A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

Longo with what has to be, sadly, his signature San Francisco moment. Hey, that only took 153 games….

Gotta admit, when I read it, I called bullshit on Zumiee’s post last night:

The Giants usually play the Dodgers competitively. The rivalry brings it out.
With the occasional blowout loss.

I didn’t think they had it in them to play LA competitively last night. Nice call, Zoom.

That was an absolutely pathetic performance against a team cobbled together mostly of minor leaguers. KNBR caller demanded Bochy hold a team meeting. Ha! Bochy is part of the problem, ya’ll. We have scored 1 run, ONE, in the first inning this season. Either these guys don’t give a shit or he’s not writing up the most optimum line up. Or both. Bochy yappin’ at them in the most medium-impact of tones isn’t gonna change shit.

I’m sure Vlad G Jr. is going to be a superstar but I find the coverage of him hilarious. He’s on the front page of every sports site every day all day. He’s got 2 singles and a double. No bombs. No RBI’s. His 3 strikeouts match his hit total.

Hey, he’d fit right in with SF maybe our *men* should start getting more natty coverage…..

lqtm.

KNBR RadioHeads trying to sell us on the 9th inning as evidence that we *might be just a batter or two away from having a competent offense.” Fucking please, child. Our scrubs (Parra and Kratz(!) got a couple of lucky swings off the 12th guy on their pitching staff. As soon as Boone woke up he brought in an actual pitcher to slam the door.

We stink. Today sucks, I have to go to a funeral for a 12 year old. This world is fucked up.

Sadly, the cat is now nearly out of the bag on Bumgarner. He’s just a guy. I had hoped we could hoodwink a contender into trading for the ghosts of his past but nobody is that desperate.

The only question remaining will be what the Giants do with him. They can’t extend him, right? If they do that they’re just trying to sell tickets to fans who just like talking about what once was….

Awesome game tonight that I will unfortunately be missing due to the Dubs being all-in with the pesky Clippers. The Warriors reign is over. I’m not saying they can’t win the championship this season but their reign of dominance has passed. It happens. Nobody stays on top forever. They had a good run….

We have the advantage playing the NL game in our park. Big Maple is a beast but I’m not writing this one off as an L just yet….

Sadly, our fans will be dwarfed tonight by the following of the Empire.

As I thought going into that little 2-gamer, Toronto is a pretty good match up for us. If we can hang in there and play like this against the lesser teams I can get through the season. I’m not sure how many games I can watch all the way through, there will be a lot of radio involved, but as long as they aren’t embarrassing themselves it’s going to be ok.

Man, Friday is Big Maple vs Bumgarner. That one should be the best pitching match up we will see all year….

In a throwback game to our past, conjuring up hallowed names such as *Ramiro Pena*, the Giants went deep 4 times to win a game. It’s nice to see them join the party even if it’s just for one fleeting game.

Zaidi knows we need power to win in today’s game. I think we’ll see the fences come in at some point and some launch angle men added to the squad. Not this year but it’s coming. There is no sound reason to keep the fences 8 miles away…..

Until then we can dream of *Pena’s past* and what it was like to win with the long ball….

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Love Damian Lillard, love that he knocked out fake-ass Russell Westbrook…..

What do you think Toronto has planned for Pillar today? Video tribute? Parade? Keys to city presentation?

Theoretically, this is a good match up for us. Their offense stinks (not quite as bad as ours). Our pitching is a little better than theirs. Does the DH break the tie? We’ll see.

The Expos were always one of my favorite teams. They were never very good but they had players that are burned into my memory. Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Warren Cromartie, Tim Raines….Those guys were the shit.

This long road trip heads to Toronto. But first we have a day off to suckle from the sweet teat of victory. Tastes nice, right?

Buster did more than just take down his second 1.0 of the year. He showed us he’s still a man. A man who can hit the ball over the fence. Sure it took 10 months to get ‘er done but he did it and that’s what counts.

Now, back to my teat….

While #1 certainly did enough to take down another 1.0 yesterday I am not bestowing it upon him. Why? Because it’s time to get back to the essence of what this great sabermetric stat is all about: Did the player do something beyond ordinary to help the team win? Our team doesn’t win.

So while Pillar is the only hitter who did jackshit yesterday, it’s time to hold him and the rest of his lesser compatriots to a higher standard.

You want a 1.0? Go win a game.

Just go win a fucking baseball game.

Happy Easter.

Early peek at the weather, not sure this game goes smoothly.

https://rotogrinders.com/weather/mlb

SF probably needs a win to stay out of the cellar.

Good day for Bum to build more trade value.

Question for you Mays-heads: I met someone yesterday, big Mays fan, who was telling me about the time he met him in person. Yadda yadda, you’ve heard all that before from Pawlie, but then he whipped out the card he said Mays gave him (12 years ago). Said he keeps it with him always. Yikes. Anyway, here is the back of it. It says “This card was personally given to me by Willie Mays.”

Does Mays still do this? Is it his way of not having to sign autographs?

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Fwar’s from last night’s loss:

Duggar: 1.0 (bomb)

Parra: 1.0 (bomb)

Posey: 1.0 (hitting the wall on the fly, I didn’t think he still had that in him).

I’m not quite reeling from the win last night but it staggered me a bit. Come on, this had L painted all over it: An away game in DC, D-Rod didn’t have it, Strasburg was sailing along, I think he k’d 4 of the first 9 hitters he faced. And then, like a magical faucet turning on all by itself, the 1.0’s started flowing freely. Rodriguez righted himself enough to cobble together 5 complete (1.0). Longo, Belt and Dugg’s all get one since anyone who’s spent even a second pouring over the calculation formula for the Fwar would know that if you bang a bomb you get a 1.0. Melancon has now tied Buster with one (1.0) since he came in vs his former team and went more than an inning without falling apart–i believe those 2 are tied for last on the team with but a single Fwar point to their name. And of course my main man 1.0 himself, #1, Kevin Pillar gets one. Admittedly he was awarded the final 1.0 of the game, he probably shouldn’t have gotten one but I just love the lil’ dickens so much I had to acknowledge his 2 hits, walk, and a stolen base. Formula note: Fwar loves the stolen bag…..

Back in the states last night, I was greeted rudely by that Warriors score. Sucks about Boogie but maybe they rally around him being down. They obviously need something to inspire them, they don’t have the same drive they’ve had in the past. Something has been wrong with the Dubs all season. I’ll say this, playing a team with Beverley, Harrell and Sweet Lou on it, 3 dudes who live to feel slighted, is probably the wrong match up for Oakland.

Strasburg tonight. I’m worried Pillar alone can’t carry the load. lqtm. But seriously, east coast swings are usually the death of us and as the worst hitting team in mlb. We’ve scored the second fewest runs and can you imagine where we would be without 1.0? Easily last in runs scored.

Dubs wandering, Giants sucking…at least I’m not sweating anymore. Man, Big Flavor was a sweating fool in that Costa Rica climate…..

Man, Flavor’s 1.0’s were flowing like a fine wine yesterday. Pillar got another one (of course, he seems to get them for just showing up at the ballpark lately). Posey got one because he received one (1) RBI yesterday, his first of the year! Bum got one because he was efficient and secured his first W. Duggar and Parra got one because they each had two hits. And what the hell, I’m doling these bitches out this morning, Dyson gets one for slamming the door!

It’s nice to pile on Colorado a little, they will smash us in return when we visit them up there….

Flip a 1.0 into Kratz’ FWAR bank account. All that guy does is catch and fuck.

Feels like another jet ski day.

Let’s see if Mad Bum can get through 5 with the lead and then will Bochy have the sack to pull him?

Pillar niggled his FWAR (Flavor WAR) up to 4.0 last night. Four wins generated by him in 8 games played. That’s a rate everyone here can live with, eh? As a reminder, calculating FWAR is done as follows: Did the player do anything major to contribute to a win or a game the team should have won? If so, that’s one (1.0) in the bank. If not, 0.0. Of course Buster’s FWAR this year sits at an even 0.0. Actually, that should be his new nickname……

Pilly’s OPS is still an underwhelming .623. I hope this puts an end to the misguided take at the blog that you have to have an OPS of .800 to help your team win games.

The rest of the bats continue to smoke the most copious amounts of pole. We’d be in the cellar without Pillar right now, GUARANTEED.

Hoping Zaidi can pull off another magic trick or two, we have a lot of dead, old, over the hill weight still on this team…..

We’re averaging 2.78 runs per game. With any type of offense we might be in first place today…

Finally, we get a little relief. The last placed team is coming to town. Uh, show of hands, who thinks the Rockies are worse than we are? Anyone?

It’s safe to assume Colorado will finish ahead of us by the end of the year. How do I know this? Because they aren’t us, therefore they will finish ahead of us….

Our current best and most reliable hitter has a .185 BA and a .623 OPS.

Cool pic of Katie tonight

I have a private beach 50 yards from where I’m sitting right now. And what am I doing? The same thing I do every morning when I wake up, I’m firing up a blog thread. My commitment to Flavor Nation is unquestioned.

I woke up inspired. Not by the beautiful paradise outside my window but by Kevin Pillar. He is the first Giants since Barry Bonds to have back to back 4 RBI games. Pause to consider how pathetic our hitters are that he’s the first to do that in 17 years. Gorkey’s Hernandez, Pillar is not…….

His OPS with San Francisco is a terrible .514. But his defense, his sb’s and his power have resulted in 3 games won nearly all by himself (I am counting the grand salami game as a win). Using the Flavor War Calculator that gives him an even 3.0 (FWAR) in his first 7 games. That’s gotta be a record, too. And if you don’t like how I calculate WAR that’s not my problem. 🙂

Now I have to go find out how to rent jet skis I will check in with you guys later….

Literally my backyard for the next week: I took this pic this morning just outside our back door.

Oh what the hell, one more thread before I leave the country. I’m sitting in LA right now and it’s awful. My skin in crawling. Hate this place…

Bumgarner was handed a 5 run lead and blew it. In keeping with his *lucky* season he didn’t get saddled with the loss, good ol’ Moronta got that one.

MadBum is a post season legend. I had hoped Zaidi could hoodwink a contender into paying up for that. But the cat is out of the bag. He’s no where near what he used to be. The Bumgarner I know would have murdered himself for torching a 5 run lead. And yet, this morning he still walks the earth…

Bochy is also partly to blame for the loss. He’s afraid to pull Bum. Or maybe he’s just too old school for the game anymore. Regardless, he leaves his pitchers in too long. It’s a hole in his game he’s had for a while now.

Not that any of this matters.

Later.

What a sleepless night it must have been for Count Chocula, eh? He’s 3 more Chris Davis failures from getting off the hook. Of course, Velez made $400K back in 2011. Davis makes 23 million dollars a year. And he has 69 million more coming to him AFTER this season. With all due respect to the fat dollars Longoria makes, Chris Davis is the owner of the worst contract in baseball….

Let’s see what the Giants can do against Lauer tonight. Before yesterday’s game, Marty Lurie said he was *hopeful* about the offense. Then they got shutout again.

To put the Davis contract in perspective, I think we would all agree that at this point Buster Posey’s deal is awful. But he’s *only* making 22 million this year. And while he is owed 44 mil in 2020/2021 there is a 3 mil buyout in 2022, the same year Davis gets another 23 million….

So from that standpoint, Buster is looking like a bargain, aye?

Anyway, “Pura vida.”

I’m out for a bit….

Scoring runs, what a novel way to win a baseball game. Six felt like 16. Pillar showed how valuable he can be and all he had was one measly single. Pomeranz goes today and no time like the present for him to start enjoying pitching at Oracle Park.

Listening to some dumbass on KNBR yesterday, he was discussing “Openers” and said “Where is the self respect of these pitchers?” Lol, what are they supposed to do? Tell the manager and the front office they aren’t going to do it? Go on strike? This is where the game is going. Get used to it…..

This pic is mostly for Loo but feel free to appreciate its raw power and awesomeness even if you don’t care about horse racing. My A’s fan buddy is at Keenland this weekend. Because he is an excellent father they visited Claiborne Farm. This is a pic of his kids in front of the stall that was home to, in order, Bold Ruler, Secretariat, Easy Goer, Unbridled, and RunHappy.

I’m headed down to Costa Rica on Monday for a spell and internet will be spotty down there. So, the Giants are running out of time to *wow* me. So far, I’m not getting *wowed*. In fact, thing are unfolding exactly how we feared. My A’s fan buddy texted me last night saying “now that you’ve seen a week of Giants baseball, how many wins do you predict?” I just texted back “nothing has changed. Last place, guaranteed.” He checked in with “south of 65″….

It does suck that the pitching is competitive. Wasting a solid pitching staff on a throwaway year is frustrating. It really should be the other way around.

Of course I would have preferred the team be competitive this year, what fan wouldn’t? The people I don’t understand are the season ticket holders. Just like people who drive RV’s around the country all year, I want to look deep in their eyes and try to understand what they are doing. How do they justify supporting the team with such a huge financial commitment? Are they just happy to be at Oracle Park and then they’re good? Are they disappointed or did they legit not see this coming?

Everyone was so excited about the Bochy standing ovation yesterday and slapping each other on the backs for being such true fans. And he absolutely earned that standing O. But what happens as the season slodges down the drain? Are the season ticket holders just happy with their bobbleheads and trinkets? Are they content to just cheer for the ghosts and the legends of the past?

It’s definitely raining today but they will get the game in with rain tapering off this afternoon. Of course, the Rays are better than we are. Austin Meadows is a star waiting to happen and I wished all off season for the Giants to trade for Kiermaier. I wonder if we will see old *friend* Christian Arroyo? He doesn’t start and Duffy is hurt again so don’t expect to see much of ex-Giants. Glasnow is a legit SP, he’s no opener or beginner or whatever that shit is called.

Hey, Pillar knows these guys well enough, maybe he can “tell us secrets that he’s learned” and Yoda us to a win today….

We get a break today before we finally get our Opening Day! Is it still April? And who do we get for this exciting moment? Our arch rivals, Tampa Bay!!!!

And the Giants are wondering why they’re having trouble selling tickets for Friday’s game….

Seriously, I’m not sure this opener could get any more fucked up. Start on the road for 2 series and wait until the newness of the season wears off. Then trot out a lame AL team that nobody out west cares about.

Oh well, it keeps with the theme of this season I guess….

I’m not under any crazy illusion that Pillar is going to put this team on his back and save the day. But he will be a hell of a lot more fun to watch than the crap we currently trot out there. And we gave up nothing, Hanson wasn’t going to play anymore. Z flipped shit for this guy and that right there gets an A grade from me.

Besides his dominant defense, this guy does have some power that should play well enough in the NL. And he’s hit 35/37/40 doubles the last 3 years. Without looking, I’m guessing that would be at or near the top of doubles production from our best hitters over the same time period. His OPS is just ok. But I’m sick of hearing about OPS. It’s two numbers mashed together like some dumbass 3rd grade art project you brought home and your parents pretended to like. Listen up: a walk is not the same as a single. Not every time as OPS tricks you into believing. Getting on base and bb’s ARE important. But not on this team. Belt takes a walk, struts his ass down to first base, head held high, shoulders de-slumpified, and what happens? He dies there.

Gimmie a guy on second base. Whether by double or stolen base. If we aren’t going to hit home runs that’s where our runners need to be. Doubles and stolen bases are a hell of a lot more exciting than walks, too, in case any of you have forgotten that…..

Kevin Pillar makes this team better, he’ll make it more enjoyable to watch. If that isn’t important to you I’m not sure what to tell ya.

The Dodgers were -220 last night. I thought that was off, my line would have been closer to -400. Anyway, I thought that was free money. Thank God California still hasn’t yet installed legal betting on sports…..

Our pitching continues to shock and awe me. Sprinkle in one of those thingy’s that go over the fence (Belt did one, I forget what those are called) and we win a game no one thought we could win.

Every Bum start is critical. He needs to build and sustain his value. If I’m Zaidi I am on the phone every day trying to trade this guy….

Krukow thinks “the rivalry” will get the bats going tonight. Hmmmm….quick check of the last time the Giants played the Dodgers……last September 30th….they lost 15-zip.

But hey, different year, different team?

Easily the most frustrating thing about this season (so far) is the pitching. They didn’t face much in SD but they’re still rolling out a team ERA of 2.45. I didn’t think they would be that good. That’s frustrating. And it’s all been a total waste. This has just been confirmation that Zaidi did nothing this off season—except make the offense worse.

Think about that. He took something that was already terrible. And made it worse. Joe? Reed? Parra? 37 catchers through a revolving door?

We needed bats and he brought us magic beans.

PomPom gonna be up against it tonight. If we hold them to 8 runs or less I’ll be surprised but honestly, those hitters are probably tired. That’s our only shot, they’re tired….

Whatever, I’ll say we lose 8-1. Much better than 15-0, improvement?

Final note to Dodger trolls: We know we are terrible. Don’t be so insecure that you celebrate doing what every other team in the league will be doing this year. Celebrate when you actually win something. Until you win the World Series you are losers just like us. You just lose later in the season….