Losing in Nepal
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…..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Come on up Abiatal Avelino . . . I am really looking forward to seeing what this kid can do. Ditto on outfielder Ryder Jones.
Play all the kids. No more Pence, Blanco, Belt, Crawford, Panic, etc. Let’s see what the Slaters, Hansons, etc., can do now and during spring training.
Bochy can throw Pence a bone on the last day of the season and start him.
If Saurez was pitching anywhere else, I would say that he had a decent chance to continue his relatively recent success, He has worked at least 6 shutout innings while allowing 3 or fewer hits in 3 of his last 4 outings. Too bad the schedule bit him in the ass and he has to face this hot Sherpa line up.
So yeah, he’s probably going to get lit up.
His last two starts he was facing the team with the worst vmi hitting number on the board. Those 2 starts were heavily aided. He gets lit up today.
Melvin tried bullpenning a game last night. Mengden, who has started in the past, pitched 4 scoreless innings but Familia Rodney etc. lost game for them eventually.
Jenkins said the A’s have had 10 SPs go on the DL and 5 of them with TJ surgery. What is up with the rash of these injuries? And not of course just to the A’s but younger pitchers in general.
I worried about Craw last year but was pleasantly surprised at first half 2018. Second half, ugh. Giants owe him $15 mil each for next 3. F/G wondered how WAR would hold up given likely defensive regression as his range lessened over the years. His D is still pretty dang good, but SS is position Giants have to be concerned about.
Hanson looked great there the other day but full time brings lot of risk.
This is why I am hoping this kid Avelino pans out. He seems to have some potential. Crawford has completely disappeared. Last 30 games: 30 SOs, .173 BA, .227 OBP, and .255 SLG isn’t cutting it.
I recognize that Craw will be given every chance to continue to be the starter, but I hope Boch and the front office at least keep an open mind on competition, not only with Craw, but all the starters. Salary should have zero to do with the equation (yeah, I’m dreaming, especially with this outfit).
Missed the last few games up in Oregon staying with friends out in the sticks. Good time with old friends. Great time to miss a bunch of sherpa games.
With McCutchen gone Crawford leads the team in games played at 131. Baggs was on the AM dial this morning talking about Crawford playing through multiple injuries and that it is contributing to his fall off in the second half. Baggs also noted the Avelino pick up was in part to have a MLB caliber glove to cover more time at SS. The club really has nobody up and coming to fill any infield spots which is another reason I don’t see them blowing up the roster. Just more front office failure that should be at Sabean’s feet but is increasingly attributed to Booby.
The hole apparently in the farm system where there are no position players at or near MLB level contributions can’t just be excused, if true. Suarez looks like a plus, Rodriguez was plucked from Twins. Giants are rolling in dough, they should have hot farmhands at every level. How to explain?…
Old boy network. The guys that got it done 8-10 yers ago aren’t. They all got tossed anyway.
Bell is in his 2nd year so there’s little to see from his contribution at this point. Bart looks like the real deal, but after that all bets are off.
Yeah. Bart looks real, but a Front office gets notmuch credit if a top 10 pick makes it. He should make it. The guys they pick in the later rounds are where farm organizations get strong top to bottom, for bringing up and for trade bait. If Bell doesn’t turn up some players soon under his watch, the Gyros are screwed well into the 2020s…
Bochy shouldn’t get shit for the players in his clubhouse. He should get shit for the ones he’s starting.
He had to have ok’d Blanco back up. There was not one single other outfielder on Sac roster that could get a try up in SF for a month?…
there hasn’t been one since Chili Dawg.
Came up for air and to see how civilization was doing, and see our boys have not won in September. While I am late to the dance with my prediction, I am going with NINE Giants wins this month.
Kicking it along the Northern California Coast with Story, the Adventure Portal (trailer), anchored at Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg. Trip to North Coast Brewery for lunch yesterday did not disappoint. Awesome grub and the Old Stock Ale on tap (11% ABV) was killer. So good, that I bought two 500 ml bottles; a 2013 aged in bourbon barrels, and a 2014 aged in wheat whiskey barrels. Those should be orgasmic.
We’ll see if the Orange and Black can pull a W outta their ass (not holding my breath).
North Coast Brewery is great! Their Brother Thelonious is killer. We drove up and I had 2 quick pints of that and was immediately buzzed. Luckily we were staying nearby I bought 2 cases that trip. Asto stopped by Anderson Valley on the way back. Glass beach as well. Beautiful up there.
Congrats as well, Chuck!
To Dirt’s 11:28 and snarkk’s 1:04, SOMETHING has to be done about the drafting (or lack thereof). Look at the fucking A’s. They are loaded with young talent all the time. I get that much probably comes back to the A’s via trades when they deal a young stud they’ve developed, but I believe their talent eval team is pretty damned good.
The Giants must improve big time in evaluating and drafting good talent. BART looks promising, but the pipeline has been pretty dry past couple of years.
If I were Sabean reading the blog the last 2 years, I might be thinking WTF more do I have to prove to these ungrateful geezers after 3 in 5…
Be that as it may, the baseball business model is, ‘what have you done for me lately?’ He hasn’t done shit lately. These guys reached their high water mark, and should ride off gracefully into the sunset.
I don’t know how much of the training/scouting staff they dumped last year, but we’ll see in a couple.
If I were Sabes, I might say screw you guys.
How many titles did your 5 HOFers and parade of great outfielders win for you?
if he doesn’t admit the game has changed I could see him saying that. And if he doesn’t admit the game has changed we are fucking doomed until he’s finally deposed.
I feel like, for me personally, I’ve been pretty patient with Sabean and the rest of the Giants leadership. Obviously Sabean and crew get huge capital for the 3-in-5. But capital starts getting used up, and at some point, there is accountability. The Giants have been pretty bad now for several years, and are stuck with a bunch of bad contracts, and a weak farm system. I just want a sign that someone in the organizations cares and has a plan. The whole organization seems adrift right now. The situation just begs for a GM with energy and creativity, like what the 49ers have with Lynch.
great post. I think we have all been patient. 3in5 doesn’t mean you get to suck every year for the rest of your career. Agreed, all I want to see is a plan that is being executed that is in line with how baseball games are won in today’s game. I see none of that.
I don’t disagree with you guys at all, but patience for me was 47 years.
Gillaspie’s epic WC bomb was only 2 years ago…
Bums are clowning it up in the field…
Five of my favorite players on one card.
What are the odds?
Interesting that Callison, Hart, and Cepeda all had 31 bombs apiece. Also interesting because Mac only had 18 that year (sandwiched between his 44 the year before and 39 the year after).
Mind boggling too that the Giants had Mays with 47, Hart, 31, Cepeda 31, McCovey 18, and Haller with 16. All this accomplished before the mound was lowered and playing half their games at freakin’ Candlestick Park.
Gorkys leads our team with 15. What the fuck happened????
The current crop are shittier hitters?…
If Mays had played at ATT for a decade, he’d have had 750 HRs or more…
Easily.
This is probably for us real old fucks versus you younger Flappers . . . Who was the player traded along with Billy Hoeft and Felipe Alou in 1964 to the Milwaukee Braves for Del Crandall, Bob Hendley and Bob Shaw?
Big clue – he hit 21 bombs for us in 1963.
Ed Bailey?
Yep
Rockies announcer just said that the Giants are the only team in baseball without a 20 HR guy this season and haven’t had one since Crawford in 2015. I didn’t realize this was the third straight year with that distinction.
I wonder when that last happened…
NEVER!
I thought 3 in 5 would forever sate my 40+ year thirst for a Giants trophy. Turned out the opposite. Your team Winning a title is really cool, even more cool than I had imagined all those years. I want more of ‘em, ASAP…
I don’t think I ever saw that before…
That’s not the longest HR I have seen at Coors, but it is the longest one I have seen hit to left. That was definitely tattooed.
Coors announcers are contradicting me. Saying that is the longest ever. Hard to say . . . Usually the ones which are the longest are hit into the upper deck in right. Dunno.
Would Story’s HR have hit the glove at AT&T?
It would seem so if it went 500 feet plus as they’re saying on the broadcast. Anyone know how far the glove is?
Yeah, that would have hit the glove . . . Glove is 501 feet at the base.
If China Basin were 5,000 feet above sea level, Story’s HR could’ve hit the glove.
At work now at my university, checking in at break. I also had to check to see that there is actually a game going on, no comments (til Steve’s just now)…. Yeah, huh, what more can be said. Also see that the MLB site has resumed giving Ohtani a story any time he does something. Who the fuck cares….. But wouldn’t it be nice if the G’s had someone as mentionable…
Per an article I just read, “The Giants’ Andres Galarraga came the closest in 2001 when he crushed a drive that landed in the last row of the bleachers in Section 138. The moon shot off Houston’s Roy Oswalt has taken on mythical status and is considered the longest homer to left field in the eight-year history of the waterfront ballpark.
“But there’s the walkway behind the bleachers, and nobody has hit one that far — even in batting practice,” Baer said. “The glove is behind that, and don’t forget that it’s elevated, too. It just became pretty obvious nobody was going to hit it.”
In recent years, the glove became a target not for hitters, but for female revelers in the bleachers. Some have walked underneath the glove and thrown their, shall we say, delicate garments into its inner structure.”
When the park first opened, I seem to recall a million dollar prize if someone hit the glove. After Galarraga’s blast, that prize was gone, off the table, don’t know what your talking about. But man, that was a home run.
Yeah John, they had a $1 million dollar reward, but after two years, the Giants canceled the $40,000 annual insurance premium and dropped the promotion. They realized how ridiculous it was.
“Nobody ever got close,” Giants executive vice president Larry Baer said. “There wasn’t any point continuing it.”
You’ve got to be kinda stupid to give up 3 bombs to the same guy, don’tcha? Maybe they were all different pitches?
Didn’t see the other ones.
Just put it on a fuckin’ tee for him…
On the thread re North Coast, I used to go often in my younger days up to Mendo and Fort Bragg. Camp out on Manchester Beach for a night, friggin cold but fun. Up and over to Mendo in some BnB and over to Cafe Beujolais for a splurge dinner in its heyday. Take a foggy night over at Caspar Hot Tubs (even when it was under a business name before that that I can’t remember) for some tubbing and a massage, then onto Caspar Inn for some cheaper grub, other consumables and good live music. Zulu Spear, baby !…
Whoever pitches next to Story oughta just challenge him. Seriously. See if he can hit #4. I wouldn’t mind seeing it, but make him earn it…
When the Galarragha HR is mentioned, I can’t resist mentioning I was at that game. Many years ago I wrote a long post on the Flap about that game. It was the first Giants game after the break taken by all major sports after 9/11/01.
I still have the tee shirt.
The Giants just secretly want to hurt the Dodgers’ chances.
I am so fucking tired of seeing Melanoma fail in key situations. Every time it happens, I see another million dollars flushed down the toilet. Always against the Giants signing this dick head.
Sabean absolutely blew that one. I think he was damaged goods from the get go, and the Giants medicos missed it. I’d like to get Dusty in a private corner of a bar and ask him about that one — why didn’t the Nats try hard to retain him…
Two far better closers available and we sign the one that got most of his saves by guile . . . Our front office is run by dunderheads.
Shaw . . . another pfffttt.
If Shaw struck out 8X in a row, but on #9 AB he homers, and this repeats all season, would anybody take that? That’s 61 HRs assuming 550 ABs…
“If” is the operative word. Seriously, I think this guy is Bowker Gang material, but by all means keep running him out there to find out for sure. I have had it with the Pences and Blancos being penciled in the line up.
Yep, no way to tell where he is without putting him out there. Mays went 0-20 before the hitting light bulb went off, so give this kid a shot. The alternative is yet another set of ABs w/fake bunts by Blanco — no thanks…
Bochy used Blanco correctly tonight (as a PH for Garcia). That’s it for the rest of the season – PH and/or late game defense. Regarding Pence, I don’t even want him out there, except for the last game . . . Boch can throw him a bone for service rendered.
OK, let Black challenge him with some gas and see what happens…
Well, OK. That was cool, he got his swings in, no cheapies, but Black prevailed…
huh. That was mildly entertaining in this shit show.
ain’t no brakeman on that train
Looks like Jansen’s heart problems will prevent him from traveling with the Bums to Colorado. Seems like the Sherpas have the inside track for the Division title.
They’re legit. And I don’t have a strong reaction to them one way or the other. No one on their team annoys me like some players on the Dodgers and D-Backs.
Clint has played some tightly-wound characters over the years. 🙂
Yeah, his memes work great for both Giant wins and losses. lulz