A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

Shut down by JP Sears. The indignity of it all. I was on a plane and missed most of the game. What if we had Soler and he’d hit 4 solo home runs? lqtm. Well, another underwhelming day for Farhan at the deadline. The curtain has been pulled back and there’s nothing there. It’s so disappointing that a franchise with this type of history has been reduced to being run by a used car salesman.

Zaidi dumping Soler and Jackson for cash is so typical. He doesn’t have the first clue how to trade at the deadline. Now here comes the ol’ “we don’t know what he was offered” bullshit. How is it that every single deadline he does shit and we just fall back on that lame excuse? Other GM’s seem to be able to make exciting trades. Why not this fuck?

Four in a row. Six more to get us into contention. Come on, why not? We all know Zaidi doesn’t have the first clue how to trade with the big boys. Let’s just roll with our guys and see what happens.

I don’t care if the Rockies stink, all these strikeouts have been fun as hell to watch. Giants pitchers struck out 30 Rockette’s yesterday. I wonder what the record is for a single day?

And if we rip off 10 wins we’re still in this. Do any of you trust Farhan to get anything for Snell? He overvalues all his players, that’s why he can’t ever pull off a deal. But for the first time in years, maybe ever, I don’t really care if they sell or buy. This year isn’t over by a longshot but if Zaidi decides to pull the plug he better not fuck this up.

If the pitching staff is gonna take off and lead us to a wild card spot Logan Webb is gonna have to get his shit together. No chance without him being a big part of it. On to Portland today.

Well, that’ll do for sure, right? What a wonderful surprise, trade for someone and they actually perform. I had almost forgotten what that feeling is like. If our starting pitching comes together…..there’s still time.

Sorry guys, the life of a traveling Big Flavor can get a little distracting sometimes. So much so I was shocked to see Fitz hit his 5th (FIFTH?) bomb in a row? First time since Bonds? This seems unsustainable but am happy that we have young guys stepping up this year and contributing.

Ray tonight.

San Diego trip in the books, now off the Black Butte then Portland. Saw Birddog k’d 12 in 6 innings. Impressive. What’s not impressive is needing that to stave off getting swept by the shitty Rockies.

Had a great time hanging with San Dawg. I see the Giants lost again. Worried there won’t be much to look forward to (baseball wise) when I get back from vacation on the 30th.

Some of you guys might remember this great Cody Ross story from the magical 2010 season.

My buddy bigdog sent this photo to me yesterday, he and his fam went to the game last night. That’s Clayton on the right, all grown up.

What an amazing time. The British Open just underway. Later on today the San Diego Open begins with 2 great titans, San Dawg and Big Flavor fighting it out. Baseball back tomorrow. A daily update from Zumiee about the WNBA that will go largely ignored. And then the opening of Del Mar on Saturday. As Ferris Bueller said, “life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it….”

I can’t remember specific games or players, but when I was a teenager it was also so exciting to see a Giant get picked for the all star game. But they always seemed to play terrible. Atlee was the most memorable implosion but I know there were many others. Then we had a stretch where Giants players did the team proud. Then there was last night. And, I didn’t even watch it. My interest in these all star festivities has been at a lifetime low this week.

Pleasantly surprised to see us draft all these bats. I have been saying it for a decade, draft hitters, sign pitchers. My stance has softened a little on that because I don’t understand how modern day starting pitchers are even built anymore much less when you should draft them. But hitters? No self respecting free agent hitter wants to hit in the stupid dimensions of our park. And those that do probably have wives who are afraid of the SF streets. And the rare few that are left from those 2 qualifications probably have agents that talk them out of signing with us because of CA taxes.

So draft those fuckers and force them to play for us lol.

I didn’t see a single second of the Bomb Contest and I’m content with that decision.

you know, if Webb hadn’t shat his slacks 48-49 really would have looked pretty good. Now it’s time to regroup and get ready for the British Open. Also, I’ll be down in San Diego playing golf with San Dawg at Torrey before the opening of DM on Saturday. I am going to be too busy for baseball anyway, lol.

Anyone know anything about Jimmy Tibbs? MLB draft is so underwhelming compared to NFL and NBA.

Great to see Harrison finally pitch effectively and my dad’s boy Wisely continued his strong representation of the orange and black. Birddog goes tonight and wouldn’t it be nice if we could finish the first half on a bit of a roll? Back to bold baby!

Does anyone remember why Twinfan called himself Twinfan? I know he told the story but I’ve forgotten it.

The dream of finishing over .500 by the break….is dead. I miss the days of carefree boldfaced threads. Three with the Twins to finish off an extremely disappointing first half. No other way to look at it, this first half sucked.

Three games under .500. Four to play before the all star break. Run the table to end the first half over .500? It’s definitely doable but do we have the horses to do it?

Fun win. Ball bounced in the exact spots it needed to bounce in the bottom of the 9th inning. And despite Miller screwing up the call saying “and here comes Bailey! The ball game is over!” it was a fun end to a pretty exciting, tense game. Snell made it through his customary 5 as well but looked much better this time.

Snell today. I am looking forward to it the same way you look at car crashes on the freeway. It’s astounding how bad he’s been this year. I guess some of the blame can go to Boras who forces his clients to sit all Winter and then jam the ramp up with a week to go before the season starts. But regardless he’s been terrible and I have almost no hope that he’ll turn it around this year.

You know what? We went 5-4 vs the Dodgers, Atlanta and Cleveland. I think ANYONE would have taken that especially when many of us thought 2-7 was in the cards as well. Unfortunately we took the Highway to Hjelle yesterday but that’s going to happen every now and again with a bullpen that is worked HARD. We say goodbye to Slater and his very occasional taters and get back Alex Young to help give our beleaguered bullpen a rest. I have no recollection of him pitching for us but I am also still a little woozy from that Medford heat haze so maybe I’m just not thinking straight.

Only caught a few innings but I was lucky enough to see Luke Jackson give up another monster bomb. I didn’t see the distance but it looked like a monster, majestic bomb. The only reliever I don’t cringe at seeing take the mound is Rodriguez. That’s it. I hate both the Rodgers brothers. I think Hjelle is the goofiest looking motherfucker I’ve ever seen. I don’t care about any of their numbers I just don’t trust these relievers. Rodriguez. That’s it. Still in Medford.

Winning an opener/Bivens game…that feels like 2 or 3 wins, right? I’m up in Medford for the weekend, just giving you guys a new thread.

Honestly, this just wasn’t too surprising. As I said at the start of the series, yes they have good hitters but they really aren’t scoring runs this year. And that played out again in those 3 games. But this was cool, keep winning series’ that’s about all you can reasonably hope for. Now to Cleveland. A decent team who is probably not as good as their record. Outside of their 2 best hitters Kwan and Ramirez they don’t have a line up that scares you. And their starting pitching is meh. Vogt seems to be having a big impact on their play.

This is my favorite day of the year. Forget Christmas and Thanksgiving and my birthday and all that stuff. Gimmie hot weather, outdoor parties, hot dogs, beers, baseball and our flag flying high in the sky.

Big game today. Can’t have us losing this series, not after Krukow green lighted our run through the National League this Summer. lqtm.

Enjoy your day Flap Nation.

That Ramos bomb was one of my favorite of the year. He absolutely slayed it down the line and doesn’t even move, just watches it. Probably to see if it was going to stay fair but one thing he knew for certain: that ball was outta here. Monster line drive shot.

Birddog goes from the friendly confines of Oracle to the scary yard in Atlanta. But upon closer look maybe it’s not so scary? Of course the Braves have some stud hitters but it’s not translating into runs. Can you believe we have scored more runs than Atlanta this year? 380 > 354. Of course we’ve played 3 more games but still. And it’s not just because they don’t have Acuna, they’ve been pretty impotent all year with run total. So who knows? Maybe Birddog surprises them?

Carstie Clausen	Sun, Jun 30, 9:33 PM (8 hours ago)
to me

 Double your pleasure, double your fun.  That old commercial jingle sure came to play today.  Count em.  Ten two-baggers.  For years I’ve maintained that you wanna have a big inning, the magic ingredient is having a team which can crack those doubles. Maybe it was revenge for last night’s Eleventh inning humiliation.  Hjelle had been having an amazing, unexpected good season.  But the LaBumbos got to him…bad.  So who got to wear the goat collar tonight.? Show High.  He went for the big bucks and the big media exposure in LaLaLand.  So here’s this guy who had been pitching in FRANCE and Giants scouting picked him up.  Full five for the win, but the cream was those special K’s on Ohtani.  Hugely hyped got wiped.

 Spencer Bivens aced his first ever MLB start.  One single-shot dinger was the only damage for the evening.  As a recovering journalist, I’d loved to have done the write-up on this rags to riches story.  One-off?  Time will tell.  One thing for sure, the dude is motivated.

Okay, so the LaBumbos were down to only two super-stars, with that spark plug they stole from the Red Sox, on the I.L. list.  But hey…how bout having no fewer than FIVE starters out of action?  That situation is about to do the big switcharoo…soon.  Will Snell smell or will he cast a spell?  The latter is more probable.  Robbie Ray is also about to return soon and so is Harrison.  They are not the only ones.  Things are gonna get complicated.  After bullpen game after bully game, Los Gigantes were surviving somehow through the biggest rotation drought they have had…at least since ’58, I would guess.  By the time of the A.S. Break, there’s gonna be an overload.  Easy one will be sending Birdsong back to Sac-town for some more development time.  He’s all of 22 and chances are good we will see him for years to come.

 But then we are also looking at Corn on the Cobb returning.  Oops.  Do I sense Tradewinds blowing even before the end of the month? 

What, who do the Giants need?  Yaz and Slater are both decent players, but not much pizzazz .  Luis Robert, anyone?  Whitesox could use all kindsa boost.  Maybe Luciano, one of the two or three higher starter prospects and some veteran presence, where the two aforementioned, perhaps Conforto as well, also inclusive of Thairo or Wilmer.  Don’t look now, but SF may be looking at an embarrassment of riches.  Jazz Chisholm may need a change of scenery in order to shine again.  Positioning might be a snag, but the guy is dynamic. Likely he will never reach superstar status, but how bout being one of several simple stars? 

 So what’s with Doval.?  He’s having a schizo season…too many pitches for a complete closer.  Could Ryan Walker take on that role, or would it be more sensible to look elsewhere…can’t tell you who, but most Flappers will name candidates.  A deal would not  likely to be one on one, but maybe one of the starters, Cobb perhaps, could figure in a complex deal including prospects back and forth.  Giants system is loaded with pitching…while other organizations are more heavy on position players.  As we are learning this year, a solid team needs backups for the backups.

 Villar may be sufficiently seasoned.  Fitzgerald and Wisely are coming along nicely.  Keepers.  Then there’s Ramos.  Losing #24 just days before the Baby Bull  goes down has been heartache city for longterm fans.  Last exciting outfielder was Willie’s godson…and #25 wasn’t even home-grown.  Ramos is for real.  He’s finally seasoned in the pipeline and now he is solid. A dawning superstar?  Not impossible, but solid is more than just decent.  At long last, ever since Chili Davis, the Giants have developed a truly exciting outfielder.  He’s a better than average fielder, fairly quick on the base paths AND has a certain charisma.  He’s exciting.

 Checked out the MLB power-ratings to find the Giants still at #19…that after taking the series from the LaBumbos.  Higher on the list are some squads whom the Giants have beaten.

 Currently the Rodney Dangerfield of MLB, the Giants are lurking in the shadows.  With a solid rotation along with a team which is gradually jelling, in large measure due to home-grown talent, there may be another Halloween Machine in the making.  Solar looks to be finally coming around…adjusting to his new digs has taken a bit of time.  He knows now that he doesn’t need to carry the full load of power production.  Along with Heliot, Chapman has provided some key hits along with his usually stellar defense.  Bailey looks to be long-term.  Got a better backup catcher returning from the I.L. soon as well.

 Zaidi has caught some flak during his tenure, but that situation is likely to get some adjustments.  The pipeline is producing.  From having one of the worst pitching staffs in MLB, it is not unlikely that by September and maybe much sooner, Los Gigantes will have one of the better ones…top ten in MLB, I would hazard.  Injuries and happenstance laid them low.

 Melvin may be the right manager at the right time.  He appears to be a patient sort, but not the buddy-buddy doting daddy type.  At 41-44, the team has hung on against all the odds.  Some clever tinkering this month by the front office could yield nice returns in October.

 In a team psychology sense, San Francisco is approaching takeoff mode.  Last series of the season is with the Cardinals…a team which has resurrected itself recently and may also be in the Playoff race.  Late September could be interesting.

 Defensively, the team is vastly improved from last year’s number.  Offensively, today’s blasting of the LaBumbos tells me that the team is jelling at last.  Winning is infectious.  With a reliable rotation…those short streaks may get a bit longer.

 Facing the LaBumbos, the Braves and Cleveland over a nine game run…the competition is at its highest level.  Win two more out of the next six and SF looks mildly respectable.  Going 3-3 with two of the top teams in MLB would make for a 5-4 run…two-thirds of them on the road.  If the Giants pull that off, maybe those “raters” on the MLB Sunday evening Power Ratings will start singing a different tune.  After all, sports prognosticators may dote on the squads with the superstars, but they inevitably respect a winner.

 Daily Doubles anyone?