Shields Up, Scotty
Such a frustrating win. And doesn’t feel like the baseball Gods are trying to tell us something. So close to getting the squad back together and then something stupid like this happens to Belt.
But injuries happen to everyone. Baggs brought up a good point on why these types of injuries to our starters can be so devastating to a team like the Giants. Read on:
“The Giants have not drafted and developed a proven everyday player since graduating Panik to the big leagues in 2014, which is understandable to some degree. It’s an inexact science. It’s not easy to do.
But their struggle to draft and develop replacement-level players? Someone who could play a serviceable shortstop behind Brandon Crawford or catch at Triple-A Sacramento or fill out an affiliate’s rotation better than someone rescued from an independent league? A team needs contributions from those players over a 162-game season, too. A car without an engine doesn’t get out of the parking lot. Neither does the car without $6 spark plugs.”
Belt going down has just about broken my spirit about this season. They can’t withstand this many injuries. They just aren’t built for it…..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
About a couple of weeks ago I posted: “Belt just needs to avoid his annual weird injury.”
There was a great anti-freeze shortage in 1974. Who knew?
Ralph Nader investigated it.
https://nader.org/1974/12/01/the-antifreeze-story-does-the-government-care-about-inflation/
” . . . the rush of customers resulted in a number of injuries.” For anti-freeze!
It did get ugly at times…
A big ouch, losing Belt. Now watch, they go on a tear and win 8 straight. Could happen. They could also get torn up and lose 8 straight. Interesting season, no idea what will happen, too early to give up on ’em…..
Agree on the “too early.” Lots of baseball left to play.
16 consecutive shutout innings, wonderful. Good for Strat and Holland settled down the other night after rough early going. Pen guys held Rox and Phils off.
supposed to heat up this weekend. Sunday is day game for the D Rod kid where yard should be OK for hitters.
Well, depending on the operation it could be a 15 day DL or a 60 day. Just have to wait and see. Hopefully it won’t be too long. We just get more kung fu panda. Or more Hot Rod Hundley
Snarkk came back to his job in 10 days on his operation and he said he could have come back to work in 7 days.
Hmm . . . but could snarkk still hit the inside fastball and field his position????
Hey, it’s rough sitting in front of a video screen with lots of typing and phone calls !…
lol
I know! I do it every damned day!
I mean really. Belt spends 2 months of the DL last year and his appendix just sits there. Now that he’s fine, it decides to go on the fritz? Jeebus. If it weren’t for bad luck, he’d have no luck at all.
Do we want to know how Loo greatly profited from the great anti-freeze shortage of ’74? Maybe we don’t really want to know…. 🙂
I have to check if the statute of limitations has run out, Zum.
I love that you took the trouble to look this up.
The article is fantastic!
I know what the Flappers want this morning: a nearly 10 minute Lexi video about what she learned in the minor leagues!
Can Flappers make it through the whole 10 minutes?
I’m going to say: no, they cannot.
I’m not anti-Lexi, and I could only make it to the 4 minute mark.
Maybe I’ll try again later.
” I have a website…” oh and a husband who makes $18 mil this year.
I guess what’s really scary is how many “likes” or followers she has.
did 30 minutes worth of mindless cardio at gym this morning. One minute listening to her is worse torture.
I’m sitting at an oil change shop. 30 min back up. I still can’t bring myself towards this.
I made it to the 4 min mark, had to turn it off. She mentioned her website at least 6 times but never said what it was about. I’m now going to reflect on why I chose to watch any of this.
I don’t want to be mean, but it was agony.
Every second of it…
You didn’t learn anything about yourself and reflection after hearing about all those lonely days and nights she spent in a 5 star hotel room? And the rest by the pool, GOOD GOD WHAT DID THIS WOMAN GO THROUGH!???!!
Well, your and Loo’s comments sealed the deal. No way I am wasting one second on her fucking video.
I haven’t watched yet (busy), but who the fuck is she?
Hunters wife
Ahh . . . thanks.
Looking forward to this future installment: Things I learned when my partner was dumped after his $90 million contract ran out.
LMAO…may be some truth to that, Mac.
yahoo had funny story of Phils fan at game right behind home plate with tee shirts aimed directly at Sixers Colangelo, including “Fire BC” and one with last 2 numbers from twitter account.
“Wasn’t for bad luck…” great line from Born Under a Bad Sign. First version I ever heard was Cream Jack Bruce.
Anyone here read K Richards bio? Buddy of mine was telling me about him searching out old blues guys and their recordings to figure out how they got their individual unique sound.
I haven’t read it, but I know he uses alternate tunings on some songs. Some people try to play some of those Stones on a guitar with standard tuning, and they get confused why they can’t get it right.
Flavor said, on May 25, 2018 at 4:10 pm
it’s insane. All of these “Cal Ripkin-esque” players we have, these fucking ironmen, are the worst players we have!!!!!!!!
…and Actionless keeps on tickin’ ….
Belt has appeared to be in pain after running the base paths a couple times recently. Kuiper made mention of knee pain and I think he was pulled from the LU one day because of it too. Point being if it wasn’t the appendicitis it probably would’ve been some knee inflammation shutting Belt down soon anyway. Obviously they can’t replace the club’s best hitter but if McCutchen starts producing they could probably get by for a short time with Slater or Shaw called up to cover 1b with Sandoval.
And I guess more Posey at first vs. lefties…
Posey looks like he’s a barley holding it together and can land on DL any second now.
I agree, Dirt. Here’s Buster during pre-game warmups:
Not having seen the entire video, I can surmise that Lexi spent her days lounging by the pool while someone set up a basic website for her. By night, Hunter slayed her. And this was somehow her coming out the other end to having some great life epiphany? She should go spend a week alone in a hotel in Serbia.
The Giants being the Giants they’ll probably bring up Ryder Jones. I’d forgotten about that schlub but he’s heated up at the plate recently going 9 for 11.
Got through 2 minutes of the video . . . In the words of Samantha Bee, “She’s a feckless cunt” like Ivanka is. She needs to do some volunteer work like serving food in a Salvation Army soup kitchen.
Feckless is a fantastic word, it’s too bad she ruined it with the c word
That was the point of her using it. The enemy is wasting all their ammo firing at the vulgarity while the damning adjective slips through the backdoor unnoticed, throat-slitting knife in hand.
Matt Harvey game tonight…..in san Diego
The one part of Lexi’s video that had potential is when she talked about being the spouse of a player who has had a setback. That is a uniquely challenging thing for the players’ wives and partners. What do you do or say after your partner has had a bad game or other setback? The player isn’t usually going to want consoling words or attempts to cheer them up. It’s taken by them as pity, and it’s not what they want. Lexi learned that. The player needs time to process it themself. The player has failed in front of thousands or millions of people. And in the case of baseball, there’s another game to get ready for tomorrow. I do find that topic interesting, but Lexi wasn’t going to take her video into too intense of territory.
The player doesn’t want their partner making excuses for them either. Brady and Curry were both not digging their wives talking about the refs or another player’s fault or whatever.
I can’t imagine how tough it was for Buckner’s family after the ball went between his legs. It took him years to get over it, and really it was the Red Sox winning a championship 18 years later that helped the most. He’s still probably not completely over it.
Sure these folks are millionaires, and there are many worse tragedies in the world. But there is a kind of mental hell that pro athletes can go through, and it’s a challenging situation for their loved ones.
That would be a great topic for a film if someone wanted to get seriously deep into the topic.
Players with young children will talk of how great it is to come home to
children who are blissfully unaware of what happened in the game.
Something I find interesting, and maybe I’m the only one who finds it interesting 🙂 , is how, when the player comes back to the dugout, the team makes an immediate judgment on what the reception will be. And years of playing baseball has taught them many nuances of the situation.
If the player makes an unproductive out-
Response: no eye contact. Any response can lead to the batter going all red a##. The only exception is if the player hit a bullet and was just unlucky with an at’em ball. Then a very mild positive thing can be said to them or slight pat on the back.
A productive out gets high fives, but only if there remains less than two outs.
Hits and runs get high intensity high fives, and HRs are a chance to go crazy.
What if the player leads off the inning with a single and is out trying to extend it into a double? This is where it’s important to read the facial expression and body language of the batter, and their past behavioral history.
And there are of course many other scenarios, some involving double plays. When there’s an especially complex moment, I like to look for the dugout response.
If a player is going red a## ballistic, throwing equipment and punching Gatorade containers, the response is always no eye contact.
I can’t bring myself to click on it. I just can’t.
https://mobile.twitter.com/bbelt9/status/1002870991993782283/photo/1
That’s usually what it looks like when someone is about to have surgery.
“First baseman Brandon Belt, who left the Giants’ 4-0 win over Philadelphia on Friday night after two innings, had his appendix removed later that evening, the team announced Saturday morning.
The Giants say Belt should be released from the hospital Saturday afternoon.”
Shit..Dobble whammy for me. Belt in my fantasy team too! Cueto too:(
Guess who’s tied for 2nd in the ML in wins?? Our boy Stratton.
2018 bar bet? 1/3 of the way through the season who has more wins?
Bumgarner, Cueto , Samardgzija Combined or Stratton? CS leads 7-4!!!!
Cleared waivers in record time.
Shocking…
i always wonder what the brass thinks when that happens. Like do they clue in that literally NO ONE else wants the guy? Does that mean anything to them?
Reminds me of George C. Scott (the Giants) to Piper Laurie (Blanco) scene in The Hustler . . .
Bert Gordon: You’re here on a rain check and I know it. You’re hangin’ on by your nails. You let that glory whistle blow loud and clear for Eddie and you’re a wreck on a railroad track… you’re a horse that finished last. So don’t make trouble, Miss Ladybird. Live and let live! While you can. I’ll make it up to you.
Sarah Packard: How?
Bert Gordon: You tell me.
Blanco always struck me as a guy who just loves to play baseball and will do it anywhere, anytime – even for free…
Was someone else activated?
Pence?
The dynamic regarding failure is different in the NBA (and probably the NFL) compared to MLB. If you fail in the NBA, your teammates still high five you and show love, and the failing player accepts it as love, and not as condescending pity. If you miss a free throw, you slap hands with your teammates. I imagine that even after J.R. Smith’s huge gaffe, his team slapped hands with him when he came to the bench, and he welcomed it. Every sport has its own dynamics.
Bochy gives 3 week “baseline” for Belt’s return.
What does “baseline” mean in this sentence?
The minimal time gone? I guess that includes a rehab assignment.
Whatever it is, Belt will probably run out of it.
Got it the 2nd time I read it. Good one, Mac!
I read two to three weeks.
Re belt baseline…Torres missed 10 days in 2010 I think. I just read it somewhere. Cutch will hit better, and the Panik / hanson duo much improved over Specs / panda / whoever else played 2nd.
Pence / Williamson hernandez.. Anyone know if pence returns..can Mac play 1st?
Mad bum will be an improvement over whichever 5/5 you see as the 5th best ( Suarez? ). Kershaw down means we still have a chance. 86 wins will likely win the division.
We’re going to have to win the Division, as the WC seems almost impossible IMO.
Pence is back on the 25 man roster.
We should all reflect on that…
I never thought I would be saying this, but I am happy about that. Now, let’s see if he has anything left in the tank. If not, I’m all for releasing him (as his only role with the team now is as a utility player). A numbers game.
Now batting, No. 8, Lexi’s partner.
I am interested, too, and with what he has given this team while here, he deserves the chance. I’m hopeful. He was hitting the ball well after seeing the hitting coach in SoCal. But yeah, if he’s done, it’s gold watch time.
Harvey imploding….
Fortunately, Belt had his operation in the hospital.
What’s this? They’re letting this motherfucker bat for himself? Fucking pull him already! Cinn doesn’t care about winning
Isn’t the quality start already lost for Harvey?
Dodgers are pounding the Rockies again.
It’s up to the Giants to try to wrest control of the division from the Dodgers. D-Backs and Rockies are not up to the task yet again this season.
Per Kruk, the Phillies are very “physical.” Is that as opposed to” intellectual”? Or in the Olivia Newton-John sense?
Been busy as hell today, and had seen no news on BB9. Two to three weeks for an emergency appendectomy …that does hurt, but with getting Bum back Tuesday, and Hansen soon, I am hopeful they can weather the loss. There is still a lot of baseball to play. I just read that Torres came back after 13 days from an emergency appendectomy. Let’s hope Belt heals quick.
This motherfucker might back into a QS. He’s been awful tonight.
Oh wait he’s already lost it. For some reason my brain keeps reverting to 6inn/4 ER. But it’s 6/3. Good. Fuck that drunk motherfucker.
This is a great obsession.
Panda(monium)!
Hey, Cutch finally caught a ball in triples alley.
Now, that’s what the Giants paid for. Great cutch by Catch.
Helluva cutch!
I’m trying to project my “inner Mac.”
And doing a damned fine job of it, blade.
Flem said that might be the best catch Cutch has made as a Giant.
not really going out on a limb with that call
Ha, right, not a lot to choose from there.
Belt on the hospital stretcher — dude had slumpy shoulders.
WTF kind of pre-surg attitude is that?…
Can Suarez just get the fucking bunt down?..
Uh, no. Giants pitchers suck at bunting. Pfffttt…
No.
San Dawg not happy at all with Harvey tonight. This was supposed to be a free square. But no. No QS for you, drunk Harvey. And with only 1 in the bank and none on the horizon, I’m starting to count my free beers already……
One thing I like about Suarez is that he works quick…
Almost 5-1 K/BB and a respectable 1.25 WHIP helps, too. Needs to lower the BAA…
Nice work getting outta that jam. Now score some fucking runs….
The ump has a wide strikezone, but it seems the same for both pitchers.
I have no memory of that 3-HR game from Huff in 2011. He hit 12 total that season.
Welcome back, Joe.
Did Suarez pitch 6?
Yes.
Huh.He has looked good at times.
push bunt up the right side fets the run in.
Fucking cutch might as well start each AB 0-2.
Huh.Looks like an out.
No, looks safe.
Saaaaafe!
I like Pablo from the left side.
The last shot of that Panik slide, it looked like he could have been out. Doesn’t matter, baby, run scores!
Nice shutdown by Suarez, and beautiful pick by Longoria. Let’s get some more!
Oklahoma women had to play two from the elimination bracket, today. Two 2-zip shutout wins. The same pitcher went both games, complete shutouts. Can they make it three CWS titles in a row….
Suarez just pitched the best shutdown inning by a starter all season.
He and Stratton picked their games up a notch.
We may have a full house rotation now: 3 fives & 2 fours…
Cubs lead the Mets 7-1 — in the 14th inning.
Some crazy shit, there…
Panik Attack, Part II.
Cutch with another productive out.
Cutch, who is only 31 and is usually around 25/80 is on pace for about 8/60.
Does a 250 foot sac fly mean he’s hot now?
When it scores a run, sure.
The Oaf is looking awful at the plate and may be regressing into his bad habits again.
He always looks off balance to me when he swings. Sometimes, I think he has both feet off the ground…
Back-to-back!
Well pitched game by both Suarez and Velasquez. GMen better though this evening.
000000000PH!
We need to cut down on the SOs though. Again, we’re whiffing too much, albeit, Velasquez has some nasty stuff.
ATT and the laws of statistics, quite the tonic for a crappy pitching staff facing a shitty offense that beat up on SF not that long ago.
Agree that the ball park is the unsung hero. What did Kuik say about that one Philly hitter – something along the lines of him being robbed of two hits by the park (correct me if I am wrong).
Yep, chalk one up for the much-maligned ballpark.
Longo for example is either a SO or a bomb. Usually, no in-between. Couple that with his errors, I’m not seeing why this dude was signed for that putrid contract. It’s great that the 32 year old has 29 RBI, which puts him just within the top 10 among MLB third basemen, but his .293 on-base percentage ranks near the bottom at the position. Longoria does have 26 extra-base hits, but he also carries an unfavorable 43:8 K:BB on the season.
This will not get any better next season and beyond.
Wow. That K:BB ratio sounds historically bad…
See tonight Loo . . . Dude struck out 3 of 4 times. Par for the course for him.
In that last game in Colorado, he struck out 4 of 5 times.
I thought we needed power hitters. If Longo gets near 25 HRs and 90 RBIs, I’m fine with that Belt isn’t going to survive a given season intact, so someone has to drive in runs. Posey has no power left, and Clawfish isn’t gonna get big numbers but he’ll be 12-65ish, so again, Longo is fine. Cutch is the weak link in this lineup.
We’ll just have to agree to disagree than. Right now at the 1/3 mark, he has 0.8 WAR, which translates to 2.4 at the end of the season. Last year and the year before he had 3.6 and 3.9, respectively. The regression will be terrible this season.
Is Pablo gonna get us 25/90 as the replacement? Hwang? No. Who is the replacement? A AA guy? A randomly determined composite of all the 3-baggers? WOuld you prefer Nooner’s .334 OBP?
Compared to last year at 3rd, Longo is a huge upgrade.
True Unca, but the Giants could have signed you or any Flapper to the league minimum and it would have been an upgrade from the black hole that played there collectively last season (albeit, Nunez did okay in his short stint with the team). Instead, they backed up the Brinks truck to his Tampa Bay house and said, “We don’t care that your middle name is Methuselah.” 🙂
Hey, it ain’t my money. All I wanted was something better than the black hole 3rd base was. Longo takes a few more walks to get that OBP up, great. His D is worrisome, but I’m much more concerned with Cutch’s play as a whole. Cutch has flat sucked on offense and defense. Sure, he’s only on a one-year deal, and like most of these other long term deals, Longo won’t last the life of the deal, but the team did what they did. They are taking a last shot at the prize with the core guys that got them 3 in 5.
This looks as of now like the Giants have a shot to win the West. Which is being helped along by Longo. Sure, the pipers will come home to roost on this deal and many others they’ve saddled themselves with, but I get why they did it. They have a couple pitchers in Cueto and Bummie that could very well take over the playoffs and eke out another ring.
Don’t get me started on Cutch. In short, we are in absolute, unequivocal, agreement.
Nats leadoff batter Trea Turner had 5 Ks today while going 0-for-7.