A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

Since we are deep into the darkness of the baseball off season I thought we could take a quick look at our newest pick up. The Whistler.

Is this the second coming of Sergio Romo? Who throws this many sliders?

Just an all out disgusting putrid egg laid by the 49ers last night. It was like they were intentionally refusing to use Deebo. Where were the jet sweeps? Mostert had NINE carries? And the lack of a pash rush was stunning. Was that poor game planning or incompetence?

I suppose the disrupted schedule may had played into this a little…..

Props if you appreciate the title of today’s thread and know where it came from.

Do I want the Niners to make the playoffs? Goddamn right I do. Do I have any idea of what needs to go down to make that happen? Absolutely not.

I suppose they could start by winning tonight’s game, right? California has banished them to Arizona, it’s always hit or miss when a team’s schedule gets disrupted like this. You’d think it would be a negative but look at what the Cardinal just did in the same circumstances on Saturday. They waxed Washington as an 11 point dawg.

Yes, I think the Niners can and will win this game……

It’s weird to be back in lock down and yet NFL is going on like usual. There are some interesting match ups today even without the Niners playing. Can the Giants keep in close in Seattle with Colt 45 QBing? He’s one of those “game managers” right? Taysom Hill is still doing whatever it is he does with Brees set to possibly return next week. Brees fractured 11(!) ribs? How is that even possible? Niner fans are rooting for the Rams today, right? Yuck.

Despite all the craziness in our world today, I am really looking forward to the upcoming baseball season. Spring time has always been “let’s go time!” “Re-start time!” “Chi looking out that goddamn window time!” And with a likely vaccine making its way through our communities soon it may be “the best of ALL time.” Of course the Giants are not projected to win the World Series. Far from it.

Turning $100 into $6,000 sounds nice, right? Unfortunately, those odds also reflect an unlikely outcome for our team this upcoming season. So what does Zaidi have to do to get the oddsmakers to dial down those odds a bit? Though he’s still new here, I don’t see him making a big free agent splash. There is still too much unknown with what 2021 will look like and when fans will be allowed back inside the ballparks–like it or not, this will affect the bottom line of all organizations–nobody is going to want to spend. So expect Z to continue his dumpster diving ways looking to hit on the next Yaz/Dick/Gausman.

The reality is, 2021 might be a year or two early for us to start day dreaming about another World Series appearance. But baseball again? Hey, at some point we’re gonna have fans high fiving strangers like lunatics packed inside of Oracle Park. Man, I’ll be dreaming about that till it happens…….

Word is the Giants are interested in Ozuna? Eh, I don’t know about that one. I don’t see why the Giants, or any team actually, will go out and spend big money this off season. Nobody knows what next season is going to look like. And until we get fans back in the stands the owners aren’t going to spend money.

What is spring training going to look like? When is the season going to start? When will fans be coming back and at what capacity?

These are all legitimate questions and I think the Giants are far more likely to go the dumpster diving than they are going to be getting into contract with a coveted free agent.

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Carson today saying goodbye to Zoey. Or maybe it’s *hello* soon, I don’t take for granted any more days this cat is with us.

There are an insane number of non-tendered bats out there that would make us better: Renfroe, Cornfield, Dahl, Duvall, Mazara, Rosario, Naquin, Martinez, even Almora. The question is, who will Z go after? Gotta think it’ll be a righty with the recent signing of Dick. Honestly, there are a LOT of bombs on the list above.

You guys know me. I loved cats so much I decided to start a cat blog. “A place to talk about cats.”

Ok, well not really. But I couldn’t move on to other more Flap-like topics until I posted these pics. The first one is a glimpse into the past. A young San Dawg, circa 1988, decked in dockers in a room with a lot of shit in it. He has a story about that cat but instead of digging it out of my text I’ll let him tell it at some point today…..

The next two are from the Great Mac Dog. I don’t know the names of his two grizzled vets but I’m sure he’ll tell us in the comment section.

With Covid cases raging out of control and with a dearth of sports options on the immediate horizon, I have decided today’s thread will be…….

cat pics.

Here’s a pic of Carson the day he got home from the vet with his sensor on. Not a happy kitty.

And here he is last night after I took the sensor off because it stopped working. Happy kitty.

Here’s a pic from a couple years ago. Carson all stretched out. Big boy.

Very surprised to see the Niners win AND the Raiders lose yesterday. I thought the outcome for both would be opposite and no doubter oppo at that.

Somehow the Niners are still in the playoff hunt. I’m not bothering to figure out what needs to unfold I’ll just root against all the NFC West teams. That will be an easy thing to do tonight.

Can someone explain to me what the Eagles are doing? Their plan is to give more snaps to Jalen Hurts. So now Wentz is sharing the job? Is this going to be like a college game with each QB running on and off the field all game in the middle of a series?

What are the odds the NFL will be canceling the season soon?

Today has got a fair amount on intrigue to it. Well, the Denver game does anyway. We thought Taysom Hill was a stretch last week. Now we got some wide receiver snatched off the practice squad starting under center for the Broncos.

It would be SO AWESOME if the Niners played a couple of games at Kezar. Right?

Weird sports time right now. I forced myself to watch the Big Game but otherwise have had very little interest in college football. No NBA right now. And with the Niners resigned to a lost year even the NFL is tough to get up for (thank God for Draft Kings). Quietly, there is always horse racing to be thankful for along with my new handicapping partner WillieD!

I guess I shouldn’t complain, we went 2 straight months earlier this year with nothing, nada, squat.

The way cases have skyrocketed here and elsewhere I suppose we could be headed back to that in January unless the vaccine starts getting rolled out.

Sure, it’s easy to say this has been a terrible year, but I always ascribe to the take that you should appreciate what you have…….because it could always be worse. For instance…..

My mom and my step dad got Covid 6 weeks ago…..but they recovered.

Katie’s grandpa got diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer……but the treatments have shrunk his tumors by 75%.

Carson got da diabetes……but he’s get his insulin and he’s still alive.

My daughter turns 18 tomorrow…….and I have a lot of mixed feelings about that one.

I could go on and on. Bottom line is that I am thankful for my family, my job and everyone I work with, my incredible friends and even my country too though my belief in her has taken a hit over the last 4 years.

And of course for this place, The Flap. How wonderful it is that we can click a button and go to a place that makes us feel happy, connected and valued. In times like these we search for things to believe in. Places to go where we can appreciate, even for a moment, something good in the world. I appreciate and am thankful for all of you, you guys have gotten me through more than you know just by being here every day……..

Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Mlbtraderumors.com reminded me that Puig is still available. For the absolute minimum I would sign him. I doubt we get him for that. Mostly I would just be interested to watch his at bats and his arm when he lets ‘er rip.

At a deal near the minimum it would allow me to enjoy his antics without gnashing my teeth at what an idiot he is because who in their right mind gets hoodwinked to pay an idiot big money and then have them not produce?

The Great DJLoo sent me another email spoon feeding me advice on how to handle my cat who got da diabetes. This particular email also included some pics of his diabetic 3 legged cat and I will be posting those when I get to another computer later today…..

Vicky– a lot stronger than I thought she’d look! Three legs, what a warrior

I’m sure SF wasn’t even on the radar for an established post season performer like Charlie Morton. But 1 year 15 million is something Z should be spoon feeding us. Not Gausman for 1 year 19 million.

Another shot in the books for good ‘ol Carson this morning and both of us feel like pros at this already. 🙂

Did anyone think for a SECOND that Mahomes wasn’t going to easily march down the field and win the game in the final drive? He had, what, a little under 2 minutes? He could have done that in 20 seconds. That guy is incredible AND the Raiders deserve some shit for whatever defense they played at the end–it literally looked like there was no defense.

I’m excited to see some support for my Renfroe idea. When I tout a player I usually hear about how their OPS sucks or all they do is hit home runs or stolen bases aren’t an inefficient way to score or whatever……

So Zaidi let’s go, Renfroe Time.

The Rays designated Hunter Renfroe. If I’m the Giants, I jump on this guy. Right handed power bat? Check. As far as I’m concerned only one dude has an OF spot locked down for 2021: Yaz.

Platoon him if you must but I want me some Renfroe next year.

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Easily the most interesting NFL game today goes down in New Orleans. Sean Peyton strangely deciding to start gimmicky Taysom Hill is a head scratcher. Maybe he puts Winston in after a couple of series? Either way, will be fun to watch.

I know most of you guys don’t care about horse racing, golf or probably cats. But it’s the off season and this is the stuff I like. Here’s a pic of my big diabetic boy tonight:

Here’s a pic of him in our tomato garden last summer right before we planted.

I know everyone dies, everything dies. But animals are better than people man, they just are.

Anyway, tonight you get pictures of Carson. It better than pics of Rudy Giuliani sweating hair dye down his fat, cousin-fucking face. Admit it.

djloo27 said, on November 19, 2020 at 6:45 pm(Edit)

Any PaSalon updates, Flavor?

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Yes~ Jeez I thought I shared this already but things have been crazy maybe I didn’t: Pa Salon’s house survived. Other house/structures nearby did not. I know he stayed the night at the Grand Sierra Resort before going home the next day to the good news (for him).

Also, you guys should know that the GREAT DJ Loo has been nearly a better vet to my family than our actual vet with help answering questions as we navigate this new world of having a diabetic cat.

Still waiting on news about Snarkk’s MIL, I know Flap Nation stands with his family in wishing a good outcome for her.

This is what we do in the Winter time—try to side step the landmines in our lives and make it safely to the other side when ChiPower starts stirring around, talking about looking out that window waiting for Spring to have Sprung.

Wiseman seems like a good, safe pick with some big upside. I’m down with that. Bummed about Klay but that doesn’t torpedo the season. Warriors are in great shape unless another big shoe drops.

Trying to hard with this pic, right?

I like following this account, it can make me feel old or young depending on what they post. Today, since I’m much younger than all these people, it makes me feel young. How many of these birthday boys and girls do you know?

Still no word yet on the great Pa Salon’s house in Reno. Still praying for good news……..

I love these pictures from the 70’s, easily my favorite era forbaseball pics. I do sometimes enjoy the one-off from the 20’s that Dirt sometimes posts. Those goofy looking bastards give me a solid chuckle………

I actually had no recollection of what position Carew played. After I saw this pic I had to look it up. All you ever think about with Carew is the bat.

High schools are supposed to be opening back up around here on Jan 7. I don’t see that happening. I also don’t understand why they picked the week after everyone gets home from traveling to open back up. Like, how bout wait a couple weeks and see how many kids pick up the virus during holiday travel. It’s been 9 months lol, the kids could wait another 2 weeks.

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Unlike Bozo and Loo at the end of the last thread I am ok with the bars being closed. Sitting on my couch isn’t the same as a bar stool but at least there are competitive sports still being played that I can watch. What are we going to be entertained by in Jan and Feb?

If this all gets shut down again, man, that’s gonna be rough. Hurry up with that vaccine but couldn’t you envision a scenario where this all goes completely sideways, the virus mutates rendering the vaccine worthless and the entire country gets overrun with this shit this winter?

Quiet. Coffee. Masters. Draftkings.

If this isn’t capturing your attention you don’t like golf. Uh, come to think of it, that’s probably most of you. Lqtm.

But it really is shaping up to be an amazing tournament. It looks like the cut line is going to stay at even and that is huge with 11 guys sitting at even right now. There are FIVE guys tied for the lead at -9 and FIVE MORE right behind them at -8.

Bernhard Freaking Langer made the cut. He’s 63!!!! That is one of the most incredible feats in sport you will ever see.

All the big names made it through, this weekend is going to be insane.

Gausman at 19mil for a year? Yikes. Of course he isn’t worth that. But in order to stay somewhat competitive we need him. When your farm system keeps giving you mound lemons you are forced into having to overpay for serviceable vet arms. He isn’t going to get us back to the post season but he will help make the team watchable in 2021.

Now let Z continue his dumpster swoons and maybe he finds another Yaz or Dick in there…..

Woke up to this tweet this morning. Very cool shot. My first game ever, the Ed Halicki no no, I was sitting in the shade around “10 o’clock” but my view was not obstructed.

Ok, back to baseball. Sign Bauer? No chance. The only way I sign off on a big free agent signing, especially a pitcher, is if we are ALMOST right there. Like if he’s the last piece we need. Otherwise, signing big ticket free agents is a terrible idea and has more to do with hoping your fan base sticks around for some smoke and mirrors. Be in it for the long haul. The real fans are.

Can’t believe Flacco’s deep throw that was picked off to basically revive the Pats. Run some time off the clock? Nah, I’m gonna throw a deep prayer into double coverage for absolutely no reason and give the ball back to Cam. It’s like he had $$$ on the game.

We are back to the ban on political talk. Don’t waste your time it will be deleted immediately brandished with the familiar “this post is political in nature and has been removed by BIG FLAVOR”. And I put that shit in all caps so that you, your family and your closest friends don’t miss the fact that you have been publicly shamed at the most important place on the internet…….

2020 has been so terrible in every way I was stunned to wake up to some good news today. Good news? What is that? But Pfizer says they have developed a vaccine that’s 90% effective, that is an incredible number that I don’t think anyone thought possible. More research needs to be done but with the virus raging through communities today it something to really feel hopeful about.

Just like the Niners trading Jimmy G. I am hopeful for that, too.

NFL today, but no Niners. And I was too consumed with the races to put together any draftkings teams. So…..what the hell am I going to do today?

Happy birthday to the great Flap vet Zumiee!

Some pretty big balloons coming in yesterday, aye? 74-1? 30-1? I expect the same to unfold today. Welcome to the new horse racing blog!

For today, anyway.

There is nothing like the Breeders Cup. There’s no competition, other than the Olympics, where this many of the sports greatest athletes from across the world get together to compete. And it all goes down across two days. I’ve been to probably 5 Breeders Cups. Every trip was the trip of a lifetime.

I’m not putting my plays in the main thread but will update in the comment section as the day unfolds. Keenland often fucks with their track on big days and that can lead to a troubling speed bias. Let’s see how the first few races shake out.

First BC race is Race 4 at 9:02am Pacific Standard Time

Apologies to my Niner brethren but I had to make some free money on that game last night. GB -6.5 was a gift.

Totally bummed I’m missing the BC today but tomorrow has got my eyeballs popping out of my head in anticipation.

BB’s will be posted for sure……..

Niner game tonight even tho half the team is stricken with Covid. I still don’t understand why they can’t move this game to Monday night and take the weekend to shake out who has it/who doesn’t.

Other than that, I am extremely excited about Saturday and extremely saddened that I can’t play Friday.

Larry Kreuger was on twitter last week begging the Niners to trade Pettis for John Ross. I laughed out loud at that one. Who would TRADE anything for Dante Pettis? Sure, Ross is a bust but not at the same level as Pettis. Kreug’s is one of those classic Bay Area talking heads who overvalues Bay Area guys just because he knows their name and their draft slot.

Well, the Breeders Cup is nearly upon us. Now that the Niners season is over and our country has proven to be filled with a bunch of in-bred dumbfuck racist mean losers, the BC is my main focus for the next week.

I don’t want to hear about votes that still need to be counted or who is ultimately going to claim the presidency. This shouldn’t have been this close. Our country has shown it’s true colors and they are gross and disgusting. I hate most of America today.

Let’s take the ban off political talk today. I might regret that but it’s easy to fix if it gets out of hand. Nobody cares about your personal political take. NOBODY. I am interested in hearing about your take on how this race ended up being this close. I get why Hilary lost in 2016. Everyone hated her and Trump sold the country a bag of goods on what he could do for them. But after watching this shit show for 4 years how can anyone who isn’t racist or stupid vote for this lunatic? Seriously, I don’t get this at all………

I considered removing the ban for today on political discussions but it’s just not worth it. Go to Facebook or other places on the internet to talk that mess. Or here’s a thought: nobody cares what your political take is. Keep it to yourself or, if you must, go old school and just discuss it with someone in person. The internet has ruined the way we talk about things with our fellow humans.

The battle lines were drawn a long time ago. If you haven’t already voted, do it.

Go Giants but more importantly, GO AMERICA!

If you want to talk some baseball, here is the thread from 10 years ago today.

The Aftermath

I can’t believe I missed the 10 year anni of our first world championship. All I can do is apologize and have you watch this video. So many incredible moments. Baseball has changed, probably forever. But we had this run and we’ll never forget it……

Pretty lazy little Saturday, actually. Might fire up a late pick 4 at Del Mar. Will be fiddling around with my NFL teams at draftkings in preparation for Sunday’s action. Let’s see what good ol’ Bozo is up to…….

Hope you guys have a safer Sunday than that Clown who seems to have cornered himself into quite the pickle.

I’m still reeling from the great Pa Salon’s out of the blue post from yesterday. I will see him next week in Reno as we play the Breeders Cup together and am hoping to greet him with a memorized poetic rendition of his genius.

What to look forward to now? Well, the Breeders Cup, obviously. After that? I’m quietly confident that the NFL will be able to steer through the travails of the widening winter Caronavirus problem. So there will hopefully be some entertainment there.

I have absolutely no idea when the NBA is planning on re-starting. Their schedule might as well be the NHL schedule. No clue when or what season it’s beginning.

In other news, The Fonz turns 75 today, Grace Slick 81….

This surprises me:

I don’t know a lot about ratings. Do they still have the Nielson ratings? I wonder if that’s an outdated way of gathering data. With the explosion of different ways people now watch sporting events I would question the accuracy of ratings we see now. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I watched a sporting event on my tv. It’s been months. Everything is watched on a device now.

I really don’t have a problem with LA celebrating that little guy. It has been 32 years, any fish they reel in and land on the boat should count. So in my book they did finally win another World Series.

It’s easy to revile Cash for his bonehead move. And if I owned the team I would probably be firing him today. But Cash didn’t really lose that game for them. That fucking team man, besides Arozy, can’t hit FOR SHIT lol. I watched in almost hypnotic amazement as their parade of hitters struck out over and over and over. And not just last night, they did it all post season.

Can’t win if you can’t hit.

The Dodgers have a chance to win a legitimate World Series next year, just as we do. I, for one, am thankful for this season. I can’t believe MLB pulled it off under these conditions.

Imagine waking up this morning if you’re a Dodger fan. I know it’s not a legitimate season, but when you haven’t won a World Series in 32 years it must feel like one. I talked to a buddy in LA yesterday and he said it’s been so long this will feel like the first one…….

I remember that feeling very well. This was the thread that day…….

https://oneflapdown77.com/2010/11/01/1-more-win/

There are a lot of comments in that thread, you have to hit *older comments* twice to get to the beginning. If you have the time to read through it today, do it, there is some gold in there before the game even starts.

Well, look on the bright side: last night could have been the close out game. But it wasn’t and the Rays live to see another day. The problem is, will today be the final day they live to see?

At least they have the right guy on the mound.

Ok, had some stuff going on yesterday but am back on the beam. I missed the game and it sounds like I missed a great one. A great ending, at least. Saw the final play on twitter. If the Rays can somehow mange to pull this off, oh what the epic collapse it will be for LA. This is why we love seeing them in the post season. If we can’t have SF we might as well get to sit back and watch a legendary implosion.

Big Game Mort vs Tighty Whitey. This is an enormous game for both teams and feels like more than just the $2.50 I assigned to the first two games.

27 Years ago today Joe Carter smacked the biggest home run in baseball history to give the Blue Jays back to back titles. Who remembers when Joe Carter was a Giant? We traded a dude named Darrin Blood for him. Great name that got away from us.

Diggity and I have a crisp ten dollar bill bet on this series. So I’m looking at each win for me as $2.50 in the bank, each loss as a sad $2.50 out. And there will be no venmo/zelle nonsense. The loser sends the winner a $10 bill in the mail along with an apology for failing so miserably and a promise to do better on the next bet.

The Rays are a good enough hitting team with better overall pitching than the Dodgers. I’ve been hearing for 3 years here at Flap Central that good pitching beats good hitting and will overcome the bombfest that baseball has become.

So, let’s see it.

Thoughts from last night:

1. Glasnow wasn’t better. Too many pitches just weren’t competitive. I think we’re just conditioned to think a guy that throws 100 nearly every pitch is dominant. He was not last night.
2. The Rays swing and miss and at a lot of balls. I know that’s not news but it was surprising at how many it really was.
3. The Red Sox got 2 minor leaguers and Verdugo for Betts. Why again didn’t they just pay that man his money?
4. It was so great to see those stolen B’s. Even if it was the Dodgers stealin’ them. The stolen base is one of the best most exciting plays in baseball and it was fun to watch it return, even if it’s just for one game.

Here we go, right out the shoot with Glasnow vs Kershunkle. I am picking Tamp Bay for many reasons. Dodger hitters haven’t faced a staff like this all year.

Thank you to Jeff Toobin for ruining zoom calls forever. Now every time I see a dark screen I’m going to be worried. Is he pulling a Toobin? What the fuck man? We are trying to live in a society here. I’d like to think a little decorum can be expected from the people we work with. I love his excuse, too. “I thought my camera was off.” HOW DOES THAT IT BETTER MOTHERFUCKER!?!?!?!? LMAO

Well, The Braves are just freaking worthless, are they not? I’m looking forward to watching the LA bats wilt against Tampa pitching. Series breaks down like this: Rays have been pitching, Dodger have better hitting, tie breaker goes to the Rays due to the Kershaw affect fucking LA when they need him the most…….

Niner game? Wow. I did not see that coming.

Not gonna lie, I am sad to see the Astros eliminated. Mostly for Dusty. I was thinking *just maybe* he finally gets his ring. And I think we can put to bed any issues with legitimacy regarding the title this year. These guys are ALL IN and working their asses off. Whoever wins it this year will have earned it. (ps, unless LA wins then it’s a sham title) 🙂 🙂 🙂

Irritating win for LA last night. First a guy named *Bryse* shut them down. Then some dude named *Minter* struck almost all of them out. Then….well we won’t talk about what happened then.

Kat won Loo’s trivia contest last night:

Flavor said, on June 23, 2018 at 12:09 pm(Edit)

thinking of some of the best nicknames we came up with here: The Bowker Gang was outstanding. Count Chocula for Velez was great. That Doughy Fuck for Law. Big Titty for Molina. Others?

Also…….Where were you on this day exactly 31 years ago today? I wonder whatever became of this pussy teenager that Downs had to carry for some reason.