When Elite Spin Rate Is Not Enough
Stratton’s wife gave birth on 4/24. Check out what happened since:
He seems to be welcoming walks and home runs to the family as well. But he’s placed strikeouts up for adoption….
Jose Quintana is ok. He can fire up a good game now and again as well as a “5 Five” type of game. Actionless and Longo have had decent success vs him. Hoping we see Mac instead but Jackson can’t just sit on the bench in perfect health all the time. He needs to play now and again, maybe Gork’s sits today. Actually, he’s one of our main power hitters and he did hit a bomb yesterday so he and Willy probably play, Actionless sits; collecting dust and hording perfect health…..
Five years ago….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Gotta like Kat’s new nickname: “Missing In Action Jackson” (MINAJ?)
MINAJ. Love it.
Gorks is the last guy I would sit right now. I’d like to phantom DL Cutch and get a look at the new and improved Pence. As far as Stratton, I would expect another post-partum shellacking…
Stratton was a bust until everyone started talking about his elite spin rate. Where’s that gone?
watched Celts and Cavs couldn’t miss and were blocking shots like crazy.
Switched to A;s game and AZ lights up no hit Manea and turns 1 run game into 6-1 route early.
Fosse and the other K were talking about Golds. He had triple on line drive that fell in front of diving LF and rolled to wall and then a long drive to CF for a double off the wall more like what he usually does vs. SF.
Signed 5 yr deal for $32 mil, making $11mil this year with club option at $14 mil for next year when he’ll turn 31.
His avg season: .294 30 HRs 106 rbis 40 doubles .920 OPS.
Last year 36 bombs 120 rbis .966 OPS. Good fielder who also runs OK for big guy.
Off to slow start so far but will be interesting to see what kind of extension AZ offers, or not. As Fosse brought up, lot of FAs didn’t do so well this off season.
Goldschmidt and Bumgarner must have the same agent…
The A’s did win a game Thursday with relief pitchers going the entire game. Use More of Petit as Stix used to call him went innings 5-7 and shut out the M’s on 2 hits getting credit for W after they got 4 in first off King Felix.
Would Bochy try that? Took the A’s 5 guys (ha 5 again) with first 2 going 2 innings each. Held M’s to 3 runs tho giving up 10 hits 4 BBs. Aided by turning 5 DPs. Could this work for Giants?
Prior to yesterday I don’t think FLR had been scored upon. Holland did get the Q start something Stratton has had only once since baby arrived month ago.
of course you can win games with gimmicky bullshit. Teams like the Rays and the A’s can afford to tinker with this stuff, they stink and nobody goes to watch their games. But if the goal is to make the post season and win the world series, and why wouldn’t that be the goal, then starting relievers and having them carry the game is just ludicrous and will never work over the course of 162 games and another 20+ post season games
Other point being that using these guys that amount of innings ruins them going forward over next couple games unless there is an off day coming up. Right now can’t think of 5 guys I’d trust to go 2-3 innings.
And yes most of A;s SPs suck or are injured so probably isn’t much drop off. Roberts got dangerously close to this last season.
Dunno Nicki Minaj’s music but her vids, wow. The one for Turn Me On is wild.
It’s been fun being ahead of the Dodgers in the standings for two months, but perhaps that ends today.
i haven’t thought about that even once. You seem to think a lot about it. It’s not a criticism I just think there are bigger fish to fry for this team than where they are in relation to LA
Started the Alou bio. He grew up during the Trujillo era in the DR, 30 years of one man rule brutality and oppression US ignored while the country was his fiefdom.
Usually look in middle of these types of books at photos and these are fantastic—Felipe with his bros sure but also Mays Marichal Willie Mac Cepeda and Henry Aaron
Great intro by Pedro Martinez, who got career going under Felipe as mgr. of Expos.
And yes Alou (actually Rojas) family from very humble beginnings. Always impressed by pride and passion DR players have for game of baseball and their country. Saw this too when Tribe were playing in the PR, very refreshing
“He seems to be welcoming walks and home runs to the family as well. But he’s placed strikeouts up for adoption….”
If I was a coffee drinker, I would’ve spit it out all over the screen from laughing at this.
thanks, I thought it was just ok but it’s nice to know it struck a cord with at least one flapper!
that is a great line, so was Loo’s about Golds and bum having the same agent.
Why do you think the stats on Strat have turned around? Lack of fastball command that gets him behind in count? Too much nibbling where he isn’t getting calls? guys ignoring his curve and sitting on his less than impressive heat?
Since this has been month of suckitude (for dang near all The Five), wonder what’s going on with coaching staff, posey/hundley yada yada.
It was a great line.
Yes, it was. I think we take Flavor for granted.
He doesn’t look for accolades, but it’s nice to hear it once in a while…
even with Paul out these odds seem crazy to me
Finishing ahead of the Dodgers seems like pretty big fish to fry to me. It would pretty much guarantee a playoff spot. Especially in a year that the Dodgers look more vulnerable than they have in a long while.
Huh? Seven teams are ahead of us in the Wildcard standings. Two teams are in front of us in the Division standings and as you pointed out earlier – the Bums are about to overtake us, with a 7-3 record in their last 10 games (3 game winning streak) and Kershaw almost done with his rehab assignment.
We have a shot, but no way does it look like “It would pretty much guarantee a playoff spot.”
I think some of those teams will fade, and Arizona is already sinking badly.
Just my opinion Willie, but Stratton, Holland, Blach, and Suarez are 4s and 5s for a reason. It was a miracle and a credit to their mental toughness, that they prevented us from sinking in the standings. Couple that with our only supposed decent pitcher, Smarg, being subpar, I understand completely why Stratton, et. al., have regressed to the “mean” (albeit, Holland is still looking good as indicated by his performance yesterday).
Consequently, Cueto and Madbum can’t get her soon enough.
Willie referring to Glen Kuiper as “the other K” gave me a chuckle. I endured Ray and the other K on the A’s broadcast last night. Not an easy experience. It was Star Wars night at the Coluseum last night, and Fosse seriously had no idea who Darth Vader was. Kuiper was flummoxed by that. Like someone never hearing Bohemian Rhapsody before. Hard to wrap your head around.
That’s funny. My mom has also told me that she has never seen a Star Wars movie. Maybe she’s on the “Flavor movie schedule plan.”
I’ve never seen any of the Star Wars, Harry Potters, Lethal Weapons, Indiana Joneses, James Bonds and it goes on and on. Same with many of the most popular TV shows in history…
But you’d know the character Darth Vader, right? Fosse acted like he’d never seen or heard of the character before, as a guy in a Darth Vader suit visited the broadcasting booth.
Yes, I would, Zum…
The Red Sox and Yankees look to be having the most epic division battle since the Giants and Braves in ’93.
What if the Yankees win 100+ games and finish second and get eliminated in the Wild Card game? Would it shock you if MLB changed the playoff format after that?
It would shock me.
They can’t have a best of three wild card series. That’s unworkable.
They could go back to having one wild card team, but that would be detrimental to the bottom line.
With the current six divisions, it’s perfect the way it is, (except for the ‘rivalry’ games). The purpose is to generate interest among as many teams as possible (sell tickets), not to ensure the best non-division winning team makes the playoffs.
In the previous format, the Red Sox were the only wild card team to finish with a better record than a division winner.
Just win your division, that’s what makes baseball’s regular season so great. If they expand to 32 teams (eight divisions), they should still have a single play-in game, IF a non-division winner has a better record than the worst division winner. Again, make the September games as compelling as possible.
Last year the season ended on a Sunday, and the divisional series’s started on the following Thurs. and Fri.
A best of three Wild Card could fit if they really wanted to do it.
I know there are scenarios where they could need days for tie-breakers, but that rarely happens.
I would imagine Panda plays today and maybe Belt to the outfield. Blanco odds on to lead off…
against a lefty? No way.
My mistake. Thought it was a righty…
1. Gorkys Hernandez (R) CF
2. Andrew McCutchen (R) RF
3. Evan Longoria (R) 3B
4. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
5. Mac Williamson (R) LF
6. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
7. Nick Hundley (R) C
8. Kelby Tomlinson (R) 2B
9. Chris Stratton (R) P
Bochy said, “Gorkys, urine the first spot of the batting order.”
See what I did there, har dee dee, har har.
Loo, it’s none of my business, and feel free to say so, but I’m curious why you didn’t see any movies from those series you mentioned. They didn’t catch your interest or you got turned off by the huge amount of hype?
I didn’t see some of those films until they’d been out a long time. I found some of the hype off-putting.
Hardly any of those from those series you mentioned would be considered great films. Entertaining, yes, but not great films.
If I was recommending great science fiction films to someone, I wouldn’t mention a Star Wars one. I’d have Blade Runner, 2001, Serenity, and Silent Running on the list.
In fact, I haven’t seen any of the recent Star Wars ones yet. The 3 prequel ones were pretty bad.
The latest Indiana Jones movie was pretty ridiculous, but pretty entertaining. The series got kind of silly.
Hard to answer that here, Zum.
Come to NY!
I’d like to someday. I’ve never been to the northeast U.S.
I’ll tell you one thing about the Cavs, they are one tough team. Both LeBron and Jeff Green (maybe it was JR Smith) were seriously banged up towards the end of the game last night and neither guy came out. Iguodala needs to sack up, wrap that fucking knee and play tonight. Kerr is way too concerned about resting guys all the time. For the Warriors, there is no tomorrow.
Love him or hate him, LeBron is an amazing dude. He just put that team on this back last night and willed them to win. What a performance. As good as Boston has been at home, I’d be sweating things a bit if I was a Celtics fan.
agreed. I have grudgingly come to admit to Lebron’s greatness. I still hate Cleveland fans, they are stupid and the worst.
Giants have dropped nine of their last 10 road games (0-3 on this trip). The’ve been outscored 70-25 in that time frame.
Stratton has an 8.59 ERA in his last five outings. Opponents have hit six homers and batted .358 off Stratton. However, the Giants have a winning record of 7-3 in his starts.
Great photo of Pagan’s inside-the-parker; but one of my favorite things from the moment is Flannery joyfully running from the scene, like “my work here is done!”
Flannery getting out of Dodge, job well done.
https://www.bing.com/th?id=OIP.cP38W2lP2_I69LN6ffcEGgHaEL&pid=1.1
I’ve watched that video 100 times. There is so much going on. My favorite part is when Pagan rounds third and Flan is waving him in he gives his a strong knowing dude head nod and heads towards the plate. Epic stuff.
Dubs just activated McCaw for tonight’s game, which may mean he can play and Iggy can’t…
Iggy’s knee better really be F’d up if he doesn’t go tonight. $16 million / year, and he basically cruised through the season to save himself for the playoffs, now is the time to suck it up if that knee is even close to OK…
Mengden, the quirky, just threw a 2-hit shut-out against the D-Backs.
Cutch is at OPS of a putrid .709 with BA of just .233 through 176 ABs.
The dude is at 28% K clip.
New team adjustment period is over. He hasn’t changed leagues like Longoria, so that’s no excuse.
If one of the Sac AAA players had these crap stats as a starter two months in, we’d be wondering how much longer he’d last up with the big club…
To me, he is the flop of the year, Snarkk.
I didn’t have high hopes for Minaj.
I thought Cutch would at least have a somewhat typical season and inject some life into the team…
Defintiely a disappointment. He’s supposedly a slow starter. Well, the slow period is over…
Add in the lousy defense.
Beat me to it. Again, similar to our pitching staff being all 4s and 5s, Cutch was moved to right field by the Pirates for a reason. In short, statistically he was the worst center fielder in the league when they decided on Marte taking over. Unfortunately, that only lasted a couple of weeks (?) I think due to Marte’s PED issues.
(Sorta) Fun Fact? Giants have faced World Series MVPs in their last three road series.
With a bone bruise, he’s done for the finals then too, if they make it…
I have the Cubs feed, but I’m sure Kuip just said the usual “Giants waste a lead off double”…
I think this is a Fox game.
Yes.
We heard that a lot last season.
Wasted doubles.
‘Cutch hasn’t done much. In fact, he’s trending into hologram territory. Pretty wild drop off for this guy. These natty announcers are terrible.
Craw robbed on that pitch. Pathetic. She can’t arrive soon enough . . .
anyone ever been to Wrigley? That looks like an incredibly fun event
Getting close to pfffttt.
I’m reminded of the James Taylor album “Walking Man.”
Instead, it’s “whew . . . “
George Hamilton as Colonel Sanders.
Terrible idea or genius.
Maybe only Loo and I saw this . . . Cubs bullpen has a ritual where they dance the watusi (?) in the underground bullpen when a team mate hits a bomb. Exception is the closer Morrow. Must be seen – hilarious.
Yeah, I was impressed!
Crawford!
just a great at bat from him
funny
one of those nat’l broadcasters just called Buster Posey something like a “sure-fire hall of famer.”
I heard that, too.
I have my doubts…
He’s on track. He needs to have 5 or 6 more decent seasons, IMO. He just needs to compile more hits. He has all the other accolades.
meanwhile Jeff Kent languishes in the shadows. bullshit. And I’m not at all sure about Posey.
Props to MTO for getting the BB down 0-2.
I think Unc has family from back there and has been in Wrigley, maybe not recently tho.
Great play Craw. Looks out IMO.
absolutely incredible play by Crawford whether this is an out or not
Wow. GG play there.
Crawford!!!!
wow did get him too by eyelash.
Who is the team doing the Fox broadcast?
One of them sounds like Verducci.
the other one sounds like Affeldt after elocution lessons
Strat can’t stand prosperity.
And Craw spectacular on defense.
Fox broadcast team is Len Kasper (who?) and Tom Verducci.
These are probably the least annoying special occasion uniforms…
Cutch did something!
Been to Wrigley twice. 1969, and 1995. ’69 was Jenkins vs Marichal with the original Uncle Chuck. My mom’s brother. McCovey hit a 3 run hr I think, and the Giants won 8-3. We sat down the 1st base lie and it was crazy to watch the guys warming up like 15′ away. We got there early and watched Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Joe Pepitone (I thnik) and all my Giants guys. Great day. I think that was my first baseball game.
Uncle Chuck came out to visit a couple years ago, and we went to Napa to visit his namesake winery (Reynolds). He’s in fine form at 87 years old. He looks 62. Wonderful guy and it was great to talk about his days as a kid growing up with my mom back in Chicago on the South side. He’s still there (on the North side now).
’95 I was there for a wedding in northern Indiana. Hung over as fuck, and we sat in the bleachers. It was 105 that day, and we ended up sitting under the scoreboard. It took 3 beers just to unfeel the heat, and 2 more to feel good. The Dodgers smoked the cubs 8-0 that day. . .
The new thing: the corporate apology commercial.
Facebook and Wells Fargo.
Uber
Hey, Cutch and Belt for the lead!
Come on (soon to be) Mac the Knife.
Some numbers on cutch from last season:
April .244
May .205
June .411
July .322
both those last 2 months OPS over 1.000
Also for the season hit .336 vs. LHP. Up to today 2018 .222.
Nice double and scored on Belt rbi.
Strat with lead…how long can he hold it?
Damn, I missed the Craw play while eating dinner (Kielbasa with peppers, potatoes and onions).
Great post by Unca about Wrigley. Definitely gotta get to that place someday.
I went to a game at Wrigley over 20 years ago, not sure, but probably ’97. Don’t remember the oppo, either. I do remember it was a lot of fun. Place then looked as old as dirt and ready to fall down. You get off the El and walk with the throngs about a block and a half to the stadium. Wrigleyville was/probably still is, a gas. After the game it’s bars, bars and bars. With the stadium rehab, a Flapalooza in Chicago would be epic — Giants/Cubs during the day, chop house and blues clubs at night…
Already with the lazy passes.
Getting killed on the boards again. Lazy.
KD can;’t hit the side of a barn with his shot.
Boards are terrible. One and done for us.
I did get to old Comiskey back in ’90. Walked around a lot checking out different seats. It was a pretty good place to see a game, though not quite the festive atmosphere at Wrigley both inside and outside, especially for a midweek night game.
nice push bunt by Gorks. with all the injuries and suckitude, Gorks is serving notice he deserves to play.
Wow. Yet another stupid pass and yet another 3 offensive rebounds given up.
WTF was our 3rd base coach thinking?
Gorks intuition saved him getting nailed at the plate. Still shaking my head on the 3rd base coach waving him in frantically. Imbecile.
Wotus hasn’t flubbed much this season. That was a flub, though.
Gorkys saved Wotus on that one.
At some point you have to get position on the boards;’
And the patented fall down by Harden. Didn’t get touched. Fuck him. I hate his game with a passion.
Dubs getting run out of the gym. ROFL!
You think they;re gonna lose?
I think they’re not playing their game and haven’t for most of the series. This first quarter is the last thing they needed. More isolation plays, missed shots, crappy perimeter defense, turnovers. The Rockets are clearly hungrier. They may well come out with a win tonight, but I don’t think there’s a chance in hell they win the series.
slides and he’s in there. Belt with another rbi for some insurance.
I never saw Gorkys’ bunt. My channel (40 out of Sacramento) came back from commercials too late.
Terrible. Gork’s ABs are can’t-miss!
Gorkys really getting it done this year. Good thing the Giants didn’t listen to us and cut him. Then they’d have zero OFers doing anything at the plate.
I wouldn’t be too hard on us. Let’s see if he makes it through the season without getting busted for a PED.
I’ll let it go. I won’t raise that anymore.
He doesn’t strike me as the type, but I’m not surprised by much these days. For now, he’s been fun to watch.
All the Warriors have to do is get Klay the ball in space.
Houston has done a good job of keeping someone in his face.
Ah, Craw with the flub.
Another leadoff double wasted.
Ugh, Kevin Love out for game 7 due to the concussion protocol. Not good news for the Cavs. Even when he doesn’t have a big night scoring, he’s a very good rebounder and assist man.
You like the cavs? There’s no defending Harden. Ridiculous call there.
No, just admire the toughness they’ve shown these playoffs. They really have no business playing a game 7 to get into the finals, not the way they looked for the last part of the season. I also find it hard to dislike LeBron. Don’t like Boston either.
Look how bad they played the first two games of the series. But here they are, playing game 7. They don’t quit.
Houston ahd Cleveland ( and the Clips) are the worst teams at whining through every game and every foul.
Again, they need toi design some plays that get Klay open.
Watson didn’t have his best stuff.