His Name Is Will Smith
…and you shall refer to him as such with a more formal “Mr. Smith” followed by an offer to get him juice or a snack should he request it.
It took that dude a while to earn his name back but in times like these, so dire in the 9th with nobody reliable to turn to, I have suspended calling him That Fucking Lefty Reliever until further notice…
I’d also like to take a moment to honor the fabulous work they’re doing down on The Farm churning out mlb talent ready to contribute to SF Giant wins. Austin Slater played like a man last night. A brilliant Stanford mind like Slater’s might scoff at the stats I’m about to drop on you claiming small sample size, but MINAJ and UnderPants would have to combine their OPS (.489 +.591 = .1080) in order to surpass where Austin The Great stands today (.974, leading the team).
Baby Pudge keeps the ship afloat tonight against that neverwas, Shelby Miller.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
smith-Watson dominate, great combo.
Cutch so far has 22 doubles 8 bombs .776 OPS. Last year all season 30 doubles 28 bombs .849 OPS. I just expected more than for him to be 5th on team for bombs. OPS and slugging about Posey level. hmmnn
Maybe there is another hot month coming because so far he isn’t having a “contract” year.
Watching Hanson play 2b last night is another hmmnn. He’s not the same hitter RH, at all. Of his 19 (!) XBHs 17 of them have come LH. He’s batting .338 with OPS over 1.000 LH, .167 with OPS .439 RH.
So bottom line he isn’t much better hitter and worse defensively than Panik vs. LHP.
slater deserves everyday shot at LF and Pablo is entrenched at 3b so I dunno what to do with Hanson. Giants can obviously use his speed and he has some pop LH. Would he ultimately be better off in the OF?
AZ has lowest ERA in NL and are on pace to allow even fewer runs than last season, which was big reason for their improved record last year. Last year they allowed 659 runs, this season so far only 297.
Used to be more of a hitter friendly yard but they do now have humidor.
Golds, wow what a hitter. First time up he whacked one to the wall in RF that Cutch snagged, easily hardest hit ball off Suarez all night. Last AB in 7th vs. Moronta he took 2 breaking pitches off the plate and then 2-0 got 98 fastball middle of zone and crushed it right back over Moronta’s head. Craw was able to snag it behind 2b and gun him out and fortunately he never got up again.
if you had to pick 1, who would you rather have Judge or Goldy? I’d probably take Goldy
actually I’d take Judge. Didn’t realize his career OPS was that high and he’s got more power.
Judge because he’s a lot younger. 5 years ago, Goldy.
Bosio’s excuse never made any sense. And this dude he was apparently referring to seems to have no clue about his *Spider Monkey* nickname
“Someone in our coaches’ room asked me [Monday afternoon] about Stumpf,” Bosio told USA Today. “And I said, “Oh, you mean ‘Spider Monkey.’ That’s his nickname. He’s a skinny little white kid who makes all of these funny faces when he works out.”
Stumpf told the Detroit Free Press on Friday that he was unfamiliar with that nickname
Because of the pain of that last, agonizing blown save, and all the ones that preceded it, Giants fans underrate the three trades they made in 2016. Even Moore worked out well in the short run.
To WillieD’s comment on Hanson – I heard on the pregame last night that he has, in the past, always considered himself a 2nd sacker, but was open to learning other positions and contributing how he can with the Giants. He is considered a super utility, and there is almost no chance of him tagging a permanent position at 2nd, SS, or in the OF. So, use him wherever you need him 2B, SS, 3B, or OF, especially when the matchup let’s him swing LH. I am good with that approach.
Slater definitely deserves the lions share of time in LF. Hopefully Bochy sees it that way, too. As I said on multiple occasions last night…I really like the kid. He knows what the fuck he is doing at the plate, and in the postgame when he was describing his approach, you can tell he has some smarts. LET AUSTIN PLAY!
As I said last night, I expect closing by committee, but think Smith and Watson should get the most opportunities. Mr. Smith was brilliant last night.
Hanson is scary in the field. Everything feels like an adventure.
Agree. Hence you use him in the utility role (occasional start to give Panik, Craw, or Panda a day..also occasional start in the OF), pinch running, pinch hitting, etc.
Ive been calling for Smith&Watson for awhile now, maybe Boch does check in here occasionally lol!
Go with guys who have past experience and success, Dyson never had that pedigree, thus he fails!!
Yeah Chi..I was the one ☝️ that coined the “Missing in Action Jackson” label which is now shortened down, fits the dude perfectly though lol..
This Actionless situation is becoming dumber than stupid. Past 30 days he’s had 25 ABs total, with an abysmal .392 OPS, the lowest of position players except for Specs, and Specs had only 5 ABs in that period because he got shipped to Sac. He’s taking up a precious roster spot as a near useless utility guy. The Giants are basically playing opposing teams of 25 men with just 24, because he’s not being used. Why still here? The reason has to be the lux tax. Stats and his rotations say no legitimate baseball reason exists to keep this guy on the roster. If ownership really really wanted to win, which Baer swears is always the case, this dude would be gone, and Duggar up…
Yeah your right Snarkk, besides useless, Lexi and Go take a leak and grab a beer 🍺 between pitches Gearrin 3 wasted roster spots..
When you have a guy as electric as Hanson, you find a way to get him into games on a regular basis. His infield glove is an adventure, but Wotus is a glove whisperer supposedly, so he should get better. His best spot is probably playing in OF relief where he can really use his speed. If he stinks hitting RHed, then maybe he should just hit LHed against all pitching. I never understood and agreed with supposed switch hitters who could not hit a lick nor with power from one side of the plate, but still kept hitting from that side…
Definition of a wasted roster spot:
Cory Gearrin last pitched 6/22 against SD
before that another 10 days go bye 6/12 ,
Now it’s the 30th of June another 8 days, plus I’m sure he won’t get it tonight either, unless their getting blown out and Boch says: “ take one for the team mop up role” raindelay..
Who would they bring in if they DFA’d him? Law? Yuk.
Somebody with more knowledge than mine of arms in Sac or at AA need to weigh in. But, yeah, a Pen guy that hasn’t pitched in 10 days is utter nonsense unless he’s hurt, and in that case he should be on the DL. Or, they’re probably waiting for Cueto to come up, then they’ll DFA Gearrin and keep Rodriguez to fireball out of the Pen. If Gearrin somehow got hurt pitching, they’d have to DL him, not DFA him, so maybe they’re just sitting him on ice waiting for Cueto — meanwhile the other Pen guys are getting their arms chewed up…
They could go with 12 pitchers and add a position player. Perhaps Specs.
They could bring up Ray Black and let fill-in until strcknine returns, or until his arm finally flies off behind a 104 mph heater
Told you guys numerous times that with them owing Gearrin 1.6 mil, and them being literally only a couple hundered K under the tax threshold, no way they eat that (or any salary). That is why they put Gearrin on waivers a few weeks ago, but there were no takers.
Hi
Bochy loves having 13 pitchers, it’s his comfort zone, even if one of the guys, Gearrin, hardly ever gets used.
Hanson makes for a good super-sub. Not a great one like a few other teams have, but still a good one. And you have to love his energy level and speed he brings to the team.
But….MINAJ and Pence. Yikes. 2 roster spots.
13 pitchers all the time means only 4 bench dudes.
To have MINAJ and Pence continue as half the bench dudes puts the lie to an organization that is committed to win…
Totally agree. Their actions need to match their words. Are we all in for this season or not? They said yes, we’re all in for this season.
But MINAJ and Pence look done. They’re not major leaguers at this point.
They were all in with THIS team at the beginning of the season, and with where they are with the tax gig, no way to make any significant changes. They are NOT busting the tax limit…guarantee you. Sabes and Evans have said as much numerous times, and that any needs for a run would most likely be in house.
Hey I’m sorry but we don’t need a 13 man pitching staff,Guess Bochy’s only logical reasoning is the Starters don’t go deep enough in games, but to have Gearrin rotting down in the pen is just asinine, Hell he’s a “lame duck” 🦆the team doesn’t even want(waiver wire nobody of course wanted him) let these young fireballers 🔥Rodriguez/Suarez keep developing here,add another bench guy(Duggar,Ryder Jones?,Specs,Shaw)dump Actionless/and Gearrin now ferchrissakes and the team gets stronger except for Lexi Pence still on board all freakin season!
It was a laughable statement by Bochy the other day: “You don’t give up on a veteran with a track record.”
Well, you do when they’re DONE. Teams do it all the time. The Giants do it. I don’t see Cain on the pitching staff.
Boch says a lot of crap that whitewashes the bottom line that the Giants roster under this ownership is largely ruled by who’s getting paid, not necessarily by who’s getting the job done…
Yeah Zumie that is laughable!
It will be more laughable when “Serial Alphabet Pitcher” comes back and immediately resumes his starting job(because of the vet track record&18 mil) as both Suaerz&Rodriguez twist in the wind 💨, knowing they can get the job done but one maybe both get shipped out due to options.,
Smarj is such a bad contract. But it is what it is. They still owe him $50 million.
He gets injured a lot. Maybe he’ll be vacating a roster spot again later in the season.
I would trade Smardzxxx in a NY second to anybody willing to take his contract, or even half of it. I will take Suarez or Rodriguez right now over him. They’ve pitched enough to show they can hang in the majors, and have the talent to get better….
The Yanks are looking for something much better than Smarj, which is why I like the idea of Cueto for them if he proves healthy. Problem is Yanks have luxury tax concerns, too which is why we’d have to take at least Ellsbury back in the deal that’ll never even be discussed. If you just want to swap bad contracts, Smarj and Minaj for Ellsbury is about a perfect money wash, I think…
I don’t have a big problem with it.
Ok so now I’m totally wrong about the 13 man pitching staff.
Googled up mlb 13 man pitching staffs and Wall Steet Journal has a full article on it.Now it’s the norm that most teams go with 5 starters and 8 relievers.It basically says the game has gotten so specialized that teams don’t expect their starters to always pitch against a player the third time around in the LU (which makes sense, percentage getting him out goes up) so as ex Giant /Cards manager Mike Matheny says “Prepare to blow thru your pen regularly, with matchups Lefty/Righty knowing also that just give me 98 are so for 2 batters and I’ll bring in another pitcher for the 3rd out chucking 98 or so as well..
So now you see the shortage of bench guys as well being a dying breed.Obviously you need a backup catcher, but the other 3 need to be very versatile playing multiple positions if they want to survive..
The Giants were one of the leaders in that trend. Also were a leader in paying big money to set-up relievers. Affeldt’s 3year/$18 million contract seems like a big change to the landscape.
Xoot mentioned Ray Black. He’s an intriguing player.
Marty Lurie interviewing Kerry Crowley beat guy from BANG that just confirmed Gearrin has made one appearance, one, outta the Pen in the last 17 days. That’s crazy. Crowley says Giants need to pound MIller tonight because tomorrow could be tough…
They have that luxury tax line down to the pennies right now. They probably can’t bring any other AAA guy up right now and pay him the major league minimum. Staying under that line is the #1 priority. Winning is kind of #1.5.
Some old friends in the A’s game. Casilla pitching for the A’s, and Kontos pitching for Cleveland.
The Dodgers are not big on a starting pitcher going much past two times through a lineup. But their bullpen hasn’t been as strong as last year’s, so far.
“Dodgers starting pitchers: 5th in ERA, 28th in IP. Relievers: 17th in ERA, 3rd in IP.”
The A’s won. They’re pretty legit.
Problem with the A’s is they are in same division with Houston, and are 6.5 back in the WC. To get into the dance, it will have to be via the WC.
Jints are carrying Pierce Johnson, so i guess he gets dumped before Gearrin when Smrdj returns. Gearrin may survive till Cueto makes it back. Longoria’s injury is sparing at least one of terrible twosome for now…
1. Alen Hanson (S) LF
2. Buster Posey (R) C
3. Andrew McCutchen (R) RF
4. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
5. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
6. Pablo Sandoval (S) 3B
7. Joe Panik (L) 2B
8. Gorkys Hernandez (R) CF
9. Dereck Rodriguez (R) P
Let’s get it on…
Slater sits. What a shock.
Bullshit. I would have started Slater again and had Hanson on the bench for a pinch run or late swap…
As long as MINAJ and Pence don’t play, I’m good with Slater being here so he can play on a platoon, at least. The guy looks like a player, he should get as much time as he can to keep his stroke. If it’s him and Hanson platooning in LF based on the L/R oppo pitcher thang, and Pence is relegated to making butter coffee, that’s better than Pence playing…
Who is MINAJ? I forgot (well, not really) how great you write, Magnus!
Missing – IN – Action – Jackson, Pawlie, boy…
I’ve been delooped; tnx
So, last night at Frontier Field I experienced MiLB’s lame extra-inning scenario. I thought we were in the 9th. It was the 10th. The Iron Pigs (sans Manny Burriss) scored at the top of the frame. I hardly knew how. Bottom 10th: boom! The Redwings have a guy on 2B, no outs. Matt, Adri’s boyfriend, points it out. We’re like: WTF. I/we didn’t even pay attention in the top of the inning. Blame it on the torpor of a sloppy game or the oppressive heat. A Redwing hit it to an infielder. After a wild throw to first, the guy on second tried to scamper home. Out. It was close. Rochester lost. The worst thing is, I realized, the dumbass experiment alters the whole fecking strategy. It’s like penalty kicks in soccer. Stoooopid. But I must confess: I said to Adri: It’s extra innings, do fans say, ooooo, we wanna go home? Let’s go? She said, Dad, that’s what I did last week when it went “overtime.” Demographics!
The unquestionable star of the game was Byron Buxton, on rehab for the Twins. Terrific fielder, good arm. Gold Glover.
The Rays beat Verlander today. Duffy three hits, Romo for the save.
The A’s have a legit closer in Trevor Triemien who’s been lights outs unlike are sketchy situation.
With the A’s you always have to ask: will they trade him before the season’s over?
Yeah, but where do they keep finding these guys?
Blake Treinen.
I saw him close last night at the Big Dump. Big guy 6’5″. Throws 95-97+ on the stadium gun. They got one hit off him, then he took care of business to finish it off. Wish the Giants had him. I gotta admit, watching that game with no dog in the hunt, it got boring. And, it was actually a good game, with good plays in the field, some hits, and a dinger in the 8th, I think, to RF by the A’s…
Treinen is a total stud. When that’s all they got for Doolittle I thought the A’s got swindled. Boy was I wrong. He’s probably the A’s best player.
Michael Lorenzen of the surging Reds hit his third homer of the week. One was a grand slam. He hit them as a pinch hitter. Oh. He’s a pitcher. And in other weird baseball news, the Phils’ Vince Velazquez, a righty, got hit in the arm but threw the runner out left-handed. (I know, I know, Panda is ambidextrous.)
the Lorenzen story is insane.
Throw was right on the money. Out.
That’s an all-time play right there, never seen anything quite like that…
A guy has a huge night he should be right back out there. Sometimes I wonder if Bochy is suffering from some form of dementia.
Hard for him to think out of the box when it comes to righty/lefty matchups and vet v rook who-should-play type of situations…
Rox beat the Dodgers again.
Maybe the only positive thing that came out of the Giants’ tough loss on Thursday is that it sent the Rockies into L.A. with some momentum on their side.
Finally saw the Toomis “you should hit that” commercial Zum mentioned a while back. Love it—still a big Toomgis fan.
On the other hand, not a fan of the Kona Beer brahs. Probably has something to do with my bottled beer bias. And is that the best beach backdrop they could come up with to film a Hawaiian beer commercial? Looks like it could be Folsom Lake.
My favorite way to drink ice cold beer is out of a wide mouth pint can with a screw off top…
I agree that is a good way to go. And I seal those suckers back up between swigs to preserve the carbonation.
More of that awesome MLB baserunning.
Craw Bomb.
Crawdaddy!
(Anyone remember Crawdaddy music magazine? It was a good one, during a golden age of music magazines.)
Pablo gonna be Pablo
Yeah, his new-found patience comes and goes.
Speaking of commercials, the mangos drinking their co-worker Phil in the Snapple commercial is kind of disturbing.
I think they shoulda challenged. Am I wrong?
Im listening to radio guys now doing some evening California yardwork. Miller seemed surprised by no challenge.
Another D-Back baserunning out. Strong throw from Gorkys.
nice hitting to load things up for Craw.
Nice work by the Giants hitters going opposite field! Setting up Craw with the sacks full! Run into one Crawdaddy!!
I’ll take the walk too!!
4 pitch walk. curse of the pitching coach.
flav’s right this guy looks like nothing.
Dink….dink….
Nice job Panda!!
Huge 2 run knock!!
That’s about a 410 foot sac fly for Panik. He drilled that ball. Great inning.
He deserved better. Can’t hit a ball much harder…
yeah .Meanwhile Pablo gets credit for 2 rbis for a 3 hopper that could have been inning ending GIDP.
This guy Miller is still in there? yeow brutal
Yeah they sure bitch slapped Miller around!!
men with girl’s names are usually easy targets…..
The only Shelby I ever met was a beagle…
I wouldn’t want to say that to Caroll Shelby
No rush back imo for Alphabet, stay in the heat of Sac please..Rodriguez/Suarez can handle The chores for now..
It was 105 in Sac today. He wants out!
Fuck him..
Just don’t want either one of those 2 getting jacked which one will obviously under the”Boch vet plan”
Yeah, 57 pitches for Pudge Jr., 40 of them for strikes. Nice. But not sure he’s demonstrated yet how far he can go in a game.
He’s cruising tonight P/A.
A very economical pitch count of 72.Easily can go 2 more innings how he’s chucking..
Beautiful play by Belt!!
G-Men flashing the D big time tonight.
not Marte’s night.
when he tried to stretch the hit to Gorks didn’t look like he ever touched the base until after Panik tagged him high. K and K were pretty sure he had no beef.
Panik isn’t the same since the thumb injury. Hope he gets that turned around.
Often when I project what the rotation will look like when Cueto and Samardzija return, I pencil in Surez and D-Rod 4/5. Shit, I forgot about Holland.
Smarj should at least start out in Gearrin’s role when he comes back.
Make him earn his way back into the rotation or fill a need out of the pen.
Who the fuck is he anyway?
Hasn’t done shit for SF except cash his monster checks…
By Giants logic, the monster checks mean he regains his starter spot.
They should employ a three-man platoon with Pence, Jackson, and Samardzija
Yeah, on the DL…
lulz.
60 day minimum
btw this is first place team in division they are dismantling so far, on the road.
or maybe the waiver wire.
They should trade Holland while he has some value.. Stratton better start getting his shit together too.He’s not a sure lock in this rotation imo
Stratton will be the first out of the rotation, I’m guessing. Well, I’ll be surprised if he isn’t the first one out.
Is Cutch asleep? That ball rolled 15′ away. Then he runs on the next pitch?
It was a 3-2 count with 2 outs Chuck..
But yeah the one in the dirt before that he should of easily been on 2nd..
If Pujjr can get through this inning, I’ll be impressed.
102 pitches, I think–and he got jobbed early on by the ump. I’ll take 6+ from any of these guys (except MadBum). And tonight we saw 6+ shutout innings from Rodriguez. Put him in the rotation until he seriously falters. He may not.
Man I like everything about this” Tat kid”
He’s aggressive mixes his pitches well, not afraid to go inside are bean a guy like Brinson awhile ago on orders,and even did that the right way, not head hunting…
Thank god I saw Gearrin next to Blach, even Boch isn’t that stupid to bring him in..
wow hella job by the kid.
OK when it comes to the 4 x 5s, who has the lowest ceiling? I’d say Holland.
Let him be first one to pen once Cueto/Smrdz go back in rotation.
Suarez and DRod, should go down and keep starting every 5 days until they hit whatever innings limit club sets.
And then adjust when someone needs a break/10 day DL.
If they can coerce Smarga into the pen as a return ploy, they can let Suarez and Rodriguez continue to throw great starts, assuming either of them could hit a bad patch. Then their options would be useful. Now? htf do you jettison two starters like them while they’re peaking?
I’d have let him try for the DP to end the inning, but yeah, he’s looking like the real deal. Then again, so did Stratton early this year.
We bringing in the rain delay? Shit, this isn’t a big enough lead for him?
I count 3 players on our roster that aren’t playing at all. We all know who they are. That’s 25 to 22 every GD game.
The front office is fucking high to let this continue. Fuck the Lux tax. Cut those guys loose and get some more bodies up here.
This recent Hanson o-fer is starting to worry me.
BTW, as much as we all appreciate Specs, I’m ready to give someone else a look…
You’re right, Chuck. The FO is sending a bad message to the fan base.
I think they believe that the fans should take their 3 titles and STFU…
Giants fans will be pretty restless if Smarj bombs in his first game back.
I’m already dreading his return!!
Good to see Panik driving the ball.
Joe’s playing hard these days. Nice rip!
He’s got Hanson breathing down his neck. Nothing like a little competition to stoke the fires.
Hey, Panik!
Yeah we all know we have 3 dead 💀 roster spots which ticks us all off Chuck, but nothing will change unfortunately..
Panik time in AZ.
So do they throw a crumb to Gearrin tonight?
I still want the shutout though..
No.