Tough Start
If you had told me that Buster Freaking Posey and Evan Longoria would both hit bombs AND Gausman would be rock damn solid into the 7th inning after pitching a total of 8 spring training frames I’d say “goddamn right we started off with a win.”
Brandon Crawford was horrible. I watched him try to catch that ball Belt threw him 10 times. Each time I become more incensed that he couldn’t catch it. He looked like a little leaguer overwhelmed with the speed of the throw as it bounced off his glove.
Whatever, Crawford isn’t the reason they lost. There were many goats, even more walks and, frankly, many balls that just didn’t bounce our way.
That happens in baseball. I’m just so thankful we have some normal looking baseball back. Win or lose. So grateful.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I went to bed at the end of 7, we were up 5-1. So I just went back and watched the lows in the 8-10 innings.
Crawford’s effort sucked, Belt’s throw sucked (although it did have some nice sink to it) and the pen not being able to throw strikes really sucked.
Brutal opener.
Turns out like we thought, can hitters score enough to overcome pitching?
Funny, when Gaus was mowing them down early and hadn’t allowed a hit, benefit of replay Belt bailed out Crawford. I wondered at time if Gaus could go no no. Then Craw couldn’t help Belt on bad throw. Bad look.
Overcome the pitching and shoddy D. The Giants were pretty pathetic in fielding last year, and ST didn’t show much improvement.
That was a game I could not stay up for but was asleep at 5-1 and then woke up at 7-7…wtf??? Hate the GD extra inning rule but why also did Belt not come home for the certainty of getting the tie run out at home and still could complete the DP…
Kap getting a ton of shit on KNBR this morning. Come on. What was he supposed to do? Gausman took them as far as he could, he had to go to the BP. It’s not Kap’s fault they couldn’t throw strikes or Belt/Crawford couldn’t play catch. Misplaced anger, IMO
Exactly. This morning I received a video from a grade school buddy, whom I love and would do anything for (e.g., saved my life – long story). Anyway, he’s been a Trumpster and bible thumper for quite a few years now. The video specifically is unadulterated right leaning bullshit about a little girl that was raped in Mexico by gang bangers, but Biden is responsible. Huh?
This circuitous thinking is exactly what you described on KNBR . . . Kapler didn’t play a fucking inning, but he’s to blame. Hilarious. All these morons, including my friend, need to go back to school and re-take a critical thinking course, because they are SORELY LACKING in analysis, interpretation, inference, explanation, open-mindedness, and problem-solving.
Yes. Most of that fucking meltdown was on the bullpen and their inability to throw strikes and get outs. But I am growing tired of Kapler’s methods and moves. The leash is getting shorter for me. I am definitely not sold on him…
what did you want him to do instead?
Not specific to last night, there just have been a lot of instances during his tenure where I questioned his moves. I am just saying I am not completely sold he is the right guy.
I thought Kotter handled Gasman fine. I was surprised he even came out for the 7th.
That the pen couldn’t find their dicks with either hand isn’t on Gabe. He had to keep Whistling Dipstick in there for 3. As well as the next doofus. And Alvarez.
Only positives on the bullies was that McGee was good and Baragar was okay. Whisler and Alvarez stank it up big-time. Other positive is that putative replacements are champing at the bit waiting for the call. Leone was most impressive in Arizona and Tropeano. can be good for extended innings.
Tonight we get to see whether Cueto has anything left in the tank. It could be a major-league slugfest as Paxton got set back to the second series so its the Japanese import on the mound who has struggled to reach the mediocre level pitching in The Show.
85 pitchers in cmp and this is what we got. That is flat awful. They’d better get their shit together or this will be an absolute nightmare of a season.
The 3-pitchers rule really shows how artificial meddling fucks the game up. Forcing managers to do things that defy logic is a joke.
And it doesn’t speed up anything, either. What’s gained by preventing the one and done pitching changes, is lost when someone like Garcia doesn’t have it.
I agree, when a pitcher obviously doesn’t have his stuff he shouldn’t be out there. And the extra inning rule is fucked up too. I just hope we are close to getting the robo ump. I thought some of the balls hit the corners. Anyway, we will see how this team bounces back.
Manfred is an ambulatory disaster-area. Worst commissioner ever.
Agree. The three hitter rule on pitchers and a runner on 2nd to start an extra inning are absolute fucked-up rules.
Play was at the plate for Belt not second base for an easy force.Maybe his lack of ST and rust played into it?
I just couldn’t believe the lack of control from the bullpen, it’s not like they are rookies coming in these are experienced arms lots of times in the bigs and they pitched like deer in the headlights out there!
Belt was moving toward 2nd. Easy force at least. They prolly don’t turn the DP but at least they don’t give up the lead.
When you hit 4 HR’s to the other’s team’s ZERO your usually going to win. But when you give up 9 freaking walks and shaky defense late it can happen. Just have to chalk it up to season opener and to amped up for some and move on.Kapler truly disappointed that his relievers couldn’t come in and throw strike one, that’s where the game was loaded.Hell 2 bases loaded walks to boot really sucks..
I’m reluctant to declare anything we saw last night to be a sign of the way it’ll be all season long, but the low velocity, strike throwing bullpen strategy could wind up being an issue. With a few exceptions, the Seattle hitters went into take mode at the end, laying off stuff just outside the zone that pitchers rely on to get outs. That’s usually easier to do against lower velocity.
Ok, probably another irrelevant, too soon to tell generalization.
The strike throwing part of the bullpen strategy seemed to be lacking last night.
Yeah, no question. But that one dumbass Seattle hitter did K against Garcia on a slider at his feet. He later made an out after one or two pitches. A more aggressive approach by the Mariners overall, and maybe we have a different outcome.
And the ump was tight all night. He squeezed Gaus a few times too. The guys that aren’t throwing strikes to begin with are always going to suffer more in case like that.
Still, my god Garcia was just lost, whistling fastballs at guys head.
The 3 man rule is just stupid and hamstrings the mgr., with minimal affect on pace of play.
Pen guys usually should be able to strike batters out occasionally. Putting the ball in play is fine, but the wildness was flat painful to watch.
Garcia, was it, was avoiding contact consistently, away, away, away, some well outta the zone, while facing LHB Marmalade. Yes, with three bags full, you don’t wanna come in and down to lefty swingers, but up at the wrists is not a pitch they can usually hit with power.
I agree Garcia was just horrible and should have been pulled after the 3rd batter.
3 relievers couldn’t get the job done, not a good start, I thought the win was in the bag at 5-1, all of a sudden it was 6-5, I still had a sliver of confidence that they would win, and then extra innings and a loss. I hope the 3 wake up and realize what a shit performance they gave. Wisler looked the worst IMO. At least they have 161 games to Figure it out
Tonight Cueto sucks and the Giants don’t hit. Which is good, so we don’t have to watch Trevor Gott by committee redux. I couldn’t take it.
Meanwhile, across Bay Astros walk into Coliseum to chorus of boos, that turn to cheers when A’s bean one of them…and proceed to kick their ass 8-1 behind 6 shutout innings from Greinke. Jenkins had column couple days ago when he wondered how Stros would handle things on road when angry fans now in stands can let them know how they feel.
Well, it can also help galvanize and tighten team bond of us vs. them/we’ll let our play do the talking, over fans banging trashcans yada yada. Having Baker around only gonna help them too, along with healthy Gurriel..
BF, your lead is exactly right.
My 10:34 last night. That error was on Craw. He looked old, slow and awkward.
Belt post game took the blame, but nah. Not a good throw, but that’s entirely catchable by a big league SS…
could have just knocked it down and kept ball in front of him. I can see Belt being at awkward angle, and trying to avoid hitting runner with throw, it leaks farther outside than he meant. But Crawford has to know better than to allow ball to get away from him and minimize consequences..
I hate the free runner on 2B for many reasons, but I especially hate it in combination with the three-batter rule. At a minimum, the free runner should count as one of the three batters for the pitcher forced into the stretch to start an extra frame.
yep. It helped to take away a very nice Gausman outing. Teams should earn an extra inning game not have one handed to em.
Kirkjian said while he hates the rule he understands it in Covid ball–hey it’s same for everyone. Watching the Sox game vs. Yanks, in their top half of 10th the White Sox first hitter up doubled to right and drove the runner on 2b in. then in bottom half their reliever struck out the side, game over.
Like those stupid ATT commercials I’m gonna hate—it’s not complicated.
MLB is in era of changing rules and trying things out to see how they can make this game more attractive to people that are not lifers like all of us here on the Flap. They have to figure a way to keep baseball from turning into the NHL in 20 years. There will be hiccups along the way, but they have to try. Millennials largely and GenZ mostly don’t give an S about baseball. The average baseball fan is in their late 50s. That demo scares the crap out of MLB, and it should…
Next up, games ending in ties if neither team scores in the tenth?
The way it’s going, nothing will really be a sport any more.
Just another gambling vehicle.
And that’ll keep the younger demographic hooked and frequently bankrupt…
I don’t think there’s any combination of gimmicky rules that they can dream up that will create a resurgence of interest. MLB needs to embrace the game as it has evolved and make the best of it. Maybe a much greater investment outside the profession itself is needed, e.g., competing with soccer’s growth in the suburbs and Latin American baseball strongholds.
I agree, James. Besides the outside investment, I think they also need to reprice the product itself. The games have become so expensive that families can only go to a game once or twice a year. The kids don’t get a chance to be anything more than a casual fan, it becomes more like a trip to Disneyland. Garlic fries become more important than who is pitching.
But instead of thinking long term, MLB seems to keep going for the quick financial gain. They come up with a gimmick and then need another gimmick to fix the last one.
Greed rules in this ruptured republic’s demographic wasteland.
I continue to favor the Packers’ proposition: Assemble a bunch of concerned citizens who can amass some startup money and then open up a civic ownership drive to those in the region/state/wherever who are fans of that team. Shares, baby. As a Giants fan, I for example, would do what I could to come up with a Grand to buy me a share in the team. Enough sharing and the consortium could make a good many owners a deal they couldn’t refuse….particularly if a negative response would automatically mean a fan boycott.
That’s why I said at the beginning of spring training MLB should have televised spring trading games, the local markets should have been able to do this. But nope let’s not spend money if we don’t have to.
Sometime within the next five years someone will pen a piece that begins: It used to break your heart. It was designed to break your heart. Now, it mainly just pisses you off.
LOL. Five years? I’m pissed-off NOW. Fucking idiotic rules…
I don’t get why the guy that makes the final out has to be the runner starting at 2nd?
With are amount of slow runners were at a disadvantage then most teams. Let a player preferably Slater even if he was taken out last night’s game to re enter as the pinch runner but not be able to hit are be in the field again.
At least they got this right:
https://tinyurl.com/yfh5nhmt
Yes.
Yes they did.
Kudos.
Did they consult Charles Johnson on that move?
Seems he’d be all in on voter suppression…
The Giants’ Pythagorean w/l % after one game is .439. That projects almost exactly to 71 wins, I think. That’s perfect. This is a mystical moment.
I welcome you, fellow traveler.
It’s aliens
Why stop with the All Star Game? Ban the Braves from MLB until the state bows to the wishes of the Democrats! I hear New York has voting laws way more restrictive than Georgia. Ban the Mets and Yanks! Move the Hall of Fame to San Francisco! Boycott the Beijing Olympics! LET’S DO THIS!
I hear the Georgia ban on offering water to Black people stuck in long voting lines has been modified. High pressure fire hoses are now allowed.
Well played
And, Bull Connor memorial police K-9 units will offer “protection” to the voters while they are “watered”…
Hey Wille, did you see the end of the Stanford game? Crazy finish.
Ha man that was trip. Carolina player plowed into Brink and they stole the ball, got off 2 good looks and couldn’t get one to fall. Haley Jones was tremendous, on a night Kiana Williams struggled, as did Anna Wilson. Hard fought game all night.
Arizona is up 10 on Auriemma and UConn at halftime. Aari McDonald has 15. She can really play and lit up Stanford last time they met, just didn’t get any help from teammates iirc.
Yeah, I got that on along with Giants.
1. Austin Slater (R) LF
2. Mike Yastrzemski (L) RF
3. Donovan Solano (R) 2B
4. Evan Longoria (R) 3B
5. Darin Ruf (R) DH
6. Wilmer Flores (R) 1B
7. Buster Posey (R) C
8. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
9. Mauricio Dubon (R) CF
Polls showed there were many GOP Georgians who didn’t want the new voting laws either. The vast majority of Georgians didn’t want the changes.
“Jaylin Davis has encountered another obstacle toward getting another chance with the Giants.
The outfielder will be out 4-6 weeks, the team announced Friday, with left knee tendinitis. Because of the knee issue, Davis was left off the Giants’ alternate site roster and is remaining in Arizona to rehab.”
Kuiper’s take on the pregame show of the Belt Craw fuckup last night was interesting. Before every game, he said, for ten fucking years (more or less) they’ve thrown long toss from LF to RF moving in toss by toss to the IF, and then moving closer to fire at each other face to face. Belt’s lack of ST reps rust and Crawford’s age caused the failure. Well, Kuiper only unwittingly implied some of that.
Dubs nearly got doubled up tonight. 130- 74 to the Raptors. Ouch. They may hit the lottery again. Heading in the wrong direction
Another walk.
Cueto: 13 pitches. # of fastballs = number of walks.
Wilmer started after and then quit on the foul pop up like a horse briefly distracted by a butterfly. Belt would’ve taken a slide at it. If he could run.
Man M’s guy throws hard. And throws strikes too, what a concept.
Got the hideki hesitation
Kabuki’s been mowing them down on fastballs—4-seamers and cutters. Good half of his secondaries have been balls. Lot’s of fouls, particularly by Ruf. No solid contact in two innings. Will they read him by the 4th?
We usually hit fastballers pretty well
Serious waste of a replay by the Giants. I’m not sure what they were seeing.
Not much of a throw there by Yaz
Geno takes TO as UConn down 14 with minute and half left in 3rd Q.
That 3Q was a slog, up 9 going to 4th, don’t let that UConn frosh get going.
Cueto laboring already
A’s down 5-0 to Houston. Gurriel with solo bomb Bregman with 3 run shot off J Luzardo. M Brantley doubled in Altuve.
42 pitches on Cueto through two. Not good. Sinkers and sliders missing frequently, particularly the latter. NO heat. Getting them mostly on fastballs, but don’t think he’s cracked the 95mph barrier yet. Unless he’s not broken in yet here in earliest season, it could be a long and costly one. Doubtful he goes a full five tonight. Two doubles in bottom third of lineup is also not a good sign.
Buster.
aha Giants HR leader, yanks one out to dead CF. Tell it Good Bye!
Whoa, Buster crushed that!
Bustah!!!
He’s baaaack. Maybe that year off with the kids rejuvenated Buster.
Buster be back!!
Dubon hit ball in the air 3 times last night while going 0-4.
Now he does it, softly, again. hmmnn
But Dubon’s very late throw from short CF to home just now was on line, and the many bounces were predictable, lacking much momentum.
As a former SS he should have an arm. He doesnt
Maybe there’s a difference between a good outfield arm and a good infield arm.
Who knows?
Cueto not so much
They should know by now this guy throws hard early in the count and soft late
4th inning: Close, but not even a stinky old stogie. Kabuki’s at 60 pitches now, so getting Wilmer to fly out to center preserved his lead. Cueto picked himself up after the two-run damage, but can he work his way through the bottom half of their lineup in the home 4th? Donnie Barrels has been a steady producer in this first couple games. Yaz is nowhere to be found. KKKKK.
Cueto is pitching scared. 0-2 nibbles to a walk. He does better behind in the count
That helped
Another disappointing inning as neither Buster nor Slater comes through. Dubon broke the schneid with a single, but Crawford looking putrid all around, so far. By mid-May SF just possibly might be scrounging around for a new SS. Good luck with that, excepting maybe for the guy the Phillies recently released. Good glove, anyway.
Crawford’s had some sick hot streaks in his career when you least expect it…
True.
Cueto seems to have found a bit of a rhythm. One of his better innings, working with what he’s got left. But at 94 pitches through five, Kapler may take the ball after a modestly almost fair outing. He seems to have lost some of his old (2010) oomph, so needs to pitch fairly fine. Workhorse role, perhaps. I don’t currently see him as a #2 in any but rotation starved staffs.
With that 6th inning single Donnie Barrels is batting .500.
Going Longo!
Longo time no stay in the park. Evan’s the score. Now tied with Buster for team lead in Longoballs.
Buster and Longo putting to rest about this Bore Core BS!
Please, no bullpen collapse tonight, it would be intolerable….
That will make how good Kuko looked somewhat humbled as Longo goes Longo!
There figuring him out the 3rd time around and putting better hacks together..
Cueto always gutty.
True competitor…
This is where Kapler is an idiot.You tie it up Cueto gives u 5 decent innings on 95 pitches and he lets him continue? Screw that!
mm look at it this way Kat–2 less outs for pen to get tonight.
Nice snag by Wilmet there to complete the DP. Solano didn’t make it easy on him.
Let’s see if the bullpen can get the final out this inning,are will they blow up again?
The Magic Wandy done did dood it. LH pitcher vs LH batter. Very low pressure situation with two outs. So he took care of business and got that pesky Fraley. Will Kaps bring him out again in the 7th? One thing for sure, even after a light run through ST, Cueto proved himself as a workhorse. Still don’t see him as a #2, particularly vs. loaded offenses, but a useful #4 or 5, no doubt.
Could have used Wandy last night.
Steckenrider? I think I had that when I was a teen.
Anything to be said for moving the runner with Dubone rather that wasting the Dick now?
Oh yeah,