balls would be flying into the Cove all the time with that short rightfield. They didn’t know the open-air archways would bring wind currents in to knock down flyballs. So, thinking the ballpark would be a bandbox to rightfield, they added the deep triples-alley to compensate, in the same way that Fenway Park has a deep right-center to off-set the Green Monster.
And it’s why the rightfield wall is so high. They saw it in a similar way as the Green Monster.
So…..I’m starting to be more open to adjusting the ballpark. The three championships were won with dominant pitching that we might not see for the Giants for another generation.
The case could be made that the focus could be on just helping the fans have a more entertaining experience at the ballpark. Let the Giants hitters have their era now. For one thing, it would give Buster a chance to have bigger numbers on his quest to make the Hall of Fame.
Given adjustments for the park and compared to 2010, I think it’s an overstatement to say that the Giants had dominant pitching in 2012 or 2014. The 2012 team had a somewhat better offense than it did pitching, and the hitters and pitchers were equally unremarkable in 2014.
completely agree, James. I still don’t understand how we won it all in 2014. Bum and some very average arms and bats after that…
We had a bullpen during those years that would have its highs and lows during the season, but was generally lights-out during the playoffs. They were clutch, to use SABR’s favorite word. 🙂
The 2010 pen was unhittable…Bum single handidly won the 2014 WS but forget how good Vogelsong was in those playoffs…wasnt Cain the stud in 2012 as well???
Now that the Pen is lousy, it makes one realize how good the Pen was during the 3 in 5 run…
Don’t forget Zito’s one good year in 2012…
I have no problem with changing ATT dimensions. This place is not some historical monument. It’s a ballpark. Guys hitting 435′ shots need to have that be a home run. Trying to gauge where and how a ball will ricochet off the wall in right center and center isn’t really baseball, it’s a novelty. Bring in right center and center walls 10′, add the 2 or 3 thousand seats, and move on. Either that or stop drafting left handed hitters for power positions in the lineup…
I would never ever change the dimensions..one big factor in three championships was a superb home records where our superior pitching could dominate.
They just need to build a line-up around how best to maximize the offensive production ar ATT…
The pitching wasn’t superior except in 2010. That is a fact. But I agree that the ballpark dimensions are only a problem insofar as, by skewing the perception of how well players performed there, they discourage putting together a good roster.
I’m loving seeing some of you get on board with the fix the ballpark idea!
I will repeat my idea from a couple of years ago—have some swank SF architect redesign right field to bring in the fences, create MLB caliber bullpens behind the outfield wall, and still make it an attractive ballpark.
Fun Fact: The Cubs did away with their bush league bullpens on the field of play. The Giants and the A’s are the only two teams in MLB that still have those crap foul line bullpens.
The BPs should be eliminated just to get rid of that moronic whistling fans down the 1B line engage in.
I’m sure it was clubhouse bonhomie, Zumie, not the clutch performances :). If only social skills, like baseball skills, didn’t also fade in players like Pence!
Duggar, supposedly the next CFer and now at Sac, is of course, a LHB…
Agree with the bullpen area, would reduce chances of players getting hurt dealing with the mounds as well..
I have no issues with tweaking the yard, but am more interested in the club finding people who kick-ass at evaluating talent, and bringing that talent in. I go back to comments I have made regularly, that the Giants need to seriously look at the scouting/talent evaluation team.
I agree with you on this. If you want to blow up some aspect of this organization, the scouting team would be fine with me. The Dodgers have young MLB caliber talent coming out of their ears and we’ve got squat.
As is Chris Shaw another Left handed hitting OF who they should bring up in Sept with Duggar and get their feet wet..
Vic Wertz is spinning in his grave.
I don’t think changing the dimensions would make us better. It would create another huge problem which would be the other team blasting balls out of the yard at a prolific rate. But it would at least make the park fair and going forward it would be one less thing to worry about when building a team……
I wonder if it will make us better. Free agent hitters would be more likely to come here if it becomes more fair and I think ATT has gotten into the head of some of our hitters. For example, I think Buster has one swing and approach he uses at home and a different swing on the road. That’s no bueno in my opinion. Buster is good enough to pull that off, but I don’t think other guys are.
Yeah, the problem remains their guys hit more bombs than our guys. Moving the walls in won’t likely change that phenomenon. Except for Belt, maybe. He and Rowand were expert at hitting into Death Valley.
Brewers announcer on the ballpark after Moncrief flyout: “You hear that sound off the bat and it goes nowhere.”
If they do ever change the dimensions of the park would they consider bringing back the 5 th Dimension to perform?
They could sing “It’s the dawning of the Age of J. Arias,” and they could show a giant video projection of his greatest moments, including the smooth drop-step on that difficult grounder and throw to first to get the final out of Cain’s perfect game.
Credit to Pawlie on that song title.
The Giants won a ballgame today. But as Brisbee wrote at the McCovey Chronicles last night:
“Not that it matters. Nothing matters. The eclipse has shown me our place in this universe. We are but atoms on a sunflower seed behind the empty salad bar at a closed Sizzler. Nothing matters.”
You know the Giants are having a really bad season when Brisbee turns into a doomer.
I think he’s a lot better in writing. That show of him and that chick, it’s a no-go for me.
Great headline from The Onion today: “Wheezing Pablo Sandoval uses entirety of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ for walk-up song”
Mac–sorry about your dog. One of the worst feelings ever is to have to put down an animal who is part of our family. I know you know this, just sending my condolences.
Same here bud
Thank you, Flav and GH. And so true, it never gets any easier losing a pet.
Hang in there, Mac – you gave the dog a great home…
Is that Brisbee in that dumb-ass show?
Wild game, Pitt. vs. L.A.
That game had a sweet ending.
Laughing so hard how rich hill lost the perfect game then them the no-hitter amd game….we have playoff hope they collapse!!!
great effort ends in a loss for LA today. This sentence will also apply to their season at some point in the post season….
Josh Harrison was the first player in MLB history to end a no-hit bid in extra-innings with a walk-off HR.
Kind of an obscure record to have, but pretty cool. 🙂
I listened to this one on radio, but it wasn’t a walk off. Jim Maloney was a great pitcher in the 60’s…
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN196506140.shtml
People are giving it to Forsythe on twitter but he didn’t lose the perfect game. In order to complete a perfect game you also have to win the game and the Dodgers never led.
saw that Gorks batting leafoff had 2 doubles scored twice. Now batting .272 OPS up to .685, which is higher than a lot of guys in the LU, including Specs Craw Pence and Jones at least.
He now has 17 doubles but 0 HRs.
so…is he the next Blanco, part time guy to back up anywhere in OF or starting CF?
Thx Loo for the box loved Jim Maloney.
Good Maloney reading, Willie…
http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/de00e781
thx man. bet not many SPs that tough on Mays either in those days. what a treat the NL of the ’60s was.
lol, bummer
Ouch.
Watching the rangers v Angels game from Anaheim in a hotel room in Phoenix. Tie game but this thing is boring ass. Every time it seems I watch an AL game it’s just slow and boring as hell. Give me NL ball and I’m happy..,
Here’s what you do . . . fill in the black with seats / forest / waterfall / crabs frolicking / a fishtank with otters . . .
looks good to me. Where did you get this? I wonder how seriously this is getting considered.