A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

I turned the game on yesterday the moment Webb threw that dinger ball to Schwarber. Irritating. I do appreciate Kap giving him the chance to get his first career complete game. I still think Kap needs to get his shit together regarding his protest-plan. But whatever, I honestly don’t really care what he does—just would appreciate it not being a distraction for the team.

Honestly, nobody in sports has a more slappable face than Joc except maybe Patrick Reed. But Pham, man, that dude has to chill. As I suspected it wasn’t simply a dispute over a fantasy football waiver wire claim. But still, this was nothing more than Pham not liking a marginally funny gif Joc sent out to a group chat. Who knows, maybe he was just looking for a reason to slap the second most slappable face in sports…..

Not too sure how I feel about Kap sitting out the National anthem for…..ever? I totally support his right to do this I just feel like this is going to get put more on the players than is necessary. They’re going to get asked about this in every town they’re in. It’s gonna get old. And why not go out there but take a knee like the first Kap who started all of this?

Nothing’s gonna change, it’s just some added press pressure for his players….

After the Niners won the Super Bowl in ’94 I didn’t really appreciate it until all those years went by AND they lost 2 Super Bowls AND 3 more NFC championship games. I can now fully and completely appreciate the run they went on in the 80’s.

And when the Giants won 3 in 5 I stupidly bought into the “even year bullshit” and actually expected another in 2016.

Then the Warriors went on their run and again I bought into idiotic claims like the one from Lacob that said the franchise was “light years” ahead of the rest of the NBA. When they moved to SF I thought “we are all good, Lacob would never make this move and allow anything less than a 70 win team to enter that buliding”.

LOL what an idiot I have been…..

I am truly in shock and appreciative awe at this group of HALL OF FAMERS getting back to the NBA Finals.

I will never not appreciate a moment like this again. Their are way too many seasons past (and seasons to come) that will end in miserable failure. We are blessed.

I kept hearing about how great the Mets were heading into this series–sorry, until they get back Scherzer and deGrom (unlikely) that rotation is a joke. Yeah, they can buy at the break but this still seems like east coast over-hype to me.

“Dubs in 5” he said. Tonight’s the night.

Stix was inspired by last night’s great win…..

Carstie Clausen	12:51 AM (4 hours ago)
to Flavor, carstie

Flav:  Enough with the lurking through all the pain and humiliation:  Old Stix got stimulated by those sizzling sticks.

 After being beaten, battered and bewildered by superior pitching and offensive explosions by their opponents;  the Giants revealed their inner essence as giants.  They simply refused to lose.  After whomping up run after run in support of a very nice effort by our Webb slinger; it  looked like the thunder of doom was once again the recipe for a team deep in the doldrums, as the Mutts went to town on Tyler Rogers’ submarine frisbees, highlighted by Francisco Lindor’s six RBI rampage in a disastrous top of the 7th.

 Yet another dire defeat?  Not quite hardly.

 Lindor’s heroics were more than matched by the guy who seemed to have totally fallen off the wagon after his return from the I.L.  Eight Ribeyes on the night may not have been a Giants record; but the breakout night by Jocktivities will go down in Giants history as a night to remember.  Three home runs, including a splashdown blast into McCovey Cove set the pace for Joc Pederson, who had to have channeled his inner Viking to spark a once-again relentless offense which managed to come back from the bitter taste of probable defeat when the Mutts rallied against  the 40 MPH offerings of Luis Gonzalez’ after he had garnered three quick outs in the top of the ninth.

 Sending a young outfielder to the mound in the top of the 9thi is generally a sign of desperation, of throwing in the towel.

 Not tonight.

 More impressive for me than that Royal Flush of taters, was when Pederson (can’t tell from the name whether Norwegian or Swedish surname …here in the Northwoods of Minnesota I’m acquainted with Pederson of both persuasions ) was not tempted to swing away in that telling bottom of the ninth, rather simply meeting the ball and dinking that looping single into shallow center, plating that all-important tying run.  That feat was a sign of baseball maturity, finally achieved at the age of 30.  Jocktivities has long had the reputation as a wild-assed free swinger…a musclehead Jockforbrains.

 Well, some guys do need  a bit of time to finally grow up into fully mature manhood.  Pederson reached that plateau tonight.  It was not about ego, rather playing for the team and for honor.  Hats off to him and to Kapler who maintained his faith in the slugger.  Perhaps his May 24 heroics will have successfully turned the corner in his somewhat talented but checkered career.  Just maybe, Jocktivities will have transformed himself into that fearsome Big Bat in the cleanup position which every successful team needs to overcome the horrors of a pitching staff that suddenly lost track of its mojo.

 But don’t think this was a one-man show.  Nineteen hits for Los Gigantes as against a dozen and a half for the N.L. New Yokkers.  Thirteen runs to an even dozen.  Baker’s dozen does it.  Tommy LaStella was also stellar with his three-run tattoo.  Perhaps sensing the swift rise of Marco Luciano, the Giants #1 prospect and a fellow shortstop; CrawDaddy let the world know that he’s not yet yesterday’s news by batting in that winning run…opposite field, even.  No wild swinging away, attempting to pull the ball with some oomph behind it, but going inside-out and plating the Winnah.  Yes, a professional for sure.

 Missing Late Night Wade and BB9 (El Capitan) , plus #1 catcher Casali;  the Giants were saddled with pipeline callups who had recently been acquired in seeming desperation moves by Zaidi.  So in part the Giants had to make do with a chunk of the squad suddenly getting the call to The Show and a bit nervous in the spotlight.  No problemo tonight.  The pros, the vets, also relative newbies like Estrada and Gonzalez, took up the slack and mounted a murderous attack, coming back twice, thanks to the Man of the Hour as the pace-setter.

 So the Game of the Year, as Ms. Guardado called it on her coverage, got the team off the shnoid.  Hitting can become contagious.  So can winning.

 John Brebbia made some atonement for the rest of the bullpen, by quieting the Mets in their last hurrah of the evening to win his well deserved second game.  That could not  have come at a better time.  Maybe Brebbia too, can become a pace-setter, this time for a badly battered bullpen.  If the offense can maintain the hitting contagion for two or three more weeks, the return of Disco and the appearance of Boyd may bring in a couple of reliable starters.  Tonight’s victory may jell the team once again.  After the Mets, the upcoming opponents should not be quite as formidable.  A much needed winning streak could be exactly what the doctor ordered. 

 Could be that Zaidi will explore the trade-winds among teams who have little or no chance at the Post-Season for some bullpen help.  Lit-Up has done Littlell for the team lately.  He may go the DFA route unless he gets his shit together like pronto. One or two others are also slightly shaky.  Bullpen repair may well happen before the trading deadline.

 Team morale should have gotten one helluva boost on May 24, 2022.  Check out those numbers.  A  total of four deuces in that array.   A Full House trumps three aces.  Nice showing by Webb tonight.  Too bad those frisbees Rogers flipped fell like a failed quiche or a collapsed cake.  The Webb-slinger deserved the victory.  Oh well, it’s not all about the starter, or any single player.  Seems like the Giants are not much into super-stars.  When they cohere and play like a team, they turn into a monster.

 They simply refuse to lose….just maybe, tonight’s thriller was the classic game-changer.  We needed that…desperately. Let’s make it two in a row tomorrow…er, later today.

When you look back on it, it’s really incredible that the Giants let Matt Williams play and suck so much as they did in ’87, ’88 and ’89. I mean, those were hardly rebuilding years. And yet though he was patently awful he had nearly 700 at bats during those 3 seasons.

Which brings us to Joey Bart. Do we just keep running him out there over and over watching him strike out about half the time. HALF! Shit Williams at his worst never hit the 50% strikeout ratio. He had more power, too. And was a stud defensively. So why exactly do we keep Bart around?

Because there’s no one else? Because we’re hoping he “blossoms” the way Williams did? The whole “blossoming” thing is funny to me. Like, they are completely different people, why should one be linked to the other? Isn’t it entirely possible that Bart is just another complete whiff in a long line of first round draft whiffs the Giants have made over the last 30 years?

If you want to read something completely hilarious take a look at like 1988 onward. They’ve hit on like 4 guys in 34 years. That’s a *Bart-like* average.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_San_Francisco_Giants_first-round_draft_picks

Andrew Wiggins with his “Baron Davis” dunk moment. It’s really incredible how he’s elevated his game this series. I know he was an all star but he’s had long stretches in the season where he was invisible. Now the question is, will the series go the 5 i predicted or just get shut down in four?

Giants are tough to discuss after a game like Sunday’s.

That was their chance, right? Up 14 at half, banging in their 3s….and they still lost by 9. I guess they might get one in their house but as I said before the series started, Dubs in 5…..

It is Preakness Day. Talk to you guys later….

I will never be a fan of both the slow and the weak but Joe Panik played an intergral role in 2014.

Will always qualify as a great Giant because of what he did for our last World Series win.

…and that’s how this series is gonna go. Even with the Dubs shooting like shit from 3 and the free throw line they still run Dallas out the building by 25.

The only way Dallas is even gonna win a game is if they take a big lead and control the pace of the game from there. They play too slow and they don’t have enough fire power from 3-land to mount a comeback vs a team like Golden State in the playoffs.

This is totally over.

Again, if you’re gonna bring it this hard at 3am you get the thread.

Carstie Clausen	3:50 AM (2 hours ago)
to me

Flav:  Giants win so why complain?

  Was Kapler smoking in the boys’ room?  Almost seems that way.  Consider the Coors Field effect.  Cobb had thrown five fine innings, giving up only a couple of runs.  Low pitch count. Then , cue the sixth and the Sherpas slapped out a couple of quick hits starting out the frame. Okay, a nice fat lead and the bullpen a bit stretched out lately.  Understandable in a sense.  But a mound visit taking as long as possible, following a call to the pen  to start warming up should have been  in order.  Why?  It’s the Box of Rox, for Gawd’s sake.

  Of the guys in the rotation, Cobb is good, but perhaps slightly fragile.  With nobody out and a pair on base, a third consecutive single and another long, slow saunter out to the mound along with a considerable jawing to take up more time should have been the strategy.

 Then the hand extended for the ball and a pat on the back. Most managers would have done that, I suspect.  Didn’t happen.

  Perhaps Grichuk’s three run dinger was positive in one sense.  It did add up to five tallies in the inning and the apparent blowout now reduced to a tight contest, but the positive effect was it gave Brebbia a clean slate.  Nobody on base.  He promptly took care of business, albeit, mostly facing the bottom of the order.

 Gotta hand it to the bullies.  Three and two-thirds innings giving up grand total of two hits, two walks and zero runs.  Besides the showcase by Brebbia, Leone and Rogers got it through the eighth.  Despite giving up two walks…  fingernail chewing time… our young closer managed to slam the door with no further damage being done.  But it was looking like a close-call…the venue being a long drink of Coors.

  Doval has yet to keep it simple…ala Brebbia.  He labored through twenty-plus pitches.  With 100 MPH heat, it should have been no problemo.  With a well-stocked staff of pitching coaches, the kid should mature into trusting his stuff and not tending to try and get too cute.  Should happen over time.  Hopefully this season.  Preferably commencing versus the Mutts and LaBumbos.

 Enough for the kvetching.  We won.

 From the get-go with LaSteller’s lead-off bomb, the offense was relentless.  Wearing down the starter and then the relievers has become the lineup’s specialite’ de Maison…even while not playing at home.  Funny thing is an uncanny inability to capitalize on those long pitch counts, highlighted by foul after foul and a trio of out of the zone pitches such as was the case with Longo in the top of the ninth.  The ninth pitch was a called strike, though.  Too typical.  So El Capitan was not the only offender in that category.
Tells you something about the relentlessness of the deep lineup, though, as SF plated ten while both Belt and Pederson were stinking up the joint.

 Yeah, two of the biggest power-threats mired in nasty slumps would stymie most offenses.  Not Los Gigantes.

 LaStella shouted “I’m baaack”, with not only that game-opening blast, but also a pair of those devastating doubles. After last year’s so-so performance by a dinged-up hitter, that three-year contract for a batter featuring good contact …and the occasional tater… may not be looking too bad.  He wasn’t alone in that.  Team had no fewer than six doubles for the night.  Except for three run blasts and Salamis, doubles spell rallies. They can quick start a rally inning, keep one going, or cap it with three plated, while bedeviling the pitcher with a runner hanging out at second.

Who knows…had Grichuk’s blast had been a double instead, perhaps Brebbia may not have stayed calm enough to shut them down.

 Yeah,  I love doubles.  Giants were waaaay down the scrotum pole in MLB in two-baggers going into the game.  After last night’s performance, they have begun to look mildly respectable in that category.  Oh yes, and CrawDaddy got him one of those rare triples, a deflection deal, but hey…it counted  as a three-bagger on the scoreboard. Team ended up with a grandiose total of 8 XBHes on the evening.  Coors Field effect once again.

 Not only did our stellar second sacker stand out on the evening but so did YazMaTaz and RufStuff.  Banged them all over the place.

 Take a gander at these stats.  Giants are second in MLB in homers and in bases on balls.  That combo is deadly when combined, a bit like mixing nitric acid and glycerine.  Explosive.  Oh yes, and their OBP is also second in The Show.  In RBI’s they drop all the way down to being only third.  Sad case out of 30 teams.  Slugging pctg. is merely #10, meaning that their OPS is  in the seventh spot.  Their batting average is sixth.  Not a bad lineup considering the fact that it is totally without a Stanton or a Judge.  Relentless, in a word. No holes, in two more words.

 How do they do it?  Balance, gang.  Tight infield defense. In most games a shut-down bullpen. Above average rotation…and that lineup without a significant hole.  It’s so crazy-assed loaded that our leading man in  batting average stats, Luis Gonzalez, got deported…probably for awhile only to Sac-town. Injuries do happen.  After the fiasco in St. Louis, this team, only #10 in powerhouse ratings this week, has a nice Postseason look about it.

 Oh, and it’s not unlikely that Kapler will learn from his mistakes.  He is a bright guy.

That was a quality win. One of the harder things to do is to go to SherpaLand with the Rockies having already been playing there. They are already used to the climate and it’s tough for a team to come in there and compete Game 1 of the new series. Couple that with the fact that we’d just gotten blown out in the Sunday night game and it’s even more impressive that we scratched and clawed and still came out with the victory. And even Yaz with the most suspect of mustashes ended up being the hero.

If only they’d put Pujols in earlier—we would have destroyed them.

Ugly. And about to get uglier with a trip into Sherpaland.

Who got the last laugh, bitch?

Yesterday was a big dud. Today, Rondon vs Wainwright. ESPN.

No laid eggs on national tv, ok?

If you check in this strong at 3am, you get the day’s thread……

Carstie Clausen	3:15 AM (2 hours ago)
to Flavor, carstie

  Flav:  Friday evening in St. Louis revealed something about the Giants approach.  It’s all about balance.

  Tuning into the official MLB site, it’s larding up the place with the Yankmees—a team I have detested since around the age of twelve—and the LaBumbos—with the Guggenheimer bucks providing LaLaLand with an All-Star array of ego-trippers and highlight reelers.  Judge and Stanton present a duet of power++  superstars .The New York based media loves to hype them clear into the ionosphere—that’s well beyond the stratosphere,  way, way, way up there.  But guess what?  Last night checking on the stats end of the MLB presentation, there’s the “lowly” Giants, now with a six game winning streak, sporting the identical number of runs batted in with the Yanks.  How to explain?  It’s simply a matter of balance.

 Our Webb-spinner looked to be nowhere near his A-game in the First.  Wild-man on the mound, it seemed to bode another one of THOSE nights like SF experienced last week.  But somehow last season’s surprise ace found his center of balance, helped along with a reconstituted offense and got his act together, lasting a full six and appearing to improve as the game marched on.  Though his ERA is not up to his standout performance a year ago, he now sports a 5-1 record. Only three K’s on the night, if recall is correct…but weak-contact grounders scooped up by CrawDaddy and a smooth functioning infield with those two DP’s; in general demonstrated that keen pitching and a near airtight inner defense is more often than not a more potent game-winner than the star-spangled squads which grab all the media by the short-hairs.

 Another part of the balanced equation is a relentless, grinding offense centered on an attack that comes atcha from every bat in the lineup.  Contrast that approach with the Bonds-centered formula of a couple of decades back…that one was a single hyperstar surrounded by a shadowed assembly of so-so hitters who simply took on the roles of a supporting cast for THE MAN.  Wearing down the opposing starter, the Cardinals’ flamethrower as a prime example, combined with feasting on a bewildered bullpen, was key to that 8-2 victory.  No rest for the opponent.  Pitch after pitch getting fouled off and that topped by a frustrated hurler losing command and control and consequently issuing free passes. 

 Frustrating the Cards, not so much as in the sweep of the bedizened Rox, was a lineup with few holes.  A pitcher simply cannot pitch around these guys.  Consider Casali.  Outta nowhere, he gets his first Ding-Dong of the season, essentially putting the game on ice.  Return of Longo with his devastating double was yet another highlight.  With a AAAA lineup, back in the not so distant past, Los Gigantes couldn’t buy a two-bagger.  Adding YazMaTaz on his covid return for another two-run boost and we’re looking at the Daily Doubles. Toss in Ruf-stuff and a pitcher faces more than one or two guys who can hurt you…bad.

 Then there’s the Bullies.  With the Webb-master good for six, the pen once again was not needing to face a lonnnng set of innings.  Though Littell got lit up by starlit Goldy, the blast did not drive in a couple of baserunners as well. Who’s on first?  Nobody.  No huge prob.  The lead was already daunting.  Jarlin Garcia finished it off with a nine pitch ninth, as St.L. had already gotten demoralized by yet another solid outing by Leone in the previous frame.  When offense and defense are playing up to their standard standards, the relievers seem to be more relaxed—no nailbiting tension—and proceed to simply do their due diligence.

 Yeah, Friday the thirteenth was bad luck for the home team.  They got run over by a Giants squad which lacks even a single superstar.  They are all in it, as nobody hogs the spotlight, while a keenly balanced production lessons and lessens the opponent.  It almost reminds one of a prizefighter in the their now almost unheard of heyday in the 50’s, who maintained a balanced battering that simply wore down his opponent.

 Perhaps 2021 with its 100++ victories was not a total outlier.  Could just be that Zaidi’s concatenation of hidden treasures coming outta nowhere and Kapler’s pinpoint managerial skills are providing a whole new template for winning baseball.

  It’s all about balance.

The Cardinals are one of those teams I think should be better offensively. I like their entire LU. And yet the only thing they really do well is steal bases. I’m worried about this series though, they could break out offensively at any moment.

I’ll check in with Daniel and see if he knows why they aren’t hitting as well as I think they should be hitting.

Webb needs to bring his A game today.

I just looked at the Rockies record. How in God’s name are they over .500? They’re terrible in every facet of the game.

Nice to see Bart have an RBI single. He doesn’t have to be Posey but if he can bang an RBI single every now and again that might be enough.

Got our 3 best lined up in St. Louis.

With the Dodgers probably starting another 12 game win streak yesterday it’s important to win games like last nights. Although it should be pretty easy making the post season this year even if they run away with it. I’m not conceding the division…..but come on. Look at that team. And ours is significantly weaker than last year’s.

But that does mean I don’t think we can make a lot of noise this year. Let Z make another deadline deal or two and we’re good.

Two nice Bay Area wins last night though both had their warts. I give the Dubs a ton of credit for getting through that game with all the stress they had pregame with Kerr’s Covid and Draymond losing one of his friends to a shooting. The Giants have to figure out Bart and McGee. At least with McGee you know it’s in there. Bart is a different story. This guy was a first round draft pick. That’s it. Teams miss all the time on those guys. He’s basically failed aross the board during all his time at the mlb level.

Stix take:

Carstie Clausen	Mon, May 9, 8:30 PM (9 hours ago)
to me

Flav:  Been following the game on Gameday this evening.  Perhaps the one thing that bothers me the most is that Bart has been clueless in his at-bats for some while now.  He’s become a Black Hole in the lineup.  Every time he comes to bat I just automatically feel that he’s not gonna get on base and most likely strike out.  Maybe it’s time to consider options.  My pick would be to make a trade with the floundering Cubs and see if they can be tempted by a mid-range prospect or two for Willson Contraras, who for some reason has not seen much action.  His offensive numbers have been acceptable if not particularly stellar.  Maybe more seasoning in AAA would be what Bart needs.  Seems like he’s digging a hole that just gets deeper and deeper.  A less stressful and responsible situation might actually do him some good.

I agree with that dude. There is nothing in that horse’s past performances to indicate he could do anything like he did on Saturday. He should have been 300-1. And yet there he was, weaving through horses in the stretch like he had a motor on his ass. For the sake of the industry I hope that horse doesn’t test dirty.

Lots of people talking about how great this is for the sport and the little guy and there is certainly some truth to that. But a horse winning for no reason like that happens every so often at some shitty midwestern track in a claiming race on a Wednesday afternoon. It doesn’t happen on racing’s biggest stage. They did run the last quarter pretty slow so it could just be a case of all the other horses not firing and/or some who were burnt up by that incredibly fast first quarter and half. So, visually, his run looked better than it was.

While I’ve been trying to make sense of that senseless act the Giants broke a nice little 2 game win streak at the expense of Daniel’s Cardinals…

If you’re looking for something to take your mind off the Giants sucking I have just the thing for you. I’m going to let my main man The Boney One handle today’s thread because he breaks these plays down as good or better than me:

Thomas McDevitt	Thu, May 5, 9:32 PM (2 days ago)
to me, Chris

 I feel exceptionally confident this year

1. Messier, 8-1 ML; If he actually goes off at 8-1 or higher he’s a great bet
2. Zandon, 3-1 ML; Heart and wallet want him to win ($16.8k in Derby Future Wager), and he figures to run great, but doesn’t have much early speed and that’s been a huge problem last 12 years
3. Cyberknife, 20-1ML; He probably will be 20-1+ and therefore my best longshot pick for underneath in trifecta and Superfecta
4. Smile Happy, 20-1 ML; I seriously doubt he will be 20-1, probably more like 14-1, but that’s still great value on a horse with a real chance of winning
5. White Abarrio, 10-1 ML; might get 12-1 on him, and if he reproduces his race in Florida Derby here he can definitely win
6. Epicenter, 7-2 ML; I think he’ll actually end up as the favorite. Nice horse, but had everything his own way and his wins aren’t as impressive as they might appear. Not a fan, but won’t let him beat me
7. Crown Pride, 20-1ML; Japanese horse, would be a massive upset, but Japanese horses are now as good as any in the world, dirt or turf, and it’s inevitable one of them will win the Derby someday at long odds. When they do, I’ll have some $ on them
8. __________________________________________________________

For my money the 2 best longshots to hit the board today are Cyberknife and Crown Pride…..

this is the most wide open Derby I can remember in quite some time.

You can talk all you want about Covid and this and that but if Craw gonna hit .220, Bart .188, Ruff .178 etc then this is what we get. And Z let’s Posey and Bryant go without replacing them (unless you count his Gonzalez/Padlo/Etc moves and again, this is what you get. The only good news is that with mlb screwing with the ball to the point of destroying most of the offenses it’s not like we have zero hope with this batch of loser hitters.

But they can’t hit like this. Not against a team like The Dodgers.

NBA has gotten so tough to watch with all this over-officiating. I’m sure they’re trying their best but the rules have gotten too cumbersome. Still, Klay going 2-12 from 3land is going to be tough to overcome. And 18% as a team is cashed in for *get what you pay for*.

Speaking of “getting what you pay for”, it’s no surprise we lost with that anemic line up. There’s only so much Brebbia aisle you can fit into one store. It was just an awful group of hitters from start to finish.

After the Nats torched our pitching staff I must admit I am not headed into the series with LA with much confidence at all. At least we have Rondon going tonight.

They got 45 hits this weekend. That is pathetic. A team that flies all the way across the country and plays in our pitcher friendly park should never, ever bang 45 hits across 3 games vs us.

Utterly unacceptable.

Sunday morning Melodious mutterings…..

Carstie Clausen	Sat, Apr 30, 9:44 PM (8 hours ago)
to Flavor

 Flav:  That was a pretty broad hint.  Glad to be of service.  Guess I just like analytics.  -stix

 The Saturday matinee vs the Gnats was virtually a mirror image opposite of the Friday fiasco.  With essentially a AAAA team Friday evening and with Wood more resembling balsa than oak,  and with three of the Giants most potent bats on the injury and covid lists; the Giants were humiliated—trounced, by a SF castoff starter and a pretty not too bad array of Washington bats finally awakening from their slumber.

Saturday’s game turned the tables despite the fact that Webb once again was not his dominant self, giving up eleven hits, including four devastating doubles over his 95 pitches through six innings. He was stingy with his bases on balls, but only was able to strike out three…way out of character.  Apparently, videos and scouting reports have uncovered some of the chinks in his armor.  It would be sure-fire odds that the coaching staff will do all they can to steer him back into the wonder we witnessed last season.  That he recovered from his early mistakes over the last three innings and despite several singles, was able to stifle any more scoring.  In other words, Webb toughed it out.  Once again, the bullies were airtight.  Alvarez has to be one of the most lethal firemen out there. He cooled down opposing batters in jig time.  Striking out two of three outs, he was indomitable.  Interestingly, with heightened velocity this season, Brebbia matched Alvarez.  With all the turnovers, It’s hard to keep up with the new relievers.  I’ll just call the game-capper Señor Llow-balls until getting a bit better acquainted.

 After thoroughly exploring Vosler’s minor league record, his two taters in this series did not particularly surprise me.  It’s almost like he’s been waiting for this particular opportunity.  He appears to be very determined to stay in The Show.  How bout Thairo? Three RBI’s today, one of them on a force play.  His fourteen ribeyes top the team.  Seems like he simply can’t help but driving in runners.  Good to have that kinda energy around on a steady basis.  Kapler’s faith in Ruf paid off at last, as our laggard finally got his act together, going 3 for 4.  Crawdaddy is still a bit behind his normal production, but he did draw a pair of walks and scored twice.

 Amazing how this collection of seemingly random players today bounced back from a galling defeat.  With well over half of their regular position players out of action, this bunch of re-treads and dumpster-dives managed to stun the (G)Nats this afternoon. Of course the visitors’ comedy of errors greased the skids more than a little.  Perhaps they were still in a state of shock from running up the score yesterday with no fewer than three of them knocking four hits apiece.  From their jackrabbit start today it looked like they had not shot their wad.  Vosler’s blast into the bay must have knocked some sense into them.  They did score another pair in the next inning, but as per usual the SF batters kept fouling off pitches and perhaps inducing another batch of out of the zone pitches, as the “wear em down” strategy just kept building that pitch count for yet another deer in the headlights starter.

 Finally that perfect throw from RF by Gonzo, plus Casali’s fine swipe of the runner, proved after the video review from “upstairs” vindicated Kapler’s protest and the initial “safe” call was overturned. Though the MLB hierarchy has come up with some shitty new rules like that ghost runner on second to start the 10th; the video reviews do seem to be actual progress, in this day of electronic everything.