Brew Town Victory
I’ll be honest, I had never heard of McCray before he got called up. I don’t really follow our prospects though. Did Farhan just wake up one day and look at the slow and weak team he built and say “Ok time to throw the McCray dart”? Remember, we only got Ramos because Slater got hurt and Fitzgerald got a shot because Ahmed got hurt right? Or was that cause Luciano couldn’t field? I can’t remember.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Good points Flav. Never heard of Fitzgerald and McCray either. Only Ramos and Luciano were on most folks radar.
Consequently, I give zero credit to Zaidi. Why? What happened (and you alluded to it Flav) is that a number of “dominoes had to fall” (i.e., injuries, poor play, etc.) for this chain reaction to have occurred. Sheesh, could you imagine if Ahmed did NOT get hurt??? Or, we had kept Slater? Or, as you said, Luciano could half ass field his position? Fitzgerald and McCray could have been buried in the darkness of our minor league system for another year or two . . . or worse, never given a shot in the majors.
As ironic as it sounds, this is one more reason why Zaidi and his merry band of bumblers must go.
Yep. If it wasn’t for a few young bright spots we would be the team most likely to put you to sleep. Totally boring baseball IMO.
Right now, McCray is having a blast. He me end up being a Gregor Blanco type and I’d be ok with that. Fitz seems to have settled down when they left him at one position. With the big club he logged time at SS, 3B, 2B, 1B, LF, CF and even pitched mop up in 3 games. I’m surprised Zaidi didn’t hand him a catcher’s mitt as well.
McCray stole 52 bags in A+ level ball 2023 but struck out a lot in AA ball and didn’t hit all that well. Had nice run in Sac this season after being promoted. Looks like he can play good CF and might be able to hit–only 40 ML ABs.
Fitz has always K’d a lot wherever he’s been and at first he got labeled fitz-f-up for litany of mistakes he made first go round here. Looks like solid young player who could be moved around IF given uncertainty what Giants do with 3b SS or 2b in off season.
For whatever reason, couple young upcoming bright spots I can enjoy along with Ramos. At my age, take what solace and enjoyment you can in life.
Btw thanks to Loo for Posey numbers at Milwaukee. First thing I thought about, that this was a yard where he hit ball out of park to CF, like what Chapman did yesterday. At O, not happening.
Farhan has to go. We would never know how Fitz and McCray would be any good if not for luck the veteran scrubs got hurt. It clearly shows he has no faith in the guys he and his team have drafted. If we had good players that would be understandable, but guys like Ahmed and Slater are not guys who should be blocking anyone…
Right. The fact Slater was even on the roster tells you what little confidence they themselves have in their draft picks. The Pads have a 21 year old kid Jackson Merrill with 19 HRs and 75 RBI. Did they lag in bringing him up? No. His minor league numbers weren’t earth shattering but they gave him his shot and he ran with it. Like McCray is doing.
Except that Merrill started the season on the big league team. McCray was behind Slater and the Amazing Contorto.
DAVE FLEMMING IS THE FLAVOR OF KERRY CROWLEYS
Joe Ritzo and F.P. Santangelo are way better than Flemming, and as far as I’m concerned, they have a positive impact the Giants W-L record. When he’s doing play by play on radio, Flemming believes it’s important to harp on all the Giants faults. That puts pressure on the listener to overcome negative expectations. Not sure why KNBR pays him big bucks to shit on their product. F.P. Keeps the color commentary light, at no point last night was I worried when the Giants lost the lead. When Ritzo calls a long fly ball by a Giants hitter, it stays fair and clears the fence, or at least gets caught in dramatic fashion.
Only 12 more days until Flappers can shift their focus away from Farhan and unleash their wrath on Lynch. PREDICTION: The Giants will finish more games above 500 than the 49ers.
While I’m glad they brought back SportsPhone 680, and Kerry has always been pleasant to me if I call in (F.P. lambasted me for suggesting Bochy’s regular season record eliminates him from consideration as the best manager ever, Roberts and Cox deserve more credit for the division titles), his after-the-fact criticism of Farhan and admonishment to draft better players is insipid. Unlike Flavor’s blog, there aren’t other channels I can switch to. Cumulus Radio is a monopoly, they’re simulcasting KNBR on one of the great all-time FM rock stations. KGO is now a sports gambling channel.
Here’s the thing: The beauty of baseball is that a 500 record isn’t a glass half empty or glass half full thing. It’s 162 1’s and 0’s. Every inning of every game is a self-contained entity. In the moment, there’s tremendous satisfaction when Grant McCray hits a HR and Ryan Walker gets a save. If you put the win against the Brewers last night, in context with a likely elimination game in September, you’re missing the point. If you’re equating three recent extra-inning losses and a couple of bullpen meltdowns with a 107 win season, you’d be a failure as a GM.
The Giants now sit 6 games back in the loss column for the last Wild Card spot, with a little over a month to go. Sounds ominous. Too many one-run losses. But you battle until officially eliminated.
On the other hand, the Indy Fever won a huge game against the Atlanta Dream which was about the equivalent of MLB’s Atlanta winning those 3 of 4 from the Giants, regarding playoff hopes. If you lose to a team you’re trying to chase down, as the season is running out, it’s a grim thing, obviously.
Three young football players have now died this month while playing or practicing the sport. We all know that if tackle football was a new sport being introduced today, it would never be approved. But the sport is so ingrained in our culture, a certain level of carnage is tolerated. That’s why I never have any problem with rules put in to improve safety, in any sport. It’s amazing that there isn’t even more death and paralysis from football every year.
Having said that, yes, I watch football. There is something compelling and dramatic about the sport. And the one-game-a-week thing makes each game have more importance.
I rarely watch auto racing, but I watched the last part of the NASCAR race at Daytona last weekend. Little did I know I was going to see auto wrecks galore. What a dangerous sport. The cars are amazingly constructed, though, to protect the drivers. I wanted to see Bubba Wallace race, and he was doing very well, until a big wreck happened in front of him and he, try as he might, just could not avoid hitting one of the other cars. He still finished the race, though. Some of the cars had the biggest strips of duct-tape I’ve ever seen, holding some of the front-end sections together.
The 49ers have to emotionally focus in and try to climb the mountain yet again. That has to be a tough mental challenge.
Yogi are you joking? Giants more above .500 than the Niners? 49ers finish a lowly 10-7 (12-5 most likely) they will have the Giants beat at this point. I hope you are right because you are the most optimistic Giant fan on this blog!
He’s on glue. Just like the Giants are glued to .500. In the Hall of Bombast, SOAD reigns supreme.
SOAD. tl/dr
I see the bats are blazing yet again to the tune of 0 runs through 4.
That went downhill in a hurry.
Dirty Harry is now Crazy Larry.
Greatest pitching staff in the league indeed.
Been here before…
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/index.fcgi?year=1982&month=08&day=29
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/index.fcgi?year=1951&month=08&day=28
Not even at the All Star break were the Giants this far back (6.5 games) from sniffing the Braves last spot in the remaining Wild Card slot. Put a fork in them, they’re done. No more White Sox on the schedule.
I read that the Giants placed Estrada and Taylor Rogers on waivers. They were not DFAed, so they stay on the roster unless someone claims them.
I saw that too. Why would they do that with their starting 2nd baseman? Did I miss something about getting a new 2nd baseman?
Rogers I get. Estrada?
WTAF? These guys are rudderless.
We have to finish ahead of them since our great lost 3/4 series