Slip Sliding Away
I feel like that’s a lu that will produce like 3 hits
See, that’s what I get for being such a doomer. The Giants were like “Fuck you, Flavor” and then promptly banged out 4 hits…..
Not much to say other than….Xoot, great post last night. I fast tracked that bad boy to the Flap Hall of Fame. #68. There will now be a mad scramble among Flappers to see who will get the coveted #69 HOF post. I don’t send too many posts the way of the HOF. There’s really no criteria I just have to read it and say to myself “wow, that was great.” Anyway, it’s easily the best part of this blog, I go there every few months and re-read all of them. I encourage all of you to do the same. If you put a gun to my head, I’d probably say #51, his last post that made it to the Hall, is my favorite……
The BBOTD–POTD(!) is also still worth a chuckle or two. Timeless.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I really haven’t been paying much attention to the Giants this season. I was very disappointed that the Giants decided to “reload” with “has beens” and “holograms” this off season and could never get on board with what I perceived as deception by the Front Office. There are so many leaks in this boat, I don’t know what the answers are going forward . . . Except, this existing roster isn’t it. I must have said this a dozen or more times in the hot stove season, e.g.,
. . .
blade3colorado on January 15, 2018 at 10:43 pm
Sorry, not drinking the Kool Aid. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
This ESPN column nails it in my opinion, “With the acquisition of Andrew McCutchen, the Giants have gotten older, more expensive and — depending on how they want to deploy their newest outfielder — even worse on defense” (sorry LJ . . . You’re hoping for the defensive wiz McCutchen of 3 years ago, i.e., the only reason he returned to CF last year is because they were short-handed in the outfield).
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22113478/giants-make-one-last-run
That being said, give Evans credit for what he did with a roster almost touching the luxury tax threshold – he got rid of Span, sort of “addition by subtraction;” and, scored a coup in getting Longoria and McCutchen, 2 players that are clubhouse leaders and had decent seasons last year.
However, they still need the following to happen:
1. A center fielder.
2. At least 1, maybe 2 decent bullpen additions.
3. A comeback season from Melanoma.
4. A comeback season from Bumgarner.
5. A comeback season from Cueto.
6. A comeback season from Crawford.
7. A comeback season from Pence.
8. An injury free good season from Belt.
9. Solid 3, 4, and 5 starters.
10. A decent bench.
11. Repeat outstanding season from Posey; and, another as good a season as last, for Panic.
With “Cutch,” they’re now AT the luxury tax red line . . . Again, color me skeptical that all those “comeback seasons” are going to happen and we add the additional pieces to the holes in our roster.
The key to having a chance to do damage this season was health. We didn’t get that. All of your doomer predictions were made B4 the season started, before bum, cueto, smarge, longo etc got hurt. Had this team not dealt with constant injuries, it may have been a different outcome. Even still, until the last week, I’ve been proud of how well they’ve battled this year with the deck so badly stacked against them. In hindsight though it was foolish to have hope for a team where no one can get injured. That was definitely a mistep on my part.
I was hoping you would nail the 3 hit prediction once the game was out of reach – which was soon enough.
Still an impressive call.
As far as Blade’s post above, I was also very down on the team before the season, but as it turned out, it was for the wrong reason. I didn’t think they had any starters after Bum and Cueto plus I didn’t think they had done much to improve the bullpen.
Hey blade good hearing from you again,and yes slot of are on the ledge now..
Of your 11 wishes from the genie I would say only the BP arms and the remarkable luck of Rodriguez &Suarez and Crawford’s comeback. So 2,6&9 for me and also honorable mention to the bench which is far better then last year’s joke..
Great post by xoot last night. I was fortunate to have my grand daughter yesterday and last night, so I missed the mess that was yesterday’s game. I did turn the game on during our drive home from out having dinner…
4-0…Pfffttt.
That #51 from Twinner was a classic. Even though he could be brutal and cantankerous as all hell, I sure miss the guy. RIP, Twin.
So, see if our boys can avoid the notorious four game sweep. Not holding my breath.
I too have held out as recent as the past few days thinking maybe this team could get healthy and catch lightning in a bottle. I was disillusioned. But, I will say that this team has at least been better than last year’s total clusterfuck (wouldn’t take much), and at least has shown some fight. They can also be the most frustrating thing on the planet, outside of the tRump presidency.
The Giants orq is such fools when it comes to injuries.It was obvious with Cueto even before last night’s blowup that he’s not right(throwing Zito velocity) yet because the greed of ownership and he’s the highest paid pitcher they have,they decide after 2 doc’s say shut him down, but supposedly the best of all time Dr.Andrews says rest will cure your woes Johnny no problem.
So they go that route and now his arm is about to fall off and end up like Dave Draveky!!
lol, let’s not put Cueto in the Dravecky category yet. And remember, it’s really up to the player whether to get surgery or not. I’m sure Cueto wanted to play as bad as they wanted him to try playing.
Watching Braves LA on TBS. There’s always a little bit of luck involved in any deals you do or don’t make. Markakis doubles in a run and so does K Suzuki and Braves lead 2-0.
Markakis perennial trade rumor guy is an AS for the first time ever having career year. Dodgers have Kemp in LF hitting .307 with 17 bombs and .870 OPS at age 33. Not to mention cast off Muncy with 20+ bombs.
Giants? Cutch OPS is off 100 points from last year. Kemp has almost as many bombs vs. LHP 9 as Cutch and Longo 10 do all season. And of course Muncy has more than both of them combined.
Cutch needs to go back to Pittsburgh and finish out his career there. Longo is under contract, so I guess he’s not going anywhere.
Read where Kris Davis in his one torrid streak 6 bombs and 13 RBI’s in 4 games had more production then both Belt&Posey since June ouch!!
Belt sucks, Posey sucks ‘Cutch sucks they all suck
SF= Suck Front Office
Chipper Jones with a nice speech at his HoF induction ceremony. Hated him as a player (because he always kicked the Giants ass and he always looked like he was running sideways during his HR trot) while aways respecting his talent. The dude could flat out play and he did it from both sides of the plate.
Darrell Evans is at the ceremony for Trammel. He looks pretty good at age 71. He was one of my favorite players during his time with the Giants. I was lucky enough to see him hit 2 homers in a game at the Stick one year and he crushed ’em both, to straightaway RF. With better than 400 HR’s and 1,400 RBI, he had a pretty damn nice career, as well as being part of the answer to a good trivia question.
i was at that game, too
I almost hope that this ship sinks fast in the West. 7 1/2 out of the division, 7 teams ahead in the WC race. Just ain’t happenin’. If it sinks like a rock, there will be more pressure to blow this thing up and trade players for prospects. If they don’t sink and just limp in around .500, look for more of the same limp linguini next season.
The thing killing this organization is the minor leagues. Look at LA. What is this, looks like a 6th straight division title or some such? You do that with a strong farm system. Giants have as much money as anybody. They should have a minor league system second to none, with talented players, especially outfielders, crawling over each other ready to get to ATT and make a splash. Instead, well, you see the outfield situation.
I look forward to new front office and field management soon…
LJ, I was at that game, I think. We were sitting in RF upper deck about 10 seats to the right of the foul pole and about 10 rows from the front of the deck (reserve) and DEvans hit one 3 rows in front of us. Longest HR I ever saw till Bonds showed up.
Do you remember the year and approximate game? I’ve been trying to find it on baseball reference.
I couldn’t find it in 1976. He played 44 games for ATL before being traded and must’ve been hurt because he didn’t start showing up in box scores until game 65 or so for the Giants.
Offhand I’d say 1978.
Doody is a regular at Giants spring training games at the autograph tables in the park breezway. Home and away games. He’s a good dude to talk with about the old days…
The jerking around of players is such a stupid way to develop talent. Slater especially. For as bad as the farm supposedly is, we’ve gotten a lot of pitching help from the minors this year. Duggar and Slater may not be AllStars, but Slater especially should be given the rest of the year to develop. Playing Pence is retarded. I’d pull Samarj from the rotation. Fuck the play-the-has-been policy of Bochy and the front office.
If the team loses, the attendance will drop off like last year. Losing with vets is worse than developing talent. Is being 78-84 with vets more important than going 70-92 playing the young ones? This entire organization is in complete denial. As I was at the start of the season.
We were for the most part guardedly optimistic that they would get:
Bounce backs from Crawfish, Bummie, Cueto and Panik
Solid seasons form Cutch and Longo
A healthy Belty
Even then, they DID play above their collective heads as the injuries mounted. In the end though, this season will look like last year. I don’t know how hard they will crater, but the offense is in a state of suspended animation. 75-87 feels about right.
They relied on pitching all season and they will fade as the offense continues to stagger.
Mostly agree, Chuck.
Yeah, they’ve had pitching minor league talent. Rodriguez — he’s a Twins farmshand. At least they were smart enough, or lucky enough, to pick him up for nothing. Hell yes they should play Slater and Duggar. At best they can turn into Kenny Henderson types, I’ve said that before. But they need playing time. Pence even on the roster is crazy from a baseball POV. I think seriously that the Giants consider strongly the future PR value of players in key personnel moves. If at all avoidable, they do not want to cut a guy they think will be a big part of the future 10 year reunion deals and all that stuff that they constantly do as game attractants. With Baer, this operation is more an amusement park business than a baseball organization…
I saw some major Giant bombs at Shea…
McCovey in any BP
Kingman hitting a bus in the parking lot in ’71
Chris Brown in ’85 at the infamous Buzzsaw game
GlenAllen Hill hitting one over that stupid apple – (’95?)
Saw Bonds hit 3 that remember but I don’t recall them as being the tape measure variety…
I even have a happy memory of Rowand hitting one into the teeth of a brutal wind on Mother’s Day 2010 at Citifield. Not a big blast, but I think it won the game…
I generally remember a couple hundred grounders to 3rd and SS…
Snarkk, LOL. I think we all have that recurring nightmare.
Good memory, Loo. What was the Buzzsaw game? I got to see McCovey homer at the old Veterans Stadium when we lived in south Jersey in ’77, the year he won Comeback Player of the Year. The Giants lost, but you don’t forget a Willie Mac homer.
Oh man, I was at that McCovey HR game at the Vet, too.
Braves kid Newcomb through 7 having allowed one baserunner on walk vs. LA. 100 pitches. Most he’s thrown this year 111.
Now through 8.
I still think there is a way through to being able to contend without tanking and seeing how many games you can lose for next x amount of years. I wouldn’t care to watch that. And no disagree this season is a fail like last year.
3-4 young pitchers plus Holland have shown they belong in rotation and pen.
IF is still mostly solid if unspectacular enough for some. replacements for 1b SS and C can still be couple years away. Like to see different approach to 2b and that player may already be here too.
OF will look different and couple pieces might already be here.
wow love to see this kid no no Dodgers!
yeah Ks Puig to end 8th.
1. Andrew McCutchen (R) RF
2. Buster Posey (R) C
3. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
4. Evan Longoria (R) 3B
5. Pablo Sandoval (S) 1B
6. Steven Duggar (L) CF
7. Alen Hanson (S) 2B
8. Gorkys Hernandez (R) LF
9. Andrew Suarez (L) P
Question about Posey.
He has a bad hip, runs like a turtle even with a good hip. Why bat him 2nd ahead of supposed RBI guys? If he’s on, he can’t score from second unless its a double or a very long single. He should be hitting 5th or 6th or even 7th, given his lack of speed and power. I would put Hanson in front of Posey, since Hanson can score from first on a long single…
Give Bochy a call…I think you’re onto something, Tom.
Chuck, I have 2 he hit against the Friars May 30th, 1977, a 12-8 win for SD. It was Memorial Day and they played a double header. That may’ve been the one.
Fuck! Too bad my grand daughter went home…I could be out doing something other than watching the Giants get their asses kicked, again!
Oy…
That didn’t take long.
Never fails, no-no wrecked with two outs in the 9th.
aw one strike away Taylor lines base hit past 3b.
Impressive ABs there by the Giants. 3 pitch K by Longo, efficient…
In sabermetrics, on-base % is way more important than speed at the top of the lineup.
Obviously if a player has both that’s ideal.
And if he also has power, his name is Ricky Henderson.
So that’s why McCutchen is leading off?…
More I see, more I am not a huge fan of sabermetrics. The game was fine for over 100 years without all the analytics…
Brewers pitcher doing a Matt Moore impression with those walks…
Boom! Clear those bases!
Yeah you right, Chi.
Made the brew pay for those BB…’bout time the Giants cashed-in with runners on…
“I’m not dead yet.”
Good inning.
the suarez special—GIDP from the IF.
Juiced!
Squeeze the Juice!
Nothing cheap about that one.
round of gorks cocktails for everyone.
Here is EXACTLY why this team is so damned frustrating…no consistency with the lumber. Why the fuck can’t they do this more often?!
Because they aren’t very good?…
Yep. Consistently inconsistent.
But when the sticks are hot they’re a fun team to watch…
Gorkys muscled up on that one.
I guess Poseys bases clearing double answered my question of him hitting on the 2 hole. But, after 3 straight walks by the pitcher of the bottom of the lineup. I still think that spot makes little sense for him…
Gorks with the bomb !
I really hope that power is legit…
I won’t claim to like everything about sabermetrics, especially new stats sprouting and spreading like mushrooms; but the coolest thing about sabermetrics is that it all got started from the fans. The fans were always told we didn’t really know the game as well as the players, coaches, and scouts; and within a few years, Bill James and others proved that wrong. There were lots of things the fans knew better.
I just hope he equals his 1st half total.
Sabre that!
Go Panda, go.
The problem with sabermetrics is that it has changed the game as an entertainment product, and not for the better, in the opinion of many.
One of Bill James’ first big crusades was against trying to steal. He had the numbers to back it up. And now….not much attempted stealing going on. Is the game better for that as an entertainment product? A lot of folks would say no.
And all the shifts and some other things.
Pablo with the triple!
And thank god they’ve knocked this fat, slow garbage reliever out of the game. This guy makes Gearrin look like Rueter.
If they could hit like this for 2 weeks . . . they’d get back into the race
And if my aunt had balls she’d be my uncle…
Because of guys like Albers there’s going to be a pitch clock, maybe as soon as next season.
You are right, Zumie. You can go too far in playing the numbers game in baseball. Stealing is fun to watch and adds a lot of excitement to the game. And, yeah I like a well-executed bunt, a good hit and run, sac flies, etc.
Yeah, sabermetrics has almost wiped out the hit and run. And teams don’t bunt much anymore. The squeeze play is one of the most exciting plays; it’s rarely used now.
Except that good base stealers draw endless throws to first to “hold them close”.
That can fuckin’ drive you nuts…
Fair point.
Agree, Charlie. THAT is the real baseball I know and love.
Oh fuck. Every good deed by this team must be punished.
LJ, I think that DEvans game was 1978,
\
Well, I was in NJ in 1978, so we were at different games.
If Toomgis sprouts a zucchini, I’m changing the channel
OK so who is actually mgr today?
that shot into dugout as Suarez is still in there reminded me Bochy is in Cooperstown.
Meulens today.
Bench coach, thx. Wonder if he’ll take credit for LU scoring 8 so far today.
That’s awesome, Mac! What’re the odds?
Crazy, eh? Without looking it up, I think the Giants won 7-0. Easily the top highlight as a Giants fan from Jersey in the 70s. If I remember, the game was a Friday night, and the next day I went off with some friends to a Dave Bing basketball camp for a week somewhere in the Poconos. Bing made a cameo appearance, but Don Adams was around a lot.
Brewers are not a fluke. they have the perfect modern age combo—3rd in the league in bombs, 2nd in ERA. iirc Flems or Miller on radio said they lead league in SBs too.
balance of better players:
Agular 25 bombs 73 rbis .590 slugging
Yelich who has killed SF hitting .318 top ten NL
Cain with .397 OB 19 steals
Shaw the guy they moved to 2b for Moustakas now has 20 HRs
they don’t have the starting pitching to go anywhere in the post season/
Lurker—this is the game I was at when Evans hit 2 bombs
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN198305080.shtml
Kuiper at 2b. I only have the vaguest memory of him playing for the Giants.
That’s a slick play by Slater and Dyson.
And bottom of the 7th showcased the Giants we all know and fucking hate…
Bases juiced, no out, and they can’t score one lousy fucking run. Pfffttt….
Rox swept the A’s 3 straight in Sherpaville. A’s scored 4 runs in 3 games; hit 2 solo bombs today, not enough.
fwiw Arenado homered each of first 2 games too.
Only the Giants could so royally F up bases loaded no outs followed by a wild pitch to the backstop and still not score…
Willie -sure as hell would be fun to see the Giants go on a tear the way the A’s did a couple of weeks ago, or how the Rox are currently doing.
yeah. Pirates came out of nowhere to win 11 in a row too.
Love it Lou…
Double thumbs up…
Classic way to close out a Gigantes win.
Glad you like it, Chi.
I only use it in save situations…
Ballgame!
A win…FINALLY!
Yay!
Leave the light on!
Tom Bodett is in the house.
Got dat one.
Yeah you right, Clint.
santana from Abraxas
se acabo translates as
It’s over
great percussion keyboard los with blistering solo 3 great minutes
written by timbal player Chepito Areas
Now I’m glad Sean Newcomb didn’t no-hit the Dodgers. Some of his old tweets came out today. A bunch of bigoted garbage.
talk here few days ago about national anthems of other countries…I read today that former wrestler Nikolai Volkoff died at age 70. He used to sing Russian national anthem before match, with predictable results, pretty funny bit set up with announcement to crowd (“…asks that you all please rise to honor and respect…”)yada yada
that sounds like something San Dawg would have enjoyed watching on the old Channel 40
he used to have tag team partner in 80s the Iron Sheik. the announcer would intro volkoff, he’d sing and then the Sheik would do his bit waving iran flag while the crowd is throwing shit in the ring. For awhile their mgr. was the jheri curl black guy slick, aka the doctor of style. Hilarious. Volkoff played a good part, big strong dude too.
i just re-watched the Hulk Hogan/Volkoff battle from ’85. Some good stuff there.
The Red Sox are now 41 games over .500. That’s pretty good.