Big Wins
With all the excitement the Warriors have been bringing to The Bay lately it’s been tough to stay focused on baseball. But yesterday’s game has been circled and will be remembered as one of the critical wins of the season. We simply have to find ways to get Hanson on the field more often. Screw this *secret weapon* crap. That shit is hit or miss anyway. He is ELECTRIC and for a team that lacks electricity he needs to be playing more often. The Giants should be working NOW on getting him more OF time.
This trip through DC is always my least favorite of the year. It usually happens a little later, right? Early July? It’s always hot as fuck, draining, we usually suck and this time we have to maneuver through Stras and Scherzer. The we have to forage through more road trip and the road has not been our friend this year. Whatever, gotta figure out how to win on the road at some point, might as well be now…..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Yeah, you are so right about those 2 things: Hanson needs to play more, wherever it is, like, nearly every game (has he ever played CF?), and, the visit to DC usually becomes hell on the ballfield, as some of us here have discussed before, those miserably hot heavy humid July 4th weekend games there, when the G’s played half-dead (but would go on to win the World Series)… Haven’t most of the road losses recently been because of poor hitting? I thought being away from a pitcher-oriented home park would result in more offense on the road. Yeah, time to warm up with the weather and start hitting on the road. Obviously I’m not there, but from what I’ve seen, not too hot there at this time… Any eastern Flappers going?
Weather could be ugly (rain)
Meredith Wills, a former astrophysicist, now a baseball data analyst, got as frustrated as everyone else at the inconclusive forensic attempts to identify how the mlb baseball changed after 2014. So she carefully dismantled baseballs from before and after the HR surge (12 pre-2015 and 14 from 2016-17) and measured the components. She found one change–the yarn lacing the seams is about 9% thicker in the new baseballs. That difference probably tightens the structure, changes flight drag and, apparently, blisters some fingers. Her article was on The Athletic yesterday. The exact difference in the yarn? .78 mm vs. .85 mm.
Now that’s a helluva a career change! IMO, they should not be monkeying-around with the fucking baseballs. Just leave them the hell alone, already….
Great post. What a fucking couple of games. Hanson and Craw getting it done (and Cutch, too, with the double to set the table for Craw).
I dropped into the Warrior game about mid 2nd Q. Cookie-cutter Dubs game. Go down double-digits in the first half, and then put the pedal to the metal in the 3rd. What a finish…it was like two heavyweight boxers slugging it out through 15rounds. KD was unreal. Some of those no-look passes/assists were beautiful, and the 3 from 30+ was a knife to the heart.
Iguduoa was not 100%, but still great D, and he just brings a presence to the court like no one else.
Looks like my “Warriors in 5 “ May be in jeopardy.
And I have been saying too that this roadie is going to be the biggest test of the year (and yes, typically in early July). 84 is the forecasted high for Friday and Saturday, with 90% chance of rain on Saturday. So, it will still be humid as fuck. You are dead-on Flav….these boys must find a way to win more on the road, or any talk of making, and going deep in the playoffs is nothing more than a pipe dream.
Weather doesn’t look too horrible in DC this weekend. What I saw had 84 and 57% for Saturday. Sunday may be the rainout.
I looked at Hanson’s stats and he has already played 2 games in LF for us? He’s played OF at various times in his career. Like 80 games worth.
Hanson played 11 games in CF, including 7 starts, last year for the White Sox.
2 errors in 52 innings–but he’ll improve, I’m sure!
And 10 in LF and 20 in RF…
There is ample opportunity to stick him anywhere in the OF at any time and see what he can do with it.
Gorky’s back to Earth, Minaj is a non-factor, Pence is old, Cutch needs to rest here and there and MTO is always an accident waiting to happen. Bochy has no excuse. The Wild Man’s earned a shot…
hey how’s the Belmont turf course with some rain on it? Does it drain as good as their main track?
They say both turf courses drain real well and they always have guys walking the courses looking for holes. I’m pretty sure the teletimers on them are out of whack so I don’t put too much faith in the fractional times. They’re also quick to take lesser races off the lawn to preserve them for a stakes race later in the day if that’s the case. Shouldn’t be any rain here till Saturday anyway. They don’t seem to have a clue as to how much. Somewhere between an occasional drizzle and a downpour. You like something?
turf races are my specialty. But I’m usually not as excited to play if there’s water on the course. As you know, we don’t have to deal with that out here. If there ever is any rain they usually just take it off the turf. East coast much better at running on wet courses.
Anyway, I will absolutely post my pick 3 and pick 4 on Sat. Last year was the Ascend pick 3 and pick 4 and it was a big big day….
Checking Hanson’s career splits, he does his best batting 7th and is 10 for 22 (.455) when he’s in CF…
Don’t see how Hanson gets into LU otherwise.
Taking a look at possible CF on other teams it’s mostly feast or famine…good players that aren’t going anywhere (Trout etc.) or chump hitters.
Not interested in Dyson or BH all speed good field/no pop types that struggle to be Mendoza line/.600 OPS hitters. Don’t think this type of player will be around much longer in juiced ball times except as end of bench late inning D replacement or pinch runner. They can’t do what Hanson did yesterday and tie game with 2 run bomb.
Great day in SF yesterday. Coolish weather that felt really good.
Rode BART from the Dublin station into SF.
A short walk down Market St. to get a Subway Sandwich, then cross the street to the Ferry Building, and begin the long walk along the Bay to the ballpark.
Windy during the game. Hundley botched s foul pop that should have been an error. It ended up costing Stratton two runs on his ERA, and gave the Snakes the lead for a while.
We continue to not get Goldy out.
Cutch with two doubles.
Pablo’s HR and Hanson’s dramatic HR both seemed wind-aided, but we’ll take it. It’s part of the homefield advantage. 🙂
Hanson’s HR was such a wonderful moment. We always stay until the end and got rewarded for it.
Craw later has the winning hit, and it’s time to hear Tonny Bennett. After victories, the Giants now raise a victory flag. A big flag on the rightfield flagpole with the letters SF on a valentine heart background.
Before the game, as usual, I visited the display that has the three trophies and the 3 rings, something I’ll never tire of doing.
After the BART ride back to Dublin, we went to a Red Robin for dinner, and watched the Warriors game on their multiple screens. LeBron caused chuckles with all his dramatic posturing about ref calls. He’s such a tired act.
On the drive home we kept tabs on the finish of that game, and the Dodger/Pirate game, which the Dodgers lost.
OK- let’s call it a perfect sports day. 🙂 🙂
Awesome, zum. Great day to be at the park; gorgeous weather, Giants win in dramatic fashion, what more could one ask for?
Wow I forgot you went. What a game to see live!
Great recap. Glad you got to experience it, Zumie! Did you meet-up with Dirt?
I didn’t see Dirt; I hope he was able to stay until the end.
It seemed like about half the crowd had left before the 9th inning.
And, frankly, there’s no incentive for Central Valley folks like me to leave early anyway because we have to wait for commuter traffic from Dublin to the Central Valley to clear out a bit. All those Central Valley folks who work in the Bay Area, and are now on their commuter traffic slog home from their workday.
Here’s that victory flag. They actually started it before this season. They didn’t get to use it much last season.
I agree with getting Hansen playing time/ABs. You wonder when his stats will fall to their means.
This year: .346, .386, .750, 1.136. Also, 52 AB (small sample) with 6 doubles and 5 HRs. Dude has excelled at PHing, too.
Lifetime: .243, .285, .407, .691
Complete games:
2B – 25
RF – 9
CF – 4
LF – 5
Play him while he’s hot!
The Dodgers starter couldn’t go today, so the Dodgers are bullpenning their game today, and somewhere Brian Kenny is giddy because he thinks “bullpenning” should be the future of baseball. Bullpen every game from the first inning onward.
Yuck. How many people want that as the future of baseball? I don’t.
I remember a game some years ago when the Giants were forced to start Jim Brower.
I think he did a good job – might’ve gone 5…
I think the Giants eventually blew his arm out, though, if I remember correctly.
Looks like you’re right, Zum. He was never the same after 89 relief appearances in 2004.
He actually started 5 games in 2003…
89, wow. I didn’t know it was that high. Felipe Alou went overboard there.
Pads did it yesterday and beat Braves 3-1. Nominal starter M Strahm threw 30 pitches in 2 and a third. Took 5 guys to win in it with Hand closing and going 2 full/28 pitches. Pitch counts I would guess to be a big factor and possibility of ruining these guys seems high..
Suppose union and mlb got on board with adding say 2 guys to rosters. How big would pitching staffs be then?
I looked up the record. Mike Marshall pitched in 106 games in ’74. Yikes.
Dodgers got to the World Series that season before losing to the A’s, as the A’s accomplished the three-peat.
209 innings!
A 15-12 record!
He got 21 saves.
He won the Cy Young Award.
And a 3.9 at Johns Hopkins, I believe…
And one hell of a dancer.
Marshall didn’t go to Johns Hopkins – I was thinking of Dave Leonhard…
(Is there such a thing as most meaningless POTD?)
Christ, I looked up Mike Marshall and he pitched 208 innings as a reliever. that year. Won the Cy Young at 15-12.
The year before he went 92 times for 179 innings. He pitched another 11 years after all that.
Didn’t see yerz Zumie.
zumie covered it. From Sandoval’s early bomb to the walk off single by Crawford it was a great game yesterday. Hundley dropping that foul ball behind the plate was ridiculous but Stratton really blew it with a lack of focus on the next batter. He needed to get deeper into the game.
Sandoval and McCutchen both looked real comfortable at the plate to me. Watching Sandoval I remembered his old pre at bat routine of stepping into the portion of the circle in front of home plate and giving the opposition a knowing head nod. I always kind of liked that – he doesn’t do it anymore. Anyway, Maybe those two can mitigate Belt being out due to his vag-like appendix. Longoria looked lost at the plate and sure enough he’s been cratering over the last 10-15 days. Dude needs to step it up on both sides. This isn’t Tampa Bay where you can skate by in obscurity just because your wife is hot.
Agree big time on Longoria. Dude needs to get his shit together…
Great final point there on Longoria.
Was looking at story on NBA draft and saw Sixers guy Colangelo resigned. Looks like the leaks came from Mrs., who conveniently did some evasive stuff on phone once team investigators looked into things. Hubby claimed no knowledge of what she was up to. hmmnn.
Right ahead of draft too, so team added extra title to the head coach. Yikes what an ugly story.
Colin Kaepernick to subpoena Trump and Pence as part of his collusion case against the NFL.
Like I mentioned yesterday Longoria especially on defense needs to tighten his shit up! 2 bonehead plays the ole attempt that was his ball all the way that even Craw was shocked he didn’t get and had to eat it (no play) and the easy one under his glove that most Flappers make and they gave the guy a charitable hit wtf?? He could easily have about 12 errors right now if it wasn’t for generous scorekeepers..
He’s the weak link on the infield no doubt about it especially when Belt gets back
Social media will be the downfall of western civilization. Well, that and cell phones.
Ballplayers having fun with a bullpen cart….
https://mobile.twitter.com/Brewers/status/1004747310276988928/video/1
Which probably proves Chuck’s point. 🙂
Dumb-ass vid, but who wouldn’t like to cruise around the local golf course in one of those bad boys?
Tonight’s pitching matchup for Astros vs. Rangers; Cole-Hamels.
too bad Tex isn’t playing KC tonight. It could have been Hamels/Hammel
With Dorothy Hamel singing the National Anthem . . .
In the 1986 WS when Darling opposed Clemens some NY writer called it “My Darling-Clemens time”.
Don’t blame me for it…
In case you missed Miller’s HR call (like I did) here it is . . .
thanks for posting that, I hadn’t seen any video of any of this till now
Interesting take on the current state of the game:
http://www.espn.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post/_/id/18605/olney-limiting-calls-to-bullpen-a-change-that-should-be-made
And it looks like KD will be back:
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23727612/kevin-durant-confirms-plans-stay-golden-state-warriors
That article is a bunch of hooey. A whole lot of words that so nothing The easiest way to change tho s is to return to 6 innings pitched for a win. They moved to 5 as a temporary measure after the strike and they left it.
Simple.
Shit I hate typing on bart
Fun fact(?):
This one-time Giant was a combined 8-5 (.615) for the 1962-1963 Mets.
The 1962-1963 Mets were a combined 91-231 (.283) in those 2 years…
The other K doesn’t have Ray for the A’s broadcast tonight. The viewers get the full Dallas Braden tonight. He’s kind of growing on me.
Caps claim the Cup!
Tough loss, though, for those long-suffering Vegas fans.
lulz
I went to a lot of hockey games in my years living in the North End of Boston, a short walk over to the old Garden, always cheap scalpable tix available outside just before game time. But I’ve lost touch with hockey over the years (even though my NJ relatives are still big Devils fans). How out of touch? Until this Stanley Cup finals began, I didn’t even know Vegas had a hockey team……..
That’s cool, I’m sure the Gah-den was a great place to see a hockey game. Yeah, it’s crazy that Vegas put together a team good enough to get to the final in its first year. Contrast that with the Caps, who won 8 games in their first season.
Don’t feel bad, this is their first year.
Yeah, John, the Garden was fun. Old, creaky, smelly, and also reeking of history. Broke my heart one time I drove by it a few years after I’d left Boston and they had started demolishing it, you could look right in and see the seats dangling from half-demolished balcony sections…. Maybe how some of you felt about the Stick’s demise.
The Cubs Wildman SP Chatwood went 4 and 2 thirds vs. Phils tonite before being bailed out with sacks loaded. He walked 7, hit one threw a wild pitch and according to cbs site threw 3 balls over the heads of Phils hitters…out of his 107 pitches. Talk about an uncomfortable AB.
FanGraphs has an indepth article today about where the Giants’ season stands so far:
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-giants-remain-afloat-in-the-nl-west/
And an article about Sandoval’s new-found patience as a hitter:
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/no-hitter-has-been-more-patient-than-pablo-sandoval/
I went to one Celtics game years ago, early 80’s, in the Bahston Gahdin. Saw Bird, McHale and the Chief.
The place was a dump. Basically a barn abutting the train station, but still pretty cool.
The upper deck seemed to almost overhang the court, very claustrophobic feel compared to modern arenas. Mens room sucked. And, I’m pretty sure people could still smoke then, I seem to remember the entire place was in a haze. Don’t remember who they played, but Celts won. Very easy to see why it had a big home court advantage if paired with a good Celts team.
All in all, a cool sports experience…
Officially pronounced Bawston Gahden, and yeah, back in the day you couldn’t smoke at the seats, but everyone would stand out near the refreshments and toilets and smoke. Ventilation and circulation were not hallmarks of the place. Sometimes if the Bruins went deep into the playoffs (as in, hot humid June), they couldn’t even control the steam rising off the rink and had to cancel games. One of my favorite places. All those championship banners hanging from the rafters. Of course many political rallies (a young JFK) and concerts as well. When they tore the place down, they auctioned off individual seats. Lots of people bought one. Place had character, unlike its replacement, just a soul-less void…..
I might be hallucinating Paul, but I seem to remember the walls around the walkways and tunnels and the panels of the ring around the bottom of the upper deck were painted with a kind of crappy, muted yellowish mustard color. Am I off base?…
I’m going to go into a paint store tomorrow and request exactly that…
My lone visit to the Gah-den was in ’95, when me and a couple friends drove from Jersey to Boston with the sole intent of seeing a Celtics game there before the old barn got torn down. By this time in the NBA, screeching PA announcers and over-the-top pre-game intros were the norm, but not here: the home fans could actually be heard booing the opponent (the Nets) and cheering their team. Same for all through the game, no loud music and whatnot. Well worth the trip and the last of its kind for attending a pro sports game.
That’s true, John. Every now and then at Bruins’ games, if the crowd was a bit quiet, the organist (yep, a real live organist, not canned music), would play an ol’ rallying tune, but mostly it was up to the crowd to make noise, which they did plenty of ….
Yeah, Tom, there was a sort of mustardy color that I think was supposed to represent the gold part of the black and gold colors of the Bruins, also some greenish colors used too for the Celts. Over the years, those colors had definitely become muted… or mutated…..