A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

It’s funny, the Giants have won 9 games more than they won in 2017 and this year feels infinitely worse. Not sure what that’s all about. Recency bias?

A one game Monday playoff for the west crown looks quite possible. The Dodgers will dismantle us today and the Nats have pussed out and decided not to start Scherzer.

Niners 10.5 dogs? Beat Hard might be better this year after more time to season. With a gun to my head I’d probably take San Die…LA. Although the better bet is the over (46). The game to watch is the Raider game. Looking forward to watching Bake play.

The Rockies must look at us and just shake their heads, “What a bunch of pussies.” I’m sure Colorado has given up counting on even a single win from us and will now just try to fend off the Dodgers by winning out.

Will Smith winning the Willie Mac award is cool, I guess. I clearly don’t understand the criteria or what it takes to win. I mean, what did Mark Carreon do in ’95 that moved his teammates to vote for him? Who knows.

How many runs do the Giants score off Kershaw today? Their customary 1?

Our post season begins tonight. Sadly, it could turn out to be just a one game playoff if Bum can’t cobble together a good start. Gotta win this first one if we’re going to gather any momentum at all to take one this weekend.

The Giants really could do this. They’re old enough to care about their place in the season’s history. They’re old enough to muster up the old man strength needed to accomplish the task.

Do I think they’ll do it? Hell know. But at least we get some semi-meaningful baseball before we shut down the peripheral wings of Big Flavor Incorporated for the Winter. I’d actually love to see Pence lead off every game and be instrumental in winning 2 of these games. He’s one of the greatest Giants we’ve ever had and I am rooting for him to win the Willie Mac Award. But, it’s time for him to go. I think Tenacious D said it best about the great Ronnie James Dio with this epic tribute:

Dio has rocked for a long, long time,
Now it’s time for him to pass the torch.
He has songs of wildebeests and angels,
He has soared on the wings of a demon.

It’s time to pass the torch,
You’re too old to rock, no more rockin’ for you.
We’re takin’ you to a home,
But we will sing a song about you.

And we will make sure that you’re very well taken care of.
You’ll tell us secrets that you’ve learned. Raow!

Gotta admit, the Giants did a fantastic job of setting up the last 3 games of the rotation. If they are going to have any chance of taking 2 or 3 you need Bumgarner to come up man-strong tomorrow night. Hopefully he didn’t injure a finger turning away Hanson’s attempt to *gatorade* him. Lqtm.

And if we win Friday, who knows?  D-Rod vs Kershaw on Saturday? Shit, I might even have to go to that game. Either way a Bum win would bridge us to Sunday where it’s a one game extravaganza! That would be our *wild card* game. We might lose that one 10-1 but at least the final game of the season would hold some interest.

But it really all comes down to Game 1. Bumgarner, do you still have it in you? Rooster, will you be  a squawkin’ or will dinner come a ‘callin?

You know, it’s still shaping up to be a an epic weekend if Colorado can keep winning. I suppose we could beat LA in one of these games, maybe 2 if all hell broke loose. How great would it be if LA didn’t win the NL West again?

See, if we had rooted harder for Colorado 10 days ago maybe we wouldn’t be in this position. 🙂

But whatever, the Niners season is over, Dubs haven’t revved up yet, Bum’s hitting game winning singles, why not have some fun this weekend and screw the Dodgers a bit? We really need Grienke to step up big tonight….

This pic wins a Flappy nomination for best pic of the year

Gonna have a hard time hitting the coveted *six win* number if we keep getting shut out……

I’m still not sure what the point was of firing Evans and keeping Sabean. And whoever the new guy is will report to Baer? Baha, only if you can fit your meeting time in between his shopping mall rose garden meetings. And with Sabean’s hulking shadow lurking in the background spouting off his nonsense about “2 run singles” and “professional hitters” it will be impossible for anyone to do anything of substance.

Warriors can’t start soon enough…..

The Niners got killed and we are back to focusing on Draft Pick Watch. Just an utterly frustrating outcome. I figured they’d get killed but that was just going to be one game. Losing our starting QB, especially on such a dumb play that he did to himself, was tough. The Chiefs have so many offensive weapons they are going to be fun to watch this year. We are no longer going to be fun to watch this year. The upside to the weekend was Tom Brady finally smoking copious amounts of pole. I am calling it right now. HE IS DONE THE PATS ARE DONE. Hey, it happens to everyone. Not sure why it took so long for it to happen to him but it couldn’t happen to a more pompous guy. I’m gonna enjoy watching New England miss the playoffs this year…..

Holland going tonight in another snoozer. I’d love to pick the collective brain of the fans who hit this game tonight. They’re certainly better fans than me, I couldn’t do it…..

September Win Watch: We’ve won 4 with 6 to play. I still feel like my *September 6* call is going to be nailed cold. Some of you are out of it. Should be a fun final 6 games, eh?

It’s days like this that I’m glad I don’t live in an area that allows for sports betting. I’m not sure I could stop myself from the free money that appears to be offered on the Niner game. And no, I don’t have a problem betting against my team. Technically I do it fairly often in daily fantasy. If there’s an angle to make money, why not? Playoffs are off limits. It’s hard to explain if you don’t play but it’s easy for me to separate my fan interest from my DFS interest. Fan interest always comes first, DFS interest is more of an *insurance policy*.

Anyway, the Niners secondary looked like absolute shit to me last week. Matt Stafford, who sucked, missed at least 6 deep balls to wide open receivers. And that was our defense AT HOME. I expect them to perform much worse in that country fuck corn field out in the middle of nowhere. I doubt the return of Foster will matter much since he’ll be limping off the field by…..I’ll set the over/under at *mid way through the second quarter*. And the “KC Defense Sucks” argument doesn’t hit too hard with me if Jimmy G is just gonna stand in the pocket like a statue begging to get sacked. I’m guessing he’s been told to get the ball out quicker this week and on the road in a loud ass stadium that can lead to mistakes and interceptions.

I actually didn’t play the Chief players too hard this week because ownership % matters and they are the heavy chalk this week at both draftkings and fanduel. I can’t play the heavy chalk in DFS, you can’t win anything that way even if you hit. For my teams it would be fabulous if the KC D scored a pick 6 or 2 and kept Mahomes and his weaponry off the field. Of course I’m not playing the KC D, get it?

Before he hit the poker table my main man in Reno, PaSalon, texted me this late last night and I signed off on it. If it were me I’d add a 0 to that ticket. Loo, enjoy the W today, you Chief fans deserve something to be happy about for once…..

Anyway, GO NINERS! My doubts are strong but of course I want them to win the game….

Sure we lost again and the cancerous Melancon was the one who lost it. But as usual, it came down to us not being able to hit. Our runs were scored by way of a walk, a single and a ground out to first base. Not good enough and pathetic when compared to the way baseball is played today.

I know you’re going to get lucky and win some games now and again playing that limp brand of baseball. Hey, the Cards didn’t hit any bombs either. But they had better pitching, at least after that ball-machine got removed. Pitching still matters but to win consistently you have to have big power, too. We have no power and no speed. Weak and slow.

Bumgarner now pitches like a reliable #3. What do those guys go for these days? That’s what he should get paid.

Remember the good old days when playing the Cardinals meant something? When playing ANYONE meant something? I’ll always claim that those three beauties have insulated me from any type of September rancor but the reality is that I am missing meaningful baseball and have accepted that we will be terrible for the next several years.

Anyway, we’re in St. Louis today. I’m drinking my morning coffee out of this little mug, it’s not road trip worthy but for a morning cup of Joe while I type this post, it’s not half bad….

San Dawg may be a bigger fan but I’M the one they’re writing letters to. Although if me and AMPM were truly friends they would have sent a bigger cup…..

As usual, you guys found something for me to blog about. I’m not particularly interested in who wins the Willie Mac award, especially in a year where so little *inspiring* went down. But I do pay attention to who wins and I love setting odds and trying to figure out who is going to win something. So let’s go, the book is open:

“It’s nice Pence homered.
It masks for one minute the near worthless $18 million season he’s had otherwise. If they give him the Willie Mac award, IMO that will sully the importance of the award…”

Snarkk obviously didn’t pick him but he kicked off the discussing. Odds Pence wins it:

10-1. This is completely based on how inspirational he once was. Nothing about this season. But in a season so lame and uninspiring, I guess I could see them giving it to him for ghosts of inspiration past, something like that…

2)  djloo27 said, on September 19, 2018 at 9:21 am (Edit)

“I think Gorks has it sewn up…”

5-1. If you’re looking for a guy who overcame a season of suckitude to nearly lead the team in home runs the following year….I guess you’d land on Gorks. He does have a sort of “perseverance je ne sais quoi” going for him…..

3) unca_chuck said, on September 19, 2018 at 10:22 am (Edit)

“I’m leaning toward Hundo.”

4-1. My pick as well although the luster of his shine has dulled a bit over the last month. I do think he does a lot of that quiet leadership bullshit everyone gets jazzed about. He did win it last year though. If not for that I’d have him at 5-2.

4) alleykat69 said, on September 19, 2018 at 11:22 am (Edit)

“I’d go with DRod or Holland”

10-1. We have an entry here. California racing did away with entries years ago but I’ll allow it for this particular race. I could actually see either winning but I think DRod is too young and Holland is too….racist? Ha. Well, that Asian thing did him in for sure…..Although now that I think about it, it’s just his teammates voting and baseball players are pretty dumb so maybe the Asian impersonation earned his a few extra votes? We will see….

5)  Bozo said, on September 19, 2018 at 12:34 pm (Edit)

“My Willie Mac vote would be for Pablo. He hit 9 HRs 40 RBIs in his bench role filling in at 3B, 1B, 2B and he pitched a perfect inning. Also, as the emergency catcher allowed the Giants to use Hundley as a PHer. Gotta be the Panda.”

25-1. He’d be lower if he’d finished the season. Right now I can barely remember Pablo’s year and I think a *what have you done for me lately?* thing needs to apply at least a little bit to this award. I’m assuming he’s not even with the team anymore but maybe someone corrects me on that……

6)  zumiee said, on September 19, 2018 at 4:12 pm (Edit)

“I could see Posey winning the Willie Mac for playing on an injured hip this season, and for his work in the community.”

3-1. Absolutely. Never underestimate the Power of Posey. He can do anything. Except hit a ball to the warning track…….

7)  blade3colorado said, on September 19, 2018 at 9:04 pm (Edit)

“Speaking of Blanco (said no one ever) . . . How about him for the Mac award?”

20-1. He was only up for a couple months all season, he would have to be inspiring as shit 24/7 to beat the guys who were here all year.

8) dirtnrocksnomo said, on September 20, 2018 at 9:08 am (Edit)

“Not even a sniff for Crawford? He carried the team from May-June and leads the club in games played at a key position. He’s also got the best walk up music and is a clear trend setter in the club house when it comes to hair product.” 20-1. Maybe he gets some love from his teammates for bouncing back from last season’s tough emotional stuff….

__________________________

Uninspiring haul from AMPM

Kinda grasping at straws right now to find anything interesting about Giants games these days much less something interesting to write about. You guys are good at filling up the comment section with trivia, music videos, fav hamburger joints, etc….I’ll check back in when my haul from AMPM arrives or before if something more interesting than that happens. Unlikely.

As I prepare the household to receive the glorious booty that AMPM is shipping to me, I was thinking of what i heard on KNBR yesterday afternoon. Franny and Tolbert were discussing how critical it will be for the Giants to trade pitching this off season for hitting. This was one of the dumber things I heard anyone say yesterday (radio or in person). Of course I would universally support trading Bumgarner but that isn’t going to happen. And nobody else really holds any value. Plus, we kinda need those guys.

Our pitching has been excellent this year especially considering the injury hits they took. Had we had any sustainable offense we would be competing for a spot in the post season.

Exciting times down in San Diego. I’m guessing our main man on the scene, San Dawg, doesn’t make it to one of these games cause it’s mid week. And, going to one of these games sounds like one of the most unfun thing you could do.

Here’s the deal with Evans: He’s been closely managed by Sabean since he returned last winter. In fact, other than eating a lot of lunches with Sabean I doubt Evans has done ANYTHING since last February aside from some lackey stuff. So I’m not sure what the point is to just shit can Evans, The Body Builder and a couple old ladies in the office….

To me that’s designed 100% just to appease the season ticket holders. It looks like something is happening and it keeps them re-upping. But in reality nothing is happening.

“The Wilderness Years” is one of the great names ever given to anyone/anything here at the Flap. It invokes an image that is both funny AND a haunting reality. As fans of the team, until Sabean and Bochy are gone, we should plan on walking the earth until our shoes fall off and we run out of ground…..

Of course we’ve won 2 in a row. That should nudge the front office into doling out extensions for Payroll Jane and Betty the Front Desk Whore, among others….

It’s Sunday so…..

What do you guys think about this?

My thoughts are that the Browns waited on the dude for 6 years. He’s not going to change. People don’t change, man. Dirt taught me that a while back…..

Anyway, I’m against it because it’s a flier and we don’t really need that right now.

Finally, we got rid of Carl Kochan. This musclehead beefcake strength coach has been loitering in the back of the gym doing nothing but flexing his pectastic pecs and showcasing his tremendous tri’s. How many times have I complained this year about our guys being slow AND weak? 20? Now we know why. Kochan was hording all the weights to himself. If there were sets to be pumped out only he was allowed to pump them.

His departure has already had a positive effect on the biceps of the team that have now begun to peak again. Stratton shook off his baby hangover and pitched the game of his life.

Ok who’s getting axed next? Jane in payroll? Betty the front desk whore? Let’s go I want heads to ROLL!!!!!!!!!

This is going to be hard for many of you. Maybe all of you. I will be able to do it. I’m rooting for the Rox this weekend. Ideally, they’ll wipe us out each game. No closies. Here’s my reasoning:

1. At this point in the season, rooting against the Dodgers is the only remaining interest I have. I do have a little interest in seeing them get bounced out of the post season once again. But truly, I’d prefer they just not get in. So let’s keep the Rockies in front of them. Plus, it would be nice to see some new blood win the NL West crown for once.
2. We need another 90+ loss season to hammer home the message to Giant ownership that we need fundamental changes at the top of the organization. These new visionaries will map out an approach to building a successful team that can compete in today’s game. Problem is, we won too many games early on. Lose as many as possible from here on out. Lose out and we get to 96.

I admit this won’t be easy. But I welcome you to the dark side. It doesn’t make you a bad fan. There is nothing left to root for. Except their demise. Only from the ruins can hope begin to grow…..

I’m still having a hard time believing this 11 game losing streak is the longest since ’51. Man, there have been some bad teams since then. My buddy The Boney One texted me late last night: “this losing streak is the best thing that could happen to the Giants”. I was like, “Man, would it hurt you to read the blog once in a while?”

Loo’s story about meeting Mays and McCovey is worthy of a re-read in the main thread. I wonder when the Giants started taking care of McCovey financially? It clearly wasn’t happening in ’85. My guess is that the ownership group back didn’t give 2 shits about former players.

Note: this post from Loo is from 2012.

DJLoo said, on July 29, 2012 at 11:02 am (Edit)

I share all those awesome childhood memories of Stretch that you guys have the ability to lay out so eloquently. So as always you can count on me for a less cheerful one.

Mays & McCovey came to a card show/autograph signing thing in 1985. I was stunned to hear about it – the memorabilia craze hadn’t really taken off yet. It was held in the gymnasium of a Catholic School in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Another hero of mine, Joe Pepitone was also there. Autographs were cheap – maybe $20 for Mays, less for McCovey, and way less for Pepi. Laughed it up and took a great picture with Joe. Got to the M & M table where they were sitting side by side. Mays was somber and wouldn’t even look at me. McCovey was pleasant and shook my hand. I asked if they would allow my friend to snap a picture of me standing behind them. McCovey said sure and Mays grunted something. In the picture Stretch has a big smile. Mays looks like he’s getting a colonoscopy. Later on I was just hanging around outside across the street. McCovey came out (all alone!) limping visibly. I was struck by his outfit. Looked like he picked it up from the Salvation Army. An ill-fitting red checkered sport jacket and bright red pants that were at least 3 inches too short. I yelled out, “need a ride, Willie?”. He waved and said, “I’m alright, man!”. I stayed where I was and watched him slowly hobble down 65th Street. To me, it was the picture of a man down on his luck. He turned left at the corner and disappeared from my view. I have no idea how he could’ve had any idea where he was going around there.
I remember hoping that the neighborhood Guinz-aloons wouldn’t give him a hard time…

Those were some powerful memories you guys shared yesterday. Above all, we learned that during our nation’s most trying times Flappers are busy struggling big time with the ladies. Lqtm….

Ten in a row. 10. Does the number even matter? Not really. There is a growing piece of me that wants them to lose out. The only way we will ever get rid of the buffoons running this team is if they turn into an embarrassment, a joke. Coming in mid pack with this underwhelming coterie of hangers-on isn’t going to magnify the true problems enough for REAL CHANGE. We need another 98 loss season, or something close to it, to wake up the nightwatchman of this abandoned amusement park and FORCE him to make the tough decisions necessary to turn this thing around.

You know what’s hilarious? We are still better than….you guessed it….the Mets, Marlins, Reds, and Padres. The exact same (and only) 4 teams we we’re beating  back on Aug 2nd when I ended the season and when KNBR continued to try to sell the false goods that we were still in this….

17 years ago…..I was starting my first day selling real estate at Alain Pinel in Menlo Park. It was actually the first office job I’d ever had. If it hadn’t been my first day I wouldn’t have gone in. On the west coast all of this started unfolding very early. I was getting ready with the tv on in the background watching the horror unfold. When I got into the office it was mostly empty. It was very quiet, the people that were there were in a daze. Typical lame real estate agents, they seemed more worried about how this would affect the market than anything else. I stayed for a quick staff meeting and left to go home and watch tv. Back then that was all we really had to access news.

Like most everyone else not in NY I just felt helpless and sad. I’m guessing you New Yorkers had a different experience. Please share.

The quest for perfection continues today vs Atlanta. I expect a low scoring, well pitched game that will end with another loss. I’ll say the Braves win 3-1. If you could adjust your September prediction what would it be now? I can’t believe 6 is now a pie in the sky number but it is.

As the losses pile up, Tim Flannery is planning some type of tribute to Hunter Pence. I’m not sure what it is, I didn’t follow it that closely. Here was his tweet to his followers yesterday:

I don’t understand why these old coaches think we don’t have great love for Pence. I loved and will always love UnderPants. I just don’t want him playing baseball for the Giants anymore.

Why is that so hard for a guy like Flannery to understand?????

Niner game today! I’m moderately pumped but less so than previous years. Not sure why. Maybe because they don’t allow tackling anymore. I think the Vikings handle us rather easily, 31-17

Channeling my inner Kato Kaelin, here’s a list of guys I don’t want to see play another inning this season:

Hunter Strickland. Hunter Pence……Hunter Panik. Hunter Longoria. Hunter Crawford. Hunter Belt. Hunter Blanco.

Do we have enough call ups to plug warm bodies in for those suckers?

…still O for September.

Milwaukee may be the worst team in the league if you follow Kato Kaelin’s twitter feed. He’s hands down the most annoying baseball fan I’ve ever seen. He’s not much of a neighbor, either.

@kato_kaeilin

Regardless, Anderson should quiet our bats rather quickly and the Brewers should be pounding the suds by a little after 9pm central time…..

I’m starting to wonder if my rock solid 6 September win prediction was nothing more than a blind fan’s wild overshot…..

I would love to pick Twin’s brain right now on where he thinks we are as an organization  and whether he believes the game has passed Sabean and Bochy by…..

Still stuck on zero wins in September. And yet, our place in the standings has remained constant. We still only have a better record than, wait for it….Miami, The Mets, The Reds and San Diego. That hasn’t changed since sometime in July. And yet KNBR hasn’t been selling this “so you’re telling me there’s a chance?” crap up until about a week ago…..

Something I never understood about The Glove Million dollar give-a-way: Why not just keep the prize offer but cancel the insurance policy. As Baer said, “Nobody was ever gonna do it.” And he was right. But it could have been a fun little marketing thing, call a fan’s seat number every game, see what happens. Why not just keep rolling it out there if there’s no risk of it happening? And if it somehow ever did happen, shit $1mil could just come out of their advertising budget. What am I missing here?

While everyone was celebrating our home run king’s 7th inning bomb I was noticing what had just happened in Washington. The Nats had come back to tie the Cardinals in the 5th inning. St. Louis said, “No worries” and promptly banged out 3 bombs in the 6th to re-take the lead. They added a grand slam in the 9th to finish off them off. That is how the game is played now. Like it or not, you have to build a team that hits home runs if you want to win consistently.

Speaking of home runs, Mr. Suarez luck has run out. He’s getting blasted today…..

Nice to see Bochy allowing Chris Shaw his one at bat yesterday. That was a lot of power he displayed, I hope it doesn’t scare Bochy away from starting him today. Shaw’s development will be fascinating to watch assuming he gets to play. He’s going to strike out a lot but so does Joey Gallo. Striking out in today’s game doesn’t preclude you from a place in the line up.

I didn’t gather the predictions from yesterday’s thread, I’ll just go back and look them over at the end of the month. Surprised nobody came in with 12. Highest I saw was 10 (MrSportsDude) and lowest, I think, was me at 6.

San Dawg’s Mo Burger. I have several issues with this burger.

#1: tomato is still no good and the fact that there are 2 of them just doubles the issues.

#2: too much cheese

#3 lettuce should be butter lettuce not romaine.

There are a couple more items to note but the first 3 have me doing such a slow burn I gotta chill for a bit….

….and now we head to Colorado. Lulz, this should go smoothly. The Giants called up all the shitty arms they have left in Sacto this morning so at least we can run a bunch of dudes up and down the hill.

Whatever, it’s Labor Day and what a great day for baseball it is!

Side Bet: Get your picks in for how many games the Giants win in September. I am coming in at a solid SIX. 24 games remain….

Winner gets a coveted 2018 Flappy award for best prognosticator.

Syndegaard gets to wipe us out today. He’s a guy I’d pay to watch pitch. I’m not going to but if everything lined up I’d head up there and pay to watch him pitch.

I feel sorry for the season ticket holders. Do they feel obligated to go to the games? Are they giving the seats away? Or do they just go unused? I’ve never understood who has the time to go to that many games a year anyway.

The weather will be nice. But it’s nice everywhere around here. Lots of things to go do, watching these 2 teams sleepwalk their way to the end of a lazy Sunday afternoon is low on my to-do list.

For his second straight start, Suarez got to face the team with the worst hitting VMI number on the board. That’s some sweet luck and he took advantage of the opportunity to throw another *shut out*. He could be a guy we count on in next year’s rotation. If nothing else, he battles, although you can say the same thing about Ty Blach and I don’t want him in the rotation next year.

Awesome to see this Garcia kid come up and have such a great night. Is it so hard for Giants brass to embrace this? Screw the vets, this team is toast, play the kids and see what happens. What’s the worst outcome? A loss? Newsflash: that’s likely no matter who you send out there.

I’ve seen enough Hunter Pence and Gregor Blanco to last me 10 lifetimes……