Taking Care of Business
The Padres presented as expected: a team who has completely checked out. Good for us. Bad for Melvin who seems to have lost the team if that’s the best effort he can get out of them. And that wheeler dealer gun slingin’ GM should probably get shitcanned, too.
Where’s the accountability in San Diego?
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Braves take round 1 of Battle of Titans at Latrine, 8-7. Acuna hit grand slam off Lance Lynn and ATL was up 7-1, til Betts hit 3 run HR off Spencer Strider. Dogs hit couple more bombs off Braves pen before Raisel Iglesias closed it out in 9th. Betts now has 38 HRs, Acuna (who got married earlier in day) first ever with 30 HRs/60 SBs.
Yeah, 8 total HRs is more evidence of the juiced ball this season.
And LA had two outs at the warning track in the 9th.
Since that retired astrophysicist and baseball fan Ms Wills took on the issue in 2019, scientific analysis of the baseball has burgeoned. Mlb notoriously used three different balls last year. The dispersion intentionally pumped Judge’s total, it seems. Strange story. This year looks more like 2019 again. From 30,000 feet, this year’s juice merely resembles the rule changes. Or is it a moral concern?
It is baffling how the Giants were hitting the shit out of the ball in June to suddenly go on a team-wide power outage for 2 months. Did we somehow get on the bad-ball list?
Not to be a conspiracy theorist . . .
Just put your rally hat on. Funny thing is, mlb knows that all changes to the ball now will be well analyzed and broadly publicized.
Pads definitely looked stumblin’ and bumblin’ in that 6-run inning the Giants had. I really hope Haniger brings something to the table the rest of the season. It was really unfortunate he was out so long. I’d take something like .260 with a decent SLG. Giants need somebody to step up and consistently drive in some runs. BTW, Meckler is starting to intrigue me. Great little drag bunt down the 1st base line last night. Dude is like a little Dan Gladden — fast with little choppy steps that really motor him down the line and in the outfield. He’s a pest to the defense…
Gladden had power. I was bummed when we traded him. Brett (the Weasel) Butler? Glad he left!
One of the great facets of baseball is that you can play it, and play it well, regardless of your size. You’ve got Randy Johnson and Sean Hjelle in the near 7 foot range, then you have Meckler and Freddy Patek and Maury Wills in the little guy range. In the NFL, and NBA, you normally need to be big and strong to do well. There are exceptions like Mugsy Bogues and Dave Megget, and Freddy Solomon, and Daryl Green, but they are really the exceptions. Steph is small for the NBA, but he’s still 6′ – 3″. The average sized man does very well in pro baseball…
And one of my first Chief heroes, 5’6″ Noland “Super Gnat” Smith.
To be followed by Warren “The Flea” McVea…
Hank Stram was so brilliant.
He would hide his mini-backs behind a huge offensive line…
Cal and Stanford and SMU just accepted into the ACC beginning 2025.
How that makes any sense for travel, I don’t know. Cal and Stanford will not get TV money at same level as existing members, with amount depending on ratings to some extent. Apparently, there is floating of idea that to reduce travel, teams from East and West could play some games halfway between them in TX. I guess the Bay Area schools could not stomach hooking up with the Mountain West. Oregon State and WA state are now clearly out in the cold…
Now we can expect a Cal v. Notre Dame and Stanford v. Miami game in the future. Doesn’t sound too bad. How long it will last is the big question…
Yeah the school realignment money chase isn’t over. This is best fit available money wise, travel wise not so much especially for basketball.
Wow. The NCAA has become nothing but an abject greedfest. I mean, not that it hasn’t been for the past 100 years, but this is just an unadulterated money grab for big programs like UCLA and USC while the Pac 10 withers and dies. Maybe they sowed their own seeds but this is akin to giving a tax cut to the rich.
Who needs tradition? Who needs smaller upstart schools getting into the rankings?
Fucking joke.
Good story here on Cal and Stanford panic search for a conference.
It’s the best they could do, really.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/09/01/stanford-cal-acc/
Thanks. Pretty much what I thought. As Frank Zappa said (about the Beatles, and himself):
We’re only in it for the money.
This is what the NFL looked like in the 70s with the Atlanta and New Orleans being in the NFC West.
Dodgers went 24-5 last month, Braves 21-8. Giants just glad August is over.
Beck listed as starter tonight, followed by Harrison and Cobb.
August, die she must…
Have we turned Beck into a starter? He’s looked pretty good. Gone for 5 days and went to a concert last night. Missed all the wins. Glacier Park is pretty awesome. Spent a couple days out there.
Spent weeks at Glacier summer 74. Friend worked on a trail crew. Showed me around on various unpeopled hikes. He got the job due to his fathers pull in DC. At the West G bar one weekend many drinkers cheered after a young trail worker’s father, a Watergate committee member iirc, was interviewed on the tv news just before Nixon resigned. Half the park’s seasonal workers were from DC.
Huh. That’s cool. Most of the hikes (except for Avalanche Lake), we were the only ones out there. I guess the season is about over. One of the guides on the boat trip said the week before there were 70 MPH winds on Swiftcurrent lake. Where we stayed the night.
What’s sad is the glaciers are nearly gone. Pictures from earlier times at the hotel we were at were very cool, but the few glaciers you could still see were about 1/100th the size they were even 20 years ago.
Yeah, I got into an argument with my friend over the location of the viral bear video that recently showed up on the news etc. He’s sure we didn’t bother with that trail. This is one hike he recalls:
“We set out from the Jackson Glacier overlook, east of the Divide on the Sun Road, and hiked to Sperry [via] Gunsight Lake and over Gunsight Pass, down along Lake Ellen Wilson (yes, named after that doomed wife of Woodrow), over the no name pass and down to Sperry (6500 ft elevation). That was a 12 mile hike. You can’t see a glacier from the Jackson Glacier overlook anymore.”
Got ’em on tape so I have to watch Harrison’s start. Watched last night’s 4th inning.
I’m thinking of going to the UDub – Cal football game on Sept 23 in Seattle. May be last time the two every play football. Never been in the UW Stadium; it’s in a fantastic location right on Lake Washington. Friend of mine can get some really good tix at a discount because he’s a season tix holder. But. They haven’t set the time of the game yet! BS television flex crap. I want to go to an afternoon game, won’t go at night. Because I’ll miss the beauty of fall afternoon college ball over there, plus I don’t want to be screwing around trying to get to a WA state ferry to cross the sound late at night to get back home. Damn TV contracts ! …
One saving grace might be that west coast schools schedule more non conference games vs. locals to cut down on travel. UW and Cal or Oregon could meet again. Maybe Stanford puts my boys from San Jose State back on schedule where they were years ago. iirc Elway’s dad beat Stanford when he was Spartans coach.
Ha just looked up Jack Elway and per wiki he beat Stanford 3 times in a row 1981-83.
What the fuck is a paddywags snarkk? Or, is this someone else I am speaking to (that has taken your dog photo)?
What ya gonna do when they come for you? Bad dogs, bad dogs!
Entered the wrong info into WordPress. This thing has been F’d up for weeks…
I’m starting to fall off the Paul Dejong bandwagon after his opening great game he hasn’t had a hit since with 10 K’’s mixed in.In fact the SS position has been awful all year hitting clearly the weakest on the team,hitting.126 since after the break with a total of 8 HR’s in 497 AB’s for the season.
I never fully recovered from the Dick Schofield/Jose Pagan trade.
Seriously WTF????????
well Craw’s back now so maybe you can get on that band wagon
Winn too. Maybe SP #5?
“the UW Stadium; it’s in a fantastic location right on Lake Washington.”
Back in the pre-9/11 days, tourists could really wander around college sports facilities. I walked into the Cal Berkeley football stadium one day and walked on the grass, the full length of the football field. Visiting a friend in Seattle one summer, I visited the UW campus. I didn’t go to the football stadium, but I walked through a wide open door in their arena and sat in a seat and watched the women’s volleyball team practice.
No one cared that I was there, in either situation.
LaMonte Wade Jr. (L) 1B
Thairo Estrada (R) 2B
Wilmer Flores (R) DH
Joc Pederson (L) LF
Mike Yastrzemski (L) RF
Patrick Bailey (S) C
J.D. Davis (R) 3B
Brandon Crawford (L) SS
Wade Meckler (L) CF
P: Tristan Beck (R)
There’s a lot of things to like about Krukow’s broadcasting, but sometimes he spreads disinformation. He keeps basically saying the top of the strike zone is the belt. That’s ridiculous. That would be a tiny strike zone.
MLB defines the top and bottom of the strike zone as:
“that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the hollow beneath the knee cap. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter’s stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball.”
That definition also shows one of the reasons why umps blow so many calls. They have to visualize an imaginary line between the shoulders and the belt.
While at the same time visualizing imaginary lines showing the two sides of the strike zone, and at the same time try not to get faked out by catchers who are good at framing pitches.
Good grief, let’s get the electronic strike zone and be done with relying on the umps to float their personal imaginary strike zones in the air.
Yeah, but that’s where the umps call it.
MLB made some good rule changes this season. Now add to the revamp project by adding the electronic strike zone next season. Stop frustrating the fans with so many blown ump calls, some of them in crucial situations.
Craw’s batting average is at .194.
His WAR is at -1.1.
and Schmitt is at .198 with a WAR of -.09 and DeJong (with SF) is .115 and a WAR of -0.3. So, I’m assuming you’re saying we suck at the SS position?
Thairo’s 2.1 .275, so we aren’t completely weak up the middle.
The news about Stanford and Cal is really upsetting to me. I had truly hoped they could work something out on the West Coast. Like Baseball the game is just not the same. I guess we would still get a Big Game every once in awhile.
Wilmer no doubt
Maybe the Padres’ City Connect uniforms took something out of them this season.
Mr.ED dead red bomb to LF number 20 for the MVP of the Giants!!
Beck….
Beck leaving breaking balls in happy zone and paying for it.
Ugh, first look at score is opposite of last night.
Machado really is a joke.
Then again so is Beck. Fuck. I guess he’s gonna eat some innings?
Come on pull his ass Jesus!!
He’s Unbeckable to watch!
Kapler does this shit way too often!
Oh I need him to close out the inning BS!!
The Padres are having some batting practice vs. Beck. Maybe their bizarre City Connect uniforms upset his focus.
Maybe got excited about Beck too early. Too bad we didn’t pick up the pitcher who is 7th in AL in ERA for free:)
Looks like a reverse of last nights’ game.
It’s still early, Giants could come back…
1 down 5 to go!
Even the Pads announcer said he can’t blame Thairo for complaining about that call.
The pitcher himself looked abashed. Garbage call.
Estrada was completely ripped off by the ump. It sucks.
Can’t watch. rare Craw hit and Yaz can’t score with 2 outs:(
Shit. Dreaded bases loaded…Sad how bad we are with sacks full:(
Go Giants!
Looked like Meckler swung at ball 4.
Who can trust that ump, though?
Wacha is good at keeping the ball out of the middle of the strike zone, sure, but the ump is giving him a huge strike zone.
Electronic strike zone, please.
#22 E J (Emmitt IV) Smith with 1 yd TD as Stanford opens scoring at Hawaii 7-0.
E-strada.
Before Wood left the mound he gave Estrada a pat on the leg with his glove as if to say: “It’s cool, man.”
I really like seeing that kind of thing.
SD definitely has some talent, but man, what do you do with an asshat player like Machado? Giants have always seemed to be good at not going after “me me me” players, really respect them for that…
Hmm, strange, can’t log in here with my Facebook anymore but still have to add the FB website…
Barves hit 3 HRs and scored 5 runs on 9 hits in 5 innings off Julio Urias in 6-3 W.
Watched first half and little more of Stanford and they looked pretty good with new QB Ashton Daniels (25 completes 249 yds 3 long TD drives) and fast paced offense @ Hawaii in 37-24 W. Next up, at USC.
Beck faced 17 hitters last night and gave up 9 hits, more than few of which were crushed.
As one Trapper 7 on MCC site said, “I turned on BP by mistake. When does the game start?”
Oh man I’m so bummed Jimmy Buffett has died at 76..
I was a huge Parrot 🦜fan saw him many times in the Bay Area! Just easy to relate to and the audience totally gets in to it..Some great intro stuff..
“Nibbling on sponge cake watching the sun bake all the tourists covered in oil”
“Wasted away again in Margaritaville searching for my lost shaker of salt,Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame but I know,it’s my own Damm fault”
RIP Jimmy Buffett you will be sorely missed!🙏😎🤙🦜🍹🎼🎤🏖️🏝️
If anyone has about 10 minutes, this is one of those NYTimes Magazine long feature articles. This one is from about 5 years ago, on Jimmy Buffett. From Key West unknown stoner to corporate mogul. Great writing…
For a while, Jimmy Buffet, Thomas McGuane and Jim Harrison updated the old Hemingway Key West spirit. Then the tourists. Buffet and his band had a nice turn in McGuane’s hilarious movie Rancho Deluxe. A Pirate Looks at Forty is a great song. Buffet captured and celebrated the smooth, sunny, mainsail-and-jib-full joy of sloop sailing as no one else ever has. Beat windward as your friends relax on the upraised rail enjoying iced beer, a good joint, and velocity.
Thanks for tip on Stanford blues show. Guitar Watson, Musselwhite, and great Willie Mabon’s “I Don’t Know” among others. Good to hear!
Great way to start a Saturday, huh?
A radio show u might want to check out Willied … I have a gal I know (Sherri Jones)that has a radio gig on KZSU 90.1 Wednesday Nights 6-8pm
Its called ..”No one gets out of the Blues Alive”
Blues music from the Mississippi Delta..
Music with a focus on blues from the delta and artists who were influenced by the greats before them..
Some Weds I catch that show after DJ Meaty Paws finishes his show on KALX. Good stuff. I’ve been listening to one of Johnny Shines late albums a lot lately. Just realized that. Too Wet to Plow. Shines, who played town to town with Robert Johnson, was one of the last Delta survivors. Modern tech preserves the details of his work beautifully.
thanks Kat.
Man TCU-Colorado game is fantastic. 88 KO return, long TDs. Sanders kid Shedeur has 500 yds passing and 4 Tds. Just converted 4th and 2 swing pass for 46 and a score. Frogs trail 45-42 with 3 minutes left.
Buffs, who won 1 game last season, held them off, in Fort Worth vs TCU team that was in Big Playoff final last season. Think of the fans he won today and the HS recruiting Deion will be able to do in state of Texas next year, as Colorado enters Big 12.
Game was terrific!
Feeling good about SF. 17-10 the rest of the way. 87 wins gets us in.
7 of last 10 vs LA. We need some cushion before that. The key will be taking 2/3 from the Cubs, then kicking ass on the Rockies! After we win the next 2 vs SD!