Take It To The Bank
Another banked win and today we get Cueto. As wrong as I was about the starting pitching, and I was as wrong as anyone could be, how awesome is it that every single game we send out a guy who is, at a minimum, going to give us a chance to win—more likely, he’s going out there to dominate.
I feel a little bad for Gausman. If it weren’t for deGrom he’d be headed toward starting the all star game. In fact, his numbers match up nicely with the Mets star pitcher. But, come on, nobody starting in front of the dude with a 0.61 ERA….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Maybe a Thairo sighting? Guy on another site compared Crawford to an outside LB. Longoria shoulder didn’t look good, ala defenseless wideout.
A cast of has-beens and never-beens, keep on racking up the wins.
I have been a very big fan of Z since he was hired and ALL the changes he has made, e.g., front office, scouting, minor leagues, draft, trades, etc.
That being said, I was TOTALLY wrong about this season – thinking that the Giants would have difficulty scratching out 65 wins, much less 70 wins . . . Fast forward today, they are perhaps the best team in baseball? That’s freaking unbelievable. Apparently, I was also WRONG about the “Bore Core” and Duggar (although the season is still only less than 1/3 complete). I hope I CONTINUE TO BE WRONG about the Giants, Bore Core and Duggar. Go Giants!
I have a hard time watching any MLB game. Consequently, I don’t comment much on the blog here, as I don’t see the games and it would be inappropriate for me to add my uninformed opinions/comments here. Essentially, I don’t understand or like this type of baseball being played today. I am usually bored out of my mind watching a game on TV. I inevitably fall asleep watching most games being played. I went to a minor league game in San Jose during Memorial Day weekend with friends and that was enjoyable. Perhaps snarkk captures my feeling best, when he said . . .
“snarkk said, on May 18, 2021 at 7:48 pm
17Ks for one team in a game is not my kind of game. Not to mention the other team’s Ks (Reds had 8, total both teams = 25)
Why have great athletes that can catch, field, throw and run on defense, if they just stand out there for 1/2 to 2/3 of the ABs? That is total boring ass baseball, and robs fans of entertainment from defensive plays. No wonder younger people don’t want to watch, it’s like watching paint dry. If a called 3rd strike or a whiffed 3rd strike is now the result in half the ABs of games, not in a pitcher’s duel of starters, but by no name relievers fire-balling 97 mph every inning from 5-9, then count me out of being a fan of that kind of game. If that were the game in the ’60s, we’d have Mays and Clemente standing around in the outfield instead of making spectacular, legacy-building plays . . .”
Baseball has always been boring. It’s a boring ass game. I didn’t get hooked on the game because I could watch defensive plays. In fact, I couldn’t see the games at all. It was the boxscores, the stats, the standings, the pitcher versus the hitter, the whole aura. How many games did any of us go to as kids?
If 4 fewer batters K every game or there are 2 more singles per 9 innings, the number of defensive highlights they show on one of the networks isn’t going to skyrocket. And we aren’t going to see OFs of Mathews, Maddox, and Bonds, again, either. In the USA, baseball is a step or two above NASCAR.
Couldn’t disagree with this more. Baseball has not always been boring. True, people that didn’t play it found it boring. But the game didn’t used to be boring. There are a lot of problems with today’s game but the skyrocketing strikeouts and the dreaded shift are probably the two main culprits for me along with the devaluation of the stolen bag. I miss baseball the way it used to be
Over much of our adult lives, we’ve largely experienced baseball as a game we watch on TV. The pitcher and the batter. I guess I also prefer films with long takes.
I lived as a kid and into college listening to Giants and KNBR and road games on KTVU were must see tv. And my kids would never do that now and what other Gen Zers of yours do it??? Baseball had more of a romance to it than the physical interaction for me but going to games much more often began in college.
Baseball has to create more on field action encouraging base runners, stealing etc. Doubles and triples can be good baseball action and much more thrilling than strike outs walks and ground balls. Banning the shift will produce more action on the field and robo ump will add the consistency the game needs as well. Moving the mound back and higher will also add action.
I’m now very confident that this team will reach my win prediction of 72 for the season.
I sure loved playing defense as a kid. Watching great athletes make somewhat, well, vaguely somewhat, similar plays plus plays we never dreamed of has always been one of the delights to me. This year: Crawford’s recent gems; Tauchman’s game-saving play over the wall; Dubon’s throw to pick off a runner who went too far around 3B — that’s just off the tips of my typing fingers. Defense will always be important and thrilling, in a slow-paced game that has always been full of down time for everyone on the field except the battery and the batter.
Saw the replay this morning of Longoria boneheadedly taking out Crawford on that 9th inning groundball. What the f was he thinking there??? Fairly routine play for a shortstop.
I haven’t watched the replay except for when it happened, but generally the 3B takes anything he can get to with his momentum going towards first…
I agree, but this was a slightly strange play with Longo and Craw starting very close to each other, with a gap down the line. Semi shift? Missed shift by Craw? Anyway, the result was that Craw had a normal SS play and Longo had the sort of momentum toward first play you describe. I look forward to an explanation from Kapler. Or someone.
Wasnt he way off the base so Crawford would have had the more natural play?
Those stupid shifts can throw off even the best ball players nowadays.They’re moving around so much it’s like trying to win the cake at a carnival when the music stops and theirs one chair left..
I’d sure like to see 2 hits and no K’s from the Grave Duggar today.
And throw in a bomb from Wilmet…
1. LaMonte Wade Jr (L) 1B
2. Buster Posey (R) C
3. Alex Dickerson (L) LF
4. Wilmer Flores (R) 3B
5. Steven Duggar (L) CF
6. Donovan Solano (R) 2B
7. Mike Tauchman (L) RF
8. Mauricio Dubon (R) SS
9. Johnny Cueto (R) P
I actually went to a lot of games as a youngster at the Stick.Of course I was playing little league,Babe Ruth,High School ball etc.Yes I do believe u have to have parents nowadays to get in their kids faces more and get outside and play some kind of sports other then getting carpal tunnel playing stupid video games in the house all day.And why would u want to be inside hanging with your parents? I couldn’t wait to get out of the house quick enough to play some ball are just hangout at a school playground.
But back to baseball, yes it’s not as good as the 60’s 70’s no way, those players played with pride and dignity and all out hustle for a minuscule amount of money compared to today’s players.
James..I’m glad you mention the 3 greatest outfielders roaming the field at the same time ( yes i might be bias but I dare anybody to come up with a better 3) Matthews LF,Maddox CF,Bonds RF was one of my years I went to the Stick alot to see them play.You had to be there in person ( TV doesn’t do in justice) to watch each of these speed burners go after a ball. Catching everything are if not holding a hitter to a single thinking he hit one in the gap easily but one of those 3 got the jump always.They we’re exciting to watch till dumbshit management broke them up, still pisses me off all the stupid trades they use to make..
Look at Gary Mathews’ numbers the years he was a Giant. The kind of player you just wouldn’t get rid of nowadays.
The Blazers blowing that 14 pt lead in Game 6 was a kick in the nuts but I have the Hawks ML today…22 pt lead right now. McMillan coach of the year in my mind. I think they can hang with the Nets…go Suns!
Longoria out 4-6 weeks, per KNBR.
Shoulder strain.
That was a collision, but geez, these older guys must be made out of papier mache…
At least it solves the Vosler/Wade dilemma . . . .
Also probably kills any potential to move Longoria before trade deadline….
Not even his throwing shoulder…
Full confession: Because I started playing so late, I never completely got over my fear of the ball when it was hit to me in the field. I still can’t judge a fly ball.The most satisfying experience I had playing in high school wasn’t a result of my meager success hitting or pitching the ball — it was the one afternoon I was forced to do short hop drills. I’d gotten the hang of it by the end.
But this confuses the issue, which is really about how we apprehend the game from day to day. I’m not convinced that a 60-80s brand of baseball would do anything to revive baseball’s popularity or make it seem less boring, nor did Johnnie Lemaster’s 39 steal season save anybody from the utter tedium of rooting for a shitty team.
The era torturing us with nostalgia was the hey day of the African American infusion into mlb. These days, supply’s running low.
Another confession: I am highly susceptible to nostalgia and the maudlin. I try to fight sentimentality like I do my rising cholesterol.
Statins aren’t as bad as I feared they’d be. I get maudlin over babies. That’s about it. Maybe those drugs are deleterious.
It was all Dubie’s fault according to Crowley: https://twitter.com/ko_crowley/status/1401609576944787464?s=21
Bad defense as contagion is more plausible than good hitting.
I guess that’s true, D being collaborative most of the time.
I’m at the Phils-Nats game with my daughter. Hot as hell today, but we’re in the shade. Weird, lonnnng game so far. Phils just scored 7 in the 4th on 3 hits. Nats have used 5 pitcher, their starter-opener got HBP in the head. Also down to 3 umps, the home ump got hit on the mask and left a couple batters later. Lot of Harper shirts. From what I can tell, there’s gonna be a lot of sad Sixers fans here.
And McCutchen scored his 1,000th career run!
Pitching has always been the focal point in baseball to me. Even 5 tool players like Mays, Clemente, Robinson, etc, had a hard time with good pitchers like Gibson, Koufax, Marichal, and so on. The game was never boring to me in my younger days. But it certainly is now.
The stolen base is going the way of the dodo bird.
Wills, Brock, Henderson, Willie Wilson, et al, even the hated Davey Lopes. I wonder if now in the minors they are even spending time teaching quick players how to steal …
Do you remember who holds the SF Giant record for SB in a single season?
Bonds?
Nope!
Nats rallying, Coonrod coming in!
Giant game is free today on MLBTV.com…
And that’s how this one gets started!
Wade jr is fitting right end as a Giant, playing a good first base and showing some pop with a nice leadoff HR..
Look at Posey hustling end to score, love it.
Great butcher swing by Cueto getting it over Rizzo’s head with 2 strikes to move Dubon to 3rd
Now the netting on the 1st base side has fallen down.
Spear tipped broken bat head flew over the Giants dugout side net yesterday. I’m not sure they know what they’re doing with those things.
Saw that, I think someone got hit in the leg. They’re still trying to get the netting up here, though it looks like Keystone State Kops on the job.
Without looking, I knew sending Buster again wasn’t gonna work…
A line drive splitting the outfielders for Posey knocking in a run!
And then Wotus tried the roulette wheel once to often and this time Posey gets nailed at the plate..
Stylish slide tho
Krukow has become a monstrous backer of the Grave Duggar…
Yeah I noticed that Loo, now if he can get behind Tauchman who Sucks and build him back up somehow would be good.They don’t have much choice but to play him right now due to injuries to Yaz&Ruf.Though he still adds value with his defense along with GD..Really their 2 best outfielders along with Yaz..
Damm this Wisdom dude is the second coming of Babe Ruth, 2 homers today 7 already since recently being called up..
The outfielders are really creeping in on Tauchman now. It’s hard for him to drop a single in. He has to be able to hit one over their heads once in a while.
I didn’t see a lot of Giants games on TV as a kid; radio was the key thing, with the rare trip to the Stick thrown in. It should always be remembered the pace of play was quicker in those days and the games were shorter. A 2-1 pitchers’ duel was over usually in under two hours. It makes a difference. There’s many reasons the pace is slower now and games are longer. Possible remedies are being debated everywhere, obviously.
I would say when we were kids, we didn’t want the game to ever end.
Age is our big problem…
We were left wanting more, which is good marketing.
Lots of guys grinding out long ABs and getting walks is a relatively recent thing. Obviously there’s no going back from that.
Cueto is looking like the #4 starter, maybe #5 if he keeps trending this way…
How do you make a game without a clock go at a faster pace? Add a clock. I’m for a pitch clock. I think it’s a reasonable thing to add to the game.
Well cut half or more of the commercials would probably do it too. But ….
Yes
That was a very impressive catch by that fan holding his beer 🍺 then thinks wtf let me spill it all over me in a moment of triumph..
Dubie throws a vicious sinking two seamer to home. It’ll always be his fault now.
Maybe they are playing Dubon at too many positions, so he’s losing the defensive feel and confidence at all of them…
ZZ tops!
Geez a rare boner by Posey , the ball didn’t even hit the dirt on Dubon’s throw on a force play with the pitcher running.Weird fielding going on in this series..
Lucky the Giants have one of the ZZ boys to come in and put out the fire 🧯
As usual, Flemm on radio was making excuses for Posey. Stretching, maybe even if he caught it–it would be too late, etc. Poor throw by Dubon, but Posey should have caught it in the air. Cubs announcers on highlight correctly blamed Posey for booting the throw. Sometimes the Giants announcers’ Posey idolatry is a bit much…
They ever have a BP game again I want to see them start the ZZ Top boys 1-2..
Dodgers’ Bauer lost today. Swordman takes the L.
If Wade keeps playing well, he might Wally Pipp Belt. Or far more likely, force them to do something with Tauchman and play Wade in the OF…
SF has 4 more innings to keep Cubs in check, while doing that blast a couple of homers and win.
That’s how they roll now…
From Baggs,
Brandon Crawford is the top rated short stop in baseball and it’s not even close
UZR/150
Crawford 16.5
Amed 8.0
Newman 8.0
No Tatis jr on list with his shit load of errors..
Jesus the sound of the bat I thought Dickerson hit it in the cove..
If Heyward could hit the way he was said to when he came up he’d be a superstar. He’s good on D though. Didn’t he and fellow Georgian Buster contend closely for ROY?
Wow, good memory, Xoot…
https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_2010.shtml#NL_ROY_voting
Just one of those games that could’ve gone either way about 10 different times.
At least LA & SD both lost too…
Well said.
And without profanity!
Damn. A 4 game sweep woulda been awesome. Hotter than hell in Hawaii. All the times I’ve been here, I’ve never been this stiflingly hot.