Slater
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.
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A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
wow just watched the last four innings and the ghosts of Candlestick must have been out in the bottom of the 10th with balls bouncing all over our way for once. Great crowd as well for a Monday night game against the Astros.
Giants off to good start in tour of AL West. Good outing for Harrison til he ran out of gas.
Last Soler AB still confounds me. Sacks loaded all you need is sac fly. Pitcher needs GIDP K or pop up, and Soler chases pitch tailing down and away from him (like he does so often anyway) and grounds into force play. Why? You’re in driver’s seat, he has to come after you.
He was on base twice but seems like such a lost cause.
“Dog Day Afternoon” at Balboa Theatre in SF today.
My old ‘hood, lived at 27th and Balboa for years. Happy to hear the Balboa is still there…
Wow, very cool. I think Herb Caen’s burger place Bill’s is still there too. Used to be jazz club near there that featured weekly gig by pianist Si Perkoff that played music of Thelonious Monk. Group did couple CDs but I can’t recall name of the club. Was out that way recently coaching basketball game at Washington HS, and we came into city off Brotherhood Way to Sunset blvd and then briefly off Lincoln through GG Park, coming up to Balboa at I think 41st Ave, avoiding all traffic on 19th Ave.
Carstie Clausen
7:00 AM (41 minutes)
Oh me of little faith. Had put in seven hours at the homestead, mostly spading up central garden after years of neglect…not deliberate…pretty beat after tuning into gameday, usually when SF was at bat. Was pretty tattered at nearly midnight Central time and ready for bed. Tuned back to Gameday at end of top of 10th. Houston up 3-1. Fuckola…went to bed, as Giants hitters, now missing Chapman for a hopefully short spell…had performed like so many soggy noodles. Insomnia hit this morning at around six hours of sleep and decided to get up and check out events on the iMac. First caught national news and such and then warily and wearily channeled the MLB site…game by game and anticipating the worst. WHAT? Giants pulled it off, scoring three and BALLGAME.
Tired and having forgotten those heady days a couple three weeks back of Giants rallies…but this one was a stunner. Wisely enough, Brett batting in the leadoff spot, drove in Schmitt from his “spot” on second. OK, so not bad. Hellcat Ramos kept it alive with a sharp single and that followed by the Astro’s pitcher’s boo-boo and three bags full… then our talented young catcher gets into the act…followed by another Soler eclipse…Giants batting coach sent Slater in to pinch hit for Yaz…Okay?…hadn’t noticed that on his return Austin had gone three for eight…that on top of an injured early season and a miserable start…and he bitchslaps the walkoff. Wowie, Zowie, Kapowie. Rally and win.
Lesson: Gotta keep an eagle eye on this team. Battered, beaten and bedizened…still missing key performers…Los Gigantes have more surprises than the legendary barrel of monkeys. Wounded warriors coming back soon. Will Cobb after his long “rest” come back strong? About Snell, who knows? Wade’s return will be most welcome…ditto, that pair of shortstops. Winn may get a refresher course at Sacville. Could Atlanta want to make a deal for Soler? So far he’s been a disappointment. At least he should be batting maybe eighth. Single-shot dingers do not cut the mustard. No spark.
Gotta admire the Giants administration for their patience and perspicacity. Consider Ramos: Seems like a century ago, he got a rookie callup and was pretty flat, then and in another taste or two. Learned a few things about contact hitting in AAA last year and then again this spring.At the ripe old age of 24, the Hellcat has been steady eddy from the get-go. Don’t yet know if he’s still got rookie status, but if so, could win R.O.Y. honors if he keeps up that steady pace…especially those Rib-Eyes. ..and with his high OPS he may even make the All Star team. Another patience makes perfect candidate is Hjelle. Bewildered and confused in his first seasons in the Show and again, matured as a pitcher in MiLB. Then, there’s Slater, last night’s hero.
Yank-Mes, LaBumbos and Philthies all have power-packed squads. Major N.Y. and L.A. major sports media loves those long-balls, even more than a trio of slutty vamps. But are huge me, me, me egos involved? Your take is as good as mine. As we learned in those three even years during the last decades…it now takes 26 men to make up a TEAM. Baseball Gods are involved and so is a little factor called magic.
Don’t dis the Giants. They don’t roll over and whine like some beaten puppy. There is a bit of spunk that could take that squad into some interesting places when those wounded warriors return. Check those stats for those AAA and AA teams. They are loaded with pitching..particularly relievers. The current Bullies are close, but not yet there. Doval, for example, has plenty of talent, but lacks efficiency. Will he be the closer come late September? Will Luke Jackson still be iffy? Melvin is still in his shakedown cruise…assessing, assessing. Will trade-winds blow, like over the Winter when some dead wood ended up elsewhere? A quality return by Robbie Ray could transform an on and off rotation into one capable of going Mano a Mano with the likes of the Philthies.
Interesting times. Entertaining. The Johnsons will love seeing all those asses on the seats. Maybe Zaidi will pull off a surprise or two. My take for April on, is that SF needs to hang around .500 ball up to the Break. After last night’s BINGO, they are exactly one game under .500. Worst one can say is that the Giants are not the boring bunch of bedizened veterans of modest talents. The Kids are all right. Pipeline is producing. The gelling process is active. That former Giants catcher, that Melvin guy, seems capable of keeping the squad on a steady course, despite setbacks and learning curves. Harrison’s efficient gem last night may be the harbinger of a stone-solid rotation. Best result of last night’s game is that the young lefty’s efforts did not end up in him getting Cained. Looks like three solid starters now and quite possibly one or two more to come on board.
Was last night a major turning-point? Maybe. Team spirit wins championships. The big money teams, with hefty media coverage, get all the attention. However, the object of the game is to emerge as Champs.
“Hellcat Ramos”, love it. Stix strikes again.
MF can write!
Hellcat is not ROY eligible and is screwed like Vada Pinson back in 1959. He’s from the same town in Puerto Rico as the great Candy Maldonado who I was completely obsessed with in the mid-late 80’s and unfortunately only seems to be remembered for his fielding mishap in the ’87 NLCS…
Bad lights. Bad luck. Candy came with his own nickname. After watching Ramos everyday for a while, I’m even more convinced that he’s more Toro than Gato.
Candy remains dear to my heart for his flying superman punch of cheap-shotting candy-ass Ozzie Smith after Smith, Jose Fucking Okendo and Will Clark got into it back in ’87.
Was that 41 minutes to read?
This team is confounding to say the least. If they’ve shown anything, it’s the fact that they can crater at any given moment. And then come up with games like this. Soler continues to bat like Johnnie LeMaster, and the miscues everywhere are still there.
Funny thing about that pipeline, it is Sabevans pipe they are smoking.
Who remembers the ’60s cartoon character that would always say “Confound It!”?
Heavens to murgetroid, I have no idea!
Help-help Quicksdraw I’m stuck in the quick mud.
Soler swung at that 2-1 pitch simply guessing it would be fat with the bases loaded and nobody out. Instead, it was down and away. Want to see how bad he can be and for how long? Look at his 2021 season, when the Royals, in what must have been a state of total exasperation, traded him to the Braves. That was the year he won WS MVP. In his career, he has never had a stretch of 600 ABs where he wasn’t at least pretty good.
As James said last night Wisely is guy Z traded for couple years ago. Originally drafted by Rays and Z got him for pitcher that’s still in AAA ball per B/R.
Hunter Biden guilty on all counts…
Poor guy just exercising his second amendment rights. Outrageous that they turned that into a crime!
But I thought the NRA didn’t want to take away the right for drug addicts to buy guns.
It’s been hashed out a million times, but minor league systems do not produce very many big league players. They produce far fewer long term stars. It’s mostly a crapshoot, like making it through the playoffs to the WS. Typically, minor leaguers get called up at age 25. Most players pay their dues. Harrison and Bailey were signed under Z, Ramos, Doval, Walker, Hjelle, and Tyler R., among significant contributors so far, drafted or signed by SF pre-2019. The latter 3 blossomed in their mid to late 20s. The pitchers who are currently showing some promise in the minors, e.g., Birdsong, are post 2019 selections.
I would also include Webb as a significant contributor pre-2019.
2014 believe it or not.
There are plenty of teams with 22-24 year olds that make significant contributions. Just look at the teams in our division (not named the Sherpas).
Too obvious, I guess!
Chuck, is that supposed to be a counter argument to the larger pattern I described? Hey, Bailey was 24 until a couple weeks ago and Ramos will be until September. And may as well include Harrison after last night.
and before Loco catches me again, Doval.
Whatevs. Sure. You’re right. We are fucking great in the draft.
It just feels like most every other team in the league is younger, faster, more exciting, and more powerful that us.
We are once again at the bottom in all the meaningful categories. Especially team defense.
Giants, in MLB:
Dead last re: stolen bags with 21.
4th most in GIDP.
25th in team WHIP
7th worst fielding %
5th most in errors
Giants are middle of pack in NL, btw 6-8, for most offensive stats…from runs hits HRs to BA and 3 slash lines. Despite all the injuries (Wade Jr Lee Bailey and now Chapman) and severe underperformance from Soler.
Padres have Tatis Jr. Luis Arraez, Kim and Cronenworth playing every day at SS and 1b and these are all guys who would start over any Giant at their positions. Profar in CF has .900 OPS, Machado is DH and they traded for top SP dylan Cease. They’re a game and a half ahead of Giants and playing .500 ball.
and in reading Padres fans comments in TA, a lot of “new manager, same results.”
By far the most important stat you cite is WHIP, because it signals they are giving up way too many runs. They’ll be a winning team if the WHIP/ERA goes down with Snell/Ray/Cobb/Birdsong, etc. stepping up. If they don’t and the team is still 12th in runs (same as ERA rank) allowed in the NL in September, they’ll be stuck where they are right now. Despite interleague play, I still find it it a little more useful to cite NL stats rather than ML numbers to get a sense of where the team is.
Position players other than Slater (who came up 2017) and Ramos that played last night have nothing to do with Sabe/Evans. Nor do current standouts Chapman and Wade Jr.
Which is eerily similar to 2010–Sabes drafted and acquired pitching, his forte. But other than Posey and the up/down Sandoval, look at position players: Huff F Sanchez Renteria Uribe Burrell Ross Torres Guillen Rowand Fontenot and Bowker Gang, plus Nate and Ishi.
I’m not sure I follow. Elucidate! What about Belt and Crawford. Or Pence and Scutaro?
Oh, referring to drafting/developing homegrown position players within system vs. trading for them. Belt and Crawford don’t show up until 2011.
I missed the focus. Sorry. But for every Garko there was a Sanchez. I think Neukom’s Giants Way influence led to wheelin an dealin for a while. Then Belt, Crawford and Pablo settled in with Posey.
We all know how the OF has gone.
The infield of Belt, Crawfish, Panik, and Sandoval was entirely built in the draft. Panik faded pretty fast, and Pablito was Pablito, but they had a pretty solid IF there for 6 years. No mean feat.
Now do the outfield.
Belt and Crawford first arrived ML 2011 and didn’t do much. Pablo was yes often in and out of favor.
I thought Belt was a symbol of unendurable mediocrity ala Slater.
the final Sabe Evans int’l FA signings — Luciano, Matos, Rodriguez,Doval, as examples — are a mix of success and struggle, but Luciano and Matos are still basically kids. Farhan has made moves to fill the gaps: pursuit of Correa, signing JH Lee, but he probably waited too long to make such moves. He helped create the lull that followed 21.
That’s in part because Craw and Belt had career years in 21 and more or less compelled the extensions they got. The best free agents in 22? 1B and SS.
Compelled? Baer et al probably coerced the bad short term decisions in an attempt to hold onto some 2021 fan frenzy in the aftermath of Buster’s departure. Farhan caved.
He’d have been crucified if he’d signed Seager and dumped Craw after the year he had in 21. That was the killer decision and I see no way he isn’t forced to make it. Freeman he might have been able to sell, but that was a very good year for Belt, and why spend the extra bucks and take an extended risk on another guy in his 30s?
Local hero Semien was on the market. So was Correa. Belt played only 97 games in 21. Wilmer and Wade were both on the roster.
who would’ve crucified Z for daringly improving the team?
“We’re moving on from Craw, he had his greatest season, but the data show he’s very likely to regress, so we’ll replace him with one of the other younger shortstops on the market.”
Right.
That would be a shitty way to present it. True.
The new two year contract Crawford signed after 2021 paid him some $32M. His previous deal was $75M over 6 years. He not only got re-signed, he got a very large pay raise. I think an intelligent FO could have explicably failed to meet his demands and turned to youth.
Haha, I’m sure the proto-Fire Farhan reactionaries, who were stunned into silence by the 107 wins, wouldn’t have noticed if it had been packaged properly!
ah! So those were the agents who would’ve crucified him? I see.
There’s the other side to the calculation, of course: Craw and Belt were both excellent, why not another year or two? And maybe my predecessors’ superb Derek Jeter certified talent evaluation skills will give me a dynamic young shortstop in a couple, since my $13 million Will Wilson idiocy isn’t going to. I’m amused by your insistence on going on with this, Counselor!
now that I’ve reviewed some of this history, I’m appalled by the way Crawford played so well during his contract year, cashed in on his old team whose biz people wanted him back for the fans, and then sloughed off and turned doughy and error and injury prone. Not the way I want to remember him. But there it is.
btw, I lost interest in your hypotheticals early on. I got interested in the actual data, the historical details.
My hypotheticals are always based on the details and data. In the future you can save yourself some time by just agreeing with me in the first place.
BS. For example, Belt did not have a great year in 21. He missed 65 games. Your fantasies about mean fans crucifying Farhan are hilarious. Your other failures are too messy to address. Worst is your refusal to adjust your view or argument when presented with data and detail you didn’t consider to begin with. It’s dull.
Enjoy the game!
you too!
I understand how MLB drafts can be a crap shoot. I also understand that the ratings given to each team’s players can change as the players progress or regress as they go through the systems or even if the ratings are wrong. I get that. That’s why when the topic comes up that Zaidi was left with nothing in the system, I have to disagree.
I also realize that some picks by Zaidi may still be contributors at some point going forward and I truly hope that’s the case, but the one pick that bugs me (and it shouldn’t), is Will Wilson. Zaidi had just completed his 1st year in SF and he really wanted this guy, enough to eat Cozart’s $13 million, yet we have this middle infielder also start playing some OF and 3B. Was this kid just a bust or did he fail because of the role as a utility guy? And if they just wanted a utility player, why didn’t they just spend the $13 mil on one? Like I said, this shouldn’t bug me, but it does.
Loco, I wouldn’t beat yourself up,Z was trying to make his first big splash and it backfired way to often in the early years …Will Wilson status Active but he might as well be deceased.Yes he still plays with the Giants but he can’t hit a lick and now buried in AA with Richmond putting up squirrelly numbers.Lots of guys end up career minor leaguers and at 25 he’s no longer the future but the past like I thought about my Outfield Hotshot Jaylin Davis 🤦♂️
I’m good kat, just another Farhan fuckup.
There haven’t been many Farhan fuck ups.
Zaidi wasn’t left with nothing, but there was a lull that lasted several years, starting before 2019. That’s just the way it goes. And you’re right, the Will Wilson thing shouldn’t bug you. It’s not made an impact one way or the other. The attempts to manufacture higher profile utility players are a logical and deliberate strategy to increase the value of every roster spot. It’s taken on more urgency by the way pitchers are now managed. Zaidi saw it work with LA, as you noted earlier.
Kuiper blamed funky call of walk off on white wall, which he hates per story I read in SF Gate.”…I couldn’t tell if it went out or not…I hate the white walls, I do.”
Said Kruk was trying to give him hand signals at the time.
I coulda sworn it was a home run. I thought I saw someone catch the ball. When they showed the score I was a little confused.
Oh yeah. Why the fuck was Ramos running back to 3rd with the bases loaded?
Did he really need Matt to remind him of that? Had he been running it might have forced a bad throw.
But then Slater wouldn’t have had his 2 week reprieve moment.
I guess when they designed the Valkyries’ logo they wanted to make sure people knew it’s a women’s team.
https://valkyries.com/news/golden-state-valkyries-unveiling-20240514/
I guess the Vulvas mighta been a little too obvious?
Wisely at SS Chapman back in there at 3b. Flores at 1b vs RHP Blanco.
Makes sense Wisely is the automatic starter against RH pitchers especially while he’s hot as well as Slater against LH pitchers and both leading off with Ramos second everygame.
So any chance at all Soler Mello Yellow Banana Shoes could actually hit again??Watching his AB’s most of the season reminds me to much of Constipation Stance Rowand AB’s and the constant 3 dribblers to the 3rd basemen are his Frailing strikeouts..
You know if the Giants signed Brandon Belt for LH DH to go along with Jorge Soler RH DH and they both wore the yellow shoes would that create a Banana Belt?
PR people better look at that. Jury in us fed ct yesterday found Chiquita corp liable for paying Colombian para military death squads to murder people down there.
Shades of United Fruit Co.
Never ends.
Wow.
High pop up call by Kuiper that almost ended up being a HR .Ground rule double by Dubon as Kuiper continues his clueless announcing..
Now the broadcast shows a nice shot of the Golden Gate Bridge and Kuip says, Is that the Golden Gate?
Wisely showing some pop, ties er up.
Boom tie ballgame
Wisely homer!
And Brett chose Wisely turning on that tying HR shot!!
Would love to see Hicks stretch it out like Harrison did.
A stretch being the 6th inning nowadays.
So much for that.
That’s what you get for making the stupidest pitch of the year to Dubon.
and here I thought they danced their way onto the boats
you seem like the kinda guy who would’ve been intrigued by Che. Ever read about his years in Guatemala?
Huh. You a Bircher?
maybe Doubon will fuck up on the bases now
What’s bananas without muffins?
The velvet underground album with the banana cover would’ve been better chuckles. But I acknowledge your intellectual attraction to Zappa.
I guess the banana splits is more your speed.
holy sheet what a joke! Zappa?
damn. Chapman tried so hard. That guy is just a great player.
Dubon did crush the mistake but Hicks got burned for runs twice by IF dribblers. Thought he’d pitched out of it w 2 Ks.
As if Soler doesn’t need any more help striking out.
The umps like to put their moral stamp on an AB. It’s all part of the beauty of the game.
It’s Alberto Jimineź’s fault.
Afghanistan banana stand!
Apparently half blind Soler wouldn’t know the difference anyway.
This ump is ridiculous.
he’s killing us.
I would rather watch Helen Keller blindly takes hacks over Banana Slug 🐌 Soler.
I spent four great years at ucsc. I don’t dig that dis of the magnificent banana slug. Good luck to come across one of those luminous golden pacifists on a morning walk in the redwoods.
[pulp fiction Vincent Vega meme]
We sure had a bunch behind the redwood curtain in Humboldt County.
Imo, the famous pulp fiction briefcase, kiss me deadly, raiders, repo man aside, contained a large well nourished family of banana slugs, glowing.
Coached against guy in Asian HS travel ball and before that in Asian youth leagues (through 2007) who is in career record book for UCSC Banana Slugs, 5th in most 3 pointers made and second in total scoring. Nice young man and I think he is coaching nowadays.
When I played well tried to play basketball there, the court was an inch or two short of sideline regulation and the walls were too close for expansion. No serious intercollegiate sports. And no grades. None. Things changed. But the golden slug arose.
That’s what Melania said.
yeah. Like a dull button mushroom could compare with a mobile banana.she can afford the best.
Taylor Rogers and Hjelle have kept them in it.
Giants with typical bad D early on.
What was Conforto doing out there — watching a double?
Without Wade, SF’s offense is pretty much stuck all the time…
Get em tomorrow.
A Hunter Strickland sighting, pitching for the Angels vs. Arizona. Who had “Strickland still pitching in 2024” on their bingo card?
Well, it IS the Angels.
Trout out injured, of course.
Tim Kawakami devoted entire column in TA promoting Giants trading for Trout.
River Cats boxscore from last night in Reno (think Coors west) last night was 14-12 W. Luciano 2-4 playing 2b, Ahmed at SS Fitz 2-4 at 3b Matos LF 3-4 drove in 4 w HR newly promoted Grant McCray in CF.
Oh man The Logo is dead at age 86. That pull up J off hard bounce was my go to move.
Never forget the 63-footer at the buzzer in Game 3 of 1970 Final. One writer wrote that his form and follow through on the shot were perfect – as if he absolutely expected to make it.
The list of living megastars from the ’60’s is really getting short….
Great pic of him in NYT dribbling left in high socks and dark Lakers uni vs. Clyde in Knicks home whites.