Another Season In The Books
The Washington Nationals should be an inspiration to every team out there at any level. They lost their superstar and came out of the gates slow and buried. Yada yada yada, now they’re world champions.
And now WE begin the long trudge through Winter that doesn’t even start for 7 more weeks. As usual, we’ll be closing up a wing or two of Flap Nation. It’s always a little sad as I walk the halls, turn out some lights and lock up an office door or two.
I keep telling myself “this is the last year I’m doing this.” lol. Well, maybe it is, maybe it is.
I’d like us to be able to go out on top but that seems a long way off….
Lemme sit here with my coffee and look out this window for a spell, see how I feel in April…..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Baseball breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone.
A Bart Giamatti
Hoping like hell that The Flap Cafe remains open and viable for years to come.
Now, somebody grab a log and toss it on the fire…you know we have to keep the hot stove stoked…
second round of mgr talks. Kapler is still in along with bob Geren. yawn. Best of bunch looks like Stros bench coach but another guy who hasn’t managed. Giants still need a GM too and have to make decision on Bum if they haven’t already got contract offer on table.
It’s darkest before the dawn . . .,
Royals hire Matheney.
Giants have til Nov 4 to negotiate with their FAs (Vogt is in this category iirc) and that is also deadline for QO. If FA gets one has 10 days to accept or turn it down. Also final day for options to be accepted or declined; think Watson has one.
For the third time in the last four years, I listened to Game 7 on a joyous trip driving from Penn State to NJ. I got a Nats feed on satellite, so it was cool to hear their radio announcers make the celebratory final call. “Swing and a miss” and “Remember where you are” repeated a few times, along with mentions of a World Series curly W. Stunning final two games for the Nats, their big hitters came through in the late innings and their pitchers shut down the ‘Stros after the first inning. Congrats to the Nats!
Kotsay? Shit, I don’t know. Just wonder why Farhan is waiting so long. The only guy I thought who would be mildly interesting was Girardi. The rest? Meh.
The House passes the impeachment resolution. And Trump vows to pay off senators (out of the RNC coffers of course) and congressmen who back him. He actually doesn’t HAVE any money.
Quid pro quo, or pay for play? I guess it’s both.
Pfffttt…I hope that motherfucker (trump) ends up in prison. He deserves it. He is a crook, a lie, a cheat, and has sold-out our country. And yes, I do think, based on what we have all seen and heard, that what he did in relation to Ukraine, is an impeachable offense.
Chuck, we will be sitting on close to a billion dollars for the general election while whomever emerges from the Dem primaries bloodied bruised and broke!!! Why the President is still the betting favorite to be re-elected…
To Flav’s comments about the Nats “They lost their superstar and came out of the gates slow and buried” there is a lot of truth there. At approximately the 1/4 point of the season, the Nats were 19-31. And yes, they did it without their superstar Harper. Speaking of superstarts, the future looks bright for the Sota kid. He’s a monster.
According to league sources, the Giants have narrowed their search to former Phillies manager Gabe Kapler, Royals quality control coach Pedro Grifol and Astros bench coach Joe Espada, who is coming in for a second in-person interview now that Houston’s bid for a title is over.
How the fuck is Welcome Back Kotter even in the picture? He was a fucking comedy of errors for most of his tenure.
“Welcome Back Kotter” LMAO
Who’d have thought they’d lead ya?
Back here where we need ya…
The dude had a vastly improved team from the previous season and did nothing with it. You add Harper, Cutch, and Realmoto and you are one game better?
He fucking tried to make a pitching change without a pitcher actually ready to go, FFS.
What am I missing here?
Nothing. Another guy who runs game via iPad. You would think since Z knew he had to find a new guy, he kept abreast of how Phils went down in flames this year under Kapler’s leadership.
Spot on.
Fuck Yeah! Absolutely spot on!
In honor of the Niners vs the Birds tonight . . .
Niners game seems like perfect trap game. They just blew out a good team and stuffed hot QB and scored at will with everyone singing their praises. Cards played well enough to lose, as they have for a long time. And even when they’ve been bad seem to give Niners a tough time.
SF sched gets lot tougher in second half. they could potentially lose 4-5 games. Even were they to win the Division, having to face Brees and/or Rodgers on the road in playoffs would be very difficult. So they need to keep winning the winnable games with eye to locking in homefield advantage if they can.
Nine games left. Two each against the Cards and SeaChicks.
Seattle just isn’t a good football team, and neither is AZ. I think the Niners will win three of these four games.
That leaves The Packers, Ravens, Saints (all three in a row – Pack at Levi and the other two on the road), Falcons, and Lambs.
I think the Niners win at least three of these five games. I don’t see the Pack as measurably better than the Niners, and really same is true of Ravens and Saints. Sure, they are all good football teams, but I think the Niners can play, and potentially win against any of them.
It is sounding like the Niners will get all of their starters who are out back by the Monday night game against the Chicks (11/11). So, there is that, too.
When Sabes hired Bochy, everybody asked „WTF did the Giants hire this guy?“. Three trophies later, he‘s revered in SF like King Arthur sailing off into retirement. Whoever Z hires, I’m all in until proved otherwise…
Looking up Phils record, they won 7 of first 9 and were still in first place Jun 11 with record of 38-29. After that they went 43-52 and wound up 4th at 81-81.
they were also one of few teams to lose season series vs. Marlins, 9-10. By contrast other 3 teams in division killed Miami, to tune of 43-14 (ATL and WAS 15-4, Mets 13-6).
Didn’t take Gerrit Cole long to distance himself from the Astros:”I’m not a member of the team” before clarifying, I guess I’m representing myself,as he dons a Boras team cap in the clubhouse.
Yeah just another guy under “Team Borass” control chasing and will receive the humongous contract next year..
To me another example of a manager over reacting to a situation where a starting pitcher (Grienke) is dominating and pulls him after allowing only 1 hit before the Rendon Homer, and good close pitches to Soto for the walk.He was only at 80 pitches when AJ Hinch panicked and removed him.The Nats said later he was tough on us and hoping for a change even Cole they mentioned. AJ Hinch will be scrutinized all winter over this move, bringing in a worn out Harris, who gave up a bomb the previous game as well. Even asshole Osuna would of been a better choice then Harris there, but Grienke was the best choice to stick with imo..
Trump’s involvement in the Russia 2016 election stuff was highly impeachable, too; but I guess the Dems felt the story was too complicated for the average American to digest. It wasn’t THAT complicated. But if you can’t get Americans to read the Mueller Report, which isn’t THAT long, then, heck, I guess the Ukraine story is the more simple and direct story that the American public can digest. The bottom line is that Trump felt he got away with it with the Russia scandal, and decided to keep doing the same type of crime: trying to get a foreign nation to help you win a U.S. election. That is a crime. There is a law against it. You don’t have to have a huge crime to impeach. The Constitution says that you can impeach for a misdemeanor. (if I spelled that right)
The biggest thing in my head around this is, the Ukraine thing was much closer to the election than the Mueller report. Both are damnable, as well as the emoluments, the nepotism, the blatant racism, yadda yadda yadda. I think she held out on the vote until all kinds of people gave damning evidence to support the transcript Trump released (!!!) and watched the folks line up to show their concern with what Trump was doing on that ‘perfect’ call.
Funny thing is, if Pence gets implicated in all this, Nancy is prez. Sean Hannity would look something like this.
Unconvictable…all that really matters…let the American people decide!!!
Right. Fuck the Constitution. The fake emoluments clause.
If the American people have a conscience, and a respect for the rule of law, they will agree that trump should be locked-up.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TpgsErJyAlY
LMAO. Where the fuck do you get this stuff, Loo. Now that shit, in relation to the topic, is god damned funny, only because the high crimes and treason the president has committed are no way a fucking misdemeanor.
Time to give that motherfucker (donny dipshit trump) a taste of his own fucking medicine (similar to the ear full he got at one of the WS games)…
LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP!
In other news of the weird, the red sox claimed Josh Osich (4,66 ERA) off waivers from White Sox. Osich OPS vs. LH last year was .551, vs. RH .903. As MLBTR story noted, this coming season the 3 batter minimum rule takes over.
One blogger commenting called him a “hidden gem” acquired by new guy in charge, Bloom.
Giants couldn’t hide this guy far enough away.
Shea has had good columns all week, and they are there on his twitter feed if you click on it underneath his name. He went over Giants prospects for IF, OF and pitching, plus nice short one on Bum referencing Oct 29 2014 WS #3 in 5.
Bum pitched 21 innings, 1 run allowed walked 1 struck out 17. 2 Ws including a shutout plus the clinching Game 7 save.
And now SF has few days to talk to him as FA about money, or not, and handcuff him with QO which everyone seems to think they will do.
Hank is also listed there as he has the story on Bum as FA, also Smith and Vogt, and talks about Watson and Sandoval. Plus he lays out all the rules therein and notes other upcoming dates like GM meetings, when contracts due, 40 man yada yada.
Down with what snarkk said at 11:30 am, i.e., Z hasn’t given me ANY reason in the last 12 months that he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing.
Agree, Steve. And everyone should know that this next manager is not going to be what we have come to think of as a manager in the past (such as Bochy). The game, and the role of the manager has changed.
Also, it is going to be interesting to see how things play out for the veteran players who Bochy so loved to play/protect.
I just can’t wrap my head around Kapler being in the running. I don’t think it will happen but . . .
As far as the Niners go, I think they are fully aware they haven’t beaten this team since the Harbaugh era. They should be anyway. Not saying it’s gonna be easy, but it should be easy enough. Just hoping there are no injuries.
Hold out Staley one more week. Rest as many as you can as fast as you can. We should treat this like a preseason game.
i only made it through 30 seconds of this.
Get a fucking job…
I like it!!!
That was lame with the kids doing it. This is just . . . . desperate.
I was always one to argue that I really believe clubhouse chemistry has a huge influence in playoff runs…this Gnats team is the perfect embodiment of it. The Flodgers the perfect embodiment of not having it!!!
So Gerritt Cole definitely a former Astro now but I did not know he has Boras Ass as his agent…https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27975988/free-agent-gerrit-cole-thanks-astros-fans-support%3fplatform=amp
Pedro Grifol??? WTF is a Pedro Grifol??
Is that the dude in Napoleon Dynamite?
Vote for Pedro?
This is more like it.Jimmy G 5-5 on the drive as Emanuel Sanders is fitting right in! TD pass to Bourne threaded the needle and still tipped but great concentration on Bourne’s part to haul it in..
Hell of a read by Jimmy G there.
Sorry, but I think Farhan’s biggest accomplishments this year was fixing his own mistakes, I can’t grade him higher than a C for his first year.
I think Kapler will be named the GM/asst GM or whatever title the kids are calling it these days, he’ll also be the emergency manager in case Zaidi’s first manager pick fucks up (has Bam Bam been ruled out yet?)
Going into next year, my biggest hope is that Zaidi proves me wrong.
I was as down on Farhan as anyone at the start of the season, but he did well the rest of the way. And we didn’t have much to start with.
like our OF? and solarte and Kratz? Pomeranz? why did Giants start season off with these guys in the first place? I will agree that eventually guys he picked up worked out and he did trade Pom and Melancon and acquired good guys.
let’s hope he has better luck with his first mgr pick.
and that he’s made peace with Bum on a new deal.
True, we didn’t have much to start with. Everyone knew we needed corner OFers, a SP or two, a backup INFer and Catcher, What he started our year with were picks that even Evans and or Sabeans wouldn’t have started the season with even if they had been blind drunk. Farhan fixed his mistakes so I’m giving him a C grade for the year but making 5 million roster moves doesn’t put the guy in the genius roll in my mind. Going forward I hope he has a clearer plan in keeping the team competitive. Again, I hope the guy proves me wrong and I can come on here and say I was an idiot about him.
Murray looks really small.
Some Dodger fans discuss the 3-in-5:
Winning 3 World Series in 5 years is an amazing accomplishment. I just don’t consider it a dynasty. To me a sports dynasty is marked by a several year period of dominance and those giants teams weren’t dominant. The late 90’s Yankees were a dynasty.
Posted by Lake Show on Oct 31, 2019 | 3:49 PM
Each of those rings dominates the finger it is on.
Posted by David Young on Oct 31, 2019 | 4:06 PM
Okay
Posted by Lake Show on Oct 31, 2019 | 4:11 PM
Seeing as it hasn’tbeen done in the NL for 70 odd years, yeah, it’s dynastic.
I’ll leave you tonight with something pretty trippy from Kokonuts
https://thelaughorist.blogspot.com/2019/10/ghost-town.html?spref=tw
Trippy is a good descriptor. Interesting stuff from Pawlie…
Totally agree with allyKat…. Hynch did a Dusty Baker. Pulled a dominating starter too early. That should go down in WS lore. Never remove a guy throwing a 2 hitter after only 80 pitches # ortizgrienke. Cost his team the WS.
what I saw of Garappolo he looked great. Loved the last drive to keep ball out of Cards hands.
Getting outscored 18-7 in second half and giving up 150 yds on ground to a team with 3 Ws, not so much.
And I’d tell Cards O co-ordinator to be careful how many designed runs he calls for Murray. With that O line pass protection he’s gonna get hit plenty often enough.
Always dug their old school uni and helmet from Larry Wilson days but the black is stupid.
#19 for Cards is KeeSean Johnson, wideout from Flav’s alma mater Palo alto HS, who for some unknown reason ditched the Bay Area to play college ball in armpit of state Fresno, home of !@%&* hated rival b…….bulldogs.
No relation to Keyshon Throw Me the Damn Ball Johnson?
yeah was gonna add that— not to be confused with.
what did you think of Aikman’s take, that playing Thursday followed by longer layoff (Niners next isn’t til Monday vs. seattle) is like a having a bye?
Well, not exactly like having a bye (but it will be extra days for players to rest and heal-up). Last I saw is that there is a good chance the Niners have all of their walking wounded (Staley, McGlinchey, Juszczyk, etc.) back for the SeaChick game. EIGHT and OH, Baby! Bring on the Pack, Ravens, and Aints…
Yeah I kind of agree with Aikman’s take, it’s give them what a full 10 days off to get the rest of the injured guys ready to go so they should be close to everyone back, say Juicy.Also puts alittle more added pressure for the Seahawks to win this week with are’s already in the bank..
9 years ago today . . .
Like
Yeah, sure, they get more time off. Hopefully, Kittle is OK, and Kwon Alexander suffered a pectoral injury that could be season-ending. But there’s optimism it isn’t. These games are very dangerous to player safety. I really think they should get rid of them.
Shanahan was right. A loss last night would have been devastating due to the timing of it, the fact Seattle is next, and the extra days to dwell on it. Then we play AZ again. Weird scheduling to say the least.
Kwon Alexander is out for the rest of the year with a torn pectoral muscle.
Fuck.
Double Fuck! That sucks!
Opportunity for one of the young bucks to step-in and make an impact (not unlike what has happened at both OT and the FB positions).
Hate these Thursday games.
And sadly to keep the bummer stuff going, Steph Curry to be out 3 months with surgery on his broken left hand…
Just saw that, Kat. That sucks balls, too. Warriors are gonna have a tough go at it this year.
I have a negative enduring memory of new Met manager, Beltran. Showtime did a behind the scenes mini-series on the Giants quest to repeat back in 2011. It was very under publicized and I don’t think we even discussed it here much. One of the few scenes I remember took place in the indoor batting cage at AT&T. Andres Torres was clearly in awe watching Beltran and was trying to get some insight from him. Beltran appeared very cold and distant while reluctantly offering little to his new teammate. I remember feeling bad for poor Yungo. Beltran came off like an uppity prick – to me, anyway…
Looks like Bam Bam will be the latest Giant moving on to take a job with the Marlins after Z said he’s out of the running with of course whipping boy Wotus who will be leaving too.Not sure if it was mentioned before but pitching coach Matt Herges also bailed last week to the D-backs.Im sure their will be more on the chopping block as the new manager brings in his own staff..
He appears to be waiting until EVERYONE else gets hired.
Farhan: “Well I had to hire Unca Chuck because he was the only guy left”.
Perfect choice with MacDog at your side…
Yeah, Loo, me too about Beltran. On paper, that trade was not a bad idea to “put the team over the top”, but it went all sideways right from the start, as he got hurt, didn’t do shit in August, and saw the Giants go from 4 or so games up in the division when he joined the team to out of contention in a month. I remember watching a celebration, maybe a walk-off, and all the players were acting all joyful together as they tend to do at such times, and Beltran was just standing in the dugout by himself. Never really fit with the team and seemed to have no inclinations to be anything but a rental that did the team absolutely no good at all (his decent numbers in September didn’t matter, it was already too late). And now Wheeler is being touted as a prized FA pitcher this off-season….
It’s always a shock when anyone reads anything I write.
God bless you!
Oh come on. We all hang on your every word, Loo. And I ain’t kidding.
This is a real REAL tough stretch for the Niners now. We very well could go 2-6 these next 8. Atlanta is the only real pushover left on the schedule. AZ at home isn’t even a given. Losing Alexander is gonna hurt. Greenlaw is good and fast, but he’s a rookie. The offense is gonna have to keep scoring.
I’d be thrilled with 4-4 .
Clayton McCullough . . . hmm.
Twin couldn’t stand Beltran either. Lot of back and forth after he went elsewhere too, both sides claiming other one didn’t want to talk contract.
Krukow in interview with tim Kawakami at Athletic says it’s time for Craw to make the big pitch to the biggest FA pitcher, Cole, who is married to his Craw’s sister Amy. Maybe invite him over Thanksgiving dinner.
Supposedly Cole wants to get back to left coast. Wouldn’t hold breath on this one ever happening.
If Jaylin Davis ever turns into anything, man the Twins gonna feel stoopid
Breeders Cup today!!!!!
This is stranger than fiction . . . lqtm
Since Bochy pulled a Posey(sat him in his Sept callup to continue to start Big Titty)on Davis when he finally got called up, I’m pleading for the new regime to get Davis plenty AB’s in ST and cut him loose! The talent and athleticism is there and that’s what this team needs..
Sucks for Dyson since he’ll be out most of year with no deal and also for losing out on chance to pitch in playoffs because of the injury. Twins need Davis lot less than Giants do and made a deal they hoped would help their pitching but didn’t because he got hurt.
Blade who is the colorado guy?
Mrsprtdude, it’s the new guy we picked up, Tyler Anderson.
Thanks!
Shandler likes him going in to this year.
I understand my main man, Wilmer Flores was cut loose by AZ.
Hope we grab him…
I think this was already posted here:
“Heard the #SFGiants are down to a final 3 in their manager derby. There’s likely to be a final round of interviews next week. Pedro Grifol, Joe Espada and Gabe Kapler are among those not known to have been eliminated. @PavlovicNBCS identified those 3 as the likely final 3
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 1, 2019”
My main man, Clayton too (lqtm).
Shea dropped a good one: San Diego St is only U to produce WS MVP and NBA Finals MVP in same year.
If horse-racing was a new sport trying to be approved these days, it would never be a allowed because of animal cruelty issues. It’s ingrained and grandfathered into our culture, though.
Granted, horse racing has some issues, but I don’t see where those issues – if addressed – would prohibit horse racing from being approved today. First and foremost, experts agree that running and jumping comes naturally to horses, and we see them doing both those things in the wild. It’s also interesting to note that when a horse unseats its rider during a race, it will continue to run and jump with the other horses. In the overwhelming majority of cases, horses happily take part in a race. Conversely, per a site I just reviewed, it’s important to note that if a horse does not want to race, it won’t, and very occasionally we see a horse plant its feet and refuse to move. No horse can be made to race against its will.
In my opinion, this is what needs to be corrected: whip use and illegal electric shock devices, coupled with cocktails of legal and illegal drugs intended to mask injuries and artificially enhance performance. Personally, I enjoy going to the races and seeing these magnificent creatures do what comes naturally to them.