Spot On Expectations
Evan Longoria leads our team in every offensive category and our 5 starting pitchers have a collective ERA of 2.33.
Yep, just how we all envisioned the season going.
Sanchez goes tonight, I am fully expecting another lock down SP appearance. And a nice little 6:45pm start time. Let’s go.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
How Sweep it Is! Yeah, it was the Rox, but the Ws all look the same in the standings.
We have like eight guys who start or start regularly who are hitting below the Mendoza, yet we’re 6-3 and a half game behind the Pads, and 1.5 behind the bums.
Reds are averaging a bit over 7 runs a game, but 6 of their 9 games have been played in that bandbox they call home. Should be an interesting series. With Sanchez, Gausman and Cueto scheduled to take the bump, I like it…
Don’t forget #2 in fielding percentage, with the only 2 errors made by the player whose defense is often cited by Flappers as justification for his place in the line up.
bbref says Longo committed one of the errors.
Hmmm, yeah, I remember him making one, but doesn’t Belt have 2? Did one get changed?
you better shoot them an email, make sure they’re positive
Machado’s grounder in the bottom of the 6th of game 3 was changed from an error on Belt to a single.
So far SF has played in pitcher friendly parks. I’ll count ATT as one until there’s another season where it plays as basically neutral. Nevertheless, the starting pitching has been a minor miracle. Bullpen is about where it should be. Presumably some of the walks will eventually be exchanged for a few more hits allowed.
No friggen respect. Alyson Footer, fronting for the power ratings 9 person panel on MLBs official site, laid out the top 5 and then the rest of the story. Going into the season SF ranked at #22. Fair enough, that. So where did the Giants rank today? Twenty-second. No budging whatsoforever.
So you take two of your first three series, including two from the MLB’s second-ranked Padres and sport a totally unexpected 6-3 record and what do you get? Ranking below teams like the Cubs who are severiously scuffling. So are the Giants the Rodney Dangerfield of MLB? Guess they may hafta take a pair from the Reds to even get up to 21st.
Like ‘best band’ lists, those power rankings are all listerbation (I’ll now get a cease-and desist from WSWB4IGO).
Abba? Please. Next we’ll hear how the Archies were the quintessential Laurel Canyon band that sprung the LA singer-songwriter genre. Or how the 1910 Fruitgum Company inspired Jimi Hendrix to greater heights. Sometimes pop crap is just that. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying it, guilty pleasure as it may be. I mean really, I like a few Y & T songs.
Just remember, you can dance, you can die, having the time if your life.
Always thought that dancing on a coke-fueled binge until your heart explodes is a pretty dark song, no matter the cheeriness of it.
Don’t tell me you prefer adventurous virtuosos with guts and soul?
Well, I like music with some depth. It ain’t about the virtuosity. But it helps. I mean, how long can you listen to Yngwie Malmsteen? 75 notes a second, and it all becomes monotonous. Compare him to Buckethead. Equally adept, but more feeling.
All my life i have aspired to be an adventurous virtuoso. At something. Alas, I have fallen short.
I can write a mean technical manual though,
SPs have been outstanding–2 in a row from DeSclafani. Athletic column by Baggs said he is big Sinatra fan and preferred his music for warmups. Very cool.
Maybe Kapler’s butt kicking behind closed doors about the defense late in ST when they were awful, got them to tighten up! They have played sparkling defense since..
I still believe that working good AB’s and getting these starting pitchers throwing a ton of pitches early in the games is the key for success as well..
Kat: Yesterday’s 30+ first inning looked to have put Marquez on the ropes from the get-go. Though he recovered admirably for them, that two-run start tended to hang like a grey cloud over the Rox and Disco used it to advantage as he wriggled through six. One thing about having a heavily veteran dominated team is that once those guys get their sea-legs a bit, they can wear down an opposing starter by fouling off pitches and inducing others that miss the zone. No big excitement most of the time—just slow, sure, steady pressure.
Stix I found one site(score) that have the Giants power ranking at 20.
The real head scratcher is the Nationals at 18 and their dead last at 1-5..
Actually there’s several teams ahead of the Giants with worse records.Yeah Rodney Dangerfield “No Respect “
Kat: It seems more and more obvious that these “evaluators” are mostly going by last season’s production, number of stars on a given team, media coverage of particular organizations and their own pre-season prognostications. A third of all the participants were women and my guess is that the majority of the bunch have yet to see their 40th birthday. Herd mentality.
Yeah, we’re actually taking advantage of all the early high pitch counts.
In Niner talk I am completely not sold on Justin Fields….if you want a potential Mahomes-esque pick I think Trey Lyles is the diamond in the rough to be Mahomes-like…will be a big disappointment they dont take him. The Bama QB seems like a white boy bust…when has Saban produced a big-time Hall of Fame worthy QB???
Lance? My thought from the get-go has been if they can’t get Wilson, they’ll take Lance. Small program or no.
Bama hasn’t produced a noteworthy QB since Kenny Stabler. Ohio State? When Mike Tomczak is the high water mark, well, you suck.
Lance isn’t the fastest, have the biggest arm, or the quickest read, but he does all those things together well enough to be successful. Fields and Jones are a little too one-dimensional. Fields reminds me of Kaepernick in that he is a one-and-run guy. He doesn’t seem to go through his progressions before running. Not necessarily a bad thing, but in the long run that doesn’t pan out in the NFL.
Jones? Great arm, great decision-maker. A statue though. Our O line has proven its ability to get our non- mobile QBs hurt. Sure, we threw the kitchen sink at Trent Williams. And we have a new old center. Jones was rarely under pressure in Bama, and how that translates to the NFL is a huge question. Jones very well could be Big Ben 2.0, but it is nowhere near a certainty.
And, of all the QBs, Lance has run the most play-action offensive plays by far. No small thing. I get the feeling we are talking up Jones to get the Jets off Wilson. At least I hope. Of the 3, I’m least sold on Jones.
Niners QB pick? I will be very surprised if the Niners do not take Jones. Fields, Lance, etc. all have the intangibles…great athletes, etc. But if you listen to Shanny, he has multiple times said he most values a QBs ability to make the quick reads and accurately deliver the ball. That guy is Jones, in spades.
He can’t do shit flat on his back. Our line has proven its ability to get QBs killed.
Hey – I am just saying, based on what I have heard Shanny say about what he likes in a QB that Jones most fits that bill. I still say Jones is the pick at 3.
This may interest. I came across it via synchronicity or some damn thing after Thin Lizzy received play here. Ignorant as I am, before now I’ve never given Metallica a second thought. What did Stix say the other day?
The gyre will draw you in and then expel you more aware? He may be right.
https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/kirk-hammett-talks-about-his-prize-peter-green-and-gary-moores-les-paul-see-it-action
Cool story. Lots of history with that guitar.
Yeah, Metallica’s cover of Thin Lizzy’s cover of Whiskey on the Jar is pretty cool.
Music still seems to be in the air, so . . . Zumie’s Liverpool docks mention is a reminder of how the Brits were once the better listeners. They did a lot of the work of synthesizing the influences of the music that mattered back then. Though hardly on par with the 60s, later obsessions with Ska and Northern Soul had the Brits unearthing cool stuff for commercial gain. One of the very best compilations I own is built around Gloria Jones’ original “Tainted Love.” It was released in the UK in 82, shortly after the Soft Cell hit, but reflected what British kids had been listening to for a few years. https://www.discogs.com/Gloria-Jones-Various-Tainted-Love-6Ts-Houseparty/release/1140704
One of the cool things about Brit respect for blues, beside Peter Green and his mates being able to play and record with Otis Spann, is that some of the older guys that had survived got a chance to make more records and some $$…loved London Howling Wolf session LP.
$$$ for the founders were few. Exceptions, though. I think Jack Bruce made sure Skip James and his widow received royalties for I’m So Glad.
Led Zep bring the glaring omission. They stole a few songs and were forced to pay royalties and ackowledge their theft. Many of the Brit bands did bring old blues guys on tour with them.
Roll over Beethoven and tell Chuck Berry the news
Reading Keith Richards book “Keith” the Stones never had more fun than when on their first tour of the south in 1965 they went to tons of blues clubs in the south and simply immersed themselves in the blues. The reactions from the old and crusty guys playing in those clubs were, according to Keith, priceless. This was before anyone really knew who they were. Of course the next time they came through, they were pretty well established as rock stars.
Every time they came to America, they would swing through the south and revisit their old haunts.
Da Bluuz be da Base for much meaningful evolution in the world of music.
In one of his last ever performances before his ultimate departure from the whole scene; I was fortunate enough to catch Bo Diddly rockin the hell outta da Bluuz. Man, that was some moving music. No way could I sit down for it, though. Had to get up, away from the seated crowd and dance my gluteus minimus off—complete with the soon to be named “Bo Diddly Dancing Stick”, of course.
Anybody who digs da Bluuz has music in their soul.
Phil Lynott was a true original. Great live band.
He was asked once “How does it feel to be brown and Irish?” He replied, “Like a pint of Guinness!”
LMAO. Introducing myself to Guiness back in early ’68 totally revamped my drinking habits. Looks like Lynott may have given a whole new meaning to the term “Black and Tan”.
Don’t think this has been released here yet: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9639676/
Gonna have to check that out, James.
Funny, my older sisters, the ones who saw Hendrix, the Doors, Janis, Moby Grape, Old and in the Way, etc (so jealous), were both heavily into soul and funk. Sly and the Family Stone, Marvin Gaye, Blood, Sweat, and Tears. My first couple concerts, courtesy of my older sisters, were Stevie Wonder (with Wonderlove) at the Cow Palace, and Bo Diddly/Chuck Berry at the Circle Star.
Chuck Berry was unreal to a wide-eyed 13 year old kid.
he was unreal to me back in 60s.
Remember that scene in Back to the Future where the white kid duck walks across the stage playing Chuck Berry licks on his guitar and then a black guy in the band telephones his cousin Chuck Berry to tip him off to the cool new sound? And Reagan’s new morning in America hordes bought it.
Much like the trumpers thing the Constitution was written by Jesus. Even then, they don’t follow it. Or the bible.
Regarding how this years QB crop reads progressions, here are the PFF Grade on throws past 1st read since 2019 (in Peter King’s column):
1st. Justin Fields 90.6. (So he is clearly NOT a one and run guy)
2nd. Zach Wilson 90.1
3rd. Trey Lance 87.2
7th. Trevor Lawrence 78.6
8th. Mac Jones 75.7 (I thought he is supposed to be the smartest QB in this group).
Justin Fields checks off all the boxes. I am not sold on Jones. He played behind a fortress of an OL and had all- world receivers at his disposable. I think saw a stat where all QB’s taken in the 1st 10 picks between 2010 and 2016 are not even with the team that drafted them. So there is no guarantee if the Niners pick Jones,Fields or Lance they will even be a factor in four years.
But if I am selecting the pick, I am choosing Fields.
Fields certainly seems to be the consensus among fans and talking heads. We’ll see how this goes, but of all the mobile QBs out there that have come and gone, the only one with staying power is Russell Wilson. The knock on Fields is the same one with JaMarcus Russell. Or even Nate Davis. He’s coasting on ability and not putting in the work. He’s not driven enough to be better.
Sure, Mahomes is off to a great start, as is Lamar Jackson, but will they stay at the top? Jackson wasn’t nearly as dominant as he was in 2019, and a beat-up Mahomes looked downright ordinary in the Super Bowl. Sure, his line was hurt, but we’ve gone through this mobile QB thing with RGIII and Kaepernick back in the early 2010s.
And by no means is this an endorsement of Mac Jones. I just think Lance offers the best all-around game to succeed.
Thank you Bill ..I finally have someone that agrees with me!
And in a recent aptitude test of over 4,500 athletes tested he scored a off the charts 130 better than even Mahomes and Allen at 108.Fields is smart and easily would handle Shanahan complex playbook. He didn’t have the great receivers are OL that Jones had at Alabama but still threw at 70% of his passes and had 19 rushing TD’s and over 1,000 career rushing yards I believe.
The Slug Mac Jones career rushing lol 52 rushes for 42 yards .08 avg. I just can’t see them giving up so much to move up to number 3 to take the 5th rated QB. It would be a F grade and ripped by many analysts if Jones name is called there..
Again, fuck the analysts. We got A grades for drafting Solly Thomas and Reuben Foster in the 1st round a few years back. That was horrible.
If Jones happens to turn into Big Ben, I could give a rat’s ass what the analysts said at the time. I just hope Lynch and co. do their due diligence. Draft grades don’t mean shit for 2-4 years in most cases anyway.
Again, though this isn’t an endorsement of Jones. Manning and Leaf were seen as neck and neck in the 1998 draft. The Niners picked Drunkenfucker over Jake the Snake. Smith over Rodgers, on and on.
I don’t study these players like these guys in the draft rooms or front offices do. And any way around it, it is STILL a huge crap shoot.
Doesn’t get much better than this. To be in this crowd woulda been fantastic.
Mojo Buford killing it on the harmonica
Have seen this a number of times…very cool.
Truly. There were Giants in those days. Thanks.
amazing. thanks!
Giants had a ball player named Skip James I watched play at the Stick in 78-79 he was nicknamed “The White Albino Wonder”he was terrible. 2 unforgettable seasons with his lifetime avg of .167 in 51 AB’s played 1B in the lean years of shitty baseball I had to endure with.. Think he ended up in playing in Japan later and they probably said sayonara, you suck like a bad bowl of noodles.,
When the kids were lining up to pick sides they usually said skip James.
Lulz
I found out I was the very last player “drafted” the first year I played little league. Go ahead, you monsters just keep on laughing.
Yeah I agree Skip on Skip players.
The Giants had another one 1970 Skip Lee Pitlock LHP went 5-5 I don’t know how as he pitched 87 innings had a 4.66 era gave up 13 bombs and walked 48 next year see you later to the Whitesox’s where he continued to suck in a short forgettable career!
For qualities in QB, to me mobility would be 4th on list.
Passing accuracy
Reading a defense
Making a quick decision
Mobility
How many of above does K Murray of Cards have? and the guy who won the super bowl, again? To me if you can’t do the first, the other 3 ain’t gonna matter.
Brady’s played a little longer than Murray, Willie.
of course but you know where I’m going. murray can evade rushers, but hell the Niners beat his ass last year with chump QB. there are times he just isn’t a good passer, and it will doom him forever. Pass rush can bother anyone including Brady, but he can still hit open guys and put ball where he wants. murray? jury is still out.
Beat his ass? We were 1-1 against AZ last year. We lost when full strength. Murray was in his 2nd year last season. Seattle has beaten us how many times with Russell Wilson?
He is 15-4 against the Niners.
What happened in our Super Bowl? Our statue QB took too many shots and we lost to the mobile guy who extended plays.
Murray lost to Beathard, Unc. He had a passer rating of 66. He threw 50 passes and gained 65 more yards than Beathard did, who threw 22. Beathard’s passer rating was 125—he outplayed Murray.
Wilson is hella more accurate QB than Murray. That’s why his team wins, and Cards go home every year.
How many sacks/fumbles/injuries did the 49er QBs suffer?
Not sure but they will have plenty if they draft Jones that’s for sure..
i had a Skip James autograph that my dad scored for me. There were 4-5 other names on that napkin but for some reason Skip James is the only one I recall. I lost that napkin years ago, wish I still had it.
btw, for those who say they sometimes have trouble accessing the site or posting at the site, this is pretty obvious but consider it if you haven’t
WordPress uses cookies for login authentication, so the first step in troubleshooting WordPress login issues is the simplest one. Clear your browser cookies and cache. … Also, make sure that your browser has cookies enabled. After doing that restart your browser and then try to login
I think the login problems are usually reported for iOS or other mobile devices. I’ve been able to login using the WordPress app instead of a browser.
Nope.same issue. Can’t login. put in user name, put in pw, accept cookies, it sends me to the page, but it still says, you must be logged in to post.
Almost an all Gmen and former GMen affair in one of my DK tourneys tonight . . . Longo, Posey, Solano, Flores stack and I suspect Bum is going to get lit up by the A’s too, so I got Canha, Laureano, and Andrus taking their cuts against him. Heavy on pitching tonight w/Glasnow and Peralta, so short on hitting (except for Soto). Only $3 Mac . . . lqtm.
They finally charged Reid’s idiot son with DWI.
Could be jail time…
the five-year-old child’s injuries are horrible. The go fund me page pulled in 1/2 million. She’ll need it. Delay in charging Reid really upset the family.
https://defector.com/introducing-the-saint-cycle/
1. Austin Slater (R) RF
2. Donovan Solano (R) 2B
3. Darin Ruf (R) LF
4. Evan Longoria (R) 3B
5. Wilmer Flores (R) 1B
6. Buster Posey (R) C
7. Mauricio Dubon (R) CF
8. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
9. Aaron Sanchez (R) P
That LU is as underwhelming as they come. Whatever all we do is win. Let’s roll.
It’s the right hand LU up against a lefty, I’m ok with it..
Scheduled day off for Yaz supposedly..
That was one hell of a play by Crawford in a ball against the shift to go back to his right and in one motion flip it quickly to first..
Consecutive lineouts to Dubon by the second and third Reds hitters in the second. Maybe some of that BBIP karma has turned around tonight to favor Giants starters. So a decent 2 in for Sanchez.
Down 3-1 on Winker, Sanchez wheelhouses one and Winker didn’t blink. Mistake pitch and Sanchez pays. This happened with two out and to the #8 hitter. The guy was batting over .400, so he stays hot and puts em up 2-zip.
0-2 to Castellanos was right in middle of plate and he hammered it.
Giants better score some runs tonite. Sanchez leaving lot of pitches up, Reds starting to tee off.
Archways open that was not going to be a HR. Archways works both ways at times..
Sanchez all over the place with Suarez. No command. Third pitch he hits the guy. Long night?
49 pitches in 4 on the plus side.
By golly, Sanchez settles down and mows down the next three. 49 pitches through four IP. He could use for some run-support.
Maybe but he bounced back to get 3 straight outs..
Theirs a start by a solid single by Barrels..
Re Phil Lynott: I heard this on satellite, quite the collaboration on Johnny Thunders album, featuring vocals by Thunders, Lynott and Steve Marriott, also with Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols.
The Mendoza Gang (half our line-up) need to get their bats going.
Lookin’ for my main man Wilmet to wake things up…
Anyone got a clue why Kap pulled Sanchez after 5, with two outs in favor of LaStella as a PH? Did he suspect the Reds had seen enough of him and were ready to cash in, or…?
Votto crushed that, wow.
Giants are swinging at Miley soft stuff knee high and lower.
Wow Garcia not fooling anyone so far.
Maybe he should of left him in now as Votto goes cove off of Garcia.
Strange move with 2 outs and your whole bench ( except for the catcher who your not going to use ) is left handed facing the left hand pitcher..
What a catch by Slater!!
wow!
What the fuck do they need netting down in these corners on both sides! That’s absolutely ridiculous..
Yeah that’s overkill. I wonder if it’s partially for player security?
It’s even more ridiculous when there’s hardly any fans.
Our former ace is catching it in the shorts from Oaktown. They had a slender lead, but slapped it around to a comfy one and a certain Carolina Cowboy is stuck with an ERA over a Thousand and his pitch count was already up around 100.
Yeah Kat, Sanchez’ count was likely good for another inning and pinching with one one and two out had to have some sort of rationale. But I’m still confused. Garcia was more than a bit rusty and lucky to get outta the 6th with that blast from Votto and his other two runners stranded.
MadBum’s career is trending straight down right now.
They woulda been better off if he was called out on strikes as he shoulda been,,,
Down by three after six and the way our guys have been hitting…well. Yes, the most famous of all Yogis said “It isn’t over till it’s over”, but if they can’t hit Wade Miley and if Dickerson does the GDP routine, what we got to go on?
nice grab by Dubon, but Garcia is gonna get the entire OF hurt.
Garcia settles down to an 11 pitch outing in the 7th, but it seems like the Reds are on cruise-control now as signs of life by Giants hitters tonight are about as common as bicuspids on a Rhode Island Red.
The Mendozing Gang.
Superb!
Macdog, Johnny Thunders and entourage spent the night in my Berkeley apartment about 40 years ago. He’d just finished a show at the Keystone Berkeley, and had reportedly cracked someone over the head with his guitar. My girlfriend and I cowered in the bedroom, while the band did “hard drugs “ in the living room. He signed my Heartbreakers Live album without my asking.
Whoa, another cool music story!
BoreCore is pretty boring tonight. Pitching not bad overall against a hot hitting team, but what’s to do?
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
A reliever goes 3.2 innings, can’t remember last time seeing that in a game that didn’t go extra innings.
That was no ordinary reliever.
As long as Bumgarner was a Giant, he was a giant. We’d have had a lot more to complain about tonight if he had still been starting for us instead of the Snakes. Irony that he wasn’t getting much money for his superstar performances for San Francisco, though now he’s in Arizona, paid well for being there, but looking to be on the skids.
“Sic Transit Gloria”. (so goes glory)
Two fucking hits.
Two hits. Two walks. No runs. What a pathetic offense against their #5 starter and a couple of relievers. And the pitchers? Not terrible. Three runs on a pair of dingers over nine innings…pretty close to the low end of MLB average there.
Somehow, the Giants simply did not have it tonight. With the lame and the blind and the halt standing at the plate, there wasn’t much to expect. Seems like not hitting is every bit as contagious as is hitting. So tonight a hitting team squeezed past one that isn’t. That’s baseball.
Life Support Gang all needed resuscitation tonight..