Phillie Time
In come The Phillies. I hope they present more of a challenge than the hapless D-backs. Grave Duggar continues to rake, he’s hitting .324, OPS near 1.000, easily one of our best players when you factor in defense, too.
Cueto feels a little bit on the clock in this start. He needs to step up his game. Even if he’s the #5 he’s got to be better than he’s been…..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
blast from past–M’s sign Alen Hanson. What was nickname we used to use for him? I liked him and he wasn’t terrible…played 2b 3b SS LF and RF, hit .250/.699 OPS with 8 bombs 7 steals in limited time here.
Turned out to be best year of his career. Signed to minors deal last year that was wiped out.
Shea in Chron today confirmed Dickerson ready to come back off IL, Ruf soon to follow by next Tuesday at latest and LaStella (who has been taking grounders at 3b) in 2 weeks.
Shea also said Sunday looks like another opener game. He explained part of theory–after opening game and being replaced by pitcher (like Long) who is meant to go longer, the second guy will not have to face top part of the lineup more than twice. Kap said, “Obviously the strategy did not go well the last time out. That doesn’t mean it won’t go well if we decide to do it again.”
And just like that Casali is EN FUEGO! About time he started contributing something offensively. Hope he keeps it up.
Don’t think even though he won’t admit it but inside Kapler wants to stick it where the sun don’t shine against his former team!
I’m not thrilled with the opener scenario,if your making Long your 5th starter, well he needs to face the top of the order to see how he can handle it from the start
But if they don’t,maybe just use both ZZTop boys first to screw with the heads of Phillies hitters doing a double take..
Really good USA Today article about Gausman’s road to success and the Giants organization’s return to relevance.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/7680522002
The article appeared as the cover story in the latest issue of that publication called USA Today Sports Weekly.
It’s a long article, but interesting throughout, in my opinion, especially for Giants fans.
Yeah, Cueto has been iffy since coming back from the IL. IR. Whatevs. He needs a solid start to really set this rotation as dominant. They have all been pitching well. Even still, Cueto is 4-3.
A couple more good starts under his belt before the break would be a welcome sight. Not sure when Webb is coming back. Be nice to not be in the position of having to do these opener games.
Webb is looking pretty damn good right now and Cueto inspires very little confidence. Maybe he’ll bounce back tonight.
I agree, Kat, he absolutely wants to stick it to the Phils and their belligerent fans. Not that he’d ever admit it publicly. lol
I still don’t understand the concept behind the “opener.” Maybe one of you gurus can enlighten me. I don’t see why they just don’t start someone like Long, who is being groomed as a starter anyway, at least right now.
I think the idea is that the opener faces the first 3 hitters, supposedly the best 3 hitters. Then assuming he gets them out, the “starter” comes in for inning 2, so he can then work well into the game (essentially 2 frames more if everything goes right) before having the first 3 hitters potentially see him for the third time. OK, but the Opener by definition is not as good a pitcher as the 2nd inning “starter”. So, like last time, if the Opener gets hammered immediately in the first, the plan doesn’t work. I think it’s just an overreach of stats. Start the starter in inning 1 and if it goes well until just before the top hitters are due up for the third time and he’s tiring, bring in the relief = the usual protocol for the last 40 years since relief pitching became a real “thing”…
What Gasman said about Spider Tack.
Funny. We don’t have guys that use it but if we did it wouldn’t be a problem for them to stop.
Yesterday, before he threw a split, he wiped his thumb and the side of his index finger against the brim of his hat instead of pinching it with the thumb and the tips of his fingers. 😉 😉 😉 Seriously. The camera focused in for an extended look at his pre-windup preparation for that one pitch. I’m sure he’s just wiping the digits dry of sweat. Great call by WillieD to notice the tic.
I saw someone talk about it on MLBTR, I think when they had column when Giants were making Kazmir moves. Blogger said something about watching how often Gausman touched his cap…I noticed it for first time paying attention to it yesterday early on.
All across MLB, the pitchers are responding to these questions with word salad.
The usage rate for this crap must be really high…
while I was signing up for peacock today (bullshit manipulative gimmick) I saw a supposed expert hack making the case for the use of a new mlb approved substance, much as the rosin bag mixture is now approved. Interesting idea.
In defense of pitchers, this isn’t unrelated to MLB juicing the baseball in first place, and messing with seams that ruin feel of it their hands..
More I see IF shots of teams in shift, more I’m anti legislating against it. RH I think it was Casali yesterday, AZ had pulled SS over into the hole closer to where 3b was playing, and 2b was up the middle. So there was still a decent gap btw SS and 2b, and of course even bigger gap btw. 2b and 1b than normal.
imo, all the shift has done is move the holes that were there previously. You still have 4 IFs defending same amount of space–while shifts take away hole that use to be up the middle they have opened wider ones elsewhere. Up to hitters to find them or try and blast your way over them.
Let ’em do what they want.
Dennis Miller never figured out how to exploit his resemblance to Charlie Manson, I guess.
Miller’s hair in the video….that’s….something.
I would guess that the split would be one pitch that wouldn’t necessarily benefit from an increased spin rate. If anything, the opposite would be true, imo. That pitch is more about proper release and good arm action.
Fastball probably, breaking pitches definitely. Baseball’s history of cheating is long and distinguished, going back to its very beginnings. Not to justify it, but this is just the latest chapter. It’s all about that competitive edge.
I always recommend reading the terrifically entertaining “Cooperstown Confidential” for sordid details on baseball’s history of malfeasance. A real eye-opener.
“I still don’t understand the concept behind the “opener.” Maybe one of you gurus can enlighten me.”
I’m no guru, but I think, ideally, the “opener” is supposed to be a really good reliever, and hopefully does well in the first inning vs. the top of the order.
The next guy in is usually a long-reliever type, who now has one less time to face the top of the order.
Oops, I see Snarkk already answered the question.
I answered it, but there may be more to it in the minds of Kap and ZMan.
Whatever the supposed reason(s), I’ll think it’s dumb until proved otherwise. In the vain of just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Just more moves to possibly take advantage of some interesting and newly visible stats, like adding useless functionalities to a software application that works just fine as is. Apparently now, there are refrigerators with chips that enable you to remotely, via a phone app, tell your frig and/or freezer to change the temperature targets. Is this something anybody would actually use? No wonder there’s a global microchip shortage, they’re being used for all sorts of nonsense…
And all the chips and batteries are using up a finite amount of rare Earth metals. But that’s just more apocalyptic stuff to have to be concerned about….
I don’t think chips use much rare earth metal, if any. One of the most amazing things about microchips is their total dependence on silicon. Lotta that around. Magnets use r e ms. But, hell, youth baseball bats do, too. Some of those metals are reclaimable, recyclable, thus the screaming of a saw that woke me about 4 am some months back as catalytic converter thieves did their work under a honda parked near my home. Local honda repair shops are making a fortune welding cages over the replacement c converters they install.
I read a thing about Spruce Pine quartz sand used in chips that made it sound kind of rare, but I could have misunderstood it.
Quartz isn’t metal, though, so that isn’t the same anyway.
I guess the sand from Spruce Pine NC is as fabled as the New Jersey Lena Blackbourne mud they use to rub new baseballs, but I bet they’re both replaceable.
I’d never before heard of the “spruce pine”. That’s interesting.
In the USA Today article it mentions that Brian Bannister was hired by the Giants to be Director of Pitching, a job title I’m not sure I had heard before.
Even though there is also a regular pitching coach, Bannister has been involved in coaching Giants pitchers. Seems like he was the right guy for the Giants at the right time.
From the article:
““I think the Giants have done a good job at bringing in a lot of really smart people,” says Gausman. “Brian Bannister is one of the best in the game that I’ve been around at figuring out what’s for each guy and tinkering with grips. It took some of our new guys a couple days in spring training to figure out, wow, this guy’s the real deal.””
To me an “opener” is like going to a concert, nobody really cares until you get to the main act..
I’m not against tech or progress or knowledge, not at all. I’m for robo umps at home plate. I’m for wireless technology connecting a chip in a 1bman’s mitt and the first base bag with some sort of pressure plate that renders the often wrong bang-bang call of the first base ump no longer needed so we can dispense with those replay reviews.
And, I think the new info being generated in baseball on spin rate, batting stats, etc. are all interesting and obviously are helpful to management that can digest and use it. But, at some point the application of all this vast increase in information may lead to making the game so different than it used to be that it’s less enjoyable and magical sports entertainment. Do we really want to watch a statistics match until a baseball game occasionally breaks out?…
The game, in real life, is becoming the Stratomatic baseball board game we played as kids. That’s pretty ironic.
McIlroy at +1 thru 2 rounds, the rest of the Flav/Sandog picks about to tee off.
Britney Eurton’s dad trainer Peter Eurton wins 3rd at Santa Anita on turf with Constant Conflict as Abel Cedillo edges out Umberto Rispoli horse in stretch.
I think there is constant conflict for all managers trying to figure out how to keep pitching staff, especially starters, prepared to withstand 162 game schedule this season. Giants are already down a couple SPs with Webb still hurt and Sanchez suffering setback in attempt to get going again. They started Kazmir couple times and he’s back in Sac, along with Beede who has had couple rough outings lately.
Giants still have 93 games, or 18 + times to get through 5 man rotation, to negotiate.
I doubt the Phillies will be pushovers in this series. They just left LA and shutout Kershaw 2-0. I think the Phillies play us pretty tough for the most part.
Beede numbers in Sac: 24 innings in 9 starts (pitch count limits in early ones) ERA of 7.77.
Given up 21 hits and 22 walks, 29 Ks 4 bombs. It’s a hitters league with some elevation/hot weather yards, but still.
Yikes.
Beede is 28. That’s old for not having established yourself yet in the bigs as a pitcher.
If this current ZMan pitching regime and training approach can’t fix his wildness and inability to calm down when in trouble, maybe nobody can.
He seems like a guy destined to be traded for some level A minor league reliever, if ZMan works some magic.
If he were any good as a first rounder (14th overall), he’d have been on the 25 man for 3 years or more, already.
Sabes blew that pick.
Same draft, Matt Chapman went to the A’s at 25th overall…
I think maybe Dodgers’ Beuhler was teammates with Beede at Vanderbilt.
A stretch of 10 years of bad drafting in the first round cost Sabean his job.
Doghairs took Buehler 25th in first round 2015.
Giants had the earlier 18th pick, took:
Phil Bickford.
Ha ha. Now that’s a swing and a miss…
For all the 49er fans that don’t have tv service Peacock is gonna show all three Sunday night games pretty sure for free.
Bilasport, baby! Free streaming. Not sure how glitchy it is for football, but for Giants games it has been great. For the NBA playoffs, not so great. Some are shown on nat’l TV (ABC, TBS), but a lot aren’t. And ESPN is out.
1. LaMonte Wade Jr (L) LF
2. M. Yastrzemski (L) RF
3. Buster Posey (R) C
4. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
5. B. Crawford (L) SS
6. Wilmer Flores (R) 2B
7. Steven Duggar (L) CF
8. Jason Vosler (L) 3B
9. Johnny Cueto (R) P
Fuck up the Phillies….we’ll sho you some “brotherly love.” 😉
Agree with others…probably a tough series.
If Giants can win this one tonight with Cueto going, that would be a real plus heading into the weekend.
Phillies aren’t the clown show that is the Dbacks…
At Pleasanton right now for their opener. It is amazing how few people here wear masks lol. Literally no one. Beautiful day even though it’s 105, nice warm breeze blowing through the grandstand right now. Feels like America is BACK
Some of the people weren’t wearing masks at a grocery store I went to today.
The vibe in the store seemed a little weird. The reopening is new territory.
In Alameda county, and I think statewide under Cal Osha until at least towards end of June, retail and other store employees are supposed to wear masks, though vaccinated patrons don’t have to. Supposedly, un-vaccinated customers still have to wear a mask in indoor stores. Yeah, sure. My snarkkettes work PT retail, indoors. They’ve already encountered a few customers not wearing masks and making remarks to them about they shouldn’t wear masks. I told them they should reply to these people that employees by law still have to wear masks to protect customers, and evenso, they’re wearing masks so they don’t get Covid from a sick non-masker and die from it after 3 weeks of ICU hell like their Gramma did a few months back…
Oh man. So sorry to hear that. What a nightmare to go through.
I have a buddy at my local Trader Joe’s who’s worked there for years. He told me last week that TJ’s will likely require the in-store workers to wear masks in CA, especially NorCal, for the foreseeable future, regardless of what the local or state authorities say…
I have not worn a mask my last couple of times I the grocery store. Been fully vaccinated for a couple months.
Today my geographical area broke its heat record for June 18. Not the kind of record you want to break.
The Athletic had a good article on Caseli and his hand/wrist surgery. In the article talked about a lot of players break the Hamate bone and everyone heals at a different rate. Evidently Pablo broke both of his hamate bones, since he was a switch hitter. Hopefully Caseli is fully healed now and continue to raise his BA.
Yeah Trader Joe’s is being a little over the top with the way they are handling the COVID thing, I went there about a week ago and they were still only letting in 25% of capacity. I have seen/ read so many articles on this. The Health specialist still don’t know if people will need a yearly shot or not. I read one article where Sweden ran tests on people who had COVID and the antibodies were in their bone marrow so they will not have to get a yearly shot, only a small sample size. So who knows what is going to happen with COVID-19. A surgeon friend says ask anyone to show a medical paper that shows you are still susceptible to the disease. He says that cause there is not one. So either the medical community does not share everything or they just don’t know, which is scary since supposedly the world has the top medical minds working on this.
Snarkk and zumiee, thanks for the explanation. Still doesn’t make much sense to me, but I definitely lean towards the old school side of things when it comes to baseball and most other things as well. And snarkk, that refrigerator feature might be the dumbest thing I’ve heard all year and there’s been a lot to choose from. How often does anyone change the temp in their fridge? I’d guess once it’s set, hardly anyone.
Looks like the joint venture announcing crew is jovial tonight. Remember when the a’s and Giants tried that for a bay bridge series one year? Fossil Fosse kept losing his temper, as if Krukow was just trolling him. They dropped that jt venture real quick.
A kale burger. Goddammit Johnny.
The game is still on MLB.tv, so thankfully I don’t have to get Peacock.
Clowns…
So if that stupid, incomprehensible wind diagram changes every inning as they just said, then what’s the point of only showing it once? Why don’t they just put it up before every batter and really drive everyone nuts?
Can you use 2 catchers as part of a shift?
An O’double for Crawford…
Flav you look to have Dawg’s winnings in that US Open bet. I missed my opportunity to get in on it. I would have gone Henley and Brand….lol!
My pool picks were DeCham, Scheffler, Berger, DJ Coke Head, Cantlay and that loser Homa…
Wow, lucky for Craw that throw was way off.
Now that’s some terrible baserunning.
I have not worn a mask anywhere for the last three-four weeks!!! It is liberating to finally get back to normal. I was at Joe and Hunter Biden’s favorite restaurant in Georgetown for lunch and we had an outdoor table and only saw one person in or or out wearing a mask besides staff. I am on a flight to Portugal Monday and expecting masks will be required on the plane…
We had a George Will sighting at lunch…
Poor George Will. He probably feels like a lost soul. He still has baseball, though.
I never read his baseball book. It had a lot of LaRussa in it.
George Will has been a man on an deserted island politically in the last decade…
But you saw him!
My God is this pathetic…
That sure was a rough inning for Philly.
What a gift!
And more incredibly unintended stupid use of the replay rule…
Just like a runner missing the bag at first …
Shimmy shake & quake.
Does the Giant’s trainer ever do anything except put his hand on your shoulder and talk to you?
That was unique.
Johnny Longball.
This broadcast was doing okay until the gausman mid inning interview. Worse than espn. Cueto’s look isn’t so hot either. You’d think they might want to talk about that.
O’triple for Wade!
Herrera gets to everything but can’t catch them…
Go Johnny Go.Glad he didn’t have the jacket on.
Wade can’t be sent down to AAA; he’s too valuable to the big club.
He’s batted lead off 13 of last 15 games.
He ain’t going anywhere.
The Sock Puppet seems like the odd man out right now…
Peacockj ust crapped out.
yeah the peacock folded its tail for a while there
Yeah, Wade has turned into a valuable asset.
Solid hitting approach. Can play IF well and OF just OK, in a pinch.
I never heard of the dude before Zman pulled him up…
Belted!
Belted to right !
He’s back into one of his hot streaks.
Keep it goin’…
Falter is not a good name for a relief pitcher.
https://www.fangraphs.com/players/shane-halter/468/stats?position=P
It’s still low to mid ’80s here \in the East Bay at 8:45 pm.
I’ve had 2 1/2 bourbon whisky sours on the back deck, so I’m a little wobbly and happy about the Giants performance so far. The Romeo y Julieta Cuban cocktail cigar has kept me upright so far.
About ready to attack a large plate of antipasti and a glass of cold Moscato de Asti.
Go Giants !!!
Let’s Phinish these Phuckin’ Phills !!! …
Wade does it all!
That was close. Tie goes against Bryce.
Four announcers and one of them finally figured out the Phillies had a challenge left.
i don’t think they’re paying much attention to staff notes tonight.
They may have been confused by the decision not to contest the call on Harper, which was actually a more important situation for the Phillies.
Any chance they bring Rogers back for the 9th after a 9 pitch 8th?
what a dreamlife you have
Not anymore.
Phive in a row!
Nice W!
Good way to start it out.
And so it goes for the D-Backs.
the dead lasts
aw shit, no more anecdotes about Larry Bowa and John Vukovich?
Strange but good win. bums and pods both appear to be winning tonight, but they’re still behind the Giants.
As George would say:
what was his prissy punchline? something about devilish difficulty?
I remember he used to be on a talk show with Sam Donaldson. Saturday Night Live skewered it pretty well.
Gints now 20 games over .500.
Wow…
It’s crazy, man…
.500 ball from here on would = 91
I can’t imagine enduring the pain of 46 more losses. It just wouldn’t be right.