A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

That is called unraveling. And it appears we get Undecided going again for us today. Our leader. At least we battered Glasnow around. Win today and I’ll take this series all day long.

My dad’s favorite player is Brett Wisely. He loves him. I tried to talk him off that when he first said it a month or so ago but he waved me off and told me I didn’t know what I was talking about. The elder statesman was right again.

Back to regular font. Bold was fun while it lasted. If we are going to see this season saved we need a winning streak from the Sun Dressed Goddess. I’ll ride CalTrain all day today and see if I can find her. We are going to need something BIG if we’re going to be competitive this weekend against a team that is much better than us.

You know what? That went about as you could expect it to go. He walked dudes, he struck out dudes, he went 4.2 innings. That line sounds a lot like a right handed Snell outing. But BIRD DOG is but 22. He’s got a lot to learn and a long time in which to learn it. I counted 4 elite pitches (4 seam, circle change, slider, curve). It was fun to see him.

Hayden Birdsong is being promoted and that is weird wild stuff. This guy was just some rando they drafted in the 6th round back in 2022 from Eastern Illinois University. I did look it up and Kevin Seitzer is the only MLB player I’ve ever heard of who went to this school. For him to make it to The Show in 2 years with that shitty resume shows the Giants just might have something exciting here. Supposedly throws near 100. Let’s fucking go!

Well, even average-ass .500 teams manage to win 81 games a year and last night is a good example of how they do that. And I do think .500 is a decent goal. Farhan isn’t going to sell off anything decent at the break, that’s just not how he rolls. So if we get some guys back and Snell manages to offer us literally ANYTHING I think .500 is a realistic goal.

No time to enjoy any knowing dude head nods, gents. We are right back into it but this time at least we are at home. And we have ol’ trusty Undecided leading the charge. I fucking love that guy.

I guess I can’t even hold this against Hicks. He passed his all time season innings total yesterday. It’s not even July. He hasn’t had a quality start since April 27th. I think the best course of action would be to put him in the bullpen when more than 1 of our starters comes back. We have so many arms down I don’t even know if that would work. But how many innings does he have in him the rest of the year? Realistically. 60?

Back to St. Louis to finish this series. Hicks should have a fair amount of motivation to bend the Cardinal over and remind them they should have given him a better shot to be a starter. He’s easily one of Farhan’s top free agent signings although it really isn’t too hard to get to the top end of that list.

Playing Crystal Springs today so i’ll be missing the game, might have a radio on though.

My buddy The Boney One who is an A’s fan (still, for some reason) took his son to the game last night. He said Giants fans outnumbered Cards fans 5-1.

We lose again.

My buddy Chris (I think he’s known here as something like “birddog in Pdx”) texted me last night and said he was having dinner with his son and they were coming up a list of “top 10 all time Giants.” I made my list and we exchanged them and of course now it is causing different levels of dispute.

Let’s go Flappers, let’s see your list. No questions about what qualifies “top 10 all time.” Just list off your 10. You can qualify your reasoning but it’s up to you to determine the meaning of “top 10 all time.”

Willie Mays is not one of my all time favorite players. I never saw him play, never checked the box scores looking for his name to see what he did the night before, honestly don’t have any emotions about him whatsoever. But of course I recognize his greatness and what he means to so many people. So many of you guys…..

I love this picture.

It reminds me of being a kid and playing in the street even though I grew up in a different looking neighborhood. I could stare at this picture for a LONG time and always see something different, or have a question or thoughts. Like, what are those 2 douchbags on the right side talking about that is so important they are MISSING that man swing a stick? It would be so fun to take a time machine back to that moment and just….watch. There are lot of things I’d like a time machine for.

Maybe one day I’ll have that print blown up and framed. I’d like to pass by it in my house every day.

Hey guys. This came in Sunday, forgot to post it.

Carstie Clausen	Sun, Jun 16, 8:10 PM (2 days ago)
to me

 Could we call it a wake-up call? The loss of Harrison for a couple weeks (more on that later) must have had an amazing effect on those Giants hitters who were conjointly over the first couple games in this series, seriously out to lunch.  Personally, I was getting a bit enervated about Theiro, Wilmer and Soler…as Ramos was the only viable bat during games one and two.  Amongst others in that 9 run inning, those three vets put on a show, demonstrating that their recent slumptivities may have been nothing more than collective speed-bumps.  That three-run blast by Soler was exactly the kinda performance that upper management and ownership was expecting for their investment in that previously frustrated slugger.  Estrada and Flores have gone through ups and downs during these first months of the season…but not today.

 Bullpen blessings.  Amazing, Grace.  Only failure was by our CURRENT closer, Camilo Doval.  One more like that melt-down, where both command and control were fully questionable…particularly in the light of mounting the mound in a then 13-2 blowout. Should have been a piece of cake for our “drama queen”.  Been on his case for some bunch of while and am wondering whether one more disappointment in the near future will lead to a switcheroo, with him becoming the mop-up specialist in middle innings, ceding the status level to Ryan Walker, who promptly mowed down the two Angelos hitters to clean the slate on that 13-6 victory.  Unless Doval produces at his previous levels, he may well throw in a different capacity by the time of the Break…or even sooner.

 Double your pleasure, double your fun…that old jingle tells the tale of my long-held position that in more than half of all situations, doubles are devastating and can ultimately wreak far more damage than taters and dingers.  That fourth inning merry-go-round was proof of the pudding…guys continually driving in runners and concluding to haunt the pitcher…or new reliever…with a man in scoring position.  One of the recent callups does not have a massive power-stroke, but oh, them two-baggers.  My ideal lineup would include a high OBP, stolen base threat batting leadoff, followed by a pair of doubles threats, with some long-power always present in the tank. Then doubles hitters sprinkled with a speedster or two.

 Ramos, who curiously, though going two for five today, but neither scored a run, nor drove in one; reminds me of both Willie Mac and that #44 for the Braves, who but for Horace Stoneham not willing to spring for an extra fifty bucks, could have created a killer lineup featuring Mays, McCovey, Aaron and Cepeda.  Yeah, Ramos is transmuting into a monster.  Every indicator tells me that he’s not only a keeper but may become the heart of the order for S.F. for the next decade.  He earned his spurs toiling in the pipeline since his early arrival in 2017 as a Puerto Rican kid just outta high school.  Between Sactown and S.F., the dude has amassed SIXTEEN long-balls, a bevy of doubles and over 50 Rib-Eyes. Ramos keeps up his current pace and he could end up passing by veteran stars to appear as an opening outfielder in the All-Star game.  If he doesn’t at least make that squad; S.F. fans will have a huge bone to pick with the MLB movers and shakers.

 Kudos to the overnight callup from AAA.  What a story…an unranked, undrafted 29 Y.O. rookie, who previously pitched in FRANCE…Spencer Bivens’ three solid innings gave him the #1 thrill of his lifetime.  Judging from his stellar work for the River-Cats; Bivens may well possess the chops to stick within a gradually graduating and by today’s reckoning ,seriously improving bullpen.  The scouting and development people were totally on their toes with that signing.

 Back to Harrison’s rolled-ankle in the weight room.  Okay, the majority of American kids are sub-urbanites, who though heavily coached and living mostly comfortable lives right through their school years, do not happen to be the nimble and fool-ya strong bodied specimens which emerged from farm and small town backgrounds, up through the Fifties.

 Just two days ago, while reading one of my massive collection of old “Life” magazines, I came upon a 1939 feature story on Bob Feller.  Raised on a large Iowa farm, Feller, who set MLB records in strikeouts early in his career, not only got in plenty of physical work on the place, but also was so incredibly focused on baseball that he followed special dietary regimens, didn’t use tobacco  and only imbibed in a very occasional beer.  He was so fanatical about his priceless right arm that he referred to it as “IT”.  At least during the early part of his career, when Life described him as the outstanding pitcher in the game, Feller was a fanatic about keeping in shape both mentally and physically.  On the physical side he was not extraordinary.

 Consider all those injured players this year, all across MLB.  Thankfully for the integrity of the game, the LaBumbos “swipe” for the big buck$ from Boston and one of the top five star icons in sports media…just went on the I.L., probably for a longer period than Harrison’s situation.  Were I not 79.5 precisely today, I’d be tempted to establish a Skool of Country Livin at the homestead.  For young athletes needful for more organic and harmonious work-outs; my 6 to 8 hour daily activities at Echo Ridge could serve as a template for those kids.  It would include plenty of spade-work, mowing those nearly 3 up and down acres with a 22” push-mower, hefting rocks, wheelbarrowing soil, sand and gravel…and raking up the mowed grasses to add to the 40 foot compost heap.  All that, plus a Feller-like emphasis on real food and not the fast-food crappola which is certainly the rage throughout the Burbs.  Well-water instead of the fluoridated sick-water would also be on the agenda.  Even a couple of months performing real work, physical labor, eating as organically as possible and learning baseball lore…on a multi-year basis…would likely put a few doctors and physical therapists looking for work elsewhere.

 My little corner of the world included four farm-boys who achieved athletic fame from the 30’s into the early 60’s.  During the later 30’s the U. of Minnesota’s Gophers became known as the Golden Gophers.  One of their rawboned linemen, the best of a tough lot, Ed Widseth, was a first generation American son of a Norwegian family who grew up tall, husky and strong.  Into the 40’s, another Gonvick boy was the outstanding college wrestler, name of Clifton Gustafson, son of Swedish immigrants.  He would have been the #1 mat-man for the U.S. Olympic team in the 1940 Games.  Unfortunately, WWII interrupted that possibility.  Another Swedish athlete who ultimately married into the Bosch and Lomb enterprise in Rochester, New York, was the lanky but sturdy Arnie Johnson, also from Gonvick…actually a small-town rather than country kid.  Finally, we arrive at another Norskie farm-boy, Wes Westrum, who appeared on the first ever cover of Sports Illustrated as the Giants primary catcher during the late-40’s and through most of the Fifties. A high-school classmate of my mother, Westrum called the pitches for the 1954 World Champions.  In later years he scouted for the Giants and then had managerial years for both S.F. and the Braves.  He served as an insightful scout for the latter team for a number of years and in his retirement from organized ball, coached the Legion team for his hometown of Clearbrook, a scant four miles from Gonvick and maybe seven from Widseth’s closest, now a ghost town, Berner.

 Yeah, those farm raised boys ruled in all three of the major sports as well as in once quite popular college wrestling.  Heavy and strenuous physical labor made those kids into giants in their fields.  Some forward-thinking entrepreneur, perhaps a country born athlete himself, might get the bright idea of perhaps in the Ozarks establishing a baseball academy which stresses organic work along with fine points of our once and future National Pastime.

 Clearly, that massive outbreak of injuries in MLB, indicates that artificial exercise is not the proper way to create sturdy, yet flexible ballplayers.

 -stix

Nice win. Doval is just a mess. I’m not buying that “it wasn’t a closer situation” excuse. He’s been pretty shitty all year. Seriously, what self respecting closer walks around toting a 1.73 WHIP for the season? Only closer even sniffing that is Neris at 1.64 and he’s terrible.

Luckily we don’t need to worry too much about having a terrible closer. Got to be winning late to bring him in and we rarely are.

Friday night they got smoked, no doubt about it. But they really should have won that game yesterday. I’d love to know where they rank as a team with situational hitting. To the naked eye, they are atrocious. Matos hit another bomb last night. At least we have Slater’s bloop singles to comfort us.

My dream of us being .500 by just after sunset on Flag Day is over. What to dream of next? I’d like to dream of not being last in SB’s by a country mile but I fear that dream is dead, too. How bout a game with 2 or more bombs? Today seems like a good day to show off whatever power we’ve got in there…..

I’ve been done with Klay for a while and was already hoping the Warriors wouldn’t resign him. But his behavior yesterday was absurd. What kind of man sends a passive aggressive message like unfollowing anything that has to do with your team and deleting pictures of you and your mates winning championships? Total pussy move.

Who can forget the old axiom “if you’re at .500 or better on Flag Day, you got a chance.” Well, we are not .500 on Flag Day. But we have a chance to be if we handle the Angels tonight, a truly terrible team. Why not right? Let’s get to .500 on Flag Day!

Pretty much everything worked to plan yesterday. Our ace aced our closer closed and our leadoff guy leadoff’d. Today we are dark and then the Angles come to town on Friday. Apple+ tv for that one, just giving you the bad news now.

Wanna feel old? Tim Lincecum turns 40 in 2 days…..

Heard Baggs on KNBR this morning with a stat we already intuitively knew: Soler’s OPS with the bases empty is over .800. With runners in scoring position it’s just over .500. For a guy who has been such a run producer in his career this makes no sense and I’d like to think he’s going to snap out of it at some point. He better, we need him with so many other guys hurt.

Nice 10th inning win against a Houston team that I really hadn’t realized had gotten this bad. I’m mostly talking about their record. What happened to them? It’ll be interesting to see what they do at the deadline.

I’ve got no opinion about Caitlin Clark getting left off the all star game because I’ve never watched a WNBA game. But it does seem that both sides make a good argument for their case.

Hoping the pitching staff is tinkering with Winn. It’s in there, they just have to push the right buttons. And honestly it’s not like he’s blocking anyone. We need him right now.

So of COURSE we are going for a sweep against the defending World Series champs in their yard. That makes perfect sense.

What a moment this must have been for Jayson Werth. I bet he cared more in that moment about winning that race than he did when he won his World Series. If you love horse racing as I do (and Loo does) you just KNOW.

Hey guys, George’s memorial today so I’ll be out of pocket.

Go Giants.

Bochy series! Gotta hand it to Boch, he clearly is an outstanding manager. Personally I thought the game had passed him by but it turns out he just had shitty players. What he did in Texas last year was amazing.

The other day someone told me Willie Mays lives at the Vi which is a retirement community near my work. I was on a run before work yesterday and this car was in the Vi parking lot. A couple of cars down there was a car with the license plate “Bowties”. I wonder if that was PM’s widow’s car.

Well, lose 3 win 1, lose 6 win 1, whatever. A win is a win. I have tossed this season into the sea tho and have zero expectations the rest of the way. Hope we get a full run of the youngsters the rest of the way.

6 games down. BoMel went off in the post game presser but I don’t see what good it will do. Farhan has built a team that, shockingly, isn’t good at anything. We are slow. We are weak. We play bad defense. And worse yet, no one seems to give a shit except maybe Webb.

I haven’t looked it up but I don’t think we’ve had a lot of these June Swoon’s lately. I definitely remember it when I was a kid. Regardless, we are losing a lot of games right now. Had we not given away games early on (see: the Dalton Jefferies Era) a losing streak like this might not sting as much. But we did give those games away and the D-backs could pass us in the standings with a win tonight.

Either way we could be getting closer to it getting easier for BoMel to just start running our youngsters out there more often. That would take a little sting out of the return of Conforto and the underwhelming Slater and maybe Z can somehow unload Soler to someone unwitting.

Well, that fell apart quickly. It was a beautiful day at the yard until Doval came into the game. I don’t follow closers at all but I’m assuming most of them don’t have a 1.63 WHIP. Strangely, he’s only got 2 blown saves. Assuming he’ll sort it out, he throws 100+.

Snell is maddening. He throws some pitches that just completely break down the hitter. But as usual he throws too many pitches. And now he’s hurt again.

Oh well, George would have loved that game, so there’s that…..

Not much to say about that one. They just have better players. And goddamn, they have players with presence don’t they? It’s not just how big and strong Judge, Soto and Stanton look although that’s probably part of it. Dare I say it’s the uniforms? Regardless, our runs were produced by Wisely and Schmitt, two dudes who have no presence whatsoever.

I am going to the game today. I’ll give Snell the once-over and report back. Gonna pour one out for my daughter’s grandpa today. He was the biggest Yankee fan there ever was and I watched a lot of baseball games with him. His death last December was one of several my family has had to endure the last 8 months. This was his obit if you care to read more about him.

https://obituaries.almanacnews.com/obituaries/memorials/george-waltuch?o=8536

Agree with what others said on the last thread, especially with Stanton getting the day off how do you give Judge anything to hit? It’s like the Giants have no recollection at all of how teams treated Bonds. And honestly, if you’ve got no Stanton and you take Judge out of the equation they aren’t that scary of a team….after Soto. LOL. Ok, I guess they’re stacked. Webb isn’t gonna throw shit for Judge to hit today, book it.