Devastating Loss
That was just…..fucking awful. The manager’s job is to push the right buttons. Kap is not pushing the right buttons. I don’t understand why Belt can pinch hit but not play late inning defense. Jesus Christ, defense is the ONE thing he CAN do. You send him out to CATCH the ball not to try to HIT the ball. This is managing 101, man.
Had this exchange with Krueger last night. I think he wants there to be action at the trade deadline because it’ll spice up his job. I just can’t see it happening. But I guess we’ll find out.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
For what it’s worth, Kap said Belt is dealing with a sore leg and the same foot issues he’s had all “season.” They should just shut him down for the rest of the mini-season.
good exchange i think you are right. Especially given injury concerns to Yanks guys Judge and Stanton.
Hank said Belt had calf and foot problem and Kapler only wanted to use him to PH. What? D is his only value and if he can’t field his position for inning or two than put him on the IL,
Honest, soon as I saw Gott come in I thought of DMD. sure enough…Kapler left in him too long when he was wild and A’s were on him. Hitting Davis with 2 strikes to load bases, yikes. One hanging curve later…Piscotty knew he had only 2 pitches and was thinking up middle or RF base hit, guessed right after he looked bad on first one.
Still don’t get why Crawford took his foot off base, let alone flores. Was he watching Flores at all?
You do have to give A’s credit for coming back 6-0 and 7-2 and taking full advantage when given chance, starting with Olson bomb off Gott. and using 2 productive outs to score in 10th and THEN bringing in lights out closer who sealed deal. Melvin over Kapler, every time.
Except in number of championships won.
Both are tied at zero.
Craw saw Flores head toward the bag. So he went to his bag. He has to look where he’s going. He assumed Flores touched 1st base.
Reds and Pirates cancelled today because of, well, we all know why.
Give us the Bart-man. Give the fans something cool.
Kapler couldn’t hold Melvin’s jockstrap in managerial moves!!
Sad that 2 of are best hitters Flores&Solano are such a liability in the field.You can only have 1 DH and they need 2..
Laughing still over Kapler’s assessment that he’s confident with Flores at 1st base and wanted to save Belt for a crucial PH moment, which of course he sucked at and struck out without even hitting a ball to the right side to move Slater over to 3rd.Geez no problem for the A’s Olson doing that setting up the Sac Fly for the game winner!
Oh Joy. I just hope there’s a football season. Baseball is making me ill.
I’ve personally never been able to discern a well managed or coached 65-97 team. The focus on Kapler’s “moves” is a story to tell and kvetch about, as is the expectation that if somehow Tromp had been given more anti-catchers’s interference drills or Flores been instructed more carefully to handle a 9th inning 4 run lead we’d now be seeing “clean” losing baseball.
Errors don’t affect outcomes? See below.
The collective skills, experience, and luck of your players affect a team’s W-L record. I’m going to assume most players want to do well.
I’m just sick of seeing guys continually put in the wrong place (Pence in LF, Flores at 1st, Solano at 3rd, numerous shifts all leading to errors), and the horrendous pitching decisions by Kapler.
It’s like he thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room, when in reality any 10 people could do a by-the-book job better.
So you’re saying there’s a chance. Looks like the west coast wins the series by attrition.
I was thinking Frazier might be a good fit for SF but the problem for the Yanks would be if Cueto had to cut his hair and shave the beard that might really throw off his game.
“wanted to save Belt for a crucial PH moment”
I never saw that quote anywhere. Where is that quote?
The quote I saw was that Kap wanted to keep Belt completely off the field last night. With a 7-2 lead, and his closer pitching, Kap was confident he could accomplish that.
Yes, this would be a logical and reasonably safe assumption to make, not requiring an excess of IQ points or reference to the old wisdom even Dave Bristol had access to.
Kapler did what we’ve seen others do many times, put a guy in to pinch hit, even though the player was otherwise dinged up and not going to see action. He figured Belt might hit one of those grounders to the right side at the very least . . . or most.
He said it during his postgame interviews.
I wanted to save him for just a PH situation only.
Whatever! They had a day off before this series started, that should of been enough time to come in late a play some defense first..
As for Kapler, this statement from Pav’s write up really nags at me –
“Kapler said the staff chose Gott because they figured they might need to get Gott up anyway if they went with Jarlin Garcia or Trevor Rogers, and that’s no day off.” The staff chose Gott? Managing completely by committee are we?
Can the Giants get Eddie D to stop by just to say “He’s gone”? .
Oh yeah, and this one – “and the staff trusted Flores to get through that final inning.”
So maybe it’s the staff that needs to be fired.
Time for some good news.
The Giants won’t lose 105 games this season. Thank God for a shortened season. Who would want to watch this fiasco for 162 games. If I had to, my head would explode.
Back to some bad news.
I hope not putting out best prospects on the field so the Giants can control their playing (service) time is not going to be the norm for the FO.
When it’s obvious Heliot is ready, are the Giants going to keep him down another year? When Bishop and Bailey are ready, will they continue to languish in the minors. When Luciano is ready are the Giants going to keep him from coming up also? I don’t like this trend. Maybe it’s time for MLB and MLB Players Assoc. to look at this issue of not calling up players to the show in order for the teams to keep them under control.
OK, the Giants feel Bart needs more time working on his catching skills (even though he was a great defensive catcher in college). But he doesn’t need any more time working on his hitting skills. Call him up to DH (instead of Sandoval) and then play him at catcher (or even 1st) on occasion.
I can only imagine what Bart is saying to himself, his friends and family about why he isn’t in the majors right now.
Wilmet’s career experience at the 4 infield positions is amazingly equal. It was just a classic mental error.
Blaming him for last night’s loss is a little like blaming Bartman for the infamous Cub game.
They both weren’t directly responsible for everything that happened after their screw-ups.
Anyway, I still put it mostly on Wilmet. He turned the karma of the game around.
And Kotter has to realize that a 5 run lead ain’t what it used to be and manage accordingly.
Care to calculate the odds on Kapler returning in 2021?
100% that Kapler is back next season.
99% only because nothing is 100%…
The only way he’s not back is if there’s widespread discontent among the players or if Cueto improves his English enough and also evolves into a jerk in order to play SF’s version of Jake Arietta.
The guarantee is that everything after the fuckup would have been different.
“Maybe it’s time for MLB and MLB Players Assoc. to look at this issue of not calling up players to the show in order for the teams to keep them under control.”
That will definitely be an issue during negotiations for the next Collective Bargaining Agreement in the next year or so. The players’ union has already said that. They also want to see the years of service toward free agency reduced from 6 years to 5, because the new GMs don’t want to give older players big contracts anymore.
Nothing to add. Still irritated at stupid losses. managing isnt rocket science, but isn’t easy either. A good manager can win a team 4-5 games a year. I’d say kap is down around 2 already. thats down about 10 in a full season. I could care less about this year, it is next year and 2022 that i’m already bummed about.
I have hopes for 2022!
I’d say it’s about 5% he’s here in 2022.
0% in 2023.
If only Kapler could learn from the master.
“Welcome Back, Kotter” doesn’t hold up all that well, IMO, but the theme song by John Sebastian does. The song has a nice combination of hope and melancholy.
I wonder what Loo thinks of the show. Did Brooklyn viewers like the show at the time? Do they see the show differently now?
The ‘60s and ‘70s were a golden era for TV show theme songs and music. TV shows took their opening theme music or song very seriously.
Here’s a great theme song and fun show. I was a big fan of the show.
Yeah never cared for Welcome back Kotter theme song, boring to me!
Now you give me Hawaii 5-0 one of the best of all times are “The Invaders” that could scare the living day lights of a young kid!
Other good ones…Mod Squad pretty upbeat rhythm.
The Fugitive,Rat Patrol,Combat,Bonanza,Mission Impossible,Get Smart,Streets of San Francisco,The Munsters, Adams Family etc etc
The Perry Mason theme music was a scary one, too. And Dragnet.
If you were home, you definitely watched it.
It was all about Barbarino for us.
I never thought it was all that funny and couldn’t stand Kotter, his wife or Horshack.
Mr. Woodman was an underrated character.
It doesn’t hold up well, either…
Breaking News…Pirates/Reds Saturday and Sunday’s game have been postponed due to a Reds player testing positive for Covaid19.. That is all, u may now go back to your regular scheduled programming are just shelter in place without little contact to the outside world..
Including getaway day L to Texas they are 3-9 and 8-13 overall settled comfortably into cellar of NL West.
Minus 30 run differential is going to bring those kind of results.
Only so much of this can be set at feet of Kapler, based on what he has to work with as provided by Zaidi and Harris. It’s a flawed group to begin with–better hitters are poor in the field pitching is very inexperienced or mediocre and inconsistent.
Offense has provided some spark, 7th in HRs middle of pack for runs and BA though OB and slugging closer to bottom. 24 HRs!
Pitching is uniformly awful, at or near league worst for runs hit HRs and BBs given up. Fielding blunders don’t help the challenged group as we all know.
Kap isn’t going anywhere but I would hope minds with more experience coaching at ML level might ultimately be brought in next season to give him some sorely needed assistance and advice. He needs someone to listen to beside who he has and maybe give him something else to think about.
We were also 8-13 at 21 games in last year. Lower run differential and generally lower scoring games are the difference at this point..
Between the analytics, on field decisions, lineup cards, health food choices and whatnot Kapler’s just confused
Good one Dirt!!
So true,Kapler’s like that ELO song
I can’t get it out of my head,my whole world has gone cold dead!
So within next couple weeks Giants mgmt has decision to make. Sept would normally be time younger players come up, like Davis did last season. Do they continue to go forward with older position players in 1b 3b corner OF DH? If you want to see more of Dubon experiment in CF, who covers 2b/SS?
Should they lose an SP to trade or injury, do they try opener or group of 3-4 inning pitchers? Right now pen is overloaded on LHP so who can be relied upon to set up or hold lead from other side?
Re Kap:
And some years ago, Bochy went from Botchy to Bochy…
lulz
Would they do better playing Bocce ball?
Anybody hear from Kokonuts?
he’s still bloggin’ his typical far out shit pretty regularly
Then PK should be going far out there teeing off on Kapler’s mysterious game calls..
For whatever reason, probably because I think it is a sham season and we have such an incredible lack of talent—I’m not that down on Kapler. The guy is trying to patch together wins with a bunch of cast-offs.
I’m more down on Zaidi for not tearing off the band-aid, getting the roster younger, and embracing a full rebuild.
#1 complaint is still the way they have handled Jaylen Davis. I KNOW he is not a top prospect, and maybe he sucks—-but throw him out there a few times a week and let’s find out for sure. Dubon has looked dreadful much of the year, yet they keep giving him a chance—which I agree with! Do the same for JD.
Where is Blade these days? He’s been calling for a full rebuild for years now and I could use some backup on this issue!
I LOVE Loo’s idea of the twin DFA’s for Pence and Pablo. Makes it all much more palatable. Do it asap.
Have you heard the stat that Pablo has no extra base hits this year???
Hey I’ve been all in on the rebuild Dog.Z is hogtied from these owners that won’t cut let go of the past glories and of course the huge contracts.He can’t dump Craw,Belt,Longo,Posey but he should be able to convince the powers above to cut Pence&Panda that would be an obvious start.
I’m a bigtime Jaylin Davis ( Jesus he’s 25 get him in there)supporter and he should be up here now starting along with my new outfield of Ramos LF,Yaz CF, Davis RF with both Dickerson &Slater as the backups!
Bring up whipping boy Chris Shaw to play some 1st/DH
He’ll bring up those 2 pitchers SP Shaun Hejille and Reliever Seth Corry they couldn’t do any worse then what we’re seeing now!!
kokonuts on Thursday
https://thelaughorist.blogspot.com/2020/08/swiped-left.html
Thanks Flavor.
Glad he’s okay…
calling Ruf’s first bomb today. It is time…..
And of course, starting at 1B…
1. Austin Slater (R) DH
2. Donovan Solano (R) 2B
3. Mike Yastrzemski (L) CF
4. Evan Longoria (R) 3B
5. Wilmer Flores (R) 1B
6. Hunter Pence (R) RF
7. Darin Ruf (R) LF
8. Chadwick Tromp (R) C
9. Mauricio Dubon (R) SS
he had another night of practice, maybe he’s good there now?
(Paraphrased from the John Lennon song)
All I want is some Bart at-bats
Just gimme some Bart at-bats
Zumiee you continue to blow my mind with this staunch commitment to the Beatles. Question for you: How often are the Beatles blaring throughout building at Casa de Zumiee?
“It was all about Barbarino for us.”
Yeah, definitely the star character of the show.
It was clear Travolta was going places. “Saturday Night Fever” surprised me with how good a movie it was. I thought “Urban Cowboy” was good, too. Then his career became more hit and miss. “Face/Off” is good.
Oops, forgot about Pulp Fiction and Get Shorty.
Saturday Night Fever was as spot on accurate as a movie can be.
Basically a documentary of Bensonhurst at that time.
Not anymore…
who’s with me on this Ruf bomb? I can feel it so intense it’s like aliens crawling all over my body. LET’S GO RUF BABY FUCK SOUTH KOREA OR WHEREVER THE FUCK YOU PLAYED YOU DON’T NEED TO GO BACK THERE MY DUDE, JUST RAKE FUCKING HERE WOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!!
This is one of the songs they played at Shea Stadium. John playing electric piano on the song, and having a blast on it.
First Shea Stadium concert, in ‘65.
Roll out the barrel,
We’re have a barrel of fun!
Donnie Barrels another basehit
17 game hitting streak!
2 behind Angel Pagan’s 19 game hitting streak..
Unca’s 10:10 looks like a pic outta the “Battle of the Network Stars”.
Anybody remember that? Maybe the origination of “reality” TV….
Yaz on a crazy baseball scenario rounds the bases with a triple, 2 RBI’s scores on a wild throw into the dugout !
“How often are the Beatles blaring throughout building at Casa de Zumiee?”
Quite often, as you might guess. 🙂 A lot of times nowadays it’s obscure recordings of concerts or their songwriting demos. More and more stuff keeps getting released from the estates of the 4 Beatles.
Fun fact: the Beatles were the #1 selling rock band last year, regarding recordings.
Including their solo career years.
What? The solo stuff shouldn’t count toward the Beatles sales.
It doesn’t. That was not said well by me. I meant I listen to demos and other stuff from their solo years, too.
Ha, now that sounds right.
Gausman is filthy right now.Just struck out the side and has 10K’s in 5 innings!
Yeah probably time for Kapler to pull him then due to anal listics..
Ruf at bats for Flavor’s HR pick!
Better chance with his clone Tyler Austin to Jack one.
Oh forgot Austin City Limits is gone, does any team have him now?
Just dig in, crank up and unload.
No one’s gonna bother you.
The golf ball will take care of the rest…
Burch Smith, I’ll just throw my somewhat above average fastball over and over again, half the time down the middle of the plate, and, presto, I’m on my way to success at age 30.
What a call!
Flav calls it!
FLAVOR IS INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!
BF!!
The 🐶 says Ruf!
Wow Ruf hits one out for flavor!
Kevin Pillar does not know what a powerful friend he has. Awesome call.
Shit for a guy that was dominant all year the Giants sure Rufed up Smith, go figure after he blew them away in the previous inning..
Here we go again, leadoff double for Cahna off of Watson..
I think I’ve seen that MLB commercial with DeRosa 700 times this week…
Question number the first: Who starts the ninth
Gott again prepare for a wild ride!
Yanks just beat Red Sox, they’re battering Boston this year.
De ja vu all over again.
I can’t watch.
Have I seen this movie before? Something about the top of the 9th seems vaguely familiar.
Thank God Pence is out there. GImme a fucking break.
It is RF . . . .
But these decision don’t matter.
Meaning what?
You complained about him being misplaced in LF before.
Hunter Pence has reached the twilight of his career
The twilight was 2 years ago.
He can’t see the ball at this time of the evening
Thanks so much again Gabe to verify your incompetence!!
Now Clueless Pence with a ole effort on a bad route!! Will this shit ever end??
You have Gott to be kidding me. Is he really trying to recreate last night?
I did say prepare for a wild ride!
Jesus Pence looks so gay out there when he even makes a ketch!
Pull his fucking Ass Kapler you pussy!!!
Gott gas?
There it is.
Are you fucking kidding me?!?
There you go. Nice. Kapler is expert at pushing all the wrong buttons.
Yeah FUCK YOU KAPLER!!!
Fuck the horse u rode in on and the one u should ride out on
FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING RETARD!!!
My God. What does Gott expect to see happen when you pipe a fastball to a home run hitter?
One more thing besides Kapler’s gross incompetence…does Oakland have videos of Gott which have been gone through again and again to the point of knowing exactly what’s coming? This whole scenario strains the possibilities of chance.
Did you see the pitch?
Pence. Unbelievable.