Do You Believe in Miracles?
Seems like there’s a fair amount of optimism here.
Not from me. Look at that pitching staff…
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That’s where some of the optimism has to come in, my man. You have to believe that Bumgarner will stay healthy and return to form. You have to believe Cueto did a little cardio this off season and that he’s figured out how to throw a slider with those new balls without herpes breaking out all over his hand. You have to believe that Smarge has ditched some of his stubbornness that leads to him trying to strike everyone out with that tasty heater. You have to believe that getting rid of Matt Moore can only have the most positive effect on that beleaguered bullpen. And you have to believe in Stratton and Blach, or at least one of them. And truth be told everyone’s #5 smokes copious amounts of pole so one of those 2 guys is allowed to smoke a little…..
Oh, and that Fucking Lefty Reliever has to finally show up. Melancon, too. And Strickland has to stop being such a dumbass. Law and his social media cohorts have to put down their phones and start working out….
Ok, so that’s a lot to believe in. But it’s been a nice, mild winter with almost no rain and beautiful sunny days. I’m in.
I have faith in Bum, Cueto, and Smarge (as long as you are prepared for a clunker every now and then), and TFLR. Everything else, who knows?
of course, there’s also this to consider.
Yeah, it’s been fairly cool here in the supposed Valley of the Sun the past few days. Personally, I don’t mind, after being on the frozen east coast last week, this feels fine. Not sure I’ll take in a game here before I have to leave 2 weeks from now (Cubs on Sunday would be fun, but probably hard to get tix) but I’ll likely at least wander up to Scottsdale to see some of the practices.
Frozen Paul…this is nirvana out here in the mid-Atlantic for mid-Feb!!!
The back end of the staff and BP are cause for concern but I’m just hoping for some good baseball as an accompaniment to my Cha-cha bowl.
Agree with Loo about the pitching, although more concerned about the pen than the starters, who might pleasantly surprise (there’s that optimism). Too many arms in that pen have been given their chances and have shown no sign of developing or improving (Strick, Osich, Okert). A return to a solid pen would ease some concerns about the starters. A spring training pickup or 2 would be welcome so a few of those dreadful relievers could be sent packing already….
I’m sure Giants will score more runs with new additions(and subtractions), but preventing them much more important key to success. If Giants can manage to cut runs allowed down 100 or so from last season, all to the good.
Majority of that falls on SPs. Health and effectiveness of Bum and Cueto might account for close to half of the 100, Smrdz another 20-25. I like Stratton, dislike Blach but top 3 have to better.
Giants have to hope some of the young guys (Gearrin et al) figure some things out and can bridge FLR Melancon Strick. Maybe Moronta makes move.
Look at Flav sneaking in the Winter Olympics cry of 1980 . . . I’m sure you are watching the games furtively under your covers on your phone.
Some good skiing last night. Finally.
As I told Paul last week, I’m optimistic the Giants won’t lose 98 games again.
Whatever influence a pitching coach has on a staff, maybe Curt Young can provide a new voice and get through to some of the more obstinate and/or dumb ones (Smarge, Strick) that Flav mentioned. Also, has there been any word on TFL? From what little I’ve seen, he probably won’t be ready by opening day.
Latest Giants rumor:
hmmnn. Wondered about Watson before. Looking at numbers, last couple years have seen the hits/runs allowed go up, Ks down. He made $5 mil last year ending season with LA. Have to take further look see if he is loogy only or can he get RHs out too.
I think it says a lot that the Dodgers lost interest in him.
Pav answers my question: “Will Smith said he hasn’t had any setbacks, just threw his seventh bullpen session. Not sure yet if he’ll be ready for opening day. Training staff is being cautious.”
Watson would be cool for sure!!
Best line I’ve read re: Warriors and Kerr not coaching vs. Suns:
Kristan on yahoo site: “the cavs should have a game where LeBron lets Lue coach.”
I’ll take Watson especially since Will Smith I’m sure their being cautious about to start the season.
Watson’s career era 2.68 not bad, and he’s been durable averaging 70 plus innings a year.,
Chuck spotted my ironic Olympic headline, well done
I believe I reported last summer when the Giants came to town and Cueto was on the DL that Cueto was out in the OF working his ass off with a trainer. An hour of running around sprints etc. That was a sign to me that he is the real deal as a competitor…
I am down with Watson…may be willing to take less up front for a 2 or 3 year deal… $3 and $6 is not far off of $5 avg…
Over the weekend, I watched the ESPN “30 for 30” documentary about the Lakers/Celtics rivalry during the ’80s. It’s about 5 total hours long, split into 3 parts. I was kind of amazed how strongly my dislike of the ’80s Celtics rose up again watching this documentary. Especially irritating were the interview portions with the cackling untalented towel-waving benchwarmer M.L. Carr. A bigger jerk it would be hard to imagine. Although, to be fair, I’m sure there were some people annoyed at some of the Laker interviews, too. It’s kind of remarkable how intense the dislike is between the two teams, even 30-something years later. It was intensely personal between these two teams.
McHale had the vicious clothesline tackle of Rambis in the ’85 Finals. Being interviewed in the show about the ’88 Finals, in which McHale played with a broken foot as the Celtics lost the series, Rambis said “He had a broken foot? I don’t care.”
Cedric Maxwell comes off disappointingly jerky in the documentary, too. But the ’80s Celtics reveled in being trash-talking jerks. As the former Lakers in the show noted, the only way to shut up the Celtics was to beat them. The Lakers ended up defeating the Celtics, of course, in two Finals; with the Celtics winning one of the Finals between them. The Lakers, of course, also won two Finals against the Sixers in the ’80s, and the Celtics won two against the Rockets. The Sixers defeated the Lakers in a Finals.
The Lakers defeated the Pistons in a Finals to close out the ’80s.
The Laker/Celtic rivalry made the NBA what it is today. Before that, Finals were shown on tape-delay late at night, which seems remarkable in retrospect. The NBA has come a long ways.
The ’80s Lakers and Celtics really pushed each other to get better. I wonder how “pushed” the Giants are feeling these days. Is there a burning embarrassment about last season that will drive them forward this season? Are they sick and tired of the Dodgers winning the division all the time these days?
I had a theory that an improved D-Backs and Rockies would give the Dodgers more defeats, and make the whole division more competitive. Well, it didn’t work out that way last season. The Giants find themselves looking up at three teams in the division now. Does it fuel an intensity to play much better? Can intensity like the old Lakers/Celtics thing even work in baseball? How much burning with intensity can you sustain over a 162 game season?
The Phillies new manager, Kaplan, is going to try to rev his team up all season. That kind of thing works in limited doses, like with Billy Martin, but then usually flames out.
You would hope Giants are fired up to improve, individually and collectively, over last year. What little I’ve heard about offseason workouts seems to indicate that.
Giants actually played LA pretty tough; it was rest of division including those *&%@! Padres that whomped them. iirc Cain and Pence made more $$$ than entire Padres team last year.
And that obviously has to change; all those division games at start of the season will mean something.
last year 9-17 in April, with 2 game split vs. Royals meant Giants 8-16 vs. NL West.
For the year, AZ Rox and Padres (!) each went 12-7 vs. Giants for .630 winning pct. Ouch.
LA went 11-8. Just seemed like Giants played them harder I guess.
The other killer was NL East trio of Nats, Mets and Marlins: 1-5 vs. each for a combined 3-15. Not sure about Nats and Mets this season, but I would hope the Giants fare better vs. the gutted Fish.
If the market has squashed Watson’s value down he could be a good shot to improve the pen. Strange year last year; better numbers after being traded to the bums than before. Looks like overall he had to pitch to a lot of RHs in 2017. I also wonder why LA isn’t in on him.
Whatever SF does re: Watson or anybody else, they won’t go over the lux tax threshold….
Yahoo Sports gives their MLB All-Overrated team. Longoria makes the list. Ouch.
https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-overrated-team-yadier-molina-aroldis-chapman-headline-list-204520263.html
The Dodgers have re-signed Chase “I’m going to stand next to the plate with my body in the strikezone and get hit by pitches without trying to move out of the way in clear violation of the rules” Utley.
I just love how umps choose to completely ignore whatever rules they want to.
Fun fact: Utley batted 0 for 15 in the ’17 playoffs, with 0 walks, and of course 2 hit-by-pitches.
Rivalries went the way of big-ass afros. And being a Laker hater was easy in the 80s. What with the Warriors being completely out of it by then, it was anyone who can beat the Lakers is OK with me.
My only pisser was seeing Silk Wilkes shine with them, as Jamaal of course. Then there was the Chief McHale/Joe Barely Cares connection. Fuuuck. That still pisses me off.
One of the sportswriters in the documentary calls that trade the biggest ripoff in NBA history.
But….to be a little bit fair, it’s noted in the documentary that Parrish was seen as out-of-shape and not all that motivated before the trade, and McHale was not a well-known commodity. The Celtics did a great job of having McHale scouted.
Think it was Snarkk who started to bring up some terrible Warrior’s player,
Here’s some of mine
Mike Dunleavy
Todd Fuller(their was this guy named Kobe available)
Chris Washburn (total loser)
Patrick O’Bryant
Adonel Foyle
Ike Digoge(sp?)
Derek Fisher
Levi Fontaine
Al Harrington
And the list goes on..
It’s kind of funny this illusion that the players are really working on a lot of drills in Spring Training to get ready for the season. The position players show up on the 18th, and the games start on the 23rd. Yeah, that’s a lot of days of working on fundamentals before the games start.
I wonder how this compares to the old days of ST when the players came in fat and out of shape? I doubt they played as many games as now, essentially around 30. Now, ST is a real money maker for the teams, and the players are expected to be pretty much in shape ready to go on arrival, with the pitchers given a week earlier start in camp to get the arms starting to stretch out…
I must’ve watched 2,000 Giant games since MLB Extra Innings became available on cable here in 2003. This year I’ll probably do without out it and just get MLB radio for 20 bucks. Miller should have me asleep by the 3rd inning most nights…
listening to the game on the radio is a good way to go. I prefer it.
The thing you get with Miller and Fleming is more willingness to criticize the Giants for poor play than K&K.
Alex Pavlovic
@PavlovicNBCS
Bochy said target date for Will Smith is May 1. Melancon is doing well, has no restrictions.
11:30 AM · Feb 13, 2018
May 1st being the All Star break, of course..
Yep. We know how it works with Giants medical press-releases.
1 1/2 years is pretty typical for Tommy John recovery anyway.
Tell ya one thing about these Olympics, they sure went the way of cramming in as many fucking commercials as possible as they do the summer games.
The Norwiegian Lars Kriufivuhfgleson make s statement by not wearing a hat in the men’s cross country sprint.
It’s 10 below…
Today I learned the majestic Olympic theme music we’re all familiar with is called “Buglar’s Dream,” and was written by a French guy about 60 years ago.
It wasn’t written for the Olympics. Not all countries use that music in their TV broadcasts. Some use the Chariots of Fire theme.
What the Cavs did is impressive. They redid their roster, then went on the road and defeated two of the best teams in the NBA.
I like to play the Olympic theme in my head when I take a crap…