Another Chance For Another Young Pitcher
We’ve hopefully seen the last of Beede this season. He’s now free to go back to Sacramento and suck and make cameos in his wife’s B movies.
As noted a week or so ago it’s not going to fly having 1.5 reliable starting pitchers. Enter: D-Rod. That’s right, he’s back. I would have preferred Logan Webb because that PED suspension might have saved his arm a bit but here we are with D-Rod. I’m really not understanding why he’s been so bad this year. True, his FIP last season suggested his 2.81 ERA was not sustainable. But it wasn’t suggesting a goddamn 5.32 ERA either. He’s been bad on the road and at home. He’s been bad against lefties and righties. He’s probably not hurt or they would have shut him down. And he’s been a little better in the minor leagues (possibly where he belongs).
Nevertheless, here he is. He doesn’t have to pitch to a 2.81 ERA. How about something in between that and a goddamn 5.32?
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
The. Game. Has. Changed.
What message does it send to weaklings like Belt, Crawford and Posey when they decide to move the fences in but a non-power hitter like Pillar can lead the team in BOMBS and Dickerson and Harper are hitting splash shots into right center field?
I think it wears on them. The body language of the old core is generally bad. Slumped shoulders, no smiles. Not much joy in the job. They don’t really know how much better they’ll ever perform. It just becomes a slog to fulfill their contracts, and get all that money for their family generations.
They’ve experienced championship glory, and they’re embarrassed by their declining performance.
And the younger guys and the new to team ones like Pillar and Vogt are more of the emotional leaders than the old guard position players (Panda excepted)…
Also Yaz with 13 HRs in significantly fewer ABs than that trio.
yes. Heard on the radio that he’s the first left handed rook for the GIants to have that many bombs in his first season since Tom Haller.
Hoping like hell for a solid start by D-Rod. Nothing superaltive kid…just keep the team in the game, and go a solid five or six innings. Please.
The team needs to make hay, big time, on this roadie. Nine of the next 11 (seven on the road) are against teams the Giants are chasing in the WC (six against the snakes and three against the cubbies). If they have any hope of playing meaningful games in September, they need to get back to consistently winning series. I still think their chances are twofold: Slim. And None.
But, at least they are playing decent ball and the games are entertaining.
I mentioned the other day that one of the keys for success down the road is for the core to play more consistently, and contribute to scoring some runs. We also need some consistency out of the starters.
I think Johnny Shimmy starts tonight. I know September is still a ways off, but it will be nice if the team can get him back, sooner rather than later.
For the record, the moment after the Blade meet up in our seats in the Arcade and he went back to his shadier seats, the Giants went on their 8th inning rally!!! Good catching up Blade, but sadly Flappers we failed to deliver a win…after that nice inning (I called the Yaz homer to my buddy and his son…after the mound visit with Petit, I said the pitching coach told him to throw strikes and Yaz better be looking first pitch fastball and klabooey), I went with the rally cap to take a leak and frickin hear the crowd cheering and figured it was an A’s cheer (their jack-ass nerd filled scrub fans were everywhere and passing high fives around after the game, I wanted to grab one of their hats and throw it in the cove, but I did not need a fight or arrest at this point in life) and it was Chapman going yard again.
I mentioned to the one A’s fan behind me (who was being an ahole saying the awesome seats we were sitting were somehow cheaper than I guess a weekend A’s game in similar seats…I’m calling bullshit) and the other surrounding Giants fans after we hit Chapman after his first home run that we should just hit him every at bat because I have yet to see a live baseball fight…Bochy should have listened to my strategy. He almost hit another one out in his third at bat…
Good to see you again as well Peter. Sort of off topic, but if a conservative and liberal can be friends and enjoy a baseball game without rancorous political discussion, I believe there’s still hope for this country.
Good point…and I agree whole-heartedly.
As for Beede, hard to say what they should do.
What is he going to improve going back to AAA? His stuff is MLB quality. Maybe he can work on repetition of his motion? His real challenge is he seems to get derailed in focus at the slightest hint of adversity.
Anyway, this squad has actually been doing OK, given that half the position starters (core) are chronically unproductive, and you have two dependable starters out of 5. Just keep bringing up minor leaguers and see what sticks. That’s what the rest of the season is about. WC race is a pipe dream, and shouldn’t be the focus of what’s going on. ZMan has got to move mountains if necessary, over the winter to rid the team of as many “core” as he can…
by the way, Yaz is a great ex of one of these guys hitting way more HR’s than they normally would if it weren’t for the juiced ball. Again I don’t get why Belt, Craw and Posey can’t take advantage of the juiced ball. Makes no sense, they aren’t 3rd grade girls……
I don’t know why either.
But, they’ve sucked so long now, over multiple seasons, we’re past the why. It’s how the FO is going to deal with it in the offseason. You can’t head into 2020 with the “core” still plugging up the offense. I would prefer anybody else playing there that has a pulse. The defense they offer is not so over the top good that it makes up for nearly a total lack of offensive production in this juiced ball period…
Agree, Tom. Will be interesting if Zaidi can convince ownership to eat some salary to help free-up the core logjam.
“they aren’t 3rd grade girls….” LMAO…but damned good point, Flav.
Webb might be in for Saturday start btw Smrdz tomorrow and Bum Sunday. Only so much you can do with what you have. wonder if opener would work…start one of the no names Jerez or Gustave (if they are still up) then go to Suarez Gott yada yada. Seems worth a try.
Shea said in Chron giants have been out bombed at the O this season 75-48 after 3 hit by A’s there yesterday.
Here’s Chapman, who hit 2 here yesterday: “I think this is the hardest place to hit in the big leagues. and Oakland is second.” And, “Even during day games, it plays bigger than any other field in baseball plays during night games.”
Shea also made comment about moving in fences, “.. there’s a good argument to move in the wall at Oracle Park, especially if it means moving the bullpens off the field, but there’s also a good argument to leave it as is…because they would find themselves competing at a higher level in this homer happy era if they simply had more legitimate power hitters.”
I will be very surprised if the fences do NOT come in for next year. I think that ship has sailed, and the primary driver is to get the bullpens off the field of play.
You bring in the walls so you can attract a decent, power hitting FA now and then. No LH power hitter will come. Even RHers won’t come with that center field way out there, plus the cold and windy conditions. Move in the fences and blame it on forced move of the Pens, for safety’s sake. Done…
Just looking at Yaz, what 5’11” and a buck eighty five? Belt is a fucking lumberjack compared to him. And he can’t lap his ass in home runs? Pathetic.
Yaz clearly has *the tools*. Perhaps one big upside is that his frame will probably fill out over the next few years. If he *legally* bulks up a bit, he’ll likely continue to get even better offensively, even though he’s already in his late 20s…
Yep, will be 29 in a few days. I don’t see him bulking-up much, and don’t know that it would help his game. He was a minor league all star in 2014, 2015, and 2018. Either way, I sure like the kid…
I do love the defense that Craw and Belt provide. If the other 6 hitters in the lineup were hitting bombs left and right, the team could probably afford to keep the D-minded core. But at this point, the decent D seems a luxury the team can’t afford. Mixed feelings on Craw and Belt being expelled from the team at some point, but really, there’s no choice but to get some better hitters at ALL positions…
To me it looked like Slater had bulked up a little and much more so than when we met him in Richmond. Me was short lithe 2nd baseman looking type when my kids got his autograph and we talked about Stanford…my kid us going to see Richmond play today in Bowie, MD and hopefully he gets Bart and Ramos’ autographs.
If they want to keep scuffling minors to bigs, then why do they keep skipping Jaylin Davis at all costs?
They keep a scrub like Mike Gerber on their 40 man roster but not Davis? Something is seriously wrong here.Davis could be the spark in the lead off spot but they refuse to bring him up,(what they don’t want to start his big league time card? Race?)
It pisses the shit out of me to see Slumpy Belt leading off who SUCKS, instead of a dynamic new face with speed power and fucking ENTHUSIASM!!
In Jaylin Davis not getting the shot before it’s totally too late at a slim to none wc slot..
The core sucks and their days of starting are finished after this season. Posey can’t even play 2 consecutive games because of cumulative injuries. Crawford is just old and slowing down.
It’s Belt that’s a head scratcher. Like Flavor said, he’s a “weakling” and has NEVER fulfilled expectations. Obviously, no one ever expected him to be a Will Clark, much less a Willie McCovey. But in my opinion, I will take JT Snow 7 days a week and twice on Sunday over slumpy shoulders.
I am still not on board regarding the walls being moved in. It’s like capitulation or a white flag to this bomb happy abortion of the game which has occurred over the last few seasons.
One other thing – we move in the fences, what does that say about our winning those 3 World Series??? Remember, we won those 3 beauties with outstanding pitching, excellent bullpen, and timely hitting. Just my take, but it sends everyone a subliminal message, “If you can’t beat them, join them.”
Timely hitting doesn’t really matter anymore. Sure it can win you a game here or there but to win games at a .600 clip you need power and lots of it. Giants can still utilize good pitching and a good bullpen with the fences coming in. And they are coming in that’s not even a question anymore. 2020 they will be in
You’re certain 2020? How much are you certain (bet)?
cash? $100 just to keep it interesting? If they change the dimensions at all I win, if not you win?
Kruk and Kuip have mentioned it at least 30 times the last couple months that the fences are coming in. Farhan talked about it wheen the season started.
I will take that $100 bet too, Steve (I am saying absolutely the fences come in next year).
By dimensions – fences moved in and bullpens moved to area where fences moved in? Does not count if bullpen moved to beer garden or underground, etc. By 2020 start of season, right? All of the aforementioned, then yes – I’m down with $100 bet.
Shit, in 11 games, here’s Crash Davis’ line:
.333 .435 .615 1.050
13 hits in 39 AB. 5 doubles, 2 home runs
Bring him up!
Been trying Chuck, they are still set in their medieval ways of not moving forward!
Lil Yaz has hit 13 HR’s in 232 AB’s so far in rookie year.
Famous Carl Yaz hit 11 HR’s in 483 AB’s in his rookie year..
Their both 5”11 and weighed 185..
Theirs a more than realistic chance Lil Yaz can lead this team in Homers by the end of the year, and wouldn’t that be something for a late callup to do..
Also tells you what the primary core has accomplished…Zilch
Steve– the fences are coming in. They don’t know what it’s going to look like but it is happening. I’ll bet you the $100 if you want but it’s not really fair, you’ll lose that bet.
Okay, I appreciate your honesty and especially what Unca said about K&K saying it was practically a done deal. Consequently, I don’t want to bet any money, but I will definitely buy you the beverage of your choice should it happen at the next Flap fest.
I am shocked that this idea is so far along. Sad for me.
Ok. Beverage bet.
Also baer was on knbr two days ago saying it was happening.
I agree with Flav…would not have been fair to do that bet for $100. But, if you want to do another beverage of choice bet, I am in. 🙂
Yeah they have already moved in the fences in the little tykes area baseball field, but sadly the polls showed the Giant hitters couldn’t clear the fences their either…
Dick is supposed to be ready to roll, and AZ should be to his liking I hope. He and Yaz (.513 slugging) do make a difference. Vogt’s at .529 in part time duty Slater at .489. Longo .447 Pillar .444. Gennett in his short stay .515.
Maybe by Sept Davis and Shaw come up. shaw did everything they asked–went down to AA ball and hit well and has 15 bombs in 50 ish games for Sac, mostly playing LF iirc.
Personally the Vogt/Posey combo doesn’t bother me…at least until Bart is ready, which I would doubt is before mid-2020. Vogt is 34 I think so his primary value would be part time hitter. Great to have around though.
Dick is expected to start on Friday night, per an article I read (detailing Pablo going to the IL).
For sure Triples Alley is going to be eliminated, and will probably be the new bullpen locations, although it seems to me it’s going to be a tight fit getting both bullpens in there, unless they do some serious reconstruction out there.
And they could also paint one of those atrocious yellow lines on the right field wall and say that anything on the line, or above the line, is an HR. It will cause numerous replay situations, but that happens already in a lot of ballparks.
On Monday, Baer was taking advantage of his Will Clark retired-number good vibe to go on the KNBR morning show and do a lengthy interview. You can tell Baer has the spring back in his step; he was bloviating with high energy. He didn’t really address his “situation” very directly. He said “mistakes were made,” and that “lessons were learned, blah blah blah.” At one point he did say something that gave insight. He said, regarding going through counseling: “I had to examine how I got to that situation.” That was good. But, in general, he was in Baer PR mode. When asked directly what his exact position in the corporate flowchart is now, he gave a confusing and convoluted answer. He seemed to be saying his position ain’t totally quite what it used to be.
Belt playing most of the season with a knee injury has been alluded to in the local media. I don’t know if it is the right knee that was operated on during the last off season or not but maybe that’s the issue.
well this reminds me of the stuff that was going on with Pagan, who outright refused surgery and said he was fine that one year before his last. then he took time off to deal with it and came back and played better.
same with Belt, who is so gone—IF he has really been hurt all along he should have gotten whatever needed to be done, arthro or whatev, taken care of. It’s pretty obvious he isn’t helping team much as is. Smokescreen is BS.
Oh I’m sure Baer is fired up–team has rebounded from awful start, butts and paying customers are back in the seats plus he now has lot of cheap players that are doing well. Z saved him some money by dumping M off on Braves. Sure lot of things still to fix, yard being one of them but Giants are in lot better place than end of May.
NL, except for LA and Cubs, is just devoid of the elite teams in AL. The A’s are back to 16 over .500 and could win 90 games, and not even make playoffs. their fans were bummed to lose to the Giants and they have next 7 vs. Houston (who owns them lately) and the Yanks.
Willie, when I met Peter yesterday where he was sitting (above the small Levi sign), it offered a better perspective of the attendance. We guesstimated about 25 thousand butts in the seats.
Yeah, it has really picked up. When I took my son to see the pomegranate debacle (18-2 loss) in mid-May I’d say at the most there were 14,000 in the stands. $28.00 for dead center behind home plate, 20 rows up. The amount of concessions closed was amazing. Even by the Flapalooza (end of June) there was a much bigger crowd.
A fan shouldn’t have the ability to reach over an outfield wall and interfere with play…
1. Donovan Solano (R) SS
2. Austin Slater (R) RF
3. Buster Posey (R) C
4. Evan Longoria (R) 3B
5. Kevin Pillar (R) CF
6. Scooter Gennett (L) 2B
7. Joey Rickard (R) LF
8. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
9. Dereck Rodriguez (R) P
Fun facts:
Gaylord Perry wore #22 as a rookie and then #28 before settling on his retired #36.
In the 10 seasons spanning 1966 thru 1975 he pitched 3,088 innings!
I watched both Marichal&Perry both pitch it didn’t get any better! Both gamers that would always go 9 innings! If the manager even thought of coming to get either one they would give him the death stare..
Greetings from the airport bar in SanDog waiting to board my flight to Minneapolis.
I got a tall glass of Modelo—looks to be about a 20 ouncer. A club sando is $20, so I wonder how much this sucker is gonna set me back. Not real carbonated, which is a complaint I often have with draft beer.
Shout out to Loo, who has mentioned his fondness for airport bars more than once.
Would any of you support a Saturday Night Massacre where we DFA’d Posey, Belt, Craw and Longo all at once? I would not, but I think some of you might.
Just eat a shit ton of $$$$. Man would we be awful and attendance would plummet, but we’d get the number 1 pick at least once and maybe twice. And we’d get younger in one helluva hurry!
#$11.50
A little steep, although I haven’t been in an airport bar in ages.
what are you doing in Minn?
He said it was a family reunion the other night.
No Stix visit scheduled that I’m aware of…
that’s disappointing. My heart skipped a beat when I read where he was. A family reunion, man, that’s old school. I can’t see myself participating in a full blown family reunion…..
In the summer of 2013, the Sorensen side of my family (my Father’s side) had a family reunion in Chicagoland (my immigrant Danish grandparents worked a farm south of the city way back when)… we’d had a few reunions over the years, but not for awhile, and my Dad and his 4 siblings were all in their 90s, so one of my cousins figured we’d best get everyone together while it was still possible. Now 6 years later, that generation is all gone… my Mom as an in-law is the only one left. I may well never even see all my cousins again. Reunions can be a drag, but I for one am glad we did that reunion….
Incredible dumbfuck play by pillar there, Jesus Christ
Nice grab by Slater.
Cousins ACL injury
I can’t see the Giants just dumping members of the core, as much as Zaidi would like to. Ownership would veto that. He’s got to turn them into trades somehow. But how? I see the core being heavily platooned in the future. The new manager will be fully onboard with that. The core won’t be digging it, but too bad.
Posey is already being platooned, albeit, the Giants brass (especially Bochy) will never call it that.
Good for Posey, but the positive blather from Kruk about Posey is overdoing it. The subsequent blast from Longo is what real power looks like vs. the pop gun warning track power which is the reality for Buster post 2014.
I can excuse the guy for C for 10 years, coming off surgery a year ago and one earlier in his career. There are lot more things to being a C than hitting homeruns. K and K, sure, they love the guy/diametric opposite of 99% of what gets posted here. Far as I’m concerned the platoon is working just fine.
Just my take Willie, but the entire core has gone south for 2-3 seasons. Of course they are going to take the money. Their agents are geniuses for negotiating these contracts. However, as a fan, I will always reserve my right to boo and/or not buy their product. Same deal with movies, restaurants, cars, etc. In effect, I won’t attend a movie that has bad reviews; frequent a restaurant that has poor food; or buy a lemon automobile.
Why do these guys get s pass???
San D, I’m sure there would be saran wrap explosion in couple Flap neighborhoods if that happened.
Meanwhile back in real life, Slater gets things going and Posey and Longo finish them off. 5-0 Giants.
Longo HR #15 tied with Pillar…who has 120 more ABs this season. Don’t start me talkin about how differently these 2 are portrayed here.
Hey, hitting homeruns is what Longo is SUPPOSED to do. Pillar is not a power hitter, it’s embarrassing to every fucking player on this team that he leads the team in that category (and almost every other one too)
Pillar is like found money under the sofa cushion. Longo is like an investment in Macy’s, GM, or Sears and your saying to yourself, “what the fuck was I thinking???”
that’s actually a very good analogy for both
A new spot for Belt in the batting order!
Watching with the sound down so I can listen to WXPN in Philly celebrate 50th anniversary of Woodstock by playing the entire festival as it happened at the exact times, including the stage announcements. Ravi Shankar just finished jammin’ on the sitar, I think Melanie is next.
I remember my mom buying this album and blasting it back in the day. Good times! She’s 84 and still going strong.
Cool!
really great to finally see a youngster step up. DRod, I salute you!
Agree, That said, how much do we factor in the post-Coors effect for the D-Backs?
it’s a factor for sure. As you can probably guess they have the worst VMI for hitters today because of that
Giants not misfiring tonight. Pitching and hitting outstanding. Need to replicate this tomorrow, etc.
it sucks so bad that you guys got such a shit game last night, especially since neither of you get to go to too many games being out of towners and all
Yeah, a bit peeved too. It was nice to attend a game with my parents. Not certain how many more opportunities I will have to do that with them,
can’t stand this guy but this was so cool to watch on so many different levels.
Pitcher? None other than “Dutch“ Holland…
Really nice effort by DRod. Put his head on Beede‘s body and you’d have something…
Pillar does it again!
Nice ass-kickin’ win, way to go D-Rod!
Wow.
Super game all around by the Gyros.
They need to keep this up in Arizona. Keep DRod around and see if he can pitch a few more of these…
On any given night- the Marlins defeated the Dodgers and Beuhler.
A lot of Dodger relievers have bad ERAs.
A’s Astros..10 homers scored all 13 runs. Crazy. IN OAKLAND! 5th game EVER with 4 players with multi homer games. A’s won 7-6
Chapman 2 bombs yesterday and 2 tonight. I wish the Giants had someone like that . . . sniff, sniff.
PS YAY Clint!
Yeah, we can’t get rid of all the contracts, but I’d like to see 2 gone by opening day 2020. Belt and Crawfish to be exact. Both are solid defenders, but this isn’t the 1975 Cardinals. Our 1st baseman (NOT Posey) has to have 25 homer power. Or at least something resembling that. Belt just needs to go.
Crawfish? Who knows? Maybe he can talk to Hunter and rediscover his stroke. Somewhere else.